Hans and Martha Lachmann

A recent visit to Te Papa brought us back in touch with a few of the paintings gifted by Hans and Martha Lachmann to the national collection. The Lachmanns, like so many of the people who helped to create Wellington’s post war culture, came to New Zealand to escape Nazi persecution. They were deeply committed to music and art and for years there were very few exhibition openings in Wellington that did not have Martha and Hans attending. Although they were both physically small people, they exuded a big presence. These photos were taken in 1995 and as you can see, paintings covered most of the wall space at the Lachmann house. It is interesting how this kind of hanging is unacceptable in a public space but can be so evocative in a domestic context. The Lachmann’s collection was also the story of another Wellington cultural phenomenon, the Peter McLeavey gallery where many of the works in these images were purchased.

Multiples (again)

The release of George Hickenlooper’s feature film Factory Girl set us thinking about actors who have portrayed Andy Warhol. Factory Girl tells the story of the briefly fabulous but sadly short life of Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick and Guy Pearse stars as Warhol. In Oliver Stone’s 1991 bio pic The Doors, about the briefly fabulous but sadly short life of Jim Morrison, the part of Warhol is played by Crispin Hellion Glover. Then there is I shot Andy Warhol directed by Mary Harron in 1996 in which Jared Harris plays the part of the punctured painter. Warhol was also famously portrayed by David Bowie in Julian Schnabel’s 1996 bio pic of the briefly fabulous but sadly short life of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Note too, that Bowie’s 1971 album Hunky Dory has the rarely quoted chorus line: “Andy Warhol looks a scream / Hang him on my wall / Andy Warhol, silver screen / Can’t tell them apart at all.” Finally, and rather more obscurely, there is Midgette’s 1967 impersonation of Warhol at a University of Rochester lecture. They are all pictured above.
Images: As Andy Warhol, from left to right, Guy Pearse, David Bowie, Jared Harris and as him self, a contemporary portrait of Midgette.

And still the waters rise

From Te Manawa's Alice Hutchinson, a note to explain that The Dominion Post removed crucial context when they quoted her in their story on the 'strenuous fund-raising efforts' of Brett Graham and Rachel Rakena to get their project to the Venice Biennale. Alice had noted that the project was selected by the Biennale director/curator for the collateral exhibitions based on artistic merit over hundreds of international submissions. Now it is going to be very interesting to watch how Creative New Zealand’s handles the funding request for the Venice project. Having backed off selecting a representative themselves, what happens when the private sector does the job for them and turns up at the door looking for partnership support?

Found - Garth Cartwright

For those who were there, Garth Cartwright will always be the Clairmont groupie who was punched by art writer Francis Pound in Wellington. From memory, Peter McLeavey was on the spot, so he’s probably the best person to ask if you need details (don’t bother Francis with it). Garth, reaching for the third person, has described the time in his biographical notes. “Initially beginning with scribbles on Auckland punk and reggae bands as a teenager in the early 1980s, Garth developed into one of New Zealand’s most outspoken writers on visual arts, music, sport and all things multicultural.” He also mentions that, “Garth…trained as a boxer ('I sparred with David Tua who went on to unsuccessfully challenge Lennox Lewis for the heavyweight title.)” Certainly, no one at the time thought it was a fair fight.

Since leaving New Zealand in 1986 he has been a working music journalist based in London. His book Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Gypsy Musicians was published in 2005 and, to bring things right up to date, he wrote an article for the Listener a couple of weeks ago. Garth “lives alone in a Peckham council flat. He has no wife, no car, no pets, no children.” You can read a fuller account of his life and times here.

Bill

W.D. is probably already on to this, but with bird flu hovering, the rest of us should also take note. This Hammond-like image is of a seventeenth century plague doctor. The bird-bill mask was designed for protection, with herbs stuffed in to filter the air and crystal eyes. Looks like it wasn’t just Buller they were watching out for.

Team spirit

“Te Manawa curator Alice Hutchinson said it was the first time that New Zealand had been admitted to the biennale based on artistic merit alone.”
Alice Hutchison, Team Leader Art at Te Manawa, evidently referring to Peter Robinson, Jacqueline Fraser, Michael Stevenson and et al. in the Dominion Evening Post’s story on the Brett Graham project for the Venice Biennale, Artists scramble to find funds for biennale - 5 March 07

Ooky Spooky

Over at stimulusresponse is a review of Gordon Crook's show, Inhabiting the Circle, at the Mary Newton gallery in Wellington. The review takes the form a ultra-short stories based on the story of Maitreya.

Blur

The London and Zurich dealer gallery Haunch of Venison has been purchased by Christies, the auction house. Haunch of Vension's roster includes personal favourites Jorge Pardo, Barry La Va and M/M (Paris) showcased on the snazzy site. This acquisition seems interesting to us not just as another blow in Christie's slugfest with Sotheby's but as an example of blur. This worldwide phenomenon describes how very different businesses and organisations are crossing traditional boundaries in an effort to get a stronger grip on their markets. With H of V, Christies leaps into the world of dealer galleries. Here in New Zealand Webb’s already have a gallery and upcoming new auction house Art + Object also plans its own gallery space. Blur offers more than expanded function. Art fairs and dealers aspire to the mana of the art museum with soaring spaces, full-scale catalogs and work that is curated in for context, not for sale. Private collectors are into the game too opening their own museums, publishing their own catalogs, holding their own events and generally muscling in on the public programs mandate of art institutions. The Rubell Family Collection in Miami is a prime example. What makes blur so interesting is that it seeps in all direction. Design stores are blurring with museums through their exquisite displays (we've heard that Moss in Soho repaints the walls Every Night!), curatorial eye and informative labels. Fashion stores are blurring with dealers (Louis Vuitton opened the art gallery of its flagship store in Paris with Vanessa Beecroft and although the current show is about the Louis Vuitton Cup, it still nods to the museum model with a curator (Bruno Trouble) and a scenographer (Alain Batifoulier)). Is blur a benefit? That’s a yes, when it comes up with new ideas and expands, and no when it limits what’s already there. Take the way so many public art museums are blurring into halls for hire. Maybe this is why installation art, sculpture and anything that takes up floor space is being pushed out in some of our museums in favor of glazed paintings and photographs that don’t get in the way.
Image: Table tennis ball in flight after being put over the net by Nicolas Jasmim

Monday is washing day

Why didn’t anyone tell us that washing powders have bleach that slowly turns our black clothes grey? Fortunately, Reflect a specialty black wash has been formulated for “your black and dark garments”. And no, you don’t have to pour black gloop into your washing machine, it’s a clear liquid. Reflect is available at your local supermarket and, if you want more detail, has a free information hotline at 0800 287 766. (Thanks N)

28 days

For those with RSI or broken scroll bars here is our pick from last month’s postings. In February we: worked out the current price in gold of Manzoni’s shit; announced the City Gallery’s move into dealer galleryship; broke the Brett Graham to Venice story; found Bruce Robinson; thought that old-brain Len Lye would join in Peter Peryer's protest over the destruction of an historic building in New Plymouth; questioned the takeitorleaveit approach to exhibition display; marvelled at advances in luxury artist accommodation and retired Walters to the vernacular.

They're History

Time moves on. This is the dusty archive for the Found and the Forgotten.
The Found: Anne Kirker, Garth Cartwright, Christopher Johnstone, Andrew Bogle, Bruce Robinson, Ray Castle, Ian Hunter, Barnard McIntyre, Gary Sangster, Cheryl Sotheran, Tim Garrity, Alexa Johnston, Nic Spill, Derek Cowie
The Forgotten: who can remember? 

Copy cats VII and XIII

With this chair on the left, created and guaranteed original by Vickie Davis and called “Hurricane” #48, and the plate on the right, photographed at Iko Iko, we are leaving Gordon Walters copy cats to their own devices and the new vernacular they have created.

Being mean to collectors

“Thanks to the Armory Show, several big art accumulators in town graciously “open their homes” so other Armory-affiliated VIPs can check out their stuff. Here’s the protocol: You show up and wander around their art-filled pad strictly for connoisseurship purposes - sometimes the collectors make themselves available for chitchat and offer coffee, sometimes not—all the while pretending not to notice that what you’re really marvelling at is the money that enables these people to live in their own private kunsthalles. It’s a passive-aggressive display of conspicuous consumption exalted by the noble calling of art patronage. Who could resist? These people are to contemporary art what Imelda Marcos was to shoes.” - Rhonda Lieberman at a collector's open house – Artforum diary.
Image: The shoes, now housed at the Shoe Museum in Marikina, the "Shoe Capital of the Philippines".

Tom toms

We can’t make it to the opening of the Tom Kreisler exhibition at the Govett-Brewster this weekend, but we are in awe of the focus and professionalism in the marketing of Tom’s work, the exhibition and the publication comma dot dogma. The stand alone web site is impressive and includes an easy to use catalogue of works and the beginnings of a sophisticated commercial operation. The catalogue looks pretty comprehensive and has fast access by category and visuals via thumbnails.

This effort is being fronted by Aaron Kreisler, Tom’s son who is curating the Govett-Brewster exhibition. The catalogue for the show is published by Wellington based Umbrella Design who also created the marketing material with the explicit goal “to re-establish the artist and his place in New Zealand Art History” This aim is supported on the Kreisler site, in a statement by Wystan Curnow: “Tom Kreisler is possibly New Zealand’s most under-recognised important painter”, and on the Govett-Brewster web site: “Tom Kreisler has left a legacy of work considered by a number of New Zealand’s foremost art commentators to be amongst the most significant bodies of painting produced in New Zealand over the past 30 years.”

The management of artist estates is not easy and keeping reputations alive even more difficult still. In the revealing book Artists' Estates: Reputations in Trust, edited by Magda Salvesen and Diane Cousineau, the New York Times writer Michael Kimmelman reminds us that “An artist’s posthumous reputation is the result of endless vagaries and sea changes.’ It will be interesting to watch how Tom Kreisler’s reputation shifts with the injection of this new energy.

Tool time

We have just had an amazing book come into the house. Home-made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts, by artist Vladimir Arkhipov displays the highlights of his collection of over 1000 functional objects made in the Soviet Union. As the regime slowly collapsed from the 1980s, access to manufactured goods became difficult and people improvised. Arkhipov calls his project “The People’s Museum of Home-Made Objects.” Each image is accompanied by a short description by the owners of the object, how it was made and how it is used. We were talking to John Parker (the ceramic artist and theatre designer) about this wonderful project and its connections with an exhibition we all worked on in 1990 for the then Crafts Council called Mau Mahara. Some of the objects selected by John and co-curators Cliff Whiting and Justine Olsen might have found a place in Arkhipov’s collection. John then produced the two tools in the top image. One is a soldering iron made by his grandfather and other a tool John contrived to incise deep pots. The three images below are from Home-made. From the left Vasilii Arhipov’s axe, Evgenii Vasilev’s bath plug and Andrei Smirnov’s kitchen safe.