Justin Lieberman - In Honor of the Occupation of Wall Street

212GALLERY

Justin Lieberman, Valentine fur die kleine frau (red property line with gold easement and multi-tool), 2011, mixed media, 63x76x3”

Justin Lieberman | In Honor of the Occupation of Wall Street
Opening Reception: January 12 from 6 to 8pm
December 30-February 2, 2012

212GALLERY is pleased to present In Honor Of The Occupation of Wall Street featuring nine new works which incorporate the poetry of Bertolt Brecht and macaroni collage, in some cases, through their conspicuous absence.

As is the case with almost every living artist today, Lieberman’s oeuvre is composed of an eclectic mix of mediums, formats and techniques, including collages, sculptures, paintings, installations, and videos. Lieberman is an artist rooted in pagan Germanic mythology, whose exhibition résumé reads like chapters in an ongoing investigation in search for meaning in a world driven by value judgments and contradictions – be they cultural, commercial, artistic or hierarchical. He has a tendency towards Wagnerian epics, particularly in representations of his everyday existence.

His 2005 show Time and Money dealt with topics ranging from art and advertisement, time, memory and premonition, the cult of authenticity, to teenage counterfeiters and the popular cartoonist Gary Larson, while his 2006 Agency: Open House show attempted to find some sort of middle ground between the commodity circus of Koons or Murakami against the reactive refusal to submit to commercial trends. 

When asked what his work was about several years ago, Lieberman replied, “Exhibition Structures, Regional Traditions, Commercial Display, Mass Culture, Junk Sculpture, Authorship, Perversion.” When confronted with this in an e-mail I wrote him on the 8th of December, he insisted that this was a total lie and he had been misquoted. Lieberman has an obsessive affinity for the character Porygon.

In this show, his piece Valentine Für Die Kleine Frau (Red Property Line with Gold Easement and Multi-Tool) incorporates a book, a skillet, and a shower head, among other things. Price $12,000.

Upper Case Violenceis a wooden assemblage screwed directly into the wall and exhibiting a pair of plastic teeth. The teeth were originally part of another work, Theory of Voice-Over which was  destroyed after being shown in Paris. The actual meaning of the piece is far too complicated to develop on here.

“Every 'piece' is basically a fragment of something larger, meanings, materials, and ideas are carried over,” Lieberman said.  “Sometimes, I have more control, sometimes I have less. I like when works are added to, or taken away from, or destroyed, defaced, or preserved."

BIO
Lieberman was born in 1977 in Miami. He received his BFA, at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (MA); his MFA at Yale University in New Haven (CT) in sculpture. He has exhibited in galleries in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Los Angeles and New York.

Gallery Hours are daily from 10AM-6PM.

212GALLERY | 525 East Cooper Avenue, next to Ralph Lauren

212Gallery - Max Vadukul

212GALLERY

212GALLERY artist Max Vadukul collaborates on photos with preeminent Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei in China, for W magazine’s Art issue

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212GALLERY’s own Max Vadukul recently collaborated with Ai Weiwei, the “most powerful person in the world of art,” according to Art Review magazine.

Mr. Ai created a story line for a series of photos that were shot on location in New York, by the photographer Max Vadukul as Mr. Ai looked on, art directing via Skype on a laptop computer from his home in China.

The photos will appear in W magazine’s November issue, the sixth annual one devoted to art. W’s editor, Stefano Tonchi, approached Mr. Ai, the outspoken Chinese artist and dissident, to do the cover not long after he was released from detention. Mr. Ai, was detained by Chinese authorities in the spring, was released under close surveillance in June.

“There is nothing quite like it,” said Vadukul, who had his first U.S. solo exhibition at 212GALLERY last March.

“He has an extraordinary vision,” said Vadukul. “He sees something that nobody else sees. That’s why he’s such an acclaimed artist. I’m mindful that I’m creating his vision. W is known for creating fine art work and then if you bring in a photographer known for his art reportage work- it’s exciting. This is the one assignment which will never be repeated again.”

Not only did Mr. Ai agree to do the cover, but a schema for a series of photos reminiscent of photos he took of the Tompkins Square riots in the 1980s, when he lived in New York.  “We left it open to him to create an original work,” said Diane Solway, W magazine’s senior editor.

The resulting scene takes place at Rikers Island. They refer to Mr. Ai’s own confinement, which China’s government has forbidden him from discussing.

For Mr. Vadukul the challenge was in translating Mr. Ai’s aesthetic for W’s fashion readership.

In an October 12th, New York Times article about the collaboration, Mr. Ai specified that he wanted street clothes, in the cover photo, shot in Flushing, Queens. The model, instead, is wearing an outfit by Alexander Wang. Mr. Vadukul made some suggestions — like shooting in black and white, which he said Mr. Ai agreed with — but he was mindful that he was there to execute another person’s vision.

“I would show him the images live on the screen,” explained Vadukul. “We had skype set up in this prison. I was showing him where I’m going to shoot, frame by frame, getting him involved in the process. I felt like I was giving his vision a lot of feeling.”

“It was very surreal,” said Ms. Solway. “We could see him on the screen, scrolling through the images.”

“This is his story,” said Vadukul. “I’m doing what he’s expecting. For me, the excitement has been, firstly, to have the chance to collaborate with an artist of his stature, then to hear him actually give a very strong direction.”

“Art is traditonally most effective when it makes a social comment and he’s certainly succeeded in doing that,” said Vadukul.  “He is the big big kahuna out there.”

 

*Corrections for New York Times article.

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BIO
Max Vadukul was born in Nairobi, Kenya and currently works and resides in New York City. Best known for black and white and portrait photography, Vadukul follows in the tradition of “art reportage” photography, which he describes as “taking reality and making it into art.”

In the 1990’s he established himself with a large body of work for French Vogue – a large portion of which was created with his wife, the eminent fashion editor Nicoletta Santoro, with whom he has collaborated for years. He has produced three books, is a film director, and recently created a series of dance and music videos for Yoji Yamamoto’s “Coming Soon” clothing line campaign. He has also branded his trademark style on campaigns for Chloe, Commes Des Garcons, Armani, Emanuel Ungaro, Sandro, and HBO's "Six Feet Under."

Vadukul shoots regularly for W Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Vogue China, and others. He has long standing relationships with such magazines as  French Vogue, Italian Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue and The New Yorker, where  from 1996 to 2000, he was staff photographer, a title previously occupied by Richard Avedon.

212GALLERY features innovative, established and emerging international artists working across media including, photography, painting, sculpture and mixed media.

Gallery Hours are Monday through Saturday 10-7 and Sunday 10-6.
212GALLERY 525 East Cooper Avenue, next to Ralph Lauren
Please call 970-925-7117 for further details.