It was an ok year. In general, much of what we saw was ok. The Whitney Biennial is always an ok group show but it’s the ok group show we don’t want to miss–just in case. This year the Carnegie International became ok. All in all we’d rather be in Philadelphia where young artists and not so young artists are moving in and new galleries continue to open. Better than ok is the Bolt Bus which we’ve learned to love. Yippee. This is the year Liberta got a ridiculous number of awards — two!! — just for being them. The ... More » »
People have this idea that Roberta and I are everywhere. But after I saw this sign in a window in Saratoga Springs a couple of weeks ago, I began to think that maybe it’s true. Can it be that this Frankie Flores guy heard about the Libertas (see our last round of Liberta Awards here)?Flores offers genre racehorse paintings (it’s Saratoga Springs, afterall), and though I can’t imagine why you would check these particular ones out or sit through the introductory web flash dance of celeb photos, here’s the link to the website in the photo, Frankie Flores Fine Art. ... More » »
Belknap Brothers perform at FLUXspace. PREAMBLEIt was a year of utopian thinking with ambitious new venues run by young artists just out of school. In addition, several community-spirited galleries found their voice. Welcome to all of you builders of a better world: Bobos, Basho, Rebecca Templeton, FluxSpace, Yo!, Little Berlin, !, Midwives Collective, The Other Woman, The Seed Collective, etc. etc. etc. These real collectives put Second Life to shame and show it to be a chimera of the internet. We at artblog are realists and activists. We know the Philadelphia art world has blossomed into an international art destination ... More » »
It’s Libby and Roberta, by Martin Bromirski Oh my god. I can’t believe Martin Bromirski, artist and blogger from Baltimore (anaba is his blog). Thanks to him, Roberta and I have turned up in the most unlikely place for us–a list of heroes, including the likes of Ghandi, Frida Kahlo, St. Francis and Pedro Almodovar. There are more. Like Thoreau, a pregnant Wonder Woman and Noah Webster fer instance. They–we????–are all honored in pieces made by nearly 50 artists in an exhibit, The Heroes Show, in Olympia, WA. Martin made a piece about us for the exhibit, and frankly I ... More » »
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 » »
We’re working on them right now. So tune in later for a roundup of 2005 hits, misses and just plain silliness. Brought to you by liberta, no relation to liberace, please.