Alberto Giacometti and Lynda Benglis?

 

The third and last episode of the year-long series Encounters at the Barbican Center features Lynda Benglis along Alberto Giacometti, following Huma Bahbah and Mona Hatoum. The subtitle of the exhibition, Back at Ya, the name of one of the pieces from Benglis, reveals the focus of the show: a conversation between thirty previously unseen paper sculptures from Benglis and her selection of works from Giacometti.  

The wide gallery entrance allows a scenographic view of the carefully set display with a famous plaster sculpture from Giacometti Woman with Chariot (1943-45) in the center profiled on an earthy background, a sketch from the artist's bedroom wall transferred on canvas. Benglis's sculptures are installed for a symmetrical effect, one on each side of the painting and appear to float on the two surrounding walls. The white and off white monochromatic color scheme creates an ethereal atmosphere in which figurative and abstract works from the two sculptors resonate in harmony. They both project a duality of strength and fragility: the proud hieratic model, firmly grounded to her pedestal but vulnerable in her nakedness, and the diaphanous "skin" of Benglis's sculptures anchored on a solid armature of chicken wire. 

On the other side of a partition Standing Woman (1961-62), a bronze sculpture from Giacometti in a hieratic pose but missing arms, faces a work from Benglis, a vertical white tubular relief sculpture with a red bleeding gash in the middle. Both pieces convey similar themes of beauty marred by wounds and pain. The display takes a colorful turn with polychromic sculptures like Pi (1973), one of a series of "sparkle knots", as they keep growing in size. The festive wall sculptures radiate energy through volutes, crinkles, crumples, torsions, crushes, mashes, wrappings on chicken wire like skin on bones in a gestural action sculpting and painting. Their exuberance contrasts with the gravitas of Giacometti's paintings and sculptures set like anchors for the show, Half-Length of a Man (1965) in the center of the gallery or small painted statues in a wall vitrine surrounded by Benglis's creations. Only one of them is a ceramic in the round, Acuyé (2013), a red and black dramatic piece inspired by the harsh landscapes of New Mexico. The titles of the works "Gulped Oyster", "On y va", "Big Back Ass", ..., reflect a lighthearted mood or evoke places like "Park Avenue", "Teotihucán", "Wolfeboro". Mainly from 2017-18 the unseen works housed in her studio in Santa Fe represent a snapshot of Benglis's busy practice, showcasing her continuous experimentation with various media in the course of her long career. Half a century separate the two artists born on different continents, Giacometti in Swizerland and Benglis, now 84 years old, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The juxtaposition of their works emphasizes their common interest in expressing emotions through the representation of the human body: anxiety and loneliness for Giacometti, uninhibited joy and sensuality for Benglis. 

Thinking back, it appears that through their different styles, both artists relate to universal human experiences, rendering their works timeless.  

photographs by the author:

Lynda Benglis "Pi" (1973)

Views of the exhibition

News from Julia and more in New Orleans

A month after a wild and successful white linen night, a subdued ambiance fills the Art District and the visitors can have a closer look at the art this Saturday night.
What is new? Octavia Art Gallery moved from Uptown to a better space and location on Julia in a recently renovated building. The gallery's mission stays unchanged, featuring a mixture of local, national and international artists and offering a great exposure to local artists while mixing their works with those of heavyweights like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg or Keith Haring.
For the new season, the show titled Home gathers a diverse group of artists, each represented by one characteristic work. Ron Bechet with a charcoal on paper renders the wild and mysterious spirit of nature, Regina Scully's painting, the fantastic dimension of urban landscapes. Meanwhile a kitschy piece from Raashad Newsome, a native New Orleans artist now living in New York, reminds us of his dazzling works spread in the New Orleans Museum of Art for a Summer long exhibition. All the artists have a connection to New Orleans or its surroundings, which means to its unique culture, including Lynda Benglis, now an internationally famous artist, born in Lake Charles, LA. Keith Sonnier from Mamou, is given a prominent place with his light sculpture Longhorn Study, 2006  above the reception area.  The space allows the display of a great number of works without feeling crowded and one will find Bayou Dawn, 2013, a study in colors and lines from Brian Guidry, an "American crocodile" from Elizabeth Shannon, dolls from Rukiya Brown, a colorful second line from Keith Duncan or photographs on silk from Michel Varisco and more. The new gallery on the block is promising.

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery is holding its 17th No Dead Artists national juried exhibition and the variety of works will be a challenge for the jurors. This is another story... or blog.

The Saint Claude Art District in East New Orleans is busy with Antenna Gallery  in a new building just two blocks from The Front. Featuring an outstanding exhibition Void Loop well commented in the blog New Orleans Art Insider. Its venture into sound art and the subject of new technologies and art makes for a very relevant show.
At the Front, Jumper from Alex Podesta is the antithesis to the Antenna's exhibition. An odd persona, experimenting with basic supplies, a chord, scotch tape and a bouquet of red umbrellas, attempts to fly. Of course his dream goes wrong and he is sitting powerless and lonely on the cold dark floor next to his ridicule helmet decorated with two bunny ears. Still, he is a hero, he has the courage to dream... and to fail, a modern Icarus,

As of today, Jumper is back in his crate and the St Claude galleries are getting ready for their next shows opening Saturday.



"Delta Dawn", Brian Guidry, 2013  courtesy Octavia Art Gallery
Installation View, courtesy Ocatavia Art Gallery
"Jumper", Alex Podesta, 2013, photograph by the author

(FOLK) ART

The exhibition at NOMA titled "Swamp Tours: Exploring the Louisiana Contemporary Collections" made me reflect on the subject of Art versus Folk Art.

It is a medley of works bringing together "unusual and unexpected acquisitions" from the NOMA.

The artists represented include David Butler, Clementine Hunter, Lynda Benglis, Noel Rockmore, Ida Kohlmeyer, Jeffery Cook... and more. There is art and folk art. Well, where do we draw the line?

I tried to find the elements of folk art, is it its utilitarian, decorative? Is it it's reflection of more primitive mythology and fears? Does it represent a smaller community?

Art work is intellectually driven, significant, representing a society, a civilization.

It is also the viewer.

It is a fascinating subject and I am not to write a thesis,... just thinking... This exhibition is very interesting indeed , sometimes whimsical. A flavor you would not find anywhere else, complete with the gourmet turtle soup I had for lunch at the museum's cafe.

photographs by the author

Forty

This Summer, the NOMA presents 40 artists with two characteristics in common, they are women and from Louisiana. The works cover the period from 1965 till 2010. The two rooms dedicated to this exhibition appear cramped, filled with sculptures and paintings.

There is art for every taste, Surrealist, Realist, Abstract... from known and not so well known artists.

The exhibit is interesting because of its diversity, which also makes it difficult to absorb.

Among all the artists, I noticed the work from Jesselyn Benson Zurik (1916), "the Madonna of the Chair", 1980. It is an interesting minimalist sculpture but it is already a late work for the Minimalist movement.

Another original work from Ida Kohlmeyer retains the attention. "Mythic Throne", 1986, combines painting and sculpture. One can find a flavor of New Orleans but also an early combination of high and low art which made Takashi Murakami well known in the 90s till the present.

Rayne Bedsole is represented by a collage of a silhouette againts a dark background. Her works make me dream. I especially like her boats, symbols of voyages, including the ultimate voyage. Her use of symbolism blends the Mythology of different cultures to create works telling the universal story of Mankind.

One of the limitations of such exhibition is that it presents a very narrow window of some artists career. For example, Lynda Benglis, a prolific artist, who expressed herself with strong messages to fight for women's representation, deserves a better display than one sculpture.

Of course, one of Lin Emery 's kinetic sculpture "River Tree" was at the center of the room. Her metal sculptures, with nature as the subject, are well-known in New Orleans.

Even with some informations about the artists printed next to the works, this exhibition stays superficial. Using a musical term, the works are too discordant to be appreciated in such closeness. One can ask the goal of the curator: to show a great number of women artists in Louisiana? Unfortunately, it just resembles another end of the year College or art school exhibition.

photographs by the author