Handmade, utopic, urgent and obsessive

I just landed in DC, so I probably won’t get to Airplane before “Facture” closes on Sunday, but the installation shots on their website look intriguing. “Combining a handmade aesthetic with a range of materials, the works in ‘Facture’ manipulate spatial perception and challenge the distinctions between sculpture, painting, photography, and video. Through their formal qualities, along with personal, cultural, and technological references, the works evoke questions about the physicality of the art object.”� Curated by Eileen Jeng, an independent writer, curator as well as the archivist at Sperone Westwater. Facture: Hector Arce Espasas, Jeremy Couillard, Amy Feldman, Elana Herzog, Gisela�Insuaste, Jessica Labatte, LoVid, Heather Rasmussen, and Jamil Yamani.

Airplane, located at 70 Jefferson Street in Bushwick, was recently named among the five best new galleries in Brooklyn in The L Magazine.

Allow plenty of time to see Amy Wilson: We Dream of Starfish and Geodesic Domes, because Wilson’s work always features lots of small, handwritten text that is worth taking the time to read. “Amy Wilson
reveals�an�ambitious�set�of�works�that�center�around�the�themes�of�utopia�and�building�a�new�world. Best�known�for�her�small�watercolors�that�depict�a�cast�of�young�girls�who�communicate�the�artist�s�diaristic�thoughts�via�text�bubbles, in In�We�Dream�of��Wilson brings the�girls�back, but�they take on a new dimension as they roam around a landscape inspired by Hieronymous Bosch and contemplate the works of R. Buckminster Fuller, Paolo Solari, Murray Bookchin, and others. The girls wonder aloud: If we could build the perfect society from the ground up, what would it look like? What kind of values and ethics would we reward, and which ones would we shun? What kind of culture would we create, if we got to do it all over � and this time, do it right?”

At BravinLee Programs, New York, NY, through March 24, 2012.

Elizabeth Gilfilin: No Longer, No Later / Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ. Through March 25, 2012.�Go see Gilfilen and Director of Exhibitions Jonathan Greene�talk about the work in her exhibition this Saturday, March 3, 2012 from�2pm-3pm.

“To Elizabeth Gilfilen, the blank canvas is an urgent lure. She doesn’t want to begin; she has�to begin. Gilfilen starts her paintings by setting up an atmospheric�color that defines the mood of the work. Without a defined palette for�each piece, she reacts to the fields of color as she works and
selectively integrates new hues that expand on the expected potential�color combinations. Gilfilen uses color to provoke our private�discomforts and public visual pleasures. Her paintings share a sense of�urgency, a result of her style of creating art that reflects her�openness to chance and accident.”

While at the Hunterdon, don’t miss “Fragmented,” which embraces an anti-casualist approach. The exhibition includes work by Astrid Bowlby, Sebastian Rug, Christopher Skura, Ben Butler. “An embodiment of repetition, detail and interconnectivity. “These four artists share the unique obsession with creating a picture by developing an ongoing correlation between its smaller sections. Upon close inspection of the work in “Fragmented,” the viewer can quickly see how it would be impossible to remove just a section of the image without completely dismantling the entire work. This is where the dynamic lies: these images are strong because of their connections, but one disruption in any of these artist’s processes would leave the overall work fragmented.”

BONUS READING: At Hyperallergic Weekend, don’t miss Thomas Micchelli’s excellent conversation with Jason Andrew, co-founder and director of Bushwick’s Norte Maar: “Many people have asked me if there is a defining characteristic among�the artists in Bushwick. My answer is the one Hans Hofmann offered when�asked what exactly constitutes the basis of the artist community at a�round table discussion among artists at Studio 35:
�Everyone should be as different as possible. There is nothing that is
common to all of us except our creative urge. It just means one thing to
me; to discover myself as well as I can. But every one of us has the
urge to be creative in relation to our time � the time to which we
belong may work out to be our thing in common.�

And last but not least: “Tops,” an exhibition of work on tabletops (reminds me of the concept behind CAA’s ARTExchange) curated by President Clinton Projects at Open Space in Long Island City, NY. Tomorrow is the LAST DAY! President Clinton Projects is an artist-run curatorial project founded by Sun You. “Tops” features work by Ivin Ballen, Josh Blackwell, Vince Contarino, Paul DeMuro, Dennis Farber, Amy Feldman, Stacy Fisher, Joanne Greenbaum, Michelle Grabner, Eric Hibit, James Hyde, Lucy Kim, Yasue Maetake, Fabienne Lasserre, B. Wurtz.

Related posts:
Elizabeth Gilfilen: Pugilist painter (2011)
Jason Andrew, Brooke Moyse, and me (2009)
Amy Wilson’s Antidote to Miami: The Degenerate Craft Fair (2009)
Video: Studying with Hans Hofmann in Provincetown (2011)

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