detail view of gallery installation, showing Matt Saunders's Mario Montez contemplated by Jack Smith's Yolanda La Pinguina
New gallery! Well, it's new here. But, anyway, it looks like this one's gonna be really, really good.
Grimm|Rosenfeld has had a significant presence in Munich since way back last year, but the current show on 25th Street, "Founders Day," is only their second in New York, and it's very impressive.
We missed Kiki & Herb's opening bang last month, and because of that poor judgment we'll probably be kicking ourselves forever, but we finally made it to a much quieter gallery this afternoon. And it's a full week before the end of the current exhibition! The show is brilliantly curated, and beautifully installed, by the artist Jonathan Berger. It's both a tribute to Jack Smith (the "founder") and a platform for an understanding of the continuing impact of his pioneering work today in virtually every art and performance medium. The press release describes the show as "an idiosyncratic, iconoclastic and a little bit worshipful look at artists making use of any and all available materials to create worlds that respond to personal obsessions, ideals and dreams."
Check that statement for some good bits on each of the remaining artists and works included in the show: Paula Court (stills from Reza Abdoh's "Quotations"), James Hampton (monumental millenium sculpture), Peter Hujar (Ethyl Eichelberger as Nefertiti), Athanasius Kircher (diagrams of the workings of the universe), Louis Klahr (animated film materials), and Katherina Sieverding and Klaus Mettig (Jack Smith Photographs).
Thanks, Jack.
Damn, we hardly knew ya when.
Jack Smith Yolanda La Pinguina ca. 1974 mixed media 22" x 10" x 30" (does not include stanchions) [detail of installation]
Vaginal Davis Dames Égarées: Je Veux Acheter Vos Visages 2001 mixed media [mostly make-up] on tag board, dimensions variable [detail of installation]
Dasha Shishkin Untitled 2005 mixed media on canvas, approx. 78" x 161" [detail of installationon ceiling]
Franko B Untitled (metal sidepanel with cutlouts) 1997 metal and felt 28" x 32" x 4" [installation view]