Jock Reynolds (A former WPA Director) was a real visionary when he was in the DC area so an idea like this is surprising - but not completely. I think its a very interesting idea.

(From the New York Times)
The Yale University Art Gallery, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Williams College Museum of Art have teamed up to present "Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective," a 25-year-long show to be installed in a newly renovated building at Mass MoCA in North Adams. In 2004, three years before LeWitt died, he and Jock Reynolds, director of the Yale gallery, began talking about the care and disposition of LeWitt's wall drawings. This led him to give Yale about 40 of these drawings, along with the wall-drawings archives.

Mr. Reynolds, realizing that Yale would never be able to show a large number of them at one time, initiated a discussion with Joseph C. Thompson, director of the 13-acre Mass MoCA campus. Mr. Thompson took LeWitt on a tour of Mass MoCA, and the artist set his sights on Building 7, an abandoned 30,000-square-foot three-floor industrial building.

"He placed every drawing and drew every wall," Mr. Thompson said.

When the project opens in November, nearly 100 wall drawings will be on view, dating from 1968 until LeWitt's death at 78 in April. About half are from Yale; the rest from public and private collections. The three institutions have raised more than $9 million, Mr. Thompson said. About $3.5 million will renovate Building 7 and $2.5 million will provide an endowment related to the exhibition. A catalogue raisonne will also be produced. Williams College is providing the educational programs tied to the show. Students from Williams, Yale and other institutions will work for six months as intern apprentices, installing the works with professionals from LeWitt's studio.

Labels: Drawings, Museums

This is really something I expected to see at AFC, however I picked it up from the Art Blogging LA site. Its a flickr page - however great concepts are still great concepts. It's a Friday - Enjoy.

Jasper Johns by www.paulthewineguy.com

Labels: general notice, Los Angeles

Massimo Vignelli will be giving a talk at VCU on Monday, February 11 at 3:30pm that is open to the public.

Detail are:
Massimo Vignelli
Grace Street Theatre, VCU campus
930 West Grace Street
Richmond, VA

A big thank you to Kelly Rand of DCist who reviewed my show for the DCist web site. Follow this link for the story.

Also I had a brief mention on the Washington Post Web site by the "Going Out Gurus" in the Got Plans? section of the website. I guess this is a transcript of a conversation held on Thursday, Jan 17, 2008. I'm mentioned in a question about 1/3 of the way down. Follow this link.

Labels: DC Galleries, Galleries, Matthew Langley, Painting

At Hillyer Art Space - runs through Feb. 22. I've seen parts of this collection before at the building museum - it's a fun show. I mean it's not going to change your view of the world or anything, but I really enjoy the focus of the collection. A set of more than 400 items, inherited from Washington collector and hardware-store pioneer John Hechinger.

Labels: DC Galleries, Galleries, Washington DC

Looking at my art you might be surprised to find that I have an above average interest in the game of chess (I joke, but I do...) Bobby Fischer was without a doubt the greatest - and saddest person to ever play the game at its highest level. I'm sure the newspapers have the full story, so I'm going to pass on re-telling the whole thing.

Overall the life story of Bobby Fischer is a sad story that curiously is being played out in a similar parallel in the life of Britney Spears. Before you snicker and think that BF was some kind of fool - he was just the opposite a superior complex thinker who literally was driven over the edge by his own mind.

When you look at Fischer, you see a man whose world outside of chess never became the extension of what he saw in a complex - but highly structured game. In the end, the messiness and randomness of the world will only remember him as someone who fell from the highest highs - to become a powerless eccentric.

Bobby Fischer, April 28, 1962. (John Lent, Associated Press / April 28, 1962)

Labels: Death, international

van Gogh sketchbook found
A sketchbook thought to have been Vincent van Gogh's has been found in Greece.

Taken by a Greek resistance fighter from a Nazi train, the sketchbook was discovered in storage boxes by his daughter, who is seeking to establish its authenticity with the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. (Via Reuters)

Museum Attendance Drops in Sweden
Visits to Sweden's national museums dropped nearly 20 percent last year after they ended their free admissions policy, The culture ministry said that Sweden's 19 national museums, 16 of them in Stockholm, recorded some 6.5 million visits in 2007, down from around 8.0 million a year earlier. The decline came after Sweden's government pushed through new admission fees to the museums starting on Jan. 1, 2007, two years after the previous government had removed the fees. (Via the New York Times)

Galleries continue to expand to the Lower East Side
bloggy.com reports that DCKT Contemporary will reopen on the Lower East Side, around the 3rd week of March. The first show will be a solo exhibition by Josh Azzarella, his first in NYC.

Labels: Fontana Mix

I have it on good authority that he is going to DCAC tonight for my opening.

Hope to see you there.

Labels: DC Galleries, Matthew Langley, Painting, Washington DC

You could have knocked me down with this one. The other day I received a call from the mysterious "B" Stanley at DCAC. He and I were talking about a couple of logistical things related to my show. He casually mentioned that "the Post" requested photos and didn't say much more. I of course was hoping for something to come from that - but was not expecting anything. So the color image of one of my paintings and a "Cant Miss" tag with it - pretty much has made my week. It has possibly added to my anxiety level a little bit as well - don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive - I'll name names at the end of the week.

(click on the image to see a larger, more readable size)

Labels: Galleries, Matthew Langley, Painting, Washington DC

The Eames Stamps are on the way...
This summer, Charles and Ray Eames, two of the greatest designers and thinkers of the 20th century will be honored with the release of 16 stamps celebrating their work. These are designed by Terry Noyes of the DC area.

A quick tidbit about food
I'm reading Real Simple last night and the main story is 218 best buys for the kitchen, fashion, home, etc. Anyway, get this - they call a $40 garlic press a must have and great value.

This basically kills me. Here's why.

Garlic presses blow. They mince garlic quickly (after you've removed the skin) and then clog and become a pain in the ass to clean. Sounds great no? Just use your standard kitchen knife and chop away. Cleaning a knife is about 1000 times easier than the stupid garlic press. Frankly judging by the choices in this issue, I don't think the "kitchen gurus" even cook.



How theoretical position lead you to make different decisions
See this video of Brian Eno on You Tube Later on I found a interview of BE discussing his work Music For Airports

Bonus interview: Paul Morley interviews Eno

Brian Eno photo courtesy of the Long Now Foundation - used without permission

Labels: Fontana Mix

Daniel Buren has threatened to destroy his signature black-and-white striped columns in the Palais Royal courtyard in Paris, saying the government has let them go to ruin, the London Times reports. The 260 columns, which form Les Deux Plateaux (1986), one of Paris's most controversial sculptures, are crumbling, the lights for illuminating them are broken, and the fountain has run dry.

In response, culture minister Christine Albanel said Palais Royal would undergo a $20.6 million restoration starting in 2009, with up to $4.7 million allocated to the courtyard and the sculpture. Buren said he had been pressing the Culture Ministry to repair his site-specific sculpture; his supporters said the renovation may come too late.

This is from Artinfo

Labels: 70's, Europe, Sculpture