celebrating 10 years of colourful explosion!

EXHIBITION REVIEW ::: Milano, IT
Günther Förg, 10 Anni -- Ala -- Förg
Salvatore & Caroline Ala Galleria

Wide open spaces. Think big, clear open windows, minimalist fonts used on the text panels + labels, white walls and amazing graphic design. This is the space gallery owners Salvatore and Caroline Ala are more than lucky to have. Now, think an incredible mixing of colors on the palatte before dabbing them on these huge, larger-than-life size canvases... and you now have the work of Günther Förg, a contemporary German artist, who has worked on these conceptual masterpieces for the last decade. The body of work he has created over this period of time is hard to narrow down to a single medium. Add in some of the friendliest, dressed in business casual attire, gallery assistants... who took the liberty to greet you at the door, hand you information about the artist, and even offer you water on that hot June afternoon (acqua naturale o frizzante) and you got what is perhaps the most professional art gallery in all of Milan!



From his early Conceptual Art of the 1970s, Förg has come a long way from the simplistic monochromes and greys. Over the years, he has specialized in photography, sculpture, prints, drawings, and of course, paintings. He also makes installations and murals, in all of which there is a distinct reference to architecture, landscape and form. This rings true in that although Förg's work is minimalist in nature (due to the constant repetition of his designs), there is always something spontaneous that seeks to erupt out of the paintings and seeks to be different.

Just like what art experts believe to be Cezanne's last painting (of the garden outside his studio, unfinished), Förg's work appear to be "almost landcapes" and "almost cityspaces"; the colors, shapes and form bunch together to form an "almost" identified subject matter. It is as if his intention was to finish these paintings to look somewhat representational, but purposely left them "unfinished" in order to instill an air of mystery and wonder for those who view his work. In fact, if you look closely at his canvases, you might just catch a glimpse of where he was headed with his idea. This, my friends, is conceptual art at its very best: born out the mind, conceived by the brain and carried out in an exhasting expression of colors and forms, dancing off the canvas for all the world to see.

This show, which comprises of 19 works of acrylic on canvas (1o of which are in a large format -195 x 230 cm), 6 acrylic collages on paper, 8 pastel designs on paper e 3 square cross-hatched designs on paper... exhibits the work of this German contemporary artist at its very best, while one can truly grasp where he is coming from. It is no wonder that when asked about one of his watercolors, Förg responded with the following quote:

"I have always avoided subject matter. In the watercolors of windows, I was able to approach the subject matter of the window and even let some figures sneak in... Another frequent motif is the staircase, which is the result of one of my favorite movies, Vertigo. Unpleasant, but it haunts me."

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meager photo show

:: EXHIBITION REVIEW ::
Louise Lawler/Cindy Sherman
Studio Guenzani ; Milano, IT

This was one of the first openings I went to in Milan, on 31 May 2007. This gallery alone cannot sum up the contemporary art scene in Milan, yet it did not make ways for a good impression. I call this show the "meager photo show" because there were only 7 works in the whole exhibition dedicated to these two artists. I was expecting a larger gallery with a wider collection of photographs, so this, of course, completely took me by surprise. Sometimes, one must realize that less can certainly be more....

About the Artists: Louise Lawler was born in 1947 in Bronxville, NY; Cindy Sherman ( New York ). was born in 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Both artists live and work in New York, NY. Since 1988, both artists ingurated a collaboration with Studio Guenzani.

Lawler and Sherman were two revolutionary artists that used photography as a method of expression in the late 70s and the 80s. Both are creative genuises: while Lawler underlines the influence of our perception of artistic objects (ie. paintings, sculptures, furniture, etc.) in her photographic ouevre, Sherman focuses primarily on contemporary iconography, and in the 80s and 90s focused on the representation on the stereotypical female by dressing up as those characters (housewife, model, clown, etc.) as well as violent scenes in our society that might appear to be grosteque and violent -- but yet, are blatantly honest.

This show, although small and meager in size, shines in that it provides a glimpse into the diverse photographs of these two American contemporary artists, who continue to transfigure the proper image and disperses the proper subject in a million different reflexes which in the end, represents a body of work that is stronger and more evident -- to communicate a message to the masses. Indeed art that does more than sit on its ass just to look pretty.

isolation & self-identity crisis

:: EXHIBITION REVIEW ::

Nowhere Gallery, Milano (IT)

Pier Paolo Maggini

"UNA SOLITUDINE TROPPO RUMOROSA" (A very noisy solitude)

Yet another gallery located in the back of the courtyard, with a secret door that leads you back into the bustling streets of Milan. These things amuse me as a foreigner, yet at the same time is something I have gotten used to over the months I've spent in this country. I was told to visit this gallery because the owner, Orio Vergani, is a close friend and collegue of my boss Pasquale Leccese. I did not know what to expect, nor did I know what kind of art this gallery specialized in.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by a flustered, middle aged man, who was smoking pot and his aggressive dog. I thought I was going to be attacked by the dog, who kept barking verociously at me, but thankfully the owner pulled him back and told him to knock it off. Needless to say, the pot smoking and barking of his dog continued during the whole time I was at the gallery. Afterwards, I scoffed at the lack of professionality yet would have found it to be more humorous if these actions were done in purpose, as if to allude to the title of this exhibition as a whole.

This gallery may have been small and overlooked, but the artwork was poignant and powerful. Pier Paolo Maggini has created a series of detailed, realistic paintings of empty football (soccer) stadiums and race tracks, depicting what is described as "confined solitude between vitality and vivaciousness". These paintings are small, no bigger than 11 X 14 and are extremely detailed. These objects become alive, and are like forms of life to us: they are jolted from a point of restlessness and a more optical motion of what is real. They are not vital, and it is not the life of one to shake them, to cross them, but solely one's fiction, or better yet its desire, that is to be carried out.




The "waitings" represented in these paintings are the state of mind of those who will wait to get rid of a hidden inertia. It accumulates refusals from the trash dumps, which then attend to transform itself into masses, in compact structures. The end of these territories become landscapes. The shapes that fill up the stages, which eventually change themselves, become figures. Some works echo the fascination of the instinct ones that seems to take on while in these situations, acting dishonestly in order to exceed the anonymity. The painting is serenely pulverized, and is stretched to be ulteriorly dense, yet coincided.

This seems to be enough to get his message across and continue to ask why so many are "screaming in silence" yet cannot be heard. So many people are isolated, hidden in the seats of the stadium and wondering what their purpose in this world is. Like rubbish, so many people feel that they are isolated, and are only here to eventually rot away into the earth. Why bother with morality? Why even live?

Though depressing in nature, this was a powerful exhibit that although made one feel uncomfortable, are important questions to consider regarding why many feel we are simply a means to an end. We've created this concept. Just look at the empty stadiums/racing tracks.