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.

And Her Feet Flyin' Up In The Air.

Kate Gilmore, Walk This Way, 2008, single channel video.

Man. It's gonna be one hell of an art weekend. Two of my faves have openings, Kate Gilmore and Zoe Strauss. First up . . . Kate Gilmore. Kate's show opens tonight at Smith-Stewart on the LES. The still shown above is classic Gilmore: tearing through shit with an attention to color. The narrative that develops during the course of her videos is involving as hell, but what holds the viewer closer is her absolute command of color. I will follow. I will follow. But you already know that.

And yes, I just built a bridge between Aerosmith, U2, and feminist performance art. And now that I've used the phrase "feminist performance art" I have to cancel it out by saying that I think Gilmore's works also on a very, very personal level, and that anything political flows from that. I might be wrong though. [Update: I'm not.] I've never asked her about this. But that's how it works for me.

Presently, you can also see Gilmore's work at the ICA in Philly, AND in the show I curated at Pluto Gallery. Ooh. Also, she has a piece in the very excellent group show at Apex Art, Perverted by Theater curated by Franklin Evans and Paul David Young. She's all over the place.

Addendum. It's been itching at the back of my skull all day. That still I posted reminded me of a painting, but I couldn't remember which one. It just came to me . . . Charline von Heyl's MB from 2005. There you have it.

Heaven.

Reaching back a couple weeks here, but I had to post this pic I took at the Christie's auction preview the other week. This pairing of Louise Bourgeois and Jean-Michel Basquiat was one inspired curatorial move (Are they called curators at auction houses?). I think I went back to this room about 5 times. You've got arms. You've got legs. And you've got Heaven.

And here's the Basquiat, full on. You know what killed me? The cage-like mouth. Not a key in sight.

Speaking of Cease and Desist.

Bill Keller should just send a messenger over to Cheim & Reid to pick up his cease and desist order from John Cheim. The image (above) that accompanied this article in the Times today clearly steals ideas directly from Jack Pierson's brain. I mean, what's the diff between this and the whole goofyass Barney's sitch? In my short time as an art world observer that still is one of the oddest moves I've ever seen by a gallery owner. I-N-E-X-P-L-I-C-A-B-L-E. Two and a half years later and I'm stilled awed by it.

Christmas Time In The Shitty.

All this recent talk of the movie based on the Thomas Kinkade painting reminded me of this post I did back in March of 2007 inspired by Tyler's suggestion that we list our 5 picks for paintings to be turned into movies. I couldn't resist reposting (repitching) my idea for the film. I still think my idea would have been better even though I still don't have a plot for it. I also bet that what they have come up with is STILL better than whatever uberhack Quentin Tarrantino is working on right now. Anyway, to quote myself . . .

Actually, I think that the idea to turn this piece of shit Thomas Kinkade painting into a movie is much better than giving Quentin Tarrantino more money to make another one of his boring amoral crapfests. I've no idea what the plot should be, but the soundtrack absolutely must be culled from Tiny Tim's Christmas Album and the entire Blowfly catalogue. Speaking of the latter, I can't think of a better romantic male lead for the film.


Photo of Blowfly and his friend by Michael Pilmer © 2006

Picture Disc of the Apocalypse.

Seeing that story today about the idiotic priest talking about Obama and the apocalypse put me in a mood for Current 93 tonight. The man behind Current 93, David Tibet, is a guy who actually takes the apocalypse seriously, at least in a symbolic way. Feelin' the end of the world led me to pull out this great C93 picture disc, Who Is The Sufferer? I mean, seriously. Vinyl is the best.


Probably an appropriate time to check out this live version of Antichrist and Barcodes on YouTube. Also, since this is an art blog I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't direct you to Catland: The art of Louis Wain, Tibet's favorite artist. Catland, sometimes called pussydom is the first place we come to.

Picture Disc Of The Day.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - 41st Century Splendid Man


side-A
1. 41st Century Splendid Man


side-B
1. The Creation of The Human Race
2. Dalai Gama

Bending Buddha.

Remember when I got my first Buddha Machine? Yeah. That was fun. Three years on and it still amazes me. If I curated a show of sound art I would just put one of these things in the middle of the room, turn it on, and walk away. There's an on/off/volume switch and a switch to move between one short sound loop and another (9 total). The object itself is as intimate as the small transistor radio I used to fall asleep to when I was a kid listening to WCFL through the night.

Kelefah Sennah said this in the Times back in 2005 . . .
". . . a modified version of a popular Chinese gadget that intones Buddhist prayers; this new model is a weird, mesmerizing, beautifully useless thing."

And now, Buddha Machine 2.0 has hit the shops. Like I said last time, you need one. There are 9 new loops. Still some straight-up gorgeous drones, but also some itchy surprises. Some plucked. Some struck. All of them create their own little repetitive world. However, there's a big twist with 2.0. Pitch bending. As the press release says, "It's like a whammy bar for your Buddha Machine." Heh-heh. I love the fact that there's no marker for the starting point so to get back to the original sound is almost impossible. You bought it, you break it. It frees the machine to be unique in everybody's hands. Unlimited.

The Tale Of Her Tapes.

Ursula Bogner, 1978

Click here. Trust me. Read the story and keep scrolling down for sound samples.

Better yet, don't trust me. Let's rely on our favorite unreliable narrator, Momus, to narrate.

Won't need much persuadin'.

Maureen Cavanaugh's new show, Stay With Me, opening tonight at one of my LES faves, 31 Grand. And here's the song. Although I don't think it was quite what she was thinking, but the show can be seen as an interesting inversion of sorts.

UPDATE: Cavanaugh's work confuses me. Which means I'm going back for more. Which probably means that you should too. She's really blown things open for this show. It might just be a monster.

Maria Bartiromo

And yes . . .

You need all three. I'm talking about Brit artist Sam Taylor-Wood's single I'm in Love with a German Film Star (produced by The Pet Shop Boys) which comes in three formats: 12", CDEP, and a limited hand-numbered 7". All killah. No fillah. Which is pretty impressive given that it's the same song remixed 7 times + the original version. Honestly though, I wasn't worried a bit. The release is on KOMPAKT which has the tightest quality control of any label of any genre out there. Ooh. And that photo. I'm ashamed to admit that I wasn't familiar with S T-W's work before this. That's about to change. Especially after looking at the fabulous video she's made for the song. She doesn't even need to raise a hand or move her lips or, well, anything really. The cigarette does all the work.

Alright, Judith.

Is Judith Schaecter on a roll or what? First, a solo show at Claire Oliver in September and a commissioned piece for the opening of The Museum of Arts and Design. Now, a United States Artists fellowship. Most awesome. Great news and well-deserved news at that. But you already know how I feel.

via Zoe. (There must be something in that South Philly water.)

Painting In Thailand.

René Smith, object of much Heart As Arena fandom, is teaching painting in Thailand for a year. Color me envious. (Not that I could teach anything in Thailand other than, like, spastic art blogging.) But also, color me lucky, because René is blogging about it on her new blog Painting In Thailand. Now YOU can be envious along with me. For the full story on the picture I posted, click here. Let's just say that René has found some collaborators of who are very in touch with their reptilian brain. Mmmm, paint.

He's Happy. I'm Happy.

Jean-Micheal Basquiat, Untitled (Boxer)

Christie's preview today, man. And Lars' baby is on the block. You KNOW I'm not gonna miss this. I'd feel bad for him had I not seen how happy he gets when he sells Basquiat paintings. Seriously. Don't miss that last link. Both eye and heart in the right place.

UPDATE: OMG, the filthy rich are hilarious to watch. I've never heard so many people wanting to be, um, overheard. They'll make great pets.

Favorite non-moment. I'm practically in prayer in front of a Jack Goldstein, and this guy comes near the piece. Backs up to look at it. Starts writing something down. I'm, like, cool. A Goldstein fan. I say, "Great painting, right?" When he realizes I'm talking about the Goldstein he points to the Thomas Ruff next to it and says, "Actually, I'm interested the Ruff." (and then he mutters some shit about the price). Of course you are, dude. Why have taste and money?

Drunken Masters.

Jack Goldstein, Untitled (Painting #43), 1981

Oh, HELLO. It's time for another Phillips de Pury auction preview this afternoon. Y'all know how much I love these things. It's a winning combination of viewing some wonderful art between collections, the weird but kinda fun spectacle of seeing prices beside the work, and . . . oh yeah, getting drunk with Cesar. What's not to like about this? I ask you.

10" Picture Disc Of The Day!

Various Artists - ExpStatic

A 10" split release between two labels, Expanding Records and Static Caravan. Each track is better than the last one, even if you play them in reverse order.


Side A
A1 Lillienthal: King Of Information
A2 Hulk: Paper Rock Scissors
A3 Marcia Blaine School For Girls: Miss Prism


Side B
B1 Benge: Bambie
B2 Stendec: Incluse
B3 Vessel: Sticker

No Gun Control.

Andy Warhol

Because it's not like they cling their guns or anything.

Sound & Vision.

After the workout of the final pulling together of the show last week, I'm giving my art heart a little rest this week, but not to worry, my ears have taken over. Finally getting my turntable fixed has made it even more fun than usual with new discoveries and old standbys.


Emeralds / Quintana Roo split - Bubble Quiet Complication / Beheaded Dynasty (Yo! Check that green marbled vinyl. Sweet!)


The Aztec Mystic - Knights of the Jaguar EP


Shallow Waters - Equal Eyes LP


Cold Cave's new 7" - Painted Nails


Muslimgauze - Tandoori Dog

All You Zombies.

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (I shop therefore I am), 1987

Firstly, all praises to The Hooters. Then, there are so many stunning quotes in this article in the Times about the current state of consumerism you should just read the whole thing, but here's my fave ...

“You walk the mall and consumers look like zombies,” said Mr. Morris of Wachovia [Yeah. Bankers are taking field trips to malls.], after visiting a mall last week. “They’re there in person, but not in spirit.”

As if we ever were. The mask is slipping, and people are starting to use both hands to hold it up. The article made me think of one of the best performances at No Fun Fest this year by Power Electronics duo, Shallow Waters. The set ended with the singer screaming into the microphone the words, "We will die from hunger. We will die from hunger. We will die from hunger." over and over. No matter who our President, we need to stop eating our own arms to survive.

Oh, and there is. There SO is.

Looking up.

On the line in NC.

I Think You Know.

Repairs.

Recovering here. I'll be gettiing back into the blogular groove in the next couple days, but for now I'm bouncing back with the help of my Planar 3 and it's recent motor upgrade. Check some of the goodness I've been catching up on tonight.

12"


Fuchsbau - Null/Eins

AFX (aka Aphex Twin [aka Richard D. James]) - Analord series

Sleeparchive

Fourway Anal Touchfight - Heritage

7"


Bone Awl - ...So I Must Take From The Earth and Make it My Own...

Z'EV / John Duncan / Aidan Baker / Fear Falls Burning - Untitled

Taylor Bow - Hate Fuck

Ash Pool - Black Bondage in the North


Craniopagus / Sharpwaist - Split

First Notice.

Photo of Robert Schatz work by Olympia Lambert.

Unbreak My Heart has gotten it's first notice . . . from Olympia Lambert over at Oly's Musings. Most excellent.

I Mean It.

The show. Opening tonight.

Unbreak My Heart: Luke Whitlatch.

This guy isn't afraid of beauty, or what we might find inside it.

Unbreak My Heart Press release . . .
Luke Whitlatch: This is my across-a-crowded-room choice for the show. I went to see a jammed and lively group show of drawings at Daniel Weinberg Gallery a few summers ago in LA, and amidst the Ed Ruscha's, Lee Bontecou's, and Dan Zeller's it was a small drawing by Whitlatch that pulled me in and held me close. When I saw a couple of his paintings at the LA Art Fair here in NYC the next year I officially became a fan. This summer Luke had a piece in a group show at Rivington Arms and that cemented the deal.

Unbreak My Heart: Rosanna Bruno.

Rosanna Bruno knocked me the hell out when I visited her studio a couple years ago. Her larger paintings were the first thing I thought of when I was asked to curate this show. In a tidy little circle, Rosanna had some of her smaller but also-mighty paintings in the inaugural show at PLUTO, the Nicole Eisenman-curated Norf*ckneasters.

Unbreak My Heart Press release . . .
Rosanna Bruno: Very physical work. Sometimes it rips my head off right away and sometimes it takes awhile, consuming me slowly. I'll be standing in front of a painting and then suddenly I'm all, like, "Da-amn. Where is my head?" Her swaths aren't grand, sweeping gestures of the brush though. They're finely tuned vortices of color, line, and space. Enter here.

Unbreak My Heart: Kate Gilmore.

How perfect. When Unbreak My Heart opens on November 1, it'll be one day shy of 2 years since I posted my first big rave about Kate Gilmore's work. What a kick.

Unbreak My Heart Press release . . .
Kate Gilmore: Kate was an easy choice. If I do a studio visit with you and your work makes me cry, well then, if I I curate a show a couple years later I'm probably going to ask you to be in it. The video Heartbreaker is from 2004, but I couldn't pass up the irony of having it in the show. I mean, the artist takes an axe to a heart made out of lumber. In the destruction of her heart, she makes mine a little less broken. It's a weirdly triumphant act for both the artist and the viewer. Kate is the one artist for whom I put aside my self-imposed no-artists-with-representation rule. Big ups to Amy Smith-Stewart.

Steel.

Unbreak My Heart: Robert Schatz.

From the Unbreak My Heart Press release . . .
Robert Schatz: I've known Bob for years now, but I didn't see the swoopy and swirly goodness of his paintings until last year's show at The Phatory in Alphabet City. His intuitive and (literally) hands-on approach to the materials is a move towards nature, but it's his mad grasp of technique and composition that brings it home to the rest of us.

The Rope Tightens. The Branch Is Weak.

Whoa. An entire genre that feels like an endgame, and after 3-4 years you'd think it would lose some steam. Yeah. Well, not so much. This new Shackleton release pretty much proves that. And my man, DH is right. When the hell is somebody gonna ask one of these guys about Muslimgauze.

Unbreak My Heart: EJ Hauser.

Crew Man

EJ Hauser, man. The moment we figured out her wall, Bongwater came onto her iPod shuffle. A blessing from Ann Magnuson. That's all you need.

Unbreak My Heart Press release . . .
EJ Hauser: Whew! I was unfamiliar with EJ Hauser's work before artist Sarah Peters introduced me to it. (Thank you, Sarah.) Abstracts, not-quite-abstracts, and text paintings make up her three-pronged attack. The lines she develops in the text paintings are so strong you can forget the text, but I'd recommend against that. There's too much fun to be had therein. Killer stuff all around, actually. Beauty can be hard. Beauty can be delicious. In EJ's work it's both.

Unbreak My Heart: Beth Gilfilen.

I had asked two artists for recommendations and BOTH of them told me I needed to check out Beth Gilfilen's work. Yep. They were right. Knockout stuff.

Unbreak My Heart Press release . . .

Beth Gilfilen: The two paintings we chose for the show are awesome gestures of texture and space-building on their own, but side-by-side they sing harmony like Gary Louris and Lucinda Williams on Williams' song, Essence. The dominance shifts back and forth between the voices and sometimes they share the middle. In one painting the color and action fills the canvas, and in the other Gilfilen let's the white space fly. Back and forth they go, making me wonder who's in charge.