Contemporary Art: Richard Taittinger - A New Gallery On Lower East Side, New York

(Drivebycuriosity) - New York`s Lower East Side was once the slum of the metropolis, filled with sweat shops; now the neighborhood is one of the fanciest districts of the metropolis and a symbol for gentrification. A legion of bars, pubs & restaurants and flocks of drunk college kids gave LES the image of a party mile.

But the LES also has an artsy and attractive side: More than one hundred art galleries choose to be in ths area thanks to more affordable rents - and their number is growing fast. In the recent years LES became a contender to Chelsea where usually the big classy art dealers reside. On LES you can find a lot of tiny galleries, often specializing  in experimental works from newcomers. But the situation is changing.

This week the LES art scene got a newcomer: Richard Taittinger Gallery, owned and founded by a heir of the French Champagne empire Taittinger (at 154 Ludlow St. taittinger). The new gallery, which specializes in the works of mid-career artists, occupies 5,000-square-foot 154 in a space formerly used by the music venue the Living Room (bloomberg). The Wall Street Journal praises the 20-foot-high ceilings which allow Taittinger to present large-scale museum-quality works (wsj). One "veteran art reporter" called the place "perhaps the best-lit gallery" he ever had seen (observer).

Yesterday my wife and I attended their Taittinger`s opening reception. Unfortunately that evening New York´s weather showed her naughty side. Snow, sleet & icy rain made the streets slippery which seemed to reduce the number of visitors. As we arrived shortly after 6pm the crowd was much thinner than usual. But we enjoyed the event anyway.

The show is called "Sinthome" (through March 29). I like the mixture of paintings & sculptures and the blend of different styles and ideas. I think the combination is well done and reflects the exquisite taste of the owner. It also wakes the appetite for the coming exhibitions.

Above this paragraph you can see "Antaktopia" by the Ukrainian artist Alexander Ponomarev, who lives and works in Moscow (2011, Graphite on navigational maps  40.15 x 31.49 in (102 x 80 cm)(ponomarev).




                                                      Sewing Course For Elephants

This work is called "I'm as close to you as your eyelashes" by Haluk Akakce (2015, Acrylic on wood panel, 95.27 x 59.45 in (242 x 151 cm) (haluk).   

Here another painting by Haluk Akakce, named "Sewing course for Elephants" (2015, Acrylic on wood panel    30.32 x 24.01 in (77 x 61 cm).   

The French artist Théo Mercier named this sculpture "Oeufs de Paques" (2015, Ceramic, concrete    30.71 x 19.68 in (78 x 50 cm)   (theo-mercier).

The Chinese artist Wang Du created the sculpture above this paragraph, called "Weather Report (2007, Resin, acrylic   47.24 x 72.83 x 57.09 in (120 x 185 x 145 cm) (wang-du).  

Théo Mercier, the creator of these masks,  called his collection "Damoiseaux d'Avignon" (2015, Wood, PVC   88.19 x 150 x 24.01 in (224 x 381 x 61 cm).   


I am looking forward to the coming exhibitions.



PS. The pictures are taken with a point-and-shoot camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ7) which doesn`t get the images perfectly. If you go to the gallery you will get a much better impression.

Books: Gone Girl By Gillian Flynn

(Drivebycuriosity) -  Sometimes a movie wakes my interest for the book the film is based on. Last year I enjoyed the film "Gone Girl" (driveby), now I read the book by Gillian Flynn (amazon). This time I was less interested in the plot - which is close to the film, adapted by David Fincher - and focused more on the style.

I enjoyed the cool and sarcastic observations about relationships & marriages, about New Yorkers and people in the rural south of the US; about economical decline, family, friendship and more. The story is told with a sharp wit and a dry humor. "Gone girl" could be used as a contemporary psychological study with philosophical elements. Maybe in some years historians will study the book to get impressions how middle class people in the US behaved and communicated at the begin of this century.

The book reads like a movie script. It is written in first person, alternately by the husband and his wife. I think the author got the femal chapters (and insights) better than the male segments, which isn`t surprising. Flynn doesn`t care much about nature, architecture, weather and other atmospheric aspects which fill so many novels. She focuses on the persons and describes what husband & wife think, how they act and respond, nothing else. Both protagonists are smart & shrewd, maybe too much for themselves - and this spices the story.

"Gone Girl", the book, is as cool as "Gone Girl" the film and recommended for those who enjoy shrewd stories about relationships.

PS For illustration I choose "Untitled, Swimming Pool XV" by William Betts.

Contemporary Art: Surprise & Provoke @ New York Academy of Art

(Drivebycuriosity) - Contemporary art often wants to surprise and to provoke. You can see this @ New York Academy of Art  (111 Franklin Street  nyaa.edu).

The institute has an exhibition with works of 16 acclaimed sculptors (through March 8, 2015). They claim that these artists explore "the relationship between beauty and abjection through the lens of the grotesque", whatever that means. But anyway, some of the art works are really funny.

Above this paragraph you can see sculptures by Jody Fox. The woman is called "Meermaid" . She is accompanied by figures, named "worm". The group is from 2011 and made from terra cotta and casein.

Lesley Dill called her sculpture "Dress of Opening and Close of Being" (2008, steel, metal foil, organza, thread, wire).



            Soft Landing for Chickenhawks

The marble head above is created by Mark Mennin and part of an installation called: "Soft Landing for Chickenhawks";
"Envy" by Barry X Ball is a hommage to a sculpture by Giusto Le Court( La Invidia, circa 1670, Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice). X Ball`s sculpture is made from Pakistani onyx, stainless steel;
Patricia Piccinini called her installation: "Bodyguard (for the Golden Helmeted Honeyeater) (2004, silicone, fur, acrylic resin, wood, DVD, monitor).

The melting face is created by Richard Dupont (richard);
Rona Pondick fabricated the combination of man and animal, called "Wallaby" (2007-2012, stainless steel);
Monica Cook named her sculture "Snowsuit" (2015, wax, pigment, fur coats, aqua-resin, fiberglass)

Gerhard Demetz called his creation "How Do You Feed Spirits?" (2012, lime wood and acrylic paint)

This post is closed by details of Lesley Dill`s work, named "Rush" (2006-2007, metal foil, organza and wire). Before is a sculpture by Eric Fischl, named "Tumbling Woman II" (2015, glass with steel base).


Enjoy!

Science Fiction: Nexus By Ramez Naam

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Imagine a drug which works like software and turns your brain into a kind of computer. Imagine also that this "software drug" connects your brain with the minds of others, creating a kind of "mind Internet". 

The science fiction novel "Nexus" by Ramez Naam, set around the year 2040, spins around such a really brain-enhancing drug, called "Nexus" (amazon). The story is based on a slight extrapolation of today´s trends and contains a lot of plausible speculation about the implications of such a drug.

The US government declares a massive war against "Nexus", because such a powerful drug can easily be abused. Samantha, a government agent with a dark history, is set on "Kaden", a hacker & developer of Nexus, which starts a chain reaction of dramatical events (this is a spoiler free blog).

Naam constructed a wild & exotic adventure story about advances in technology - especially neuroscience - and the paranoid fears it creates. The plot accelerates and becomes very militaristic and violent. I think Naam overdid some of the violence but otherwise the story is thrilling and spiced with believable speculation how virtual reality, social networks, cloning, Buddhist meditation and sexual adventures could have developed by the year 2040.

"Nexus" is cool near time science fiction, almost believable and thought provoking.

Economy: Oil Price - Tug Of War

(Drivebycuriosity) - There is tug of war on the market for oil. While the fundamental data are applying pressure on the price of oil, hedge funds and other speculators are betting on much higher prices.

The oil supply is rising fast, faster than the demand, causing a growing glut of oil (bloomberg). The extending oversupply should lead to a lower oil price. But the fundamental market data are ignored. Since end of January the price of oil has been climbing again and jumped around 30%. The oil rally is driven by speculation that the oil price has already reached the bottom. Many are betting on a v-shaped recovery like in the years 2009/2010 (driveby).

Last Wednesday we got news that the US oil inventories rose to another record high (bespoke bloomberg). This is a clear sign that market is more and more oversupplied. But on Wednesday alone the oil prices jumped 5% (reuters). According to Reuters and other media the buyers got motivated by Saudi Arabia`s oil minister al-Naimi who was musing that the oil demand is rising and that the market might have reached the bottom. The same al-Naimi who talked in December about $20 for oil (business).


                                                            Denial Of Fundamentals


It seems that the majority of oil traders cares more about Arabian noise than the fundamental supply and demand data. This denial of fundamental datas is not new. From 2010 till last summer the price of oil stayed stubbornly above $100 even that the oil glut was already accumulating. The exaggerated oil prices stimulated production and curbed demand. Both trends aggravated continuously the oversupply. Last autumn the situation became finally unsustainable and the oil price collapsed. 

I think if the current rally will continue,  the rising oil prices again will aggravate the oversupply. Producers will pump more oil and consumers will reduce their demand again. This will lead to another collapse of the oil price pressuring Brent Crude deep below $50. This is just a matter of time.

Contemporary Art: Courtney Love's Lips And More @ Gallery Maccarone, New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Do you prefer paintings or photographs? Jack Pierson likes both. The artist transfers photographic images onto canvas.  The gallery Maccarone (630 Greenwich Street  maccarone) has now an exhibition with paintings by Jack Pierson (through March 7, 2015). "The selection of large-scale paintings, some of which have never before been exhibited, were made between 1997 and 2002", says their website.

My favorite of this collection is the painting "Courtney Love's lips".

 I also enjoy the other works which the gallery calls icons "of the natural world, as observed during Pierson's travels to and from southern California".

The close-up above this paragraph impressed me by the combination of colors and its grace.



                Icons Of The Natural World

Some of the paintings work perfectly with the architecture of the room. White walls, ceiling lights and the solid dark columns all intensified the impression.

Enjoy!

Stock Market: The China Rally Explained

(Drivebycuriosity) - China`s stock market is on a tear. The Shanghai Composite, a gauge for China´s stock market, climbed 61% in the recent 12 months, the hugest rally since 2006/07.

The China rally looks contradictory in the face of reports that China`s economy is cooling. But I think, the rally has been overdue.  I have been writing for years that the sentiment for China stock is way to negative and China´s stock are ridiculously undervalued (here  here).

Notorious China bears, including Jim Chanos, a hedge fund manager and short seller, and New York Times correspondent Paul Krugman, have been banging the "China crash drum" for years (driveby). According to the China skeptics, the country is suffering from huge structural problems like too high debts and too huge investments into real estate which would cause a "hard landing" of the Chinese economy. I reckon that the China pessimists focused too much on the problems and overlooked the fundamental strength of the economy and the progress the country is still making. But they were followed by the media and created a very negative sentiment for China investments. Since 2011 the Shanghai Composite has been trapped close to the mark 2,000 thanks to the continuous negative sentiment (China pessimism bubble).





                                                Soft Landing Accomplished


But last autumn the China pessimism bubble burst - finally.

1. The China crash callers have been proven wrong. Last year China`s economy grew 7.4% (just 0.3 point less than the year before) - much better than the crash the China pessimists have been announcing for years and a confirmation for those who expected that the country will accomplish the soft landing of its economy (china).

2. China`s stock market is benefitting from continuing reforms that started in 2013 (blueprint). Last year Beijing announced the liberation of stock trading between Hong Kong and mainland China, softened the one-child policy, encouraged migration to bigger cities (with a higher productivity, announced more investments into airports, railways and other infrastructure and more.

3. Since last autumn China´s economy gets a lot of tailwinds from the drop of oil and other commodity prices (around 50%). Inflation rates are falling, consumers have more  money to spend and industries (especially the transport sector) have less costs.

4. China`s central bank is responding to  slowing economy and falling inflation rates (thanks to cheaper commodities) and is lowering interest rates & restrictments for the banks.



                                            Secular Catching-Up Process

I am basically optimistic for China because of the secular catching-up process which is fueled by the still extreme income & wealth differences to the US and other Western nation values. The huge country is rapidly transforming into a consumer economy like the U.S. and other modern countries. Many peasants are moving to the huge metropolitan centers which are spread all over the huge country to lift their standard of living. This creates a fast rising affluent middle class, giving consumer spending a boost as the strong retail sales (growth rates around 11%) demonstrate.

China´s growth should be boosted by the technological progress and advances of Internet, automatization of industrial production and 3D-printing. These developments raise efficiency and  productivity of China´s economy as success stories like Alibaba and Baidu demonstrate.

I believe that soft landing and stock market rally will continue in the coming months because of the ongoing reforms, cheaper commodities and a more accomodative monetary policy.