I'll be having a one-person show at District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC) of new paintings and paperworks. JW Mahoney has been kind enough to take the curatorial reigns on the show. Lloyd Wolf is doing some photography for me in the next week or so and as soon as they are ready I'll post a preview or two.

Interestingly enough, I was asked to propose the show after Art-o-matic, with everything people say one way or the other about AOM it has been a tremendous success for me and has opened doors I would not have thought possible.

The show opens January 18th - I hope to see you then,

Labels: Galleries, Painting, Washington DC

The Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art, a research arm of Harvard University Art Museums, has been given Barnett Newman's studio materials. The gift includes discarded paint trials, notes, sketches, and models of Broken Obelisk and gives researchers technical information about the artists studio practice.

Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, and Tony Smith at the Betty Parsons Gallery By Hans Namuth (1915-1990) Gelatin silver print, April 1951. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; gift of the estate of Hans Namuth

Labels: Museums, New York, Painting

An interesting story about people trying to get to see James Turrell's "Roden Crater". Here are the basics; no one is being invited these days to see it. very few people have seen it - most of them are by invite only. Flickr has a few images. Thats the story - here are the links to the images:

very1silent
Heide Pollock

The whole story is here.

Labels: 70's, conceptual art

Well here it is, the week after Thanksgiving. I know what your thinking, What do I get for that person who is impossible to shop for? Here is a slightly edited list that should work for quite a few of us out there...

Riding Boots
When I was in Chelsea earlier this month I could have sworn that there was some kind of equestrian event going on. Clearly this is what the fashionable gallerina is wearing this season.

Scotch
I think this always goes without saying. I prefer Johnnie Walker Blue, however Black will do in a pinch (truthfully - it's almost always black unless someone else is paying).

Paint
A thousand dollars of Williamsburg Handmade Oil Color will fill the heart of your artistic paramour (or even your loved one).

Remember the important things - artists love books, but hate to read (I know, go figure). And fashion, well it comes and goes. So with the latest Taschen catalog in hand here we go (BTW - the Taschen Catalog arrived at my house the day before Thanksgiving, giving me plenty of reading time). The following are available from www.Taschen unless otherwise noted.

Collecting Contemporary
I've read this and it is one of the most eye-opening things I've read about the art world in a long time.

Michelangelo. Complete Works
That pretty much says it all don't you think?

Bunker Spreckels: Surfing's Divine Prince of Decadence
This is brought to us by C.R. Stecyk III (Dogtown and Z-Boys, or the dogtown articles from Skateboarder magazine in the late seventies - I know, I'm getting old) BS's story reads almost like a surf version of the movie "Boogie Nights" except there is no Donnie Wahlburg, Burt Reynolds or that creepy distributor guy.

Johnnie Winona Ross
Writing from Carter Ratcliff and Douglas Drieshpoon. Published by Radius books, and designed by Skolkin+Chickey is available in two versions - one a standard hardbound edition, and a deluxe version with a limited edition print. Available through Stephen Haller Gallery as well as being distributed by DAP.

Quick and off topic
If Christian on "Project Runway" does one more Vivienne Westwood knock off jacket, I'm going to scream.

Labels: holidays

I leave you with this: Thanksgiving Prayer by William Seward Burroughs

The New York Times reported (via the Associated Press) on Saturday that six wooden Brillo boxes in the Moderna Museet are fakes madethree years after Warhol's death. The Moderna said it had investigated the six Brillo boxes after a Swedish newspaper claimed that they were copies. The Swedish paper Expressen claimed that Hulten (a former director at the Museet), who died last year, sold a number of the copies with certificates falsely stating that they were made for a Warhol exhibition in Stockholm in 1968.

Labels: 60's, international, Museums

Johnnie Winona Ross at Stephen Haller
JWR's latest show at Stephen Haller clearly extends the vocabulary of approaches involved in building images in a reductive vein. JWR has placed his emphasis on the process as well as the final image, allowing the viewer to become engaged in the making of the artwork since it literally sits on and slightly below the surface. Concerns about the attachment of the canvas to it's support are as evident as always via handcrafted tacks showing along the side of the stretcher.

The show, titled, Deep Creek Seeps, is a series of quiet paintings, that upon closer or longer inspection reveal themselves in unexpected ways, suddenly you become aware of just how much detail and concern is placed in each image. It may take a moment, but once you start looking, the artworks become as busy as the desert that they are so obviously inspired by. Let me take a moment to unpack that a little, the desert, to the average viewer is just that, sand maybe a cactus every once in a while. Once you start looking in depth at the desert you find a complex system of life, it's always been there - you just have to look for it and possibly wait for it.

I'm always amazed at how many different elements actually make up a single piece in JWR's work.

Extended play
JWR has just had hist first monograph published. Covering JWR's work from 1995 to the present with writing from Carter Ratcliff and Douglas Drieshpoon only add to this gorgeous book. Published by Radius books, and designed by Skolkin+Chickey it is available in two versions - one a standard hardbound edition and the other a clamshell including the book and a limited edition print. It is available through Stephen Haller Gallery as well as being distributed by DAP.

The show runs through November 24th.



Jaq Chartier at Schroeder Romero
Jaq Chartier mixes science and art in creating cerebral and sensual artworks. Clearly the art side (painting) is the primary concern mixed in with a strong experimental approach to the images and the chemicals that make them. I've spoken about JC's work here before so it should come as no surprise to see it mentioned here. The latest show at Schroeder Romeo continues with works from the "testing" series. These are the images that initially interested me in JC's work, I think you will find them interesting as well.

The show runs through November 24th.



Richard Prince at the Guggenheim
This show was everything I wanted it to be. That said, I've talked about RP way too much over the last couple of months - so this will be short. The best pieces for me are the car hoods. I've read interviews that RP thinks that maybe the car hoods are to minimal - and he's right, they are. However, they are stripped down and out of step with the rest of the work, and to me that speaks volumes about the core subject of the artwork and the changes that have been made and will continue to be made in the future.

I once read a review of the girlfriend images and the author referred to them as the sexiest images of women she had seem in a long time. I realized that she was right, I wish I could remember who wrote that.

The show runs through January 9th.

Labels: Galleries, Jaq Chartier, Johnnie Winona Ross, New York, Richard Prince

Joel Shapiro, untitled, 2002-2007, bronze, 13' 4" x 27' 9-1/2" x 12' 11"

I hate the fact that MoMA is closed on tuesday's (and that the Gugenheim is closed thursday's) this really does start to tweak my plans in ways I was not expecting. That said, I did not see the Martin Puryear show, I'll have to settle with seeing it when it comes here. I was really pleased by the amount of minimal and post-minimal work on display this month.



Carl Andre at Paula Cooper
I'm a fan of Carl Andre's work. However this installation just didn't have the immediacy that I have grown accustom to in his installations. There was some very smart interplay with the floor's construction and the placement of four floor pieces that worked inside the grid they set up and then re-inforced that in the grid of the floor. That was an unexpected approach to energizing the entire space.

Joel Shapiro at Pace
So I walk across the street and stumble into Jeol Shapiro's show. It's been awhile since I've seen a show of his and I really forgot just how fully occupied the room becomes with just a few objects. On top of this there is this amazing craft in all the work - even the rough edged ones. The show is centered by this great piece with a long cantilevered extension that just does not allow you to look away. Highly recommended. On a different note, it's really great to see a gallery showing sculpture in a way that you can actually walk around the entire object - sculpture is just so much stronger when it is not pushed into a corner or against a wall (unless it is supposed to be pushed against a wall). I'm seeing far to many shows everywhere where this is becoming the norm. It's really short sighted for the work and does the view a disservice.

Barry Le Va at Sonabend
Continuing with the amazing thread of minimal and post-minimal work, I was thrilled to see Le Va's show - it really spoke of a different time; work on construction paper with binder clips, xerox's, dimestore photographs, and transparencies. If a younger artist was making this work today it would be done in photoshop and then output in a color inkjet, and then shown ten times the size these are - losing exactly the delicate nature of the objects - however keeping the approach intact. For the viewer this delicate approach is the visual thing that kept me looking.

Four Friends (Jean-Michael Basquiat, Keith Haring, Donald Baechler & Kenny Scharf) at Tony Shafrazi
This show for me was a real guilty pleasure, It brought back memories of the mid eighties when I was in school and these artists were just getting some recognition. But really as much as I like these artists, it was the Donald Baechler works that really took the limelight from the others. A year or so I spoke of how it seems that the JMB artworks that are available seem to be secondary - this trend is continuing - sadly.

Tomorrow I talk about work made in the current century - Johnnie Winnoa Ross, Jaq Chartier, and Richard Prince's show at the Guggenheim.

Labels: conceptual art, Galleries, New York

I visited Jason Horowitz in his studio a few days ago. What I learned was interesting as well as proved points about the viewing of artworks that we (or I anyway) always say, but constantly break. By this I'm referring to the practice of believing that web images are the same as viewing art. JH's photographs are large in size - about 40 x 60 inches. The images themselves are close up (but not too close) of the human figure. Let's break this down a moment so you understand why I said "not too close" these are not some high school pictures of the body so abstracted you don't know what you see, just the opposite. In fact it is the recognition of the image that leads to further exploration by the viewer. So back to the size of the images - this is a key element to both viewing and understanding his work - shown smaller they don't seem to work in the same way.

JH shoots digitally, but these are for the most part "straight" photographs. They are sharp, and at the same time whole areas of an image reads as an abstract area. This flip-flop of detail (abstracted to sharp representation) for me becomes the most interesting part of the work. Recently, Horowitz has changed his approach as a photographer - stopping all of his commercial photography and is focusing exclusively on his studio work. I find this amazingly brave.

We spoke of many things in the studio, but at the core of our conversation was the thinking behind the approach of his work, and where it might go. A number of new things are on the horizon, and seem to be well worth waiting for.

Jason Horowitz is represented by Curator's Office.

Labels: Photography, Washington DC

I spent some time Saturday on 14th street and came away from two shows that I was excited to see, happy that I spent the time. A few things upfront about both shows, I actually own artworks by both of these artists. (This shocks me to no end - but that is another story) I became aware of both Lori Nix and Khan and Selesnick at various art fairs in Miami last year.

I"ve never really thought about it, but both artists set up environments and narratives, then produce work around those themes.

Lori Nix
Lori Nix's show is titled "The City". It shows and illustrates a version of New York that is growing back towards nature. These are not images that are trying to make you believe in the reality of the landscape, just the opposite - LN is only trying to suspend belief for a moment - to give the viewer a feeling that they have seen the location and then tell the story of the artwork. That said, the mis-en-scene is detailed and complete.

Nix's photographs are similar to telling stories over coffee, there is a simplicity and clarity - with fuzzy details that allows you to linger on her every word.

Kahn and Selesnick
Kahn and Selesnick come from a different place than Nix, K&S use documentary styles to bring you into a speculative fiction, one which although I'm sure they would hate is probably best termed "Steampunk". The current body of work titled "Eisbergfrestadt" (or Iceburg Free State) is based on the real incident of 1923 when an iceburg ran aground in the port town of Lubeck.

K&S use this jumping off point to develop images and relics of the period. One of the stories throughout the images is that the new currency printed for the state become so worthless that it is used as toilet paper and firewood. This reminds me of the stories my father told me about post World War I Germany, the currency was in such a state of inflation - people would practically carry money in wheel barrows to buy bread - this same story is illustrated here. The exhibition consists of photographs, sculptures, paintings, and ephemera. All of it interesting to see just for the approach to detail that these images take.

K&S's work in this particular series is laced with irony and satire allowing the viewer to realize that these works reflect not only a real or imagined past, but our present as well.

Extended Play
Kahn and Selesnick have recently received a commission from NASA. Based on Mars, the first of these new images "Mars Glider" is on display as well. In future posts, I promise not to go on too much about NASA and my feelings about how space travel was pulled away from me after being promised in my childhood.

I'm in New York Tuesday - there is just so much to see right now - here is the short list: Richard Prince, Martin Puryear, Jaq Chartier, Johnnie Winona Ross, just to name a few.

Labels: DC Galleries, Lori Nix, Photography, Washington DC

I have just been offered a show at DCAC in January, which I accepted. So please pencil in January 18, 2008 in your calendars for the opening. I'll have more on this later - however I'll try not to be all about me for the next few months.

I had a studio visit with Jason Horowitz, and I just need to find a few minutes to write it down. It was really eye-opening - not just about his work but it got me thinking about my work as well. Look for that Monday or Tuesday.

Labels: Galleries, Washington DC