On Friday, September 11th, there will be an opening reception for Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo‘s show Captive Lives Western Spectacle at Capricious Space in Brooklyn from 7-10pm. Bonajo recently talked about her project, which deals with the relations between humans and animals, at too much chocolate:

“While taking these images I started to study animals from a perspective of the future in which they would no longer be here. Animals would be the inhabitants of an old civilization and the only remaining evidence of their existence would be in images. Like now some animals are only surviving in zoos. People will start to socialize them and the holy animal cult will come to existence. They will use old animistic beliefs to revive what is lost forever. Animals will start to re-appear in people’s lives as ghosts. In the night when the lights are off, their spirits will appear through transpersonal awareness in dreams and people will suffer when they realize the brutality of their acting that led to extinction.”

Captive Lives Western Spectacle will be at Capricious Space, 103 Broadway, Brooklyn, until October 31st.

The photography of Martien Mulder, hitherto featured in a slew of international galleries and magazines, is now on view at Capricious Space. Mulder’s preoccupations appear to be with plantlife and portraiture, pretty much in that order. The former she treats with an almost spiritual reverence—venerating verdant palm trees in Brazilian Mist (2001) and Plant in Black (2008) as though they were avatars of otherworldly beauty. Looking at these photographs, one forgets that there are such things as shopping malls and gas stations—a pleasant notion, indeed.

Many of Mulder’s pieces seem like details taken from larger photographs; they tend to depict small portions of trunk and stem set against clouded sky. Rather than disorienting the viewer, this approach serves to focus attention on the sparse, near-abstract quality of the plantlife itself, as if the world, at this particular moment, consisted of nothing else. Peer closely at something, and it becomes all you see.

Mulder also likes it when the natural world encroaches on the man-made. She is particularly fond of scenes in which bright-green flora overwhelm the geometrical fortifications of modern architecture, as occurs, with great effect, in Building in Green (2001), perhaps the most convincing example of Mulder’s attempt at photographic abstraction. Another piece, Untitled (Escalator) from 2008, works just as well: a group of wispy palms are viewed through the glass of a lobby, while the calligraphical handrails of an escalator overlay the tableaux as if crossing it out.

When it comes to taking portraits, Mulder seems rather less focused, and at times her human subjects elude her. Perhaps this is the point; but if Mulder wishes to convey man’s impunity to photographic observation, she ought to make sure her shots don’t come off as half-hearted. When a photograph looks hastily done, we attribute its inscrutability not to the involvedness of the subject, but to the artist, who has failed to study her subject sufficiently. The best of the bunch, Self Portrait (Honduras), is successful mainly because it capitalizes on Mulder’s strength: paying equal attention to the organic and inorganic. Here, we have Mulder herself lying nude on a couch, her limbs bent at odd angles; outside, through a paneled window, we see the limbs of an evergreen, a sort of arboreal double. It’s difficult to differentiate between Mulder and her surroundings, and as woman and tree mix together the portrait seems strangely complete.

To fully appreciate Mulder’s work, one should consult her new book, also called “From Blue to Blue.” Inside are many photographs not featured in the current exhibit (the landscape pieces in particular help to flesh out Mulder’s reverent vision of the natural world). Viewed in total, the catalog unfolds like the field log of some divinely inspired botanist who has travelled great distances and managed to isolate images of real beauty. Mulder’s talent lies in being able to see the forest for the trees, often one branch at a time—and as any sage will tell you, this in itself is a wonderful thing.

Capricious Space is a refreshingly modest studio near the corner of Bedford and Broadway avenues in Williamsburg. As its name suggests, the space is fickle: sometimes a gallery, sometimes a performance venue—but always a consistent arbiter of good taste. For the next month, Capricious Space will be showing the work of Amber Ibarreche, a Brooklyn artist who deals in painting, collage and block print. I’m pleased to report that the show, like the gallery, is a quiet, thoughtful success.

“Ceremonial Entanglements” is Ibarreche’s first solo exhibition, but already the artist demonstrates a recognizable aesthetic sensibility. Much of the work is heavy with text—and even the paintings and prints that don’t include typography look as though they might. The reticulate patterns and peculiar characters of Ibarreche’s work successfully blur the line between geometry and writing: the result is artwork too dense to be read linearly, and too engaging to be skimmed. With the exception of Sheathed Ascendant—a set of Roman statues rendered in Peruvian color—the works are consistently subdued. Ibarreche seems as influenced by Eastern art as she is by traditional Central and South American geometrical design, and these she combines to innovative effect. In viewing Ibarreche’s work, one is struck by the patience of the artist, whose hand can render curvilinear strokes with mechanical precision, all the while depicting a humanity that predates the printing press.

It’s likely that you’re a young person between, say, 18 and 35, and that you spend a good chunk of your time on the Internet. It’s also likely that you spend little of that time considering the ontological nature of online commerce, or how exactly one might describe that nature, or if one can describe it at all, or whether commerce of an indescribable ontological nature constitutes a form of profitable communication or a type of capitalistic consumption. Your ignorance in such matters is a good reason to attend In Real Life at Capricious Space, a sort of exhibition/installation/conference featuring a dozen or so web-producers, all of whom will be discussing their trade. Opening night will consist of tutorials, performances, panel discussions (with numerous references made to Das Kapital), and a computer-themed male striptease.

The exhibition/etc. runs on weekends from Saturday 7 March to Saturday 28 March. Participants include: Art Fag City, ASDF, Club Internet, Ffffound, The Highlights, Humble Arts Foundation, I Heart Photograph, Loshadka, Netmares/Netdreams, Platform For Pedagogy, Private Circulation, Ubu Web, VVork, Why + Wherefore.

What do tree branches, horsehair, glass, light and tumbling mats bought on Craigslist have in common? Personally, they are all items that I’ve found next to my bed after nights of heavy drinking. Coincidentally they are also key elements of an installation called boo boo by New York artist Anne Hall, which opened at Capricious Space in Williamsburg on Friday night.

Drawing upon inspiration from months of adventures into the wilderness by Hall and her then partner, Capricious owner/editor/publisher Sophie Mörner, the installation is a somewhat perplexing collection of media. Aside from the tumbling mats, a piece called Snakes consists of lengths of stuffed fabric available in unlimited quantities at the bargain price of .50 cents per inch. Another, titled Wishbone, is an eponymously-shaped tree branch which has been adorned with horse hair.

Friday’s opening also served as a launch for Hall and Mörner’s book The Known World. Not to be confused with the Pulitzer Prize winning Edward P. Jones novel of the same name, the book is a collection of pictures and text which documents the shared experience of Hall and Mörner.

boo boo continues through December 13 at Capricious Space, 103 Broadway, Brooklyn. The Known World is available at Capricious Space.

Photo courtesy of Capricious.