Highlight Gallery in San Francisco will open Belgian artist Renato Nicolodi’s first solo exhibition in the United States next week. The dark, bold and colossal architectonic sculptures all build around the theme of Libido Moriendi, a Latin phrase that, like Nicolodi’s work, is situated between classical and modern paradigms; it is the noble “death wish” of the Stoic philosophers and the Freudian counterpart to the libido, the “death drive.” In Nicolodi’s architectonic sculptures, libido moriendi is not explicit, but intertwined with another Freudian concept, Das Unheimliche, or the uncanny.
Highlight Gallery, 3043 Clay St., San Francisco, US — November 4, December 12, 2011.

With our little trip to Napoli days away we get this little warmup with the opening of Gomorrah Girl by Valerio Spada at Flatland Gallery, Utrecht. The impressive series of pictures, published in the awarded book ‘Gomorrah Girl’ (and already sold out), became the traveling exhibition which will now take place in Utrecht. ”Gomorrah Girl’ is almost a documentary about adolescence, choices and chances in a land of Camorrah. On March 27 2004, Annalisa Durante, a young woman of 14 years was caught in the crossfire of violence in the land of Camorrah. ‘Gomorrah Girl’ shows the difficulties of growing up as a young girl in a dangerous and criminal area. At age 9 they make themselves up as TV personalities and dream of becoming one of them. At age 13 or 14 they often become mothers, skipping the adolescence which is lived fully everywhere else in Italy. This photographic journey by Valerio Spada starts from Annalisa’s father, Giovanni Durante, who still works in the same store in Forcella. Since that day he brings breakfast with milk at 9 every morning to his daughter’s grave. Annalisa was buried along with her cell phone, which was her father’s wish, since she used to call him five times per day, every day.’
Be sure to visit Gomorrah Girl at Flatland Gallery — from 27 October till 27 November 2011.

I love studio’s, ateliers, factories, places where things are being made, crafted and created. Like Todd Selby showed us the homes-, and Paul Barbera the workshops of the creative class in photography, so did Charles Matton in miniature versions of famous artists’ studios, including Freud’s, Giacometti’s and Bacon’s, giving us a close look behind the scenes of these masters. Along with these the miniature spaces represent real world interiors and revisited memories from Matton’s own life.
The artist also fabricated interiors from his imagination, intended to recreate cherished sensations, such as the loneliness felt in an abandoned hotel corridor or the intimacy of a forgotten and disused library. All made from cast and carved resin, wood, paper, plaster and glass, meticulously accurate and about 1/7th of their original size. A must visit when you’re around in London!
Charles Matton — Enclosures at All Visual Arts, 2 Omega Place, London, UK from the 9th of September till the 7th of October 2011.

A few days ago Danish brand Won Hundred opened an exhibition showing this years new Autumn and Winter collection at the Outside World Gallery in London. In a specially curated selection of images by British photographer James Pfaff the exhibition breaks free from the traditional ‘Lookbook’ to  a unique insight into the collections inspiration – ‘Living a clean life under difficult circumstances’.

Next month Galerie Gabriel Rolt will host a new show by Ryan McGinley – Somewhere Place. It will be his second solo exhibition in the Netherlands (the first one was at Foam). ‘McGinley’s elaborate and rigorous process of photo-making creates moments of breathtaking beauty: naked feral kids poised in ecstatic abandon. The lack of clothing and other contemporary signifiers along with the archetypical landscapes give the photos a sense of timelessness in which the viewer can project his or her own story.’ Can’t wait to see it!

Ryan McGinley – Somewhere Place: 9 April – 14 May 2011 at Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Elandsgracht 34, Amsterdam. Open from Wednesday to Saturday 12.00 – 18.00.

Spring Projects will host a show with these fantastic new works by Hussein Chalayan. The work by Chalayan, called Anaesthetics, is an ‘almost hijab-shaped white cotton veil over a traditional Japanese Geisha’s wig, placed within a minimalist white box creates an unsettling ambience where a combination of cultural displacement and collision takes place.’ Simply beautiful!
Other artists exhibiting at Spring Projects during this ‘Loaded’ show are Nienke Klunder, El Ultimo Grito, Jamie Hayon, Studio Makkink & Bey and Karen Ryan.
Loaded at Spirng Projects will run from the 14th February until the 8th April 2011.

Dutch born and New York based photographer Martien Mulder will open her new solo exhibition at Kahmann Gallery in Amsterdam today. The exhibition is called “From Blue To Blue” and includes highlights of 10 years of personal work. ‘Martien Mulder’s photographs reflect her travels, her movements and her life. Her images are a search for the calm, uncluttered beauty she finds in her personal surroundings.’ A special edition, accompanied by the signed and numbered book “One View At A Time”, will be available during the show. Worth a visit @ Kahmann Gallery, Lindengracht 35 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Above Tom Browne by Martien Mulder.

New York based artist Eric White just finished a 16 food wide reinterpretation of Bruegel’s Massacre of the Innocents. On view since yesterday at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, NY, together with work by Nicola Verlato and Fulvio Di Piazza.
Above: Massacre of the Innocents (detail) oil on canvas, 2010 by Eric White at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, 529 West 20th Street 9th Floor, New York NY 10010 — April 10 / May 8, 2010

If you’re in Amsterdam be sure you’ll visit Galerie Alex Daniels/Reflex between april 10 and june 15 were Andrew Moore will show 15 of his large scale photographs of abandoned places and collapsing infrastructure.

“Colour is the first thing that imbeds itself in the viewer. It sets the emotional key to the picture. It creates a unifying overall mood – and I establish that right through the beginning.” — Andrew Moore

“We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes,” was the motto adopted by the city of Detroit, after it was ravaged by the great fire of 1805. American photographer Andrew Moore distils the spirit of this message in his haunting large-scale images of decay and renewal. From Cuba to Russia to Detroit, Moore seeks out disused, wrecked buildings and captures the moment that nature stakes her claim on their ravaged grandeur.

Over the past 30 years, Moore has travelled for months at a time to track down these secret places that are often the sad consequences modernisation or political turmoil. His guerrilla approach has at times required the help of young, urban explorers, as well as cagey real-estate agents and business people.
Moore’s embraces complexity in his work. “The images have multiple narrative threads, whether they be cultural, historical, or pictorial. I leave it up to the viewer to pick up on a few of these clues. There is always something to follow and latch on to.”
Part of this complexity is due to the rich combination of artistic influences that inform his photographic style: he cites a broad range of inspiration from Walker Evans to the masters of American 19th-century painting.

Galerie Alex Daniels – Reflex Amsterdam
Andrew Moore, Photography
April 10 – 15 June 7 2010
Opening Saturday, April 10 from 17 – 19 h
A book and a special limited edition of 2 original colour prints will be presented at the show.

My favorite artist Adam Stennett made a new painting for the exhibition curated by Marc Straus which opened yesterday at Ana Cristea, 521 W 26th Street, NYC. Above his new work Soothing Syrup with two Poppies… Other artists in the exhibition are Marc Bijl, Zsolt Bodoni, Michael Brown, Joe Diebes, Tim Eitel, Daniel Pitin, Serban Savu, Andrew Sendor and Richard Wathen.

Lovely new work (video and paper) by my favorite artist Adam Stennet at Schuebbe Projects in Düsseldorf.

Soon at Brooklyn based gallery Like the Spice, the second solo show by Eric LoPresti – Fade. ‘The works in Fade are predominated by the soft colors of the desert steppe – grays, ochres, pinks and dark blues. In contrast, the imagery is dramatic in scope and subject, including vast aerial views of fractured desert landscapes, nuclear test sites in Nevada, and explosions from undisclosed arid locations, many of which are based on photographs LoPresti took himself from the windows of chartered planes.’
Opens Friday September 11, Like the Spice Gallery — Sept 11 – Oct 5