Ulrike Müller
Rug (gato chico), 2015
Wool, handwoven in the workshop of Josefina and Jerónimo Hernández Ruiz, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico
The 2017 Whitney Biennial
June 10th, 2017
Tag: meatpacking district
beginning & the end, neither & the otherwise, betwixt & between, the end is the beginning & the end
Made you look, didn’t it? Imagine then, what a head-turner this installation was in real life!
A site-specific work by Raúl de Nieves for the 2017 Whitney Biennial, with floor-to-ceiling windows made to look like stained-glass, using paper, wood, glue, tape, beads, and acetate sheets. In front of them, the most heavily blinged sculptures, completely covered in beads, costume jewelry and heavy fabric, costumes that the artist is actually wearing himself when performing.
Doubtlessly the most bonkers installation of the 2017 Biennial but, for those searching for a deeper meaning, the accompanying tag had it all spelled out:
”In all of his work, de Nieves treats modest materials with meticulous attention, turning the mundane into the fantastical—with metamorphosis a common theme. The windows depict a world in which death and waste are omnipresent, often symbolized by a fly. Unlike many Western spiritual traditions, however, de Nieves presents death as a metaphor for the possibility of spectacular transformation and rebirth in an unpredictable and turbulent world.”
Ha! My nose is bigger than yours!
Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983 in Morelia, Mexico; lives in Brooklyn, NY)
beginning & the end, neither & the otherwise, betwixt & between, the end is the beginning & the end, 2016
Paper, wood, glue, acetates, tape, and beads, 195 x 456 5/16 in. (495.3 x 1159 cm).
Man’s best friend, 2016
Yarn, fabric, glue, beads, cardboard, found trim and mannequin
The longer I slip into a crack the shorter my nose becomes, 2016
Yarn, dress, glue beads, cardboard, found trim, apple, taxidermic bird and mannequin
Somos Monstros 2, 2016
Beads, glue found trim, cardboard, costume jewelry and dress
The 2017 Whitney Biennial
June 10th, 2017
The grim brothers
Ajay Kurian (b. 1984), details of Childermass, 2017.
Plaster, sulfur, goldstone, steel, epoxy resin, polyurethane resin, custom clothing, screen printed T-shirt, sneakers, spray paint, LEDS and duct tape, dimensions variable.
Childermass, or ”The grim brothers” as I dubbed it because that was the first thing that came to mind, was an installation of haunting figures – children, animals, some of them merged into both, some not human at all, eerily hanging from floor to ceiling in the Whitney’s stairwell during the 2017 Biennial.
June 10th, 2017
Do not feed the pigeons, they’re already stuffed
Street art by Mother Pigeon in front of The Whitney. You gotta love a craftwork with a tongue-in-cheek title that makes you smile, don’t you?
June 10th, 2017
Direct Line
The Standard, High Line
+++
Lawrence Weiner (b.1942, New York City, NY) created NYC Manhole Covers, functional manhole covers that read: “in direct line with another and the next” in reference to the grid of New York City’s Streets, a Public Art Fund project on view in 19 different locations.
The project was ongoing between 2000-2011 but is still on view judging by the one I found on W 12th St. & Hudson St. In case you ever feel the urge for some serious manhole hunting, you can look for other locations here.
June 10th, 2017
Me, myself and eye
@Samsung_837
Samsung’s only concept store in NYC is located in the Meatpacking District. More concept than store, since nothing there is for sale (except coffee and treats), a kind of event space where one can get first hand info on Samsung’s latest developments and equipment and there is always an interesting happening, like our selfies being taken by multiple Galaxy S8’s and then projected on a giant screen as prismatic honeycombs.
June 10th, 2017
The Humble Fabulist 