13/01/02

Artur Nikodem, Robert Mann Gallery, NYC

Artur Nikodem
Robert Mann Gallery, New York
January 10 - March 2, 2002

The photographs of Artur Nikodem (1870-1940) are vintage silver prints that were not exhibited or discussed outside of the studio until after his death. The images presented in 'Photographic Essays on Intimacy' provide a comprehensive examination of this rarely seen aspect of Artur Nikodem's creative life. Although he worked as a painter for the bulk of his artistic career, he was also a prolific photographer, documenting the small towns and pastoral beauty of the Austrian countryside as well as the women in his life. Artur Nikodem captures these women, his models and lovers, Gunda Wiese - who died of tuberculosis - and his wife, Barbara Hoyer. These sensual portraits portray the erotic tension between the older artist and his much younger subjects. The body language is reminiscent of the work of Egon Schiele. Artur Nikodem's portraits have also invited comparison to the series of photographs by Alfred Stieglitz of Georgia O'Keefe, similarly characterized by both playful experimentation and somber meditation.

Artur Nikodem was born on February 6, 1870 in Trent, Austria. As a young man, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Milan and Florence. Artur Nikodem then served in the Austrian Navy before settling briefly in Paris, where he was strongly influenced by the works of Monet and Cezanne. Awestruck by the ability of pigment to rearrange and restructure life on canvas, Artur Nikodem began his endeavors as a painter. Unlike his colleagues who employed photographs solely as a tool of study for their paintings, Artur Nikodem's skill with a camera flourished independent of his skill with a brush and canvas. His burgeoning artistic career was delayed by military service during World War I. After the war, Artur Nikodem returned to his home in Innsbruck where he worked as a freelance artist. After a series of successful international exhibitions, Artur Nikodem emerged as spokesman for Tyrolean artists. In later years, the changing political climate resulted in his work being outlawed in Germany and part of his collection in Nuremberg was destroyed. Unable to secure a position at the Viennese Academy, Artur Nikodem withdrew from public life and lived in seclusion with his wife, Barbara Hoyer, until his death on February 10, 1940.

ROBERT MANN GALLERY
210 Eleventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001
www.robertmann.com

07/01/02

Extensis Portfolio 6

Extensis today announced the release of Portfolio 6, a major upgrade to Extensis' award-winning Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution. Portfolio 6 is a fast way for professionals to share, organize, retrieve and distribute the digital files they create and use on a regular basis. Portfolio enables users to create compelling visual catalogs that can be shared over a network or published on the web.
"Even the most powerful DAM solution will break down if people don't want - and like - to use it," said Joseph Schorr, Portfolio product manager for Extensis. "With Portfolio, we've created a system that integrates seamlessly with the creative desktop - a system that people will really want to use. We believe this product will radically change the way people think about asset management."
Portfolio 6 is the only asset management system that seamlessly combines the visual approach of an image catalog with the management and distribution tools of the operating system, making it easier for users to share, organize, and publish digital images. Working seamlessly in dual environments provides users and workgroups to work in unison without confusion over where and how to access files. The new FolderSync feature for example, can copy, move or delete files without leaving the Portfolio environment. Conversely, items moved on a network or local machine are tracked in Portfolio, so that visual catalogs are perfectly synchronized with actual files on disk.
"A good DAM system is flexible enough to adapt to the working style of its users - not force them into a rigid, predefined workflow," said Schorr. "Our goal with Portfolio 6 was to accommodate the working style of even the most free-spirited creative professionals."
Another unique component is the Portfolio Express Palette, which offers instant visual access to cataloged files directly from the creative environment, or from anywhere on the user's system. At any point, when designing a web page, writing an E-mail, or creating a presentation, a user is only one keystroke away from access to a Portfolio catalog, a search for a specific image and copying it into a document simply by dragging it from the floating palette.
Portfolio 6 has added features for helping users publish or distribute files. The Collect & Publish feature automatically collects and catalogs files for CD distribution, it even lets users create a stand-alone browser application on the fly. By using the new Create Web Pages command, users can convert catalogs into web pages based on one of several freely distributed templates that are professionally-designed, or users can create their own. Additionally, Portfolio works seamlessly with a user's default E-mail program to send electronic images as E-mail attachments directly from Portfolio.
New Features in Portfolio 6:
  • FolderSync - Provides seamless integration with the existing file system by linking Portfolio catalogs to actual folders on disk, keeping them synchronized.
  • Portfolio Express Palette - Floating palette brings the digital library of files directly into the creative environment, providing instant access to files from anywhere on the users system.
  • Create Web Pages - Using preexisting, professionally-designed templates, web pages are built based on a users catalog contents with a few simple steps.
  • Collect & Publish - Automatically collects images, linking them to a new catalog and generating a browser in which to view the catalog.
  • Instant Cataloging - Allows users to select any file, folder or disk and instantly catalog it into the Portfolio system.
  • Elegant New Interface - A streamlined, revamped toolbar and other refinements.
  • Batch Renaming and Keywording - New cataloging option can rename files, add keywords, and fill in other field values on the fly as items are catalogued.
  • Auto Move/Copy - New cataloging option copies or moves files into a new directory as they are cataloged.
  • Saved Views - Save and apply customized view attributes such as fonts, colors, and borders to any gallery.
  • Power Field Editor - A new window lets users add, append, replace or delete values from any field with unprecedented ease.
  • Custom QuickFind - Performs find function across any user-defined combination of fields from within main catalog window.
  • Send via E-mail - E-mail assets from within Portfolio, using the sender's default E-mail client.
  • Rotate Original - Changes orientation of original JPEGs, not just the thumbnails.
  • EXIF Support - Imports data stored in images created with digital cameras.

Pricing and Availability - The English version of Portfolio 6 will be available for download from the Extensis web site in February 2002. Portfolio 6 is available for a suggested retail price starting at $199.95US for full product, $69.95 - $129.95US for upgrades from previous versions of Portfolio; competitive upgrades for a suggested retail price starting at $149.95US. Portfolio Server is available starting at a suggested retail price of $2499.95US, including 5 free copies of Portfolio 6 for Macintosh. French, German and Japanese language product will be available in the first half of 2002.

System Requirements - Portfolio 6 will support Macintosh Operating System 8.6 and higher. Portfolio 6 will support Windows 98 and higher, Windows NT Service Pack 6 or 6a or Windows 2000 Service Pack 2. Portfolio Server additionally requires Pentium with min. 32 MB of RAM.

About Extensis, Inc.

06/01/02

Alighiero e Boetti, Sperone Westwater, NYC - Simmetria Asimmetria

Alighiero e Boetti: Simmetria Asimmetria 
Sperone Westwater, New York
10 January – 2 March 2002

Sperone Westwater announces an exhibition of “Biro” works by Alighiero e Boetti (1940-1994). Consisting of ball-point pen ink on paper mounted on canvas, these works are from a series which began in Rome in 1972 and continued through the late 1980s.

Collaborating with assistants, Alighiero e Boetti used four standard ink colors (blue, black, red and green) to mark small repetitive strokes, often covering the entire sheet. The artist would leave letters and symbols (often commas) as exposed white ground or negative space. This exhibition includes works representing each type of iconography that Alighiero e Boetti used in his design of these visual structures.

Many of the works contain puzzles, puns and linguistic codes, wherein letters of the alphabet run horizontally or vertically along the margin of the sheet. This line of letters creates a composition that becomes graph-like, and the title of the work is often revealed as the viewer connects commas with corresponding letters horizontally and vertically. In some works like I sei sensi, 1973 and Dimenticare il tempo perduto, 1982 the charting of commas extends across two, even five panels. This unlocking of the artist’s created system simulates the very basic way in which the human mind apprehends and functions, unfolding worlds and bringing new meaning up through the medium and into the light.

His classic Aerei, or “Airplanes” series is also featured. Here, the artist leaves as negative space line drawings of modern and historical airplanes. Originally culled from popular magazine sources, these images construct an illusionary space of action and movement.

A publication will be available with reproductions of every work in the exhibition.

Alighiero e Boetti: Simmetria Asimetria
Published by Sperone Westwater, New York, 2002
Text by Annemarie Sauzeau Boetti 
Forty-two pages with fifteen full color plates 
including four foldout images
Hardbound with wrappers, 9 x 11 1/2 inches.

A small survey exhibition “Alighiero e Boetti” at The Arts Club of Chicago will run concurrently, 24 January – 6 April 2002, for which there will also be a publication. The exhibition is curated by Kathy Cottong.

SPERONE WESTWATER - NEW YORK
www.speronewestwater.com

Updated 04.07.2019