December 2006 Archive

Stand-up Comics

Post by Andrea Kirsh Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland, from Masters of American Comics Mikhail Baryshnikov once said No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business. Likewise, artists have long recognized the brilliance and virtuosity of comics artists from Winsor McCay and George Herriman to R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman. Museums are now catching on. You can see an extraordinary range of brilliant work in Masters of American Comics. Organized jointly by LA MoCA and UCLA’s Hammer Museum, it is currently on view in two parts: the early work ... More » »

Second annual Liberta Awards

In a year that saw Gross foolishness, Libby and Roberta take stock. Flush and blush award.This year, artblog ran a lot of bathroom shots. PS they either had art in them or were themselves art.Bathroom installation at the Bridge art fair in Miami Billy Blaise Dufala and Steven DufalaHarold Offeh and also Beagles and RamsayBurtonwood and HolmesCarter Kustera and more toilet art at Kohler–where else?? ————————– The worst word ever applied to art award:Abstraction. What does it mean? Isn’t everything abstract?Runner up: Realism. Isn’t everything real? and not real? ————————–Killer stairs awardBlack Floor. It’s worth climbing the stairs for the ... More » »

Weekly Update 2 – The Red Show

Also in the Weekly this week, my Editor’s Choice short review of The Red Show at Bridgette Mayer Gallery. Here’s the link and below is the article with some pictures. “The Red Show”Through Dec. 23. Bridgette Mayer Gallery, 709 Walnut St. 215.413.8893. Michael Manuel’s Kyoto, stained glass and audio, from The Red Show. ”The Red Show” has more alizarin per square inch than any show in town, with the possible exception of “Tesoros,” the PMA’s roundup of colonial Latin American art. While “Tesoros” runneth over with blood-red hearts and flowing red robes, the Mayer show—commissioned new works by 13 gallery ... More » »

Weekly Update 1 – re-construction at the Art Institute

This week’s Weekly includes my review of re-construction at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Here’s the link to the art page and below is the copy with some pictures. A Touch of ClassArt Institute students curate a well-rounded contemporary show. Installation shot. re-construction at the Art Institute Gallery. Scot Kaylor sculpture in the foreground, Benjamin Pierce photos on the walls and Andrew Jeffrey Wright animations flanking the information desk. The students in Patrick Coué‘s “History of 20th Century Art” class at the Art Institute of Philadelphia were hungry for a hands-on studio project to supplement the class. But since Coué, ... More » »

Hamdi Attia: Ruling the world in igpayatinlay

World Map, the central piece in Hamdi Attia’s show, Aegnapea, at Pageant Gallery I’m a little ambivalent about Hamdi Attia’s exhibit, Aegnapea, at Pageant: Soloveev Gallery, which by the way has a swell new web site. Slought had a fabulous piece by Attia earlier this year in one of the back rooms, a plugged-in television set, its innards removed and unfurled all around to create a force field of radiant mis/communication (see post). I hope you were lucky enough to catch it out in the wilds of West Philly. detail, World Map Behind Attia’s presence at both Slought and Pageant ... More » »

Ron Mueck: Unsettling imitations of life

Ron Mueck’s Big Man seems like a quote of Lucian Freud’s big-man model, Leigh Bowery. The two artists certainly share concerns about flesh.Mixed Media, 200081 x 46 1/4 x 82 1/4 inches (205.7 x 117.4 x 209 cm) The side show quality of Ron Mueck’s giants and midgets, the Mme. Tussaud’s wax-works quality (the sculptures are actually made of fiberglass and silicone) keeps everyone looking at them agape. I was watching people watching at the Brooklyn Museum, yesterday. I loved this show, precisely because it is such a crowd pleaser. But it’s more than a crowd pleaser. The astonishing scale ... More » »

Linkity links for you

Two links to recommend for some visual juice: 1. Missed the grafitti art extravaganza at 11 Spring St. last weekend? See lots of high res images of the high energy grafitti art — these people painted their hearts out!– at Ben Tricklebank’s flickr photos. 2. Missed the Miami Art Fairs? See artist Joanne Mattera’s in-depth coverage on her blog. LOTS OF PICTURES!

Local matters globally, a response

[Ed note: Shelley is commenting on a recent post by James Rosenthal.] Post by Shelley Spector I am writing in response to James Rosenthal’s recent entry about Philadelphia’s art scene being positively featured in the New York Times.To put it in a few words, Rosenthal said, “We still suck.” He cited his ongoing problems with the city and used the closing ofSPECTOR, as an example of the city’s failure when it is actually just the opposite. I opened SPECTOR seven years ago to “act locally, think globally.” Its agenda was to promote Philly artists and start a ripple by being ... More » »

Latkes, love and art on the side at Photo West

A book of photographs by Laurence Salzmann, with text by Aysa Gursan-Salzmann, comes in Spanish and in English editions. Whenever I walk into Photo West Gallery, I’m conscious of its being a home-like place, an extension of founder/photographer Laurence Salzmann and his values and network. I went on a day the gallery was closed, and sure enough, there was life being lived behind the closed door. I interrupted lunch. Salzmann was downing some chile with his friend, photographer W. Keith McManus and mural artist Ana Uribe. Over 80 Psychiatrist Morton Herskowitz spends his summers painting landscapes. McManus, who sometimes even ... More » »

Matthew Rose: Paper, Scissors and Books

Matthew Rose, whom I told you about recently, is an American-born artist and writer based in Paris. Among other things, he writes regularly for Art and Antiques magazine and writes and edits the Paris page of the online art the magazine. He’s lived in Paris for 15 years, eight at his current apartment in the 14th arondisment near Denfert-Rochereau, an arty part of town next to Montparnasse, where Hemingway, Beckett, Yves Klein and the other artists and literati once hung out in the cafe/brasseries La Coupole and Le Select. Collage by Matthew Rose from his show Hertzschmertz in Berlin. Rose ... More » »