Last Thursday I met up with my friends Christina Shmigel and Alexander Oleksyn (both American artists) for a full day of art in far flung places. Christina and I started this pseudo- tradition several years back when we realized there are just some places we would never visit alone and/or without a driver. This was back when art complexes started popping up all over the city: the eastern reaches of Yangpu district, the northern edge of Putuo, Pudong... you get the idea.
Our first stop was the Long Museum. I've written about the collection before (look out for my profile on Wang Wei in the upcoming issue of Art Asia Pacific) but it was a lot more fun viewing the works with friends, rather than with someone from the academic department (as I did the first time I went). Such gems like "We are all sharp shooters!", depicting cheerful women diligently cleaning their guns, went unnoticed on my first visit.
After a quick lunch in the food court of the World Financial Center (ramen!), we headed to Yangpu to visit Magda Danysz Gallery. Magda moved to this complex a few years back but I was never motivated to venture up here. And for good reason I guess. It was the tail end of their exhibition with Zhang Dali and Gael Davrinche. Why these two artists were paired up was totally lost on me. Zhang Dali has made a name for himself with his political works and public interventions. But here he seemed to have gone off the deep end. This is the first time I've seen his sculptural works and I really wish I had not seen them. I don't even think it's worth describing; I'll just post an image here:
Our first stop was the Long Museum. I've written about the collection before (look out for my profile on Wang Wei in the upcoming issue of Art Asia Pacific) but it was a lot more fun viewing the works with friends, rather than with someone from the academic department (as I did the first time I went). Such gems like "We are all sharp shooters!", depicting cheerful women diligently cleaning their guns, went unnoticed on my first visit.
After a quick lunch in the food court of the World Financial Center (ramen!), we headed to Yangpu to visit Magda Danysz Gallery. Magda moved to this complex a few years back but I was never motivated to venture up here. And for good reason I guess. It was the tail end of their exhibition with Zhang Dali and Gael Davrinche. Why these two artists were paired up was totally lost on me. Zhang Dali has made a name for himself with his political works and public interventions. But here he seemed to have gone off the deep end. This is the first time I've seen his sculptural works and I really wish I had not seen them. I don't even think it's worth describing; I'll just post an image here:
Zhang Dali, Palpitate, 2013, bronze. Galerie Magda Danysz
We also were given a sneak peak at their next show, an exhibition of Italian street art duo Stan Lex. Magda is really milking this street art thing for all its worth. If I see another stencil or graffiti-inspired text, I might have to put a hit on Banksy. I blame him for this current wave of mediocre street artists.
We made it back downtown for MoCA's current installment of +Follow, their yearly exhibition of young artists. Not as big as in previous years, this year's show, titled "Existence", features six artists (and one designer). The highlights for me were Gao Mingyan (consistently good), Liao Fei, and Su Chang. Gao had some lovely sketches on hand, something which I've never seen from him. Liao also had beautiful paintings which reminded me of Zhang Enli (never a bad thing). But Su Chang got me again with his architectural miniatures. I am such a sucker for shrunken objects! Most of the pieces were already shown at Don Gallery last year but it's always a pleasure to have them included in a show. I particularly love his façade of a typical Shanghai apartment building.
At this point, Alex had to leave us (art exhaustion) so Christina and I soldiered on to one final stop, a brief visit to James Cohan. The show was still being installed but we got the idea. Jessica Lin Cox from their New York gallery curated this one featuring artists from the Lower East Side. There wasn't much of a theme and the works did not relate to the neighborhood at all. Rather, it was a loose gathering of a group of artists that have made a community downtown. It wasn't a particularly dynamic selection of works but I did like Erica Baum's archival prints. This one was particularly lovely:
We made it back downtown for MoCA's current installment of +Follow, their yearly exhibition of young artists. Not as big as in previous years, this year's show, titled "Existence", features six artists (and one designer). The highlights for me were Gao Mingyan (consistently good), Liao Fei, and Su Chang. Gao had some lovely sketches on hand, something which I've never seen from him. Liao also had beautiful paintings which reminded me of Zhang Enli (never a bad thing). But Su Chang got me again with his architectural miniatures. I am such a sucker for shrunken objects! Most of the pieces were already shown at Don Gallery last year but it's always a pleasure to have them included in a show. I particularly love his façade of a typical Shanghai apartment building.
At this point, Alex had to leave us (art exhaustion) so Christina and I soldiered on to one final stop, a brief visit to James Cohan. The show was still being installed but we got the idea. Jessica Lin Cox from their New York gallery curated this one featuring artists from the Lower East Side. There wasn't much of a theme and the works did not relate to the neighborhood at all. Rather, it was a loose gathering of a group of artists that have made a community downtown. It wasn't a particularly dynamic selection of works but I did like Erica Baum's archival prints. This one was particularly lovely:
Erica Baum, Towel, 2009, archival pigment print. James Cohan Gallery
Christina and I were also blown away by Hilary Harnischfeger's geode-like objects. They look like a crystal had grown a rainbow of tumors. Even more impressive is that some of the growths are actually layers (and I mean LAYERS) of heavy stock colored paper that have been cut away to look like striations of rock. Beautiful!
I really wanted to be in New York this week so this was a nice alternative. Spring is just around the corner so I expect to see many more new shows in the coming weeks. Check back soon for my take on it all!
I really wanted to be in New York this week so this was a nice alternative. Spring is just around the corner so I expect to see many more new shows in the coming weeks. Check back soon for my take on it all!
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