Now showing: Artist Sandra Eula Lee‘s “Two Waters (Seeds in a Wild Garden)” exhibition at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Inspired by her research on urban plant landscapes, Lee’s new show explores the “defiant gardens” that emerge in rapidly industrializing areas through drawings, photographs, and installation.

Lee finds many of her materials in the neighborhoods she lives in and around. In “MountainMountain,” for example, the rocks are construction rubble that went to sea and washed ashore everyday in Xiamen, China, where she was an Artist-in-Residence for three months. According to Lee, “Chunks of asphalt, concrete and bricks with bits of tile and ceramic were weathered by the ocean and washed ashore as rounded stones. It was a beautiful process I couldn’t ignore.” And “Seeds in a wild garden” was made from rubble Lee collected from a local construction site, including broken rebar, bricks, work gloves, gnarled wire, and bent nails, painted to match the colors of the neighborhood gardens surrounding it.

We had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Lee about her new work and show.

above: “Seeds in a wild garden,” 2010. Materials collected from construction sites in Korea, paint in colors of local gardens

In your own words, what was the inspiration for the show?
Two years ago, I traveled to Korea for a residency at IASK Goyang through the National Museum of Contemporary Art. What began as a search into Korea’s wartime history evolved into a wider interest in the landscape and how it has been reconstructed over time. Driving to see the country’s landscape, the mountains, and surrounding waters outside the cities left a great impression on me, as did the constant sight of construction.

During my time in China I was greatly affected by the gardens in the water towns of Suzhou, and later by the mountains and surrounding waters of Xiamen that related to the landscape I experienced in Korea. Over time I began to consider the garden’s relationship with the landscape~ how the garden is essentially an expression of people’s philosophy or attitude with their surroundings. Both gardens and landscape are constructions, and both are ephemeral, or cyclical, in nature. This thread shaped the travel and work I did this past year in Korea and China, considering a variety of garden structures and altered landscapes.

How did the BBG’s offerings shape the work in the exhibition?
At the BBG I started with Japanese garden traditions, spending time in the Garden and meeting with the curators of the Starr Bonsai Collection and the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden, who kindly offered their time. And with the librarian’s help, I’m mining the archives and reading books that approach the garden as a container for ideas and identity. This is my interest in bringing my artwork to the BBG audience, to highlight alternate forms of garden-making and question some of the cultural assumptions that are attached.

How much of the work was made pre- and post- your residency at BBG?
The BBG continues to shape the work in the exhibition~ by that I mean new works will be added to the show during the course of my residency, which continues until the exhibition closes on June 5.

Some of the works were created during my time in Asia, though they were re-shaped and re-contextualized for the BBG. Other works were made during my residency at BBG, which began over a month ago, and are an extension of my study with access to the resources there. The “Two Waters” project continues to grow and has taken a unique turn at BBG. Come May, I will add a new series of drawings to the exhibition. By keeping the show alive with new works, I think viewers can have greater participation with my process as Artist-in-Residence.

What does the phrase “Two Waters” reference exactly?
I can say there are many references for “Two waters” that fit the work. Because of that I chose the title and enjoyed how it connects thoughts on boundaries, reflection, and spaces of contemplation.

Describe your thoughts on the concept of defiant gardens in the midst of rapidly industrializing societies.
The term comes from a incredible book, “Defiant Gardens” by Kenneth Helphand that I read when I began my residency at BBG. In it, Helphand proposes that the power of a garden can be strongest when it exists in inhospitable conditions. This incongruity highlights the humanity that gardens can represent. Focusing mostly on gardens made during wartime, Helphand’s book really resonated with me and opened my eyes, creating further connections with the work I started with in Korea. Images in the exhibition include documentation of various gardens created amongst the construction sites and historical landscape in Korea and China. And “Seeds in a wild garden” is created from rubble I collected from a local construction site in Goyang, painted in colors of the neighborhood gardens. I think the idea of a defiant garden is something that we can really relate to when living in an urban center.

How do you see man-made gardens and landscapes in the grander scheme of nature?
And spontaneous (non-man-made) gardens/landscapes ?
I see they are a part of each other and exist with each other. Man-made gardens are an expression, ephemeral in nature and need care to survive. Spontaneous gardens on the other hand grow for survival and adapt to natural cycles for survival. I think there’s a lot of grey area in between with constant negotiation of territories.

above: “MountainMountain,” 2010, Glass, sea-weathered construction rubble, acrylic sheets, spray paint

above: “Pursuing the horizon” (series), 2011, Potted street garden, China; Potted plants, street sale, China; Potted roof garden, China; Potted plants and laundry, China. Photographs, wood panel, spray paint

above: “Pursuing the horizon” (series), 2011,Bonsai plant, China; Soswaewon garden pond, Korea; Couple’s garden, China; BBG pond, U.S. Photographs, wood panel, spray paint

above: “Two waters (Seeds in a wild garden), Exhibition view,” Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2011

*All images copyright and courtesy the artist.

“Two Waters” runs through June 5th at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden:
1000 Washington Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11225
(718) 623-7200

Now Showing: Raphaele Shirley‘s “0910 Light Shots,” a site-specific, multimedia artwork for The Project Room for New Media at The Chelsea Art Museum. In this new laser light and fog installation, Shirley uses light beams to draw lines and planes in space, creating a dynamic, minimalist laser environment that explores the principles of perception. This installation questions the meaning of space by playing with the physics of light and spacial geometry, creating ever-evolving colored structures as the visitor shifts in his or her viewing angle. With “0910 Light Shots,” Shirley has constructed both a site-specific, ephemeral object and an interactive installation; the composition’s nature is directly influenced by every viewer’s unique presence.

The installation runs through June 19th.

Images and a video featuring Raphaele Shirley on opening night are below…

above: Raphaele Shirley’s “Shooting Stair,” published by Dorfman Projects, 2009. below: Images from Shirley’s “0910 Light Shots” installation.

0910 LIGHT SHOTS by Raphaele Shirley
The Project Room for New Media at CAM
Chelsea Art Museum
Home of the Miotte Foundation
556 West 22nd St. at 11th Ave., NYC
chelseaartmuseum.org
212-255-0719

*All images and video courtesy of The Chelsea Art Museum.

Opening later this month, The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents Big Bambú, a monumental bamboo structure by American identical twin artists Mike and Doug Starn (born 1961). The site-specific installation on the museum’s Roof Garden opens to the public on April 27, and will ultimately measure 100 feet long by 50 feet wide by 50 feet high in the form of a cresting wave, bridging the worlds of sculpture, architecture, and performance.

Big Bambú’s construction will incorporate the efforts of the artists and a team of rockclimbers, and visitors are encouraged to witness it as an evolving, organic project throughout the spring, summer and fall. A continually growing, changing sculpture, it will comprise thousands of fresh-cut bamboo poles—a complex network of 5,000 interlocking 30- and 40-foot-long bamboo poles, which will be lashed together with 50 miles of nylon rope.

The initial, roughly 30-foot high by 50-foot-wide by 100-foot-long structure will be completed by opening day on April 27; next, the eastern portion of the sculpture will be built up by the artists and rock climbers to an elevation of some 50 feet; and by summer, the western portion of the sculpture will be elevated by the artists and rock climbers to around 40 feet in height. An internal footpath artery system grows within the structure, facilitating the progress of the organism. The ephemeral state of the work will be documented by the artists in various scale photographs and video.

According to the Museum’s Gary Tinterow, “Although the Starn brothers are best known for their photographs, in fact their abiding interest is in organic systems and structures, as seen in their photographs of trees, leaves, and snow flakes, or here, in Big Bambú. We are intrigued by the possibilities of this ever-evolving structure on our Roof Garden, which, when animated by the team of rock climbers, will become an organic system of its own.”

And artist Mike Starn notes, “It is a temporary structure in a sense, but it is a sculpture—not a static sculpture, it’s an organism that we are just a part of—helping it to move along,” said Mike Starn. “We will be constructing a slice of seascape, like our photographs, a cutaway view of a wave constantly in motion—our growth and change remains invariable, it is constant and unchanged.”

And, he explains, “The reason we had to make it so big is to make all of us feel small—or at least to awaken us to the fact that individually we are not so big. Once we’re aware of our true stature we can feel a part of something much more vast than we could ever have dreamed of before.”

Big Bambú opens to the public April 27. It runs April 27– October 31, 2010 (weather permitting).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Avenue, New York
www.metmuseum.org

Since the late 1990s, Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto has created interactive, immersive sculptural environments using translucent, stretchable fabrics. “Navedenga” (1998) – one of Neto’s early, quasi-architectural bodies – is on view now at the Museum of Modern Art through late April.

The enveloping sculptural environment invites the audience to participate in a work of art, as they enter the sculpture’s hollow chamber and engage it with their visual, tactile, and olfactory senses. Responsive to the touch, “Navedenga” was constructed from Lycra fabric, Styrofoam and sand, and embedded with aromatic cloves. Its soft, sensuous surface, and round, taut contours reference and evoke the human body.

The installation’s form and the title—a neologism created by the artist that recalls the Portuguese word “nave,” or “ship”—suggest both a fantastical spacecraft and a protective womb. It’s part of a series of “naves” by Neto, alluding to journeys both intimate and expansive, feminine and masculine.

For more information, visit MoMA.org.
All images courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art:
Ernesto Neto, “Navedenga.” 1998. Polyamide stretch fabric, sand, Styrofoam, cloves, cord, and ribbon. 144 x 180 x 252″ (365.8 x 457.2 x 640.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Donald L. Bryant, Jr. Installation photographed at The Museum of Modern Art, 2010. Photo © 2010 Jason Mandella.

Personal Edition Crochet Chair by Marcel Wanders

The Philadelphia Museum of Art welcomes visionary Dutch designer Marcel Wanders in a self-designed, self-curated exhibition called “Marcel Wanders: Daydreams.” This dreamlike, multimedia installation of objects was personally selected by Wanders to represent pivotal points in his 20+ year career. Video images, lighting, and sound illuminate his creative development over the years.

New films—detailing Wanders’s design process and philosophy in projects ranging from manufactured products, hotel interiors, and design art—also make their public debut at the retrospective. The films’ soundscapes provide Wanders’s personal views on design.

“Marcel Wanders: Daydreams”
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Curated by Kathryn Hiesinger
November 22, 2009- June 13, 2010

For more information, visit Philadelphia Museum of Art.
And look for my interview w/Wanders in the winter issue of Clear Magazine!

Installation view of Ron Arad: No Discipline at The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Jason Mandella.

Installation view of Ron Arad: No Discipline at The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Jason Mandella.

Sketch for Southern Hemisphere. 2007 N.d. Courtesy of Ron Arad Associates, London

Oh-Void 2. 2006 Acrylic; Edition by The Gallery Mourmans, The Netherlands Photo courtesy of Private Collection, U.S. Photo Erik and Petra Hesmerg

Creative Playboy:

Ron Arad may not be a familiar name to most of the population, but in the art and design world, he’s regarded as a bit of a bad-boy genius, known both for blending the worlds of design, art and architecture and a strong personality. On a recent July morning at MoMA, though, during a preview for “No Discipline,” the first major U.S. retrospective of Arad’s work running through October 19th, despite others’ best efforts to place the bad boy persona on center stage, Arad just let the work speak for itself.

First on the agenda was an exhibition walk-through. “No Discipline” presents a career’s worth of work organized by what Senior Curator of Design & Architecture Paola Antonelli calls “families:” related pieces sit on, within and outside a massive figure-eight structure that takes up most of the room, referencing the recurrence of the shape in Arad’s work. Screens throughout show video of Arad’s work, as well as a stop-motion video of the enormous figure eight’s installment. It was potent, and as I walked around, I was repeatedly asked to step out of the way for other hungry pressman eager to snap shots of – what?!- no curmudgeon, rather an agreeably posing Arad.

Next up: comments by MoMA Director Glenn Lowry and Paola Antonelli. Both made all the appropriate thank-yous, and Lowry put the exhibit in context: “This museum, as I think all of you know, really grew out of a deep commitment and belief in the fact that modern art expressed itself across many different media and disciplines…Ron stands out as one of the most influential designers of our time for his adventurous approach to form, structure, technology and materials, in work that spans the disciplines of industrial design, sculpture, architecture and mixed media installations…His relentless experimentation of materials of all kinds, as well as his radical reinterpretation of some of the most established archetypes in furniture that put him at the forefront of contemporary design. Ron, we’re so thrilled that you are with us today!”

(Applause.)

Then Paola Antonelli: “Ron Arad really did change design history – without really thinking about it – he doesn’t seem to care that much in general – but slowly but surely, one piece after another, and with his tremendous work at the Royal College of Art as head of the Design Products program for ten years….he really shaped – or unshaped and deconstructed – a new generation of designers…”

Speaking of Arad’s approach: “Push to the limit, materials, forms and people around you. It’s really important to push…Designers are those that make revolutions in technology and science and lifestyle, if you wish, come true, and transform them into objects you and I can use… I’d like to answer one question that I’ve had many times from many journalists, I’m going to say it here once and for all…as a very kind correspondent from the BBC very Britishly put it this morning: ‘Um, I have heard that Ron Arad is kind of – has a thing with being – strong willed. How did this exhibition go?’ It was truly a collaboration – it was his creative vision. Well, I was the discipline and he was the No. Blood was shed. It’s on the wall (pointing to the exhibition’s sign, which includes red paint splats, on the wall to her left); the result is fantastic. And we’re still friends. So, there you have it. Thank you!”

(Applause.)

And then the bad boy himself, Arad, dressed in a t-shirt, cap, sneakers and pants a cross between pajamas and hammer-pants, meandered to the podium. After a very quietly spoken thank you to another contributor, he quickly closed, saying, “All the rest is there, I have nothing to say. Enjoy it!”

No drama necessary. Guess we’ll just have to let badass work speak for itself.

For more information on MoMA, visit moma.org
For more information on Ron Arad, check out ronarad.com
Images courtesy of MoMA

Also, check out a great TED design talk by MoMA Senior Curator Paola Antonelli here:

The latest installation by Pittsburgh-based artist Atticus Adams is called “Castles in the Air,” 2009. Set in Pittsburgh’s Mattress Factory Museum this past May thru June, the installation – which for me simultaneously calls to mind elements as disparate as underwater plantlife, fashion and biology – is made of coated and uncoated aluminum mesh, monofilament, wire, grommets, and rubber. According to Adams, the project is based on a quote by Thoreau. And Adams – who was born in Oregon, raised in West Virginia, and, in his words, “cobbled together art and design classes from places like Tidewater Community College, Harvard University, The Rhode Island School of Design, and Yale School of Art for some creative experiences,” – cites Pittsburgh as his own Walden:

“I learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with a license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”

To learn more about Atticus Adams, visit www.atticusadams.com
All images courtesy of the artist.

**Disclosure: book link above is an Amazon affiliate link.
H/T Sprayblog.

"Surf into Summer" by Mitchell Schorr

"Surf into Summer" by Mitchell Schorr

This July, the Fashion Center Business Improvement District (BID) displays Surf into Summer, a new series by artist Mitchell Schorr. A native New Yorker, Schorr is probably best known for his colorful murals (often placed in public spaces) and for a style and content consistently inspired by city life. Drawing from everyday scenes, Schorr’s work is energetic and vibrant, revealing a real sense of movement and love of color.

The paintings in this beach scene tableau installation depict surfers as they ride waves up to 60 feet tall. Says Schorr, “It’s like surfing a six-story building as it falls.”

Surf into Summer is on display in a street-level window at 215 West 38th Street through July 30th. The free exhibit is part of BID’s continuing series of public art exhibits, and is presented by the Fashion Center Space for Public Art, which celebrates the work of talented local artists throughout the year. BID, a not-for-profit corporation, was established in 1993 to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of Manhattan ’s Fashion District.

I Heart Public Art!

For more information on Mitchell Schorr, visit www.mschorr.com

To learn more about BID, check out www.fashioncenter.com

To read my interview with MItchell for BehindtheBurner.com from May ’09, visit Gourmet Groceries and Foodie Art.