Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic at Brooklyn Museum (Revised)

            Amazing. Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic shows his successful 14-year-old career. Wiley’s work is appropriation at its finest; it is refreshing and thought provoking to question the never-ending questions concerning race and gender through the European masters painting and sculpting techniques. There is no doubt the exhibition is a spectacle. However, while it provokes ideas that must be asked and answered, the exhibition falls into the trap of being another ethnocentric representation that one cannot empathize with without the aid of specific background and culture.

        Wiley’s work is meticulous and labor intensive. He scouts for his subjects, photographs them, and then digitally manipulates images photographed. Only then does he start the painting. In works like Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps (2005), he merges references of Jacques-Louis David’s painting Napoleon Bonaparte Crossing the Alps at Great St. Bernard Pass with contemporary black culture. Most of his models are displayed in majestic, heroic postures; to the point where an ‘average Joe’ he found in Harlem could indeed resemble historical figures like Martin Luthor King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

In Femme piquée par un serpent (2008), Wiley was inspired by Auguste Clesinger. There is a notion of eroticism, naturalism, and heroism. There are influences from diverse cultures embedded even in the textural designs of the background. However, one would easily notice a trend in his body of work. While I have nothing but compliments for his modern reiteration of classics, I cannot help but to point out his exhibition was conveniently and almost coincidentally displayed along side of Jean-Michel Basquiat. It is as if what started, as an awareness of a specific misunderstood culture never left its home to prove a point. While I fully agree with Wiley’s proposal that Western art is unfairly ethnocentric towards white culture, I see no room for progress if he does the same with his own. Would he be recognized as he is today if he was an Italian decent who painted Italians in Little Italy? Why does the problem have to be either determined as white or black? To tackle such global issue, Wiley needs to paint more than a single portraiture of an Indian (which was displayed at the exhibition) to prove that he indeed is aware that there is a world outside of Harlem.

Hito Steyerl at Artists Space (Revision)

Dedicated to provoking discussion and experimentation, Artists Space has been a site for emerging artists since the 1970s, and is an apt location to showcase German artist and writer Hito Steyerl’s work that examines images and image politics today.

The viewer is first confronted by three vertical monitors emitting a red hue. Red Alert (2007) references Constructivist Alexander Rodchenko’s 1920s monochrome paintings and Homeland Security’s terror alert system. Steyerl exemplifies how the monochrome has been hijacked to provide an aesthetic means of policing the masses.

Red Alert, 2007  Photo Courtesy of Hito Steyerl

In the next room, a blue glow engulfs the space and a large screen stands in the middle of the area. A blue mat arches concavely upward from the screen, providing a space for viewers to sit inside the wave-like form. Liquidity Inc (2014) features Jacob Wood, a former investment banker, as he becomes a Mixed Martial Arts fighter. The collage-like layers of images in the film intertwine various concepts of liquidity such as economic and political climates, the adaptable quality of water, and the relationship between capital and the individual.

Liquidity Inc, 2014  Photo courtesy of ArtForum

Leaving the consuming blue light, a dark and narrow padded hallway feels confining and disorienting before opening to reveal the film Guards (2012). Former law enforcement officers, now security guards the Art Institute of Chicago, recount and reenact tactical maneuvers within the galleries. These guards, who often remain unnoticed, once risked their lives to keep the public safe and Steyerl’s film causes the one to pause and consider the frivolity of such high level security in a museum.

Guards, 2012  Photo Courtesy of Sleek Magazine

Steyerl’s work is art object, essay, film, and installation combined; immersing viewers and mimicking the reality of living within an abstract image-laden world. As postmodernism has infiltrated culture over the decades, the collapse of linear history has muddied the waters of perception and reality. Laced with undertones of conspiracy, Liquidity Inc. challenges the integrity of image replication and duplication and the ability to manipulate the public. Steyerl juxtaposes cultural symbols of wealth and greed with images of the common man, raising questions such as who is in charge and how power is used in contemporary society. 

"Liquidity Inc." by Hito Steyerl (Revision)

Installation view of Liquidity Inc, 2014

Artists Space is presenting German filmmaker and writer Hito Steyerl’s videos from 2004 to the present. All through Steyerl's work there is a close connection between what is investigated and the medium through which the investigation happens, such as Liquidity Inc., one of the video installations of the exhibition, Steyerl takes a closer view on the massive images creation and internet resources by paralleling satellite photography, documentary scenes, short video cuts from medium. By doing the parallel images that created a stronger distinguished part compare to traditional film production. In a playful manner, Liquidity Inc. has been a huge 'determination target' for testing the force of perception satellites and it is also an ironical video to reveal the computerized age.

Installation of Steyerl’s work structured by the seating set up. For example in Liquidity Inc., she creates a wave looking stage with in a blue light atmosphere. The related architecture environmental consideration fits the receptiveness of the audiences. The wave designed seating and the dark blue lights create a water circulation between visual and the actual sensibility.

Screen shots from Hito Steyerl. Liquidity Inc, 2014

Water consolidates everything, and everything is consolidated. References to fluids are pervasive, where it shows the fighting competitions of the character Jacob Wood.  In the work, he sat in an office, wearing a business suit, he wrote on a scratch pad, "BE WATER". These words appeared on a big plasma screen. The video also includes the recited phrase by Bruce Lee through an iPhone-the voice twisted and auto-tuned as he rehashes, "Be water my companion"-and it was highlighted on the primary screen of the International Contemporary of Art theatre.

The outcome of Liquidity Inc. is a divided semi-documented issue that brings the worldwide money problem, the accident and connections between the weather and trade, as well as an examination of creation and circulation. By using the changing web-sources, such as tumblr weather report background, various tabs, circling GIFs and multi-layered arrangement, Liquidity Inc. changes the way of understanding how those massive image information related to our generation, living condition which specifically related to water in this work, as well as finance.  

 Screen shots from Hito Steyerl. Liquidity Inc, 2014

On Kawara and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Juxtaposed

On Kawara's first retrospective, held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, conveys to the viewer the dedication and consistency that Kawara demonstrated in his works since 1966.  For a master conceptualist like On Kawara, Guggenheim is a fitting match for the scale and depth of his body of work.  The exhibit showcases many of his series, such as Today, One Million Years, and Title.  It also makes it clear that the longest-running series is Today, by having the date paintings spread across the exhibit unlike the other series, which are grouped by other series between the date paintings.  No one body of work overshadows the rest – every one of them are well-balanced.

The greatest strength of the exhibit is the linear nature of it.  For Kawara's pieces, this linear viewing order not only makes the viewing experience more sensible for viewers but also allows each piece to be displayed in chronological order.  The beginning (bottom floor, beginning of spiral) and end of the exhibit (top floor, end of spiral) created by the spiraling corridor of the architecture makes it easy for the viewers to connect the pieces chronologically.  From an installation standpoint, the spiraling tower of Guggenheim creates an interesting juxtaposition against the linearity of Kawara’s works.

However, the exhibit is marred by one flaw – despite its linear nature, there is no clear end to the exhibit.  Once viewers reach the end of the exhibit, they are forced to turn around and walk back down, which breaks the immersion.  There should have been a clear indication at the end of the exhibit such as an elevator leading viewers back down to the lobby.  Last year’s Zero exhibit executed this very well by leading the viewers to a hall of installation pieces as the grand finale, after which viewers will ride the elevator back down to the lobby.  While it doesn't discount the depth and scope of Kawara’s art, the abrupt end to the exhibit creates a distraction to an otherwise exceptional exhibition.  

(REVISED)