Art
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Art / News Dump Educators, Dump Education, Duh
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Thu, May 24, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Some museums are known for vast collections. Some are known for rarefied and priceless collections. Some are known for both.
Others might be known for variable period-specific holdings, curatorial integrity, visitor-friendliness, impressive architectural design, lush layout of grounds, perhaps even strangely intelligent placement of parking lots.
And then there's the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which is somewhat well known for all such things. What's more, it's also long been well known for its educational program employing many highly skilled museum docents—and ostensibly decently paid ones—tasked with providing enriching tours for visitors.
Yet now this latter feature of the museum, according to Hyperallergic and the LA Times, has seen the keen side of the axe of payroll-slimming pecuniary scrutiny. The educational staff will keep only 32 of its 51 employees, and the teaching staff will drop from 17 docents to 5, all of which should save the museum just over $4 million of its annual budget. Meanwhile, other branches of the museum's payroll haven't been touched much at all, and the monies saved are earmarked for acquisitions.
Art / Books Stylish Older Women at the New Museum
Posted by Sam Polcer on Thu, May 24, 2012 at 3:14 PM
Last night in the Sky Lounge at the New Museum, NOWNESS, the “editorially independent website of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton,” in association with powerHouse Books, hosted the launch for Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style, the book based on his successful blog about stylish older women. (Check it out if you haven’t already—these ladies know how to put an outfit together.) Many of Cohen’s subjects attended, along with some very well dressed youngsters; everyone was more than happy to pose for a few photos.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Art Warhol Silkscreen Stolen in Detroit
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 2:51 PM
An unnamed collector operating an unnamed business in Corktown, a Detroit neighborhood, is the victim of a rather hefty—or maybe not so much—art theft.
According the the Detroit Free Press, a silkscreen Warhol used to make the Flowers series, along with 18 works authored by other artists, were stolen sometime over the last weekend of April. Yesterday the FBI announced a $5,000 reward for "information on the hijacked collection"—information directly beneficial to their investigation, presumably.
Quite debatable, it seems, is the estimated value of the stolen works. Since the take included works by artists such as Joseph Beuys, Larry Rivers, Francesco Clemente and Philip Taaffe, some estimates place its dollar value in the millions.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Art Brooklyn "Creative Mediums" Set Out To Deliver Artifacts From A Parallel Universe
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 3:12 PM
Friday, May 18, 2012
Art Want to Show Your Art at the Brooklyn Museum? Just GO.
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Fri, May 18, 2012 at 1:31 PM
Do you make artwork of some sort? Do you live in Brooklyn?
More importantly, is your studio in Brooklyn? And would you be willing to open it to the public in September?
If you'd answer yes to all of the above—and if you meet a few other requirements, too—you might well have a chance to show your work at the Brooklyn Museum later this year. You can even be an important part of the whole process by registering as a voter or volunteer.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Art Bay Ridge Deluge Begins Tomorrow
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Covering ten blocks and featuring works by nearly twice as many artists, the third annual iteration of Bay Ridge Storefront Art Walk, opening tomorrow and on view for a full month, should rank as one of the city's most pleasurably navigable art exhibitions this summer. Since almost all of the artists' works will be individually showcased in display windows lining 5th Avenue from 74th down to 84th Streets—one might occasionally have to venture a quarter-block off the main drag, but that's about it—and since many of the display windows belong to a wide range of small businesses, visitors can readily make a day of taking in art while taking in all kinds of other things as well.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Art / Theater "Shitty Bedford in the Wolf Mask"
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:23 PM
I'm not quite sure who these folks are, but they're called Saints of an Unnamed Country. I'm not quite sure what they do in general, but I do rather like their name. And although I've been familiar with the goings-on at Secret Project Robot for years, I'm not quite sure how I received a certain email from them today, for I know that I've never requested them.
But I am happy I got this one. Because a forthcoming show, billed very fetchingly as The Storm: An Apocalyptic Folk Operetta, by Cameron Stuart, has me rather eager to see its New York debut in early June.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Art / Politics / News Putin's Baroque Palace Already Haunted
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Thu, May 10, 2012 at 4:44 PM
Almost perfectly coincident with Vladimir Putin's recently renewed pledges of allegiance as Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of Rigged Elections President of Russia is news that he has been constructing, allegedly of course, "Project South," a massive private palace on the Black Sea.
Since his reiterated swearing-in was met with mass protests, which were then met with a heavy police crackdown, which then elicited US statements of disapproval—which have more recently been followed by by Putin saying he would not attend the forthcoming G8 meeting at Camp David, which was nonetheless followed by bilateral statements of continued commitment to a "reset of relations" via "sustained high-level dialogue"—it is possible that news related to "Project South" lost some degree of newsworthy thunder.
And that's fine, but the story is full of good intrigue. Even a major art buyer plays a part.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Art It's Official: Bushwick Basel
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Wed, May 9, 2012 at 12:43 PM
It might be parody, spoof, farce. Or it might be sincere, some force of truth in the arts.
Or it might be all of that, and likely then some. Given the space and list of galleries involved, it will rather certainly be at least quite handsome.
It's called Bushwick Basel, and it will be up and running during Bushwick Open Studios, the annual omni-arts event that cloaks in so many creative colors the Brooklyn neighborhood of so many names.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Art Border Disputes, Art, Drinks
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Tue, May 8, 2012 at 4:29 PM
If moseying around and about last week for Frieze, Nada, Pulse and the like wasn't quite enough of an art pilgrimage for you, and if you haven't the patience to wait for summertime's various Open Studios events to make more such rounds, then, well, you're insane.
Or if your pockets were too shallow for such affairs, then, well, you weren't the only one.
Whatever the case, you've reason to feel fortunate this coming weekend. There's plenty more such activity on the horizon, and plenty of it is art pilgrim-friendly. And if that's not enough, it's also free.
Still not enough? It's educational, too. You need only make it out to Queens.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Art Bitch & Shout On a Box in Bushwick
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Mon, May 7, 2012 at 4:11 PM
Have some venting to do? Some grand statements to make? Some complaints to vocally file? A belief system to promote? A new faith to found?
Well, you're in luck. You just need to make it out to the Morgantown end of Jekalb's Morgue* this coming weekend.
For Bushwick Soapbox. At Studio 10. Bring a rant and step right up.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Art / Media "Supercool!": A Q&A with Katarina Hybenova
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Fri, May 4, 2012 at 5:25 PM
As the founder and editor of Bushwick Daily, you have quickly developed it from a personal blog featuring photos of and notes about your beloved part of Brooklyn, to a more broadly functional website incorporating a number of different writers contributing news items, opinion pieces, reviews, events listings and profiles of local artists, musicians, fashionistas, and new and longtime residents alike. You have also created an online art gallery as a branch of Bushwick Daily, which has taken physical form several times as well and even held down a booth at Fountain Art Fair this year. As if all this weren't impressive enough—especially given that you launched the whole thing not even two years ago—you have recently added yet another significant appendage to the Bushwick Daily operation, a radio station. Am I missing anything?
At Bushwick Daily we love to use new forms of journalism and new media, and we encourage experiments with text, visuals and sound. We are trying to be as innovative as our neighborhood, and to treat the blog as a good Bushwick house party. We want to show a lot of good art and music, introduce inspiring people and start good conversations. The Internet gives us great tools for this, and I believe that blogging is the perfect format to encapsulate this vibrant scene.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Art Gilbert & George Mash It Up & Break It Down
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Wed, May 2, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Art Big Art Fairs Swarm NYC This Weekend
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Tue, May 1, 2012 at 4:17 PM
In case it almost slipped your mind, the Armory and its temporally related fairs were not the only ones slated to descend upon NYC in 2012. Indeed, some of the fairs set to welcome visitors this weekend were once tethered to that earlier timetable and earlier spring climes. Now, instead, they're tied up with some new fairs—new to NYC, at least—and new fair-friendly surroundings.
So if you didn't get your fill of art fairs during Armory weekend, or if you're looking to navigate the city rather thoroughly to seek out new fairs and new grounds, you are most certainly in luck.
At the same time, in case it seems like a bit much or a bit too soon after the last round, you might bear in mind that certain spheres of art activities tend to get rather quiet come summertime. Take advantage while you can, if you can.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Art Slicing Up an Artwork Dices Up a Theory at The Active Space
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 2:41 PM
After presiding over a great deal of construction work to renovate, polish and paint 1500 square feet of new exhibitional capacity at The Active Space, the creative force behind the gallery, Ashley Zelinskie, elected to inaugurate the rather rollingly roomy new room with a guest-curated exhibition.
Hence Dreaming Without Sleeping, a show of recent oil paintings by Criminy Johnson, otherwise known as street artist QRST. It was curated by Robin Grearson, otherwise known as a third-time guest curator at The Active Space.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Art Whitney Museum Posts Self-Reformative 95 Theses
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 3:39 PM
A latter-day secular Martin Luther of sorts has nailed some incendiary, disputatio-ready claims to the door of the Whitney Museum of American Art—while posing, no less, as the institution of critique itself.
Indeed, certain individuals from the arts-related branches of Occupy Wall Street—employing, much like Martin Luther and his supporters, the swiftest communicative forms to date—sent around a very curious, very self-critical, a bit self-flattering, significantly OWS-endorsing and, of course, rather completely false press release yesterday.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Art Cramming Into (Onto?) Cloud Nine
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 1:10 PM
A thick crowd of circumstantially idling revelers packed so tightly into Front Room Gallery on Friday night for the opening of Cloud Nine, a large group exhibit curated by Larry Walczak, that the socio-spatial effect was one of generally endothermic stasis, perhaps a bit like a full jar of brine-bathed hearts of palm stalks under a heat lamp. That is of course not an uncommon outcome, so to speak, for an art opening, bit it was interesting given that the crammed throng had agglomerated for an exhibit devoted to "visual interpretations of the concept of 'ecstasy'." Had the room's contents gotten much closer to critical mass, the exhibit's theme might have been physically interpreted as well—to the imaginable detriment of the artwork. Perhaps I didn't stay long enough to witness such an explosive end to the festivities.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Art Patinas and Memories in Andrew Hurst's Solo Show at English Kills
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 5:17 PM
Andrew Hurst's always engaging, often absolutely arresting collage and assemblage artworks challenge one to define them, to place them in fitting contexts, to dimensionalize them—no matter how beside the point such definitions and categorizations might be. It is an exploratory challenge, at root. One of peering into layers until imagined peelings reveal deeper footings. It is also a largely rewarding venture. You are there, the strata are there, go to work.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Art Photos: The Brooklyn Artists Ball at the Brooklyn Museum
Posted by Sam Polcer on Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 2:42 PM
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, street art star Swoon, swoon-worthy actress Marisa Tomei and many well-dressed art and fashion world luminaries converged on the Brooklyn Museum for last night’s Brooklyn Artist Ball annual fundraising gala and W Magazine after-party. Awards were given, cocktails were mixed, galleries were strolled through, dinner was served and, finally, the dance floor was packed. Not bad for a Wednesday night, Brooklyn.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Art A Recyclable Cathedral in New Zealand
Posted by Paul D'Agostino on Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 12:47 PM
As reported by the Associated Press this week, construction should begin in the coming months to rebuild Christchurch Cathedral, which was destroyed in an earthquake last year. But it won't quite be built to last, as the plans stand now. And it won't be built of the same materials.
It will be replaced by a temporary structure built out of cardboard, rather. And it will be an ersatz place of worship for ten years as a more permanent replacement is planned and realized.
