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Marietta Hoferer at Galerie Mourlot
By Megan Garwood
The visitor actively participates in an exploration of meditation when encountering the works included in Marietta Hoferer's new solo exhibition, Visible/Invisible. The exhibition's title suggests that the viewer will be confronted by the dichotomy of the visible and the invisible; in fact, the work oscillates between a unique revelation of the artist's intention and the inescapable modularity of the picture plane.
Hoferer builds intricate pieces, fortified by tape on paper, which play with the structure of the grid to create nearly symmetrical systems of intersecting horizontal and vertical lines, as well as patterns of shapes of various sizes. This near adherence to the formal rules of the grid organizes the pictorial space into one single plane � a fusion of foreground, middle ground, and background�replacing representational subject matter with abstraction and inviting meticulous examination. By eliminating recognizable figurative forms, she forces the viewer to mediate on presentation, material and formal elements.
The artist premeditates the application of tape and slight nuances of the surface; her creative process is apparent in the occasional pencil line still visible in the finished work. This leads us to presume that she intended to alter the traditional grid pattern. In the past, the minimalist grid has been used as a conceptual tool, distancing the artist from the work by presenting a mechanical, inorganic organization of the world. Hoferer's appropriation of the grid results in a minimalist but also personal depiction of the material world. Her stories are not limited to the frame; they expand beyond the picture plane by repeating a pattern not only on paper, but also in the viewer's mind.
This series of works awakens and arouses the minimalist eye by disrupting formerly reductive forms and objective subject matters with subversive marks and unexpected self-revelations. The insertion of the artist into her minimalist compositions adds a personal touch to a previously rigid ideology, inviting the viewer to interact with the works. Variations on the formal grid, unexpected combinations of media, reflections of light and other evidences of the artist's hand bring the viewer into a contemplative state, much like the repetition of a mantra elevates the spirit in meditation. The series engages in a minimalist rhetoric while also compiling a brief history of its creation; the works oscillate between precision and spontaneity, allowing each viewer to form one (or several) personal interpretation(s).
Hoferer's reworking of the grid echoes Agnes Martin's drawings of the 1960s, in which Martin attempted to capture the power of nature and of Asian religion by projecting her feelings onto repetitive forms. Hoferer has not stated her intentions clearly, but her approach evokes Martin's existentialism. Her choice of medium adds layers of history to a two-dimensional grid. Tangible materials re-energize an established discourse.
In a piece entitled Braille 5, small, narrowly-spaced rows of white artist tape stretch across the width of the paper, overlapping with vertical columns of the same material. The piece forms a perfect square � 38 inches by 38 inches � yet the grid is slightly skewed. Both groups of lines, vertical and horizontal, attract and then repel each other, almost depicting waves of lines crashing onto a paper shore. Although, at first glance, Braille 5 seems to aim for calculated perfection � a geometric web of pure, white lines � further investigation reveal small incongruities. The piece juxtaposes two opposing formal elements, thus exciting the viewer's eye. The titles do not relate directly to her pieces, they refer to the idea of a universal language. In Braille 5, trite tape transforms into a language for the blind.
Hoferer's works can be interpreted as reliefs, drawings or sculptures. As a relief, Braille 5 can be read by the viewer by running one's fingertips over the surface; as a drawing, it speaks of intersections and interactions of lines; as a sculpture, it embodies a palpable language. Although the bumps in Braille 5 may not be literally read as braille, they emit a tacit story to each viewer. To ensure a comprehensive reading of Braille 5, the viewer must consider many perspectives.
At the intersection of vertical and horizontal lines, a shadow cast upon the paper exposes another grid underneath the three-dimensional tape, revealing another element of Hoferer's work, light. The surface confronts the viewer with a dazzling light show as the overhead lighting dances around the grid. Acting as a catalyst, light brings out a different reaction, another pattern. Reflections of light often expose slight nuances in organization: a tilted square, a wavy line, a faint trace of pencil buried beneath the tape. Light reminds the viewer of Hoferer's meticulous process. In a process similar to papier collé, Hoferer revitalizes pure white tape, transforming it into a buzzing visual experience.
Like a sculpture's multiple viewpoints, Marietta Hoferer's work layers metaphysical viewpoints, combining minimalist, mannerist, and conceptual theories. Visible/Invisible relies on pure forms to introduce a language constructed on paper and built on the repetitions of line, grids, and hidden narratives. Viewers must mediate on Hoferer's works in order to truly comprehend the multiple stories that they tell. M
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Fay Ku at Kips Gallery
By Jonathan Goodman
?When Fay Ku was a child, her parents used to tell her fairy tales with horrible rather than happy endings � it was their way of introducing their daughter to the dangers of the world. Ku, who moved to America from Taiwan at the age of three to be with her parents (her grandmother had raised her after birth), responded sensitively to the troubled narratives her parents entertained her with: she became an artist whose work incorporates children and adolescents in situations that emphasize the sheer strangeness of childhood. Not unlike the fantastic, whimsical artist Henry Darger, Ku refers to a mind-set populated by children who undermine confidence in the world as it is. She prefers to present disturbing tableaux, in which young girls pull each other's hair or regurgitate snakes, so that the scenes become meditations on transgressions that make no sense, that seem to come out of nowhere.
Ku is invested in secrets, the kind of intimacy that occurs when something private is told privately. It is an intensely female world, whose idiosyncratic habits do not lack for aggression. The viewer hopes for a key to the eccentricities of the imagery, but none is offered�we must make sense of the uncanny aggression Ku's subjects submit to. While not all the girls are engaging in destructive activities, even the supposedly benign drawings emphasize exotic situations, with the girls' bodies caricatured in poses that are humanly impossible to carry off. For example, in Secret (2007) two attractive young women are head to head, transmitting secrets � the figure on the right cups her hand to her ear in order to hear better. Both figures are being violated by sexless personages � we do not see their faces � who wear striped clothing and seem to peer at the subjects' genitals. Regularly, Ku invites us into a world where nothing seems right.
Sometimes the images deliberately seek provocation � in the erotic sense, where the young women are both vulnerable and sexually available. In Nightcrawlers (2007) a naked post-adolescent girl, lying on a bed, is covered with large worms; they are attracted to her breast (which she also covers with her hand) and her sex, hiding the pubis. A worm is found at her lips and in her hair, and the figure's expression is troubled, as if she were enduring her condition for the sake of someone else. The masochism becomes even more apparent in Thorny (2007), in which a nude young woman remarkably like Ku herself is enveloped in thorns, which wrap her hands, enter her mouth, and curl under to her genitals. These two images both suggest psychological as well as physical pain, yet we don't know why the artist has portrayed her subjects as she does; the enigma of their existence turns on the experience of suffering, but the vivid conundrums of Ku's drawings show only the effect and not the cause.
One of the more affecting drawings pictures a young girl with a short haircut, in a print blouse and shorts, walking off toward the left. Titled Didn't Feel a Thing (2005), the subject has left five bloody footprints; her right foot is steeped in blood. The young girl's profile reveals a somber demeanor, while the title of the work only emphasizes her predicament. Again, pain is key to the painting. In general, Ku's art is excruciating to the point where it doesn't make sense, resulting in a surrealism whose physical aches stand in for another kind of suffering. Although Ku describes girls and young women in raw circumstances, the hurt seems to be self-induced. This poses a seemingly intractable puzzle: Why should they do this to themselves? The answer to the mystery isn't all that clear, but what results is an extraordinary range of scenarios whose close familiarity border on frankness. We may not know the secrets, but nonetheless we are taken in by them; our bemusement results from the girls' unsolvable quandaries. M
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Mauro Herlitzka Talking About PINTA 2008
By M. Brendon MacInnis
Billed as New York's only modern and contemporary Latin American Art Fair, PINTA will be held for the second consecutive year November 13 -16 at both the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street and the B. Altman Building, 135 West 18th St. The fair's directors are Diego Costa Peuser, Alejandro Zaia and Mauro Herlitzka. Mr. Costa Peuser is also the director of Arteamericas, the Latin American art fair that has taken place in Miami since 2003. Mr. Zaia is the CEO of Conexion Public Relations, headquartered in Miami and South America. Mauro Herlitzka is the Chairman of Fundación Espigas and its Documentation Center for the History of the Visual Arts in Argentina. During a recent visit to New York, we asked Mr. Herlitzka a few questions about PINTA 2008.
How did you get involved with the PINTA art fair? I come to New York at least once a month or twice a month, like this month. Always on art related business. So when they [The organizers of PINTA] invited me to be part of this project, I thought this is wonderful because there is a lot of interest in Latin American art in the United States; many museums show Latin American art, and there are lots collectors of Latin American art.
Who collects Latin American art? Well, you have now the museums. At PINTA we get funds for them to make purchases, like El Museo Del Barrio, and the MoMA. Then there s the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and also the museums in Los Angeles; there are plenty of places. And you have the curators and also the universities who are having a lot to do with Latin American art and also with the culture, doing research. For example, at PINTA we collect funds to give money to NYU fo reseach. And in Houston we give grants to students of Latin American art; with PINTA, an important aspect of what we do is to develop knowledge. I mean you can see a wonderful object, but if you don't know the background, � the culture � then you don't really have full access to the work.
In Miami, do you work with Gary Nader? He seems to be very involved in promoting Latin American art. I don't live in Miami, I'm mostly here in New York. I know that Gary Nader has a gallery in Miami, but he is not participating in PINTA.
Oh, I see. But the other two PINTA directors, they live in Miami... Most of the Latin American galleries participating in PINTA are from New York.
What is it that really motivates you to do this fair, now that it's in its second year? Well, the first year was really successful. We sold more than $8 million. It was a small fair, but we had a lot of success with the critics, in the press and also the sales. It was very good. And this is something that needed to be done. You have in New York the whole structure, the galleries and museums and collectors, and while some art fairs show some Latin American art � you may have five, six seven or maybe eight galleries � here [in the PINTA art fair] you have fifty-three. It's absolutely focused on the issue of Latin American art. M
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Nick Korniloff Talking About Art Miami 2008
By M. Brendon MacInnis
?A revitalized Art Miami, with a new director, Nick Kornilof, and a major sponsor in Blackrock � one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management firms � will be held December 2-7 at the Art Miami Pavilion, Midtown Miami Arts District, Midtown Boulevard (NE 1st Ave.) between NE 32nd & NE 31st streets. We spoke with Mr. Korniloff about this year's Art Miami.
I understand there have been some huge changes at Art Miami, with last year's move to Wynwood and moving the show dates up to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach. Now the fair has a new director, and there's even a major sponsor on bord this year, with BlackRock. Can you tell me something about yourself, how you came to be the new director? Well, I originally got involved with our Miami many, many years ago, back in the early 90s. I was the facility manager of the Miami Beach Convention Center, which now hosts Art Basel Miami Beach. Art Miami was the original contemporary Art fair in South Florida.
When you were involved with the fair at that time, did the Lesters [David and Lee Ann Lester] own it? That's correct. They owned it and I worked for the management company that ran the building. I was the facility manager. At that time the Miami Beach Convention Center was the second largest such facility in the world.
Sure. Yeah, I remember flying over it the first time I came to Miami. It's pretty impressive. So, I ran the operational side of it, and helped with the technical side. That was my first entry into the art world many years ago. And I lived in Miami. From the Convention Center I went into the mortgage business for a brief couple of years, and then I went to work for the International Speedway Corporation which ran 13 high-end motor sports facilities around the United States. For them, I was a manager of corporate partnerships in which I sold sponsorships for their main speedway in Miami to major blue chip corporate brands, like Pepsi, Pennzoil and Goodyear.
That's covering a lot of territory. Yes. And so, from the International Speedway Corporation I was contacted by the Lesters who had just sold their business [International Fine Art Expositions] to DMG World Media. In Palm Beach they needed someone to run the operations for the fine art fair, a contemporary art fair, and they had a third show at that time.
Wasn't that company, at some point, owned by Advanstar? Well, Art Miami was owned by Advanstar; it was originally owned by the Lesters, then it went to Advanstar, and Advanstar sold it to Pfingsten Publishing who then sold to...
So, how does DMG Media fit into the picture? Aren't they based in London? Yes, they're based in London. DMG World Media.
Okay. And they also got the SOFA fair too? That's correct, they own the SOFA fair.
Well, now that we've got that all cleared up... So, at that time I was recruited by the senior management team at DMG World Media; I was living in Miami and they had an office in Stuart, Florida. I packed up and moved to Stuart Florida and went to work for DMG World Media, I believe it was in August of 2001� just prior to the 9/11 tragedy.
Yeah, okay. Our first focus was the Texas International Fine Art Fair, which we were hosting. And then we went immediately into Palm Beach, where they had at that time three different shows that we were planning for. One was called Art Palm Beach, the other was called Palm Beach International Art and Antiques Fair. And we also had a third one which was called Town and Country, I believe.
I remember all of that; all of these different fairs, didn't they get folded into... They morphed into Palm Beach 3. That's correct � the contemporary show which featured contemporary art, photography and design.
Yeah, I was there last year. We had a booth for our magazine in the fair. They've got a new director too, she's from New York. That's right, Fran Kaufman. I actually hired Fran.
She's great. I hired Fran when I was the vice president at International Fine Art Expositions [IFAE]. I hired her to be the director of Palm Beach 3. So, I started out as a director of operations and corporate partnerships at IFAE in the summer of 2001.
If we fast-forward to today, I guess, with that background you probably had a lot to do with getting Blackrock on board as the main corporate sponsor for this year's Art Miami. Yes, we put that together; they had an interest in a show that we were producing in DC [artDC] that didn't come off, and I went back to them and asked them if they wanted to be a part of what we did in Miami.
The DC fair is gone, right? Right. We did that once, � I wasn't a part of it, I wasn't in the organization at that point � so we decided not to go ahead with that.
Getting back to Miami, I thought that was a pretty smart move last year, taking Art Miami to the Wynwood Art District and changing the show dates. Well, clearly something had to change; after five years of Art Basel, fair directors could really quantify how much it took away from fairs that took place later than the month of December. And I think, clearly now people � when I say people I mean collectors, curators, art enthusiasts � all know now that the first week in December is the most important week for contemporary art outside of New York, in America.
Yeah, everyone in New York seems to pick up and move there at this time of year... M
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