August 2011 Archive

Filming Breugel: Lech Majewski’s “The Mill and the Cross”

Films about artists tend to focus on the unruly details of their lives, which is no great surprise, since showing them painting is about as interesting as … well, you know the old saw about watching paint dry. The Mill and the Cross is a rare film about an artist that includes neither angst, intrigue, nor sexual dalliance, although the Spanish soldiers who occupied Flanders d uring Bruegel’s day provide some rather explicit violence.

Continua – Katie Murken’s chromophilia at 319 N. 11th

If hatred and fear of colors other than black and white exist in the art world, as David Batchelor persuasively argues in his book, Chromophobia, the opposite of color-hate, chromophilia, fuels Katie Murken‘s new installation opening this Friday in her DIY pop-up gallery at 319 N. 11th St. (the Vox building).

All hurricane’d out? Here’s Shelley Spector’s storms of a different stripe

artblog friend and art impresario Shelley Spector sent along pictures of art she’s been working on during her Breadboard residency at NextFab Studio.  When Stella and I visited her there Aug 11, long before Irene, the artist was working on a series about storms — hurricane names, tornados, floods…  It’s water on the brain, taken to a more ethereal level.  Shelley’s been using the programmable sewing machine at NextFab, which she has named Gwen.  She’s also assayed the laser cutters to cut some wood.  Much of her earlier work was carved wood and wood assemblages.  The new work grows out of ... More » »

Artists’ to-do lists and ephemera at the Morgan Library

By Kaitlin Kylie Pomerantz Sometimes what artists make that isn’t art is just as interesting as their art. That’s what I learned from the “Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts and Other Artists’ Enumerations” show at the Morgan Library in New York City, a magnificent yet subtle exhibition of non-art scribblings and scrawlings made by artists, all culled from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art.

Monnier on Trecartin

Annette Monnier aces the serve in her essay on the Ryan Trecartin show at PS1 in her blog One Review A Month. She also back-hands volleys at Jackson Pollock, not to mention at Lyonel Feininger and at Cory Arcangel both at the Whitney. See who emerges the winner. Game, set, match.

Next week on artblog radio – ICA’s Ingrid Schaffner on curating and her zine, Pink

Ingrid Schaffner came to Philadelphia ten years ago as an adjunct curator at ICA.  She’s now the Senior Curator at the kunsthalle, with a passel of exhibits under he belt.  Schaffner has a an easy smile, a ready laugh, and an interest in the absurd, from Dali and Dada to more contemporary artists like Richard Artschwager, for whom she worked as an archivist, pre-Philadelphia.  The curator is an art omnivore whose shows range from conceptual artists Barry Le Va and Karen Kilimnik to the whimsical Maira Kalman.  She also organized the Puppet Show, about the influence of puppetry in art, ... More » »

Photos, the Fringe, and cars in Alberta, with Barry and Louise

If this is Edmonton, I am looking for the art, and my sister-in-law Louise, a landscape artist with lots of skills, is aiding and abetting me. My brother Barry and Murray also come along.

News and Opportunities: Claudia Gould @ Jewish Museum, Milwaukee in New York pop-up, Tayyib Smith and more

News Claudia Gould leaves ICA to become director of Jewish Museum The current director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Contemporary Art, Claudia Gould, was just appointed director of New York’s Jewish Museum. Gould assumes the post this fall, and ICA is putting together a search committee to look for a replacement. Under Gould, ICA tripled its exhibitions and staff and doubled its attendance. The Jewish Musuem hopes to broaden its audience with her guidance. Milwaukee gallery shows in NYC Art in America reports that the Green Gallery, a Milwaukee hub for conceptual art, popped up at New York’s ... More » »

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Book review – Ai Wei Wei: Dropping the Urn, Arcadia’s catalog for its 2010 exhibit

This is a superb book worthy of a museum. A catalog of the 2010 exhibit by the same name, the book was produced by little Arcadia University Art Gallery, whose talent always seems to match its ambitions.   With 5 essays, a great Q&A with the artist from 1995 and lots of photos, the 125-page book adds a lot to the discussion about the important Chinese dissident artist.  Ai Wei Wei, who in his interview speaks in pithy Confucian epigrams, is in fact known almost as much for his writings and dissidence as for his conceptual and epigrammatic art.