International Art Galleries, Post-War to Post-Millennium: A Narrative Chronology of Dealers, Artists and Spaces that have Defined Modern Art

This hefty book aims to explore the phenomenon of more than 75 modern art galleries from the 1940s to the present. The size of the book appears to be intimidating, but curators and critics Kirsty Bell, Adam Szymczyk and Jens Hoffmann have made it accessible and easy to read. The editors, Uta Grosenick and Ramar Stange, also wrote a synopsis introducing the development of significant of art galleries, artists and dealers since the post-war period.

On the whole, this was an ambitious attempt to overview the success and establishment of European and American galleries from the 20th century to the present. Yet, they also miss out on the competitive emergence of 'international art galleries'. Likewise, the editors managed to include only four galleries from non-western countries which are mentioned under a broad and opaque subheading entitled 'The New Millennium: Pure Globalisation'.

Then again, the intention of the book was not about contemporary shifts. Rather, the aim was to revalidate and argue the extent in which Western post-war art galleries have influenced economical and historical value of modern art. The editors also acknowledge art galleries in (once) developing countries, when they first began to renew national and international commercial and critical interests in modern art. This is a standard point. Grosenik and Stange underlines that it is no longer possible to conclude the history of international art galleries based in Europe and America. However, their research on developing stages of 'international art galleries in the post-millennium' appears to be too short, even disinterested. As a result, the book ends up undermining the diversity of contemporary international galleries, artists, spaces and dealers who have contributed to the value of art and the art market which is expanding, variable and unpredictable.

To read the original book review, see, Yujin Min, International Art Galleries: Post-War to Post-Millennium, Contemporary Magazine, no. 81, 2006.

International Art Galleries, Post-War to Post-Millennium: A Narrative Chronology of the Dealers, Artists have Spaces that have Defined Modern Art, edited by Uta Grosenick and Raimar Stange (London: Thames and Hudson), 2005

Banksy:

Wall and Piece

Yujin Min, Bansky: Wall and Piece, Contemporary Magazine, 2006, no.81.

Men Suits by Charles LeDrey

LeDray piled on hundred of suits, shirts, ties, clothing racks and hangers in a setting suggestive of a neglected second hand shop. They had been used, run-down and so sad. These were once worthless and disowned objects, but they are now back with a vengeance, meticulously reproduced in a miniature scale.

It is the size that makes them so eerily delightful and affectionate which the artist recreates and rearranges them with an obsession. In one corner, heaps of shirts and laundry bags have been slouched across jumbled up clothing racks and hangers. On the other section, colourful retro-suits and shirts have been arranged in a manner that suggests fixation. The sculptural mode retains a repetitive feature which include spirals, rows, stacks, stripes and overlaps. Visually, they appear to control the objects, forcing them into this ludicrous space.

The objects share intimacy within a confined space. The body on the other hand is missing. It is the mannequin who wears the suit, who stands alone alongside a small table displaying an assortment of ties. The trait of absence suggests something about loneliness. But LeDray comes from a more impersonal approach. As Lingwood has written, his world is carefully constructed, seeking to mediate on appearance, identity and the inevitable social and economic cycle of use, exchange and value.

Men Suits was curated by Art Angel, 11 July-20 September 2009, The Fire Station Chiltern St, London