Jenniyo. Artchive and Blog

Still under the impact of Covid 19, the art world has adapted its business strategies. One strategy is making the gallery business virtual. The auction houses and galleries put more emphasis on online viewing rooms and virtual selling channels. Another business strategy in response to the pandemic is opening seasonal pop-up locations, to bring artworks directly to the buyers. The gallery migration follows the pattern of the buyer’s seasonal vacation spots, from Hamptons New York, Palm Beach Florida to Aspen Colorado.

Taipei is home to many well-informed Asian collectors. Following the launch of Taipei Dangdai in 2019, Lehmann Maupin’s pop-up space this summer shows international art businesses knocking at the door of Taiwanese collectors.

From August 3rd to 22nd, Lehman Maupin presents the exhibition States of Being. According to the show statement, States of Being explores the idea of performance, theater, and contemporary story-telling from within the gallery’s roster. The gallery shows David Salle’s oil paintings, Alex Prager’s c-print photographs, Tony Oursler’s innovative media art and Erwin Wurm’s interactive beanie sculpture. The works challenge the boundary between art and everyday life in a comical, lighthearted way.

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David Salle (b. 1952, Oklahoma)

Salle received his BFA and MFA from California Institute of Art. In addition to making art, Salle is a prolific writer, whose writings have been published in publications including Art Forum and Art in America. Salle is known as one of the leading figures who brought figuration back in 1980’s America. Combining figuration with varied pictorial languages, the artist responds to art history, advertising, design, film and the American popular culture. The painting Ice Flow II (2001) features vibrant colors and dynamic brushworks to create a dramatic canvas, which consequently sets the tone for the exhibition State of Being.

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Tony Oursler (b.1954, New York)

From Los Angeles, Oursler is known for his innovative integration of video, sculpture, and performance. Oursler works with diverse media technology to investigate the dissonance between moving image, object, and sound. The show features a small size sculpture from Oursler. Video of human faces are projected, in pink hue, onto the white curvy sculpture covered partially by pink transparent resin. The pink transparent resin dripped on the white cast. The rich visual experience is complimented by a female voice soundtrack. Although small in size, Oursler’s installation is one of the strongest artwork in the gallery. Under the teaching of John Baldessari, Oursler earned a BFA from California Institute of Arts in 1979. Tony Oursler has held a retrospective at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in 2021 among many other well-known international institutions.

Erwin Wurm (b. 1954, Austria)

Wurm’s artistic practice challenges the boundary between art and everyday life. Hence, the artist transforms everyday objects, from chairs, fruit to knit, into his work by manipulating those objects in unexpected ways. He also invites the audience to interact with his work. For example, the audience are welcome to take a photo underneath the work Beanie (2019), a hanging larger-than-life grey cast sculpture that invites the viewer to stand underneath. In 2020, Erwim Wurm had a solo exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. In the exhibition, the artist presented large size photographs featuring his unique approach to making sculptures.

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Billy Childish (b. 1947, England)

An expellent from Central Saint Martins and a well-known British artist, Tracey Emin’s ex-boyfriend, Childish is known for his poems, music, photographs and paintings. Working with expressive, lyrical and emotional brushstrokes, the show presents on of Childish’s ‘swimmer’ oil painting, diver, yuba river (2020). Using curvy lines reminiscent of mid century American realist Andre Breton’s, Childish paints the moment before a swimmer dive into the restless body of water. The brown, mustard, olive green, and creme colored brush strokes create a vibrant and dynamic composition on the linen canvas.

Alex Prager (b. 1979, LA)

Prager is a photographer and filmmaker from Los Angeles. Her works are influenced by the Hollywood film industry and street photography. Prager sets up scenes, ranging from the movie theater to the beach, and dresses up actors in mid twentieth century American costumes. The lushly colored film stills look familiar but odd because the artist often pairs the banal and fantastic, the everyday and theatrical. State of Being exhibition presents two film still from Prager, Judith (2012).

Tom Friedman (b. 1965, Missouri)

Known for the meticulous treatment of mediums ranging from styrofoam, flock to wire, Friedman celebrates the boundary between reality and illusion, art and everyday life. State of Being presents Hazmat Love (2017), a stainless steel sculpture featuring two identical figures in protective suites facing each other. The rigid metal turns into wrinkled surfaces of a suite. The faces of the figurines, on the other hand, are polished mirrors. The work is filled with the tug between danger and intimacy, love and hate, and rigidness and softness.

//NEWS// Lehmann Maupin starts representing Tom Friedman in August 2021.

Robin Rhode (b. 1976, Cape Town)

Rhode is known for creating visual narratives through mediums from photography, performance, drawing to sculpture. Rhode often shoots consecutive shots of figures interacting with objects in front of large public walls in Johannesburg and Berlin. These photographs are then shown as a series to create a storytelling board. For example, Twilight a series of photographs showing a person holding an enlarged feather to draw on an white wall. Rhode’s incorporates quotidian materials that bring attention to the life of an individual rather than a social or political agenda. Hip hop, film and street and urban culture are prevalent themes in Rhode’s practice. Lehmann Maupin presents a series of photographs and a video by Rhode.

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