Hyperbolic Internet Map, 2010 Not all museums were alike. But when they were alike, they were alike in different … [Read more...]
The Decline of Art and Other Visualizations
January 4, 2011 by
Pointillism or pointlessness? Visualizations I Have Known: A Tale of Two Villages I am a fan of visualization. Because...when you think of it, all art is a form of same, right? Even paintings; particularly paintings. Visualization is a way of thinking and communicating. My breakthrough was the braid. I was annoyed with the way the history of art is pictured, in words, but also in … [Read more...]
Oliver Herring: Lights, Camera, Action
December 19, 2010 by
Oliver Herring Is Ready for His Close-up Walking into Oliver Herring's recent exhibition titled "Areas for Actions" (October 7 to November 6 at the Meulensteen Gallery) was like entering a particularly messy photo shoot. People and cameras everywhere. An environment of materials and props. Splashes of color on the walls and windows. A scantily clad young man and a scantily clad young woman, supine on the floor, were slowly being sprinkled with glitter by the fully clothed artist, identified by a mutual friend who … [Read more...]
Paul Thek Revised: The Missing Years
November 15, 2010 by
Theknologies During this Great Recession, which comes with an art slump as well as an economic one, it is clear that during the last decade, not only did so-called theory not pay off, but that art sank, as did aesthetics. What I now call the tragic academic --- fourth generation neo-CONceptualism, neo-Pop, and re-inSTALLation art --- is a bore. Painting is still in hiding. Sculpture, dead. Bloggers lament that there are no more art movements. Theorists cheer, not realizing that now they have nothing to … [Read more...]
Old News at the New Museum
November 2, 2010 by
The Rules of the Game Brought in by my poetry elder John Ashbery in 1961, I was interviewed and then hired by the editor of Art News, Thomas B. Hess, a famous critic of that time. The avuncular Mr. Hess offered two rules: 1. Never write a review of artworks you have not actually seen. Reviews were supposed to be published when the exhibitions were still up o readers could cross-check your descriptions. (Only newspapers manage that now.) This meant the Art News reviewer had to make studio visits. Or, if the art were by a dead artist or … [Read more...]
Ab Ex Redux: Game-Changer or Business as Usual?
October 18, 2010 by
Fasten Your Seat Belts: The MoMA Syndrome Writ Large The MoMA Syndrome, as previously identified on Artopia, is the reverse of the Stendahl Syndrome or is the Stendahl Syndrome inside-out. Instead of swooning when you actually see the glory of Florence, the MoMA Syndrome is defined by that sinking feeling of disappointment when victims see artworks previously known only through color reproductions or projections in a lecture hall. On John Perreault's Artopia Facebook Group, I initiated what turned out to be a … [Read more...]
James Franco: The Artist Who Kissed Sean Penn…and Got Paid for It!
September 19, 2010 by
James Franco, Burning House. Video/plywood. Interior view. From "The Dangerous Book Four Boys." At the new Clocktower Gallery, N.Y.C., until Oct.1 Smile, Though Your Heart Is Breaking As controversial as Work of Art: The Next Famous Artist, the emergence of movie star James Franco as an artist is actually much more interesting -- telling, profound, puzzling -- than that … [Read more...]
Brion Gysin: Bigger Than Life
August 10, 2010 by
Brion Gysin: Self-Portrait, 1961.Photo: Courtesy of Musée D'art Moderne De La Ville De Paris … [Read more...]
