OBJECT FICTIONS

Posted on 2012-01-09

Object fictions assembles a diverse group of artists whose works investigate notions of perception, in its many definitions. Through a variety of media and processes, these artists explore the potential of ordinary objects, historical events, invented narratives and in some cases even other artworks, to expose reality through the lens of fiction. Through sustained looking, the works in this exhibition challenge us to consider what constitutes an object, an image, and in the broadest sense, what constitutes truth.

Opposite – Mother and Child, 2011, Matt Johnson

Exhibition runs through to February 11th, 2012

James Cohan Gallery
533 West 26th Street
New York
NY
10001

www.jamescohan.com

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ANSELM KIEFER – IL MISTERO DELLE CATTEDRALI

Posted on 2012-01-09

The title of the exhibition is taken from the esoteric publication by Fulcanelli (published in 1926), which claimed that the Gothic cathedrals of Europe had openly displayed the hidden code of alchemy for over 700 years.

As with all Kiefer’s work, allusions are never literal but reflect an ongoing interest in systems – mystical and material – which have evolved over centuries. Both title and exhibition reflect Kiefer’s longtime fascination with the transformative nature of alchemy: ‘The ideology of alchemy is the hastening of time, as in the lead-silver-gold cycle which needed only time in order to transform lead into gold. In the past the alchemist sped up this process with magical means. That was called magic. As an artist I don’t do anything differently. I only accelerate the transformation that is already present in things. That is magic, as I understand it.’

Opposite – Dat rosa mel apibus, 2009

Exhibition runs through to February 26th, 2012

White Cube
144 – 152 Bermondsey Street
London
SE1 3TQ

whitecube.com

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NICK MAUSS

Posted on 2012-01-09

For his second solo exhibition at 303 Gallery, Nick Mauss presents a landscape of images and notations, drawn across various forms. Accumulations of large aluminum sheets painted white and silkscreened with enlargements of Mauss’ drawings or snapshots from his personal archive articulate the experience of looking at something that you have seen, thought about, made, and finding it strange or alien, and working with this strangeness as a material.

Like oversized leaves from a dented manuscript, the sheets heave, drape, and fold over one another, looped with tongues and cut-out windows that transfigure the images they support, ranging from the highly stylized rendering, to the prosaic: a mannequin hunched over a computer infiltrated by reflections of trees in the window; a rebus-like drawing of a crack, a chin resting on a hand, half of a sickle; a photograph of an archway modeled after an enlarged seashell; a drawing of a figure in a pose of supplication covered in a spattering of ink; a graphic frame enclosing white space; photographs of shadows of photographing hands and a camera held over sketches for dress designs; a floating dormant head suspended over a graphic ribbon hemmed in by a corner. Often the images stutter in repetition across multiple sheets, individually hand-colored or worked over, as if to correct, underscore, or elaborate.

Opposite – Untitled, 2011, Glazed Ceramic

Exhibition runs through to February 18th, 2012

303 Gallery
547 W 21st Street
New York
NY
10011

www.303gallery.com

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