Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

Accompanying a retrospective at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in New York, this new monograph documents the work of painter John Wesley, covering his entire career from 1961 until today. Wesley is known for his consistency of palette--baby blues and cotton pinks--his use of painted "frames" within his pictures, his early emblem paintings, his cartoon Bumstead works--and ultimately for his representations of an inner erotic voyage where the viewer is both voyager and voyeur. Initially considered in alignment with pop artists of the early 60s, Wesley consistently produced works of such a subtle and subversive nature as to put him in a category of his own. He used the early tools of advertising production--like tracing paper and stock photography--and was the subject of a wide range of influences, from Surrealism to Art Nouveau, from ancient Greek poetry to Matisse. The result is an oeuvre that has challenged and rewarded viewers for forty years.… (mehr)

In 2008, the Biennale of Sydney celebrates the organization's 35th anniversary and te 16th edition of this internationally renowned festival of contemporary art. Presented in eight venues across Sydney, this edition is one of the most ambitious ever staged by the Biennale of Sydney.[..] The 16th BoS will exhibit artiss and collaborations from more than 42 countries, the strenght of BoS lying in the absence of natinal pavillions. It provides a platform for the expositions of artists and their ideas, rahter than concepts of nationhood. In this spirit, as an artist's book of commisioned and found drawings, accompanied by essays, selected texts and excerpts--and in departing from the traditional catalogue format--this publication is arranged by a guiding aesthetic, rather than a chronological or alphabetical order.'

(Abstract from preface by Marah Braye, Chief Executive Officer)… (mehr)

In 2003 the Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art awarded its Art Award to Michael Rakowitz for paraSITE, what the artist describes simply as "custom built inflatable shelters designed for homeless people that attach to the exterior outtake vents of a building’s Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system." It's a brilliant idea, both for the ingenuity of utilizing the building exhaust and (typically) plastic bags as shelters and for the quirky forms they take. Those shelters are the focus of this book from the Dena Foundation, but alongside the b/w photos of the installations, their inflation and their dismantling, it also includes other projects by Rakowitz. I'm also fond of Climate Control, a 2000 installation in PS1, which consisted of ducts routed through one of the galleries and out and in through a window. It's clear from these two works that Rakowitz likes taking the often hidden (or in the case of exhaust, invisible) elements of building infrastructure and making them surreally visible. Rakowitz's ideas on why he does these and other projects are found in an illuminating interview with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. The biggest downside of the book is that it's printed on fairly cheap paper without any color. Although it would have been nice to see more of Rakowitz's work in color, the inexpensive approach jibes with the preferred material palette for his art.… (mehr)