Ann Hamilton. “the event of a thread,” 2012. Photo by Steven Kest. Courtesy of Kemi Ilesanmi.
In this week’s roundup Ann Hamilton invites visitors to swing, William Kentridge mentors, Nancy Spero is featured in an upcoming show and more.
- Ann Hamilton’s new large-scale installation is on view at the Park Avenue Armory (NYC). the event of a thread references the building’s architecture, as well as the individual encounters and congregational gatherings that have animated its rich social history. The work draws together readings, sound, and live events within a field of swings that together invite visitors to connect to the action of each other and the work itself, illuminating the experience of the singular and collective body. The show closes January 6, 2013.
- Martin Puryear and several African-American printmakers have work on view at Nazareth College’s Arts Center Gallery (Rochester, NY). Contemporary African American Printmakers offers visitors glimpses into the corners of African-American history and life. The show closes December 21.
- Keltie Ferris has work currently on view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash (NYC). Keltie Ferris presents a dozen large-scale paintings made over the past year, using oil, acrylic, and hand-made spray-paint. Ferris’ exuberant paintings draw from a wide and varied vocabulary of marks, gestures, and references. She synthesizes allusions to divergent schools of painting, from pop to abstract expressionism to graffiti. The exhibition runs through January 12, 2013.
- Mike Kelley‘s work is featured at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Mike Kelley brings together almost 200 works, from 1974 until 2012. The exhibition, which encompasses all of the galleries in the museum’s new wing, is largely chronological, beginning with Kelley’s works from the 1970s until his most recent works, including the last work the artist exhibited before his death in 2012. The exhibition runs through April 1, 2013.
- Pierre Huyghe has a film on view at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa). Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012 showcases over 100 engaging works, including A Journey That Wasn’t by Huyghe. The film merges two fictional events: an Antarctic expedition in search of an albino creature rumored to exist on an uncharted island exposed by receding ice, and a re-enactment of that voyage as an elaborate concert and lightshow in Central Park in October 2005. The show closes February 18, 2013.
- Gabriel Orozco has work in a group show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Lost Line showcases 75 works concerning the topics of environment, landscape and the monumental. The exhibition covers different genres and artistic movements as well as multiple disciplines, from painting and sculpture, through photography, film, installation and engraving. The work is on view through February 24, 2013.
- William Kentridge mentored artist Mateo López in 2012 as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. The program was created to assist extraordinary, rising artists to achieve their full potential. Through a vigorous process, it seeks out artists around the world and brings them together for a year of creative collaboration in a one-to-one mentoring relationship.
- Nancy Spero’s exhibition of female figures that run, dance, crawl, tumble, and strut across the page will soon be on view at Galerie Lelong (NYC). From Victimage to Liberation: Works from the 1980s & 1990s features collaged narratives that show women transformed from historical contexts of suffering and subordination into protagonists in charge of their own destinies. This is the first solo presentation of Spero’s work in New York since her death in 2009. The exhibition will open to the public January 2 – February 16, 2013.
- Yinka Shonibare MBE‘s work will soon be on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Texas). FOCUS: Yinka Shonibare MBE presents Shonibare’s version of historical (often white, European) figures dressed in batik. Shonibare “Africanizes” the subjects, subversively pointing out a multitude of deep-rooted mythologies, falsehoods, and prejudices that complicate dominant narratives of history and identity. The exhibition runs January 13 – March 24, 2013.