"Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present" at the MoMA

NYC's Museum of Modern Art is currently exhibiting a performance retrospective that traces the career of bountiful Yugoslavian artist Marina Abramović. "The Artist is Present" (which runs through May 31st) displays fifty works that span over four decades - including the artist's early interventions and sound pieces, video works, installations, photographs, solo performances and collaborative performance made with Ulay (AKA Uwe Laysiepen).

The exhibition marks three important "firsts" (one for the museum and two for the artist). These include: the first time the MoMA has devoted a retrospective to a living artist; the first live re-performances of Abramović's works by other people ever to be performed in a museum setting; and a new piece by the artist that marks the longest original solo performance Abramović has ever created and executed.

In order to allow visitors the chance the experience the timelessness of the works in the exhibition, all performances in "the Artist is Present" will take place throughout the entire duration of the exhibition - starting before the museum opens each day and continuing until after it closes.

Additionally, a chronological installation of the artist's work will run concurrently (on the sixth floor of the MoMA), revealing different modes of representing, documenting and exhibiting Abramović's ephemeral, time-based and media-based works.

Click here to read more about the exhibition (and to view Abramović's first performance)

Click here for related exhibitions at the MoMA

Mary Heilmann's First NY museum retrospective

Mary Heilmann recently had her first solo exhibition and retrospective in a New York museum. The exhibition was called To Be Someone and featured work from the past 40 years, including her signature colorful paintings, a series of rolling chairs, and ceramic sculpture.

Born in 1940, Heilmann is one of the pioneering artists of her generation. Her paintings exquisitely fuse together abstraction with elements from pop culture and craft traditions.

Here’s a link to images and a press release on the show.