The exhibition, Landscapes in Passing, presents the work of three artists, Steve Fitch, Robbert Flick and Elaine Mayes and their representation of the American landscape. Using different approaches with their photography, all of the works explore the impact of expanding civilization on the natural world. In contrast to 19^th century artists who mainly focused on the views of the unspoiled wilderness, Fitch, Flick and Mayes openly acknowledge the human presence in their photographs which encourages the audience to think of the changing landscape and our impact on it.

The artworks in the installation were selected by curator Lisa Hostetler and she hopes this exhibit will challenge the conventional way of seeing America. It is no longer the 19^th century portrayal of the pure untouched wilderness, but in portraits of things like flashing motel signs sitting against the backdrop of mountain ranges. The photographs in this exhibition will challenge and update the traditional calm portrayal of the American landscape from the 19^th century.

One of the three artists, Elaine Mayes, is a well accomplished photographer and photography educator who has influenced generations of photographers. Mayes has taught both photography and film in the University of Minnesota, Hampshire College and others.

The earliest series in the exhibition, Elaine Mayes’ Autolandscapes (1971), captures the view from a car window every time the landscape changed from California to Massachusetts. She wanted to capture her moving through space and the changes of landscape from urban to rural to somewhere in between and capture a constantly moving and changing America.

In Autolandscape, Colorado (1971), the shadow of Elaine Mayes’ car echoes the curvature of a hill in the distance. Image courtesy of American Art Museum

The second artist, Fitch, captures the typical sights and attractions that define roadside America. From his series Diesels and Dinosaurs (1976), his images focus exclusively on the American West and were taken in Los Angeles in 1980 as he traversed the streets. The photographs show a collision between the prehistoric and the modern, the mythic and the mass-produced: A kitschy dinosaur looming over a gas station.

Steve Fitch’s Gas station, Highway 40, Jensen, Utah (1971) depicts the American West as an eclectic, alien environment. Image courtesy of American Art Museum

In Robbert Flick’s Sequential Views (1980), Flick takes photos of particular geographic or temporal intervals. For example, Flick would look one way, take a picture, look the opposite way, take a picture, moved forward, took a picture and so on.

While all three artists share “everyday America” as their subject, their styles and techniques are unique, reflecting their own personal experience as they encounter the American landscape. Mayes focused on changing scenery on the interstate highway, Fitch on the culture of roadside attractions and Flick on the segmented way we experience a city. The exhibit shows how each individual artist observes reality and what they have to say about it. Curator Hostetler said she hopes the exhibit will make people more conscious of how they move through the world and what they are missing as they pass it. The exhibit is opened now till 23 February 2014 at the American Art museum.

You have probably seen the sculpture or painting that forms the shape of the word “LOVE” all around the world and it is by none other than Robert Indiana, one of the main protagonists of the Pop Art movement. This year, the exhibition Robert Indiana: Beyond Love at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NY presents an overview of the work of the American artist.

Born in 1928, Robert Indiana has been one of the preeminent figures in American art, mainly assemblage art, hard-edge painting and pop art since the 1960s. Most of his works explores the American identity, personal history and power of abstraction and language. While most painters have yet to challenge the boundary between fine art and commercial advertising, Indiana provides straightforward American signs and fashions visual mantras from such short and blunt works like “EAT”, “DIE” and “ERR.”

60 × 50 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC / Art Resource, NY. ©2013 Morgan Art Foundation, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Joyless connoisseurs, critics, collectors and dealers could possibly forgive the melee of fashion designers, carmakers, watchmakers and reality TV shows that flock to Miami during Art Basel every December: all of this hoopla might actually hold a nugget of useful cultural education or insight. But when a man who calls himself ‘Yeezus’ attempts to fill the role of architecture critic alongside Jacques Herzog (one half of the Pritzker Prize-winning firm Herzog & de Meuron) and über-curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, its fair to admit that flamboyance has spilled over into pure celebrity posturing.

Hosted by Surface Magazine at the Moore Building (wedged between the Wynwood Arts District and the Miami Design District), Design Dialogues paired rapper-producer-fashion designer Kanye West with architect Herzog and moderator Obrist (Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes/Director of International Projects at London’s Serpentine Gallery). This was the sixth talk in a series that has previously featured architectural talents such as Ian Schrager, Enrique Norten, Piero Lissoni and Giulio Cappellini. Even judging by the existing transcript of the discussion, West appeared out of his depth next to Herzog, a visiting Professor of architecture at the Harvard School of Design (since 1994) and ETH Zürich (since 1999). While Herzog focused on questions of architecture addressing civil needs and cultural history, West simply circled back to his own tastes and his music-making.

Design aesthetics and core principles soon turned into an interview, with Herzog searching for some kind of straightforward or sincere answer from West regarding his musical style, technique and/or process. If West redeemed himself, it might have been in reference to his purchase of a Le Corbusier lamp, which he admitted was well beyond his typical price range or buying impulse. Herzog seemed to remain infinitely patient and complimentary, going as far as to suggest collaborating with West in the future. While the pace appeared steady and well-steered by Obrist, it was strikingly clear that West injected his opinions for no greater purpose other than to boost his profile amongst the contemporary art and design ilk.

What might have been a constructive, informative session on the future of architecture and/or its inextricable relationship to the way we view art (be it made with or without purpose) spiraled into another needless photo-op. There were plenty of paparazzo to catch West offstage with fiancé Kim Kardashian, but precious few (in fact, none) could actually iterate what the dialogue had produced or achieved. Talks of this nature are greatly anticipated by those seeking to take away something elevated. West was on the right path in discussing his own artistic influences and background, but could only register excitement when complaining about the content of the Tumblr accounts of young people, today. In the end, all the spectators received was a shove backward from West’s security detail and a firsthand look at a musician masquerading as an academic. 

Kayne West