Hauser & Wirth at Frieze New York 2014

ON THE FABRIC OF

THE

HUMAN BODY FRIEZE NEW YORK: BOOTH B7

ORGANIZED BY GIANNI JETZER

R I TA

AC K E R M A N N

LO U I S E

I S A

PAU L

B O U RG E OI S

G E N Z K E N

McC A RT H Y

FRIEZE NEW YORK: BOOTH B7

Attempting to achieve the most lifelike portrayal of the human figure, Renaissance artists of the 15th and 16th centuries became self-taught anatomists by necessity. Later, in the 17th century, anatomy lessons became organized events, held in lecture rooms that ser ved as theaters for the students who assembled for demonstrations. The general public, transfixed by the wonders and terrors of the body, were permitted to attend upon payment of an entrance fee.

Centuries later, artists continue their avid exploration of the corpus. This exhibition — On the Fabric of the Human Body — has been organized to focus upon the ways in which Rita Ackermann, Louise Bourgeois, Isa Genzken, and Paul McCarthy have expressed their affinity for the human body in works of astonishing feeling. While artists in the past quested for accurate, literal depictions of bones, tendons, veins, and organs, the body in contemporary art is freed from such scientific implication. It is instead an open field for artistic interpretation, having radically overcome the distinction of René Descartes, for whom the ideas of mind and body represent two opposing natures that are rigidly dissimilar from one another. In the work of these artists, the body is artistically reinvented, transformed into anecdotal evidence; it is an independent, thought producing “thing,” a fiction in its own right.

The heart consists of chambers and valves. Venous blood is pumped into the lungs, while oxygen-rich arterial blood is sent to the brain. In anatomical renderings red and blue are commonly used to show this circulatory flow.

The two colors form a strong antithetical relationship that bears the weight of innumerous connotations. The spatial organization of On the Fabric of the Human Body mimics the heart’s chambers organized by colors; it sets up the hollow, muscular organ as an inhabited theater-like stage, enlivened by a plot, props, and actors.

Welcoming passersby, Isa Genzken’s mannequins are humanoids devoid of flesh and blood. Draped in a blue cape, the sitting figure Untitled (2012), is frozen in time. Often dressed in Genzken’s previously worn clothes, her mannequins replicate life-size anatomical depictions of the human body that, nevertheless, uncannily draw attention to its absent fleshy form.

Louise Bourgeois’s late gouache paintings illustrate her preoccupation with the relationships of family, with coupling, pregnancy, and child rearing. In works such as The Family (2008) figures are depic ted with pendulous breasts, swollen stomachs, the red color bleeding out of their bodies.

Their emphatically sexual charac teristics are reminiscent of sculptures Bourgeois made in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which the human body was reduced to a limbless form — a woman por trayed only by her belly, breasts, and neck.

Paul McCar thy’s debased and dir tied photographic subjec ts possess a unique histor y; they began as props in his early per formances. In the 1990s, McCar thy individually photographed each of these prop-objec ts, creating PROPO, a collec tion of documentation-st yle images that ser ve as a record of the ar tist ’s dark humor and subversive social critique. In Candle Erec tion 1991 (2012), the remains of a bir thday celebration are displayed erec t and aroused. Two new paintings by McCar thy fur ther radicalize the ar t historical tradition of the beheaded figure. The Head O f W.S. and The Head O f W.P. (both 2014) evocate transgressions of domestic violence rather than a fall from grace.

In Rita Ackermann’s seminal work World War III Around My Skull (1996 – 1997), venous and ar terial bloods erupt in a sanguine palet te across the canvas. Vigorously executed in ballpoint pen, a spec trum of chromatic reds complement hues of suf focating blues. A collage of images drawn from popular culture are layered over a central hollow figure: dif ferent bunker-like monuments, massive and introver ted; a skull-head; an occlusion with pointed dents recalling graphics of bat tlefields or weather char ts; the melancholic face of a clownish charac ter; and the head of a horse screaming in despair. Engaging rage, chaos, and fear, the work’s intensit y evokes the flut tering palpitations of the human hear t. In the more recent Fire by Days paintings, Ackermann’s bodies are transformed into an immaterial state. Ethereal figures in cool blues or burning reds hover above the canvas like genies released from bot tles.

Gianni Jetzer, 2014

R I TA

FIRE BY DAYS XVI (DETAIL) 2011 Oil, spray paint and acr ylic on unstretched canvas 353.1 x 264.2 cm / 139 x 104 in Š Rita Ackermann Photo: Genevieve Hanson

ACKERMANN

WORLD WAR III AROUND MY SKULL (DETAIL) 1996 – 1997 Acr ylic, ballpoint pen, oil and varnish on linen 137.2 x 132.1 cm / 54 x 52 in © Rita Ackermann Photo: Orcut t & Van Der Put ten

LOUISE

UNTITLED 2005 Fabric and stainless steel 166 x 39 x 39 cm / 65 3/8 x 15 3/8 x 15 3/8 i n Š The Easton Foundation Photo: Christopher Burke

BOURGEOIS

THE FAMILY 2008

Gouache on paper, suite of 36 36.8 x 27.9 cm / 14 ½ x 11 in each © The Easton Foundation Photo: Christopher Burke

ISA

UNTITLED 2012 Mannequin and mixed media 147 x 83 x 99 cm / 57 7/8 x 32 5/8 x 39 i n Š I s a G e n z ke n Photo: Alex Delfanne

GENZKEN

UNTITLED 2012 Mannequin and mixed media 233 x 61 x 76 cm / 91 ¾ x 24 x 29 7/8 in © I s a G e n z ke n Photo: Alex Delfanne

PAU L

CANDLE ERECTION 1991 (2012) Cibachrome on aluminium 183 x 122 cm / 72 x 48 in (unframed) 186.5 x 125 x 4 cm / 73 3/8 x 49 ¼ x 1 5/8 in (framed) © Paul McCar thy

MCCARTHY

TH E H E A D O F W. S. T H E H E A D O F W. P. 2014

Acr ylic and collage on canvas mounted on board, 2 par ts 152 x 152 cm / 59 7/8 x 59 7/8 in, each Š Paul McCar thy Photo: Frederik Nilsen

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FRIEZE NEW YORK 9 – 12 MAY 2014 R A N D A L L’ S I S L A N D PA R K BOOTH B7