Installation view: House of Trees. Word on the Street, 2017. Courtesy of Maria Baranova for Times Square Arts.
A new public art commission is bringing political banners by female artists and writers to street poles and trash receptacles in Times Square. Times Square Arts’ Word on the Street presents designs by poet Anne Carson and artists Carrie Mae Weems, Amy Khoshbin, and Wangechi Mutu through February 2018. The phrases featured, like “Action Comes From the Backbone, Not the Wishbone” and “I Was Born for Love Not Hatred,” were originally created for the post-inaugural Women’s March.
Also this week:
- Katharina Grosse has been commissioned by Sydney’s Carriageworks to create the third Schwartz Carriageworks visual arts project. A new monumental site-specific installation by the artist will be unveiled on January 6, 2018 as part of the 2018 Sydney Festival.
- At last week’s Fifth Star Honors awards in Chicago, honoree Kerry James Marshall suggested adding to complicated historical monuments rather than tearing them down. He’s previously suggested “augmentations,” like adding statues of abolitionists to monuments like the Jefferson Memorial to reflect the fact that they honor slave owners. “There’s no way of erasing that history,” said the artist. “They are objects of independence… but they are also monuments to slave owners.”
Events & exhibitions
New York City
This Thursday and Friday there are a flurry of solo exhibitions opening in New York galleries:
- On Thursday, September 7, Jordan Casteel’s inaugural exhibition at Casey Kaplan, Nights in Harlem, is opening (on view through October 28); as is Kara Walker’s new solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins and Co. (through October 14).
- On Friday, September 8, Trevor Paglen’s A Study of Invisible Images opens at Metro Pictures (through October 21); as does Maya Lin’s Ebb and Flow at Pace Gallery (through October 7); as well as Robert Adams’ solo exhibition Trees at Matthew Marks (on view through October 21).
Buffalo, NY
- This Thursday, both locations of the University at Buffalo Art Galleries will be opening the new exhibition Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, Journeys 1967-2017. On view through December 31, the 50-year survey “considers the themes of action and exploration outside of the studio,” and features work by Janine Antoni, John Baldessari, Mary Mattingly, and Gabriel Orozco among others.
Savannah, GA
- Also opening Thursday is the SCAD Museum of Art’s Lines of Influence, a group exhibition commemorating the hundredth birthday of African American painter Jacob Lawrence. On view through February 4 and including both historical and contemporary artists, the exhibition features work by Josef Albers, José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, Hank Willis Thomas, Jack Whitten, and Kara Walker among others.
Detroit
- On Friday, September 8, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit is opening Sonic Rebellion: Music As Resistance. Featuring work by Rashid Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Glenn Ligon, and Pedro Reyes among others, the exhibition will be on view through January 7.
Minneapolis
- The Walker Art Center’s new exhibition I am you, you are you too opens on Thursday and explores the themes of “citizenship and belonging, borders and barriers.” Featuring work by John Baldessari, Mark Bradford, Stan Douglas, Ellen Gallagher, Kerry James Marshall, Paul McCarthy, Julie Mehretu, Bruce Nauman, and Gabriel Orozco among others, the exhibition will be on view through October 2019.
Los Angeles
- As part of Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles / Latin America, a new fall initiative emphasizing the significance of Latin American art in Los Angeles, Abraham Cruzvillegas and Gabriel Kuri have co-curated a group exhibition opening at Regen Projects this Saturday.
- LA’s new free museum is staging its grand opening weekend this Saturday and Sunday. The ICA LA will open its Project Room for the first time with an installation by Abigail DeVille.
London
- On Friday the David Roberts Arts Foundation is opening the final exhibition in its Camden gallery space: (X) A Fantasy, which collectively questions the boundaries between public and private spheres. Including work by Theaster Gates and Tala Madani among others, the exhibition closes October 7.
Healesville, Australia
- Cao Fei was selected as one of five artists featured in the third iteration of the TarraWarra International at the TarraWarra Museum of Art. On view through November 12 and titled All that is solid …, all the work presented was created through “non-solid” processes like tearing, melting, chewing, and piercing.