Anyone who doubted that artistic aptitude ran in the genes should check out Marika Thunder Nuss, the 10-year-old daughter of artist Rita Ackermann who, this spring, might become the youngest person ever to be given her own solo gallery show. “I did that when I was bored,” says Nuss, pointing to a drawing of a small girl plastered with neon spray paint. Luckily she’s bored often, which makes for lots of irreverent magazine collages, sketchy drawings of children and animals, and abstract paintings, which she flings with masking tape, Silly String, and slogans like “DON’T GIVE ME SALAD.” She does what she feels, and it’s this freestyle approach to creating that’s pretty damn endearing to otherwise jaded art folk. Whether Nuss holds onto the paintbrush for a whirlwind career, or puts it down in favor of more standard extracurriculars, for a second she’s reminding us of what art can be when you do it only for yourself. Christopher Bartley
Converse, 2008
“Randomness in the Form of Art” runs February 15–March 14, 2009, at Half Gallery, NYC. www.halfgallery.com
Children’s stories are often overrun with insider jokes and sly winks meant to please parents, while soaring over the heads of their intended audiences. Against this background, third-time author Greg Foley’s new book, Willoughby and the Lion, is a refreshing change of pace. The title character, a bored and lonely young boy, encounters a magical lion trapped on a boulder. The lion grants him ten wishes, with the caveat that only by asking for the “most wonderful thing” can he free the feline from his rocky imprisonment. As befits an author who is also creative director for Visionaire and this magazine, the book is visually stunning, a series of collages and illustrations printed using a mix of black and metallic gold ink. That the lion is ultimately released is a given, but, as in all good tales, the lessons about life and friendship remain. Jonathan Shia
Willoughby and the Lion is out in February 2009 from the Bowen Press
In her studies of gorillas in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, American zoologist Dian Fossey challenged the notion of primates as savage beasts. Video artist Diana Thater picks up where Fossey left off with her latest show at Kunsthaus Graz. Thater’s 35 mm floor-to-ceiling projection, gorillagorillagorilla, fills the gallery’s space with footage of the peace-loving animals frolicking amid the flora and fauna. Thater, whose work previously focused on species as diverse as zebras, honeybees, and chess players, has become a master of questioning accepted truths. With her camera aimed at the jungle, she blows any remaining ape stereotypes to smithereens. Simon Castets
Still from gorillagorillagorilla, 2008
“gorillagorillagorilla” runs January 31–May 17, 2009, at Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria. www.kunsthausgraz.at
The Lower East Side might be the next Chelsea in terms of international art hubs, but one gallery is scrapping physical space altogether in favor of the World Wide Web. The newly launched V Gallery on vmagazine.com, curated by Dominic Sidhu, features work by artists such as Seb Patane, Sterling Ruby, and Banks Violette, and launches this winter with a collaboration between the artist Marlene McCarty and Rodarte. Known for her billboard-sized drawings of humans morphing into primates and vice versa, McCarty has taken inspiration in the dangerous looks of the sisterly design duo, sketching Anja Rubik as a visual essay in four parts. Here she shows the Polish supermodel as man and beast, dressed and undressed, existing as pre- and post-human at the same time.
(Progression) No. 4, 2008
Louis XIV, France’s infamous Sun King, assumed control of the throne at age 24, which meant that legendary Italian director Roberto Rossellini had plenty of material to work with for his stunning 1966 costume drama, The Taking of Power by Louis XIV. Rossellini, whose neorealist postwar films served as influence to the French New Wave, dipped back into that country’s cultural history and came up with plenty of brocade tapestries, pleated collars, and mile-high wigs. What was surely one costume designer’s nightmare is a million costume designers’ dream, as Rossellini turns his unwavering, meticulous eye to everyday Kingly activities, like lavish dinners in the royal court and the construction of Versailles. Christopher Bartley
Pretty paintings of fat little sparrows, garden-variety flowers, moon phases, and other everyday marvels are rarities in art galleries. But New York artist Ann Craven adds muscle to her gentle subjects by loading her canvases so thickly with paint that they often turn out looking almost aggressively sugary, as witnessed in a new monograph out this month from JRP Ringier. By frequently repeating the same images, as in a series of fifteen identical deer paintings, or in another show consisting of previous paintings of the moon done in a slightly different scale, Craven proves that the shock of the new can become boring in comparison to the comfort and pleasure of what’s tried and true—and performed exquisitely. Ana Finel Honigman
From left: Farrah Fawcett Bird and Red; both 2006
“Marlene McCarty: Absorption / Reflection / Inversion / Progression” is currently showing on vmagazine.com
The Taking of Power by Louis XIV is out in January 2009 from the Criterion Collection
Ann Craven: Shadows Moon and Abstract Lies is out in January 2009 from JRP Ringier
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