By Sarah McCrory
Cosima von Bonin, 'Hermit Crab in Fake Royère', 2010, mixed media, dimensions variable. Courtesy: Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall, and MUMOK, Vienna
Highlights of 2014, in a particular order:
1
Cosima von Bonin, ‘HIPPIES USE SIDE DOOR. THE YEAR 2014 HAS LOST THE PLOT.’, MUMOK, Vienna
This major exhibition was my highlight of the year. Von Bonin is undeniably brilliant – her recent show at MUMOK, the largest survey of her work to date, went from her earliest work through to today and included pieces by affiliates Mike Kelley and Isa Genzken, as well as poignant recreations of previous performance installations. These were rendered in white card, as ghost pieces to inhabit the space, with a nod to their past as living breathing situations, present now as memories.
2
Ella Krugylanskaya, ‘How to Work Together’, at Studio Voltaire, London, and Frieze Art Fair, London
I cannot get enough of her work. Bold, powerful, humorous and technically brilliant. In an art world currently over-populated with big boys making small paintings, Krugylanskaya’s women pound the streets making mincemeat of them all.
Ella Kruglyanskaya, Singing Maids, 2014, oil and oil stick on linen
213 × 168 cm. Courtesy: the artist, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, and Studio Voltaire, London
3
David Hammons, White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London
Mr. Hammons certainly has the last laugh. His exhibition at White Cube baffled me. I felt like I was being invited to listen to one joke but ended up being told the punch line to another. These brilliant works questioned ideas of personal and artistic value and status, yet Hammons threw a real curveball by showing them at White Cube. Hammons always has the last laugh.
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David Hammons, installation view, White Cube Mason’s Yard, London. Courtesy: the artist and White Cube; photograph: Jack Hems and Patrick Dandy
4
Matisse, ‘The Cut-Outs’, MoMA, New York (and Tate Modern, London, where I didn’t catch it)
When an exhibition from painted cut paper makes you feel wholly better about life itself.
Henri Matisse, Two Masks (The Tomato) (Deux Masques [La Tomate]), 1947, gouache on paper, cut and pasted, 48 × 52 cm. Courtesy: Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Marron, New York. © 2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Honourable mentions:
Jonathan Gardner at Mary Mary
Ida Ekblad at Herald Street
Ettore Sottsass published by Phaidon
Shellac’s Dude Incredible
Glasgow International – oh come on, allow it …
Sarah Lucas at Tramway
Mark Leckey at Gavin Brown’s enterprise
Jungle’s Jungle– despite myself I loved this album
Richard Wright’s beautiful windows at The Modern Institute
Jonathan Gardner, Superga, 2014, oil on canvas, 92 × 102 cm. Courtesy: Mary Mary, Glasgow
Looking Forward:
Choosing the highlights of the year involves casting my mind back to moments that left me full of joy or delighted confusion – all not without a sense of privilege. Trying to access those emotions is a tempered act when writing this less than a week since 132 children and 9 staff were massacred in Peshawar.
Protests across the US following the sad deaths (murders) of Eric Garner and Michael Brown continue, yet the deaths of black people at the hands of the police don’t seem to stop.
Closer to home the poor in the UK get poorer and food banks (food banks! In Britain in 2014!) do their best to pick up the government’s ‘slack’, and there seems to be little sign of this changing.
Whilst I’m looking forward to a host of events in 2015, I’m not looking forward to them as much as I am to these situations improving.