Venet's Arcs in New Orleans

Spring is a time to wander in parks filled with birds, flowers and sculptures. Bernar Venet, a French artist, is well represented in New Orleans with works uptown (on the Tulane campus) and downtown ( in Lafayette Square). Famous in France, he is reaching an international audience with sculptures on five continents, including far away New Zealand.
The artist born in 1941 was close to members of the New Realism movement like Arman, César, Villeglé in the early sixties and after a two months stay in New York discovered Minimalism and moved to New York City in 1967. His biography is readily available on the Web. His show at the Versailles Palace garden in 2011 brought plenty of controversy, not about the sculptures but due to its location on a site of historical significance.

Back to the sculptures in New Orleans, I could not find a date on the signs next to them. Referring to Venet's biography, they both represent the period of the nineties but were most likely conceived much earlier. After spending time travelling and teaching art history at the Sorbonne from 1971 till 1976, the artist resumed his career. He embraced the concept of monosemy, works conveying a single meaning and perfected his gesture through a mathematical language to create his Arcs Series.

Downtown, the sculpture has replaced the intimate Eye Bench from Louise Bourgeois which at the corner of the square, provided a place to sit, reflect, converse and lighted the area at night. Venet's arc under the foliage is hardly visible and the steel stays dark and cold in the shade. Due to spatial constraints, the background appears flat and compacted. In one word, the sculpture feels odd in its surrounding..

 In contrast, I found the sculpture uptown in harmony with the landscape. On the green campus, in full sun, the Cor-ten steel takes reddish warm colors and the shape provides a frame to  older buildings, trees or passersby allowing a positive interaction between the sculpture and its environment. Venet, known for his mistrust of all ideologies and theories, sees  his work at one level, it just exists. A closer and farther look at the sculpture brought up some thoughts. The round form is a feminine symbol, alludes to  meeting and also spiritual energy. The broken circle brings the viewer to look up at the sky and its broader cosmic unity.
In both places the mathematically perfect shape, the strong raw steel contrast with the organic shapes and matter, underlying the perfection of mathematics versus nature.

The artist himself is skeptical about his work being displayed outdoors. Speaking about his site specific sculpture in New Zealand he stated: "I prefer my works inside a room- that way you aren't distracted by the surrounding landscape...to me, a work of art has its own identity..."

The comparison between the two sites suggests that the role of outdoor sculptures is to define a space and  foster an harmonious relationship between piece of art, landscape and architecture. 

photographs by the author


"230.5° Arc x 5", Bernar Venet
"Eye Bench" Louise bourgeois
"Arcs in Disorder" 3 Arcs x 5 , Bernar Venet

Spring at the Saint-Claude Arts District

The installation "Catalpa, Reality, Resurrection, Revolution and Sir Joshua Reynolds" by Robert Tannen at the Homespace Gallery sends a message of hope with pieces of a dying catalpa tree supporting thin wooden sticks even a fishing rod, spread like fans in the air. From these dead pieces of wood, life springs again. The contrast between the old wood, wrinkled by the years and the elements and the thin wooden sticks, vigorous but fragile gives the message: regeneration, life, transformation. From the abandonned wood, the artist grows a forest and creates a space for reflection in the tradition of the Japanese gardens. Life never ends, death is just a transformation. The photographs and drawings of the gigantic tree along the installation are also the testimony of nature's resilience as I witnessed near the bayou after the hurricane. The salt water had wiped out all the tall trees, gray replaced green. The trees are back, more vigorous. The installation is a celebration of life and in tune with the season.

Farther down the road, The Good Children Gallery is also opened. It seems that some painters invent their own colors. Jessica Bizer is one of these artists. Her technique creates surreal works, glowing with a light she must have caught looking directly at the sun.

Across the street, The Front presents several artists with very different messages, among them Dick Keaveny, his series of Piggies, grotesque caricatures remind us that greed and I guess gluttony (considering the fleshy faces) are on the list of the seven deadly sins! Caricature is a tradition among artists, Leonardo da Vinci found his subjects in the streets.
The Saint-Claude Arts District is alive and well with an opening every second Saturday of the month.
photograph by the author
"Hope It's True", Jessica Bizer, 2012

Tamarind 's Fifty

To commemorate the fifty's birthday of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop (now Tamarind Institute), the University of New Mexico Art Museum organized an exhibition which travelled to the Newcomb Art Gallery on the Tulane campus in New Orleans. June Wayne who died in August 2011 at the age of 93, is credited with the creation of the Tamarind Workshop in Los Angeles in the 1960's. It was transferred to the University of New Mexico in 1970.

"Tamarind Touchstones: Fabulous at Fifty" includes eighty lithographs from the Tamarind archives displayed in close quarters along the walls of the gallery: Joseph Almyda "Fleur du Mal III", 1987, Roy De Forest "The Wizards of Hand gliding", 1995, Ellen Berkenblit "Return of Bright Brown", 2003-2004... and it goes on. The display appears random, not by subjects, chronology, artists or techniques. A few well-known artists are represented like Kiki Smith, Leon Golub, June Wayne herself, Sam Francis, Philip Guston, Joseph Albers, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Kelly, one work for each artist only. In the center, viewed from all sides are the two panels from Jim Dine, " Double Dose of Color", 2009.
The works remind us that lithographs are made through the collaboration between artists and craftsmen and the display could have been an occasion to describe the process of lithography.
I found a site easy to navigate from the MoMA to explain the techniques.
The exhibition has a limited impact, purely aesthetic and appears to have been curated without a clear goal.

photograph by the author
"Niobid" Leon Golub, 1965

The auction

ARTDOCS is a non profit organization in New Orleans since 1999, geared toward bringing free medical care for artists who cannot afford health insurance.
The annual art auction was held at the Hefler warehouse on Magazine Street ( New Orleans) in the evening last Thursday.



I went to the auction, as a spectator, but learned a lot from the experience.
Most of the art was donated by local artists or local galleries.
This is New Orleans, as we were perusing through the art before the auction started, there was music, free food and drinks (for a nominal fee at the entrance) all offered graciously by local restaurants and the local brewery.

The crowd was very cheerful. Nobody was there for serious business but in the true spirit of New Orleans, people came to have a good time and help a good cause.

This is what I learned:


- Do your homework. This appears obvious, and I thought I had done so... till I was surrounded by more than 70 pieces of art and that many artists names. I had gone through the lots which were available for viewing on the Internet, but it was overwhelming to be surrounded by all of them.



I should have selected a few pieces, do some research on Artprice or other site and decided how much I was willing to spend on each.



- Next is evaluating the condition of the work. One panel in acrylic was damaged and this would not have been obvious on the Internet (some people were bidding on the phone).



-Arrive early. I did and I was able to select a seat in the middle of the room, in front of the stage, but I decided to wander around. Later, I had to stand on the side...and missed a bid.



-Eat well, and even have some coffee, make sure you took care of all your natural needs for the next three hours.



-Unless you are really interested in a piece to be sold in the first half hour, try to hold your bidding till the last part, of the auction. There is a palpable fatigue of the bidders who are very enthusiastic at the start and then "are done".

What happened to me that evening: sloppy research, did bid on one piece but this was not aknowledged because I was not aggressive enough and not well situated, the auctionner did not see me.
I left early with a big part of the crowd because I had to work the following day.
I missed some interesting work, but it was my first auction.


CAUTION: this activity could be addicting.