ART NEWS:Jan.03

Fascinated by the inevitable decline of all material towards collapse, Tricia Middleton collects objects from the world around her to juxtapose against repurposed relics from her studio production, amassing and grafting these items onto one another to create objects and environments that mimic natural processes of accretion and decomposition. This excess, decomposition, and destruction are developed here through a re-working of the Marquis de Sade’s philosophy. Middleton’s “Justine” references elements of Sade’s work while evoking what Maurice Blanchot described as the lasting contribution of Sade, his work being the first instance of philosophy performed as an embodied self-destructive experiment creating the means to access an idea. Info: Galerie antoine ertaskiran, 1892 rue Payette, Montreal, Duration: 13/1-13/2/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00, www.galerieantoineertaskiran.com

Derrick Adams’ solo exhibition combines two ongoing series: “LIVE” and “IN COLOR”, a collection of large-scale mixed media collage capturing the bold character dramatizations of black figures in entertainment; juxtaposed with “GRAY AREA”, a series of grayscale mixed media collage addressing the often imbalanced modes of speculation and assumption. Specifically, LIVE and IN COLOR speaks to the colorful, larger than life personalities of people of color as historically portrayed to the general public on national TV, and the exaggeration of their psychological attributes and mannerisms in popular culture. The monochromatic GRAY AREA series combine graphite, charcoal, grayscale acrylic paints, cut paper and fabric collage to construct both the figure and ground. Info: Gallery Anne de Villepoix, 43 rue Montmonrency, Paris, Duration: 9/1-19/3/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-19:00, www.annedevillepoix.com

“Display Show” proposes we consider display as intrinsic to artistic production and interpretation, as the process of taking shape that redefines notions of work, artwork and exhibition. The exhibition follows a path that leads from doing-something-to-show-things (the technical term for which, in 20th Century art discourse, has come to be described as the verb “to display”), to the idea that those actions not only change the way we see things, but also transform the nature of what is displayed, of who is looking, and of their environment. Info: Stroom Den Haag, Hogewal 1-9, The Hague, Duration: 16/1-3/4/16, Days & Hours: Wed-Sun 12:00-17:00, www.stroom.nl

“Monuments Should Not Be Trusted” brings together over 30 artists and groups from the “golden years” of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the period between the early ‘60s and the mid ‘80s. The exhibition draws on new and innovative research into this period and features many of its most significant artists, groups and filmmakers. Over 100 artworks and artefacts illuminate the key contradictions of this single party state, built after WWII on socialist principles, yet immersed in “utopian consumerism”. This is the first time in the UK that the art of this period, which has attracted increasing attention, has been shown in the context of the social, economic and political conditions that gave rise to it. Info: Curator: Lina Džuverović, Nottingham Contemporary, Weekday Cross, Nottingham, Duration: 16/1-6/3/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00 Sun 11:00-17:00, www.nottinghamcontemporary.org

In her new exhibition, a group of new pastels is collectively titled “Family Pictures”, Chantal Joffe has described the mesmeric and physical, arm-straining experience of their making, the thickly applied chalk accumulating with a dusty, luminous purity. There is a sense of democratic, mobile immediacy about these sticks of pigment, the looser strokes they occasion turning clothes, or the stripes of a beach hut, towards abstraction even as they retain the sense of gesture and place of their making. Here again, experience and artistic form, emotional connection and representation, are suspended in lively, irresolvable association on Joffe’s picture plane, which accommodates all manner of psychological and spatio-temporal complexities. Info: Victoria Miro Mayfair, 14 St George Street, London, Duration: 22/1-24/3/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.victoria-miro.com

Today’s world can be considered to be in a state of flux. Our national and cultural boundaries are constantly being challenged. Through eight different projects the artists aim to spark conversations about migration, identity, war, power relations and a hope for the future in two venues. The topic for the exhibition “Transcultural Flux” is the movement of people and knowledge in the world today, where cultures interact continuously. Transcultural Flux aims to examine both migration and the broader framework of globalization, questioning what happens when we cross borders. Art and images can help make sense of our experiences and make us understand them from another angle. The artists bring us new perspectives and different interpretations of the consequences of globalization. Info: Curator: Malin Barth, Bergen Kjøtt, Skutevikstorget ,1 Bergen,& Stiftelsen 3 14, Vågsallmenningen 12, Bergen, Duration: 22/1-20/3/16, www.trap.no

The exhibition “Edward and Nancy Kienholz: A Selection of Works from the Betty and Monte Factor Family Collection” encapsulates both the friendship and patronage between the artist and two of his most steadfast collectors, Betty and Monte Factor. Controversial, graphic and always critical, Ed Kienholz’s installations and sculptural assemblages reproduce in tableaux form the ugly truths of modern life often bypassed by artistic representation. Large-scale, freestanding environments built out of materials salvaged from junkyards and alleyways survey subjects such as illegal abortion, prostitution, racism and mental illness. Kienholz rose to prominence in the Los Angeles art scene of the late ‘50s. Info: Sprüth Magers Gallery, 7A Grafton Street, London, Duration: 22/1-20/2/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.spruethmagers.com

“Behjat Sadr: Trace through the Black” explores the artistic and intellectual heritage of the Iranian artist Behjat Sadr, with archival material, and presenting a rare selection of works: from her early debate with “abstraction informelle” in the 50s to her experimentations around organic forms, trace making, and hallucinatory networks of lines throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s up until her “collage” years throughout the (inner) exile and the irrepressible return to her world of futuristic nostalgia. Sadr offers the singular testimony of a nascent cosmopolitan modernity that emerged in Tehran, Rome and Paris, in cities where she studied and exhibited, embodying an extraordinary fusion of work and life. Info: Curator: Morad Montazami, Ab/Anbar Gallery, No.2 Roshanmanesh alley, Khaghani St., Enghelab St., Darvazeh Dolat, Tehran, Duration: 22/1-12/2/16, Days & Hours: Sun-Fri 12:00-20:00, www.ab-anbar.com

The exhibition “Our Work” investigates how work organises our existence and defines our characters. Today salaried work determines not only the working time; contemporary work creates roles and modes of being that have a deep impact also on what may be called leisure, values, life. The exhibition reflects how work regulates how we live but also how it may be used as a political tool. The exhibition’s title references the history of Lunds konsthall. In 1978 a group exhibition with this title was produced, but then the emphasis was on the worker’s body and the perspective mainly Swedish. In 2016, Our Work incorporates two points of view: that of contemporary reality and that of the ‘70s. The exhibition moves between the dichotomy that dominated the Cold War period and today’s globalised outlook, between the pioneers of women’s liberation and contemporary feminist consciousness. Info: Lunds konsthall, Mårtenstorget 3, Lund, Duration: 23/1-1/5/16, Days & Hours: Tue, Wed, Fri & Sun 12:00-17:00, Thu 12:00-20:00, Sat 10:00-17:00, www.lundskonsthall.se

Camel Collective (Anthony Graves and Carla Herrera-Prats) is a US/Mexican collective that focuses on the problems of work, pedagogy, and collectivity through archival research processes, painting, drama and photography. “Something Other Than What You Are” is a video installation commissioned by REDCAT and is the first solo exhibition of this group in the United States. The exhibition focuses on the figure of the lighting designer as a means to discuss the invisible labor and precariousness that exists behind the theatrical production format, forming a scale model of the artistic cultural apparatus. Light is an intangible entity that becomes the source of the story’s narrative, combining documentary references with fictional situations. Info: Curator: Ruth Estévez, REDCAT, 631 W 2nd St., Los Angeles, Duration: 23/1-27/3/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 12:00-18:00, www.redcat.org

When we pay close attention to emerging artists and their preoccupations, it seems obvious that the duality between physical and digital space is a recurring focus point for this generation, though still cautious regarding the internet when it comes to presenting one’s work. The title of the exhibition “Bricks and clicks” refers to the business world and its marketing jargon, alluding to companies distributing their product both in traditional stores and on the web. By using this image, the cycle questions the new dynamics between a work of art and its introduction to the world, ultra-connected and swamped with images. Info: Curator: Romain semeteys, Galerie Christophe Gaillard, 5 rue Chapon, Paris, Duration: 23/1-/2/16, Days & Hours: Tue – Fri 10:30-12:30 & 14:00-19:00, Sat 12:00-19:00, http://galeriegaillard.com

The exhibition titled “Bentu, Chinese artists at a time of turbulence and transformation”, presents works of artists from the mainland, and a selection of works from Fondation Louis Vuitton Collection. This exhibition brings together 12 artists of different generations who live on mainland China. Using a wide variety of techniques and media, drawn from both local tradition and culture, as well as newer cutting-edge technologies, the artists reveal the complexities of a society that is in permanent mutation. The works highlight the current state of economy and ecology and the transformation of the relationship between the city and the countryside. Info: Fondation Louis Vuitton, Bois de Boulogne, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Paris, Duration: 27/1-2/5/16, Days & Hours: Mon & Wed-Thu 12:00-19:00, Fri 12:00-23:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-20:00, www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr

The exhibition “Programming the Visible”, presents six works by the artist and filmmaker Harun Farocki: “Parallel I-IV” (2012–14), “Interface” (1995), and the interview ”Catch Phrases – Catch Images. A Conversation with Vilém Flusser” (1986). The exhibition aims to reflect on the nature of 21st century images, exploring the displacement of the images captured by optical devices to computer-generated imagery. After 2007, the simulations and images generated by computers were questioned by Farocki. This is the focal point of the exhibition, however, to put into perspective the issues that are now being directed at the images generated by algorithms, are presented two of his previous works. Info: Curator: Jane de Almeida, Paço das Artes, Cidade Universitária, Av. da Universidade 1, São Paulo, Duration: 28/1-27/3/16, Days & Hours: Wed-Fri 10:00-19:00, Sat-sun 11:00-18:00, www.pacodasartes.org.br

Merijn Kavelaars explores romantic ideas of freedom, escapism, desire and the intrinsic process of finding oneself. His leaving to the Orient is therefore no coincidence. In China, the painter experiences a degree of inspiration that was unknown to him before: the life in anonymity, the detachment from social structures and the complete self-dependence. In Shanghai, Kavelaars leaves his ephemeral traces (of paint) behind on the discarded objects and broken walls of the many districts in demolition. By imprisoning himself for a month prior to the opening, of the exhibition “No Good Can Come of This”, he will create the ideal conditions within himself to revive the gained freedom of Shanghai. It is a psychological experiment in which the complete space will be transformed into the painter’s medium of artistic expression. Info: Curator: Emmelie Koster, No Man’s Art Gallery, Secret location in Amsterdam. The address will be disclosed before the opening to those who sign up on http://eepurl.com/bDHfSf, Duration: 29/1-7/2/15, www.nomansart.com

Park McArthur’s exhibition entitled “Poly” includes three new bodies of work. A series of sculptures are made from wholesale-size, high-density acoustic polyurethane foam, designed to absorb sound and impact. A further series of works – large paper pieces arranged on sheets of stainless steel – engages the properties of superabsorbent polymer powder, a substance developed to soak up and hold large quantities of liquid. A third component consists of a series of stainless steel trays on low plinths, packed with small, single-use items, such as: condoms, latex gloves, dental dams, external catheters and pressure-reducing heel cups, designed to absorb, contain, and distribute their contents. Through their potential uses, these items enact some of the sculptural properties of the foam and polymer paper. Info: Chisenhale Gallery, 64 Chisenhale Road, London, Duration: 29/1-3/4/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, http://chisenhale.org.uk

“H-H. Halley meets Hortal” is a collaborative exhibition featuring the work of artists Peter Halley and Yago Hortal. The exhibition has come together after eight months of conversations, email exchanges, and the cross-posting of ideas, studies, and drafts in which both artists responded to each other’s practice. This led to conversations about things they have in common and others that differentiate them, inside the world of Abstract painting. It highlights the New Yorker and the Catalan, experience and youth, rationalism and randomness, geometry and gesture, two approaches to the mastery of color… a back and forth dialogue about what unites them and what distances them. At the Gallery, each artist will exhibit three large paintings, conceived of with the goal of establishing a conversation. In addition, Peter Halley and Yago Hortal have created five collaborative works on paper, signed by both artists. Info: Galería Senda, Calle Trafalgar 32, Barcelona, Duration: 29/1-23/3/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-20:00, http://galeriasenda.com

Pier Paolo Calzolari with his solo exhibition “Ensemble”, is reactivating this quest for passageways, vibrations, basic configurations, by causing distances to collide. To begin with, the distance between the past and the present, with a number of his works dated 1968-2015, from the beginnings of Arte Povera to today. But he is also confronting Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism, that artistic reconstruction plan initiated by “0,10”, the mythic exhibition in Saint Petersburg in 1915. Freed from the obligations of representation, Malevich exhibited there his “Black Square on White Ground”, while affirming that “Creating means living, eternally creating newer and newer forms”. Info: kamel mennour Gallery, 47 rue Saint-André des Arts & 6, rue du Pont de Lodi, Paris, Duration: 29/01-05/03/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, www.kamelmennour.com

Rochelle Feinstein’s retrospective, In Anticipation of Women’s History Month, will open at Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève. Possessing an extensive painting lexicon, Feinstein employs an array of media from silkscreen, to photography and assemblage, to abstract, expressive painting. These combined material processes are applied to an appropriative practice that cross-references the mythologies of art history and popular culture. Sourcing and reconstituting found visual material, Feinstein includes text, personal photography and even self-cannibalises past work. At once a social commentary and autobiographical, her works stands as biting satire of her role as an artist working in the arena that is painting in America today. Info: Curators: Fabrice Stroun & Tenzing Barshee, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, 10 rue des Vieux-Grenadiers, Genève, Duration: 29/1-24/4/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.centre.ch