On View

For a few weeks this summer, one of New York’s most iconic landmarks, Rockefeller Center, will become an outdoor art gallery featuring the work of both amateur New York artists and blue-chip stars like KAWS and Marina Abramović alike.
Hundreds of New Yorkers submitted proposals earlier this year to design eight-by-five-foot flags. This past Saturday, the 192 winning designs were unfurled on the flags surrounding the plaza’s ice rink. In addition to the open call, 13 well-known artists—including Carmen Herrera, Faith Ringgold, Hank Willis Thomas, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Laurie Anderson, Sanford Biggers, Sarah Sze, Shantell Martin, and Steve Powers—were also commissioned to create flags.
Koons’s flag features a colorful argyle background with the letters “NYC” spelled out in shiny gold balloons. KAWS’s design incorporates his “Companion” toys, while Jenny Holzer, whose practice is often rooted in text, created a flag with the word “PROTECT” surrounded by radiating graphic lines. Abramović’s design is based on the spiking line of a heartbeat monitor. The artist explained her inspiration in a statement: “The EKG line of my flag represents the resilience of the human spirit in the color red which symbolizes our blood and is a color I often surround myself with when I need to feel strong. This red line beats across the white flag which symbolizes surrender.”
See images of the installation and selected designs below. The Flag Project is on view at Rockefeller Plaza through August 16, 2020.

The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center. Photo courtesy of Tishman Speyer.

The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center. Photo courtesy of Tishman Speyer.

Courtesy of KAWS and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Hank Willis Thomas and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center. Photo courtesy of Tishman Speyer.

Courtesy of Jeff Koons and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Marina Abramović and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Sarah Sze and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center. Photo courtesy of Tishman Speyer.

Courtesy of Carmen Herrera and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Sanford Biggers and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Jenny Holzer and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Laurie Anderson and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Steve Powers and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Shantell Martin and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center, (2020).

Courtesy of Faith Ringgold and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center (2020).

Courtesy of Christian Siriano and the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center.

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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.
“teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live”Mifuneyama Rakuen Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushuthrough November 8, 2020

What the group says: “teamLab’s project, Digitized Nature, explores how nature can become art. The concept of the project is that non-material digital technology can turn nature into art without harming it.
These artworks explore how the forms of the forest and garden can be used as they are to create artworks that make it possible to create a place where we can transcend the boundary in our understanding of the continuity of time and feel the long, long continuity of life. Even in the present day, we can experiment with expressing this ‘Continuous Life’ and continue to accumulate meaning in Mifuneyama Rakuen.”
Why it’s worth a look: At a time when so many of us are stuck inside for days, weeks, and even months on end, seeing the work of teamLab, even through a screen, offers a respite from the ordinary. The dreamlike, responsive light works, created using cutting-edge technology, offer a glimpse of the kind of “immersive art experience” that might survive the social-distancing era. (It’s outside! It might not be crowded!) Plus, with Japan’s breathtaking Mifuneyama Rakuen Park—which boasts 500,000 square meters of flowers—as the backdrop, this installation may also help satisfy just a little bit of wanderlust.
What it looks like:

Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Installation view, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2019” Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

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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.
“Conversational Spirits I & II”Online at Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
What the gallery says: “Jessica Silverman presents a two-part summer series, ‘Conversational Spirits,’ exploring animism—the belief that animals, plants, places, and objects can be enlivened by spirits or imminent powers.
“Associated with the worship of nature and the rise of subordinate souls, animism is a theme broadly relevant to a time in which equal rights, ecology, and biochemistry are serious concerns. Animism has long been germane to art insofar as the most compelling objects are imbued with such intention, intensity, and energy that they feel alive.”
Why it’s worth a look: Are humans the only creatures gifted with what can be called a spirit? Belief in the spiritual realm has had a resurgence lately in art (and elsewhere), with interest in the thought gaining momentum beyond niche circles.
From Judy Chicago’s tree branches, which pulsate with life, to Luke Butler’s paintings of bald eagles clutching paint brushes, and on through Tammy Rae Carland’s depictions of books, which seem to speak almost audibly, the plants, animals, and objects in these artworks are practically thinking, breathing beings—and by seemingly questioning their surroundings, they inspire viewers to do the same.
What it looks like:

Installation view of “Conversational Spirits I.” Courtesy of Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Rose B. Simpson, Conjure (2020) [detail]. Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Dashiell Manley, Those Seeing Flowers We Cannot See (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Judy Chicago, Trees Twisting with Joy (1996). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman Gallery.

Hayal Pozanti, Their Own Internal Time 102 (Rim Kona Kona) (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman San Francisco.

Installation view of Tammy Rae Carland’s work in “Conversational Spirits.” Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman San Francisco.

Tammy Rae Carland, Peeling Performativity, (2019). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman San Francisco.

Tammy Rae Carland, Lean on me, (2019). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman San Francisco.

Hernan Bas, Feeding time at the Little Shop of Horrors, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman San Francisco.

Installation view of “Conversational Spirits II” at Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Hernan Bas, Feeding time at the Little Shop of Horrors, [detail] (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Margo Wolowiec, Seed Surge (2020) [detail]. Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Margo Wolowiec, Seed Surge (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Claudia Wieser, Untitled (2019) left and right. Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Julian Hoeber, When the Meat Stops Thinking the Flies Arrive, For Better or Worse, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Installation view of “Conversational Spirits II.” Courtesy of Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Martha Friedman, Nerve Language 1, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Martha Friedman, Nerve Language 3, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

David Huffman, Ideology, (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Installation view of “Conversational Spirits II.” Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Daisy Youngblood, Leaping I (2010). Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Installation view of “Conversational Spirits I.” Courtesy of Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

Andrea Bowers, If We Do Not Do the Impossible We Shall Be Faced With the Unthinkable (2020) [detail]. Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.

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For Cuban-born artist Tania Bruguera, there is no distinction between art and activism: her work, which is grounded in civic engagement and furthers the idea of art útil (using art as a utility or tool) is manifestly political.
In an exclusive interview with Art21 filmed in 2015, the artist discussed her project Immigrant Movement International, formed to help immigrants empower themselves and their communities through art.
By using art, the members “grow and understand how to work from their fear—with the limitations they have put on themselves once they enter this country,” she explains in the video, which aired as part of Art21’s Extended Play series.
The video includes testimony from another contemporary artist, Aliza Nisenbaum, who has earned acclaim for her intimate portraits, many created through Immigration Movement International. She also helped tutor members of the community.
Nisenbaum, who was born in Mexico City and now lives in Brooklyn, is inspired by the mural painting projects that defined a generation of artists in her native country.
“A lot of these women… hide in some way… because they are undocumented,” Nisenbaum tells Art21. “I was trying to give a sense of agency to the women… in terms of finding their voice, in terms of art and basic English skills.”
Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of Art21’s series Extended Play, below.
[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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Artist Heather Phillipson’s long-awaited sculpture for London’s Fourth Plinth has been unveiled in Trafalgar Square.
Originally slated to be installed in March, the coronavirus outbreak postponed the artist’s big moment until today, July 30.
The sculpture depicts a towering pile of whipped cream topped with a great red cherry, an absurdly large fly, and a functioning drone. The drone casts live images to a website set up by the artist, providing a sculpture’s-eye view of one of London’s most heavily trafficked squares. An accompanying audio-collage by the artist is also available online.
“I’m honored to have been selected to make work for such a significant public site, and to see THE END scaled up for its ultimate size and context—one in which the surrounding architecture and its population are participants in a mis-scaled landscape,” Phillipson said in a statement. 
Heather Phillipson’s THE END sculpture for the Fourth Plinth is unveiled in London. Photo by David Parry/ PA Wire.

While the sculpture was conceived long before the current global crisis, its title, THE END, seems especially resonant. But as Phillipson told Artnet News in an interview earlier this year: “It feels like, politically, entropy has been happening for a long time now.”
The sculpture’s whipped cream, piled high and on the verge of collapse, is a gesture towards the excesses of globalized society; and the drone, situated not far from the Houses of Parliament, is a comment on institutionalized surveillance..
The sculpture will be in place until spring 2022, and is the 13th public art project to grace the Fourth Plinth since the program began in 1998. Among recent commissions in the series was Michael Rakowitz’s contemporary recreation of a lost ancient Assyrian guardian sculpture that was destroyed by Islamist extremists in 2015.
Phillipson is the third woman after Rachel Whiteread and Katharina Fritsch to be commissioned in the series. Her work is also the first to be accessible to those with hearing and visual impairments, with a braille panel on the plaque including a tactile image of the work, and an audio description of it available online.
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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.
“Alec Egan: August” at Anat Ebgi, Los Angelesthrough September 5, 2020

What the gallery says: “The exhibition title alludes not only to the hottest apex of the year, when everything is at its most combustible, the ‘dog-days’ month that ends summer, but to a proposed conclusion before the start of something new.
“Since 2017, Egan’s practice has focused on creating oil paintings of the interior of a singular imagined house. Typically, Egan’s exhibitions are constituted around one ‘key’ painting—often of dominant scale—that depicts one room, such as a bathroom, living room, or bedroom, full of domestic details, which then becomes the conceptual fodder for the remaining works in the show. Although this project has been ongoing, the recent quarantine at home has cast a new light on Egan’s meditations on the domestic.
“The key painting in ‘August’ is Changing Room, where, using an ad nauseum approach, Egan layers a cacophony of sentimental patterns. The effect is simultaneously grounding and disorienting. References abound, from the personal to Victorian wallpapers, to vintage Laura Ashley upholsteries, as well as boldly colored travel posters that are reminiscent of the ’60s. The room has an air of mystery and concealment. Curtains hang heavily from their rods in a strange wild garden, perfumed by dewy roses. What is happening in the stillness of this house? Who or what is hidden behind the privacy screen?”
Why it’s worth a look: Staring at one of Alec Egan’s paintings is like entering a strange vortex in which shapes and colors jockey for your attention.
In the midst of his luscious, floral-laden wallpaper and upholstery patterns though, distinct forms coalesce for a well-earned respite. A brown grocery bag filled with perfectly ripe fruit is a symbol of the nostalgia that permeates all of Egan’s work, which he creates based on half-formed memories mixed with cultural sources.
Another example is in the brown leather work boots that appear in one painting, a reference to Van Gogh’s well-worn peasant shoes. In Egan’s painting, the red laces are formed by thick caterpillars of paint, squeezed straight from the tube and sitting atop the canvas, distinguishing them from the flat geometric pattern of the rug that recalls Édouard Vuillard’s Japanese-inspired prints.
Other paintings in this suite of 14 works depict traditional “California” scenes, though the artist’s artistic influences range widely. Impossibly candy-colored sunsets anchored by palm trees are reminiscent of Alex Israel’s work, crossed with the movie poster for the cult surfing classic Endless Summer (1966). In Egan’s study of cresting waves, the individual water droplets and spewing foam recall Hokusai’s Great Wave.
All in all, it’s a feast for the eyes.
What it looks like:

Alec Egan, Changing Room (2020) [detail]. Courtesy of the artist and Anat Ebgi.

Installation view, “Alec Egan: August” at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles.

Installation view, “Alec Egan: August” at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles.

Installation view, “Alec Egan: August” at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles.

Alec Egan, Bag of Fruit on Ottoman (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Bag of Fruit on Ottoman [detail] (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Before the Sea (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Flower in Bottle (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Flower in Tea Pot (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Dawn Palms (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Palms at Deep Sunset (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Oven Mitt, Mango, and Bottle (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Storm Wave (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Storm Wave (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

Installation view, “Alec Egan: August” at Anat Ebgi. Courtesy Anat Ebgi.

Alec Egan, Bathroom (2020). Courtesy of Anat Ebgi.

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Traveling is off limits for many people right now, but art can offer a window into new places and experiences.
One artist for whom travel is integral is Leonardo Drew. Despite an early life spent tethered to his neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and a career formed on the basis of that localized experience, Drew eventually made his way beyond his city, traveling to Peru, Cuba, Spain, Switzerland, and Japan in quick succession.
“If you allow your antennas to reach out,” Drew says in an exclusive interview with Art21, “you’ll find what it is you need for this part of your journey.”
Drew’s practice relies heavily on being in the studio, where he creates massive sculptures from materials that he has transformed by oxidizing, weathering, burning, and manipulating objects. From sifting through landfills to amassing piles of hay bales and cotton, Drew’s work is rooted in the physical. 
“The art is fed by experiences” he tells Art21, explaining that while he was in Japan, he learned techniques for naturally dying fabrics.
“I went there to physically learn,” he says in the video, which originally aired as part of Art21’s Extended Play series. “But actually, spiritually learning was a whole other thing.” 
Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of Art21’s series Extended Play, below.
[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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As galleries and art institutions around the world begin to reopen, we are spotlighting individual shows—online and IRL—that are worth your attention.
“Clotilde Jiménez: The Contest” at Mariane Ibrahimthrough August 22

What the gallery says: “THE CONTEST unravels Jiménez’s own queer imagination to physicality. The works grapple with his deeply personal and once estranged relationship with his father, a bodybuilder and boxer. Jiménez adopts the boxer and bodybuilder as motifs, recalling early ideas of the body, specifically the Black male body.
Placed within each ‘pose’ or boxing ring, the large scale boxers and body builders brawl, their positions mighty, next to bronze sculptures of heads with colorful boxing headgear. He finds beauty in the color and sculptural physicality of boxing headgear and the groin protector that transforms the body into something strong, powerful and guarded.”
Why it’s worth a look: For his first solo show at star gallerist Mariane Ibrahim’s Chicago gallery, Honolulu-born, Mexico City-based artist Clotilde Jiménez is quite literally tackling notions of masculinity and Blackness.
In these works, you can really feel how the artist has infused the works with his personal understanding of what it means to be a strong man—delicate painted flowers adorn the furniture incorporated in some works, and swaths of pattern cut out and pasted onto the canvas provide another layer when juxtaposed with the shaded contours of the muscled bodies. His juxtaposition of unexpected materials and charged forms makes for images that wrestle their way in your head.
What it looks like:

Clotilde Jiménez with his sculpture, Orange Boxer (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.

Clotilde Jiménez, Always on Guard (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.

Installation view, “Clotilde Jiménez: The Contest” Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim.

Installation view, “Clotilde Jiménez: The Contest” Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim.

Clotilde Jiménez, Pose no. 4 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.

Clotilde Jiménez, Pose no. 5 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.

Clotilde Jiménez, Pose no. 6 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.

Installation view, “Clotilde Jiménez: The Contest” Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim.

Clotilde Jiménez,, Shadow Boxer (2020). Courtesy of the Artist and Mariane Ibrahim.

Installation view, “Clotilde Jiménez: The Contest” Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim.

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