Archives for October 2011

This announcement came on Friday last week, long after I’d left Boston, but I want to highlight it just the same: a large trove of outsider art and folk art has been given to the Harvard Art Museums by Didi and David Barrett. That Harvard accepted it says something encouraging about outsider and folk art, but there was more: the gift, of 38 drawings and painting “take[s] our holdings of American contemporary art in an exciting new direction,” Thomas W. Lentz, the museum’s director, said in the press release announcing the gift.

Presumably, that signals that Harvard will not only not put this in the storerooms, but will show it and encourage students to study it and compare/contrast it.

The Barrett gift includes work by 28 artists, working between the 1930s and the 1990s; among the artists are Bill Traylor, Joseph Yoakum, and Nellie Mae Rowem. It also includes three rare “ledger book drawings” made by members of the Plains Indian tribes in the late 19th century.

Here are some highlights:

…Bill Traylor’s Mule and Plow (c. 1939-42), drawn with poster paint and ink on cardboard (above). Thornton Dial Sr.’s Talk Show (1990s) and Life Begins with Crawling (1992) are two of the largest paintings in the collection. Talk Show (1990s), an image of Oprah Winfrey, makes use of wire screen, lids from paint cans, and industrial sealing compound to fashion a rich, three-dimensional painterly surface that recalls abstract expressionist works.

…also…three paintings by Howard Finster, including If A House Be Divided against Itself That House Cannot Stand (c. 1978)….[and] Three works by Felipe Jesus Consalvos, a Cuban-born artist…Grins and Chuckles (c. 1920-50) portrays George Washington with a zeppelin under his arm, surrounded by an array of cut-out figures from American history.

Whether or not you appreciate outsider art and folk art — and I know some of my readers do not — both categories of art are worth academic study and evaluation. That’s why this gift is good.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Harvard University  

 

Can Boston shake its reputation for being too conservative for a vibrant contemporary art sector?

With the opening this fall of the Museum of Fine Arts’s new contemporary wing, plus the 75th anniversary special events of the Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston boosters are hoping so. (That’s Jill Medvedow, ICA’s director, at left, and a glimpse of the MFA’s contemporary wing below.)

And truth be told, there is more going on in Boston than the city gets credit for. I lay some of it out in an article in today’s New York Times. If I’d gone a little further beyond the city — to the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis, the de Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum, plus other college museums — the case would strengthen a bit more.

It’s not just a matter of putting the art out there, of course, and the MFA, for one, is devoting its Thursday nights this fall to a series, Contemporary Thursdays, with discussions about the new art on view and other activities related to the wing.

The ICA, originally an offshoot of the Museum of Modern Art, is adding sizzle to its 75th anniversary gala this Friday with 75 Artists for 75 Years — an opportunity to buy a work by one of artists who have exhibited at the museum over the years.

Those donating include Paul Chan, Francesca DiMattio, Mona Hatoum, Leslie Hewitt, Charles LeDray, Josiah McElheny, Catherine Opie, David Salle, Swoon, Stephen Tourlentes, William Wegman, and Rachel Perry Welty. Each can be purchased for $3,000, with proceeds going to the ICA. The catch? It’s a grab bag –buyers don’t know what they’re buying until the gala, when numbers will be drawn and matched to tickets.

So you’ve got to love all contemporary art if you’re going to participate — or maybe there will be a lot of trading afterwards.

Boston still lacks a vibrant gallery scene, but its base of contemporary collectors is growing, and given the city’s proximity to New York, I’m not sure the gallery sector is all that important in Boston.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of the New York Times 

 

This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach — the 10th edition — will be bigger than ever: new or bigger events, a secret celebratory party, at least a few new galleries. 

The fair’s success has been amazing: I recall the doubts many people, including me, had. Was Miami the right place? Was December the right time? Etc. etc. 

It all turned out pretty well, obviously. The art communities in Miami and Miami Beach are much more vibrant than many could have imagined, at least for part of the year. Certainly, the hotels and restaurants do well from the fair. As Marc Spiegler, co-director of Art Basel (the organizer), told me recently, “virtually all of [the fair’s main galleries] do some kind of dinner or cocktail reception on opening night.” That’s above and beyond the functions of the fair itself and the many art institutions and collectors there.

In the special “Fine Arts & Exhibitions” section of The New York Times, now available online but in tomorrow’s paper, I go behind-the-scenes of some of the players at ABMB — David Zwirner Gallery, Blum & Poe Gallery, the Fairchild Gardens (which stages its annual art exhibition during ABMB), and the fair itself. Here’s the link.

It’s not all fun and games, though — and that section of my article had to be cut for space reasons. So I’m posting some of it here:

…A gallery’s owner, directors and sales people …[are there], not only to staff the booth, but also to entertain clients, go to the fair’s events, and visit area collections and maybe satellite fairs. Galleries procure event invitations for their clients, and often escort them, too. Who does what when? It’s a puzzle, maintained by someone at every gallery who tries to spread the load fairly evenly. It can be exhausting.  

Here’s what Greg Lulay, a director of the Zwirner gallery, did during eight days at Art Basel Miami Beach last year: He spent two full days installing the booth, and one dismantling it. In between, he worked in the booth from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, preceded by a morning sales meeting, and from noon to 8 p.m. for the next four days. He visited private collections on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings.

 

At night, he attended the Zwirner gallery’s own cocktails and dinner party with clients at the Raleigh Hotel on Wednesday; the Miami Art Museum reception, followed by dinner with clients, on Thursday; dinner with clients on Friday; the ArtForum Magazine party on Saturday, and the Art Basel Miami Beach closing party on Sunday.

 

Sunday morning was free.

Not that this is heroic work, but having worked ABMB as a journalist, I thought it was appropriate to outline the long hours so many people put into to making ABMB (or any fair) a success.

That’s a picture of the Hauser + Wirth booth at last year’s ABMB, above.

Photo Credit: Courtesty of ABMB

 

I am flummoxed. Here is the latest press release I received from the National Endowment for the Arts.

It came yesterday, and says, in full:

Washington, DC–Game on! State arts agencies across the country are becoming increasingly sophisticated and active in their use of social media to connect with their constituents. Until recently, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) claimed to have the largest group of Facebook friends of any of the state arts agencies.

However, the DCCAH’s status was resoundingly challenged when the California Arts Council (CAC) and the Arizona Commission on the Arts (ACA) took each other on to be the first state arts agency to reach 10,000 friends. Perhaps it was the World Series fervor in the air, but the DCCAH decided to field its own team and enjoin the Facebook battle declaring “we’ve stepped to both states and declared ‘WAR.'” 

The numbers confronting the DCCAH in this race to 10,000 are formidable. California has a population of 37 million over an area of 164,000 square miles and currently 5564 friends (as of October 18.) Arizona’s population is 6.3 million over an area of 114,000 square miles with 5479 friends to date. While DC comes in with only 600,000 people and 68 square miles, it can boast 5373 friends to date. 

The National Endowment for the Arts, seeking to promote the arts across the nation, is stepping forward with its own take on the challenge and offering a prize to the first of the competitors to reach 10,000. The winner will receive a week’s worth of features on the NEA’s Facebook page (9239 friends to date).

You can join in the race to the top by visiting the CAC, ACA or DCCAH Facebook pages and “liking” your favorite contestant.

See for yourself.

I understand the importance of social media, but hasn’t the NEA got more important things to do? 

 

Breaking Now: Max Anderson, director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, has been named director of the Dallas Museum of Art.

That’s what my sources say…

Why exacty Anderson would want to make the jump is a bit puzzling. The Indianapolis Museum’s collection is about twice the size of the Dallas museum’s. It’s better, too.

However, in Dallas, there’s more money for Anderson to cultivate. He can try to make the museum grow faster. The Dallas Museum is also not the only game in the area: when you consider the wealth of art in Fort Worth — the Kimbell, the Amon Carter, the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art — there’s a good, strong nucleus of excelltent institutions. The opportunity to build may be better. 

I can only guess that Dallas’s population is growing faster than Indianapolis’s too. And perhaps Dallas has a greater appetite for contemporary art: though Anderson was trained in antiquities, I have detected a lot of interest in contemporary art when I speak with him. Dallas has a strong contingent of contemporary art collectors.

UPDATE: The news has now been announcced. Anderson will assume his role at the DMA on January 9, 2012.