seen in NYC, seen in Paris, seen in Providence

Hello.... hi!

Happy Norooz. Spring is here and I'm feeling that sense of renewal, even through the darkness that seems to persist.

Time to play catch up on all the work that I witnessed over the past month-ish. I truly had such a feast of a month.

New York ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

All the way back on February 2nd, I saw the Ruth Asawa retrospective show at MOMA with Nadia.

(^^^This is a part of her essay for applying for the Guggenheim fellowship- which she applied for five times and was denied each time.)

I learned so so much about her at this show. I learned of her involvement at Black Mountain College, her upbringing in California and that she was incarcerated during her childhood in the internment camps where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during WW2. And, that this is where she started making artwork. Her body of work is unbelievable, in scale and within the linearity that it was shown in. Seeing her college work all the way to the last iterations of the wire sculptures, and to also be given such a rich understanding of her educational practice, I left in awe. I think what made it so successful to me was the constant connections being made throughout the show to artists that she was in conversation with. She was absolutely prodigious on her own, but to be given glimpses of her relationships, the photos that were taken of her by her photographer colleagues, her educational collaborations, it really deepened my understanding.

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Andrew brought me to see Sleeping Beauty at the NYC Ballet on Valentines day. It was stunning.

Providence ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

I visited Nadia and Rey in Providence the weekend of February 19 and had the most lovely art- and friend-filled weekend. I visited both Nadia's studio at the Steel Yard and Rey's studio at RISD.

(Waterfire Arts Center/The Steelyard)

murmurations, Steel Yard Residents group show

So, so, amazing! I had been resisting the spoilers online of Nadia's new work so I could try to see it for the first time here. I was so happy to see Please exhibited in the gallery as well, but the new piece surely stole the show. As somebody who also works with language and the process of understanding, I noted to Nadia that she'd one day be able to read the words that she cast, as for now she is unknowing of their meanings. She seemed surprised and it might have been a bit presumptuous of me to say, but I honestly do believe it. Sitting next to David 's work (sublime placement) I was floored by the references to matrilineage, spheres of connection, and linguistic devastation.

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(RISD Gelman Gallery)

Please Catch Me When I Fall, RISD Black Biennial

There was some really crazy metalwork in here! I think scale was a big success in the show, there was a lot of variety in that way. It was a huge show and pretty tightly squeezed with a lot of work, but it might have felt tighter than it was due to the enormous crowd on opening night. It was really clear that the community that put the show together was strong, loving, and passionate about their work. It was also so lovely to be introduced to some of Rey's friends at RISD, she always attracts the kindest people.

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(RISD Museum)

Art and Design from 1900 to Now (thx to Rey for getting me in <3)

Lots of familiar names in these galleries. There was a lot of Baltimore representation; Joyce J. Scott, Elizabeth Talford Scott, Luci Jockel!

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(The Bell, Brown University)

Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme: Prisoners of Love: Until the Sun of Freedom , curated by Kate Kraczon and Thea Quiray Tagle

I took this photo of a space in the gallery where I felt that the staging of a busy reception took precedence over the work- there was definitely room for these trash cans to be placed elsewhere but they were right beside a piece with which you had to get up close to ingest. I now regret this being the only photo I took of this otherwise incredibly compelling show.

Paris ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

I went to Paris at the end of February/beginning of March. I saw quite a bit of art!

(Perrotin)

Un siècle d'échecs, curated by Jonathan Lambert

(wow)

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Kathia St. Hilaire: The Vocals of the Chaotic Burst

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(Thaddeus Ropac)

Tom Sachs: "A Good Shelf" (Volume II)

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(David Zwirner)

Josef Albers: Duets

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(Topographie de l'art)

The death of a poet

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(Musee du Luxembourg)

Leonora Carrington

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(Musee du Picasso)

Philip Guston: L'ironie du l'histoire

I was lucky to visit during the first Sunday of the month, which is a day where many museums are free to enter. I visited the Musee du Picasso on this day, as well as many of the surrounding galleries in Le Marais/Archives.

New York, again ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Whitney Biennial

The mixed reviews of this show made me really nervous to come and form my own opinion. "This Biennial is less a definitive answer than an invitation to tune in to the moods offered by an intergenerational and international group of fifty-six artists, duos, and collectives who sustain this ongoing conversation." I think some works kind of act as soft spaces to land between other works (which is also important). To me, the room where you enter to Samia Halaby's Kinetic Paintings, the pieces are almost a distraction from Aziz Hazara's Moon Sightings. But in placing Hazara's label on the other side of the room, walking past the prints I conflated the two artists works before identifying their core differences. Hazara's work was one of my biggest standouts and this might be a bit nit-picky, but I was really bothered by the messy treatment of the wall that hung his prints.

I really enjoyed Maia Chao's work, a score for the room. I think when a work makes me hyperaware of myself in a space, I'm very compelled by it. I recently discovered that Maia Chao is doing the Vox Populi An Endless Meeting residency with Logan Cryer. Michelle and I applied for the residency together and it was so wonderful to write that proposal with her, I think I really see us taking it somewhere.

It was nice to see Abbas and Abou-Rahme's installation again in a different way, but the piece was certainly disadvantaged by the spatial limitations. In the Bell gallery, their metal works were shown in light, allowing viewers to read and see the photos and writings. Here, they were in the projection room alongside the film piece, kind of cloistered in the darkness. I tried to read some of the writings but I couldn't in the dark, and later in talking with friends I found that they didn't know there was writing being shown. I do think the film was given the proper space and treatment- it's so effective for the piece to cover all the walls of a room, encompassing the audience in the scenes.

In the gallery, Nadia and I ran into Malcolm Peacock and had a really sweet conversation about his work and practice. We had both seen the piece at the BMA and were so thrilled to see it continue to be shown. What a special thing, to connect there on a random day like that day! We saw him later that evening at Abigail Lucien's show opening.

I feel like I could write a different impression about each section of the show. But I suppose that has to be the nature of a biennial, the scale refuses specificity. My experience was richer after I allowed myself to let go of the criticisms that I had encountered before and just witness the work for what it was.

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NADA Ceramics (The Locker Room)

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Abigail Lucien: Wrought (Nicola Vassel Gallery)

My perspective: a nipple an eye.