Work by Robert Kinmont, Handstand Master, at Cooper Union

Robert Kinmont, Copper Pots (given a chance), 1972. Copper in seven parts with pencil and photograph on wood box. Photos: 16 Miles

There are many plenty of reasons to see "The Crude and the Rare," the new natural resource-themed show, curated by Saskia Bos and Steven Lam, at Cooper Union. It is, for instance, a perfect excuse to explore its new building, designed by Thom Mayne and Gruzen Samton. It has, in addition, rarely seen pieces by Marina Abramovic, Alfredo Jaar, and Lawrence Weiner, and a towering, two-story-tall drawing by Matt Mullican. But it also has a sculpture by the reclusive and wonderful Robert Kinmont, who produced a handful of the most fascinating ephemeral pieces of the 1960s and 1970s — handstands on mountaintops, photographs of dirt roads — and then stopped making art for 30 years.

After decades as a teacher and carpenter, Kinmont returned to the art world about five years ago, and had a show at Alexander and Bonin last year, for which Julie Ault wrote a handy and informative brochure [pdf]. Ault also helpfully typed out the note that Kinmont wrote on the box for Copper Pots, which is included in "The Crude and the Rare":

"I put these copper pots there in the desert where no one goes and decided to fill them with water each morning for one month to see what would grow, knowing that some seeds stay dormant in the desert for several years waiting for enough water. Everyday I would walk out to water them and sometimes have a hard time finding them. After about one week I noticed I was beginning to track up the desert and it began to bother me. I decided to take the path so I would not interfere. I still would get lost from time to time until the path got evident enough and I got continually deliberate enough. Then I realized that my success there would be in the clarity with which I did that and not in what I planned."

One more thing: it has a supremely creepy sculpture by Mark Dion, pictured below.


Detail of Mark Dion, Killers Killed, 1994–2007. Tree, taxidermy animals, tar, galvanized aluminum foam, paint.


Matt Mullican, Untitled, 1990. Oil stick rubbing on painted paper.


Alfredo Jaar, Introduction to a Distant World, 1985. Digital video, color, sound, 9 min., 30 sec.


Jimmie Durham, Someone Stole My Diamond, 1998. Stone and text on painted wood.


Installation view of "The Crude and the Rare."

"The Crude and the Rare"
Curated by Saskia Bos and Steven Lam
Cooper Union
41 Cooper Union
New York, New York
Through November 20, 2010

Contemporary Art in Madrid [Part 2 of 3: Chueca]

Darya von Berner, In Love with Unreality, 2009, at Galería Moriarty. Photo: 16 Miles. [more]


Ivan Perez, Bird's Nest, 2009, at Galería Moriarty. Photo: 16 Miles.   [more]

Quaint pâtisseries sit alongside ancient bars and galleries abut chic boutiques in Chueca.  With a seedy past (prostitution, drugs, and so forth) and a monied present, it vaguely suggests today's Lower East Side.  It is also home to some of the stronger members of Madrid's younger art generation.

Galería Moriarty
Libertad, 22
Approaching age thirty, they’re one of the older galleries in Chueca, and, though their biggest star is probably Ryan McGinness, their fifteen artists generally occupy points far away from his manic effervescence. Chema Madoz, for one, detourns commonplace objects into eerie, sometimes frightening sculptures. For A Coney Island of the Mind, the group show we saw, he contributed a Gucci perfume bottle rebuilt as a hypodermic syringe. To enter, you had to use a subway ticket printed with poetry (provided by the gallery) to pass through Darya von Berner’s subway turnstile bathed in pink neon light. Thanks to the strength of the work inside (many from the gallery’s roster), it was a bit of theater that functioned perfectly. 


Christopher Muller and Alex Jasch, Das Ding Ding [installation view], at Heinrich Ehrhardt. Photo: 16 Miles.   [more]

Heinrich Ehrhardt
San Lorenzo, 11
Part of Heinrich Ehrhardt’s office is located above the floor of the gallery, overlooking the main space like a sentry tower. At first it felt awkward, as if we were being watched from above. After overcoming that feeling, though, viewing art here was a pleasure, especially because the space is tucked within a quiet courtyard off of San Lorenzo. Ehrhardt represents Ulrich Rückriem, Pedro Reyes, Anselm Reyle, and Tobias Rehberger, among others, with roots going back to the early 1980’s.

Galería Elba Benítez [exterior]. Photo: 16 Miles.   [more]

Galería Elba Benítez
San Lorenzo, 11

Also hiding off San Lorenzo, Elba Benítez shows work by Beatriz Milhazes, Ernesto Neto, and Vik Muniz (who must have more gallery representation than any other living artist), along with nearly a score of other artists.  David Goldblatt was showing photographs taken in South Africa for his In the Time of AIDS project when we visited.  They’re celebrating their twentieth birthday next year. 


Travesia Cuatro [exterior]. Photo: 16 Miles.   [more]


Yuri Masnyj, Everybody's Concerns [installation view], at Travesia Cuatro. Photo: 16 Miles.     [more]

Travesia Cuatro
San Mateo, 16
My stellar Spanish skills (honed largely via extensive use of Google) can tell you that their name means “Crossing Four” or “Passage Four”, a reference to the location of their shop when they opened back in 2003.  Yuri Masnyj, an American who shows with Metro Pictures in New York, had sculptures and drawings on display when we went.  Most of their other artists are early to mid-career artists from Spain.  Wires from some sculptures pierced into walls and remerged a few inches away.  Plywood pieces, spray- and hand painted, then fused together, balanced precariously around the space.  They just moved into a new space.  Ambitious material in every way. 

Lien Carrazana, De la serie Hábitat: Untitled, 2007, at Luz & Suárez del Villar. Photo: 16 Miles.   [more]

Luz & Suárez del Villar
San Lorenzo, 3

Lien Carrazana and Lindomar Placencia Padron, two young Cuban artists, had a show up at this tiny, young (founded in 2008) space when we wandered in, looking for the mysterious courtyard on San Lorenzo featuring Elba Benítez and Heinrich Ehrhardt.  The former provided still life, color photographs of subtle mysteries (a Matryoshka doll sitting comfortably in an ice box), the latter two short videos: an endless loop of a woman descending an escalator, a series of windows.  It turns out the entire roster is Cuban with birthdates floating in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  I assume they can ship your purchase surreptitiously back to America.  Let’s hope this works.    

Galería Oliva Arauna [exterior]. Photo: 16 Miles.   [more]


Alfredo Jaar at Galería Oliva Arauna. Photo: 16 Miles.   [more]

Galería Oliva Arauna
Barquillo, 29

The heavy, towering door of metal and opaque glass here makes even some formidable Chelsea venues seem comparatively inviting.  Inside, though, it’s all warmth and friendliness.  Volver, a group show of hefty sculptures and paintings, was up when we visited.  Alfredo Jaar popped up again and again around Spain, and it seems that Oliva Arauna is a major reason for that.  They've been showing his work for twenty years.