David Kordansky Gallery: Tom of Finland

Sex and sexuality have long been depicted in visual culture, from Titian's Venus of Urbino to the phenomena of the pin-up girls, love and lust have been linked across the centuries. Tom of Finland takes this idea through an explicit homoerotic view. Exhibited at the David Kordansky Gallery in Chelsea, Tom of Finland’s pieces such as Highway Patrol, Greasy Rider, and others show men “engrossed in acts of homoerotic joy and ecstasy.” Be advised, this is not a show I would take my grandmother to, but Tom’s pieces exhibit exquisite control of line, gesture, and expression. What’s nice about his work is that there are narratives happening. Down the walls of the gallery, each image shows a progression of a story, albeit a very sexually-explicit one. His pieces are quite beautifully done: some aspects are hilarious and others incredibly brave. It takes a lot to put your desires down on paper, especially ones that at the time were seen as immoral. 

I see this exhibit as an unabashed showing of love and enjoyment with zero shame or apologies. Done in a time of hate and repression towards the LBGTQ+ community, it is clear his pieces have influenced and echoed sentiments for queer liberation and pleasure. Free of judgment, censorship, or societal restrictions Tom of Finland's work demonstrates very human emotions of sexually-liberated pleasure.

- Emily Burak (edited 3/2/22)

Ed Ruscha- Parking Lots

Ed Ruscha’s show Parking Lots displays photographs from 1967, consisting of 30 images of parking lots taken from an aerial perspective, mapping car culture that’s dominant within the urban landscape of modern and developing cities. They are printed on a smaller scale, with simple black frames, giving all the attention to the images. In black and white, the photographs begin to resemble a topographical map of parking lots. 

When looking at this show, the viewer is faced with lots that are almost entirely empty, prepared for human activity to take place, ready to perform their duty as parking lots. In Gilmore Drive-In Theatre, 6201 W3rd St., it’s clear that a parking lot is vital to the function of the drive-in theater. State Dept. of Employment 14400 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, shows the pattern of traffic, showing a trail of human life in a transient place. The gallery was small and cramped– the frames were nearly touching. The lack of space forced prevented the images from becoming independent of each other. The work shows how barren spaces designed for the public can feel when not in use and how urban landscapes have been designed to accommodate human life.

-Victoria Andrew

"Future Shock" at Lisson Gallery

 The human experience is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, shaped by a variety of external forces that influence our perceptions of self and others. From the media we consume to the technology we use, our understanding of the world is often mediated by external factors, calling into question the very nature of our own identity and agency. The ‘Future Shock’ exhibition at the Lisson Gallery invites us to contemplate the impact of these external forces on our own perceptions and to explore the ways in which we construct and deconstruct our own sense of self. 

The exhibition shows a wide range of artists and mediums. Such as Tony Oursler's video installations "Keep Going (little man)"(1995) and "Animal III" (1994),  Trevor Shimizu's 2013 oil painting "Times Square Shrek, Minion, James P. Sullivan", and Josh Kline’s 2019 sculpture ‘Submersion’. All these works share a common thread in their exploration of the human experience and the impact of external forces on an individual.

The works in the gallery are mostly large and in your face demanding your attention. This alone translates the thesis of the exhibition as being a viewer you are assaulted by an assortment of external pieces. This idea is clearly demonstrated in Tony Conrad’s exhibited work ‘WiP’ which confronts the viewer with a life-size jail cell and flashing LED projection. 

‘Future Shock’ at the Lisson Gallery acts as a catalyst for self-reflection on how much our rapidly expanding exteriors affect our sense of self.

URS FISCHER： Chaos#501

“I like the idea of error. I think it’s just a beautiful word. Anything we do successfully in life is a potential error.” Urs Fischer, a New York City-based artist, mentioned it on The Brant Foundation. This perspective lends his art a fascinating, playful, and defies limits. The NFT artwork, Chaos #501, is built from thousands of 3D models. Most of the items are familiar, such as basketball, toilet, Connect Four, and wigs. Those objects are rotating and are not limited by the physical rules of our world as they infinitely penetrate one another across the screen. These sculptures operate as archaeology in the present, aiming to be able to show the form of three-dimensional sculpture in motion. Fischer's practice is characterized by a diversity of materials, strategies, and concepts. One of his most famous works is a giant wax figure, Untitled (2011), modeled after Jambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women (1579–83). The wax drips and solidifies during the melting process until it becomes nothing like death. The work mixes the ephemeral and the unique as it melts. Fischer experimented with previously uncharted territory in the Chaos series, expanding materials from real materials like clay and wax to digital virtual figures. Fischer's work is a distortion of reality that openly admits to being influenced by the Dada, Surrealism, and Pop Art movements. These movements resemble manipulating pre-made images to create surprising and inventive combinations, scale shifts, and occasionally strong collisions of visual information. On average, work such as his computer sculpture NFT series, "Chaos," sells for approximately $100,000. A 3D model fusing an ice cube tray with a frozen steak sold for nearly $70,000. Do commercial considerations and trends make this art valuable beyond the original art? —Yao Zhuo

Nick Cave – Soundsuits

The Soundsuits series is Nick Cave's most famous work. Nick Cave produced the first soundsuits after Rodney King, a black man, was beaten by police in 1991. These soundsuits completely covered the human body, disguising the shape, gender, race and class of the wearer, thus forcing the viewer to watch without judgment. Nick Cave is inspired by African artistic traditions, armor, textiles, and stereotypical female objects. For example, a soundsuit made of African braids in the Guggenheim gallery. In addition, globes, cloth dolls, vintage rubber toys, plastic buttons, wires, feathers and sequins are among the materials he uses in his soundsuit. He uses these familiar objects to create an atmosphere where those objects are rearranged in such a way that represent material and social culture. Typically, soundsuits are presented as static sculptures. However, they can also be viewed through live performance, photography and video. Cave devises his own performances. He effectively connects static objects in museum spaces with human movement. Those soundsuits combine sculpture, fashion, and performance to connect the anxieties and divisions of our time with the inwardness of the body. Through his soundsuits, Cave not only reinvents mundane objects into something beautiful but also turns painful experiences into something hopeful. The main purpose is to use art to combat any form of discrimination. They also allow the viewer to notice the art and action of the person in the suit, rather than the social values. —Yao Zhuo

Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design

Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design is a new exhibit at the MoMA centered on the ways

tech and software designers make considerations for user input when designing for interactivity. The

exhibit contains a collection of game systems and interactive tech. Some monitors had been set up with

games inviting viewers to play for themselves.

   

As a fan of video games, I was initially excited to see the MoMA's exhibit on interactive design. The now 

tired debate over whether or not video games are art (they are) lead me to believe the exhibit might have 

something new and interesting to say about interactive media and how it can evoke certain emotions that 

other mediums cannot. However, the main thesis of the show was simply to highlight the complexities of 

interactive design from a designer's perspective. While insightful, it definitely felt like a shallow exploration 

of everything interactive design has to offer, especially when considering the recent advancements in 

interactive technology (VR, AR, AI, etc.) and what it means for our future. In fact, the exhibit seemed to 

brush off any philosophical, moral or ethical questions and accept the current trajectory of technology to be

 an inevitable given that we as humans must become privy to. Perhaps by making us aware of the 

relationships between users and designers, the exhibit aims to make its audience conscious of the 

dynamics and think more critically of interactive design going forward.

Xiao Hanqiu: Love Stories and Horror Stories

 Xiao Hanqiu: Love Stories and Horror Stories

My experience with Xiao Hanqiu’s work has been limited as this show was her first solo exhibition in the United States. Suffice to say this show left an impact and continues to help pave the way for other Chinese artists looking to break into the US gallery spaces and art markets. Hanqiu’s style is clean and crisp, simple yet elegant; a modern style of oil painting that draws influence from the masters of the past. These paintings operate in a similar way to her poetry, juxtaposing objects while placing them in simple yet evocative environments.  They read in a linear fashion eluding to a larger overall narrative for the show itself. Much like the title, the show speaks to love and intimacy while also subtly hinting at the absurd. Hanqiu is a true master in this regard, making the paintings bold while maintaining softness through her brush stroke as well as delicate depictions of the female form. The stark contrast from painting to painting is where this show really shines. In some of the pieces such as Lily of the valley and flying rose elegant female forms are portrayed while with Swan or what else do you think it is and Birthday party, she dives deeper into the world of the odd and absurd. This show brings the viewer in and pulls us out, yet is still able to leave us with a sense of fulfillment and resolution when we leave.