Abramovic: How To Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, 2005. Notes on Performance Art Conventions rule. The iron hand of custom, as outlined last time around, keeps the art world under control. We must have art that stays the same for each visit, over time. We must have catalogues. And catalogues cannot be written about art before it exists. Biographies and pictures of previous works are not quite the same thing as a thorough, thoughtful analysis or...postmortem. The ephemeral, both in museums and in galleries, is suspect. Both writers and readers … [Read more...]

Richard Tuttle: Purple Octagonal, 1967 Richard Subtle   "To make something which looks like itself is the problem, the solution."               Richard Tuttle The new Richard Tuttle retrospective, initiated by SFMOMA and now at the Whitney (945 Madison Avenue, to Feb. 5), opens old wounds. But a rehash of yesterday's art rages is instructive in outlining how hierarchies function, how blame is apportioned, and how custom impinges upon artistic innovation. Essays in the … [Read more...]

Yves Klein, Untitled Monochrome Souvenirs of the Future                    Georges Mathieu: What is artfor you?                     Yves Klein: Art is health! What is one to do with Yves Klein? A museum-quality painting survey at the L & M Arts Gallery ( "Yves Klein: A Career Survey;" 45 East 78th Street, to December 10) and seven late fire paintings made of torched … [Read more...]