Interview

Two of the works up for auction: Andy Warhol, Hand, 1976–1987; Robert Wilson, Voom Portrait (Blank Panther), 2006.

As a visual artist, playwright and director, among many other titles, Robert Wilson is best known for his  recalculations of some of art's dustier forms, among them opera, theater and, most recently, portraiture. (Brad Pitt and Isabelle Huppert are some recent subjects of his high definition video art "still lifes.") In 1992, Wilson re-invented the center, possibly the most staid of art instittutions, by founding the Watermill Center in Southampton, devoted to providing international artists with a home to create works that are freed from the confines of studio and (to an extent) finance. Hence the Watermill's sixteenth annual Summer Benefit, held this Saturday at the Center, is a combination auction, performance art event, exhibition and charity gala.


Read the full preview from Art in America.

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Though he's one of the most famous Czech artists and a leading figure on the second generation of Czech Actionist artists, Jiri Kovanda has been overlooked in the United States for the past 30 years. Maybe it's because the artists with whom he is most often compared—the Vienna Actionists in Europe, American Conceptualists Chris Burden and Vito Acconci—are burned into the collective psyche for producing ‘70s-era art at its most explosively macho. Kovanda's practice has always been relatively gentle, and romantic: The "actions" he's staged and documented include kissing through glass and scratching away graffiti hearts with his fingernails. Kovanda's practice is all sotto voce. It's about finding importance in simple, day-to-day, transitory gestures.

A mid-career retrospective generally involves two galleries honoring an artist concurrently: Right now, New York is getting a chance to experience the work of Kovanda at three locations. The main exhibition, 1, 2, 3, is a joint solo show at two Chelsea galleries: Andrew Kreps and Wallspace. The second exhibition, at Ludlow 38, is a two-person show with fellow Eastern Bloc artist Július Koller. The pieces on view at Andrew Kreps were produced from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s; the art at Wallspace was created in the past two years.

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Legendary occult filmmaker Kenneth Anger predicted that he would die on Halloween, 2008. For once, luckily, he got it wrong, and this summer could be interpreted as a life-affirming celebration of the octogenarian artist's half-century of creative output. A retrospective of the artist's films is on view at PS1 through September 14, and this weekend, Anthology Film Archives screening six of his newer films, the subjects of which span from Aleister Crowley to surfing. "Elliott's Suicide," the most poignant inclusion in the selection, is a stream-of-consciousness portrait of the filmmaker's late friend, singer/songwriter Elliott Smith. Anger uses Smith's songs to complement shaky, irresolute digital footage (Smith's Rose Parade accompanies images of a parade), evoking a feeling that the film isn't precisely complete. In that sense, it serves as a perfect memorial to the artist whose suicide in 2003 was an aberrational moment of ugliness triumphing over beauty. 
 
"Mouse Heaven," which was included in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, is Anger at his most brilliantly obsessive. The film comprises footage of vintage Mickey Mouse paraphernalia, which the filmmaker activates to mimic the motion of cartoons. The work recalls a mash-up of macho aficionado culture Anger glorified in an earlier film, "Kustom Kar Kommandos," and Anger's brilliant film industry assassination tome, "Hollywood Babylon" (with which the artist opened the floodgates for Us Weekly celebrity vampirism). After watching "Mouse Heaven," one is left to wonder: is Mickey Mouse just another pagan demon in short shorts? It's precisely this level of rigorous cultural critique that has always underscored Anger's artistic genius. As a filmmaker, Anger never stands in the way of a glittering good time. Yet, as a barometer of society's devotion to the superficial, his on-screen artifice and glamour serve as an indulgent, but uncompromisingly astute moral mirror. (LEFT: A STILL FROM MY SURFING LUCIFER)
 

New Films by Anger will screen on July 18 and 19 at 7:30pm. Anthology Film Archives is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York.

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Photo courtesy of Su Barber

Since 2003, annual art publication North Drive Press has walked the line between a collectible art object and a curated publication available as an editioned set. It's an unbound book set that in five issues has increasingly revolved around the series of artist-produced multiples included, says founder and artist Matt Keegan, "When the project started, the first issue had mostly straight reproductions of artworks, in addition to interviews and even some poetry. There was about a half-dozen multiples. But it was clear from the beginning there was so much possibility for the multiples."

Co-founded by Keegan (whose conceptual, text-based practice often borders on book-dom) and Lizzy Lee, the bulk of the journal complements comprises interviews between artists. Last issue featured a conversation between kindred conceptual photographers Eileen Quinlan and Liz Deschenes, among others), which the journal also publishes online. Following the premier issue, the NDP multiples took a turn for the increasingly irreverent, according to Keegan. "People do very tailored projects for us. Adam Putnam did a temporary tattoo, and David Kennedy Cutler produced handmade soaps in the shape of Antartica." NDP's fifth and final issue, co-edited by Sadie Laska, is in production, but the market for portfolios of multiples by emerging artists is, well, not quite recession-proof. Tonight, a fundraiser is being held at White Columns to support the production of NDP # 5. Editions of artworks (by Jakob Kolding, Aurel Schmidt, and Marthe Friedman, among many others) commissioned by the journal will be sold at a silent auction. Tickets to the event are priced between $25 and $250.


The North Drive Press Benefit is from 7–10 PM. White Columns is located at 320 W. 13th St, new York.

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