In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, written during a period of social and political unrest following the French Revolution, William Blake states, "You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.” Blake regarded Hell as a place of opportunity for unrepressed, Dionysian energy. He explained,“Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.” These thoughts came to mind with the landing of Skarstedt Gallery’s Viewing Room feature today: Eric Fischl’s newest work, American Hula, detail above, inspired by The Colossus, attributed to Francesco Goya, below. Info

As everyone has quickly discovered, working from home—with family or solo—involves infinite adjustments. For many of us cooking has become a major feature of daily life, for better or worse. This week Valentine Di Liscia, at Hyperallergic, posted a page about what artists are cooking. Which prompted me to post one of my favorite comfort foods: Barcelona-based illustrator Mikel Jaso’s grandmother’s tortilla! Here’s the first one I made, below, and here’s the recipe, direct from the artist,.

Public events via Zoom and Google Meet are getting more interesting—and appealing—as art institutions and galleries adjust to the new realities. Following are some that struck a high note this week:

Tonight, April 28, from 7-8 pm.

The Conference of the Animals: An Artist’s Talk With Ulrike Müller

Just a few years after the end of WWII, Erich Kästner published the classic children’s book The Animals Conference, a delightful story about a group of animals that rally for peace as (human) government leaders conspire to go to war. Inspired by the story, and more generally by the art of children — which has played roles in both the history of modern art and international diplomacy alike — the multi-disciplinary artist Ulrike Müller was recently commissioned to create an eponymous mural at the Queens Museum. The mural was meant to be presented in conjunction with the exhibition, 120 Years of Children Drawing New York City, curated by Amy Zion. Info

For this talk, co-presented by Cooper Union, where Müller is the Alex Katz Chair in Painting, the artist will discuss her commission and the histories of public art and muralism that inspired it.
On Zoom; register here

Every Friday

“Cocktails with a Curator” at the Frick Collection

In this new series, the Frick pairs a fascinating cocktail with the work from the collection (the drink recipes are posted on the website in advance, with non-alcoholic options, too).This week Gin and Dubonnet is the suggested accompaniment to John Constable’s White Horse—one of the artist's famed "six-footers". While you sip on your concoction, Frick curator Aimee Ng dives deep into the fascinating stories behind that week’s work. The first three episodes were hosted by chief curator Xavier F. Salomon, and can be streamed from YouTube. Above: John Constable, the White Horse (detail); from Frick Collection website

“Artmaking From Home: DIY Pottery” Saturday, May 2 at 3 pm. at the Whitney Museum of American Art
If self-isolation has got you in a crafty mood, tune in for this pottery class hosted by the Whitney. Artist Stina Puotinen will teach you how to make clay from the everyday household materials of flour, cornstarch, salt, and water. She’ll then use works in the museum collection by Betty Woodman and Arlene Shechet as a jumping off point in making handmade sculptures. Free with  registration Left: Betty Woodman, Still Life #11, 1990, courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art

Thursday, April 30, 3-4 pm: Curatorial Talks

On the more serious side, Mana Contemporary begins a new series of online lectures and conversations, Curatorial Talks with Curatorial Director Ysabel Pinyol Blasi, and CEO of Art Frankly and Co-Founder of Mana's Residency Program Karline Moeller. 

Curatorial Talks pairs artists alongside established curators, writers, and art historians; to share experience and encourage public discussion. These conversations will be followed by a Q+A, where participants are invited to ask questions directly to the curator and artist and comment on the discussion.  

For the first installment of the series, Pinyol Blasi and Moeller will discuss how they got started curating, their past and recent collaborations, and reflect on recurrent curatorial themes and questions they see many artists grappling with. To RSVP, click here. You will then receive a link to join on Zoom prior to the workshop.

Thursday, April 30, 6-7 pm PST

“In Conversation: Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Julia Bryan-Wilson” co-hosted by McEvoy Foundation for the Arts and University of California, Berkeley.

Photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya joins Julia Bryan-Wilson, professor of modern and contemporary art at University of California, Berkeley, for a conversation about his practice and his work on display in McEvoy Foundation for the Arts’ recent exhibition “Orlando.” Free with registration Left: Darkroom Mirror, 2017; from the artist's website

News Item:

FotoFocus—the nonprofit arts organization that runs America’s largest photography biennial—announced yesterday that it has called off the fifth edition of the monthlong regional event, which would have kicked off in October, in order to use the biennial’s $800,000 budget to provide financial relief to arts institutions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Arts organizations will be allowed to keep funds that would have gone toward the development of biennial programming and will be given additional funding amounting to 10 percent of the sums of their grants. The move will benefit art communities in the Greater Cincinnati area; Dayton and Columbus, Ohio; and northern Kentucky, as well as the more than one hundred venues and partners that were expected to participate in the event.

“After many discussions about how we should move forward with this year’s FotoFocus Biennial, we kept coming back to the same conclusion—the best thing we can do to help the arts survive this crisis is reconfigure our grantmaking,” said Mary Ellen Goeke, FotoFocus’s executive director. “We are about to move into our second decade and we need our community with us. We hope this money will help our partners get by at the time they need it most.”

Among the spaces receiving support are the C ontemporary Arts Center, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Taft Museum of Art, and Wave Pool in Cincinnati; the Dayton Art Institute; and the Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky. Fifteen academic institutions, including Miami University, the University of Cincinnati, and the Columbus College of Art and Design, will also be awarded a total of $177,000.

Kevin Moore, FotoFocus’s artistic director, said that the 2020 biennial’s theme, light &, “is as timely as ever.” He added: “Our response to this crisis, and to going forward as an organization, is to choose hopefulness over isolation, support over attrition. We are choosing the silver lining, which is to reaffirm our creative community and to use the time, and funding, to create an even brighter future.” Info

Planning Ahead: May 29-June 7

Variety announced earlier this week that YouTube has stepped in to launch a 10-day digital film festival this spring with 20 partners — streaming free to cinema fans everywhere.

We Are One: A Global Film Festival is being produced and organized by New York’s Tribeca Enterprises. The YouTube-hosted event will feature programming from 20 top film festivals including the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Venice Film Festival.

The online festival is set to run from May 29-June 7, 2020, and will be available at youtube.com/weareone. The free-to-watch programming, which will not include any ads, is to include feature films, shorts, documentaries, music, comedy and panel discussions.

Viewers will be asked to make donations for COVID-19 relief, which YouTube and Tribeca said will benefit the World Health Organization and local orgs in regions globally. Info