Yevgeniy Fiks @ Winkleman Gallery (and Shane Hope in Project Space)

By Edward_ | Sep 5, 2008

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Yevgeniy Fiks

Winkleman Gallery is very pleased to present “Adopt Lenin,” our first solo exhibition of new work by Russian-born New York artist Yevgeniy Fiks. Continuing his exploration of the post-Soviet dialog and the legacy of attitudes about Communism in the West today, Fiks presents a critique of the commodification and fetishization of the Russian Revolution’s legacy and imagery.

Over the 15 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, revolutionary memorabilia, including Lenin’s memorabilia, have become a fetish of the post-Communist era, something that has a clear market value, a “Communist antiquity,” sold for souvenirs. In this project, Fiks attempts to free Revolutionary icons, with a particular focus on Lenin’s memorabilia, from the market and negate their market value.

Throughout 2008 Fiks has been purchasing Lenin’s memorabilia at his own expense, including Lenin’s busts, small statues, posters, photographs, etc. These objects will be on display at the gallery from September 5 – October 4, 2008. Over the course of the exhibition (except during the opening reception), visitors can place a reserve on any available object, on a first-come—first-served basis, and then take it away for free, after the show closes. The reserved objects will remain on display for the duration of the exhibition. To place an object on reserve, however, a visitor will have to sign an agreement between Winkleman Gallery and his- or herself certifying that he or she will never sell, or otherwise enter this object in the market, or make any profit from this object in any shape or form. A copy of the signed agreement will be also exhibited as part of the exhibition.

In a statement about the exhibition, Fiks noted, “The choice to adopt Lenin on the part of an audience member is not a manifestation of her/his subscription to communist ideology, but rather an acknowledgement of Communism as one of defining features of the 20th century historical narrative.”

ADOPT LENIN REGULATIONS

Yevgeniy Fiks was born in Moscow in 1972 and has been working in New York since 1994. Among his projects on the subject of the Post-Soviet dialog in the West are “Lenin for Your Library?” in which he mailed V.I.Lenin’s text “Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism” to one hundred global corporations as a donation for their corporate library; “Communist Party USA,” a series of portraits of current members of Communist Party USA, which he painted from life in the Party’s national headquarters in New York City; and “Communist Guide to New York City,” a series of photographs of buildings and public places in New York City that are connected to the history of the American Communist movement. Fiks’ work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Common Room 2, NY (2008); Contemporary City Foundation, Moscow, Russia (2008); Marat Guelman Gallery, Moscow, Russia (2007); Lenin-Museo, Tampere, Finland (2007); State Museum of Russian Political History, St. Petersburg, Russia (2006); ARTStrelka Projects, Moscow, Russia (2005). Selected group exhibitions include Biennale of Sydney (2008); Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (2007); and Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2007 and 2005).

For more information, please contact Edward Winkleman at 212.643.3152 or info@winkleman.com

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In the Schroeder Romero / Winkleman Gallery Project Space

McCain on Arts Funding

By Edward_ | Sep 4, 2008

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We’ve gone a few rounds on whether federal arts funding is a good or bad thing here, but on the eve of John McCain’s acceptance speech as the GOP Presidential nominee, I thought I should look a little more closely at what his position on the matter is.

There is nothing at all about arts funding (or the importance of the arts to the nation) on his website that I could find.

There are several blog posts about his long-standing rejection of the notion that federal dollars should ever be spent to support organizations like the NEA, and this article from the University of Southern California:

McCain… has a historical track record of supporting anti-arts legislation, including the 1999 Smith-Ashcroft Amendment, which would have cut all funding for the NEA; and the 1989 Helms Amendment, which aimed to deny funding to art considered “obscene.” McCain doesn’t have an arts policy, other than a desire to eliminate spending directed toward the arts.

In fact, in one analysis of how a McCain administration would spend federal money, the arts are singled out among a long list of other possibilities as the only place he would entirely eliminate funding. He’d increasing funding for police and military needs, but for arts, and according to this source, arts alone, it’s a total elimination:

McCain would “maintain status” on spending for:
• AIDS programs
• Environmental programs
• Foreign aid
• Housing projects
• Job training programs
• Medicaid & Medicare
• Student loan programs

McCain would “slightly increase” spending for:
• Education (K-12)
• Law enforcement
• Military & Veterans Benefits
• Border Control

McCain would “slightly decrease” spending for:
• NASA
• Welfare

McCain would eliminate spending for:
• Arts funding

I know that will endear him to some readers here, but in light of how he’s approaching some other “entitlement” programs, this strikes me as a virtually hostile position toward the arts (not to mention, not at all likely to offset the tax cuts for the wealthy he proposes making permanent).

In response to this attitude toward a government’s involvement/responsibility in supporting the arts, I would point out that among the more conservative people I spoke with recently about how they liked (or didn’t like the 2008 Summer Olympics), and there was plenty of bellyaching about what they assumed must be unfair judging or under-age athletes, not to mention human rights abuses, by the host country, the one thing they all agreed that they truly loved was the artistry and pageantry of the opening and closing ceremonies. That’s what they remembered most fondly about the games, what they marveled at, what softened their otherwise harsh opinions of the Chinese: their art.

We can’t afford a president who doesn’t understand how the arts go hand in hand with improving your image abroad. Forget that this is the man who didn’t have the wherewithal, especially among his staff, to avoid letting this photo happen…

…not understanding that one of America’s remaining areas of dominance is its culture makes him uniquely unqualified to lead us into the 21st Century, where images are increasingly the new lingua franca and art one of the most powerful tools for diplomacy. I think it’s fine to debate whether federal dollars should be spent on the arts, but McCain has no position on our cultural heritage, other than eliminating arts funding, that I can find. Anyone else knowing otherwise, please share.

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Postscript.

Watching the acceptance speech of Vice-Presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin (R, Alaska) last night, I couldn’t help but think about this scene from the short-lived TV show, Commander in Chief, in which a woman Vice-President is told, upon the death of the President, that she had been put on the ticket merely as theater, and that the right thing for her to do was to step down now.

I actually loved the first three or four episodes of this show. The fire and strength of Geena Davis’ character and the joy of seeing her work through the problems facing the nation with a mixture of wisdom and compassion was a wonderful antidote to the real-life White House situation in 2005. But somehow the show lost its way and eventually fizzled entirely. I think it had something to do with their main writer leaving the show, or perhaps it was just that there simply were not enough epiphanies that comes to one over the breakfast table as a mother with rambunctious teenagers and a husband who seems somewhat resentful at the role of first spouse that then provide insight into actionable solutions to international turmoil. In other words, if the shows writers hadn’t relied as heavily on that device as they did, they might not have written themselves into a corner.

I won’t predict how well Sarah Palin might do as President if it came to that. I truly hope, for the sake of America, she doesn’t get the VP job.

Gearing up and Guessing Games

By Edward_ | Sep 3, 2008

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Artinfo.com asked a well-rounded group of art world insiders (including Helen Allen, Melissa Chiu, Leigh Conner, Katelijne de Backer, Renato Danese, Zach Feuer, RoseLee Goldberg, Alexis Hubshman, Olga Korper, Marilyn Minter, Sundaram Tagore, and Ray Waterhouse) for their forecasts about the upcoming art season. I learned something from each of their answers and so, insatiable as my appetite for information is, I thought why stop with them? I want to know what you think as well.

Read their responses on artinfo.com and then let me know how you’d answer the following:

1. What are you looking forward to in the coming season?
2. What do you predict will be the year’s big trend?
3. Who will be the new directors of the Guggenheim and the Met?

Without the benefit of too much reflection, I’d say

1. Realizing the three ambitious installations and wondrous hallway projects we’re starting the season with: Yevgeniy Fiks, The Chadwicks, and (can’t wait to see them again…they live so far away) Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev all have very large-scale and logistically challenging installations. In the project space, the astonishingly smart Shane Hope starts us off. And, because I’m far from the brightest bulb in the chandelier, there’s a suicial amount of installation time between shows for the swap overs. So I’m also looking forward to the invention of a machine that can slow down time, at least every six weeks or so.

2. People slowing down enough to reflect and rediscover what attracted them to art in the first place. I’m already seeing it among collectors; longer conversations, much more interesting conversations. Loving to talk, as I do, this is another answer to question #1 for me.

3. I think there’s something to the statement Glenn Lowry was quoted as saying in the Times today in discussing MoMA’s choice of Ann Temkin to succeed John Elderfield as their chief curator of painting and sculpture: “Sometimes you have to look way outside to realize what you have within.” Indeed, hand-in-hand with my answer to question #2, I think the habit of flying candidates from all over the globe just to realize their visions are not that in sync with your mission (which is, for at least one of those institutions, just fine as it is) in order to surprise everyone with some attention-grabbing, but ultimately disappointing Sarah-Palin-like choice will reveal itself as less attractive than considering that if it ain’t broke, that’s possibly because the folks already helping to run it are good at their jobs. Having said that, though, I won’t speculate any further.

Over to you…

The Artist’s Spouse : Open Thread

By Edward_ | Sep 2, 2008

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Nora Joyce once notoriously quipped that she too might write some day, like her world-famous husband James. Only her book would be titled My Twenty Years with a Genius — So-Called.

Indeed, much overlooked or under-appreciated in the biographies of most great artists is the long-suffering spouse who puts up with the non-conventional lifestyle, the years of financial instability if not outright poverty, the emotional roller coaster that can accompany good reviews and bad sales or good sales and bad reviews, and the relative lack of attention or total ambivalence paid by the other half’s adoring fans to what it takes to live with an artist.

Don’t get me wrong. I adore artists. But they tend not to be as financially secure a choice for mate as say an accountant or doctor.

I started to think about this a bit in response to the story James Kalm told on a recent thread:

A painter with a beautiful studio in Venice California is married to a high powered TV producer. Because of his wife’s income, there is no pressure for him to sell his work. He builds up a huge inventory of large abstract paintings, trying to keep total control of his stash like Clyfford Still. Shockingly he dies unexpectedly at a fairly young age (mid fifties) with no gallery representation. In the process of trying to rent out the studio after his death, his wife asks my friend (from whom I heard the story) to help her place the work, get the work represented or sell it all to whoever was interested. My friend is given six months to do this, at which point he will have first dibs on the studio space. My friend, who’s a pretty motivated artist with connections, runs all over LA trying to get someone interested in the work. After six months there’s still no interest. The major part of this artist’s life work is tossed into dumpsters and hauled off to the dump.

to which Oriane responded, in part,

Obviously, whatever field you’re in, it’s always a good idea to choose your spouse and friends wisely.

Was there a connection? Did perhaps the Venice painter’s wife not value what he created? Others on the thread suggested he had a pretty sweet life for an artist, being able to work in a studio and not worry about where his next meal was coming from, but to think his wife would let his life’s work get just tossed out is a bit upsetting to me.

On the other hand, as any dealer can tell you, is the spouse perhaps a tad too involved in their other half’s career. Especially when the spouse is also an artist, you can sometimes feel like you’re getting two for the price of one. We had an artist-spouse once help bring in the work for a show the other half was in (we had no professional connection to this spouse at all), only to have them spend the next hour lecturing us about how we must change the lighting in the gallery.

Worse yet is the spouse who doesn’t care about lighting or such aesthetic matters, but inserts himself or herself into business matters. I have read emails supposedly from an artist that were clearly written by the spouse demanding all kinds of things that were not part of our original agreement. As a dealer there’s not much you can do about such back-seat spousal driving other than to sigh and patiently move forward, but it can influence how much a gallery wishes to invest in an artist knowing the additional work it will take to keep the spouse happy too.

Now of course it stands to reason that no one will better understand or advocate on the artist’s behalf as well as a spouse. And, for the record, we truly adore all the spouses of the artists we currently work with (none of the were the source for the anecdotes above).

Consider this an open thread on artists’ spouses and their role (or not) in their careers.

Gone Fishin’

By Edward_ | Aug 18, 2008

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Enjoy the last two weeks of Summer folks. We’re off until after Labor Day.

Regular posting will resume September 2.