Calder for Body and Soul

It was a night of dazzling jewels, with nary a precious stone in sight. Salon 94 is exhibiting 40 pieces of Alexander Calder’s crimped, coiled, hammered, and highly coveted creations of body adornment in “Show and Tell: Calder Jewelry and Mobiles.”

While the sculptor’s work is famously kinetic, the opening celebration had these masterpieces of craftsmanship and engineering bouncing around the room. It took quite a few dedicated pairs of watchful eyes to keep track, as pieces made their way around assorted necks, heads, ears, and wrists. When they were not being tried on and photographed, the pieces were displayed on the original faces and heads made by Calder for a 1940 show of the work. Additional “display” sculptures were created for the occasion by a number of contemporary artists invited by the gallery.

The exhibit, which is presented in collaboration with the Calder Foundation, remains on view through December 20th.

Family members, of course, were wearing amazing pieces of their own.

Andre J. looked fabulous next to one of the unwearable mobiles.

Dangling earrings taken to a a new level. You cannot truly understand a Calder mobile until you wear one. What a total thrill!

The Many Sides of Le Corbusier

Even if you don’t get to MoMA to see the fantastic Le Corbusier show, you must visit the site of Fondation Le Corbusier. There, you will find the work of a prolific and multi-dimensional talent.

In addition to paintings, you

will find sculpture ...

Drawings ...

Furniture ...

Tapestries ...

Collage ...

Graphic design ...

And photographs, which are stills shot with a

movie camera between films. 

Oh, I almost forgot, he was also an architect.

My Week With Marilyn: AAF, AIPAD, SVA

The photo hanging at AAF is Dream in Color by Richard Heeps.

It will probably be a while (like a few hundred years) before she outdoes the Virgin Mary for ‘most-depicted woman in art,’ but you can be sure that wherever there is an abundance of contemporary art and photography, you will find images of Marilyn Monroe. While the ratio of Marilyn-per-hundred-images might vary by venue, I think you’d be hard pressed to visit an art fair and not see her.

The 'Marilyns' here were sighted during last week’s alphabet-soup of visual events—AAF, AIPAS, SVA.

AAF Affordable Art Fair

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the artistic interpretation of a cultural icon. The sphere, is a recurring motif in the work of Belgian artist Tigi Van Gil. The collage portrait below is by Marius.

AIPAD Association of International Photography Art Dealers

The gorgeous Bert Stern portraits of Marilyn were at Staley-Wise Gallery

David Winter , whose inventory is absolutely astonishing, had a wonderful photo of Marilyn and Clark Gable (must have been Misfits). The above photo of her swimming was on his website.

SVA D-Crit School of Visual Arts, Design Criticism

Ms. Monroe even made a surprise appearance at the SVA D-Crit lecture by British critic and photographer Rick Poynor. She graced one of three covers he showed of J.G. Ballard’s The Atrocity Exhibition.

The Antiques Garage  TAG?

No shortage of Marilyn here.

ALL ME: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert

Chain Gang (All Me), 2004
What appears, at first, to be a jumble of white dashes on black, turns out to be prisoners on a chain gang. Blizzards of white dots are vast expanses of cotton, waiting to be picked for pennies a pound. This is the visual language of 67-year old African American artist, Winfred Rembert. His paintings--actually, hides of leather, carved, tooled and dyed--create a graphic diary illustrating life in the segregated rural south.

“ALL ME: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert,” a feature length documentary directed and produced by Vivian Ducat, premiers this week at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

Chain Gang - The Ditch, 2005
As Rembert’s experiences unfold on screen, we learn that the paintings are completely autobiographical. That includes the chain gang, on which he worked, while serving a prison sentence. He started in the cotton fields as a young child, when he picked alongside “Mama,” the great aunt who raised him.

Rembert’s visual story telling is especially astute when he depicts scenes of everyday activities in the environs of his native Cuthbert, Georgia. Pictures of pool halls and juke joints usually include portraits of specific characters.

On Mama's Cotton Sack, 2002
The artist’s remembrances are riveting in their detail as he recalls the racism he suffered (including a near lynching) the poverty in which he was raised, and his civil rights activism.

Fascinating too, is Rembert's personal journey as an artist. As a kid he made his own toys from whatever materials he could find. Though he picked up leather tooling in prison during the 1970s, it wasn’t until the mid 1990s that Rembert started to translate his memories into images. With shows at Yale University Art Gallery, and Adleson Gallery in New York, his work has gained momentum with collectors.

“ALL ME” will also be shown at festivals in Chicago, Hot Springs and Albany, Georgia. Visit the film’s website for more info and all the details.

Chain Gang Picking Cotton, 2004

Family Picking Cotton, 2003

Saturday Shopping Day, 2000

The Wood Boy, 2007

Jeff's Pool Room, 2003

Smilin' Ben Shorter, 2009

Sugar Cane (Patsy's Mother), 2008

The Baptism, 2003

I got to meet the artist after a
screening of the film during the summer.
Photo: Joan Morgan