ad interim

Art Brussels

stratos — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:22:22 +0000

Participating galleries:

http://www.artexis.com/artbrussels/home.htm

Hannah Höch, dada

stratos — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:12:54 +0000

Press Release

Hannah Höch – All Beginnings are DADA!

Museum Tinguely, Basel: January 16 through May 4, 2008

The Museum Tinguely presents the first extensive survey in Switzerland dedicated to Hannah Höch (1889-1978), the sole woman member of the group Dada Berlin. The exhibition covers the period from her early Dada years during and immediately following the First World War through the 1920s, a fertile phase in her career during which Höch was in contact with numerous important avant-garde artists such as Kurt Schwitters, Hans Arp, Theo van Doesburg. She collaborated in part with them, producing masterly collages, profound yet ironical. During the 1930s and ‘40s, she worked in total retirement and secrecy – and her works contain a cryptic criticism of the National Socialist regime. Her late works, less known, in which she appears to anticipate Pop Art by her themes and colours, were her reaction to new scientific discoveries of the day. To close the exhibition, a section will be dedicated to Höch’s garden – a recurrent theme throughout the artist’s oeuvre.

Having exhibited in the course of the last years various important artists of the Dada movement, the Museum Tinguely is the ideal platform for a presentation of Hannah Höch’s work. But, as the constant defender of individualism, Höch is furthermore close to the kinetic artist Jean Tinguely and his source of inspiration, anarchism.

The exhibition was conceived in close collaboration with the Berlinische Galerie, seat of the Hannah Höch archives; it is organised in a chronological order and divided into five sections, opening with Höch’s large-scale photo-collage Lebensbild that the artist created in 1972/1973 so to speak as a sort of visual autobiography. The collage harks back to numerous important works that the visitor can encounter throughout the exhibition.

dada cordial: Höch, Hausmann and DADA Berlin

Hannah Höch was born in 1889, into a middle-class family in Gotha, where she spent her youth. She studied in Berlin under Emil Orlik at the Institute attached to the Museum of Applied Arts and financed her studies by working as a draughtswoman creating needlework patterns for the publisher Ullstein. In 1915, she met Raoul Hausmann, with whom she had relationship until 1922; the affair was a passionate one but for Höch also difficult as Hausmann, who had been married since 1908 to Elfriede Schaeffer, was not willing to leaving his wife and daughter. He attributed the difficulties of their affair to Höch’s “patriarchal-authoritarian” upbringing which had marked her and which, in his opinion, she had to overcome.

Though difficult for Höch in her private life, these years were extremely fruitful for her as an artist and the young woman was able to assert her position within the male circle of egocentric Berlin Dadaists – Hausmann, Johannes Baader, George Grosz, Richard Huelsenbeck and John Heartfield – through her masterly, though amusing-symbolical collages and objects. Thus, in the summer of 1920, she participated with works in the legendary “First International Dada Fair”.

Main works in this phase of her career such as the collage Dada-Rundschau as well as the two Dada-Puppen reveal Höch to be an alert and witty commentator of the political and social changes after the First World War.

Louise Bourgeois

stratos — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:12:23 +0000

Centre Pompidou 5 March to 2 June 2008

This March, the Centre Pompidou will be presenting the first extensive retrospective showcasing Louise Bourgeois’ work since the exhibition that the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris held in 1995. This retrospective has been organised with the London Tate Modern and will feature around 200 sculptures, paintings, drawings and engravings she produced between 1940 and 2007, with a special focus on the past decade and this 95-year-old artist’s knack for relentlessly rejuvenating her artistic language.

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Louise Bourgeois en 1990 avec sa sculpture en marbre Eye to Eye (1970). © ADAGP, Paris, 2008.
© Photo: Raimon Ramis, D.R.

Stars and Divas - 50 examples of Glamour Photography

stratos — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:47:10 +0000

Exceptional people must be stage-managed in exceptional ways. 50 selected examples from our own collection provide a glimpse into the genre of glamour photography, which developed in the wake of the triumph of the film and the burgeoning star cult of the 1920s. The sweep of the exhibition encompasses figures such as Asta Nielsen, one of the first European film stars, to a series of portraits of Romy Schneider. The pictures include Arnold Genthe’s portrait of the dancer Isadora Duncan, Irving Penn’s celebrated photos of Marlene Dietrich and portraits of various actors by Lieselotte Strelow and F.C. Gundlach. From the Atelier d’ Ora-Benda, one of the focal points of the collection, comes a considerable selection of star portraits: Here you can see a radiant Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich in her youth, Josefine Baker and the Dolly Sisters posing for the camera.

Photo: Atelier Manassé (Vienna 1924 – 1936)
Lil Dagover (Madiun/Java 1887 – 1980 Munich-Geiselgasteig) Actress / Gelatine Silver Print / around 1930

http://www.mkg-hamburg.de

PULSE NEW YORK- 27-30 March 2008

stratos — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:07:54 +0000

PULSE NEW YORK 08 EXHIBITORS
ARTWARE editions (New York), Jeff Bailey Gallery (New York), Galeria Baró Cruz (São Paulo), ANNE BARRAULT (Paris), Galerie Anita Beckers (Frankfurt), Bonelli Arte Contemporanea (Mantua), RENA BRANSTEN GALLERY (San Francisco), Catharine Clark Gallery (San Francisco), CONNER CONTEMPORARY ART (Washington, DC), CONRADS (Düsseldorf), DCKT Contemporary, Inc. (New York), DNA (Berlin), envoy (New York), Espacio Liquido (Gijón), FAURSCHOU COPENHAGEN & BEIJING (Copenhagen/Beijing), LUKAS FEICHTNER GALLERY (Vienna), Rosamund Felsen Gallery (Santa Monica), fiedler contemporary (Cologne), Finesilver Gallery (Houston), Enrico Fornello (Prato), Freight + Volume (New York), GALERÍA FÚCARES (Madrid), galerieKleindienst (Leipzig), Caren Golden Fine Art (New York), Carl Hammer Gallery (Chicago), GALERIE ERNST HILGER/ hilger contemporary (Vienna), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (London), iCI (New York), Inman Gallery (Houston), Priska C. Juschka Fine Art (New York), KINZ, TILLOU + FEIGEN (New York), Bernhard Knaus Fine Art (Frankfurt), KNOLL GALLERIES (Vienna/Budapest), NATHAN LARRAMENDY GALLERY (Ojai), Richard Levy Gallery (Albuquerque), Lyons Wier Ortt Gallery (New York), Walter Maciel Gallery (Los Angeles), Magnan Projects (New York), nina menocal (Mexico City), Nicholas Metivier Gallery (Toronto), Yossi Milo Gallery (New York), Mixed Greens (New York), moniquemeloche (Chicago), Mark Moore Gallery (Santa Monica), magnus müller (Berlin), MUMMERY + SCHNELLE (London), New York Foundation for the Arts (New York), ALEXANDER OCHS GALLERY BERLIN | BEIJING (Berlin/Beijing), One in the Other (London), P.P.O.W (New York), Parker’s Box (Brooklyn), perugi artecontemporanea (Padua), Galerie Stefan Röpke (Cologne), Monya Rowe (New York), Rubicon Gallery Dublin (Dublin), Saatchi Online (London), Julie Saul Gallery (New York), Schroeder Romero (New York), Michael Schultz Gallery Beijing | Seoul | Berlin (Beijing/Seoul/Berlin), Carrie Secrist Gallery (Chicago), galleria SENDA/Espai 2nou2 (Barcelona), SPRINGER & WINCKLER GALERIE (Berlin), Galerie Tanit (Munich), Margaret Thatcher Projects (New York), Torch Gallery (Amsterdam), UNION (London), Virgil de Voldere Gallery (New York), Von Lintel Gallery (New York), Winkleman Gallery (New York), Galerie Zürcher (Paris)

info: http://www.pulse-art.com/

Man Ray

stratos — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:12:28 +0000

Man Ray: This 1916-17 photograph never ceases to amaze me.

Choreographer Maurice Bejart dies

stratos — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 06:12:16 +0000

French choreographer Maurice Bejart has died at the age of 80. Born on January 1, 1927 in Marseilles, Bejart — real name Maurice Berger — studied dance in London and Paris before becoming a leading avant-garde choreographer in the 1950s. His last work, “Around the World in Eighty Minutes,” is due to be premiered in Lausanne on December 20. In the course of his great career, Bejart directed stars such as Sylvie Guillem and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

His ashes will be spread on the seaside of Oostende, Belgium.

So Long Artist.

Review: Nothing Will Save You

stratos — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:25:43 +0000

There is a buoyancy to this book which redeems it from hostile criticism. For the reader who has no objection to writing that stands on its edge this will be a very desirable book.
Reviewed by Bob Williams

by Dean Strom
PretendGeniusPress 2004, ISBN 0-9747-2611-7, $14.95, 181 pages

PretendGeniusPress is the co-operative publishing venture of a group of writers who produce serious work but decline to be serious about it. The back cover of Nothing Will Save You, for example, has the usual blurbs but they are by Hernando Cortez (conquistador), Ferdinand Magellan (explorer), Bloog Mandrake (editor) and Mohammad Saeed al-Sahaf (public relations). All of these were or are actual earthlings with the possible exception of Bloog Mandrake.

The immensity of the United States prompts perpetual restlessness and the ubiquity of motorized vehicles exists to satisfy insatiable – if often pointless – curiosity. Strom takes us on the road but it is no road that you would ever find or easily imagine for it is often less a physical road than an imagined highway through the quirkier recesses of the mind and spirit. Pate, the narrator, quasi-dedicated to a sketchily described form of salvation on the Internet, travels in an automobile that is sometimes of one make and sometimes of another. His traveling companions vary and may not always be real. Strom’s style matches all this waywardness and careens from gnomic to comically literary. He uses typographic tricks to prevent all this from dissolving.

But he adopts an everyday mode about midway through and in midpage at that. Moe, the hitchhiker that Pate has picked up, along with some of Moe’s friends, beat Pate into unconsciousness and abandon him. Having learned his lesson, Pate almost immediately picks up another hitchhiker. This is Jennie Strom and she and Pate tumble happily into bed together.

The love affair blossoms. Pate abandons his plan to travel north and goes to Honolulu to be near Jennie when she goes to school there. Pate observes the yachting community of which he writes “People are living up to the names on their boats, so many boats. People talk about boats across boats and inquire after the health of other boats.”

But Jennie does not come to Hawaii. She dumps him. Pate spends most of his days in idleness and many of his nights cruising the gay scene. He resolves to kill himself although resolve may be too strong a word. He composes an artfully meaningless suicide message and shots himself. But the gun is loaded with blanks and he recovers by virtue of the farce of this episode. The end is funny and itself farcical.

After this novella we find a section of poems interspersed with several short stories. The former are mostly in the style of ‘Jabberwocky’ and the stories are high in acid. Of the poetry we can say that Strom leaves no sound untuned.

Given the extreme alterations in style within the novella, we are not prepared to abandon Pate where Strom leaves him and expect a resumption of his story. It is a defect that the book is not clearly mapped out with a table of contents to assist the clueless reader. But this is a minor stricture. There is a buoyancy to this book which redeems it from hostile criticism. For the reader who has no objection to writing that stands on its edge this will be a very desirable book.
buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Will-Save-Dean-Strom/dp/0974726117
Review from: Compulsive Reader

Cover designed by Stratos

bâlelatina 2008, a new Fair in Basel

stratos — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 06:40:41 +0000

June 3rd - June 8th, 2008
12 p.m. - 9 p.m.
www.balelatina.com
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bâlelatina 2008. Press Release received.
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“The Place to Be for Latin Art”
Noted for its setting on the banks of the Rhine, bâlelatina, now in its third edition, follows two successful years and continues to be the only Latin Art fair to be staged in Basel, Switzerland during the annual art extravaganza. In its 2008 edition, balelatina, with its unique and international character, returns with an invigorating image and agenda, to show the hottest contemporary Latin Art trends, including the established art movements that have marked the path of Latin Art until today.

Like no other international art fair, bâlelatina is exclusive focusing on a cultural vision and concentrating on a universal Latin concept. bâlelatina’s Selection Committee will handpick contemporary and modern art galleries from European countries with Latin roots like Italy, Spain, France, Rumania and Portugal, as well as galleries from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. The selected galleries represent artists from these regions and offer an immediate overview of modern and contemporary LATIN ART.

Y OLE!
In what will become an annual tradition, Spain has been selected as the guest of honour during balelatina 2008. A section of the fair will be reserved for the five invited galleries who will showcase artists emblematic of Spain’s emerging art scene. In addition, a leading Spanish Cultural Institution will be invited to present six solo artist exhibitions curated by emerging Spanish curators.

HOT HOT HOT
This year, bâlelatina will be giving special recognition to different personalities from the contemporary Latin art world! The HOT Collector, HOT Curator, and the HOT Artist will be selected and rewarded during the fair. In what promises to become a yearly prestigious affair, fairgoers will also have a chance to partake in this unique selection by choosing the HOT Gallery from amongst the participating galleries.

Complimentary Events
A comprehensive lecture series by top professionals on Latin Art will be conducted during the fair in a comfortable setting on the banks of the Rhine. Happenings, Performances and Site Specific Urban Projects will complement balelatina’s 2008 art fair experience. bâlelatina will provide a great gathering point where collectors, art professionals and fairgoers will meet and enjoy in a relax setting.

Review: Babble on to Babylon

stratos — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:37:54 +0000

His poems are free in form, receptive to rhyme and meter as the occasion serves and efficient at combining poetry and prose within the same poem. But words fascinate him and he expresses this with great variety and notable ingenuity. Unrelated words become bedfellows if they have sounds in common or if they differ in sound but somewhere have links in meaning.
Reviewed by Bob Williams

Review: Babble on to Babylon
by Blem Vide
PretendGenius Press 2004, ISBN 0-9747261-8-4, $11.95, 171 pages

This is an outsiders’ book. These poems – witty, irreverent and spiced with allusions drawn from many sources – will appeal to the patient and receptive reader. The audience for poetry is small and the special demands of Vide’s poetry will involve even fewer readers but those readers will find much in this collection to make their experience abundantly joyous. The reader should pay attention to the phrasing of the copyright notice, engagingly different. The cover, like all PretendGenius books, is very handsome and is mainly the work in this case of the author.

In one of Aldous Huxley’s novels a character becomes entranced with the phrase “Black ladders lack bladders.” Vide is similarly fascinated with this and all kinds of verbal play. His poems are free in form, receptive to rhyme and meter as the occasion serves and efficient at combining poetry and prose within the same poem. But words fascinate him and he expresses this with great variety and notable ingenuity. Unrelated words become bedfellows if they have sounds in common or if they differ in sound but somewhere have links in meaning. An example of the latter is in Vide’s ‘Serve the Creative Impulse, Idiots’ – a work in which poetry and prose live together happily – “And I want to be regarded as an Elvis Presley look-alike. On the double.”

When he does not make these unaccustomed combinations through sense or sound, he resorts felicitously to puns as in this example from ‘Rigva Raga Loop:’ “pomes never end/they just go republic.”

There are poems in which his fascination with sound sets meaning aside in favor of a personal language that cannot be construed.

“Agawon. I supter. Sun blackness.
‘On toma volute nagavini!’”
‘Ulahan the Latuganist’

There are two qualities in which Vide especially excels. He frequently addresses the reader directly and in ways that arrest the attention. He also plants within his poems sharp and witty observations that send the reader an electric jolt of pleasure and recognition.

“Not every house is
a limousine, but not every house can speak cottage.”

“This was my back porch before I stole it from the cops.”

“Vanity is nothing to
fear, unless you are intimidated by beauty.”

“if a taxpayer dreams
forest in the ocean
is there a gov’t to poison the world?”

“god never serves food
on good dinnerware
when we’re at the table”

The last quotation strongly recalls Emily Dickinson’s observation about God’s table being too high for us unless we dine on tiptoe.

‘Protecting Intellectual Property by Giving It Away Free’ also has its background, shadowy and suggested, of a writer familiar with Finnegans Wake. It has the same stubborn march and carefully plotted variety of the first thirteen pages of Joyce’s chapter six. If not done in the neighborhood of Finnegans Wake, it is an interestingly Borgesian coincidence.

This is a long book for a collection of poetry and it could have been better as a book if Vide had chosen fewer poems for some are notably better than others. But, as a documentation of a writer, with much accomplished and much still to offer, this is a selection that will acquire additional meaning and value as we have the felicitous opportunity of seeing more of his work.
To buy: http://www.amazon.ca/Babble-Babylon-Blem-Vide/dp/0974726184
From: http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=774

Cover designed by Stratos and the Writer