cosmic

backboard.


birdbath.

Kirby Krackle.

compare and contrast

This show is a lot like this show.

- happy face balloons... yes and yes.
- clothes on racks... yes and yes.
- flannel shirts, check yes and yes.
- scattered junk and leaning hunks.
- found stand-in man, hunky and dory.
- floormats!
everyone must go = closing down sale

I made the mistake of making a (negative) comment on the Philly artblog... gallery director William Pym responded with the brilliant deduction that I would probably accept if offered a show at Fleisher-Ollman. Wow, what a Sherlock. He really got me.

Randall Sellers thankfully contributed some well-thought and smartly couched/cautious advice (comment #15).
Jerry Saltz review of Wet Pain... with some good comments.

savers

no hands harvard.

Seventeen people, and not a single hand... maybe the photographer directed them to do that?

Diagnosis: Weirdos.

303 Gallery

303 Gallery's Simon Greenberg sent Mark Barry an e-mail telling Mark to remove two photographs of Maureen Gallace paintings from his flickr site, photos he took at the 2006 Armory Show (press preview?).

hello mark -

this is simon at 303 gallery. i noticed you had an image of Maureen Gallace's work up on your flickr page - please be aware that 303 Gallery owns the copyright to the work and all public display of images, including web content. if you could kindly remove this image from your page, it would be most appreciated.

best
simon

303 Gallery is claiming to own the copyright to gallery artists' work? That's ridiculous.

TOO FUNNY: "Chelsea Shoot Themselves In The Foot"... "Chelsea’s bizarre attempts at public relations"... "Chelsea Director of Communications Simon Greenberg"... PR Week says ‘Simon Greenberg is about to embark on a major charm offensive".


Corner of Rodney Graham painting at Hauser and Wirth's Armory (2008) booth... I was photographing Christoph Buchel's Mickey Mouse. Rodney Graham is the artist currently showing at 303 Gallery, an exhibition photographed here by Brent Burket.

What would be the 303 opinion if Disney came after Buchel, for infringing on Mickey? Answer: Who cares.

The other artist whose work I photographed at Hauser and Wirth's booth was a painting by Jakub Julius Ziolkowski (scroll down), whose work I've previously photographed at 303 Gallery.

- Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, at 303 Gallery, posted to anaba 7/6/07 (scroll down).
- Inka Essenhigh, at 303 Gallery, posted to anaba 3/27/06.
- Plus, here's a link to all the 303 Gallery photos on flickr.

RELATED:
- "no photography"... of Richard Pettibone???
- C-Monster's 303 RANT.
- Louis Vuitton collaborates with Richard Prince, but sues designer Nadia Plesner, writing "as an artist yourself, we hope that you recognize the need to respect other artists' rights and Louis Vuitton's Intellectual Property rights".
- Mark Barry took my photo at the 2008 Armory show, without my knowledge, and posted it to flickr.

Richard Prince on Exhibition Prints

Brian Appel contacted Richard Prince after reading Monday's post... here is Richard Prince's response -

Brian: the exhibition prints are exactly what they are... just for exhibitions... they are so stated on the back of the print... they are in my possession and remain so... for a large exhibition like the Guggenhiem, they become invaluble because you don't neccessarily have to show them, where if you borrow a print from an collector your pretty much committed to having to exhibit that work... they are especially flexible when the exhibition has to travel for a couple of years... Not every photo was an exhibition print... anyway I hope that clears things up... they will never see the light of day outside of an exhibition... because my editions are so small, we know where every print is anyway...

Prince doesn't address the use of enlarged formats for some of the Guggenheim exhibition prints, as mentioned by Isabelle Graw.


Richard Prince, untitled (Living Rooms), 1977


Martin Bromirski, untitled (Living Room), 2007

(thanks, Brian)

openings

Tom Sanford, at Leo Koenig, May 9th-June 14th, with an opening reception Friday May 9th.

Check out the posters (above) advertising Tom's show... the coffee cups. They're all over the place.


Rachel Hayes, at THE LAB, May 9th- May 30th, with an opening reception Saturday May 10th. THE LAB is at the corner of 47th St and Lexington Ave.

NEWS FLASH - Eric SALL reviewed in the Village Voice (scroll down for Eric "SAUL"). Eric's LMCC studio. Nadja Sayej review of Eric's previous ATM show, for artUS.

Meridith Pingree will be showing a new kinetic sculpture in a group show at a new LES space, opening soon-ish but I don't have the exact date yet. There is an old neon sign outside of the space, which used to read Prescriptions, but the only letters that still light up say rip ions, so that is going to be the name of the space -- Rip Ions on 159 Rivington St.

Meridith's solo show at Sarah Lawrence has been extended to May 9th.

David Reed is having shows at his studio. A selection of works from 1993-2006 by Rochelle Feinstein in the studio, a painting installation by Mandolyn Wilson in the lunchroom, and an investigation of drawing with works by Nicholas Krushenick, Lee Lozano, Richard Allen Morris, Ulrike Müller, Ruth Root, John Wesley and Jack Whitten will be on view in the Office. Three poems by Bill Berkson will premiere to accompany the drawings, with a special poetry reading by Bill Berkson on May 24th at 7:30 PM.

Studio shows will be open to the public Saturday May 17th and Saturday May 24th from 1 to 4 PM, and by appointment. 506 Greenwich Street, Storefront.

PLUS - Wendy White at Leo Koenig, 6/20-8/1. The opening will be on the 20th, possibly the 19th....

Richard Dupont

Richard Dupont, at Lever House.

Nimoy

Spock plaque.

(not) on exhibition prints

Brian Appel interview with Richard Prince. Not sure when it was done, but it wasn't too long ago, because Prince references preparing for the Guggenheim show.

Appel twice expresses admiration - excerpts below- that Prince doesn't make and exhibit new prints of his old photographs. Prince doesn't say anything about the upcoming Guggenheim show's heavy use of exhibition prints.

Brian Appel - Richard, I’ve always loved the fact that your photographic editions were so small. The cowboy image from the 16th of May was from an edition of two. Traditionally, fine art photographers think nothing of going back to their negatives ten, twenty, thirty or even forty years after the original exposures are made and use photographic materials that are completely removed from the original technological conditions from which the initial images were created – in effect producing pictures that are divorced from their time frame...

When I look at your photo based artworks I always know that the image I am looking at is a print done in close proximity to the original exposure. Your ‘copy’ of someone else’s ‘original’ is in effect ‘authentically vintage’...

Richard Prince - This was a choice I made back in 1980. I was treating the photograph as an object. Always thinking about the way it was presented....

Brian Appel - I’m always cautious when I look at a fine art photographic print – trying to decipher whether it’s a ‘vintage’ or ‘printed later’ print. But with your work, the prints are always locked into the act of the original exposure and carry with them the appropriate color aging and patina of prints made at the time of their creation.

RELATED:
- my post on first noticing all of the exhibition prints at the museum.
- Isabelle Graw, Reconsidering Prince, Dec 2007 - she talks about the use of exhibition prints in the Guggenheim show, and says the Living Rooms prints of 1977 (and others?) were produced in an enlarged format for the Guggenheim show. The originals were 20x24 Ektacolor prints, each an edition of ten. I don't recall exactly what the Guggenheim displayed.
- Nancy Spector on the decision to use exhibition prints.

fantastic four

Fantastic Four - paintings, they seem kind of chalky or something, like they might be done on blackboard. Don't know who the artist is, or what information might be on the back.

From the same shop at which I found the Jeffery Beardsall works.

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton is suing an artist, stating "as an artist yourself, we hope that you recognize the need to respect other artists' rights and Louis Vuitton's Intellectual Property rights...".

This from the company that most recently collaborated with Richard Prince. Too funny.

Richard Prince on appropriating Jim Krantz's work for Marlboro - “No one was looking. This was a famous campaign. If you’re going to steal something, you know, you go to the bank.''

Read LV's initial cease-and-desist letter here.
Nadia Plesner's website.
Techdirt.
Eyeteeth.

UPDATE: this fashion blog brought up the Prince/Vuitton thing before i did.

ps - i still want these sunglasses.... they do not like it when you take pictures in their store.

poster for she-thing

It's clobberin' time!


This Woman...


This Man...


Leann Rimes, This Woman, Monster.

RELATED:


she-thing fence is the SAME fence that was spider-fence. this is the best fence.

links

Saw on Roberta and Libby's that Philadelphia's Edna Andrade has died, at ninety-two. LOVED her. Ed Sozanski on Edna Andrade here.

- speaking of Edna Andrade, I am wondering what Michael Mewborn is doing now. Here's his website.

Tyler has a two-part interview with Art Institute of Chicago curator Lisa Dorin. That's nice to see, cuz she co-curated (with Gina Occhiogrosso) a show I was in a five years ago. We got a good review.

- here is part one of the interview, here is part two.

Eric Gelber on Kelli Williams

Kelli Williams, Wet Bar, 2007

I posted Kelli Williams' painting, along with work by some other Leo Koenig artists, after seeing it at the Armory Show last month. Eric Gelber contributed so many thoughtful comments on Kelli's painting, too much to leave buried in the comments box... so I'm re-posting them here.

MUST STRESS - this is a series of thoughtful comments on a jpeg, not a formal review. Eric did not see the work in person. Eric's initial response was to an anonymous commenter critical of the accuracy of Kelli's perspective.

There is no consistent perspectival moment if the composition is looked at as a whole. It would destroy the logic of the composition if the artist used one vanishing point to bring coherence to the whole. The artist wants to fragment and compartmentalize space. This increases the isolation of each figure and each action. It is like a tableau. Within each individual segment the local space makes sense, a field that immediately surrounds each figure. A figure sits on the edge of the pool, another one sits on a bar stool, another one is resting her hand on the edge of the bar. This compositional technique emphasizes the isolation of each figure. They are self contained monads, pleasuring and obsessively gorging themselves. It is a symbolic ode to masturbation and self indulgence.The artist is using a panoramic device. The separate little worlds the figures inhabit are interlocked to form an odd montage image.

Each figure in Kelli's painting is going through an internal process. The figures that are gorging themselves are perhaps meant to represent self destructive behavior or the compulsions/impractical rituals that plague individuals. The other figures are lost in their minds or bodies.

They writhe, stare into space. The bartender is the only figure that directly addresses the viewer and the rest of the figures do not acknowledge one another or the viewer. Figures are whole and fragmented. Some of them are asleep, one looks pregnant. They are practicing mysterious rituals.

The variety of poses suggest stages of life. There is a variety of mental states represented in this one painting. (The figures are wonderfully rendered.) They have a corpse like palor though and this again suggests death.

Also the one male figure in the painting is the bartender, the one who serves intoxicants, and he holds a trident like the Greek god Poseidon. Obviously this references pagan culture, but in the setting of a bar/contemporary swimming pool this is humorous, but also a clue as to what the artist wants to tell us about contemporary life.

The bar itself looks pixilated, like it is made from binary code on a computer monitor, and the painting does very interesting things with ideas of flatness and depth. There is no easy way to figure out the pictorial space.

Lingering thoughts about "Wet Bar":

Poseidon, and his underwater realm, is one of the subjects of this painting. The greenish figures are supposed to be underwater. The figure seated at the bar, with her bosom, shoulders, and head and neck above water give this away. Here lower half is submerged and most of her upper torso, which is flesh colored, is above the water line. So the watery depths represent the human unconscious, but interestingly, the figures above the water line are just as transfixed as the figures that are submerged in the water.

The strange entrail/snake like coils that come out of the vaginas of two of the figures are strange, ambiguous symbols. The woman who is suckling or drinking from the end of one of the umbilical cords/green ropes is either slowly becoming colored or her mid-section is evaporating. She comforts/pleasures herself by grasping a handful of her own hair. The idea that a woman's umbilical cord could be used for self nourishment is an interesting idea. The underwater flora and fauna and various sea creatures, rendered carefully and realistically is a very nice touch, as are the air bubbles floating towards the surface.

So there is the clear portrayal of two distinct realms, above and below water. The figures are lost in strange reveries. Poseidon addresses and identifies with the viewer (while sporting a small boner). But instead of ruling over the female figures he is serving them. Human ritual, human ecstasy, orgiastic pagan ceremonies, feminist recontextualization of female nudity and sexuality, human transformation. The female figures below the water have transformed into mermaids or are in the middle of doing so. After they become mermaids they fall into a coma like sleep. So the transformation from human to mythical half human/half animal creature is also a subject of this painting. What are the psychological implications of this transformation? The painting style and formal devices employed by the artist fully enhance the idea content of the painting.

I like the way the painting morphs and blends the textures of digital imagery and classic mosaics. It straddles the two really, which emphasizes your recontextualization of pagan and mythological imagery. One should also note the play on words in the title. A wet bar is a place in the home where you can mix drinks, and it usually contains a sink with running water. We all obviously know about vaginas and wetness. The painting is all about mixing realms, the real and the mythic, flatness and depth. It has great mystery and that is hard to find in contemporary work.

See all of Eric Gelber's reviews for Artcritical here.

Steven Parrino

Steven Parrino, Bentoverslime 2, 1995, enamel and silicon on honeycomb aluminum panel, at Gagosian.

Yale is the new RPI?

Yale dean Robert Storr wants to ban that undergraduate student from showing her work unless she will sign a "confession" stating it's all fiction.

Wow, she's pretty awesome to have made enemies with Robert Storr while still an undergrad. That's ridiculous that he would insist she sign some paper, or would ban the work. Yale is the new RPI?

Storr said in a written statement, "If I had known about this, I would not have permitted it to go forward...This is not an acceptable project in a community where the consequences go beyond the individual who initiates the project and may even endanger that individual."

- What does that mean? That an artist shouldn't make work that might have any consequences within a larger community? That an artist shouldn't risk offending anybody's sensibilities? I wonder what position Storr takes on the RPI/Bilal incident.

This is also making me think of Storr's affadavit for Christoph Buchel, in which he stated “In my view, under no circumstance should a work of art be shown to the public until the artist has determined that it is finished", written while presiding over the Venice Biennale showing a brand new Felix Gonzalez-Torres piece made (and sold) fifteen years after his death.

ps - i'm not mentioning the artist by name, or getting into the details of her project, because it's much less interesting to me than Yale/Storr's attempts to ban it, and the forced signing of confessions.

Jeffery Beardsall

Jeffery Beardsall

Found two Jeffery Beardsall pieces in a new junk shop... they are NICE. Folded paper, with some kind of paint and/or pastel, in plexiglass cases, signed and dated 1979. Click on any of these pictures to see them much closer, it's worth it.


This is how I found them, but not exactly, because when I found them they were upside-down... plus, the guy has taped that white index card with the artist's name to it. I should have kept my mouth shut, maybe.


The plexi cases are original, but cracked and broken in spots. I really like these. Keep thinking of Jo Baer.

small abstract paintings

small abstract paintings...


small abstract painting in Christoph Buchel's house...
on the house.


the artist in his (former) studio.


pretty in progress.


small abstract painting in Richard Prince's house...
on the house.


at Haigh Jamgochian's Markel Building - aka Guggenheim Richmond - show.... review is here. More installation shots here. Markel Building on flickr here... LOOKKKK.


secrets revealed!


room of masterpieces.