Unfixed—ideas, methods, materials—is what can be said to characterize the extraordinary output of Robert Rauschenberg. In Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules, a sweeping retrospective continuing at SFMOMA, this restless innovator’s contributions to the art of our own time registers in full. Visitors will experience the moment when Modern art made its exit, rules were swept aside, and friendships became collaborations, opening access to … Read the full Story >>
Vincent Van Gogh is likely the most beloved artist of all time. While there is no official poll on the subject, I propose that the large number of forgeries of his work, movies about the artist, and the continuing research on authentication of his work proves that Van Gogh lives large in the popular imagination. And don’t forget the 1971 song “Vincent,” by Don … Read the full Story >>
Dissident artist Ai Weiwei posted on-site video on Instagram of the destruction of his Beijing Studio, which began last Friday, with many of his large-scale works still inside. His studio manager fed video to the artist, who resides in Berlin. aiww Today,they started to demolish my studio zuo you[left/right] in Beijing with no precaution .which I have as my main studio since … Read the full Story >>
Wednesday, June 12: Last chance for Transparent Shades | Elizabeth Murray at Gladstone Elizabeth Murray: Drawings (1974-2006) presents over sixty rarely seen works, curated by Kathy Halbreich, who co-organized the first retrospective of her work, Elizabeth Murray: Paintings and Drawings in 1987, which originated at the Dallas Museum of Art and traveled to major institutions nationally. Halbreich once again contributes to shaping Murray’s … Read the full Story >>
Right or wrong, to be different is to be distinguished. So wrote the American artist Henry Darger (1892-1973), who was different and distinguished indeed. An exhibition of 14 of his large, double-sided watercolor landscapes that opened yesterday at Ricco Maresca Gallery sheds light on the consummate artistry and the strange workings of this mysterious artist who was completely unknown during his lifetime. Henry Darger was a self-taught artist who lived … Read the full Story >>
The best way I've found so far to beat the heat is to hop the Governors Island ferry, bike in hand, and spend a Friday afternoon in a world apart. Last week, conditions were ideal for a picnic and a 1-hour urban farming intensive - optional, of course: you could just as easily loll about with some reading material or catch up on email … Read the full Story >>
Talk / Discussion / Performance / and Beyond Tuesday January 12 MFA Art Writing and Criticism presents: Kara Rooney, 6 pm. School of Visual Arts, 133/141 West 21st Street, NY, NY. Info Timothy Morton | And You Might Find Yourself Living in an Age of Mass Extinction, 6:30 pm ISCP, 1040 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY [Williamsburg] RSVP required Sharon Butler, 6:30 pm. Trestle Gallery, … Read the full Story >>
In 1893, Santiago Ramon y Cajal, the Spanish neuroanatomist, outlined a general theory of memory that, in its essence, is almost identical to the one that is accepted today. Learning, he suggested, leaves its mark by making connections between neurons. His scientific findings were based on his detailed microscopic studies of brain cells, conveyed by his elegant drawings that were both extraordinarily accurate and … Read the full Story >>
Q: Originally from New York what are some of your favorite things about living and working in the Big Apple? A: I grew up in the Seaport, when it was a very smelly fish market, and I still live nearby, which is either a sign of the utmost uninventiveness or total security. Because my family and so many of my friends are here, from … Read the full Story >>
This exhibition. continuing at Garth Greenan Gallery through February 25, features five large-scale tipis and two sets of ceramic bullets from Luger’s series Rounds. “Indian Country,” Cannupa Hanska Luger writes, in unofficial US military terms, is used to refer to hostile territory in active war zones. From the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, the US government expanded westward, carrying out … Read the full Story >>
Delhi-based contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram, founding member of the Sahmat Collective is one of the leading artists working in India today. His work has recently been brought to wider audiences through an exhibition that originated last year at University of Chicago’s Smart Museum, and which recently closed its run at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. Widely known for his social activism and engagement with trash as an aesthetic medium, … Read the full Story >>
AFTER EXPERIENCING MONTHS OF OAXACA CITY'S TRAVAILS, we decided to enjoy the bigger picture of Oaxaca State during the holidays. This region of Mexico boasts a greater variety of ecological environments than any other part of the country, from dusty brown mountain ranges to deep blue coastlines. An especially incredible area includes the beaches surrounding Puerto Escondido, or Hidden Port. I first visited there … Read the full Story >>
Legacy Russell on #GLITCHFEMINISM: In a society that conditions the public to find discomfort or outright fear in the errors and malfunctions of our socio-cultural mechanics—illicitly and implicitly encouraging an ethos of “Don’t rock the boat!”—a “glitch” becomes an apt metonym. Glitch Feminism, however, embraces the causality of “error”, and turns the gloomy implication of glitch on its ear by acknowledging that an error … Read the full Story >>
Diana Horowitz, a painter who speaks the language of landscape, opened a show of new works on Saturday at Lori Bookstein Projects. The festive event included a sidewalk opening reception as visitors were invited in four at a time to the townhouse gallery that has just the right ambiance for this collection, titled “Small Works.” Above: Ragusa Ibia, 2017 The artist has always … Read the full Story >>
Major exhibitions on fiber arts don’t come along very often. But when the do, as with Slashed: Paper Under the Knife, at Museum of Arts and Design in 2009, they offer art lovers a fresh and often challenging way of looking at sculptural form. Fiber Futures: Japan’s Textile Pioneers, currently on view at Japan Society, offers not only a privileged view of … Read the full Story >>
The White T-shirt and Biker Jacket; the Little Black Dress; the Trench - how many style trends can you name that got their start in the movies? If this little quiz has left you clueless, a series of films starting tonight will set you straight. Four iconic films set in New York City that inspired fashion trends around the world have been … Read the full Story >>
At the last count, Thursday, September 4th brings with it more than 40 opening receptions for photography exhibitions, with another 40 or so to follow later this month. Set-up portraiture, with close collaboration between photographer and subject, continues to interest both established and emerging artists. From the realism of Alessandra Sanguinetti, at Yossi Milo, to the artifice of Polixeni Papapetrou, at Michael … Read the full Story >>
As Summer maintained its grip on Our Fair City weatherwise, Instagram offered a peek into Tom Cocotos’s sketchbooks. Here, for the very last installment of Pimp Your Sketchbook, is what I discovered last week. Sitting on a crowded A train, a woman boards, weary, arms full of packages. The cool of winter has her in a heavy brown overcoat, hat slightly cocked, scarf pulled … Read the full Story >>
A well-researched and well-written book that tells a lively history of New York through the lives and work of its artists is something to cheer. With The Slip: The New York City Street that Changed American Art Forever by Prudence Pfeiffer (Harper 2023), we get an inside view of the lives of six artists at various stages of their careers, who settled into … Read the full Story >>
