Tag Archives: Lever House

Facade: Richard Wood at the Lever House

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I noticed Richard Wood’s new work being put up at the Lever House the other night. The artist is covering parts of the exterior with patterned fiberglass panels. The British artist designed William Morris-inspired natural patterns and mock Tudor styles in saturated colors to liven up the facade of the once-sleek, Modernist structure.

Prior to this installation, the Lever House had commissioned Barbara Kruger to cover the walls with her typically graphic slogans. Here we have another design-oriented, saturated, flat approach to taking over the building by covering it in the respective artist’s trademark style. It is as if different artists each have their chance to tag the building. Except of course, this is hardly illicit behavior. It is instead commissioned, no doubt for a pretty sum, authorized, and displayed like the status mark it is.

Installation by day- mostly complete

While Kruger’s installation got some flack on this blog, at least it said something. A trite, literal something–but it attempted a statement. Wood’s installation has no such purpose. It is a design–patterns I would buy an H+M skirt or IKEA tiles in quite happily. I think it is attractive. I cannot think of something more devoid of content.
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The interest is supposed to lie in playing historical styles against one another. The title of this project, Port Sunlight, is a reference to the history of the building just as his designs refer to the history of architecture. I don’t know–do you think that there is anything more to be said about it? If so, you can check out this press release with more details on it.
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Barbara Kruger at the Lever House

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This is what I saw coming to work this morning. The Lever House has a series of rotating contemporary art exhibitions in the glass ground floor lobby and they switched out a Tara Donovan piece for this. The glass is covered in bold white on black slogans. “Believe” seemed a little much for me, especially before I’d had my tea.
Courtyard with Tom Sach’s Hello Kitty figures.

Another Dollar, Another Day entrance.

But then I got sucked into the lobby. The slogans crowding the walls weren’t saccharine exhortations after all, as I realized when I saw the doors. “Another Dollar, Another Day” and “If it screams, shove it” are good examples of that. I’m guessing this is Barbara Kruger‘s work, although the Lever House website doesn’t say as much yet.

Especially inside the lobby, the slogans are overwhelming. They cover every surface, transforming the space. Midtown Manhattan is certainly a big enough target for Krugar’s commentary and, unlike some other exhibition at the Lever House, Midtown won’t be able to ignore it. I certainly couldn’t.

“Another Life, Another Love” doorway.

Ravels in Review Memorial Day Weekend

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Ubi Roi, Hernan Bas at Lehmann Maupin

Yes, it has been a week already, and luckily things have calmed down since the fire on my block last week. In fact, they have slowed to a crawl, which is about the pace my sinuses can handle right now.

  • Despite the fog in my brain, or perhaps because of, I tried to explain the greatness of Erasmus based on the fact he named himself ‘Desire Desire.’ He did some other things too.
  • I questioned whether Francis Bacon could qualify as the greatest painter of the 20th twentieth, and got at least a few votes for greatness, if not greatest painter ever. I’m hanging out on a limb until I see the retrospective up at the Met now.
  • The oldest sculpture ever was discovered, and there is some very scientific discussion about how sex-obsessed early humans were.

All in all, a good week. Some things to look forward to in the art world, like Francis Bacon at the Met and promising-sounding Hernan Bas exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and Lehmann Maupin, and a long Memorial Day weekend ahead.

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