The Best Spaces in Town

London - It’s been almost one year since my arrival in London, and I’m only now catching my breath.

I could report on an incalculable array of exhibitions and artists, but have decided to keep it to the point. My four favorite exhibition spaces to date are, in no particular order: Matt’s Gallery, INIVA, South London Gallery and Camden Arts Centre.

mattsgallery.org

iniva.org

southlondongallery.org

camdenartscentre.org

There are newer and/or grittier galleries that offer more avant-garde cred, but the integrity of these latter spaces has engaged me far beyond the bits and pieces that freckle the London scene. Each one offers a library or reading space, and the programming is discerning and inviting in equal measure…. and I look forward to their next offerings.

Liz Bruchet

ArteBA: Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair

Buenos Aires - Every year Buenos Aires holds its contemporary art fair in La Rural, the new and sprawling conference centre/complex. ArteBA lasts for 5 days (May 29 – June 2), and I went to the opening night party but also returned a couple times to take in the huge amount of work being shown. Opening nights are always difficult to focus on the art when the crowd takes your attention. Add to that many bottles of Chandon and a nasty film of cigarette smoke in the air and you get an environment not conducive to (and perhaps pointless to attempt) concentration.

Nevertheless I did leave that first night feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of the work and under-whelmed by the variety or the impact. However, taking into account that the numbing quantity of works on display might be a drawback of all art fairs (and the nature of the beast), I was certain to return to give the galleries and the work a second chance.

I returned Sunday to crowds that seemed even larger; a testament to the success of the fair. But again, I did feel, while on the whole good, not much of the work really stood out and grabbed me. In an art fair environment, the dealers really have to step it up and provide at least some dramatic impact. For better or for worse, when you’re displaying cheek to jowl, it inevitably becomes about image and impact. That said, Appetite Gallery’s stand was always busy with its chaotic rec room atmosphere – almost an extension of the San Telmo gallery’s physical ocation. And Del Infinito’s display of Alejandra Tavolini’s toy stuffed pig (cut in half, a la Damien Hirst) was a small but hilarious piece with affect, and it deserved its attention.


But when one of the most conservative galleries at the fair makes the biggest impact, I think something’s gone a bit wrong. Daniel Maman Fine Arts occupied one of the largest stands, but it was their use of that space, their museum quality installation of museum quality art, that was flawless. In particular Juan Batlle Planas’ untitled 1963 painting – a serious piece of real estate measuring 16’ X 12’ – loomed stunningly in the low light.


And painting there was. A lot of painting. In common with a lot of it today, much of the painting favoured subtleties, the small gesture. And that works really well when you stumble off a busy street into a quiet gallery. But an art fair environment just isn’t conducive to showing that kind of work. There were exceptions: testament to their beauty, Remo Bianchedi’s tiny paintings on wood grabbed me from the aisle and drew me into Galeria Jacques Martinez’s stand. I’ll return to their gallery on Avenida de Mayo to look at his work more.


There was some photography, but not as much as I’d hoped for. Not much explored new territory and not much had a really strong impact. But there were some videos and installations that grabbed me more, interestingly all part of the curated sections. I’ll detail those in the next post.

Nathan Tichenor

STREET ART, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires - Today was unusually cold for Buenos Aires (around 8°C) and, as I was walking to the gym, a small flock of beautiful green parakeets flew overhead and landed in what looked like a cocoa tree. As they noisily picked at the fruit that was left on the tree, a group of people gathered to watch and discuss. There’s always something interesting to look at outside here, and it gives strangers a good excuse to have a conversation.

In Buenos Aires public life is engaging and that translates to the art. There seem to be some exceptional street artists working here judging from the examples you can find when wandering around. This isn’t your average graffiti: the quality of some of the work is extremely high. It ranges from stencil to free-hand, and cartoon to lyrical. 

I guess you could link this to the Latin American muralist tradition, and it would be a pretty valid connection. But I think the street art here speaks more to the urge to transform public spaces into works of art, to make something spectacular out of a piece of crumbling wall, and to make someone stop and take notice of a space that used to be only “in between.”

So with this strong presence of street art here, it was no surprise that, as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, Puma chose to sponsor the Urban Festival of Street Art in Buenos Aires this past May 24 and 25. 

Nathan Tichenor

SIBYL COHEN, Braga Menendez Contemporaneo

Buenos Aires - Perhaps more subtle than Juan Tessi's work, but no less powerful, Sibyl Cohen’s giant canvases (roughly 7'X7') delineate vast and palatial interiors. While they might be empty like Videla’s, her spaces do not resonate with the absence of figures. Instead, her paintings are of space itself. They masterfully exemplify the ever-persistent miracle of reproducing the three dimensions of the outside world onto the two dimensions of the painting’s surface. Or, vice versa, they transform the two-dimensions of the painting’s surface via the illusion of the three dimensions of the outside world.

And, more precisely, we can feel the tension when that reproduction and transformation happens. Cohen's illusion is not perfect: it oscillates between the abstract two-dimensional shapes on the canvas and the illusion of three-dimensional space these shapes can trick our eye into believing. Her paintings seem to represent that very moment when illusion begins to gel.

Cohen’s large scale and prominent line depict a space that draws in and surrounds the viewer. This, combined with her matte surfaces, recalls frescoes, especially those of the Italian Renaissance. As a time when horizons – geographic and philosophic – were broadened and the wonder of discovery infused all practices, this Renaissance wonder in turn imbues Cohen’s paintings. So while her interiors might seem old and formal, they are nonetheless transformed anew. By way of perspective and paint, Cohen gives us that same sense of dizzying Renaissance awe when confronted with the illusion of vast space.

Nathan Tichenor

JUAN TESSI, Braga Menendez Contemporaneo

Buenos Aires - Juan Tessi’s work pulls no punches – especially his series of small paintings (roughly 8"X11") of boys behaving badly. Boys on the cusp of manhood – in various stages of undress – tie up, strangle, and have sex with other boys (and sometimes girls). When only one figure appears in the painting, it’s clear from the engaged yet absent expression that something is being done to him, or he’s watching something being done to someone else. All his figures are completely engrossed in the act – be it sexual or violent or both. And Tessi captures that un-posed absence of self-consciousness of someone in the exact moment of fulfilling desire.

Like Juan Videla’s paintings, Tessi’s dialogues with photography and, moreover, video. But Tessi’s images come from pornography – a form that commands viewing – and by co-opting this genre, he crystallizes painting’s punch. One way we safely consume and know our world – one way we safely fulfill our desires – is through looking at art. And the analogy to the consumption of pornography is apt. Tessi mediates the pornographic/photographic image through paint thereby making the subject of his work not the pornography’s sex or violence, but rather the desire itself. We are no longer selflessly engrossed: through his paintings we end up looking at ourselves looking.

Nathan Tichenor

JUAN VIDELA, Braga Menendez Contemporaneo

Buenos Aires - Braga Menendez Arte Contemporaneo recently showed Juan Videla’s new paintings (22"X28") of empty public spaces. Almost still-lives of nothingness, the paintings are so empty of people that their absence becomes a felt presence. Trains, restaurant kitchens, building hallways – spaces usually occupied – are depicted without figures, seemingly late at night, after a shift or rush hour. The rooms’ overhead fluorescents highlight their emptiness, and we can almost feel the energy that, now gone, once filled the room. Each image could easily be a still from a Kubrick film, whose rooms often resonate with the psychic imprint of previous, intense incidents.

Clearly Videla can paint. He achieves a perfect tension between painterliness and an almost-photographic realism. And his work’s relation to photography seems to highlight painting’s dominance in Buenos Aires: Videla might flirt with photography’s language, but they remain paintings. I think all really good paintings have an impact like a punch in the stomach. But instead of punching, Videla’s painting withholds – both its punch and figures – and thereby these absences only heighten their presences, creating a very engaging tension.

Nathan Tichenor

BRAGA MENENDEZ ARTE CONTEMPORANEO

Buenos Aires - Recently I visited Braga Menendez Arte Contemporaneo, perhaps Buenos Aires’ best-known gallery for contemporary art. When Guido Ignatti (Produccion de Exposiciones) invited me into the gallery’s office, it became clear that the young and playful tone is clearly not limited to the art they represent. While the gallery takes contemporary art seriously, their passionate yet casual atmosphere also insists that art should have nothing to do with intimidation. The gallery’s backroom is an embarrassment of riches. This office-cum-salon-cum-gallery-cum-studio is crammed full of works -- most good, some spectacular -- that emerge one by one after careful but relaxed exploration.

And the gallery’s embarrassment of riches is embarrassing not only because there is so much high-quality work to choose from and see, but also because the prices are so damn reasonable. Even after accounting for shipping and brokerage, the strength of the dollar, euro, and pound against the Argentine peso makes art-buying in Buenos Aires an incredible opportunity.

Especially if you want to buy paintings. Even after taking into account Braga Menendez’s taste for and expertise in painters, I get the impression that Buenos Aires is about Paint. The city seems to have produced (and is producing) an inordinate number of really good painters. Moreover, this is a town of representation. There is a fascination with the image, and with mediating that image through the artist, his brush, and his paint.

Nathan Tichenor