Jayson’s “Halcyon Days” opens at Salon 94

I was reading all the press and blog reviews of Jayson’s show today compelling me to write.  Now he can put the Journal under his press belt.  I’m sure there will be write ups in every major publication form artforum to the Times about this show.  His first solo in New York!  The show out preformed my expectations as his first Coogi piece was constructed for our thesis show back in 2011 and although the ideas are the same the actual execution of this work for exceeded what he put on the walls back then.  These pieces are simply elegant and a real step forward for the notion of object making for Jayson.  In the past people might have criticized him for making rough punky drawings, I happened to always love them.  I know he views him self as an object maker not a mere performer like many think he is from his Hennessy fame and this is the perfect way to step in the arena.  It might be time to put Henny on hold and simply ride the wave of being Jayson from this point forward.  But I guess he can’t do that and he probably won’t want to as he say’s it was for his online presence he would not be where he is at right now.  I am simply thrilled that my fellow Penn alum are getting such recognition from the art world these days. Jacoby was just featured in the Brooklyn rail and now this for the Pharaoh.  I can’t wait to see what happens next! The only thing that kind of rubs me the wrong way about all of this is a quote from the galleristny where they talk about a conversation between Jayson and William Powhida where Powhida tells Jayson he is now an “insider.”   Honestly where all aware of this notion, he has been an insider since grad school when the Ali G article came out. From that point it was just a matter of time to what major gallery would step up to the plate and give Jayson the shot he totally deserved.   I simply found it in bad taste of the galleristny to publish this in the story about him but Jayson handled it with grace!  … I guess I’m just as bad drawing attention to it.  Now Jayson make those Benjamin’s cause you know he did found our school. And through some of the extra paper my way, help a brother out. (and by brother I mean smallish Jewish man)  

 http://www.salon94.com/

Stop trending up!!!! its bad for art

Yeah we friends and shit at Josee Bienvenu is a perfect example of a gallery show that is trying to ride the hipster wave of coolness. I hate to be this critical of anything but this show is just an example of what not to do.  It looked like a bad grad school thesis show!!! With unimpressive text pieces, paintings off the internet referencing art in the digital age,  black exploitation pieces painted childlike with text trying to be clever and the piece to the left of post-its and spray paint.  This is all derivative of works we have all seen over and over again.  Please stop this non sense as show like this force young talented, and well educated artist to feel this is the kind of work to make if they are to get to show in Chelsea.  They are just recycling old ideas that at one point in history where fresh or challenging to the world.  Now the works seem to calling this time as the end of art.  The only thing worse was the show that opened at David Zwirner, on June 28th Stand Like the Hummingbird.  This show explored the same ideas presented as in the lesser show with notions of objecthood and gender and race politics in art, at least when the works at Zwirner where made they where in fact avant-garde.  There is always a good deal of terrable art in Chelsea, but when shows try to be at the height of critical discourse and falls shot as these two shows did it just leaves a terrible taste in my mouth as to the state of things.  I'm usually am a champion a Zwirner, but this show was a real let down for me for me .  I love many of the artists in the show, and after a year of very strong shows that have mostly been hung very well this one just seemed like a fire sale with very little for thought in its execution.

Beasts of Revelation

DC Moore, like many of the stronger galleries in Chelsea went with a large group show to ring in the summer.  With such a title one would expect a dark show filled with allegory and a true sense of desperation that many including myself often feel about our present paradigm.  The truth is the show is more or less a playful mockery of this religious realty.  Most of the works if not all are self portraits or in there least self referential to the ego of the artist.  Are we in fact as artists these Beasts who are ringing in the end of time?  Truthfully we need to move past this and be the individual saviors of society.  We are the last independent free thinking individuals! We should be coming up with the solutions to the worlds problems.  But the quantitative controllers don't let this happen leaving us on the periphery to struggle and play the commodity fetish game of the art market relying on them as our support.  When in realty they should look to us as leaders or partners.  Matt Freedman's Sculpture above to me says exactly this!  He is Heracles club in hand and can return after exile to ring in a time of great prosperity.  However his power is simply limited by a system way beyond him.  Forcing him to be simply be a bobble head shaking around as the world crumbles.

Mars is no longer on Park

Tom Sachs's  Trip to Mars on Park Ave. has ended but it was an amazing exhibition.  I was very lucky to be asked to stay on and work the show from the inside of the LEM giving talks about the work.  It was simply rad!!!  Some of my highlights where talking with Buzz Aldrin on the "dub version" of the ship that Buzz took to the moon, giving Clair Bishop a shot of Tequila  out of the Tequila gun aboard the ship and meeting one of the artists I admire the most Cai Guo-Qiang.  Lastly becoming closer with Tom and his team is something I am grateful for and I feel very lucky to have been asked to give the LEM tours.  Click on the link if you want to read an article from Space.com about the show there is a little video that I am in briefly as well.

http://www.space.com/16150-tom-sachs-mission-mars-exhibition.html

Highlights from the Tom Sachs's LEM

Buzz Aldrin and Paris Pasternak

Me and Cai Guo-Qiang

a view from my office

Under the Brooklyn Bridge

Something I struggle with daily

      What is the role of the artist in our society?  Ask this question to different people and you will learn about individual ideology, actual intellect, as well as a bit about class and education.  Of course there is “not really a correct answer to the question” although historically groups of artists argued for their ways of thinking as being the only art of the time.  Scholars and critics have come in to attempt to redefine art as the lens of interpretation, and of course the collector or patron who use their money and influence to direct and create their own definitions.     

Why does this even matter as most people I believe view art as something merely decorative created by grand eccentrics or meek introverts who only really have the ability to be an “artist.” This might be true in some ways but this is due to a mass interpretation heavy-handed to us with our historic paradigms of Oligarchic control.  As many know over recent years, probably 40 or so, there has been a real attempt by one side to try to erase thousands of years of history and on the other side to continue pushing the commodity fetish power structure side of things.  With socially engaged and culturally conscious people representing a voice of the avant-garde, where their art is no longer 'art' but something all together different and past the notion of cultural production.  And then there's the other side filled with glitter and jet setting events.

With all of this push and pull it’s more a power struggle of ideology and sadly it’s very often not about the work or what the work is about.  It's more a combination of who fits the profile of the archetype of the projected audience and a moment of social networking perceived to be beneficial by the organizer.  This happens at every level from galley to museum, residency to grant recipient and textbook to blog.  On top of all of this there is the middle ground containing the majority of people and this is an unbelievably gray space.  This is because the taking from both extremes happens here making it very difficult to navigate the real from the fake the truly invested or those merely looking for a sound investment.  What happens is it becomes a popularity contest on both sides of the middle and these people start to define public consciousness of art. 

Mars on Park Ave

Bill Powers grading exams on Mars

Since I started at Creative Time in January the talk of the office has been about the Tom Sachs Mars exhibition we had planned for this May and June at the Park Avenue Armory.  Well it opened on the 15^th and Runs until the middle of June and was in fact the best opening I have ever attended in my life even surpassing my own shows.  His work is easily accessible for all kinds of audiences, there was even a lack  of the horrible pretentious stereotype  of the art world surprisingly present in an opening filled with serious collector and celebrities like Michael Stipe, Kanye West, and Cynthia Rowley. Really the work is simply just fun and every one in the Armory for a brief bit of time let down there guards and believed  in being human for a moment perhaps having a bit of childlike nostalgia during the experience on Mars .  This might be due to the fact the works although some being monumental are clearly created by people, no fancy fabrications just years of hard work by Sachs and his amazing team of skate boarding  whisky drinking assistants.  The truth is the show is self-reflexive of humanity and the youthfulness and joy so often over looked in this city and in our society as a whole as computers and finance define us.  No one exemplified this more then gallerist and TV personality Bill Powers who was the most engaged person on Mars.  Wearing a Nasa Lab coat and grading exams of those  at the testing station on Mars.  His glow was so bright and smile so large I believe for the evening he was simply playing as he did as a 10 year old.  My time at Creative Time is almost over as I was just there for 6-month internship and this was the perfect culmination of my experience working for such a fantastic organization.  I will be kicking it on Mars a few days a week until the expedition  is over and I recommend you come so you can journey to Mars your self.

Hennessy on Grad School

Tom Sachs takes us to Mars

Tom Sachs talking about the role of "Tea Culture on Mars"

Tom Sachs is just simply rad!  Yesterday I was walked through Mars by Tom two days before it opens to the public.  Seeing the final touches go into this journey with years of planning was an experience and a half as an artist exactly a year out of grad school.  Tom skated around Mars explaining in great detail every aspect of life on the planet as he and his studio see it.  This is going to be the exhibition of the year in New York.


 http://tomsachsmars.com/

Racism and Baseball

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A few weeks ago I was in Boston and I went to watch the Yankees play the Red Sox.   

Two gentlemen next to me though got thrown out of the game and although I joke about it saying that it made it a more authentic experience, it was really sad.  I am also unsure how far it could be taken from a criminal perspective as it was at Fenway but clearly an assault based on race.  The men started throwing peanuts at an interracial couple a few rows up from where I was sitting.  They did it a few times before the man they where targeting came up and stated screaming at the wrong group of people. The couple must have gone to security as sure enough the men next to me started throwing peanuts again but this time four or so officers came and pulled them out of their seats.  This happened right before the Yankees really started winning or I could have been a target of this groups harassment.  He already made a Jew remark early on when he learned I was from New York.   I forget racism exists living in New York, I did see it in Princeton as well as in Philly but nothing as direct and uneducated as this.  The people behind me said it isn’t a season if that guy doesn’t get kicked out, but this was more then that.  I believed we had moved way past this in our society I guess the art world is a bit more accepting even with its ridged hierarchical structure. Or perhaps we are more subversive?

Liam Gillick at Casey Kaplan

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All I wanted was to be 15 and try to rail slide the sculptures in the gallery but not much more.  Oh wait Deitch did that like 10 years ago.  The Gillick show was just very confusing with large black vinyl works on the walls referencing medieval manuscripts juxtaposed with minimalist sculpture.  There was an over written statement for the show trying to explain what we where looking at.   Granted most of my posts are kind of on the smaller side, but if you are at the show pick up the statement, give it a good read and let me know what it's trying to say.  Truthfully some of the sculptures are ok if you are into work that has come out of Minimalism.   There is nothing one hasn’t seen before with the ground rails being the strongest works in the show.  I have a real problem in claiming Marxist inspiration for the work, as placing it in a gallery in Chelsea it kind of negates any firm connection to Marx.

 www.caseykaplangallery.com

Dana Schutz

Dana Schutz had an opening on May Second it was her first Exhibition at Friedrich Petzel.  Her paintings are often filled with a level of grotesque hummer but not so in this show. I found a more tamer Schutz a bit strange but not off putting for neither her or the gallery, one in which I feel pushes the limit more so then others in Chelsea.  Petzel's shows are often the best in the west 20's.  Schutz is helping to define what painting is in our present moment and pushing what figure painting can be.  Although the room of Yawn paintings may be some kind of acknowledgement of the show itself.  The work is both comfortable and a bit sleepy, but not boring.  I like yawning and I guess art doesn't all need to be super flashy, slick, or grotesque in its jokes.   Building the Boat While Sailing the largest work in the show is way too much in a conversation with the Murals of Diego Rivera so recently after the fantastic show at the MoMA however I like the painting.

www.petzel.com

Mike

Coffee with Mike and Justin on Lafayette Street.

In the Middle of April my old friend artist Michael Sagato and young art Royal Joseph Nahmad partnered up for a massive painting exhibition "Delirium Tremens" on Mulberry Street. The show most probably won't get talked about in Artforum as master works in oil changing the face of contemporary painting.  But it did get a nearly perfect Page 6.  The truth is the event was not filled with the same people you see doing the rounds in Chelsea or in Bushwick but a mix  models and moguls all more then willing to try to engage in an art based conversation.      


http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/beautiful_turnout_sAcDxGMLa4r1YkFBant9xL

Jacolby Satterwhite

I met Jacolby at Penn; he was a second year when I started.  He was combining 

3-D modeling with analog video, making over the top costumes and performing in them, just being an overall artist not to mention one of the most intriguing people I have ever met.  Right now he has work up at the Studio Museum in Harlem and I believe the linked article from the Art 21 Blog is a fantastic read.  He honestly is one of the best young artists in the world.  He is earnestly dedicated to his practice and so engaged with being an artist getting residency after residency and just rocken out.  I am so happy he has this show.

http://blog.art21.org/2012/04/20/gastro-vision-queer-cakes-for-a-country-cookout/

Itsa Small Small World comes to an end

Chris Lawrence and Jayson Musson installing @ Family Business

When Jayson first introduced Hennessy to the world it was in the middle of our finale crits first year at Penn.  I believe everyone in the room was aware that we had just seen something with a huge level of potential to impact a world outside of our critique and program. Prior the room was very tense due to the nature of our crits, but his videos on Nauman and How to be an Artist completely captivated every one present and changed the room from bitter tastes to smiles and laughter.  


The great curator Charlotte Cotton addressed a major issue she saw of audiance regarding Jayson's work.  At this point there was no firm context for the work- ie where would Henny live.  He wasn't meant for a gallery or a museum (yet) he was for the people and thus the internet star was born.  I'm unsure if anyone would have thought that a little over a year later he would have had a story in the Times, Interview, and in the Huffington Post dedicated to Jayson and his proxy.


When he was given an interesting conceptual opportunity from artist Marilyn Minter,  New Museum curator Massimiliano Gioni and artist Maurizio Cattelan who's resent solo at the Guggenhiem show is still fresh in the minds, to take over a very small closet sized store front in the heart of Chelsea he first spoke of caging an intern.  His thinking progressed to the point where he opened up the space to those that support him.  It proved a few things: most importantly hipters can be moblezed through the internet and Jerry Saltz likes to try to stay relevent by connecting to the youth.

Giverny at The Hole

In 2010 E.V. Day was awarded the Munn Artists Residency, where she lived on Monet's estate in Giverny France.  While there Day worked with Kembra Pfahler to create the photographs of Kembra in one of her signature sculptural costumes, nude but fully painted bright red with a fantastic mop of black hair.  The photos adorn the walls of the installation that opened at the Hole on the Bowery on March 30th.  The installation itself is a recreation of the well know landscape made famous by Monet and his painterly Waterlilies.  I kind of see this show as metaphor for the LES (Lower East Side): a fabricated beauty thats just a bit off perhaps do to what is at its core: a fiery red women some place between goddess and demon.

http://theholenyc.com/

Fred Sandback changed my life

In 2007 I saw a Sandback and it effected my thinking about artistic practice greatly.  It prompted me to look at string as a material to work with.  I was living in Princeton at the time and chose to start my first experiments with sting in the woods of the Institute for Advanced Study.  After a few months my gallery, CVZ Contemporary, showed projections of the outdoor installations.  A few months later I was invited to Vienna to take place in the Vienna Biennale and then a year after that I got a grant from the City of Philadelphia all to make work inspired by Sandback.  


http://www.davidzwirner.com/

Julian Schnable

Julian Schnable at the Hole

Last night I was at a diner party in BedSty at a friends house.  Although there where a few artists present it was really not a place of artistic discourse.  As the night drew on I was in a taking to a small group including a few artists.  One of the others "non art" people in the room  brought up the name Julian Schnable most likely to try to strike up a conversation. The typical non art talk about Julian's work followed... "I like his movies much more then his paintings... " 


Last week with a completely different group of people, not really art people either, his name was brought up again... "I was going to this fashion party at Julian Schnable's house and thank god so & so was there..."   What is it about him that compels non art people to talk about him to me and I'm sure to others when they are talking about contemporary artists?  


Two nights ago at an opening on the L.E.S I took the above photo of him and texted it off to a friend right away.  So I guess I am also a bit guilty of spreading the word. Years ago some one told me a bit of success has to do with one's name so perhaps it's his name we are all attracted too!  Or maybe it's that hat.

Elle Varner

Elle Varner on Center Street  

Late the other night I was walking home from a nightclub in Nolita and I met Elle.  She was looking in the window of a photo gallery and talking about a portrait of a woman with her friends.  I interjected just because I'm always one to talk with people about art.  We spoke for a little while and I learned she is a musician.  I love chance run ins like this and it's partly why New York is a great place.  She is as nice as her smile suggests and I kind of think she might be one of the next big starts.  Granted I am not much of an expert on pop music but she glows. 

http://www.ellevarner.com/

Daniel Dimin, Dinner & Dancing

We went to Chinatown for my cousins 31st.  The place was called The Golden Unicon It was a large group, Jamie Burke just got back a from a few shows around the country I haven't seen him in years.  Biden was there and May, after dinner we chilled for a bit on a roof top on Orchard St. before we went out to SouthSide.

The Ungovernables at the New Museum

http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/448

Danh Vo at the New Museum

  We The People, a work by Berlin based Vietnamese artist Danh Vo, is a great example of a very successful contemporary work.  The piece is strong in its formal aesthetic properties allowing even the most skeptical of contemporary practices a place of comfort in viewing.  We The People is made of copper and was constructed by a group of craftsmen from China.  The sculpture although seemingly abstract is a full scale reproduction of the exterior skin of the Statue of Liberty.  Thus beyond the works beauty and formal elegance it is deep with social and political discussion.

Jewel

Hassan Khan, British artist based out of Cairo, had what believed to be the    strongest work in the New Museums       Triennial, The Ungovernables.  

Jewel is an original Shaabi music composition with a video installation of two men dancing.  The dance is emblematic of power structures as understood and witnessed by the artist.  This work alone makes the exhibition a must see. 

Never forget to respect those that support us

I was at an event at the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and it was very humbling.  For those of you that are not aware of the Illumination Fund it was "Founded in 2007 by philanthropist Laurie M. Tisch, the Laurie  M. Tisch Illumination Fund supports innovative strategies to address long-standing problems in New York City." One of the main ideals of this foundation is that they believe "that an essential part of grant making is to encourage continuous learning and sharing of knowledge."  The Foundation understands the role of the artist as creative problem solvers and as people who engage with the sharing of knowledge. The arts couldn't help in the progression of society without Foundations like this.  


A question I struggle with is how do we make more people aware that this is one major role of the artist? 

       

http://www.lmtilluminationfund.org/

Art Season

This time of  year is when the global art market comes to New York.  They come for the Armory Show, Volta, the Independent and all sorts of open studios. These annual events are held in tandem this year with The Whitney biennial, and the New Museum Triennial making New York filled with contemporary art. New York Magazine/Work of Arts Jerry Saltz gives a whats up as he leaves the Independent in the old Dia building. The below posts I share some thoughts on the fairs focusing on international galleries as its a treat to see what people out side of New York are looking at in there art worlds.   

David Salle

I was not expecting to see a painting by David Salle at the Independent but it proved that the greats are simply that and stand out where ever they are placed. No Hard Feelings a painting made in 2011 exhibited by Maureen Paley from London shows his masterful and delicate hand and what I find so interesting is one can see even in this work he is student of John Baldessari.



www.maureenpaley.com

Turkish Figure Painting

There was limited figural painting and I most likely wouldn't write about it but Turkish Artist Yesim Akdeniz Graf paintings shown by Dirimart a gallery out of Istanbul have compelled me to share a bit of what they brought to New York this year.  She paints her self in "fantasy settings", I can't say being lashed by a pimp with to many hats (perhaps a reference to Max Ernst)in a obscure landscape sounds like a fantasy but the work above is ripe with art historical references and perhaps a bit of personal  and Turkish allegory.



www.dirimart.org

Olafur Eliasson

He is known for his large public installations like his Water Falls through out New York and his Weather/Sun piece at the Tate Modern in London.  This year when there was a focus on Scandinavian  artists at the Armory, the show would not be complete with out a work by him.  This piece a large piece of drift wood and a mirror is a resent example of works he is making for the market. Honestly the work first made me smile before I was aware it was a work by Eliasson as I am working with drift material a bit in some of my resent sculptures.  When I learned it was an Eliasson I was even happier as I often look to his work as being some of the best works of our time but I never thought of him as a market artist, just really a public/ museum artist.  Navigating what the this means is something I contemplate often and seeing that even Eliasson makes work for the collector makes me understand that there are no clear cut lines to what kind of works an artist makes and who the works are for.

"For Someone Who Nearly Died But Survived"

The installation by Bore Saethre  presented by Loevenbruck a gallery out of Paris I believe stood out as one of the highlights of The Armory Show.   Hollowed out and painted black Arcade Games from the 80's and sound proofing materials filled the exhibition space. Artists have often explored gaming but I believe Saethre used them in way that questions our present time being very aware of our resent past, both in an art context and in the real world.


www.loevenbruck.com

A great gallery on Orchard Street

On the Lower East Side often the galleries show post "UnMonumental" works making it difficult to navigate who is making an honest attempt at an art practice and who is exploiting the expected and excepted practices of todays hipster aesthetics.  Y Gallery on Orchard is a example of a gallery outside of Chelsea  showing strong work.  I was at the gallery just before the exhibition The Execution of Maximilian with works by G.T. Pellizzi and Ray Smith was taken down.  This show was both socially engaged as well as pleasurable to view.  The gallery has a roster of international artists and should be a place to visit when looking for a good show.


www.ygallerynewyork.com  

Really... Jeff Koons?

I was walking in front of Bloomingdales the other night and looked in the window and need to share what I learned. Jeff Koons in now collaborating with Bloomingdales making a limited addition shopping bag.  Cool that he is encouraging the use of reusable bags for a place where the bag itself is an Icon, but is it really setting a good precedent for contemporary artists?  In the past many very successful artists did this kind of duel branding, and granted it is Koons but really do a in store signing right in the midst of art season.

Mia in Chelsea

My dear friend Mia Berg has a solo show Woman: Camera up in Chelsea at gallery 151 on 18^th street for the month of March. I go back to undergrad with her at Parsons where we took a few classes together one a class that dealt with the body / sexuality and photography. In this class years ago she really began to developed the visual langue she uses in the beautiful self-portraits in nature that fill the space now.  It is really exciting to see this show for me as In the past I have included her in group shows and just love to see her succeed. For this show accompanying the large photographs Mia delves into video offering a very fun and animated experience of viewing her shots.  There is also a wall of documentation of her process photographed by renowned photographer Spencer Tunic who is also somewhat of a mentor to Mia. In the photo for with this post Mia, Spencer, the Gallery owner and their Pr women pose for a photographer; I have always enjoyed taking shots like this.

7 eleven gallery

At 711 Washington st., between Perry & and w 11^th There is a great gallery showing work of emerging artists.  I was fortunate enough to make an event there last week where artist Nick Doyle “was giving away free prison tattoo’s with his homemade tattoo kit.”  I’m not personally into getting ink but the event was good and if you find you self in the west village I would stop in and look at what ever show they have up. 

http://www.7elevengallery.com/

Dustin's fire escape

A few Days a week when I’m not at Creative Time I help my friend Dustin out. He works on Chrystie street and when I take a few minute break to my self this is my view. I love just stepping out on the fire escape with the New Museum directly to my one side and the old lower east side for all my eyes to see.

A view from Fedi's

I’ve known Fedi since she was the Gallery director at CVZ she had just moved to the states from Italy.  Years have passed and today she runs a studio on the top floor of one of the landmark buildings in the Meatpacking.

Record shopping with John

Jayson's new video

 

Chelsea Breakdown

Every week or so I will head out to Chelsea and other arts neighborhoods in New York and talk a bit about what I saw.  This week I ran into legendary filmmaker and artist John Waters and saw a women buy a Robert Motherwell.  The Motherwell incident was my friends favorite moment of the day. The below posts talk a bit on my weekend journey and some thoughts on shows I saw this week.

Damien Hirst at Gagosian the complete spot paintings 1986-2011

         Massive studio practices that employ artists are good regardless of external intuitional ethics or subject matter.   For many even those that are well educated art is merely decorative and a place to escape for a Saturday moment.  It seems though people understand when they enter a contemporary art environment like Chelsea there will be a prevalence to a post modern sensibility, where technical precision is not always the defining characteristic of a master work. However people need to be able to relate on some level to what they experience even if it’s a superficial connection.  There needs be something to justify relevance in the contemporary moment in order to validate arts historical significance and this is where individual subjectivity comes to play.  Hirst and Gagosian offer a point of entrance into the a world that often alienates those that wonder a bit without the proper pedigree or background while giving those in the know something to snicker at and critique.

Formally the shows at the two Chelsea spaces are hung impeccably. Trying to comprehend the massive undertaking of such a show with its 11 coinciding global exhibitions warrants a slow clap at least, personally knowing the difficulty of producing small art events.  The work is what it is and arguments can be made for it in any directing you wish to take, I have my particular stance, which is neither right or wrong or conclusive. I will say though the shows are worth seeing.

Large Studios make works and so do individual artist and originations with the intended function of the art sometimes being very differently. Having a massive studio and gallery team both that employees many that genuinely care about art in some ways justifies the works value as they are all working to sell a product in a system they did not create.  I believe some of Hirsts work to be very theoretically sound and also simply functioning in a way many people need art too. Not all works should be socially engaged.  My only real critique is The Gagosian gallery is the only gallery in Chelsea that asked me to leave my ice coffee at the door.

www.gagosian.com

Joyce Pensato, Batman Returns at Friedrich Petzel

The fumes of oil paint fill the air and a large group of people in the gallery make the cluttered space feel that much more claustrophobic when I viewed this show.  The paintings on the wall are simply lost as the presence of the objects in varied states of decay scattered in mounds overwhelm the senses. I am guilty too of using clutter and stuffed animals in my sculptures but with the death of Mike Kelley still in my head I couldn’t help but being overly critical of the show.  Go for you self take a look and contemplate is this where art should still be? 

www.petzel.com

Terry Winters at Matthew Marks Gallery

Cricket Music, Tessellation Figures, & notebooks is a show worth seeing if you are curious of the state of contemporary painting.    Matthew Marks also gives a bit of insight to the process of Winters by sharing with us a full gallery of notebook pages; this idea of lesser works or sketches is a common trend in Chelsea now.  Regardless if this is an act of market savvyness or not in the case of Winters it is nice to see how works are generated and the over all creative process.

www.matthewmarks.com

On Kawara at Zwirner

I had a professor at grad school kind of a hotshot curator talk to me in a studio visit about experiencing On Kawara’s paintings. The gist of what she was telling me was to learn from the process and sincere dedication to a project.   When I entered David Zwirner I finally understood what she was talking about, as the rooms of dates painted represent a very long career as a working artist.  Granted there is a bit of OCD present in the process but there is something overwhelming and poetic of recording ones own life and life’s work in this way.

www.davidzwirner.com

Nolita,Records and Reggae

Tequila with Justin on Mercer Street

a bit of time at Pearl

Shopping for supplies

Queens

On my way to The Queens Museum

a little Creative Time love

So the 2 post below show a bit of love for the art non-profit Creative Time. The first is a link to an article from a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal about Anne Pasternak the fearless leader of the organization. The article also does a good job talking about what we do.  I am very fortunate to be able to say we, as I am presently an intern there working in the new Global Initiatives division.  This brings me to the other post a video a few of us interns made.  Those that know me try to guess what lines I wrote. 

article in The Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204542404577157282375129876.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

a little video

http://vimeo.com/35746220