I Predict.

Not to go all Crystal Ball on you but sometimes it's just really easy. I predict, like Criswell, that the next few days will utterly RULE! Here's why.

Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe will be up at Gray-Kapernekas on Friday. I'll be going to a preview Thursday night. To be honest, I'm not that familiar with Gilbert-Rolfe's work, but I am very familiar with the flawless taste of Alexander Gray and Venetia Kapernekas. They've been open for a year now, and they've knocked me on my keister with every show. I was happy to see that their dedication to midcareer artists garnered them a mention in Holland Carter's recent article in the Times. That dedication makes what they're doing important, but the quality of the art they're showing is what makes them essential.



Friday is Cinco de Mayo. Monica will lead the way. Bottles and hearts will be broken.

Saturday brings two bits of predictable goodness. First, I'm traveling to Philly to see Zoe Strauss' I-95 show earlier in the day. (See Strauss' blog for directions and more photos.) Once a year Strauss exhibits 250 photographs underneath I-95 for two hours. In my book, this officially qualifies her for some kind of mad genius award. I smell MacArthur.




Saturday evening and Amtrak will bring me back to the city for the Creative Time event, Doug Aitken's Broken Screen Happening. This looks to be massive. Broken illumination. What more can a boy ask for? You know me. I love the sound of breaking glass.



Note: Sad to report that there's no more rsvp'ing for the Aitken shindig. The event is apparently booked beyond bookdom.

Still Fed Up With Being Sweet.

I wondered what happened to all those Slayers that were anointed at the end of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Apparently they've become artists, pooled their power, and are now kicking your ass as tART.

Their Salon Show and Benefit Auction for my beloved Creative Time is Saturday night. Unfortunately, I'll have to miss it because I'm going to the circus. So, spend some money for me, and make it count. They certainly will.

Here are some of the pieces . . .

Laura Fayer, "Home Base", acrylic and rice paper on canvas, 10" x 8"

Paddy Johnson, "Willing to Travel", digital print, 4.75 x 5.25" (frame 11" x 14")

Elaine Kaufmann, "Mercury Villager", digital photograph

Danielle Mysliwiec, "Corrupted Drive", oil on wood panel, 22" x 18"

Anne Polashenski, "Burmese and Thai Pattern Obliteration"

Yasmin Spiro, "Model for Shack", 8"x12"x12"


Update: Here's some installation shots from the, um, press preview. (ie, Y let me into her apartment early so I could post a couple more pics.) Sorry about the lack of labeling.

Letters.

When I walked into Cheim & Read Saturday I immediately thought that maybe I would take some pictures and use my Photoshop skills to rearrange Jack Pierson's letter sculptures to say something smartass like, "SIMON SAYS". The recent blow up about Barneys appropriating Jack Pierson's format was an unusually ham-fisted bit of intellectual and fiscal property protection. For the record, while Barneys might or might not have respect for Pierson's art, John Cheim's letter seemed to display little faith in it.

That said, as soon as I realized that Pierson had incorporated Barbara Pym into the show all was forgiven. I wasn't ready for that at all. I know. I'm easy, but . . . Barbara Pym! How often does she get mentioned anywhere? Between her work and her life she's a perfect touchstone for one corner of what Pierson is exploring here, female suffering. It was especially moving to see that candle flickering beside the well-worn copy of Less Than Angels.

Start anywhere. Everything I've read by Pym has been good. I have to say that the subtle power of the everyday in Quartet in Autumn is what makes that one my favorite. And trust me, nobody's ever going to copy her style to sell socks.

Medieval Mashups.

One show I've been meaning to mention is the Nancy Baker at Plus Ultra. Highly recommended viewing, and this is the last weekend for it. At first, I was thrown off by the tauntingly illustrative nature of the work. When I looked a little closer the illustration feeling dropped away, but the taunting stayed. That was interesting and more than a little thrilling.

Medieval scenes blow up with an unexpected palette and then get invaded by Caspar-like devils and villians, UFOs, Hindu dieties and paint-by-numbers foliage. Pop eating itself across the centuries. Seriously tasty.

Rust Never Sleeps.

Hey, hey. My, my.

Charlotte Nicholson: She's Got Gold.

Charlotte Nicholson Snowblind 3*
Heart As Arena pal Charlotte Nicholson put a hurtin' on Stephen Maine of Artnet when he went to see the group show, Presentational Painting III, at Hunter College. For those of you who know Charlotte's work this will not come as a surprise. The radiance is in the details.

Just one little note. Charlotte's paintings are fiercely difficult to photograph. This photo, nor any other I've seen, really does her work justice. Seeing it in the flesh is very much recommended.

*Photo totally lifted from Artnet.

Shi Jinsong's Na Zha Baby Boutique

The last few visits to Chelsea have offered up some nice unexpected surprises. A Jack Goldstein painting here, a Basquiat show there. I happened upon both these shows by accident.

Last week's glorious accident was Shi Jinsong's Na Zha Baby Boutique at Chambers Fine Art. I had gone to 210 11th Avenue to see the Judith Linhares show at Edward Thorp. (See Jerry Saltz's enthusiastic review of the Linhares here . Saltz nails it. I liked the show a little less than him, but only a little.)

After seeing Linhares' show, I hopped back on the elevator and ran into Chistophe Mao, a dealer I'd met a couple of times at Creative Time functions. I was under the very mistaken impression that he had a gallery in China. He actually has a gallery here (on the 4th floor of 210 as a matter of fact), representing artists from China. I hit the 4 button.

What a treat. Absolutely sick show (As in illin'.). The sculptures and the blueprints are beautiful in a really wrong way. Shiny, smooth, and caustic; they seethe with desperation and fear. The show made me think of Chinese birth control policies, David Bowman's utterly weird and thoroughly entertaining Bunny Modern, and the high school hallways of the Park Slope Stroller Brigade. All of these things lead me back to the primal urge to protect; not just your child, but what is yours. Possession. It is a sharp thing.

From the gallery's website, "The title refers to an enduring figure of Chinese folklore and mythology: Na Zha, an impish trickster with supernatural powers and flamboyant fashion sense (legend has it his red silk trousers generated so much heat the sea began to boil, enraging the East Sea Dragon King). Na Zha's essential ferocity long since tamed in the Chinese psyche, he is now chiefly celebrated as a God of Lotteries and Gambling, a commodified totem of the new global economy."

Marilyn Minter on Arsenio.

Huh? Seriously. Check out the link. Creative Time just posted the video of footage from 1989/1990 when Minter bought time on Arsenio, Letterman, and Nightline to air her film, Food Porn. Could she kick more ass? I think not.

There's also a short interview on the site. It's especially interesting to see her giving herself calluses from her painting method.

Courageous, Baby.

Tiny light, you're a star.

During tonight's New York Voices, Zoe Strauss took over my TV. What a kick. It got even better when I started to look at the pictures I had taken of my television. The crossfades were the happiest of accidents, some doubling up the heartbreak and beauty.

I know that this is a lot of photos, but I couldn't stop clicking. Plus, it's always fun to reference The Low Road.























My two favorite Biennial artists together. Zoe looks at one of Marilyn Minter's paintings.


Like I said: heartbreaking.