This Week in Art 6.12-6.18: Matthew Ritchie Unveils “The Temptation of the Diagram”

Matthew Ritchie. The Temptation of the Diagram, page 8, 2014. Courtesy of El Segundo Museum of Art.

Yesterday artist Matthew Ritchie unveiled a 27-foot-long work titled The Temptation of the Diagram, exploring the history of diagrams over the past 5,000 years. Part of the artist’s five year collaboration with the Getty Research Institute, the first complete presentation of the piece is included in a new exhibition at California’s El Segundo Museum of Art entitled NoemaDerived from a Greek word meaning “thought-object,” noemata have since been understood as diagrams, and the exhibition includes a 160-foot immersive version of Ritchie’s newly unveiled piece.


Events & exhibitions

New York City

Hartford, CT

  • Mika Tajima recently opened a solo exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Entitled MATRIXX 177: After Life, the installation is an illuminated space that “responds to the sentiment of future human expressions modeled by computer algorithms.” On view through September 3. [Read a review in the Hartford Courant.]

Rockland, ME

  • An exhibition of work by William Wegman opened this weekend at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Reel to Real features the artist’s 1970s performance videos and drawings, and is on view through October 22.

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

  • This is the last week to see Catherine Opie’s 700 Nimes Road at NSU Art Museum. Comprised of two photo series documenting the California home of actress Elizabeth Taylor, the exhibition closes this Sunday, June 18.

Miami

Toledo, OH

  • Kara Walker’s 2005 print series Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) opens this Saturday, June 17 at the Toledo Museum of Art. On view through October 22, the exhibition is a celebration of the series’ recent acquisition by the museum, and features 15 of the artist’s silhouette figures layered over wood-engravings of Civil War scenes from Harper’s Pictorial History, first published in 1866.

San Francisco

  • This Friday, June 16, Tania Bruguera is opening a temporary iteration of her Escuela de Arte Útil (School of Useful Art) at Yerba Buena. Part of the survey exhibition Talking to Power / Hablándole al Poder, the show will present all of the artist’s long-term, socially engaged art projects to date, and includes weekly public classes led by Bruguera and fellow artist-educators. On view through October 19, with Escuela de Arte Útil classes held 4-8pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, June 20-August 10.

Bruton, UK

  • An exhibition of new and recent work by Rashid Johnson entitled Stranger is on view at Hauser & Wirth Somerset through September 10. [Read a review in Crave.]

Zurich

  • An exhibition of new work by Jenny Holzer, including a new group of Redaction paintings and a new series of watercolor and graphite drawings, opens today at Hauser & Wirth Zürich, where it will be on view through July 29.

It’s impossible to include all the incredible exhibitions and art events happening this week in a single post. If there’s something you feel should have been included in today’s roundup, leave a comment below!