
Emilio Perez, a native New Yorker and former Pratt Student, is had his first solo show with Galerie Lelong (
Start talking damnit- Art criticism from a new perspective. (Managed by Erika Fortner)
Emilio Perez, a native New Yorker and former Pratt Student, is had his first solo show with Galerie Lelong (
The
His early work such as Belts (1966-67) is reminiscent of Bruce Nauman’s “dude ranch dada” with his use of neon tube lighting and vulcanized rubber formed into hanging saddle-like structures. The neon imitates the forms of the saddle shapes, but is somehow opposite as if it was meant to reflect the outside contours of a horse rider. The rubber at first appears to be large strips of leather in various earth tones. Upon reading the plaque, one discovers that the material is in fact rubber. Other early works like Equal Parallel: Guernica - Bengasi (1986) resonate with the minimalist work of Donald Judd with his use of democratic, compositional hierarchy of forms. Serra’s title however, compares the grievances and suffering of Picasso’s
While Richard Serra is a very important artist in the 21st century, he has not always been favored by female artists in the art community. He embodies phallic, oversized sculptures teetering on the obscene. This oversized work insinuates many negative stereotypes of male artists from his generation. He has been recognized as a great artist while female sculptors such as Petah Coyne have gone unnoticed until recently. One has to take this into consideration when attending a forty year retrospective at the MOMA, but Serra has some new work that produces the exact experience he is attempting to create between the work and the viewer. That is something very difficult for an artist to achieve, and in his own right he deserves the recognition that he gets.
Neo Rauch was born in
Para is a woman who has given birth to a number of children, or the children themselves. Rauch has specifically created all new paintings for this space, as if the title para references him in this act; the act of creation, of something like a child. The show in another setting may not have been as well received, but in the
Neo Rauch’s new works are successful because of his use of transitional space, but also because he successfully references his culture while still managing to freak out the viewer a bit. It is appreciating to see rendered works that don’t have to be taken too seriously, yet can be contemplated as dialogue of contemporary German culture and their mix-match themes that Americans can so well relate to.
The Guggenheim Guide briefs the visitor on the theme and some of the artworks currently on view. It references the historical artistic endeavor to portray space through cubism, linear perspective, and minimalism. The first work to stand out is Sarah Morris’s
All of the artists chosen visually deal with geometry and space but what is most interesting is not the works chosen, or the curatorial theme developed by the institution, but how it references contemporary art trends. It is urban, architectural, contest capitalism and is old, yet somehow new and fits in
Walking into the
This gives way to the many curatorial errors in how the show was set-up surrounding Ms. Mutu’s work. To the left and right of her installed wall, there was Tracy Rose’s Venus Baartman, 2001, and Bemi Searle’s Girl from the colour me, 1999. These works were important pieces of modern feminist work from
Embedded in the installation, the wall appears to have these jewel-like pearlescent forms, which may or may not have been intended to also be seen as acne. This duality comes from her use of the pearlescent forms coming out of reddish sores on the wall which may represent something positive emerging from the grotesque or the grotesque could at any time consume the jewel-like pearls. In contrast to the violent imagery on the mylar panels, these precious scars jut out of the surface making the entire wall feel like a spongy organic wall-being. The mylar panels portray a pictorial scene, making the entire installation reference an internal and external perspective.
Next to the piece, the placard describes Mutu’s materials used, and a quote: “I think a Revolution dies when somehow it is deemed to have completed its work… Feminism in all its various iterations has permeated only certain very privileged classes and sections of women’s lives worldwide… and only succeeds when it transcends, mutates, and empowers every section of our personal, social, economic and political lives”.… giving more meaning to the work at hand. It is unclear if this statement was made in reference to the work, or if it was applied to the work as a well rounded perspective on the artist view on Feminism. I feel that the particular imagery in the installation directly relates to the quote. In that context, the imagery and meaning of the work became more encompassing and well-rounded.
The cutout imagery consists of women’s legs, skulls, machine parts, and a chimpanzee. The machine parts are attached to the larger, goddess-like figure on the right who seems to be simultaneously emitting and dismantling the leg and skull figures. Above this ball of collected bleeding and diseased imagery, there is a chimpanzee with a saint-like halo, giving a similar hand gesture to the blessing of Christ. The ball also has stick-like star shapes which allude to a 3-dimensional, geometric object made of thorns. Below there are long natural grass stands that give an outdoor setting to the floating, thorny ball and the goddess-like figure. It is important to mention that none of Mutu’s chosen images or painted areas are attractive, but they are so beautifully, technically executed it makes the installation a very vibrant section to the entire Global Feminism show. Because the machine parts are attached to the main figure and the diseased, bleeding, grotesque images are coming out of the breast or armpit of the figure, the piece seems to be an internal and external struggle of the standards of beauty; As if, the figure is ridding themselves of these vile concepts, but can’t really get away from them at the same time. This is a blessed process, by a monkey- one that seems comical but ominously serious.
I feel that this piece was particularly meaningful to me because as a feminist woman, I feel the same internal struggle of contemporary beauty standards and what I should and should not be doing as an independent woman. To me, the monkey could represent the socially sanctioned media, where it gets to deem what sorts of things are attractive. Mutu represents these things as painful and negative which only lead to a personal infestation of what women want. It is something that all women deal with, but some get sucked into the easier, thornier web of social trends. Women want to feel attractive and emotionally valid, but what we really need as women is to create our own personal standards- not allowing it get inside and taint ourselves.