August 2008 Archive

Good lands, Badlands and China at MASS MoCA

Anthony Goicolea, detail of Snowscape, photocollage, Postmasters GalleryOver the river and through the New York and Massachussetts woods, it’s hard to imagine that that the planet we love is becoming hell on Earth. So I arrived at MASS MoCA refreshed and optimistic. The ride was spectacular. Hey, everyone loves a landscape. But when it comes to contemporary landscapes, we’re seeing a whole different picture. And that’s what the museum’s summer exhibit, Badlands, is all about–what’s different in landscapes today. There is a lot to enjoy in this show–many concept-driven works that reinvent landscape forms, materials, or at least intent. The ... More » »

Weekly Update – Moma’s Little Houses on the Urban Prairie

This week’s Weekly has my review of MoMA’s show Home Delivery. Below’s the copy with some pictures. More photos at flickr. And see our previous post for more. Pre-Fabulous Digitally Prefabricated Housing for New Orleans in MoMA’s Home Delivery show. MoMA’s new architecture exhibit, “Home Delivery” focuses on the history of prefab housing. In addition to the expected table-top architectural models, the museum presents five full-scale prefab model homes. The MoMA Home Show, in the empty lot next door to the museum, is a great voyeuristic tromp through amazing prefabs where you can climb the stairs, sit at the kitchen ... More » »

Watch out New York, here comes Philly

Lots of Philadelphians heading to New York to install their works in galleries all over town. Here’s what we’re excited about. There’s probably more and let us know if we missed you. ROB MATTHEWS Rob MatthewsThe artist’s cousin (Dan), graphite on paper Rob Matthews has his solo debut in New York at Daniel Cooney. Show, titled Kindred, opens Sept. 11 and runs to Nov. 15. Matthews is a formidable Philadelphia blogger as well as being a fabulous artist who shows locally at Gallery Joe. ZOE STRAUSS Zoe Strauss’s new book, America. We love the American flag reference in the carpeted ... More » »

The Art Critic: Peter Plagens’ new online novel

Peter Plagens, painter, novelist, art critic for Newsweek and convener of the Art in America blogger’s roundtable Libby and I participated in last year (now online at Find Aricles!) emailed us to say he’s got a new online novel, The Art Critic, being published as 24 weekly installments at artnet. The first installment is up and it’s a wry piece whose main character is Arthur, a longtime and relatively dyspeptic New York art critic for a weekly newsmagazine who’s a fan of abstract art and is mostly annoyed with everything and everyone he sees on his rounds in Chelsea. The ... More » »

Call for banned books!

The Rosenbach Museum is looking for books on themes related to banned books, censorship, and control. They will pay an honorarium for books selected and this is definitely a prestige venue!!! The deadline is Sept. 2, for a show that begins Oct. 3 and then moves to the Free Library. So hurry hurry. Here’s the info.

The dog poop hits the fan

Steve Minicola, who occasionally sends me juicy articles about art, sent this tidbit from the Daily Mail (U.K.) about a Paul McCarthy giant inflatable–dog doo gone wild. The errant pile, which is perfect for the Thanksgiving Day Parade, brought down a power line! A swell visual is included in the article. Worse than being hit with the dog doo is being hit with the artspeak quotation the reporter included from the Paul Klee Center, where the McCarthy piece is part of an exhibit: The Paul Klee centre’s website described the show as containing ‘interweaving, diverse, not to say conflictive emphases ... More » »

Arabesque: a new angle on contemporary Arab and Persian culture

Behrouz Hariri (Iran/Canada) Tehran Techno promotional poster (2005), from Arabesque, © the artist. When Arabesque; Graphic design from the Arab World and Persia (Berlin: Gestalten Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89955-206-5) landed on my desk I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that Arabic calligraphy is central to the visual arts of the Middle East, often serving as a decorative element for architecture, textiles, ceramics and elsewhere in a use of script unknown in the West. But its contemporary use? A black hole in my consciousness. The book makes for very interesting reading and looking and adds another chapter to the ... More » »

Three shows are better than one, at PAFA

Jacob Lawrence’s Hiroshima Jacob Lawrence, Market (part of the Hiroshima series of paintings), Tempera and gouache on paper; 23 x 17 1/2 in. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Alexander Harrison Fund, 2008.3.8 There are several reasons to go to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts right now. First there’s Jacob Lawrence‘s Hiroshima paintings in the Morris Gallery. These are wrenching images of daily life disrupted by the nuclear bomb. The images deliver a sermon on what matters in life–people and their ways–and contrasts the stable society with the destruction of war. The eight paintings were created by Lawrence ... More » »

The out-of-towners

The shows by Philadelphia artists in the hinterlands continues. (Can we call New York a hinterland? Yes, in all fairness, from our point of view, we can). Bruce Pollock goes West Bruce Pollock, Circling West Bruce Pollock is coming up soon (Sept. 13) at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in Project Room 2: Bruce Pollock: Circling West. It is the Fleisher-Ollman Gallery artist’s first solo museum exhibit and his West Coast debut, and if you ask me, it’s about time that this impressive artist–whose past honors and awards include a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant–was recognized with a solo museum exhibit. ... More » »

Fresh Blood: Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell, The Golden Moment of Realization (2007), 38 x 37″, yarn; photo courtesy of the artist. I first saw Bruce Campbell’s work in a group exhibition at the late, lamented Falling Cow Gallery (S. 4th St., Philadelphia) last year. He showed two pieces in which I detected a debt to Eva Hesse: The Golden Moment of Realization and A Million Little Pieces. Both were made of the most modest materials (yarn and paper straws) yet occupied significant visual and psychic space. I decided to follow up with a studio visit and found the artist in a large loft near ... More » »