Eliana Willis

The world-famous German painter Gerhard Richter has unveiled three stained glass windows at a Gothic monastery in Tholey, Germany.
The monastery, which is believed to be the oldest in the country, revealed the monumental designs on Thursday, September 17, at the benedictine abbey, which houses 12 monks.
The plan for the 30-foot-tall abstract painted works, which was first announced last summer, has been highly anticipated, especially because Richter, who is now 88, is undertaking fewer large-scale projects.
Speaking to the German press on Wednesday in Cologne, where he resides, Richter confirmed that the project, which he was at first hesitant to take on, would “certainly” be his last large numbered artwork. (The artist numbers all of his works, the monastery windows ring in at 957.)
He says he will now draw and sketch for exhibitions, among other “smaller” things.
The three windows are a donation from Richter, whose works are among the priciest in the world. The cost of their execution has not been disclosed, but was managed privately by an investor, the abbey told Artnet News.
Gerhard Richter’s new stained glass windows were unveiled in Tholey Abbey. Courtesy Tholey Abbey.

In addition to Richter’s installation, the Munich-based Afghan artist Mahbuba Maqsoodi, who is of Muslim faith, has designed 34 figurative stained glass windows for the abbey, some of which were revealed this week. The remainder will be finished by Easter 2021.
“To bring together Maqsoodi and Richter in the church was a risk, but the result is that all [the] colors have been found again. The church radiates harmony. Every time of day has a different light character,” Abbot Mauritius Choriol told the German press. “In these windows, you will always discover something new.”
The abbey, which is first mentioned in documents dating back to 634 AD, was in near financial ruin only a decade ago. Its leaders now hope that its revamped architecture will bring people back to the faith.
Richter did not travel to see the finished pieces for their unveiling, but said he was “amazed” by the outcome, which he had seen in photographs.
Abbot Mauritius Chorio, right, and Wendelinus Naumann present the window designs of the world-famous artist Gerhard Richter at the Benedictine Monastery in Tholey. Photo: Harald Tittel/picture alliance via Getty Images.

What is nearly certain is that the small town of around 2,500 people will have a new influx of art-lovers as soon as travel becomes easier. Some 100,000 guests were expected to visit the monastery in the first year, though the numbers will likely be lower due to travel restrictions.
The large choir windows were handmade in nearby Munich at Gustva van Treeck, an esteemed glass workshop. Their colorful and psychedelic motifs were derived from Richter’s 1990 “Pattern” series.
“These windows will provide the background for the entire liturgy,” Choriol said at the press unveiling. “I find it wonderful that the last secret, that is, the mystery of God, is not represented figuratively. Gerhard Richter always wanted people to think for themselves what they could find in his works.”
It is not the artist’s first church window. At the Cologne Cathedral, Richter installed a large pixelated abstract design in 2007.
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As galleries and art institutions around the world begin to reopen, we are spotlighting individual shows—online and IRL—that are worth your attention.

“Patrick Quarm: Salvaged Imperial”through October 3, 2020 at Albertz Benda, New York

What the gallery says: “The title of the exhibition is derived from Quarm’s practice of ‘collecting memories,’ which he refers to as salvaging: gathering his father’s stories of growing up in postcolonial Ghana, and accumulating his own experiences as a young man navigating multiple cultural and social spheres between Africa and the United States. ‘Imperial’ is a term the artist uses to describe his hybrid protagonists—constantly adapting, merging, and evolving throughout time and history.”
Why it’s worth a look: In the Ghanian-based artist’s first New York solo show, Patrick Quarm literally weaves together aspects of his identity and experience as a Black man living in Africa and in the United States. The works are sculptural tapestries made from layers of paint and textiles; from the side, two distinct canvases are visible, while from the front, a singular cohesive image emerges.
Quarm also uses African wax prints in his work, alluding to the complicated history of the fabric and its Dutch colonial legacy.
“My task or my duty as an artist is to strip each layer after the other to bring clarity, to understand the past and how the past shapes the present,” the artist writes.
What it looks like:

Installation view, “Patrick Quarm: Salvaged Imperial” at albertz benda, New York.

Patrick Quarm, BRUIT OF A SOVEREIGN (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, LEDGER OF TRUTH (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, LEDGER OF TRUTH (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, INVINCIBLE DILEMMA (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, BETHINK THYSELF (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, BETHINK THYSELF (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, YELLOW SISI (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, YELLOW SISI (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Installation view, “Patrick Quarm: Salvaged Imperial” at albertz benda, New York.

Patrick Quarm, EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, LACED BODY 1 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, LACED BODY 1 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, BARIMA (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

Patrick Quarm, LACED BODY 2 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY. More

As galleries and art institutions around the world begin to reopen, we are spotlighting individual shows—online and IRL—that are worth your attention.
“Ficre Ghebreyesus: Gate to the Blue”through October 24, 2020 at Galerie LeLong

What the gallery says: “Borrowing the title from one of his works, “Gate to the Blue” suggests not only a color significant to Ghebreyesus, but also an opening to the boundless sea and sky, an entry point to the unknown, which was a constant in the artist’s life as a refugee who fled his native Eritrea to eventually settle in New Haven, Connecticut.
“The artist was highly influenced by music and was a lover of the blues genre that originated in the journey of enslaved people over water and is rooted in African musical traditions and spirituality.”
Why it’s worth a look: Within his New Haven community, Ficre Ghebreyesus was beloved as an adventurous chef and the co-owner of Caffé Adulis, and as a man with deep interests in poetry and music. A talented painter, he still had no aspirations to become the toast of Manhattan’s art world, and was content instead to work under the radar and share his work with those closest to him.
In 2012, Ghebryesus died unexpectedly at just 50 years old, leaving behind around 700 canvases. Since then, his wife, the poet and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Elizabeth Alexander, has sought to share her late husband’s work with a wider audience, helping to arrange posthumous exhibitions of his work, eventually securing his estate’s representation with Galerie LeLong.
A refugee from Eritrea, Ghebreyesus made works shine with color, pattern, and forms that he kept in his recollections of his birthplace, as well as from his travels in Sudan, Italy, and Germany. Water is a recurring motif, as is a staccato checkerboard pattern of pink and red. His largest work, measuring 16 feet by 8 fee, is The Sardine Fisherman’s Funeral, a busy affair featuring cherubs with fish-scale wings, an oversized fish, and a host of attendants huddled together alongside a man holding a shovel, all on a flattened picture plane that recalls an early Renaissance painting.
What it looks like:

Ficre Ghebreyesus, The Sardine Fisherman’s Funeral, (2002). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Zememesh Berhe’s Magic Garden (ca. 2002). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Horizon with Interred Figures (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Tis Time to Seek Asylum (ca. 2007-11). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Gate to the Blue (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Boat at Night (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Mangia Libro (ca. 2007). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Seated Musician with Feathered Wing (2011). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Untitled (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Boat (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, La Amistad (2002). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Nkisi (ca. 2011). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Red Hats and Balloons (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

Ficre Ghebreyesus, Gate to the Compound (2006). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

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The past six months have opened a lot of people’s eyes to the importance of unsung, so-called essential laborers. For Mierle Laderman Ukeles (1939–), the fundamental need to honor such workers has been at the heart of her work for decades.
Since 1977, Ukeles has been the official artist-in-residence at the New York City Department of Sanitation, where she famously shook the hand of each and every one of its 8,500 employees in an 11-month-long performance titled Touch Sanitation (1979–80). She told each worker “thank you for keeping New York City alive.”
Now, her message is being be amplified across the city, with public art installations in Times Square, on the facade of the Queens Museum, and across 2,000 digital-advertising spaces in the subway system. The new project, titled For ⟶ forever…, addresses service workers, and acknowledges the never-ending nature of their labor.
“The work isn’t going to be done,” Ukeles told Artnet News. “It’s not like you work, work, work so hard and it’s finished, like a painting.”
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, For⟶forever… (2020). Photo ©Mierle Laderman Ukeles by Ian Douglas/Times Square Arts.

Ukeles’s messages, although digital, are handwritten in a nod to the personal nature of her work. But at 81, she’s firmly in the at-risk category, and has been largely confined to her apartment in Israel.
Her last trip to New York was in March. Upon her return home, she watched events in New York unfold from across the ocean. As the city reopened, friends would update her on the state of things.
“They kept talking about how clean the subway is,” Ukeles said. “That’s because workers are in there making it safe for people to come back. And in the process of making it safe for people to come back, they expose themselves.”
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, For⟶forever… (2020). Photo ©Mierle Laderman Ukeles by Marc A. Hermann/MTA New York City Transit.

When the Queens Museum, where she had her 2016 retrospective, approached her, together with Times Square Arts and MTA Arts & Design, she was eager to make a public artwork calling attention to and celebrating the service workers who had kept the city running.
“Many people are out there thanking health workers. They are truly heroic. But this piece is about service workers,” Ukeles said. “They need to be honored.”
The roots of Ukeles’s interest in menial labor and its never-ending nature can be traced back to 1969, when she composed her Maintenance Art Manifesto.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, I Make Maintenance Art One Hour Every Day (1976), installation shot (2016). Photo by Hai Zhang, courtesy of the Queens Museum and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York.

The year before, she had given birth to her first child, and quickly realized that parenthood constrained her in a way that didn’t apply to the male artists she considered her heroes. “I realized Jackson [Pollock] doesn’t change diapers,” Ukeles said.
The defiantly feminist manifesto boldly proclaimed that all her household tasks and other chores, which had to be done again and again as part of the routine maintenance of everyday life, would henceforth be considered her artwork.
“I was working like a lunatic, trying to be an artist, trying to be a mother,” Ukeles said. The manifesto “developed out of being so pissed off that people didn’t see what I was doing. What I was doing as a mother wasn’t seen.”
ArtForum published the Maintenance Art Manifesto in 1971, and Ukeles made good on its words. In 1973, she mopped the steps of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, for a performance titled Washing/Tracks/Maintenance: Outside.
Then Ukeles turned her eye to the invisible labor of others, documenting—and thereby elevating—the activities of 300 maintenance workers at the Whitney Museum for I Make Maintenance Art One Hour Every Day (1976).
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Touch Sanitation Performance, 1979-1980. Image courtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York.

She sent a selection of press clippings to the sanitation commissioner, who extended an invitation to scale up. Why settle for 300 maintenance workers, when you could work with 10,000? (The position was and is unpaid.)
“I felt like I had been invited to come up to the major leagues of maintenance world,” Ukeles said.
Greeting each sanitation worker helped spotlight the contributions of a labor group that is often invisible, even though, unlike office workers, they work out on the streets.
“We are, all of us, whether we desire it or not, in relation to sanitation, implicated, dependent if we want the city, and ourselves, to last more than a few days,” Ukeles in wrote in the Sanitation Manifesto! (1984).
“The streets of New York used to be an accumulation of weeks and months of garbage, and people would walk around on that,” Ukeles said. No more—and for that, we have service workers to thank.
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The second edition of the Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art opens to the public today at the Garage Museum in Moscow.
As you might expect for a country as large and diverse as Russia, putting together an overview of contemporary artistic production is a monumental task. The sprawling inaugural show in 2017 was the result of a crack team of six curators scouring 42 cities and towns across 11 time zones for talent.
This time, the curators took a more unorthodox approach. Leaning into the geographical spread that informed the inaugural triennial, curators Valentin Diaconov and Anastasia Mityushina asked the more than 60 artists who took part in 2017 to pick the artists for the second edition. Naturally, a number of artists nominated friends and family, while others chose to auction or raffle off the coveted position. 
This was all fine with the curators, who asked only that these connections were made explicit, and that selector and selectee worked together on some dimension of the presentation. The results are being published on the triennial’s website, and include strange collaborations such as Maria Alexandrova’s documentation of a long drive to a remote Siberian village with the grandmother of her nominee, Anna Tereshkina, and Roman Mokrov’s chaotic promise to watch the kids while his nominee, his wife Maria Obukhova, worked on her art.
Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Yuri Palmin ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Co-curator Valentin Diaconov tells Artnet News that the resulting eclectic triennial, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” highlights the important role that relationships play in Russian culture. Diaconov says the triennial’s semi-official slogan is “Corruption and Love.”
“Corruption has been a driving force for Russia since time immemorial, but we often forget that the corrupt politicians and individuals do it all for love—an apartment for grandma, a private jet for a lover,” Diaconov says. “This works fully in this show: you practically buy a place for the closest friend with your enthusiasm. It works beautifully—this level of trust has paid off, and the quality of the work reflects the quality of relationships.”
The offbeat approach to the selection process also reflects the curators’ suspicion towards the idea that there could be one single way to evaluate art in a multinational state with as much cultural and social diversity as Russia. To that point, not all of the artists included in this edition are Russian. The final lineup includes a Japanese artist, Ikuru Kuwajima, and several artists who were born in the USSR but hold passports from Western countries.
“I personally believe that there is no national art anywhere in the world and every artist is a complex amalgam of influences from different communities of religion, online activities, educational background…,” Diaconov says. “So, to define who is a Russian artist is a thankless task.”
“A Beautiful Night For All the People: the 2nd Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art” runs through January 17, 2021, at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow. See more pictures of the exhibition below.
Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Yuri Palmin ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Yuri Palmin ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gaarage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Ivan Erofeev. ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gaarage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Ivan Erofeev. ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gaarage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Ivan Erofeev. ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gaarage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Ivan Erofeev. ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gaarage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Ivan Erofeev. ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gaarage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Ivan Erofeev. ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gaarage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, “A Beautiful Night for All the People,” installation view, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020. Photo by Ivan Erofeev. ©Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Svetlana Hollis, Hot and Cold (2020). Production photograph. Photo by Valeria Suchkova. Courtesy of the artist.

Sanya Kantarovsky, Two Suns (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York.

::vtol::, Guest (2019). Multimedia installation. Photo: ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok. Courtesy of the artist.

Anna Tereshkina, Portrait of My Grandmother (2015). Courtesy of the artist.

Leonid Kharlamov, Fragments of the installation Black Obelisk (2020). Courtesy of the artist.

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