Art Unlimited
JACK PIERSON
Romance, 2009
Romance was created in 2009 for Jack Pierson's first exhibition at Christian Stein in Milan. At the center of the space the word 'romance' unfolds like the fallen columns of an ancient ruin. The letters are made of iron, studded with scores of light bulbs, and evoke ambiances dear to modern artists: the circus, the venues of night life or perhaps the great gambling palaces of Las Vegas. At first glance amusing, playful, and dreamy, Pierson's work is nonetheless imbued with the melancholy of the sublime, and the very idea that happiness, fortune, and love are short-lived. The word 'romance' has many nuances. It expresses the sentimental and emotional aspects of Romanticism, while at the same time the fleeting intensity of a brief affair, a summer romance. The theme of love – be it platonic Eros, romantic love or unleashed sexuality – takes on a central role in Pierson's work. Love is fragile and implies an end, with ecstasy comes the void
Art Unlimited
HAEGUE YANG
Doubles and Couples – Version Berlin, 2010
Haegue Yang's installation Doubles and Couples – Version Berlin consists of five groups of metal vitrines – each filled with venetian blinds and lighting appa - ratuses. The shape of each individual box is based on the size of the artist's home appliances, and each sculpture is made by pairing two of the abstracted machines. The objects encounter one another in a realm of visual and narrative ambiguity, evoking images of a couple grappling with their fundamental separation as physical beings. Her applied use of the form of household machines derives from her interest in themes such as dedication and commitment as well as her quite literally bifurcated existence, living in both Seoul and Berlin. Yang draws attention to the silent presence of these machines in private and domestic spaces, especially the kitchen, as representing a peaceful battlefield for engaging difficult themes.
Art Unlimited
SUPERFLEX - Flooded McDonalds
Flooded McDonald’s, 2009
In this film, a replica of a McDonald's restaurant gradually floods with water – no customers or staff are present. Slowly, the water level rises until eventually the space becomes completely submerged. Tables and chairs are lifted, glossy French fries float adrift, and a lightweight fiberglass Ronald McDonald bobs up and down on the water surface. The source and the reason of the threat are unseen, but it is certain that there is no escape. Emphasizing this dramatic build-up, Flooded McDonald's makes use of the editing and camerawork of Hollywood disaster movies. The film examines the consequences of consumerism.
Art Unlimited
MARIO MERZ
Pythagoras' Haus, 1994
Mario Merz ranks among the most celebrated Arte Povera artists from Italy, and his works have been shown with the Konrad Fischer Galerie since 1970. Pythagoras' Haus (Pythagoras's House) is a glass and steel construction shaped like an igloo, partly covered with slate and marble plates fixed with clamps and decorated with brushwood and (his ever favorite) Fibonacci numbers in neon. In general, the igloos, which Merz began constructing in 1968 within the context of the student demonstrations in Italy and France, are perhaps the best-known and most typical works within the oeuvre of the artist.
Pythagoras' Haus, 1994
Mario Merz ranks among the most celebrated Arte Povera artists from Italy, and his works have been shown with the Konrad Fischer Galerie since 1970. Pythagoras' Haus (Pythagoras's House) is a glass and steel construction shaped like an igloo, partly covered with slate and marble plates fixed with clamps and decorated with brushwood and (his ever favorite) Fibonacci numbers in neon. In general, the igloos, which Merz began constructing in 1968 within the context of the student demonstrations in Italy and France, are perhaps the best-known and most typical works within the oeuvre of the artist.
Art Unlimited
TIM ROLLINS AND K.O.S.
Animal Farm '92 (after George Orwell), 1992
Animal Farm is a huge painting depicting various international heads of state quite literally as 'heads' on the bodies of animals, like subversive satyrs or monstrous minotaurs. A collaboration between the artist and the Kids of Survival (K.O.S.), a group of young people from troubled backgrounds, the work was created in the South Bronx, where the Tim Rollins's studio is located
Animal Farm '92 (after George Orwell), 1992
Animal Farm is a huge painting depicting various international heads of state quite literally as 'heads' on the bodies of animals, like subversive satyrs or monstrous minotaurs. A collaboration between the artist and the Kids of Survival (K.O.S.), a group of young people from troubled backgrounds, the work was created in the South Bronx, where the Tim Rollins's studio is located
Art Unlimited
ZHANG HUAN
Hero No. 1, 2009
'Living as a child in the Central Plains and Henan Province of China, oxen were common. They populated the villages and even lived in your home. To me, oxhide is closely related to the architecture of nature. After I left China, I felt a strong sense of unfamiliarity, so when I see the hide of an ox now, I feel close to it, and my use of it is constituted from this type of complex emotion. Constructing sculptures out of oxhide involves thousands of possibilities. There is no way to determine what the hides will look like or how the skins will appear once attached to the outer surface, and there are as many possibilities of stitching them as there are for apparel. In the end, the face was sewn with a complex stitch style while the rest of the sculpture received the most basic stitch, and the hides were left untrimmed. In this way I've preserved the essence of the hides while expressing the beauty from my heart. Hero No. 1 is born from the primitive passions that inform our future and expresses our wish for rebirth from deep within us. Everybody is his own hero and a part of the biologic evolution.' (Zhang Huan)
Hero No. 1, 2009
'Living as a child in the Central Plains and Henan Province of China, oxen were common. They populated the villages and even lived in your home. To me, oxhide is closely related to the architecture of nature. After I left China, I felt a strong sense of unfamiliarity, so when I see the hide of an ox now, I feel close to it, and my use of it is constituted from this type of complex emotion. Constructing sculptures out of oxhide involves thousands of possibilities. There is no way to determine what the hides will look like or how the skins will appear once attached to the outer surface, and there are as many possibilities of stitching them as there are for apparel. In the end, the face was sewn with a complex stitch style while the rest of the sculpture received the most basic stitch, and the hides were left untrimmed. In this way I've preserved the essence of the hides while expressing the beauty from my heart. Hero No. 1 is born from the primitive passions that inform our future and expresses our wish for rebirth from deep within us. Everybody is his own hero and a part of the biologic evolution.' (Zhang Huan)
Louis Bourgeouis
(painting) 
(photo of her hands)
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