Gerhard Richter Painting After All

Gerhard Richter Painting After All is divided into 20 themes over 60 years of artistic creation. From his monochrome photograph paintings in the 1960s to current digital abstract painting. The viewer will also see photos and sculptures in this show such as Mirror, Blood Red (1991) and House of Cards (2020).

11 panels 2004

On each floor you will find at least one glass piece. Glass is an ideal carrier of Richter’s concept: how to balance the representative and the abstract. For instance, the viewer will experience multiple blurred self-reflection in 11 panels (2004). In this jade color work, you’ll find a similar effect as have been painted in his 1960s semi-abstract representative paintings. In the Birkenau paintings area, the works are installed in an enclosure space, with a strong spotlight reflected on the panels torturing the already covered misty characters depicted in the paintings. Beside them is the giant steel toned horizontal mirror piece Gray Mirror (2018). The  stifling effect is also great at absorbing the audience into a frozen and gloomy zone, the quality of the reflection is similar to silver gelling photos.



Gray Mirror 2018

The curators highlight the glasses chosen in Richter’s art, he digs out the reality that as a tool or material how glass distorted our sight to see the world.

Jan Tichy: Light Shop @Fridman Gallery

Located in the Bowery lighting district, Jan Ticky’s exhibition 

“Light shop” at Fridman Gallery adopts light as its theme. 

It explores the commodification of light in the shrinking commercial

district, as well as the interconnection of different forms of light.

Upon entering the gallery, visitors see ‘ Bowery Prints’ - a series of 

photograms printed on light-sensitive silver halide paper that showcase 

the interiors of the remaining light shops in the area. These monochromatic 

photographs demonstrate light in a bizarre way. On the one hand, the high 

contrast of black and white clearly outlines the physical light, lighting fixtures

as well as the shop’s interior decoration clearly; on the other hand, the stark 

contrast creates a sense of disorder, chaos and dizziness.

As viewers pass through a heavy blackout curtain, they find themselves 
in the realm of Instillation No.38. Neon tubes of various sizes and shapes 
are placed on two perpendicular steel tables as videos are projected onto 
walls behind them. A fascinating effect is created - although these neon tubes 
are illuminated, they also fracture and block sections of the projector's light

transmission, which casts shadows on the wall. Interestingly, these 
projections document the light from the storefront window of the gallery; 
transforming the natural light into artificial light through a process of re-projection.

Checking in at Hotel Democracy - Thomas Hirshhorn, 2003, MoMA PS1

Checking in at Hotel Democracy - Thomas Hirshhorn, 2003, MoMA PS1

Hotel Democracy invites us to, at first, think small. Children's toys, step stools and shelves populate many of the 5' x 4' x 4' rooms, which are stacked in a 2 room tall grid. Nearly all of the spaces include makeshift furniture, as well - cardboard beds being the most common, with the occasional suitcase playing the role of a futon. Possibly the most definitive element of Hotel Democracy are the prints that line the sides of each room. Each space defines a different attempt and failure of democracy implemented by different countries and societies. The prints depict military violence, child soldiers, and war ravaged landscapes. 

In Critical Laboratory: The Writings of Thomas Hirshhorn, Hirshhorn describes his piece as "an uncertain building... present[ing] this confusion [of Democracy] without judgment, without hierarchy". The images within the rooms are taken not from one place in particular - the varied locations of the depictions of each individual failure of Democracy, without mention of the path to its collapse, or even those responsible, embody this goal. 

Hirshhorn’s training as a designer is evident in Hotel Democracy - it appears as though it was assembled in a hurry with ordinary materials as if to serve as shelter in an emergency. The scavenged nature of the decor evoke - by design - innocence and hope lost.

Mirage by Joan Jonas at MoMA: Performances, Transformations, and Rituals

      Mirage—an optical illusion created by atmospheric conditions—is the title of a Joan Jonas performance from 1976. In the dimly-lit space, the work now consists of videos, drawings, sculptures, and documentation of the original performance.

      The videos showcase Jonas drawing and erasing a waning moon, labeling the intersections on polygrams, and making various hopscotch patterns. These are the mysterious and eccentric rituals that Jonas explores, inspired by rites of different cultures; for instance, the “endless drawing” of the moon references the New Guinean tribe funerary rites.

Gerhardt, R. (2019, October 21). Installation view of the gallery "Joan Jonas's ​​Mirage" in the exhibition "Collection 1940s–1970s" [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/calendar/galleries/5149?

      Viewers might find themselves at a loss to understand the strangeness that fills the room. However, upon close observation of the repeating ceremonial actions and the other objects in the room, a series of transformations occur. The elements from the videos echo with the drawings on the chalkboards scattered throughout the room, marking the transition from one medium to another. A group of tall, skinny steel cone sculptures is placed adjacent to a video of a volcanic eruption, and another cone lies on a table along with several props from Jonas’ videos. Viewers are invited to move around the space, to identify how each object can reside within one another. One second the cones are the erupting volcanoes, and another they transform into the missing piece of the waning moon, or a large scale ring toss game.

Gerhardt, R. (2019, October 21). Installation view of the gallery "Joan Jonas's ​​Mirage" in the exhibition "Collection 1940s–1970s" [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/calendar/galleries/5149?

      As the viewers gradually perceive their surroundings, their physical presences become part of the ritual, serving as the link between each of the elements. Again, Jonas demonstrates her ability to abstract and merge the seemingly dissimilar components in her work. Like a mirage, the correlation between the performances and objects are intangible and fleeting, but at the same time bonded together by the rituals and transformations.