Unmonumental (after Joy Garnett, on top of Duchamp)

The clearest political/art historical reference I found at the 2010 Whitney Biennial was in the bathroom. I kid you not. I almost looked around to see if there was a placard. But no, it was just coins on a urinal. Oh, if I had only had the Is This Art? app then.

Bedroom.

Ari Marcopoulos's Detroit is one of the highlights of the Biennial. Full of Noise, the film of the kids he captures making racket in their bedroom is loose and fluid and jammed with color. The music is as direct as the filming, improvised and fresh. Who are these kids? Wolf Eyes, Jr. The Squirrel Bait of Noise. Who knows? Who cares? What a blast.

Cool, but I'm also psyched for when Marcopoulos moves outside the frame and presents some Noise in the Whitney's lower room for their My Turn series. Orphan and Yellow Tears will be in the house. Yellow Tears, motherfuckers! The kings of The Piss Mop. Those who would fist pump to the processed sound of rain. The shirtless. If there's any hope for the space that has contained some of the most boring hours I've ever spent in the land of art (one word: panels), Yellow Tears are it.

Here.

Shall we start with Pavement? Yes, let's.


And then. Oh, my. Kate Gilmore's installation and video at The Whitney Biennial. So fucking good. And I LOVE that the partially unseen scene of the crime is in the room with the video. It's been a blast to see Gilmore move some of her work out of the studio and into the sites. It adds a dimension of physical tension to watching the videos. There she is. There she was. Here you are. Bring your body.

To Be Real.

Good from the gitgo, Robert Grosvenor's sculpture got better and better every time I walked by. Libby said she wanted to touch it. I couldn't agree more. Perceived weight + real weight + texture - space = desire.

Why Noise Is More Fun Than Art.

Here's a head cleaner. Pyrrhic Thanatology Monger's exceptionally and appropriately messy release Free Health Care on the Fusty Cunt label.


And why is Noise more fun than art? Midwest kid garbed in at least five directions of Heavy Metal walks up to a Noise maven and shows him his tape inspired by the healthcare debate. Tape makes it to the shelves of Hospital in a week. And the sounds are mighty and mightily fucked. As a bonus, the packaging reminds one of a rectal exam. Totally appropriate.

Go Ask Alice.

Salvador Dalí, First Cylindric Crono-Hologram. Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain, 1973

Catching up with myself now . . . As part of their FLASH POINTS series, Must art be ethical?, the art21 blog has posted my piece "Art is Murder." I dive into the gray with Richter, Dalí, Banks Violette, Alice Cooper and all things Black Metal. Ethics in art? I'm against it! Except when I'm for it (Which isn't very often.).

The Mysteries Of Pittsburgh.

Tony Oursler, Vampiric Battle, 2009, @ The Mattress Factory

I wrote a two-parter for Hyperallergic a couple weeks ago about the wonders (and mysteries) of Pittsburgh. A highlight of my art viewing every year, it was nice to get to work it all out long-form stylee. Big ups to Hrag who is, like, the coolest and bestest editor in the world. Here's Part 1. And here's Part 2.

And Sidney Crosby wept.

Community.

Oh, hello very wonderful PLG Community Mural Project in Prospect Lefferts Gardens! Got a nice little tour of the project yesterday and in the process completely fell in love with this neighborhood.

To You.

Snowgasm.

In celebration of today's weather I give you one of our faves here at HAA, Andrea Champlin's Snowgasm. White is the new white. At least today it is.

Click on the image to make it blow up. Srsly.

Staring At The Sun.

Well, to quote Tonio K, better late than never. Last month I had a couple of my ideas for Jeffrey Deitch's upcoming star turn included over at Fast Company Any opportunity to use the words "exhumed body of "exhumed skull of John Fante" and "Eli Broad" in the same sentence I'm gonna take it. Ethics aside (which I'm always more than happy to do here at HAA), I can't wait to see what the Michael Kinsley of the art world does in the City of the Angels.