Art News

An inside look at events and happenings in the contemporary art world.

Miriam Schapiro (1923-2015), Heartland, 1985, acrylic and fabric on canvas. © 2019 Estate of Miriam Schapiro / Artists RightsSociety (ARS). Photo by Zach Stovall.Pattern and Decoration
Through May 11 a new exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles focuses on the groundbreaking movement of pattern and decoration in American art. With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972-1985 is the first scholarly survey of this movement, including paintings, sculpture, collage, installation art and performance documentation.

++++

Tim Burton with his sculptural installations at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Denise Truscello/Neon Museum.

Lost Vegas: Tim Burton
A celebration of his ties to the iconic city, a collection of artist and filmmaker Tim Burton’s sculptural and digital installations will be on view at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. Presented by the Engelstad Foundation, works from Lost Vegas: Tim Burton, many of which are site-specific creations, will be displayed in the Neon Boneyard and incorporated into Brilliant!, The Neon Museum’s permanent projection mapping North Gallery installation. The exhibition will remain up until February 15.

++++

Takashi Murakami’s new painting honoring the iconic reptilian monster. © Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.TM&©TOHO CO., LTD.Run! It’s Godzilla!
In honor of the 65th anniversary of the legendary pop cultural icon Godzilla, Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami has painted a massive and visually stunning painting of the colossal lizard of death and destruction. Known as the “Warhol of Japan,” Murakami is esteemed in his ability to toe the line between commercial and fine art. The original piece of art made its public debut at ComplexCon in Long Beach, California, on November 2 and 3, along with a variety of Godzilla logo-style art he’s created in the past.

++++

Bill Cunningham (1929-2016), Griffin Mask, 1963. Promised gift of The Julie Schafler Dale Collection.© 1964 by Bill Cunningham. Photo by Otto Stupakoff. © Julie Schafler Dale.Wearable art
Recently opened this past fall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Off the Wall: American Art to Wear examines the distinctive movement of art as clothing, with roots and connections to fine art, fiber art, fashion and performance. The exhibit focuses on the pioneering of wearable art through the 1960s and ’70s. During the height of the wearable art movement, many pieces mirrored the political climate at the time by using vivid textiles and forming art to the human body.

++++

Tom Uttech, AGWITCHSIDESHIMONOWIN (1033), oil on linen, 31 x 35"

Into the Woods

A retrospective for artist Tom Uttech, Into the Woods is the first exhibition covering Uttech’s full career, featuring paintings and photographs going back to the 1970s assembled from public and private collections. One of the leading landscape painters in the country, the Wisconsin artist’s works center around nature, wildlife and complex migration patterns. The exhibition, held at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, will be available for viewing through January 12.

++++

Maya Lin, The Princeton Line, earth drawing/sculpture. The John P. Putnam Jr. Memorial Collection, Princeton University Art Museum.

Maya Lin Public Works at Princeton Museum
American designer, artist and architect Maya Lin recently installed two new signature works of public art at the Princeton University Art Museum. Part of Lin’s Earth Drawings series, The Princeton Line utilizes the land itself to toe the line between drawing and sculpture, creating expressive forms through an undulating line of mounded earth that winds its way down a gentle slope of bright, grassy field. The other piece, Einstein’s Table, is an 11-foot diameter granite “water table” with an elliptical shape that models Earth’s orbit around the sun.