In no particular order, my top ten list for 2004:

1.) Beyond Geometry @ LACMA. No show this year had more surprises. A slightly slimmed-down version is now at the Miami Art Museum.

2.) Robert Smithson @ MOCA. The theorist is dead, long live the artist.

3.) Mark Rothko, A Painter’s Progress, The Year 1949 @ Pace Wildenstein. Smart show.

4.) Olafur Eliasson @ the Menil Collection.

5.) Dan Flavin @ the NGA. This was the toughest inclusion — the installation is flawed. But the work is fantastic.

6.) Robert Lazzarini @ the VMFA. OK, so it closed on Jan. 4. I saw it on Jan. 3.

7.) Julie Mehretu @ the Albright-Knox, REDCAT. The Albright-Knox version included a Mehretu-curated show from the A-K collection.

8.) Steve Mumford’s Baghdad Journal. Mumford started this project in 2003, but most of the project was published in 2004.

9.) Sally Mann @ the Corcoran.

10.) Ed Burtynsky @ the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Honorable mention: Gugg’s Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated), Gugg’s Brancusi, Isidro Blasco @ DCKT, Maggie Michael @ G Fine Art, Glenn Ligon @ Regen Projects, Tim Bavington @ Mark Moore, Peter Wegner @ Griffin Contemporary, Tracy Powell @ 4-F, Morandi @ Lucas Schoormans, Jennifer Steinkamp @ Lehmann Maupin, Chuck Close prints @ the Met (which opened at the Blaffer).

Note: If other bloggers post their lists, I’ll link to them on Tuesday next.