Bronx, New York Bronx Museum of the Arts Tony Feher likes to keep it simple. As a touring retrospective, most recently at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, amply demonstrated, his unpretentious arrangements of the cast-off detritus of daily life—plastic bags and bottles, paper, pennies, wire, coat hangers, Styrofoam, string, marbles, jar lids—speak poetically of
Graham Gingles
Belfast The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre) Graham Gingles, Ireland’s most accomplished sculptor, has been building boxes since the beginning of the ’70s, many of them somber meditations on the Troubles realized in an elliptical, covert, and highly personal manner.
Simone Leigh
Atlanta Atlanta Contemporary Art Center Simone Leigh, who was born in Jamaica and now lives in New York, investigates race and identity through ceramics, sculpture, and video. Her recent exhibition, “Gone South,” marked her first attempt to explore the American South, particularly what she calls “African Americana,” or the folk art traditions of face jugs
Gabriel Kuri
Los Angeles Regen Projects Gabriel Kuri’s work, though profoundly abstract, forges a relationship between the materiality of an object and the associative properties it embodies. His tightly compact sculptures are saturated with a pointed set of criticisms referencing commodification, waste, consumption, and corporate power.
Guillaume Leblon
North Adams Guillaume Leblon MASS MoCA On the floor was a carpet of beige linen intentionally laid down by the artist so that visitors would leave scuff marks to record their presence. Evidence and lingering traces of the past were among the persistent themes of “Under My Shoe,” an exhibition of works by Guillaume Leblon,
Miami Art Fairs 2013
Miami With so many fairs and biennials all over the world, the inevitable question arises: “Why bother?” But the 2013 Miami spectacle proved that it’s still possible to have meaningful encounters with art in a restricted space and time frame.
“The Human Factor”
London The Hayward Gallery The problem with group shows is that the curator is powerfully present, and when a show attempts a survey or argument, it is hard not to be distracted by potential omissions or possible flaws.
Elizabeth Presa
Lorne, Australia 2014 Lorne Sculpture Biennale In Elizabeth Presa’s installations, active beehives function as small architectural objects that address dwelling-in and shelter. Her deeply process-oriented practice equates materials with political and spiritual value to re-imbue plaster, glass, wax, fabric, flour, paper, thread, bees, and snails with a significance either forgotten or overlooked in the mad
Anna Maria Maiolino
New York Hauser & Wirth Anna Maria Maiolino’s work stands out for its elegant aesthetic and gutsy use of homespun processes and materials. Born in Calabria, Italy, Maiolino grew up in Venezuela and Brazil. She and her husband Rubens Gerchman were among the original members of the New Objectivism Brazil movement (Nova Objetividade Brasileira), which
Isa Genzken
New York Museum of Modern Art Isa Genzken’s recent retrospective, featuring a complex mixture of things with resonating presence, provided a 180-degree exodus from participatory art and its aim of eliminating the artist. While Genzken’s work is neither imposing nor necessarily spectacular, it is very contemporary.
