Welcome to Art Weekly, our new weekly column in which we take you around the globe for the latest and greatest art openings.
Written by Guest Blogger Harmony Difo
New York
Lehmann Maupin Gallery – “Liu Wei” by Liu Wei
Opens: Thursday, February 28th 2013
Prepare to be wowed by Beijing based artist Liu Wei at his first solo show opening Thursday, February 28th 2013. Even better, I urge you to take this rare opportunity to congratulate the artist himself as Wei will be making a brief appearance at the opening reception held at the gallery from 6-8pm. His work, impressive in size, range, and scale moves between 5 different mediums from painting to photo to video installation and back again. In the Wei’s own words, “Today you’d believe in one thing and tomorrow you’d believe in something completely different.”
Michelle Maccarone Gallery — “Emerald” by Paul Lee
Opening: Tuesday, March 5th 2013.
Born in London but based in New York, contemporary artist Paul Lee creates installations that force a clever dialogue between seemingly unrelated objects. With materials ranging from light bulbs, to celebrity photographs, to scraps of invitations to exclusive art events, his work bridges an interesting gap between objets trouvés (found objects) and pop art. See you there!
Los Angeles
David Kordansky Gallery – “Excess Energy” by Scott Myles
Opening: Saturday, March 2nd 2013.
I must admit I raised an impressed eyebrow at the last exhibition I saw at David Kordansky Gallery, a complex and sophisticated show of one of my personal favorites, Rashid Johnson’s work back in 2012. Now, almost a year later, I am interested in seeing new work from another Kordansky artist, Scott Myles, who has had a nice past range of text-based works, sculpture, and installations. His signature improvisational style has me wondering what he has up his sleeve for this show!
London
White Cube Gallery – “Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration” by Chuck Close
Opening: Wednesday March 6th, 2013
An opportunity to see another round of visually stunning portrait work by one of the most celebrated painters in contemporary art’s history? Sign me up! Since the late 1960’s American painter Chuck Close has consistently shown the world how even an image as classic as the human portrait can be brought to extremely new and innovative heights. If I could somehow teleport myself from New York to London to be there for this opening at the ever-sleek and edgy White Cube Gallery next Wednesday, I would!
Rome
The Museum of Contemporary Art Rome (MACRO) — GROUP PHOTO. The Gallery Pieroni, Zerynthia, RAM: 1970-2013
Opening: February 28th, 2013.
MACRO looks like it has found its stride! The ever-beautiful Rome has over 70 museums, but until 2 years ago the city had no significant public contemporary art gallery. Times have changed as now MACRO has curated a selection of works by over 50 contemporary artists from 1970-2013. Curated by Stefano Chiodi, the show is dedicated to the story of Gallery Pieroni, owned by Mario Pieroni, one of the most important contemporary art collectors and the soul of Zerynthia, a contemporary art association based in Italy. Definitely, a must-see!
Paris
Polka Gallery – “Carnets de Voyage” by Patrick Swirc
Opening: Saturday, March 2nd 2013.
Patrick Swirc’s work is a bit melancholy but is, as usual, also very moving and complex. Combining photographic prints and intimate notebooks, this famous French portrait artist always provides us with fresh and relevant visual subject matter. He always manages to combine, photography, calligraphy and collage into a mélange of different textures, feelings, and memories – just right for a later-winter evening out in Paris. Enjoy!
