White Columns at the Armory, 2008

Matthew Higgs.... soldddddddd. This is on Wednesday.


Janice Guy... Matthew's dealer, stopped making art years ago. Can you see the red dots over each picture?

Good job, White Columns.

white columns piss-take number 8 - creating a closed loop

Here are the three most recent White Columns reviews from the NYTimes -

White Columns in NYTimes 3/21/08 - Roberta Smith review of White Columns' exhibition of work from the collection of critic/curator Vince Aletti. The review also mentions White Columns' concurrent exhibitions of work from the collection of curator Bob Nickas, and a solo show of photographs by artist-turned-(Matthew Higgs)dealer Janice Guy.

before that was...

White Columns in NYTimes 12/7/07 - Karen Rosenberg review of Looking Back, a group show of art seen in NY (mostly Chelsea galleries) in the previous year. Last line of the review - "If you missed Andrew Lord’s ceramics at Gladstone, for instance, or Sadie Benning’s videos at Orchard, you’ll be grateful for the second chance."

before that was...

White Columns in NYTimes 7/10/07 -Roberta Smith feature reviewing Dealer as Artist, a group show of work by "six prominent art dealers" that used to make art. Janice Guy featured at top of page.

Good job, White Columns.

wc update

WC registry update - Artists are getting notices of acceptance into or rejection from the WC artists registry... and WC is notifying all of those current registry artists who have since found representation that their pages will be de-activated.

Dear Curated Artist Registry Member,

We would like to thank you for your participation in the White Columns Curated Artist Registry. As you may know, the registry provides exposure for artists who are unaffiliated with a New York City commercial gallery. We are pleased that you have attained representation since your initial inclusion in the registry; however, our policy mandates that we deactivate the web pages of artists who are now associated with a NYC commercial space. I am sure you understand. If for any reason we are mistaken about your status, please us know, and accept our sincere apologies in advance...

There are/were a lot. Maybe they are even going to start curating from the registry again? Hope so. That registry has been a waste for four years. Has anybody included in the WC registry since 2004 had anything at all come from it? I don't get why WC doesn't select registry artists to take to all of those fairs that they go to. That was a great opportunity to help support some good non-represented artists.

white out

Five months later, my White Columns page has finally been erased. That's okay, I can do it again.

Also erased... the history of White Columns exhibitions prior to Matthew's tenure. Are those gone for good? Hope not.

I can't remember how far back those archived exhibitions went, but when I made this post last year I was able to research and link to all of the Lauren Ross-curated exhibitions (scroll down to the second half of the post).

Mission Creep

So sad. I have a statcounter which shows me the things that people google. Someone googled "does white columns respond to artist". Answer posts here and here.

Next week White Columns shows Janice Guy. Janice Guy's gallery, Murray Guy, shows White Columns Director Matthew Higgs.

Janice doesn't really make art anymore, she'll be showing her work from the 1970's. White Columns' website states, "Guy abandoned art making in the early 1980s"... sort of like how White Columns abandoned support of emerging artists in the early 2000's.

Concurrent with the Janice Guy show will be an exhibition of work from the collection of critic Vince Aletti, and a show of stuff from the collection of curator Bob Nickas.

RELATED: White Columns now-joke Wikipedia page, Matthew Higgs on Wikipedia, my White Columns page.

White Columns Artist Registry... Matthew Higgs II

AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE! An artist who responded last week that she had "applied to White Columns and have kept my applications current and updated and have resubmitted at least 4 times, but have never, in 2 years, gotten a yes or no, even after emails and phone calls" got her White Columns Artist Registry rejection YESTERDAY! Weird, we were JUST talking about this last week.

Here is a quote from White Columns Curator/Director Matthew Higgs, from Clive Robertson's Policy Matters...

"I don't sympathize with empowerment, survival, battle, frustration and struggle. This essentially seems to be a defeatist or negative position. The idea of us being outsiders, I don't agree with at all. I do not recognize that concept [in the art field]. I'm an optimist. I genuinely cannot believe how exciting life is everyday...I don't see any struggle in the field we work in [which] is largely fuelled by the spirit of generosity."

Matthew, CHECK YOUR ARTIST REGISTRY INBOX!

A little more from the Clive Robertson book -

"Higgs leaned heavily on the purpose of artistic work "as a looking for or thinking about what doesn't exist in the world," to explain why "my practice as a curator is largely selfish. I make exhibitions that I want to see...I spend almost no time thinking about who the audience might be for the work I do." Current museum curators of modern or contemporary art are hardly likely to make the "fuck the audience" public statement that Higgs does; however, using the rhetoric of selfish concern for art or artist's intentions as an excuse to bracket out issues of empowerment or struggle has very much been the standard bailiwick of male art museum curators everywhere. While Higgs' personal ascension from Joy Division fanzine editor to the London's ICA and beyond is, for some, inspirational, it perhaps stretches the usefulness of a boundary-less concept of a curatorial practice within artist-run culture."

White Columns is currently showing Sleeve Notes - writing for/and or on record sleeves.

I'm thinking that as long as Higgs is running White Columns, it doesn't matter too much whether or not you are included in the registry. He isn't curating from it, he isn't interested in it, it doesn't sound like he has any interest in even the idea of it. Applying to that registry automatically identifies you as a possibly frustrated struggler, and Matt said (above) that he does not recognize that concept.

Lauren Ross, the curator/director previous to Higgs, often included artists from the registry. All of the artists from her last show at White Columns, Semi-Lucid, are currently listed in the registry -

Andrea Aimi
Giovanni Garcia-Fenech
Robert Gutierrez
Jesse Lambert
Robert Medvedz
Jiha Moon
Aaron Noble
Julian Pozzi

Previous to that she curated Breaking Ground, of which eight of the nine included artists are currently in the registry (including Gedi Sibony), before that was RANDOM ORDER, of which all but two of the nine included artists are currently in the registry, and before that she co-curated Regarding Gloria... with five of those artists currently listed in the registry. There are plenty of other Ross-curated shows between those, and previous to, with artist registry artists.

I like research but I'm tired from trying to find a registry artist in a Higgs show. I give up.

White Columns Artist Registry... Matthew Higgs

Is White Columns Artist Registry still active? I saw the following anonymous complaint in the comments section of this Edward Winkleman post last month -

"A friend of mine (not me, I swear) submitted her work to White Columns registry and still hasn't gotten a yes or no in over two years, despite repeated follow-up emails."

Maybe that person has the wrong e-mail, or is not getting through for some reason? I wonder if the friend tried submitting again? I'm hoping it is a goof because I submitted stuff almost two months ago and was wondering how long I might wait before I should expect a response. This is my second time to submit, I have a rejection letter from the previous curator, Paul Ha, from maybe 1998, before they had the on-line registry. Matthew Higgs runs it now.

I browsed through a bunch of the artists on the current site, many are familiar names. Some of them have updated their pages recently - it's a do-it-yourself thing - but a surprising amount of artist's pages have been dormant for two or three years or more (a lot of those dormant pages are the work of artists who have since found commercial representation in NYC, and have probably just abandoned their sites).

So... what is the deal? Does anyone know? Are there a lot of other people who have sent stuff and are all waiting? Has anyone had anything at all happen in the past four years or so (or not) from having their work included in that registry? I am NOT trying to harsh too much on White Columns, the shows and art are excellent, just want to know if the registry program, curating shows from it, is phased out... kind of bummed if so...

From the White Columns website -

"The purpose of the registry is twofold: as a source from which White Columns shows are curated; and as a resource for curators, dealers, writers, and others who are seeking the work of emerging artists."

NONE of the artists included in the most recently closed (Jan 9 - Feb 10) exhibitions are included in the Artist's Registry. That includes the four artists who had their own shows, and the seventeen artists included in the Rita Ackermann curated group show.

Actually, it doesn't look like any of the artists in the current shows are included in the registry either. I guess, if the main gallery is showing "writing for and/or on record sleeves", and another space is featuring the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres, that the under-supported artist thing may be not so high on the agenda anymore.

Oh shit, I just googled another one of the current artists, someone shortlisted for Beck's, invited to do a project at Frieze, and included in Saatchi's collection. And this is the second time he's shown at White Columns since 2005!

I remember seeing the White Columns booth at NADA in Miami in 2005. It was sparkling white, set up like a solo gallery show, featuring the (wonderful) work of Aurie Ramirez. It was totally empty, except for Matthew Higgs sitting at a table in the center. I guess Aurie Ramirez would say thanks, if she spoke in a language that anyone could translate, or if she even gave a shit.

The full (anomymous) comment from Ed Winkleman's blog -

"Also worth noting, as Holland Cotter did in a recent review of a Triple Candie show, that the the supposedly alternative spaces are becoming more and more like commercial galleries. Specifically, they seem to be showing more "name" artists and fewer lesser known emerging artists.

White Columns under Matthew Higgs, for example, seems largely to have abandoned the practice of drawing from its curated artist registry when putting together its shows. It's becoming rare, now, to see artists from the White Columns registry on display at White Columns.

A friend of mine (not me, I swear) submitted her work to White Columns registry and still hasn't gotten a yes or no in over two years, despite repeated follow-up emails. Is this bad management, or is it because Mr. Higgs has decided that unknown emerging artists applying to the registry are no longer a priority?

This is not to pick on White Columns -- they are getting favorable reviews for their shows under Mr. Higgs, so why not? I'm sure their funders love it. But for emerging artists hoping that alternative spaces will give them their big break, the increasing commercialization of these spaces noted by Mr. Cotter may not be good news"

UPDATE 2/22/07: WHITE COLUMNS IS AT THE ARMORY FAIR... maybe a few people can ask Matthew about what is up with the registry?

Oh man, it is so sad that White Columns has left blank the "who i'd like to meet" question on its Myspace page.