Ubu Gallery presented an exhibition of manipulated and un-retouched photographs, as well as the photomontages, by Pierre Molinier, an influential French gender performance artist. Although he had begun photographing himself seriously as early as 1950, Molinier created an obsessive photographic documentation of his private “male lesbian” fantasies in the mid-1960s. These images were “recycled” in the late 1960s as source …
George Maciunas: More Than Fluxus. Graphic Design, Objects & Ephemera
Organized in collaboration with Barbara Moore, proprietor of Bound & Unbound as well as an art historian specializing in Fluxus and other contemporary avant-garde art movements, this first solo exhibition was devoted to the full range work created by Fluxus founder, George Maciunas. The exhibition included many scarce Fluxus and non-Fluxus works, highlighting the process of Maciunas’s work in the …
Stefan Themerson: The Urge to Create Visions. Experimental Photographs, Photograms & Collages, 1928–1937
This solo exhibition consisted of the surviving photographic material, from the pre-World War II period, executed by the extraordinary Polish filmmaker, writer, editor and co-founder of the remarkable Gaberbocchus Press, Stefan Themerson. Working with his wife, Franciszka, Themerson created some of the most influential films in Eastern Europe during the 1930s. This exhibition also included innovative photographs, photograms and collages, …
The Gun: Icon of Twentieth Century Art
Ubu Gallery presented works of art by a diverse group of modern and contemporary artists, in which the image of the gun was incorporated. The media shown in this exhibition included objects, collages, assemblages, paintings, drawings, prints and photographs. The Gun: Icon of Twentieth Century Art explored the role of this ‘loaded’ icon, whose cultural role and presence has influenced …
Film Posters of the Russian Avant-Garde
Russian Constructivist film posters, selected from the esteemed Susan J. Pack collection, have long been recognized by graphic designers and design curators as among the most significant examples of graphic design of the twentieth century. The works on display at Ubu Gallery for this exhibition included the renowned work of Aleksandr Rodchenko for the Sergei Eisenstein Film, “Battleship Potemkin,” as …
Yoko Ono: Drawings from Franklin Summer and Blood Objects from Family Album
Ubu Gallery presented Yoko Ono’s “automatic” drawings from Franklin Summer and the Family Album objects: bronzes of everyday items (e.g. a splintered bat, a mirror, a high-heeled shoe) splattered with blood red pigment. These objects, containing Ono’s metaphoric and poetic response to violence experienced both globally and at a personal level, were contrasted with the spontaneous pleasure and biomorphic references …
Hans Bellmer: Photographs & Drawings
Ubu Gallery presented a collection of photographs and drawings by Hans Bellmer (1902-1975), a Surrealist whose overt influence on current art trends far outweighs the public’s recognition of his emotionally and intellectually charged oeuvre. The appreciation of the photographs is enhanced in the broader developmental context of Bellmer’s continuous production of drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture—represented in this exhibition principally …
Helmut Löhr: Visual Text Photographs, Collages, Books & Objects
Held concurrently with a showing of his art project at the International Library in The Center for Book arts in Soho, Visual Text at Ubu Gallery was Helmut Löhr’s first solo exhibition in New York. A dual resident of Düsseldorf and New York, Löhr—at the time this exhibition opened—had participated in over 170 gallery and museum shows in Europe, Japan …
Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, Galerie Beaux-Arts, Paris 1938: An Homage
Ubu Gallery presented a retrospective view of the landmark Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, which premiered at the Galerie Beaux-Arts in Paris (January 1938). The 1938 exhibition was the culminating avant-garde celebration in Europe before the devastating events leading to World War II. Included at Ubu Gallery were representative works by the major participants, photographs of the decorated mannequins, the installation …
Joseph Beuys: Signed Posters + Multiples
An artist, teacher, and advocate for his many causes, Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) is considered not only the most charismatic figure of postwar German art, but also a radical pioneer of contemporary sculpture. Through his innovative art and involvement in successive social movements Beuys expressed his deep belief in society’s need for creativity to penetrate and mold its social and political …