One More Time.

Misc. Tyrone (Tyrone Smith), 1976. Oil and magna on linen canvas.

For my last post of 2008 I'm linking back to my post on one of the best shows in town right now, Barkley L. Hendricks at the Studio Museum in Harlem. I didn't want you to miss the wonderful conversation that's broken out between commenters JD and Martin (With props to ZS for getting it all started). Discussed: Racism, geographism, scenism, schmoozism, figurativism. I can hear bells. I can hear bells.

Ten Years Before Ten Years After?

I've been reading Jerry Saltz's Seeing Out Loud and this passage from Ten Years After, a piece from 2001 on Matthew Marks' 10th Anniversary, made me think of Ed Winkleman and his soon-to-be-published book, How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery. On his blog post, Winkleman talks about his editor's view that, despite the present economic situation, it is a good time to release a book about opening a gallery. Smart editor.

Onward . . .

From Saltz [italics mine]:

"Marks isn't exactly an aspiring dealer who inspires by making something out of nothing. He doesn't do things small and he doesn't seem to have to. Not only was he one of the first gallerists to open in Chelsea (on 22nd Street in October 1994), he opened big, and by November 1996, had expanded to an additional location on 24th Street. However, when he debuted at 1018 Madison Avenue in 1991, things weren't so rosy. The economy was in recession, everything was in flux, and no one knew what was coming next. It turns out these are ideal conditions to start a gallery. And many did. If all goes well, a number of them will celebrate 10-year anniversaries shortly."

Out Loud.

For all of you sound geeks out there, there's been a totally fascinating fallout from the utterly crap sound of the new Metallica album. Mastering engineer Ian Shepherd discusses the "superiority" of the vinyl over the CD on his blog. The quotation marks are there because the sound isn't great in either format. In fact, the sound is better on the earlier-released Guitar Hero version. You've got problems if your song sounds better on a video game. It's all about trying to punch things up for the eventual compressed output by clipping some of those pesky sound details. To quote Shepherd, "Louder is better, but Too Loud is worse".

No.

So apparently the rules have changed at The Warhol since I visited last year. No photos.

Let me say that again. No. Photos. At The Warhol. It was one of the first things I was told after I showed the front desk person my media pass. I assumed that she meant that I wouldn't be able to take photos of special exhibitions, but just in case I asked for clarification. Yep, I heard her right. No photos in the museum. End of sentence, exceptionally abrupt period.

Yes, the museum that celebrates the artist who did more to free our sense of The Image (Coming at us and going away.) than any other in the last 100 years won't let you take any home with you. Disheartening to say the least. I would love to have shown you my annual shot of The Last Supper seen through the hard scrim of the the Warhol/Basquiat punching bags. I also would have shown you some black light Jesus mojo. With Liza's recent comeback it was a perfect time to see the lineup of Lorna Luft, Judy Garland, and Ms. Minelli on the wall, but you'll have to fly to Pittsburgh to see it. Lastly, I would have shown you one of the most interesting (and judging from a Google search, rare) things I've ever seen at the museum, Reflected (Zeitgeist Series). An awesome stuttering flow of RGB across a long canvas with the occasional drop-down action from color to color, the red into the blue and the blue into the green. And you won't be seeing the R, the G, or the B here.

It's exhausting to have to keep making the argument about the foolishness of a strict No Photos policy that I (and oh so many others) have to keep making. To have to make that argument against The Warhol is downright demoralizing. My walk through the exhibitions became one long battle with buzzkill. The other problem here is that the museum's online catalogue is virtually non-existent so if you can't make it to Pittsburgh you're out of luck. Hell, if you live in Pittsburgh and can't make it to the Northside you're out of luck. There are a handful of thumbnails and slightly larger jpeg's that can be found on the website, and that's about it. One of the best things about their previously open photo policy was that one could find a bounty of wonderful images online from visitors who were moved by their trip The Warhol. To limit access to art that feels so limitless is a bad thing. There are a thousand ways to suck. This is one of them.

Look. I love The Warhol. It's one of my favorite places on the planet. I'll get over it, but this is nothing short of the #1 drag of my art year.

UPDATE: Pittsburgh painter and art blogger Susan Constance set me straight on the Warhol photo policy. Apparently you can get a photo pass from the PR department. Still, a limiting policy. Warhol I love you, but Boooooo.

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.

BONUS Wizzard: Rock 'n' Roll Winter

Maria Bartiromo Holiday Edition.

Everybody have a nice holiday, whichever one you might be celebrating. I'm off to Andyland for Christmas. Be sure to check in Christmas morning to catch the Christmas miracle I've pre-posted. So go, rock a-dem bells!

Winter.

Kara Walker, op-ed in the Times

Things We Lost In The Fire.

Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato

EverynowandthenIknowit'sgottenhardtotell.

Photo of Gilbert & George's entry in Creative Time's 44 1/2 series by Trish Mayo via the Brooklyn Museum's flickr pool

But it's still alive and well. My Creative Time blog, that is. Between my being busy with Unbreak My Heart and some ongoing tech problems with Blogger it's been inactive for a couple months. No more, kids. Back in full effect.

Payday.

Shephard Fairey nabs the cover for Time's Person of the Year. An update on the original. Word.

More Miami.

Just so ya know, I'm going to be unravelling from Miami for awhile. The Zach Feuer booth at Art Basel was especially strong this year because they concentrated on one artist and that artist is more than a little amazing. Jules De Balincourt, man. Whew. Absolutely killer. As much as I wrote about in my Miami reports for ArtCal Zine (Part 1 and Part 2) there are still a couple million loose ends and highlights I didn't fit into the piece.

Mission Accomplished.

"This is a gift from the Iraqis, this is the farewell kiss, you dog.

Then he threw the second shoe and said "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Sympathy for the Devil. (Well, not really.)

Photo: Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Look. Just because you're a swindling scumbag doesn't necessarily mean you can't be an art lover. Lichtenstein's Bull Profile Series in the background. Swindling scumbag in the foreground. Seriously, man. Jump.

We're Having Much More No Fun!

No Fun Fest has settled on a final line-up, and I gotta say, "Oh, yeah." The return of Merzbow! But more importantly . . . the return of Emeralds! Hail to the kings of whatever that wonderful thing is that they do. Cool to see the long-loved Bardo Pond on the roster. Also from Philly, the relatively new but insanely great Cold Cave. I've never seen Yellow Tears play out, so that should be fun. And Bastard Noise . . . Always sick. Never predictable. I'm betting that festival founder/curator/organizer Carlos Giffoni will be, once again, one of the highlights of the weekend for me. And last but soooooooo not least, one of my absolute fave noise units, Pedestrian Deposit, will be playing. Precise anarchy.

Oh, and sorry if I got that X song in your head. Here ya go. Scratch that itch.

Welcome To Miami, Part 2.

Joyce Pensato kicking ass @ Petzel

Part 2 of my Miami overload just went up at ArtCal Zine. Wow. What a wonderful week. And again, a mountain of gratitude and love to Uncle Crockett and Francesca.


Envoy Enterprises' sweet riff on Karen Kilimnik

She's Giving an Artists Talk at Bruce Silverstein Gallery Today!

Titanic, Philadelphia

Zoe Strauss, that is. Should be good. Always is.

Keep Music Underground.

NY Eye & Ear Festival

Howard Hodgkin @ ArtMiami.

Joanna Malinowska @ Smack Mellon!

Put on your snow shoes and hike over to Smack Mellon TONIGHT to check out performance and video artist Joanna Malinowska's collaboration with Masami Tomihisa TONIGHT.

Welcome to Miami, Part 1.

Eric Freeman @ Western Project

Part 1 of my trip to Miami and all the art therein is up at ArtCal Zine. Let's start by kickin' the rich while they're down . . .

"Among the dozens of international art fairs dotting the map today, the quality of the art might vary, but one song remains the same at each: the sound of rich people who want you to overhear their declarations. In other words, when attending, there will certainly be entertainment included in the price of admission. The first art I came across in my recent trip down to Miami was outside SCOPE, an elegantly painful performance by artist Madeline Stillwell. About 15 seconds after I stopped to watch, a veteran X-Ray Woman beside me intoned, "I believe it's articulated. Is it articulated?" Huh? Curiosity and social courtesy led me to interrogate her: "Excuse me? Articulated?" She was ready. "Is it a robot?" Awesome. It was as if she was unable to conceive of a piece of art that wasn't an object, that couldn't be bought. Welcome to Miami, dude."

Read more . . .

Does Gov. Paterson Need A Hat?

What's not to love about this? Cary Liebowitz on the hat tip.

Miami. Special 303 Gallery Coverage.

Yes. It's the joke that won't die.

The last shall be the first.

This was the last photo I took during my time in Miami, just around the corner from Fountain, the fair that seems to have taken up permanent residence in one of the many soft spots in my heart.

Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs.

I'm going to Miami. Coolest birthday/Christmas gift EVER. Big ups to Uncle Crockett and Francesca, who absolutely rule. Here are some of the things I'm most looking forward to. See you on the return.

@ Art Basel

Alexander Gray featuring Luis Camnitzer:


Evan Holloway at Harris-Lieberman:


@ Art Miami

Silverstein Photography. Zoe Strauss in the house.


@ Pulse

Tadashi Moriyama at Bonelli Arte:


BANK from LA. Always a highlight. Paul Butler ahead.


Winkleman Gallery with Sarah Peters in the house along with assorted others. Ed puts a lot of love into the fairs and it shows. Always top notch.


@ Aqua

Jenny Dubnau atBucheon Gallery.


Gallery Joe from Philly specializes in exquisite and challenging drawings, and this piece by Lynne Woods Turner looks to be no exception.


Leigh Tarentino and others at Black & White.


And [next to] last but VERY much not least, the beautiful world of distance of Pierre St-Jacques on display at the Bridge Art Fair.


Ooh. And Glowlab at both Fountain and Scope. Fair rule #1. Never miss Glowlab. This time, featuring Jason Cantoro . . .

All I Know About Miami.

Roll Up. See The Show.

Moi, reflected in EJ Hauser

I'm melting . . . I'll also be in the gallery-sitting Unbreak My Heart today. Stop by. And check out Oly's write-up of Rosanna Bruno's work. And finally, here's your moment of Karn Evil 9 at California Jam.

Feed Me Weird Things.

Let's face it. Thanksgiving is always good at being weird, and this one seems especially well trained. To up the ante, there's a Warhol marathon on Ovation TV today. Get out yer knives.

(Bonus weirdity: They keep showing the Rosetta Stone commercial where the tagline is, "Speed is everything." Somebody is an advertising genius.)

Les Nesman reporting. The full, glorious episode HERE.

Lucinda Williams reporting.

via Gawker, William S. Burroughs reporting.

Pola X

Squarepusher, Theme from Ernest Bornine.

Houses In Motion: Angela Dufresne.

The Phillip Johnson New Canaan House with the Floating Museum and Conservatory addition c. 2046

These paintings are by Angela Dufresne. I saw her work for the first time a couple years ago at the Hammer in LA, and was duly blown away. I keep being reintroduced to her at openings because we have a couple hundred mutual friends. Saturday night at Zoe's opening, Angela said something that made me laugh so hard that I think I pulled something. I'm not kidding. I'd love to repeat it here, but it's actually unprintable. Yes. It's actually unprintable HERE. I know. Impressive, right? Anyway, in lieu of repeating what she said I'll offer up what she's painted. That way, you won't have to pull a muscle.

I have to say that I've been way way way behind the curve when it comes to Dufresne's work. I started late, and I've been playing catchup ever since. I'm more familiar with her architecture and landscape paintings but she also does people and the scenes they're in. No matter her subject, I always feel like she's slowed things down (or maybe sped them up, I don't know) and I'm seeing the world the way the gods do, able to watch time move vertically and horizontally at the same time. Which is awesome, of course . . . and very, very beautiful.


At Some Point Every Girl Passes into Womanland and Realizes Dorothy Malone is the Hero in \"Written in the Wind\"

This is a close-up pic I took of one of her paintings at the Hammer . . .

Jenny Dubnau in SF.

Amy and Tim with Roxy, oil on canvas, 2008

Jenny Dubnau has a new show of paintings that opened at San Francisco's Bucheon Gallery this weekend. I saw some of this work in her studio a couple months ago. She's gone deeper and darker with this new batch. Psychological warfare, yo. And when I say that I mean, of course, family. Just in time for the holidays!

Unbreak My Heart. Some shots.

I spent the day with Unbreak My Heart today. I must say, it does rock. Here are some shots of the installation.


Beth Gilfilen, Luke Whitlatch


Rosanna Bruno


Luke Whitlatch


Beth Gilfilen


EJ Hauser


Kate Gilmore, Rosanna Bruno


Robert Schatz

One.

"Politicians and dictators and the guys with the dough
They think they run the world but they just dont know
cause down here on the street we got it under control
From Berlin to San Francisco, from New York to Tokyo"
--Todd Rundgren from One World

Opening tonight! Zoe Strauss' America: We Love Having You Here at Silverstein. I look forward to this opening/book signing/dance party for both the celebration and the mourning it will hold. Both exist in Strauss' work simultaneously, and we're going to need to follow her lead to make room to celebrate the move forward with our election of Obama while recognizing all we've lost (lives, hearts, minds) in the last 8 years of the porcupine assfuck that was George "Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil" Bush. A dream goes on forever, but hopefully, our nightmares might just have brakes. We love having you here? No, Zoe. We love having you here.

Roberta Smith said this last time around . . . "Ms. Strauss's images are not without tenderness [HAA: Click here for musical equivalent], but their harsh, unblinking force is a bit like a punch in the face [HAA: Click here for musical equivalent]. They show us what most Americans don't want to see."

Let's follow Zoe on this one, kids. Look directly. Look with love. Look deep. Let's go.

Reflective Nature.

The moment I saw this black painting by EJ Hauser I knew it had to be in Unbreak My Heart. The more time I spent with it the more I realized how much it liked to remix everything in it's reflective path, so I knew that it was going to do spectacular things to Rosanna Bruno's paintings when they were on the opposite wall. I expecially dig how, because of the shiny and dulled surfaces it clips off the image it's reflecting. Too much fun.