Matthew Barney at Haus der Kunst, Munich

Matthew Barney's exhibtion River of Fundament will be on view at Haus der Kunst in Munich from March 17 - August 17. The exhibition will contain sculptures, drawings, and other works related to Barney's recently-released six hour film of the same name, based on Norman Mailer's novel Ancient Evenings.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the film will have it's European premier at the Bavarian State Opera on March 16. Tickets are already sold out, but Haus der Kunst has promised to present additional screenings (dates tba).

On Saturday, March 15, Barney will give a talk at the museum with curator Okwui Enwezor; the conversation will be streamed live HERE starting at 6pm Munich time. Haus der Kunst will also be screening the five Cremaster films from June 3-5 and have scheduled other public programs related to the show - see the full schedule HERE

Matthew Barney / Barry X Ball Dual-Dual Portrait in France

Artist Barry X Ball (who showed an earlier portrait of Barney in Cremaster Fanatic's Matthew Barney Show) will be exhibiting a "dual-dual" portrait of himself and Matthew Barney at Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris. The work consists of two busts (one carved from italian portoro marble, the other from portuguese gold marble) impaled on toothpick-shaped metal rods and suspended from the ceiling.

The artist writes, "The composite figures richly embossed, in a manner reminiscent of late-renaissance milanese parade armor, with a cornucopia of silhouetted motifs: abrahamic ecclesiastical symbols, animals, decorative flourishes, and protuberant, warty, half-spheres... differing surface treatments keyed to the corresponding swag-draped corporeal flay strata: a glistening sheen for the splayed entrails, miniature horizontal flutes for the mid-level viscera, and gnarled, ridged, sfumato-esque soft-focus ornamental relief for the epidermis, with eyes, oral features, and the mutilated face gleaming, respectively, with a moist, lachrymal / salivary / mucosal polish, with mannered, attenuated, crown-like cranium-top shatter-burst exit-wounds."

The exhibition will be on view at Galerie Nathalie Obadia from March 17th to May 16th. More photos of the work can be seen at designboom.com

Matthew Barney Schaulager Exhibition Walkthrough

Vernissage TV has published a nice video "walkthrough" of Matthew Barney's Prayer Sheet With The Wound And The Nail exhibition at Schaulager in Basel, Switzerland.

Matthew Barney Exhibition in Brussels Opening March 19

The Brussels branch of Gladstone Gallery (Rue du Grand Cerf 12 Grote Hertstraat - 1000 Brussels) is hosting an exhibition of new drawings by Matthew Barney called Ancient Evenings: Libretto from March 20 - May 9. There will be an opening reception from 6-9 on March 19.

From the press release:

"Gladstone Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new drawings by Matthew Barney from Ancient Evenings, a seven act opera loosely based on Norman Mailer's 1983 Egyptian-set novel and currently in development by Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler.

Each act of the opera chronicles one of the seven stages that the soul passes through after the death of the body. Remaining true to the original theme of rebirth and reincarnation, Ancient Evenings recasts the central myth of Isis and Osiris in a contemporary industrial landscape. Barney has replaced the human body with the body of the 1967 Chrysler Imperial that was the central motif from his earlier film Cremaster 3. This exhibition will include drawings that explore the character and thematic development of the first two acts, entitled "Ren" and "Sekhem." Obsessively drawn, Barney's graphite drawings map the conceptual depths of each project rather than presenting storyboard-like narratives. Barney evokes his beautifully rendered imagery with the addition of non-traditional materials such as petroleum jelly and metal leaf, in addition to lapis dust and PCL, a plastic derived from crude oil. Alongside these drawings, Barney has taken seven copies of Mailer's novel to create unique sculptures inside wall-mounted vitrines. Each piece contains one copy resting upon a bed of carved salt and opened to a spread that bears a drawing pertaining to one of the seven stages of the soul. In co-mingling Barney's draftsmanship with passages that comprise the opera's libretto, each book represents a different aspect of Barney's new interpretation of Mailer's novel."

Interestingly, the press release also notes that Acts 2-4 of Ancient Evenings (Act 1 is Ren, performed in Los Angeles last May) are currently in production for summer 2009.

Matthew Wallin's I Die Daily Matthew Barney Documentary at 911 Media Arts Center, Seattle

The 911 Media Arts Center in Seattle will hold an exhibition related to Matthew Wallin's Matthew Barney documentary I Die Daily, the Making of the Cremaster Cycle from July 18 - August 30.

"In 1996, deeply intrigued by the work of Barney, filmmaker Matthew Wallin abandoned a steady job to spend the next decade of his life documenting the making of Barney’s epic 5-part film, The Cremaster Cycle. What followed became a passionate exploration into the symbolism, mystery, and intricate process behind the Cycle. The result of his endeavor, I Die Daily, will become the definitive document on The Cremaster Cycle as well as the most comprehensive study on the rise of Barney as a star in the contemporary art world." (from the 911 Media Center web site)

Wallin will meet the public at the opening reception for the exhibition from 6 – 10 pm on Friday, July 18th. At 5 pm on Saturday, July 19th there will a fundraiser for 911 Media Arts Center where Wallin will screen 30 minutes of footage from the film and discuss his experience making the film with a slideshow of images.

For more information on Wallin's documentary, check out this article in ONSCREEN Magazine. Thanks to Cremaster Fanatic Eric for passing along the link.

Matthew Barney Makes Jerry Saltz's "New York Canon"

Matthew Barney's 1991 debut solo exhibition at Barbara Gladstone Gallery has been named one of the New York art world's most important events of the past 40 years by critic Jerry Saltz. Noting that Barney's show opened after he appeared on the cover of Artforum, Saltz writes, "The exhibition, which was continually packed with visitors, consisted of videos of Barney in drag dancing with a blocking sled, him dressed as a football player and crawling across Gladstone’s ceiling, naked, suspended from ice screws. In the downstairs gallery we saw videos of Barney inserting an ice screw into his anus in an attempt to crawl into his own body and turn himself inside out. Barney combined Nauman, Beuys, Serra, Joan Jonas, strange materials and something so physical, dense and unknowable that he created his own mystic one-man movement."

Pictured above: Matthew Barney's "Program: Houdini, O'Williams, Otto (HO2)", 1991, collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Matthew Barney Guardian of the Veil at Regen Projects, Los Angeles

Matthew Barney, "Guardian of the Veil: Norman Mailer", 2007.



Matthew Barney, "Guardian of the Veil: Sons of Horus", 2007.



Matthew Barney, "Guardian of the Veil: The Adoration of Norman Mailer", 2007.



Matthew Barney, "Guardian of the Veil: Trans Am", 2007.

Matthew Barney is exhibiting a series of drawings from Guardian of the Veil (finally, an end to the confusion over whether the correct title is "Guardian" or "Guarding") and some photographs from Cremaster 3 at Regen Projects, 633 North Almont Drive, Los Angeles, CA, through January 19.

From the gallery's press release:

"Guardian of the Veil is the first in a series of performances Barney gave in his studio (Queens, NY) in April 2007 and then repeated in the Il Tempo del Postino exhibition in Manchester, England in July 2007. In this performance Barney used remnants from the Cremaster Cycle (principally Cremaster 3) combined with a new narrative based on elements from Norman Mailer's novel, Ancient Evenings. The Cremaster Cycle examines and follows a developing life from its inception to its inevitable end. In the Guardian of the Veil the narrative follows a protagonist who died in a fire and begins his journey through the seven stages of death toward eternal after-life. This examination of eternal life is in opposition to the trajectory of the Cremaster Cycle and sets up the conflict presented in Guardian of the Veil.

Drawn on black paper using graphite and petroleum jelly the drawings from Guardian of the Veil convey Barney's inimitable, almost surrealistic hand. As a vehicle for the narrative, the fantastical and exuberant drawings function as a story-telling device. In one drawing a decorated bull is seen mounting a Chrysler Imperial car buried in an Egyptian pyramid, seemingly its final resting place. Pictorially conflicting imagery of eternal life after death and the creation of life leading to its ultimate demise is apparent and at odds."

Back on the East Coast, Barney also has a piece in the Mask exhibition at James Cohan Gallery, 533 W 26th Street, NYC, through January 26 (which, of course, is only six blocks from CremasterFanatic.com's Matthew Barney installation at Sara Tecchia Roma New York, 529 W 20th St, 2nd Floor).

Cremaster Fanatic Matthew Barney Exhibition at Sara Tecchia New York Opening Dec. 18

First off, we apologize for going so long without posting. This has been a hectic month, we hope to do better in the new year.

CremasterFanatic.com founder Eric Doeringer has created an installation of Matthew Barney photographs, collectibles, and fan art for the exhibition "And, Who Are You?" at Sara Tecchia, 529 West 20th Street, 2nd Floor, New York City. The exhibition runs from December 18 - January 26. We hope you will join us at the opening reception from 6 - 8 on December 18.

Matthew Barney Interpretive Content Study: "Waste of Brain Cells" vs. "A Great Experience"

Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint exhibtion at the SFMOMA was largely devoid of explanatory wall texts. However, visitors wishing to learn more about the symbolism in Barney's work could access a broad spectrum of information in the multimedia "Learning Lounge" attached to the exhibtion or listen to an audio guide on their cell phone or ipod (or rent the museum's audio guide for $3).

Randi Korn & Associates produced a detailed evaluation of museum-goers' use of interpretive media at Barney's exhibition, which is presented online in the paper Gaining Traction in the Vaseline: Visitor Response to a Multi-Track Interpretation Design for Matthew Barney: DRAWING RESTRAINT.


The graph above, "shows the discrepancy between those arriving in the galleries already familiar with Barney and his work and those who have had no prior exposure; furthermore, it tracks members of these two groups as they use more and more interpretive offerings. Let’s call them initiates and non-initiates, with full cognizance of the ‘art world insider’ implications of those terms. Non-initiates who did not avail themselves of any resources left the show feeling ripped off. They rated it 2.6 out of 7, and their comments were on the order of, “Don’t go,” “”Don’t bother,” “Waste of brain cells,” and “It’s good for the loony people who like things that look like garbage on a polished wood floor.” But as soon as they used even one or two resources, their rating of the exhibition as a whole rose significantly, to an attitudinally neutral 4. They saw that something intelligent was going on that they could respect, even if they didn’t fully get it or connect. Their comments were more on the order of, “Due to lack of comprehension/ meaning/purpose of the work I was a little lost” or “I haven’t listened to the audio tour yet so I don’t really feel I get it all but I know that if I put effort into it, it would become more meaningful.” There is the sense of a cosmos in these remarks, of something to understand.

As these uninitiated visitors used three or four resources, they got initiated. A cognitive psychologist would say they got scaffolding. That doesn’t mean they came away liking everything they saw, but their exhibition rating rose commensurately, to 4.6. By the time they used five-plus resources, they were immersed in Barney’s mythic world, and rated the exhibition at 5.4, a level of stimulated satisfaction. They made comments like: “A great experience to learn more about the artist” and “Do the free cell phone tour – it gives good context and you get to hear from the artist.” The net gain with interpretive offerings was from 2.6 to 5.4 – more than doubling of the rating, and more importantly, an index of real engagement. (Of course with Barney fans, the gain is smaller – from 5.6 to 6.1 – but the numbers who use multiple offerings are significant.)"

Matthew Barney: The Early Years

Gallerist Althea Viafora-Kress recently sent us a link to this wonderful web page documenting Barney's work in two group shows held at her gallery in 1990. Barney had just graduated from Yale and was recommended to the gallery by David von Schlegal, the head of Yale’s MFA sculpture department. The gallery's web site has some very interesting documentation of these shows -- here are a few choice items (you may need to click through the image links to view at full size if you want to read them):



First is the original consignment form for Drawing Restraint II (documents) in the Group Drawing Exhibition. You could have bought Barney's piece for only $2,000!!!



Here is Roberta Smith's New York Times review of the exhibtion -- probably the first published review of Barney's work.



These are notes taken by gallery staff on the day Barney installed Field Dressing (orifill): Docu/fragments in his second exhibition at the gallery in 1990. Below are two pages of notes on hypertrophy given to the gallery by Barney before the exhibition of Drawing Restraint II

Matthew Barney at Sadie Coles HQ

In addition to the Drawing Restraint exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, Londoners will be able to view a Matthew Barney exhibition at the new Sadie Coles Gallery (designed by Douglas Stewart Architects) at 69 South Audley Street. Although for some reason there is no mention of the exhibition on the Sadie Coles web site, other reputable sources report the exhibition will run from September 29 - November 10.

Matthew Barney at the Serpentine Gallery

The Serpentine Gallery in London will present an exhibition of Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint series from September 20 - November 11. The exhibition will include works from each Drawing Restraint from 1 through 15. In conjunction with the Serpentine, the Gate Picturehouse is screening Drawing Restraint 9 throughout the fall.

Barney will appear at a couple of events during the opening of the exhibition. On September 20, Barney and Hans-Ulrich Obrist will appear in conversation and present a special screening of Drawing Restraint 9. On September 21 Barney will screen three short films: Scab Action, Drawing Restraint 13, and De Lama Lamina.

The Serpentine Gallery is offering an exclusive Limited Edition of 25 boxed-sets of 8 signed and numbered photogravure prints, created by Matthew Barney. The prints are presented in a special box designed and produced by the artist. The edition is priced at £9,500 for the set of 8 prints.