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  • An Eagle-Eyed Art Lover Rediscovered a Long-Lost Jacob Lawrence Painting After Recognizing It in a Friend’s Apartment

    A sharp-eyed visitor to “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle,” an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has identified a long-lost artwork by the pioneering African American Modernist that was hiding in plain sight—just across the park from the museum.
    The lost painting, which belongs to Lawrence’s “Struggle: From the History of the American People” series (1954–56), was missing for 60 years, and has now been reunited with its companion works for the exhibition. The panel belongs to two neighbors of the visitor who spotted the work, and was purchased by the couple on the cheap around Christmas 1960, at a charity auction for a music school.
    The person who recognized the work had been to the Met exhibition, and suggested the couple reach out to the museum. (The couple that owns the painting are not art collectors and wish to remain anonymous.)
    “It is rare to make a discovery of this significance in modern art, and it is thrilling that a local visitor is responsible,” Met director Max Hollein said in a statement.
    Jacob Lawrence, Panel 27. . . . for freedom we want and will have, for we have served this cruel land long enuff . . . —A Georgia Slave, 1810, (1956). From Struggle Series, 1954–56. © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

    Randall Griffey and Sylvia Yount, who organized the traveling show’s Met iteration, were only CC’d on emails about the possible find last week, reports the New York Times.
    Isabelle Duvernois, the Met’s modern paintings conservator, was promptly dispatched to the couple’s apartment and determined that not only was the painting authentic, it had been well cared-for and was ready to join the exhibition in short order.
    Lawrence (1917–2000) painted the 30-panel “Struggle” series during the civil rights movement to highlight the roles of Black people, Native Americans, and women in building the country’s democracy.
    Unlike the artist’s nine other series, which are all owned in their entirety by public collections, “Struggle” was purchased by a private collector, William Meyers, after two shows at Charles Alan’s New York gallery failed to attract an institutional buyer. It hasn’t been seen all together since the dealer’s 1958 show.
    Jacob Lawrence poses in his Seattle, Washington, studio. Photo by George Rose/Getty Images.

    Without a clause in the sales contract requiring the series stay intact, Meyers soon began selling the paintings individually. The current exhibition, which originated in January at the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is set to travel—in its newly expanded form—to Birmingham, Alabama; Seattle, Washington; and Washington, DC.
    There were no existing photographs of the newly rediscovered work, panel 16 in the series, which was known only by its title, here are combustibles in every State, which a spark might set fire to. —Washington, 26 December 1786.
    “Since reuniting the ‘Struggle series,’ the absence of panel 16 has been felt acutely. Represented in our galleries as an empty frame, it was a mystery that we were all eager to solve,” Peabody-Essex Museum director Brian Kennedy said in a statement. “We are thrilled to learn of its discovery—one that came about thanks to close looking and careful observation by a museum visitor.”
    Jacob Lawrence, Panel 25. I cannot speak sufficiently in praise of the firmness and deliberation with which my whole line received their approach . . . —Andrew Jackson, New Orleans, 1815, (1956.) From Struggle Series, 1954–56. © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo by Bob Packert/PEM.

    The painting depicts Shays’s Rebellion, in which Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led an uprising of struggling farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786 and ’87. The conflict, a protest against high taxes, is credited with helping to inspire the Founding Fathers to hold the Constitutional Convention.
    “Lawrence’s dynamic treatment of the 1786–87 Shays’s Rebellion reinforces the overall theme of the series—that democratic change is possible only through the actions of engaged citizens, an argument as timely today as it was when the artist produced his radical paintings in the mid-1950s,” Griffey and Yount said in a joint statement.
    Four paintings from the series remain missing. Another long-lost “Struggle” painting, panel 19, turned up at auction during planning for the current show. Art collector Harvey Ross, who owns half the series, spent $413,000 to buy Tensions on the High Seas at New York’s Swann Auction Galleries in 2018.
    “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle” is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, August 29–November 1, 2020. 
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  • FIAC May Be Canceled But the Show Must Go On. Here Are 8 Must-See Exhibitions During the Paris Art Week

    The worsening public health situation in Europe has meant that the FIAC art fair will not be taking place this year as usual in the Grand Palais. While the fair’s cancellation prompted mixed reactions in the Parisian art scene, many are determined to show that the spirit of the art week lives on in the numerous exhibitions opening at the city’s museums and galleries this week.
    Gallery night this year is October 22, with spaces staying open to visit until 8 p.m, leaving enough time for art lovers to get home before the city’s 9 p.m. curfew.
    Here is our pick of eight shows to see around Paris during this very unusual FIAC week.

    Cindy Sherman at Fondation Louis VuittonThrough January 3, 2021

    Cindy Sherman, Untitled #602 (2019). Collection Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. Courtesy of the Artist and Metro Pictures, New York © 2020 Cindy Sherman.

    Shape-shifting photographer Cindy Sherman is getting the full treatment at Fondation Louis Vuitton, her first show in Paris since 2006. The works on view span the artist’s long career, from the groundbreaking “Untitled Film Stills” to her more recent “Disasters,” “Headshots,” and “Society Portraits.”
    Due to the influx of visitors, the Fondation recommends guests come in the morning or after 5 p.m.

    “Sarah Sze: Night Into Day” at Fondation CartierOctober 24, 2020–March 7, 2021

    Sarah Sze, Centrifuge (2017). Presented at Haus Der Kunst © Sarah Sze Photo © Sarah Sze Studio​.

    Sarah Sze is debuting two new works at Fondation Cartier that will reflect upon the architecture of the Jean Nouvel-designed building. Sze’s immersive installations are meditations on technology and the ways images are shared, transferred, and created.
    Tickets are available to book online at Fondation Cartier.

    “Hélène Delprat: Je déteste mes peintures. I hate my paintings…” at Christophe GaillardThrough November 7, 2020

    Hélène Delprat, La guerre élégante (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Christophe Gaillard.

    As the show’s title indicates, Delprat’s work is suffused with self deprecation, and yet, the artist says she persists because it’s her nature to keep doing things despite the pain they cause. In this case, it’s to our benefit, as the large-scale installation works combine fictional characters and universal themes in a delightful combination.

    “Wu Tsang: visionary company” at Lafayette AnticipationsThrough January 3, 2021
    Wu Tsang, production still, “The show is over” (2020), photo by Diana Pfammatter. Produced by Schauspielhaus Zürich, co-commissioned by Lafayette Foundation. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin.

    For the US artist’s first exhibition in France, Wu Tsang is presenting an immersive show including recent and past film, performance, and sculpture work, centered around the artist’s 2020 work The show is over, a multi-layered opera about liberation and alienation in which dancers perform to the rhythm of the African American poet and academic Fred Moten’s text Come on, get it!
    Visitors do not need to book a ticket but may have to wait if the gallery is busy.

    “Oscar Murillo: News” at David ZwirnerThrough December 19
    Oscar Murillo, manifestation (2019-2020). ©Oscar Murillo Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner.

    Oscar Murillo is showing paintings made while he was in quarantine in Colombia in the spring and summer of 2020. Part of his ongoing “manifestation” series, the works are the largest and most frenetic of the series to date, reflecting the heightened state of global anxiety during the present moment.
    Appointments are encouraged but not required and can be booked online.

    “Yesn’t” at Galerie SultanaThrough October 31 More

  • ‘I Want to Experience the Complexity of the World’: Watch Artist Liu Xiaodong Travel to the US Border to Paint Scenes of Moral Ambiguity

    For contemporary artist Liu Xiaodong, personal history is the greatest source of inspiration. His childhood in rural China and his adolescence spent in Beijing studying to be an artist inform his practice even as he travels and shows internationally today, framing the way he sees the world.
    Best known for his massive paintings depicting everyday people he comes across, Liu often works en plein air, setting up his canvases outside, quickly sketching an outline, getting to know his subjects, and taking photographs to work from later in the studio.
    In an exclusive interview with Art21 as part of its new 10th season of Art in the Twenty-First Century, the artist is seen on a trip to a small town in Texas, just over the US-Mexico border. The border town is inextricably linked to President’s Trump’s anti-immigration policies and the conflict that border patrol officers face monitoring the wall.
    “I prefer to paint places that can’t be easily judged by a single value system,” the artist tells Art21. “I want to experience the complexity of the world.” 

    Video still from Art21 of Liu working on Tom, his Family, and his Friends (2020). Courtesy the artist and Massimo De Carlo, Milan/London/Hong Kong.

    In the video, the artist is seen painting County Sheriff Tom Schmerber and his family, some of whom live across the border in Mexico. Schmerber was interviewed on TV explaining that while he doesn’t approve of Trump’s wall, if he sees migrants trying to cross the border, he is obligated to detain them. The portrait of Tom and his family as well as other paintings Liu created while visiting the US-Mexico border are the basis of his upcoming solo show at Dallas Contemporary called Borders, which will open on January 30, 2021. 
    Liu sees parallels to his own experience being Chinese in America. “Many people don’t like China now, I know…” he says, adding that while politics only leaves room for black or white, art allows for nuance. “For artists, we’re always looking for a different path.” 

    Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of Art21’s series Art in the Twenty-First Century below. The brand new 10th season of the show is available now at Art21.org. 
    [embedded content]
    This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking artists. A new series of the nonprofit Art21’s flagship series Art in the Twenty-First Century is available now on PBS. Catch all episodes of other series like New York Close Up and Extended Play and learn about the organization’s educational programs at Art21.org.

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  • ‘We as Artists Need to Intervene’: Watch Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Build an Interactive Art Installation That Straddles the US-Mexico Border

    If you happened to be in El Paso, Texas or Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua back in 2019 and looked up at the night sky, you may have seen what looked like search lights beaming over the landscape as voices echoed across the US-Mexico border.
    Those lights were part of a large-scale outdoor installation by Mexican-born artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose participatory works employ advanced technology like robotics and heart-rate sensors to inspire civic engagement. In an exclusive interview as part of Art21’s brand new season of “Art in the Twenty-First Century,” Lozano-Hemmer describes the work, titled Border Tuner, which he conceived as an antidote to the commentary on President Trump’s border wall.

    Production still from “Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in ‘Borderlands,’” an extended presentation of the artist’s segment from “Art in the Twenty-First Century,” Season 10. © Art21, Inc. 2020.

    “People there are sick of the wall,” Lozano-Hemmer explains. “They want to talk about the ways in which the two societies interpenetrate.” That’s why the artist came up with the poetic “symbolic bridge” that converted voices into lights, allowing individuals to speak for themselves, as well as for others who may not have a platform.
    “Perhaps the most important role that art can play is that of making complexity visible,” Lozano-Hemmer tells Art21. “We as artists need to intervene and complicate things to show the dynamics and the interrelations that take place between the two sides.” In Border Tuner and other light installations, the artist is able to “interrupt the normal ways” of communicating, allowing everyday people to step into abstract, creative roles.

    Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of Art21’s series Art in the Twenty-First Century below. The brand new 10th season of the show is available now at Art21.org. 
    [embedded content]
    This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking artists. A new series of the nonprofit Art21’s flagship series Art in the Twenty-First Century is available now on PBS. Catch all episodes of other series like New York Close Up and Extended Play and learn about the organization’s educational programs at Art21.org.

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  • 9 Megawatt Museum Shows to See During Frieze Week, From a Bruce Nauman Survey to Artemisia Gentileschi’s Big Retrospective

    Fall in London is usually synonymous with Frieze Art Fair taking place under massive white tents in Regents Park. This year is a little different, with the event going online, but London’s museums are still pulling out all the stops with blockbuster exhibitions.
    From Tate Modern’s survey of Bruce Nauman, his first in more than 20 years in the UK, to the long-awaited exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi at the National Gallery, here are our picks for what you shouldn’t miss this Frieze week.

    “Ann Veronica Janssens: Hot Pink Turquoise” at South London GalleryThrough November 29, 2020

    Ann Veronica Janssens at the South London Gallery. Installation view of Candy Sculpture 405–805/2–405 (2019). Photo by Andy Stagg.

    A few key works present a highly Instagrammable overview of the Belgian artist’s four-decade interest in light and its impact on our perception. The centerpiece of the exhibition, which takes place across both of South London Gallery’s spaces, is an expanse of shifting colored glitter, which will be replaced halfway through the show’s run by a group of Janssens’s reflective-wheeled Bikes.
    Tickets must be booked in advance.

    Artemisia Gentileschi at the National GalleryThrough January 24, 2021

    Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Beheading Holofernes (1620–1621). Collection of the Uffizi Galleries

    Arguably the biggest show of the year, “Artmeisia”—which examines the work of the most famous female artist of the 17th-century, Artemisia Gentileschi, a Baroque art star before she fell into relative obscurity—was beset with postponements due to the lockdown. But after opening to critics with rave reviews, the show is now ready for the public. 
    Tickets must be booked in advance.

    Bruce Nauman at Tate ModernThrough February 21, 2021

    Bruce Nauman, MAPPING THE STUDIO II with color shift, flip, flop, & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage) (2001). © Bruce Nauman/ARS, NY and DACS, London 2020. Courtesy of Tate.

    The first major exhibition of the American artist in the UK more than two decades, this overview asserts Nauman’s dominance in genres including video, sound, performance, and sculpture.
    Tickets must be booked in advance.

    “Thao Nguyen Phan: Becoming Alluvium” at Chisenhale GalleryThrough December 6

    Thao Nguyen Phan, Becoming Alluvium (2019). Installation view, Chisenhale Gallery, 2020. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Andy Keate.

    For the Ho Chi Minh City-based artist’s first institutional solo show in the UK, Phan continues her ongoing research into the Mekong River and its entanglements with narratives of industrialization, food security, and ecological sustainability through a single-channel film and a series of lacquer and silk paintings.
    Tickets must be booked in advance.

    Summer Exhibition 2020 at the Royal AcademyThrough January 3, 2021

    A view of the Summer Exhibition 2020. Photo: © Royal Academy of Arts / David Parry.

    The annual summertime group show, which sees a wide variety of works by emerging and established artists, will take place throughout the winter this year. This year’s presentation includes works by Tracey Emin, Julian Schnabel, and Anselm Kiefer, but there will be lots more to discover.
    Ticket must be booked in advance.

    “Ai Weiwei: History of Bombs” at Imperial War Museum LondonThrough May 24, 2021

    A view of “Ai Weiwei: History of Bombs” at the Imperial War Museum London. © IWM, Ai Weiwei.

    This site-specific installation takes over the entirety of the museum’s atrium for the first time in the institution’s history. The show focuses on how humans try to solve crises using destructive measures. 
    Ticket must be booked in advance. 

    “A Countervailing Theory” by Toyin Ojih Odutola at the BarbicanThrough January 24, 2021

    A view of Toyin Ojih Odutola’s “A Countervailing Theory.” © Toyin Ojih Odutola. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo: Tim Whitby / Getty Images

    For the Nigerian-American artist’s first UK commission, Odutola presents a site-specific installation of a new series of powerful drawings that travel along the nearly 300 feet of the Barbican. The show also includes an immersive soundscape by conceptual sound artist Peter Adjaye. 
    Ticket must be booked in advance.

    “Nalini Malani: Can You Hear Me?” at Whitechapel GalleryThrough June 6, 2021

    Nalini Malani, Can You Hear Me? (2020). Photo: Ranabir Das © Nalini Malani.

    This show presents a new commission by the Karachi-born artist, whose 50-year career as an artist-activist has touched on themes of violence, feminism, colonialism, and identity. Malani’s surrealist-inflected images bring humor to some of the horrific ideas she illustrates.
    Ticket must be booked in advance. 

    “Solos” at Goldsmiths CCAThrough December 13

    A work by Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom in “Solos.” Photo by Mark Blower.

    Goldsmiths has commissioned new works from four emerging artists: Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom, Emma Cousin, Lindsey Mendick, and Hardeep Pandhal. All of the works on view were created during lockdown and either explicitly or implicitly tell the story of the impact of the past several months on the artists’ works.
    Tickets must be booked in advance.
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  • See the Playful Sculptures on View at Frieze London’s Sculpture Park, From an Enormous Braid to an Art Star’s Sandwich

    It’s Frieze Week, and while the Frieze London and Frieze Masters fairs are conspicuously absent this year, that doesn’t mean there is no reason to visit Regent’s Park.
    Art-hungry audiences can take an outdoor, socially distanced stroll in the lush park that typically hosts the fairs to see the 12 ambitious sculptures that comprise Frieze’s open-air sculpture display. Highlights include new commissions from Patrick Goddard, Kalliopi Lemos, and Arne Quinze, as well as Lubaina Himid’s five reclaimed doorways, which she originally created in 2019 for the High Line in New York.
    “Amid all the challenges,” says Clare Lilley, Frieze Sculpture curator and director of program at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, “it is uplifting to see artists and galleries respond so enthusiastically to Frieze Sculpture. Rarely have our public spaces been quite so important for our mental and physical well-being, and this exhibition shines a light on sculpture in the open air, creating a place of inspiration and enjoyment where people can come together safely for conversation and exchange.”
    The works on view this year explore vital and topical themes from civil rights to ecology to the role of the artist in changing the status quo. For those not able to be on the ground in London, you can see them here.
    Frieze Sculpture is on view October 5 through 18 in the English Gardens at Regent’s Park.
    Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, Ad Keywords (2020). Pi Artworks, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Rebecca Warren, Aurelius (2017 – 2019). Galerie Max Hetzler, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Kalliopi Lemos, The Plait (2020). Gazelli Art House, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Gianpietro Carlesso, Torre di Saba (2009). Ronchini, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Richard Long, Circle for Sally (2016). Lisson Gallery, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Eric Fischl, Torso (2010). Skarstedt, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Sarah Lucas, Sandwich (2011 – 2020). Sadie Coles HQ, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    David Altmejd, Untitled 1 (Bronze Bodybuilders) (2015). White Cube, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Patrick Goddard, Humans-Animals-Monsters (2020). Seventeen Gallery, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Lubaina Himid, Five Conversations (2019). Hollybush Gardens, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Commissioned by High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

    Arne Quinze, Lupine Tower (2020). Maruani Mercier Gallery, Frieze Sculpture 2020. Photo by Stephen White. Courtesy of Stephen White/Frieze.

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  • 11 London Gallery Shows to See During an Unusual Frieze Week, From Laure Prouvost’s Surreal Health Checkpost to Danh Vo’s Plant Sculptures

    It’s October, and that means it’s Frieze Week in London. As usual, galleries around the city are showcasing the best of their rosters, despite the very unusual circumstances of 2020.
    Back in July, it was announced that the physical Frieze fairs would be cancelled. By now, it seems almost unimaginable that holding a large event inside an unventilated white tent ever seemed like a good idea. But while the concourse in Regent’s Park was a convenient place to bump into the who’s who of the art world, London’s vibrant art scene always really happened outside of the circus tent anyway.
    This week, booze-fueled festivities such as gallery openings and swanky dinners are out; face masks are in. And with many galleries requiring visitors to book slots for exhibitions in advance, art lovers will have to be strategic about their approach.
    Here are our picks for what to make room for in the schedule.

    “Laure Prouvost: Re-dit-en-un-in-learning CENTER” at Lisson GalleryOctober 6–November 7, 2020
    Laure Prouvost’s THIS MEANS LOVE, (2019-2020) © Laure Prouvost, courtesy Lisson Gallery.

    The French artist will transform the gallery into a “mock-pedagogical, health-focused institutional setting,” inviting viewers to learn and un-learn a new lexicon and visual language created by Prouvost.
    To schedule a visit, click here.

    “Rashid Johnson: Waves” at Hauser & WirthOctober 6–December 23
    Rashid Johnson, The Broken Five(2020). Photo by Martin Parsekian.

    New paintings and ceramic tile mosaics by the American artist will fill both of the mega-gallery’s London spaces. The work responds to anxiety and escapism, themes that recur in Johnson’s oeuvre but are also very relevant to the socio-political climate of 2020.
    Tickets to see the exhibition must be booked online in advance, here.

    “Helen Cammock: I Decided I Want to Walk”Through October 17
    Installation view, Helen Cammock, “I Decided I Want to Walk,” Kate MacGarry, 2020, courtesy the artist and Kate MacGarry, London. Photo by Angus Mill.

    The Turner Prize-winner’s debut exhibition at the gallery includes Cammock’s most recent film, They Call It Idlewild. Drawing on the work of poets and philosophers from Audre Lorde to Jonathan Crary, the film ruminates on the politics of idleness and who gets to be lazy in a time when the spiraling demands for hyper-productivity are being pulled into question.
    The gallery encourages but does not require visitors to book in advance, as just five people will be admitted at one time.

    “Tavares Strachan: In Plain Sight” at Marian Goodman GalleryThrough October 24
    Tavares Strachan, detail of EIGHTEEN NINETY(2020). Photo by Lewis Ronald.

    For his first major UK solo exhibition, Strachan has created an unforgettable immersive experience. Backdropped and enhanced by new and existing painting and sculptural work, the captivating 45-minute journey involves a theatrical and operatic performance inspired by the artist’s research into marginalized historical figures such as the African American explorer Matthew Henson, the first person to reach the North Pole.
    Tickets for the exhibition must be booked online in advance.

    “Oliver Beer: Oma” at Thaddaeus Ropac, Ely HouseThrough October 24, 2020
    Installation view, Oliver Beer, “Oma,” Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London. © Oliver Beer. Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London • Paris • Salzburg. Photo: Eva Herzog

    This deeply personal exhibition looks at the influence and knowledge passed between generations in families. Beer, who often mines his own family history in his work, delves into the story of his grandmother, who began composing music late in her life.
    There is no time-slot needed to visit, but visitors numbers will be controlled. Oliver Beer will also be offering small, in-person tours Friday, October 9 at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. Tickets to this are free of cost, but must be booked via the gallery’s website.

    “Gillian Wearing: Lockdown” at Maureen PaleyThrough October 25

    Gillian Wearing, Untitled (lockdown portrait) (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Maureen Paley.

    In a series of self-portraits created during lockdown, Wearing perfectly captures moments of malaise and melancholy, quietude, contemplation, and occasionally, contentment. Another timely addition to her oeuvre is the sculpture Mask, Masked, a title alluding to the theoretical masks we don to fashion identities as well as the literal face shields keeping us safe.
    Online via the gallery website for 15-minute appointment viewings.

    “Anne Tallentire: As happens” at Hollybush GardensThrough October 31
    Anne Tallentire, Area (2020). Installation view, “As happens,” Hollybush Gardens, London, 2020. Photo by Andy Keate.

    In this show of new work, Tallentire continues her ongoing interrogation of the invisible social systems that create conditions of precariousness and contingency.
    No more than 6 people will be admitted to the gallery at once, you can book your slot online. The artist will also be in conversation with the writer Chris Fite-Wassilak over Zoom on Tuesday, October 13, at 3 p.m. BST (10 a.m. New York), and you can RSVP directly with the gallery.

    “Danh Vo: Chicxulub” at White Cube, BermondseyThrough November 2, 2020
    Danh Vo “Chicxulub,” White Cube Bermondsey. © the artist. Photo © White Cube (Theo Christelis).

    Vo has brought nature inside the gallery. Trees and plants reference the setting where the artist made this body of work, his studio and farm in East Germany. In this large show, Vo continues his examination of Catholicism, global branding, and flora.  
    To schedule a visit, click here. You may also take a video walkthrough tour of the show.

    “Sung Tieu: What is your |x|?” at EmalinThrough November 7, 2020
    Installation view, Sung Tieu, What is your |x|?, Emalin, London. © Sung Tieu. Courtesy of the artist and Emalin, London Photography: Plastiques

    For her first solo exhibition with Emalin, the Berlin-based artist has built a gallery inside the gallery, resembling a cross between a prison, a bank vault, and a site of a dream. The works, all on sheets of cut stainless steel, speak to Tieu’s research into psychologies and their potential for manipulation.
    There is no time-slot needed to visit, but visitor numbers will be controlled.

    “Nathaniel Mary Quinn” at GagosianThrough November 21

    Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Lunch (2020). © Nathaniel Mary Quinn, courtesy of Gagosian.

    Quinn’s first solo show at Gagosian’s London outpost presents the artist’s shape-shifting portraits rendered in luscious charcoal, gouache, and oil paint. The compositions, which appear collaged, are informed by flashes of the artist’s own memories and encounters.
    You can schedule an appointment via the gallery website.

    “Dana Schutz: Shadow of a Cloud Moving Slowly” at Thomas DaneThrough December 19

    Installation view, “Dana Schutz: Shadow of a Cloud Moving Slowly” at Thomas Dane Gallery.

    For her inaugural solo show in London with gallery veteran Thomas Dane, Schutz’s new paintings and sculptures are populated with bedraggled, goblin-like characters who fill the space with their contorted physicality and obvious psychological turmoil.
    No early booking available, social distancing enforced upon entry; no groups allowed.
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  • A Goldsmiths Grad Student Just Dumped 31 Tons of Carrots Into the School’s Courtyard for His MFA Exhibition

    There are approximately 240,000 carrots—and an unquantified number of potatoes—sitting outside of London’s Goldsmiths College. The massive pile of root vegetables, weighing in at 31 tons, is an art project, on view as part of the school’s annual MFA exhibition.
    The performance component of the site-specific work by Rafael Pérez Evans, titled Grounding (2020), took place on Tuesday, when a large red tractor-trailer dumped the carrots on the ground in an orange tidal wave that swept through the college courtyard.
    Evans, who grew up in a family of farmers in Spain, was inspired by a protest tactic popular among farmers, particularly in France, called dumping. To protest cratering produce prices, farmers will pile up carrots or potatoes in the street, the vegetables becoming a physical roadblock and serving as a highly visible reminder of farmers’ oft-ignored labor. It’s a practice that has intrigued the artist since childhood.
    “On one occasion when I was quite young I remember people being very angry and upset as the cost of lemons had been devalued to such an extreme that it was costing the farmers money to sell their stock,” Evans told Artnet News in an email. “This issue made many farmers dump, in protest, tons of lemons, creating a sort of sea of yellow. This I guess was the first moment in which I became aware of the power of how governmental devaluation and international trade affected farmers.”

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    Staging Grounding in London is Evans’s way of reminding viewers of where their food comes from, and to consider the relationship our cities have with rural farmers. The work’s title comes from the therapeutic technique of grounding, or reconnecting with the earth and its electrical energy.
    “In the city, we are not very connected to the processes of how the things we consume are produced, under which circumstances and conditions,” Evans explained. “Looking into peasant culture, ecology, farming, and the soil is a way to reorient my compass into finding other ways of relating which perhaps aren’t so detached from land, plants and foods.”
    Soon after the work’s installation, photos and videos began circulating on social media, to the extreme confusion of many. But Goldsmiths was quick to explain the art connection when Times of London journalist George Greenwood—who is now describing himself as an “accidental carrot correspondent”—took to Twitter to investigate the “carrot conundrum.”

    The artwork has drawn some criticism for contributing to global food loss, with a group of four Goldsmiths students launching an Instagram account, @goldsmithscarrots, to protest “this incredibly wasteful art piece.”
    “Lewisham is one of the poorest boroughs in London and this mass dumping of carrots at Goldsmiths is beyond insensitive,” the group wrote. “It’s a massive slap in the face.”
    Evans says he actually wants Grounding, which is accompanied by a sign warning that the carrots are “not for human consumption,” to highlight the existing waste in food production systems.

    Evans went to a bulk animal feed provider to purchase the vegetables, which have been rejected by UK supermarkets and judged to be “animal grade” carrots. When the exhibition ends next week, the carrots will be donated to farms to feed livestock, as originally intended.
    “How can carrots that look perfectly fit but not be fit for human consumption and supermarkets but okay for animals is part of the question in the work,” he explained. “The issues around waste are very important.”

    But the students behind @goldsmithscarrots aren’t taking Evans’s word for it. They have been busy collecting, peeling, and grating the carrot pile to make vegan carrot cake and carrot soup. The group, which estimated yesterday that it had only used .3 percent of the carrots so far, is holding daily bake sales next to the artwork and donating the proceeds—reportedly nearly £700 ($900) over the first two days—to local food banks.
    For his part, Evans is “very happy that more artists are responding and creating new artworks, and dialogues around the questions that the piece ignites.”
    The initial performance was livestreamed on Facebook and can be watched here. In-person visiting hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for the exhibition’s final day, which is open until 7 p.m.
    See more photos of Grounding below.
    Rafael Pérez Evans, Grounding (2020) at Goldsmiths College, London. Photo courtesy of the artist.

    Rafael Pérez Evans, Grounding (2020) at Goldsmiths College, London. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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    So many lush ones🥕🥕make carrot soup, carrot cake, carrot crisps, carrot juice, carrot chutney, carrot cookies, carrot stews etc. Make for and share with your friends, neighbours, crushes, pets, mice in your accommodation, cleaners and security on campus, all your community 🥕🥰sharing is caring (be covid safe and put measures in place)- @ratwrists
    A post shared by WE ARE NOT THE CARROT ARTIST (@goldsmithscarrots) on Sep 30, 2020 at 3:55pm PDT

    “MFA Exhibition” is on view at Goldsmiths College, Ben Pimlott Building, St. James’s, New Cross, London SE14 6NH, October 2–October 6, 2020.
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