ONE OF MY NYC HIGHLIGHTS!

I have just returned from a whirlwind visit to NYC.

Of course while I was there I "had" to visit the Chelsea art scene and I happened (by pure luck) to visit Tony Oursler's latest exhibition at the Metro Pictures Gallery.
519 West 24th Street New York NY 10011 gallery@metropicturesgallery.com


Little did I know how "clever" I was as it was the last day! Here is a link to some of the images. Below is a report about the exhibition and some video, which is probably the best way to view it as most of the works have a motion element (as one would expect from Oursler).

Metro Pictures presents an exhibition of new work by Tony Oursler titled Cell Phones Diagrams Cigarettes Searches and Scratch Cards. On display are a variety of new works that take on technology, obsessive desires, phobias, socially acceptable addiction, and self-help culture.

The largest work is a forest of smouldering cigarettes. Other works are an 8-foot long five-dollar bill with an animated Abe Lincoln, an enormous cell phone spewing disjointed snippets of conversations, and a series of miniature architectural-model tableaux illuminated with projected performers that enact scripted existential dramas. There are also wall pieces that combine video and painting.

Tony Oursler has been a pioneer of new media art since the mid-1970s, known for his video and installation works combining spoken text, moving image and sculptural objects. Tony Oursler (born in 1957) lives and works in New York. He has had numerous project and survey exhibitions in institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London; the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Musée de Jeu de Paume, Paris. He will present a show of new work at the Kunsthaus Bregenz later this year.

REF: http://vernissage.tv/blog/2009/03/04/tony-oursler-cell-phones-diagrams-cigarettes-searches-and-scratch-cards-metro-pictures-new-york/

It is a chance experience like this that makes travel so exciting (and worthwhile)!

I also managed to visit the Jenny Holzer exhibition Protect Protect (that I mentioned earlier) stay tuned for a full report!
KP:)