Hasta La Ideas

Paper engineering set off with abstract painting in a collaboration from Ghostly International

From the record label-meets-art house Ghostly International comes a collaboration between abstract artists Michael Cina and Matt Shlian. The limited edition series contains works on paper that bring together the divergent styles of the two artists, marrying Cina’s colorful abstractions and Shlian’s signature paper engineering to demonstrate the common theme of experimentation in their respective processes. Shlian’s paper pyramids borrows from geometric and biological forms to create a 3D canvas, his typical monochrome look overhauled by Cina’s vibrant pigments, which have roots in his background creating album art for Ghostly.

The name for the Aleatoric Series refers to the element of chance to create an unexpected outcome in the artists’ joint work. “These pieces feel spatial or nebulous…a micro and macro all at once,” says Shlian. “When I read, I never understand the important parts first. I pull out the details and focus on them first, and then I have to work at understanding the bigger picture.” In this way, the two artists shared the back and forth that comes with collaborative, ongoing work.

The pieces are assembled by hand using acid-free glue and paper, and the surface is colored with vegetable-based ink. As arrangement of the color changes from piece to piece, none of the 25 iterations of each composition are exactly the same. All told, the collection demonstrates the benefits of artistic experimentation and the effect that occurs when two talented artists riff off of one another.

Pieces from The Aleatoric Series is available from the Ghostly Store for $250.

Light play and voyeurism in Dan Graham’s latest collection of glass sculptures

The new show by Dan Graham at the Lisson Gallery in London is at once predictable and unexpected. Those who have known and loved the interactive experience of Graham’s Pavilions for the last several decades will recognize his stamp, yet somehow—for those familiar or not with his work—Graham manages to create surprise and delight every time.

The 70-year-old artist continues to develop his series of structural meditations on the perception of space, which he began in the 1980s. The Lisson Gallery exhibition combines two new large pavilions with three pavilion scale models being built, and accompanying the show is a catalog of not-yet-realized pavilion drawings by the perpetually ambitious artist.

As studies on the concepts of inside and outside, it’s appropriate that Lisson has placed one large pavilion inside and one in their sculpture yard outside. The light-filled white space of the gallery suits the perfectly engineered minimalism of Graham’s work, which combines references to the slickness of modern architecture with the entrancing effect of a hall of mirrors.

However, Graham’s is best experienced outdoors where the concave and convex semi-reflective surfaces have so much more to play with, from sky and clouds to trees, buildings and people. The superbly detailed structures are both sculptures to admire and, at the same time, blank canvases to reflect their surroundings. Inside an empty white space, the reflections remain monochrome and calm. Outside, the glass canvas is splashed with busy, eclectic and multi-colored reflections that change rapidly and dramatically.

While many experience the Pavilions as playful spaces, it’s interesting to see the Lisson Gallery referencing more sinister themes such as voyeurism and surveillance. As they explain, it can indeed be disconcerting to be enveloped by a Dan Graham installation. According to the gallery’s description of the exhibition, “Viewers are involved in the voyeuristic act of seeing oneself reflected, while at the same time watching others. Whilst giving people a sense of themselves in space it can also result in loss of self as the viewer is momentarily unable to determine the difference between the physical reality and the reflection.”

Pavilions is on display at the Lisson Gallery through 28 April 2012.

Lisson Gallery

29 Bell Street

London, NW1

All photos by Leonora Oppenheim

Stan Douglas’s recent photographic work features dancers and refugees

Opening his 11th solo show at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York City, photographer Stan Douglas has once again assumed the persona of fictional photographer. His last show at Zwirner, Midcentury Studio, comprised a series of mock press photographs documenting the post-war period. For Disco Angola, Douglas is playing the role of a ’70s photojournalist in New York’s disco scene and the recently liberated Angola. From the geographically and culturally disparate communities comes a unique dialogue about liberation, self expression and dance.

The show’s eight pieces are arranged in pairs that face each other on opposing walls. Each of the pieces explores a particular “event”; as Douglas explains, an event is “not just something that happens, but something that happens that’s so unfamiliar, so strange, so horrifying that it challenges the nature of truth at the time.” Pairing disco scenes against revolutionary moments, the event and its ramifications are further dramatized.

“Capoeira” is a photograph of a circle of Angolans practicing capoeira—the Brazilian art form that marries martial arts with dance—and is hung opposite “Kung-Fu Fighting”, which shows a disco dancer performing moves learned from Bruce Lee’s pioneering films. Together, the images break down the close relationship between conflict and dance, as well as the kinship between recently liberated Angolans and members of the New York gay community. At its heart, Douglas sees the connection between the Angolan Civil War and disco as both blissful periods that were ruined by the outsiders—both in the form of photojournalists and curious “scenesters”.

Explaining a bit of the history that informs the work, Douglas mentioned the long and bloody civil war that preceded Angola’s Carnation Revolution. “New York, in the 1970s, was almost a third world state,” elaborates Douglas, seeing the similarities between the war and the scene in NYC. “The federal government was not interested in supporting it. It was almost bankrupt. The subway system was dangerous, the parks were dangerous. It was in this condition that the ‘Disco Underground’ first appeared.”

Douglas brilliantly employs contemporary costuming and props, successfully transporting the viewer in to the respective scenes. Many of the works are inspired directly by a found photograph or are composites of several sources that serve as inspiration. While Douglas shoots on digital and avoids mimicking the photographic appearance of the the era, the casting and art direction are fully convincing. By discarding traditional photography’s notion of the “decisive moment” and the time stamp, Douglas opens up the medium to infinite possibilities.

Disco Angola is on display at the David Zwirner Gallery starting tonight, 22 March through 28 April 2012. See more images of the exhibition in our slideshow.

David Zwirner Gallery

525 West 19th Street

New York, NY 10011

Images courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York

Art, antiques, books and more come together in Portland

Even on a street bustling with galleries and boutiques, Ampersand Gallery stands out. Owner Myles Haselhorst opened the intimate space in Portland, OR in 2008 to create, he says, something that “feels less like a retail store and more like the interior of someone’s home, someone who is a collector of art, books and found artifacts.”

Having collected vintage photography for about a decade, Haselhorst presents shows at Ampersand that range from the serenely beautiful, like a series of 19th-century hand-colored Japanese photographs, to the downright macabre. “There are billions of snapshots of cute babies, but it’s less often that you find a whole series of morgue photos that were shot in Hoboken, New Jersey, back in the 1930s,” Haselhorst said, referring to a show that he curated, framed and presented in 2010.

Ampersand also serves as a vintage bookshop and publishing house, whose works focus on photography and design and are arranged in between antique cases, custom-made furniture by Kerf Design in Seattle and rolling carts that were designed and built by Haselhorst and his father. The furniture serves as the perfect foundation for Haselhorst’s extensive collection, from a set of typeface archives to camping brochures from the 1960s.

At a time when most publishers are scrambling to reinvent their materials in all-electronic formats, Ampersand’s treasures offer a reminder that a beautifully printed and published book is an art object that you can hold in your hands. “In today’s economy, you have to stay on your toes,” Haselhorst said, “especially if you are selling books and art, which more and more are getting absorbed into the endless offerings on the Internet.”

Ampersand’s next exhibition, “Gazed Upon”, will open on 29 March 2012. Guest curated by photographer Amy Elkins, the show examines the questions of female beauty and self-identity and will feature work by Cara Phillips, Stacey Tyrell and Jen Davis. Head to the Ampersand online shop to see more of what’s in stock.

Ampersand Gallery

2916 Alberta Street

Portland, Oregon 97211

A darkly comic take on rural cults wins top honors at the LES Film Festival

If you think “new noir” sounds like the latest buzzword designed to put Lana del Rey on the map, check out “The Kook.” The short, made by two NYC directors known as Peking (full disclosure: also frequent Cool Hunting collaborators), won the Audience Award after a sold-out screening held by the LES Film Festival last night. The moment helps shed some light on why the shadowy genre continues to feel so relevant.

In just its second year, the festival celebrates projects made for $200,000 or less. In many cases, much less. Co-founder Shannon Walker explains this “special time” for filmmaking as one when “you can tell a great story for not a lot of money”, citing a film shot entirely on a Nokia phone.

But, Walker emphasizes, the focus is on great storytelling. The selection process comes down to whether committee members “audibly have a reaction to it,” as Tony Castle (part of the fest’s creative team) puts it. The Kook, the story of a cult of people who wear yellow sweatsuits and rock bowl cuts, inspired plenty of noisy reactions among the audience.

The film follows Fa, the naive protagonist and enthusiastic cult member played by T Sahara Meer, on her journey for the truth after finding evidence that the operation is a ruse. She stumbles upon the leader, Malcolm (played by Dan Burkarth), a lowlife who is suffering some unknown pressure that leads him to manipulate his followers. In the process of Fa’s discovery, we see her pull back the curtain, revealing an unsettling truth and in turn finding unknown strength within.

Art direction, consisting of thrifted costumes and borrowed locations, makes one of the strongest cases for low-budget filmmaking by creating a complete off-kilter world. Even something as incongruous as an ’80s-era control panel embedded in a tree is believable.

The finely-crafted piece springs to life through gorgeous noir lighting and subtle cinematography, made all the more compelling with precise editing and rich sound design. Under the helm of the skilled directors, the excellent performances help cement a cohesive tone.

The team, comprised of Nat Livingston-Johnson and Greg Mitnick, have a background in music videos, documentary (see Cool Hunting Video) and commercial work, but it’s The Kook that truly showcases their talent for dark comedy. They’ve already earned rave reviews and awards at independent film festivals coast to coast, and we’re looking forward to more success for the film and the filmmakers.

To see more, watch the trailer for The Kook.