Hasta La Ideas

Owusu-Ankomah, Thinking the Microcron No.1, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 120 X 140 cm. Photo by Joachim Fliegner. Image Courtesy October Gallery London

Ghanaian artist Owusu-Ankomah will be showing a series of new paintings, laden with mysterious symbols and signs, at the October Gallery in London from September 15…

Owusu-Ankomah, Looking Back into the Future, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 200cm

Based in Bremen in Germany, Owusu-Ankomah’s art often depicts large scale human figures and for this new collection, Microcron – Kusum (Secret Signs – Hidden Meanings), each is surrounded and camouflaged by various symbolic sets and signs.

Owusu-Ankomah, Microcron – Kusum No.4, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 135 X 175 cm. Photo Joachim Fliegner. Image Courtesy October Gallery London

According to the gallery, for the new paintings Owusu-Ankomah has added well-known logos and Chinese calligraphy, as well as “visual signs of his own invention to the customary lexicon of ‘adinkra’ symbols, which each represent a particular concept used by the Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana. In the same Akan language, ‘kusum’, refers to sacred sites involved in the secret performances of mystery rites.”

The exhibition is on at the October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AL until October 29. More at octobergallery.co.uk.

Despite some hurdles along the way, which included some last-minute fundraising and getting tagged with graffiti, Michigan State University seems on still track to open their new, Zaha Hadid-designed Eli and Edyth Broad Art Museum on its campus by the spring of next year. This week marked two high notes toward progress. First, that they’ve hired Min Jung Kim, previously at the Guggenheim, to step in as deputy director, serving under Michael Rush, who was hired away from the Rose Art Museum back in December. Second, the State News reports that the university is now preparing their plans to start the transition, both staff and artwork, from the current-yet-now-closed old building, the Kresge Art Museum, and into the new digs. The staff part is fairly seems easy, largely involving putting desk supplies and computers in boxes and walking across the campus, but it’s the art moving that takes a bit more work. And not only will they be transitioning the university’s collection over, but the Broads will also be bringing pieces of their massive art holdings as well. So while the staff isn’t expected to get into the still-under construction museum until next year, all the art-based logistics are sure to keep them busy for the next few months.

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“I like when people have opinions—especially about art. You can hate my art. I made my art to be hated. That’s why I made the name paintings. So rather than someone coming to my studio and saying, like, ‘Thank you for your time. I’ll see you later,’ and me not knowing why they don’t like my work, I understand now why they don’t like it. I made work specifically for them not to like. If you made paintings of flowers and someone says they hate it, it’s like ‘What do you mean? It’s a flower!’ But if you make a painting of your name and somebody says they hate it, it’s like, ‘Well, why would you like a painting of my name anyway?’”

-Artist Josh Smith, whose work will be featured in the Printemps de Septembre festival, opening September 23 in Toulouse, France

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James Rosenquist’s “The Richest Person Gazing at the Universe Through a Hubcap” (2011), one of 26 works donated to the Artists for Haiti auction (Photo: David Zwirner)

Earlier this year, actor Ben Stiller and gallerist extraordinaire David Zwirner teamed up to organize Artists for Haiti, an art auction to benefit huminatiarian efforts in the wake of the catastrophic January 2010 earthquake that took 230,000 lives. Months of work on the project have paid off in the form of a jaw-dropping selection of 26 pieces—most created specifically for the sale—that will go on the block at Christie’s on the evening of Thursday, September 22, in New York. Artists including Jasper Johns, Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, Cecily Brown, and Raymond Pettibon have donated works, and they’re not standard benefit-auction fare. Mamma Andersson has contributed a haunting oil called “Night Train” (2011), and Neo Rauch is represented by a breathtaking new canvas of alienated souls poised to break into song in a technicolored forest. In “Le juif errant” (2011), Francis Alÿs depicts a figure traversing a map while carrying the built world on his shoulders. The canvas could function as a new identity for Architecture for Humanity, one of several nonprofits and NGOs that all of the proceeds from the Artists for Haiti auction will support. Learn more about the auction and check out all of the works in person at David Zwirner (September 6-14) or at Christie’s (September 17-20). Click here to watch Partners in Health co-founder Paul Farmer, who has written a text in the Artists for Haiti auction catalogue, discuss the situation in Haiti during his recent appearance on Charlie Rose.

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Both the film and art worlds were once again abuzz early this week with more information on director Steven Soderbergh‘s planned transition from filmmaker to painter, quitting the former entirely to concentrate on the latter. The whole concept was kicked into high gear this past March, when the director made the rounds saying he was planning on retiring at 50, even dropping by Studio 360 to chat with Kurt Andersen about it. Now, with his latest film, the thriller Contagion about to be released, Soderbergh once again made quick mention of his departure again while speaking with the NY Times, offering a few more specifics on what he has planned for his second act (and how he might turn back around should it all not work out):

Mr. Soderbergh was speaking last month in his office space-cum-painting studio in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, where, having announced his imminent retirement from directing, he will soon be spending a lot more time. Propped against the walls are some of his recent pieces: a pair of striped canvases in red and gray hues and a portrait of the abstract painter Agnes Martin. Mr. Soderbergh, 48, sounded matter-of-fact about the career change. “I’m interested in exploring another art form while I have the time and ability to do so,” he said. “I’ll be the first person to say if I can’t be any good at it and run out of money I’ll be back making another ‘Ocean’s’ movie.”

And here’s that aforementioned interview on Studio 360:

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