Huh? Wow!

Good art should elicit a response of 'Huh? Wow!' as opposed to 'Wow! Huh?'  

 Edward Ruscha. 

I came across this quote in an article by Jerry Saltz, while checking out stuff on the late Richard Artschwager (see below). I like it so much (that's aesthetics sorted) that I thought I would give it an entry to itself. 
On reflection, Light Show (see below) was, to a great extent Wow! Huh?
(But, I still want a reference - don't you just hate it when people attribute quotes without referencing a source?)

Richard Artschwager, 1923 - 2013

Richard Artschwager, Piano, 1965

Richard Artschwager died on 9 February 2013.
Artschwager's signature works are his pieces of furniture: minimalist wooden forms with formica veneers which visually represent specific objects - tables, chairs, pianos, and so on. They seem dumb, a bit odd and  slightly irritating - but in a good way! They tease by eluding perceptual grasp, being neither quite image nor object.
Artschwager's other 'lines' included paintings, typically made in black acrylic on Celotex board, and  'Blps' (pronounced 'blips') - lozenge shaped interventions into public spaces, sometimes in the form of exclamation marks!
Read obituaries in Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. 

Richard Artschwager, Table with Pink Tablecloth, 1964

Richard Artschwager, Table and Chair, 1963-4

Richard Artschwager, Mirror/Mirror - Table/Table, 1964

Richard Artschwager, Door/Door II, 1984-5

Richard Artschwager, Trent, 2003

Richard Artschwager, Blp, installed in Whitney Museum, 2012

Light Show - Hayward Gallery

Hayward Gallery

Light Show is at the Hayward Gallery until 28 April 2013.
I was tremendously excited by the prospect of this exhibition - but confess that I was a little bit disappointed. The pieces I most enjoyed were the simpler and (relatively) low key works, notably by Dan Flavin, David Batchelor and Bill Culbert; the first two simply beautiful and the latter wittily intriguing. Too much of the show felt like a procession from one fair ground spectacle to the next. Nevertheless, many of the pieces are genuinely spectacular, notably Carlos Crus-Diez's Chromosaturation, Cerith Wyn Evans, S=U=P=E=R=S=T=R=U=C=T=U=R=E and Olafur Eliasson's Model for a Timeless Garden: the latter, a series of fountains 'frozen' by strobe lights is beautiful, but painful on the eyes! 
I have, in the past, seen some wonderful James Turrell installations - but, though I put in the time for this one, the hoped for optical magic didn't happen for me.
A show well worth seeing but not quite the aesthetic sensation it might have been.
Read reviews by Adrian Searle and Laura Cumming.

Dan Flavin, untitled (to the "innovator" of Wheeling Peachblow), 1968

David Batchelor, Magic Hour, 2004-7

Bill Culbert, Bulb Box Reflection II, 1975

Carlos Cruz-Diez, Chromosaturation, 1985-2008

Cerith Wyn, S=U=P=E=R=S=T=R=U=C=T=U=R=E (‘Trace me back to some loud, shallow, chill, underlying motive’s overspill…’), 2010 (Francois Morellet, Lamentable, 2006 - in background.)

Olafur Eliasson,  Model for a Timeless Garden, 2010 (detail)

Carl Andre: Mass & Matter - Turner Contemporary

Carl Andre, Timber Piece (Well), 1964/70

Carl Andre: Mass & Matter is at Turner Contemporary until 6 May 2013.
I am so looking foward to a trip to Margate to see this exhibition. I love Andre's clear, simple and direct arrangements of wood, metal and bricks.
Read a review by Alastair Sooke and an article by Emma Brockes.

Carl Andre, Phalanx, 1981

Carl Andre, Weathering Piece, 1970

Carl Andre installing a work in 1964. Photograph: Martin Ries