{"id":2241,"date":"2021-11-26T16:49:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T09:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vygallery.com\/?p=2241"},"modified":"2021-11-23T17:43:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T10:43:17","slug":"8-standouts-at-the-2021-new-museum-triennial-poetic-resistance-barely-there-beings-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vygallery.com\/en\/8-standouts-at-the-2021-new-museum-triennial-poetic-resistance-barely-there-beings-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Standouts at the 2021 New Museum Triennial: Poetic Resistance, Barely-There Beings, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nInstallation view of the 2021 New Museum Triennial, featuring works by Evgeny Antufiev, Hera B\u00fcy\u00fckta\u015f\u00e7\u0131yan, and Jeneen Frei Njootli.<\/span>ALEX GREENBERGER FOR ARTNEWS<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The biennial circuit was dealt a blow by the pandemic, which made it nearly impossible to mount enormous editions of recurring showings of contemporary art amid restrictions of all kinds. But art lovers in the U.S. can take pleasure this month in the return of three such notable exhibitions: the Prospect New Orleans triennial in Louisiana, the Greater New York quinquennial at MoMA PS1, and, now, the New Museum Triennial, which opens in New York this Thursday.<\/p>\n

Organized by New Museum curator Margot Norton and Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles senior curator\u00a0Jamillah James, the show is focused on forms of resistance\u2014an apt theme during these trying times. Don\u2019t come expecting to see art meditating on lockdown, the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer, or debates over recent conflicts, however. The sleek art on view here may obliquely allude to pressing issues associated with race, gender, and sexuality, and it may even broach painful histories of colonialism in the process, but these works are rarely upfront about their concerns. In this refreshing exhibition, the artists included largely opt for a sleek aesthetic in which politics are embedded rather than exposed.<\/p>\n

Painting is (mostly) out, and a piquantly odd kind of sculpture is in. Surrealism is born anew in works making use of ready-made everyday objects, and industrial materials often share space with natural ones. Science-fictional futures exist in the present, and fine-art and craft techniques are made indivisible. There\u2019s a lot going on in the minds of the 40 artists with work on view, some of whom are getting their first showcases in New York, but rarely ever can it be said that their art feels anything less than highly composed. Norton and James\u2019s exhibition meets the chaos of the moment with stoicism and serenity.<\/p>\n

Below, a look at eight standout artists in their show.<\/p>\n

Gabriela Mureb<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Gabriela Mureb,\u00a0Machine #4: stone (ground)<\/em>, 2017.<\/div>\n

Photo<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>Alex Greenberger for ARTnews<\/span><\/p>\n

In a show that goes heavy on large sculpture, a tiny work made of just an engine, a stone, and some aluminum proves strangely exciting. That sculpture by Gabriela Mureb, titled\u00a0Machine #4: stone (ground)<\/em>, 2017, contains a seemingly simple premise\u2014a stone being repeatedly prodded by a mechanical rod\u2014that speaks well to the curators\u2019 interest in perseverance. The work draws its inspiration from a Brazilian proverb\u2014\u201cSoft water on hard stone, hits until it bores a hole\u201d\u2014that also lends this triennial its title. Watch as the stone is poked over and over again by this machine, and notice how this slab tips over a little and then sets itself right back in place. Mureb has crafted a powerful metaphor for resistance in the face of forces beyond our control.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iris Touliatou<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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