Kerry James Marshall. "If They Come," 2012. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
In this week’s roundup Bruce Nauman explores the phenomenon of the face in video art, Laylah Ali questions society’s conventions in her notes, Rashid Johnson examines black identity, Andrea Zittel addresses visual and functional objects, and more.
- Bruce Nauman‘s work is on view in Faces: The Phenomenon of Face in Videoart at Galerie Rudolfinum (Prague). The exhibition presents 18 works, which are split approximately fifty-fifty between those featuring the creator and ones that turn the camera on others. The show traces video’s development from early experiments by the medium’s pioneers to performance and installation. This show runs through September 19.
- Laylah Ali: Note Drawings is on view at the Walter J. Manninen Center for the Arts, Endicott College (Beverly, MA). In this exhibition Laylah Ali uses text and images, i.e. her notes that include random thoughts, overheard conversations, and snippets from newspapers and radio. Ambiguous characters dressed in masks, wigs, and costumes confuse rather than clarify sexual and racial identities. This exhibition closes October 12.
- Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks is on view at the Miami Art Museum. Rashid Johnson explores the complexities and contradictions of black identity in a practice that is rooted in his individual experience. Incorporating commonplace objects from his childhood in a process he describes as “hijacking the domestic,” the artist transforms everyday materials such as wood into conceptually loaded and visually compelling works. The exhibition closes November 4.
- Vija Celmins, Elizabeth Murray and several others are featured in Contemporary Prints by American Women: A Selection from the Gift of Martha and Jim Sweeny at the Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg, FL). The show includes more than 60 prints by American women artists, made after 1950, which have recently become part of the Museum’s collection. The exhibition closes February 2, 2013.
- Laurie Anderson Dirtday! will be performed at Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley. In Dirtday!, Laurie Anderson turns her critical gaze on politics, theories of evolution, families, history, and even animals. Set against a detailed and lush sonic landscape, the powerful and soulful collection of songs and stories creates a unique picture of a hallucinatory world made of dreams and reality. The event takes place September 18, 8:00pm.
- Kimsooja: To Breathe features Kimsooja‘s film series, Thread Routes and is on display at the Kukje Gallery in Seoul. The series shows weaving in six distinct geographical regions, including Peruvian weaving culture in the highlands around Machu Picchu and the ancient craft of lace-making in various parts of Europe. The show runs through October 10. Admission is free.
- Pierre Huyghe was interviewed by ARTINFO Canada about his work now on view at dOCUMENTA 13 in Kassel, Germany. Untitled (2011–2012) is installed around a park’s compost heap, although the installation’s unfurling growth and insidious expansion — which includes a painted dog, a beehive-headed sculpture, poisonous fruits, and marijuana, among other natural resources — seems more predicated on the loss of artistic control. The show closes September 16.
- Andrea Zittel: Fluid Panel State will be on view at the Andrea Rosen Gallery (NYC). In this exhibition, Andrea Zittel addresses the slim differences between visual and functional objects including woven blankets, panels, and sheets. Zittel’s installation also includes gouache and watercolor drawings, paintings, new furniture pieces, and a video Power Point, among other works. The exhibition will run September 14 – October 27.
- Kerry James Marshall‘s Who’s Afraid of Red, Black and Green will be on view at Secession (Vienna). Marshall will show a new series of works whose title points to two key references: the flag of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, founded in 1920, and Barnett Newman’s famous painting Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue. This work will be on view September 21 – November 25.
- Jessica Stockholder will deliver the Annual Plonsker Family Lecture in Contemporary Art at the Williams College Museum of Art. The Plonsker Family Lecture Series in Contemporary Art was established in 1994 by Madeleine Plonsker, Harvey Plonsker (Class of 1961) and their son, Ted Plonsker (Class of 1986), to examine current issues in contemporary art. The lecture will take place on September 27 at 7:00 pm and is a free public event.
- Jenny Holzer: THE FUTURE PLEASE will be on view at L&M Arts Venice. the exhibition will be presented in two parts. The West Gallery will take the viewer through a selection of Jenny Holzer‘s work from the 1970s to the present, including granite benches and her iconic LED signs. The East gallery will showcase Holzer’s latest body of work, the Redaction Paintings, based on declassified and other sensitive US documents and inspired by Russian Constructivism. The show will run September 13 – October 27.
- James Turrell’s latest Skyspace is being constructed for a new Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse in Philadelphia. Skyspaces are rooms with an aperture in the ceiling through which light appears curiously closer. They have been commissioned around the globe and are visited by contemporary art enthusiasts and those seeking quiet contemplation.