Andreas Slominski “Weihnachtsdekoration für den Frühling, den Sommer und den Herbst”
2003, christmas decoration, aluminium frames; shown within “…” at Galerie Neu, Berlin

Joining the ranks of Jerry Saltz, Time Out NY, and Roberta Smith, I issue my redux for the best exhibitions of 2010. I’ve imposed no geographic criteria upon myself, thus you’ll find exhibitions from a few of the cities I’ve been lucky enough to live in or travel to during the past year: New York, Berlin and London.

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG at Gagosian, New York

Robert Rauschenberg “Melic Meeting (Spread)” 1979, mixed media including solvent transfer on fabric collage, and mirror at Gagosian, New York

Robert Rauschenberg “Pilot (Jammer)” 1974, silk and malacca canes

Rauschenberg’s monumental solo exhibition at Gagosian offers further proof of the artist’s already-indisputable mastery, and perhaps less positively, the gallery’s death grip over much of the art world’s cache of contemporary gems. Putting aside the politics and pony tail tossing of Gagosian, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the extremely special moments of Rauschenberg’s practice. He paints the back of cardboard box plinths in neon creating subtly warm Tuttle-esque shadows while brilliantly experimenting with mirrored sculptural components in paintings collaged with gaudy, complicatedly patterned fabrics. Also telling are his virtuoso draping silk fabric pieces with Malacca canes, often called “jammers,” recalling the placidity of sailing. Inspired by a trip to India, these fabric works put to shame their contemporary pastiche.

2010 Whitney Biennial, New York

Maureen Gallace, “Cape Cod, Early September” 2008, oil on panel

I found Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari’s 2010 Whitney Biennial to be a great success, though for differing reasons than cited in TONY’s top 10 list. Essentially, he asserts the Biennial succeeded because of its general lack of ambition–to be sure, the show didn’t overbook itself, and did allow the work “to breathe.” But most fascinating here is the comingling of the old and new, the young who live fast and the old whose careers that died young, the fashionable and unfashionable, and the older, more established artists (such as Charles Ray) who have have achieved traditional success and stepped out of their own shoes to create something altogether new and foreign. Gallace’s seemingly quaint landscapes featuring houses with no windows were a personal favorite.

CHARLES BURCHFIELD at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Charles Burchfield “Morbid Brooding” 1917, graphite on paper

Here’s one for the Eeyores of the world! I haven’t been able to get this exhibition out of my mind since I first saw it at the Whitney months ago. In my experience, never before has a retrospective so sensitively and clairvoyantly combined diaristic elements with a straightforwardly chronological exhibition. Burchfield’s at odds-ness with his own, mercurial character and its relationship to his community spoke to universally rendered feelings of self doubt and alienation.

RENATA LUCAS at Kunst-Werke, Berlin

View of Renata Lucas’ architectural intervention at the KW entrance

My very crappy video attempting to interact with the Renata Lucas intervention inside KW.

Brazilian artist Renata Lucas’ architectural interventions slightly displace the foundation of the KW, bringing to mind the penetrating architectural tactics of Michael Asher. It isn’t often that an artist successfully re-teaches you how to look. I’m not thoroughly familiar with Lucas’ work, but look forward to her future efforts.

“…” at Galerie Neu, Berlin

Installation view at Galerie Neu, Berlin

“…” at Galerie Neu examines the moment of pause, listlessness, and ineffability illustrated by the ellipse. Although the exhibition’s curatorial thesis is admittedly slightly opaque, the work included in “…”, offerings by Tom Burr, Bernadette Corporation, Claire Fontaine, Sergej Jensen, Kitty Kraus, Josephine Pryde, Gedi Sibony, Andreas Slominski, and Cerith Wyn Evans, are nothing but exceptional. Stand outs include Slominski’s pan-seasonal oversized Christmas decorations installed in Galerie Neu’s office area, Bernadette Corporation’s bathroom hardware engraved with quotes about Rihanna’s leaked cell phone nudes culled from the internet (have we identified the last vestige of “personal space”?) and Claire Fontaine’s neon reading (in German) the Brecht quote, “Culture is a palace built of dog shit.”

PIPILOTTI RIST at Luhring Augustine, New York

Installation view of “Layers Mama Layers” at Luhring Augustine

As I noted in my coverage of Art Basel Miami Beach, there’s something magical about Pipilotti Rist. The most substantial piece in her solo exhibition, “Layers Mama Layers” projects dreamy, hypersaturated images of a sheep addled alpine countryside and undulating concentric circles upon gossamer scrims. The back room contains “Massachusetts Chandelier,” a light fixture made of underwear. While I’m still parsing out what exactly the exhibition seeks to communicate, I’ve yet to see an exhibition as immersive and engrossing as this, and don’t expect to in the near future.

KLARA LIDEN at Serpentine Gallery, London

Installation view of Klara Liden’s solo exhibition at the Serpentine

Klara Liden’s wittily installed exhibition at the Serpentine reads as an honest and piercing examination of urban life and degradation. Other than the charming secret door (shown above) Liden excels most in her straightforward videos. In one, she challenges her bicycle to a duel in her apartment, in another she throws rocks into rivers in various, similar looking cities, gesturing toward the omnipresence of frustration and isolation.

LUCY SKAER at Location One, New York

Still from “Rachel, Peter, Caitlin, John” 2010

A 2009 Turner Prize nominee, Lucy Skaer’s unassuming work is as aesthetically engaging as it is thoroughly historically and conceptually grounded. Comprising work the artist created during her yearlong residency at Location One, Skaer’s “Rachel, Peter, Caitlin John” comprises three 16mm films–one of a cat, Rothko painting, and Gutenberg bible–punching out amorphous holes in the prints that correspond with the shapes of pole-like sculptures found in the gallery’s center. Skaer’s visual riddles obliquely comment on objecthood, authenticity, and perception.

FREE at the New Museum, New York

Jon Rafman, selection from the “Nine Eyes of Google Street View” series

Curated by Lauren Cornell, “Free” may have fallen short in achieving some of the objectives issued by those with a stake in the internet art world. But the exhibition–the best at the New Museum for some time–pushed together the internet and object-based contemporary art, two seemingly disparate phenomena, giving rise to endless heated, generative discussions on the role of the internet in contemporary art discourse.