Doug Aitken isn’t any one thing. He’s a photographer, a filmmaker, a sculptor and an installation artist. Sometimes his work is completely tech-based and other times it’s hand-crafted. But the common thread evident in all his work is a fascination with and mastery of new media. Whether he’s projecting video onto the side of a building (”Sleepwalkers” (2007) was shown on the exterior walls of MoMA) or recreating an Italian cityscape out of FedEx boxes, Aitken is always saying something both with and about modern technology and how it has shaped modern life.

At his upcoming exhibition at Regen Projects, the four projection video installation “Migration” will make its west coast debut. The film shows migratory animals as they move through deserted human structures, hinting at what life would be like if people were instantly eradicated and animals were left to make sense of what we left behind.

Doug Aitken at Regen Projects, September 12 – October 17, 2009 

Whether you like Roxy Paine’s work or not, you probably want to touch it. You can’t help it. Since 1990, Paine has created irresistibly tactile sculptures, installations, and even the occasional painting (like the one with the paint literally dripping off the canvas) that almost always reference some aspect of the natural world. His latest work is no exception. Maelstrom, a 130 x 45 foot stainless-steel sculpture, is currently on view on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With Central Park clearly visibly in the background, Maelstrom does the nature vs. man-made structure thing, but, more than that, it creates an environment and a mood. Engineering Maelstrom was no small feat (you can watch the installation of a similar sculpture here), but this is only next in a long series of Dendroids, as Paine calls them. So far these Dendroids have made appearances at Art Basel in Switzerland, Madison Square Park, Central Park, and an empty field in Ohio.

Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 28 – October 25, 2009