Lawrence Weiner.

Lawrence Weiner: As Far as the Eye Can See, an exhibition on view at the Whitney through February 10, "includes his foundational pseudo-syllogism Declaration of Intent (1969)," notes Ed Halter in the Voice, "which encapsulates his career-long modus operandi: '1. The artist may construct the work. 2. The work may be fabricated. 3. The work may not be built.' But for all his rejection of object-making, Weiner is no slouch behind the camera: During the past four decades, the artist has made over 30 videos and films, ranging from brief animations to feature-length cinematic productions. Presented in a generous Whitney-programmed series at Anthology Film Archives, Weiner's moving-image output continues his interest in forebrain language play, but reveals a more sensual, even unabashedly pervy side not seen elsewhere."

Updated through 1/24.

In the New York Sun, Bruce Bennett focuses on two of the films on offer, Passage to the North (1981) and: "Just as Mr Weiner's early painted propeller studies and 'shaped canvas' experiments were informed and influenced by the work of Jasper Johns and Frank Stella, A First Quarter [1973], which was produced under the auspices of New York's Leo Castelli Gallery, owes a stylistic debt to vanguard French filmmaking of the 60s."

The series opens today and runs through Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Christian Viveros-Fauné reviewed the Whitney exhibition for the Voice: "At the butt end of a decade-long spending spree, folks today are anxiously casting about for models - old and new - of creative austerity. To consider Weiner in this light is to see the work of this 65-year-old artist as what it is not: Hardly an aesthetic countermeasure, his books and sign paintings present instead the artistic equivalent of a hairshirt."

Lawrence Weiner will be "Talking Art" with John Slyce at the Tate Modern on February 2.

Update, 1/24: At the Reeler, Miriam Bale has a few recommendations. "Another selection worth seeing is the feature A Second Quarter (the last in an intended series of four); its gorgeous color cinematography consists of compositions so static that every movement within the frame is emphasized. The movie is the distillation of a feature film - any feature film - to the basics of its own rhythmic progression: a mysterious plot unfolds dramatically but is communicated solely through lists, question/answers and recitations of the alphabet."

Posted by dwhudson at January 23, 2008 1:51 PM