Tag Archive "andy-warhol"

Queer Voices at the ICA

Queer Voice, at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA ), University of Pennsylvania through August 1, 2010 is an exhibition organized around an idea: that a number of artists since the 1960s have created narrative or performance-based work that emphasizes the voice, the voice distorted or manipulated such that gender is divorced from sex and/or gender is undistinguishable: a queer voice.  And this queer voice, in turn, establishes a queer or de-familiarized space for the audience. That the work of the nine artists does not clearly support this thesis, or that the thesis misses the most significant aspects of the ... More » »

Are movies the new boudoir art?

Back when royal courts were major art purchasers, painters like Francois Boucher, Rubens and many others got to exercise their sexy muscle on behalf of their royal employers, painting titillating works based on mythology. Many of these erotic paintings (some specifically for the boudoir) now sit in major art museums around the world, a reminder that the erotic in art once had great appeal for patrons who liked a little (or a lot of) sensory pleasure in their paintings and sculpture. As Jonathan Jones said recently about old master paintings in Britain’s National Gallery: “A great painting can be shockingly ... More » »

Events in Philadelphia and Elsewhere

An incomplete, biased and otherwise personal list of some of the events I hope to get to in the next two weeks: Tuesday, Feb.  2, 6 pm YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, a Seoul based web-art group, will be speaking at Temple where their work is part of Philagrafika. 126 AUDITORIUM, Temple University Architecture building,  1947 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122 Free and open to the public Who wouldn’t want to hear from artists who did a web piece called CUNNILINGUS IN N0RTH K0REA?  You can see it, and more of their work at their site.

Lynda Benglis and Philippe Parreno at the Irish Museum of Modern Art

Lynda Benglis produced a series of work, beginning in 1968, that upset contemporary notions of what was acceptable as high art: forms that appeared soft and oozing when art was supposed to be rigid and geometric; polychrome and even fluorescent when the prevailing color was gray; sparkle-y when such effects were associated with ballroom dancing and parade costumes.

A poet, a priest and a political activist walk into a room…

Religion distorted late twentieth century New York culture. For instance, I hosted a dinner party, and among the guests were the poet, priest and political activist, Daniel Berrigan, and the literary agent and retired epistemologist, John Brockman. John spoke nary a word. Afterwards I asked him about it, and he confessed: “I can’t help it. Maybe it’s growing up in Boston. But I hate Irish priests.” I didn’t think it would help matters to explain that Dan is more German than Irish; John is Jewish.

“Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture” at the National Portrait Gallery

Marcel Duchamp, joker that he was, would certainly be amused at the thought that he’s the subject of an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, of all places.  And a lively and fascinating exhibition it is! At least one federal institution is taking a liberal attitude to immigration, albeit legal, as Duchamp became a naturalized citizen in 1955.

Hello Andy are you there? Someone wants to talk to you.

I was warned that the conversation might be one-sided but I was eager to go to Andy Warhol‘s grave and chat with him anyway.  Madelyn Roehrig, my dear friend, took me there as part of her project to chronicle Andy’s grave and people’s relationships to it and to him. Madelyn’s been to the grave many times herself (she lives nearby) and since the project began in February she’s been there daily where she not only talks with Andy — but gets feedback from him!   

The Cinema Effect

Anthony McCall Line Describing a Cone (1973, 16mm film) at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s exhibition, Into The Light (2001-2). Photograph © Henry Graber, 2002. While in D.C. lobbying for arts legislation last week I had just enough extra time to catch an exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The Cinema Effect explores the way movies have influenced film and video artists. The exhibition is in two parts; the first, Dreams is up through May 11. Part two, Realisms, will be shown June 19-September 7. Since the museum is open only during the daytime the exhibition was ... More » »

When Photography and Printmaking Collide

Post by Jennifer Zarro Donald Camp, Woman who Writes, Lorraine Carey from the Dust Shaped Hearts series When Photography and Printmaking Collide opened last weekend at the Free Library of Philadelphia; it’s on view through June 27. The exhibition was organized in conjunction with an annual fundraising event put on by the Friends of the Print and Picture Department. The show features artists who use prints and photography together to create their imagery. Allan Edmunds, From the Family Album Series There are some beautiful works in the exhibition including Andy Warhol’s Jacqueline Kennedy II, 1966 which is printed with a ... More » »

Best Bets in Baltimore

Two very different exhibitions are making their only East Coast appearances in Baltimore at the moment; either would be worth the trip. For anyone who shares my breadth of interests, the two are a must-see double-bill. Edward Steichen Matisse with plaster cast of The Serpentine, Issy-les-Moulineaux (1909) Archives Matisse, Paris. ©2007 Succession H. Matisse, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Matisse: Painter as Sculptor If Matisse’s only efforts as a sculptor were his four monumental reliefs (The Back, I – IV, 1909-1930, which are actually four states of one, evolving idea) he would be one of the great sculptors of ... More » »