Sunday, June 29, 2014

Tatjana Bergelt: Slices of Life, through July 17

regret, remorse, sacrifice, 2013

Tatjana Bergelt: Slices of Life
Serbian Consulate
62 West 45th Steet, 7th floor
June 26 - July 17, 2014, Hours: Monday - Friday, 10-4 

Tatjana Bergelt seems to be searching for the essence of existence – the connecting tissues that verify reality in an increasingly complex world. To this end, she sets up tensions between images and words, bodies and shapes, figure and ground, reminiscent of Cubist collage and Dada photomontage.  These various types of collages are arresting in their beauty.  However, for all their visual delicacy (like gossamer-woven dreams), they resonate with disturbing pain and sadness as ghostly visions of dissonance.

Take, for example, regret, remorse, sacrifice (2013), a poetic vision of the human hand, bound by several multi-colored strands of yarn or thread, made inert and useless. The words “regret,” “remorse,” and “sacrifice” are almost imperceptible – so tiny and delicate – as if they are subconscious ruminations, discarded along seams and the margins. This collage seems to address the feminist struggle between duty and desire, the constraints that curtail a woman’s true self-actualization. The hand looks aged, puffy with excess work, probably at a stage in life when regrets come to pass.

ihmenin - mensch


shortsighted 


ihminen-mensch [human] and shortsighted feature female figures clothed in late nineteenth-century or early twentieth-century fashion – the former appears rather “modern” in her hat, blouse and skirt, resting her left arm on a lectern; the latter sits in a typical Victorian pose, dignified in her high-collared frock.  Yet, both bodies dissolve softly into transparent planes of flat abstraction, their faces obliterated by the title’s text.  Again, we might consider a feminist concern with marginalizing women through psychological self-destruction.

Power-grid

Once more vulnerable, a young woman confronts five policemen in power grid.  The words “self inflicted division” overlap and interact across the blurred uniforms of this contemporary riot squad.  The young lady, photographed in profile, looks from the extreme left side of the composition to the right, where a depicted image of a helmeted policeman meets her gaze.  The atmosphere is fraught with tension and fear.  What will become of this militant encounter between one female civilian and five male cops?  Dozens and dozens of lines drawn in bright or light hues energize the surface.  The combination of elements feels highly-charged.  Again, we consider existential vulnerability.

Slices of Life, 2014

Bergelt said: “The very fundamental basis for my philosophy is we are all more similar than different.  We are all afraid of death, eager to live, somehow more or less conscious, eager to love, to be loved.”  It is this awareness of universals that brings such potency to her art.

Tatjana Bergelt was born in East Berlin in 1966. Educated in Germany, Estonia, France, and Spain, she now calls Finland her family home. According to her interviews and writing, she considers herself a collage, a product of various cultural elements that intersect and overlap in numerous ways. Bergelt’s work reflects her multinational existence and rigorous training, which has produced a high-caliber of artistic expression.  But it is her provocative subject matter that captures our attention. Quietly powerful and elegantly rendered, Bergelt dares to confront us with our secret anxieties and existential concerns.

Color Theory, 2014


Mrs. Bergelt’s work belongs to many illustrious permanent collections, most notably the New York Public Library, New York; Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, Germany; Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Helsinki City Library, Finland; and Bibliothèque Nationale, Luxemburg.

The exhibition was co-curated by Zoran Budimlija and yours truly.   Please feel free to make an appointment with me to see the exhibition at the Serbian Consulate.  I would be delighted to discuss the work with you. nyarts.exchange@verizon.net

Beth New York
aka  Beth S. Gersh-Nesic
Director

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Back to Basics: An Art History Study Group for YOU!


Paleolithic, Venus of Willendorf, c. 25,000 BC

Are you ready for your own art history study group?  Join us for in-person, focused discussions with experienced art-lovers, just like you.

Our goal is to dig deeper into art by studying specific examples in a textbook and in New York museum collections.  The textbook provides basic information and an organized path for our explorations.  Weekly discussion groups give us a place to share our ideas.  This blog will keep a record of our progress and provide some supplementary material. Written lectures, diagrams and charts will be sent only to enrolled members of the study group.

Please bring your knowledge, intuition and sense of humor.

Syllabus for the Summer Series:
June 30 - Prehistoric and Mesopotamian
July   7 - Egyptian
July 14 - Ancient Greek
July 21 - Ancient Roman
July 28 - Ancient Jewish Art at the Jewish Museum

Instructor: Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, director, New York Arts Exchange
Textbook: Art: A Brief History by Marilyn Stokstad (2006)
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art cafeteria (except July 28 at the JM)
Day: Mondays
Time: 1 - 3 pm

Fee: $250 for the summer series of 5 classes; $60 a la carte

To enroll, please contact Beth at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net,

We hope you will join us for a spirited study of the world's greatest masterpieces.
NB: This study group meets on Mondays; the tours will continue to take place on Wednesdays.


Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Fathers in Art in Honor of Father's Day 2014

Edgar Degas, Place de la Concorde (Vicomte Ludovic Lepic and his daughters), 1875
oil on canvas, The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg


oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, NY


Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Ugolino and his Sons, 1865-67
marble, Metropolitan Museum of Art


Hellenistic, Laocoön and His Sons, 27 BC-67 AD
marble, Vatican Museum, Vatican City


oil on canvas, Musée Marmottan Monet



Paul Cézanne, The Artist's Father Reading “LÉvénement, 1866
oil on canvas, National Gallery, Washington, DC




 Norman Rockwell, Father and Son: Homework, 1962
Four Seasons Calendar, oil on canvas, 
Collection of George Lucas, © Brown and Bigelow


Max Ferguson, Father on Fifth Avenue, 2011
oil on panel, Courtesy of Max Ferguson



Best wishes to fathers, grandfathers, god-fathers and uncles everywhere - (Click on the titles for more information about the works.)

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange


Monday, June 9, 2014

This Week: Museum Mile on June 10 and LIGHT³ at Fridman Gallery opening June 12



Tuesday, June 10 from 6 - 9 pm, Museum Mile Festival 2014.  Manhattan puts on one of its biggest and best block parties on Fifth Avenue, from 82nd Street to 103rd Street (Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Museum of the City of New York).  Free admission to exhibitions, musical performances and much, much more.   Please look for the map and schedule of events on the Museum Mile Festival website.





Stephen Dean, Black Ladder, 2013

Thursday, June 12 from 6 - 8 pm: LIGHT³  with artists Stephen Dean, Ethan Ryman  and Jan Tichy.  Curated by Lilly Wei.   June 12 - July 11, 2014  at  Fridman Gallery, 287 Spring Street, NYC



Be there or be square,
Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com