Whitewaller is in Aspen, Colorado this week, giving you the best of the mountain town during the 15th iteration of Aspen Art Museum’s (AAM) annual ArtCrush fundraiser. While you’re in town, we recommend making time to visit these shows at Baldwin Gallery, Marianne Boesky, and Casterline Goodman.
Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital
Baldwin Gallery
Now—September 2
Artist Taryn Simon’s “Paperwork and the Will of Capital” was inspired by found photographs of political conference room transactions like official signings of decrees, treaties, and contracts. Simon noticed that each image depicting a conference room full of powerful men included a floral centerpiece, so she recreated the floral arrangements. After working with a botanist to identify each specimen in the original photos, more than 4,000 types of flora were sent to Simon’s studio, where she captured the series of still lives and paired them with their accompanying history, using the images to address the instability of executive decision making and the precarious nature of survival.
Taryn Simon Diamond trade agreement between DeBeers and Almazy Rossii-Sakha. President Hotel, Moscow, Russia, October 21, 1997, Paperwork and the Will of Capital
2015
Archival inkjet print and text on archival herbarium paper in mahogany frame
85 x 73 1/4 x 2 3/4 in
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery.
Allison Janae Hamilton and ektor garcia: Tricknology
Marianne Boesky Gallery
Now—September 9
“Tricknology” is an exhibition of works by Allison Janae Hamilton and ektor garcia, named for Brand Nubian’s hip hop song of the same name, curated by artist Sanford Biggers. The show—like the song—highlights the importance of embracing one’s self, narrative, and soul as one, as well as creating a critical look at the narratives that determine our knowledge of history, art, and culture. The featured artists (both of whom have a longstanding relationship with Biggers) each work to create complex, tactile sculptural pieces infused with strong narratives, seen in pieces like garcia’s glazed ceramic, crocheted leather, and copper wire creation ensemble (hedz), and a Hamilton’s series of mixed media works that start with old fencing masks at the base.
Hebru Brantley: Stance
Casterline Goodman
July 29—September 15
Hebru Brantley’s exhibition “Stance” features his iconic cartoon-style characters, which he utilizes to create a distinct, contemporary narrative. Brantley employs a number of lighter, more accessible elements like pop-art motifs and comic book color palettes to help compose works that reveal eerie discoveries one might not expect upon a first glance, while addressing complicated themes including power, hope, nostalgia, and the mental psyche. Brantley’s style draws on the history of mural and graffiti art, as well as Chicago’s Afro Cobra movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and calls on a variety of mediums including oil, acrylic, watercolor and spray paint, and even tea and coffee.
Allison Janae Hamilton Floridawater II
2019
Archival Pigment Print
24 x 36 in
Courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery.
