Ai Weiwei. “Grass-Mud Horse Style,” 2012. Image courtesy the artist.
In this week’s roundup, William Kentridge films to be shown at the New Museum, Gabriel Orozco talks at the Guggenheim, a Fred Wilson magazine feature and lecture, Laurie Simmons is honored, Ai Weiwei covers “Gangnam Style” and much more.
- William Kentridge‘s animated films will be shown at the New Museum (NYC). Felix in Exile (1994), Ubu Tells the Truth (1997), and Shadow Procession (1999), were all included in the exhibition William Kentridge, the artist’s first career survey in the United States. This special Get Weird program pairs Kentridge with Alexis Gideon, an emerging animator and songwriter. The event takes place November 2, 7pm.
- Gabriel Orozco will talk at the Guggenheim Museum (NYC). For Conversations with Contemporary Artists: Gabriel Orozco with Benjamin Buchloh the artist will talk about his practice and his work in Gabriel Orozco: Asterisms, on view from November 9, 2012–January 13, 2013. The artist talk will take place on November 13 at 6:30pm.
- Laurie Simmons was honored by the Aurora Picture Show (Houston, TX). The Aurora Award is an honor given to an artist who has exhibited extraordinary originality in the fields of media and multimedia art. The event took place on October 16.
- Mark Bradford‘s work is on view at Sikkema Jenkins (NYC). “Mark Bradford” features large-scale paintings that make use of collage and décollage. The artist “preserves the physical characteristics of his source material, exposing the tension between precise painterly gestures and the three-dimensionality of the found objects.” This exhibition runs through December 15.
- Carrie Mae Weems‘ and Fred Wilson‘s works are mentioned in ARTnews’ From Kongo to Othello to Tango to Museum Shows (November 2012). The article highlights how artists and scholars are taking increasingly nuanced approaches to tracking the image (and influence) of Africans in Western art.
- Fred Wilson is featured in the November 2012 edition of ARTnews. In Fred Wilson Creates an Installation the authors explore how the basic vocabulary of Wilson’s work becomes an “evocative meditation of color and race.”
- Fred Wilson will speak at The Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD) about his exhibition Speak of Me as I Am and related works that imagine the psychological state of Africans in Venice in the early centuries. Wilson’s talk will touch on the irony of the hidden-in-plain-sight history of Africans in Venice and its effect on the contemporary Venetian unconscious. The event will take place on November 18, from 2:00pm–3:00pm.
- Sally Mann‘s photographs are on view at the AMW Gallery in Homewood, Alabama. Fine Photographs features an ambrotype triptych, titled Torso, by Mann that will be shown for the first time. The exhibition closes November 30.
- Louise Bourgeois‘ jewelry is on display in Paris. The Crédit Municipal gallery in Paris is showing an unusual exhibition of miniature wearable sculptures that were first made for the artists’ private circles, though some of the earlier designs were later popularized and commercialized by jewelry maker François Hugo in the 1950s. This work is on view through January 13, 2013.
- Liz Magic Laser has been chosen as the commissioned artist for The Armory Show in 2013 (NYC). The Armory Show is devoted to showcasing the most important artworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. Laser will help create the visual identity of the fair, which will run from March 7–10, 2013.
- Maya Lin talked to the Architect’s Journal about how her interest in the environment guides her designs.
- Ai Weiwei uploaded his own cover version of the rap video Gangnam Style to YouTube. The artist, who mimics the mock horse-riding dance moves of the original while wearing handcuffs in his remix, calls his version Grass-Mud Horse Style, a reference to a Chinese Internet meme that employs a pun on an obscene phrase to mock government censorship of the Web.
