In the Saint Louis Beacon, Bob Duffy likes the new David Chipperfield-designed galleries and the initial installation at the Saint Louis Art Museum’s new wing (at right), but found elements of the museum’s expansion plan disappointingly unambitious. (So apparently I’m not the only one thinking SLAM would benefit from more ambition.)- The Plain-Dealer’s Steven Litt reports that Janet Cardiff’s Forty Part Motet (2001) has touched down in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Indoor Garden Court, aka its superb gallery of early 16th-century art.
- Christopher Knight notes that Jeffrey Deitch, who, at last check is still the director of MOCA, seems to think the art market is more important than artists.
- Holland Cotter reviews the International Center of Photography’s triennial and finds the show’s curators embracing artists who eagerly mix media and source material.
- Jen Graves makes me really want to visit the Henry right now — and not. The installation about which she writes sounds creepy, interesting.
- In the LA Times, Karen Wada offers a quick-hit on the Huntington’s website-cum-online-exhibition taken from the 70,000-image Southern California Edison photo archive.
- Ken Johnson has a smart take on Imram Qureshi’s installation on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art — and Johnson offers an interesting twist on the phrase “site-specific.”
- The Washington Post’s Philip Kennicott hopes the Hirshhorn builds its Bubble, but his reasons are somewhat curious: They ignore the Hirshhorn’s mission (art!) and the project’s duplication of an already extant museum space. Then there’s this phrase, which Kennicott casually dropped at the end of a sentence as if it was common or accepted knowledge: “… the remarkable accomplishments of [Richard's] Koshalek’s tenure atop the Hirshhorn.” The what?!
- Finally, expect a Hirshhorn-trustees vote on the Bubble on Thursday. Keep an eye on the Post or the Washington CityPaper for the news (as I’ll be traveling).
- In LA Weekly, Catherine Wagley offers up a mini-profile of star LACMA curator Rita Gonzalez. In the same issue, Erica Zora talks with Laura Owens.
- With a second Civil War-related exhibition about to open at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (this one joins this one), Barbara Pollack takes to ARTnews to consider how artists are still considering the Civil War in their work.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: In a show taped in front of a live audience at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Marianne Stockebrand discusses her terrific new exhibition of Donald Judd’s 1980s multi-colored objects. Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
Archive for the ‘Weekend roundup’ Category
May 20, 2013, 8:03 am
Weekend roundup
May 13, 2013, 7:27 am
Weekend roundup
- Roberta Smith effectively Yelps a Walmart.
- And GalleristNY? If Smith is Yelping an art fair, GalleristNY takes the Tiger Beat approach.
- … which has the sad effect of hiding actual substance, such as Andrew Russeth’s strong profile of Eric Fischl.
- …and if you’d rather read about art, ideas, content and execution, I strongly recommend Holland Cotter on Matthew Barney’s drawings at the Morgan.
- LATer Jori Finkel profiles James Turrell.
- Artinfo’s Ben Davis takes a smart look at Gutai in the geopolitical context of the art movement’s time.
- Also in the LAT, Sharon Mizota looks at Jedediah Caesar’s show at Susanne Vielmetter.
- The Stranger’s Jen Graves on index cards? Yes, and it’s super.
- The Miami Herald doesn’t pull out this headline/cultural reference for just anyone…
- St. Louis city and St. Louis county support its arts institutions with unusually lavish public funding. The latest: $2 million in county funds may be headed to the Laumeier Sculpture Park, reports Kristen Hare in the Beacon. Now if only Richard Serra’s important, under-loved Twain (1974-82) could attract some of that love…
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: Eric Fischl discusses his excellent new memoir “Bad Boy,” and Kate Shepherd, whose work is included in “The Artist’s Palette: The Primary Colors on Paper” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, talks primary colors. Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
May 6, 2013, 7:15 am
Weekend roundup
In the NYT, Carol Kino profiles Orly Genger. [Genger, Red, Yellow and Blue, 2013. Image via Flickr user ShellyS.]- Also in the NYT, Ted Loos looks at SFMOMA’s Garry Winogrand retrospective. Curator Leo Rubinfien was the lead guest on Episode No. 70 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast.
- Sarah Zabrodski visits Richard Serra’s Shift (1970-71) and writes about the trip for Hyperallergic.
- Dan Duray writes the heck out of a Twitter dust-up between Kriston Capps and the website Babes at the Museum.
- Speaking of Capps, his Washington CityPaper examination of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s upcoming vanity show of one of the Koch brothers is spot-on. The show is an institutional embarrassment. My tax dollars should not indirectly support the hagiography of a rich guy and the glorification of his stuff. SAAM director Betsy Broun has done this before — and even admitted to MAN that she allowed two collectors to dictate to her museum the scholarship around a similar exhibition.
- The latest MOCA drama involves a major architecture exhibition, Frank Gehry and questions about whether the show is impacted by funding/spending problems. The key stories are from LATer Christopher Hawthorne and Carolina Miranda in AIA’s Architect magazine.
- Sebastian Smee examines the ICA Boston’s Foster Prize exhibition.
- Artinfo’s Daryl Jingwen Wee talks global disaster and Venice with Alfredo Jaar.
- Pete Brook tells the stunning story of how a set of Polaroids taken in a prison made their way to an art fair — and was offered for $45,000. [via]
- In ArtNEWS, Pepe Karmel breaks down why this is a very, very good time for abstraction, especially painting. He places abstract art into six distinct categories, and in so doing may leave you with something that bounces around in your brain for a while.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: Philip Taaffe leads off the show on the occasion of his exhibition of new work at Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine gallery. Then William Powhida talks about his smart, clever takes on the art market as expressed in an exhibition at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles. Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
April 29, 2013, 7:57 am
Weekend roundup
- Christopher Knight demolishes Urs Fischer, who for some reason is the subject of a survey at MOCA.
- Christina Binkley profiles LACMA chief Michael Govan in the WSJ.
- Sebastian Smee isn’t a particular fan of the Per Kirkeby survey at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. (The show debuted at the Phillips Collection.)
- Holly Myers considers Latifa Echakhch’s installation at the Hammer Museum.
- I can’t fathom why the NYT would publish this bit of facts-ignorant, gender-driven, pop-psyche, blither-’n'-babble about collecting. It’s one of the least intelligent pieces I’ve read in the New York Times — on any topic — in months. (Nor am I alone: Excepting Carol Vogel’s regular Friday ZOMGs, I’ve never seen an art-related NYT write-up be eviscerated on social media like this one was.)
- Helena Smith’s Guardian story of what happened to two Greek classical nude sculptures in Qatar is pretty incredible.
- Maurice Berger takes to the NYT’s Lens blog to spotlight the photographs of James Karales, which are included in this new book.
- There are already 50 artworks in the Cowboys Stadium art collection? Zowie. The Dallas Morning News’ Michael Granberry reports that the latest is Jim Campbell, whose Exploded View (Cowboys Stadium) (2013) is now in place. The work is closely related to his 2012 SFMOMA commission, which Campbell and I discussed on Episode No. 44 of The MAN Podcast.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: National Book Award-winning author Edward Ball talks about his new book on Eadweard Muybridge and Leland Stanford and David Maisel talks about “Black Maps: American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime,” a gorgeous new book from Steidl that surveys his career. Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
April 22, 2013, 6:16 am
Weekend roundup
- Carol Vogel profiles collector Mitch Rales and his private (non-profit), exclusive museum Glenstone. Haven’t heard of it? It’s out in a ritzy-but-obscure Washington suburb, an area only realistically accessible to the white upper-class. (The place has long been disinterested in having journalists visit. For a time you had to sign a waiver effectively saying you’d remember nothing of what you’d seen.) There’s much to agree with in what just-departed Hirshhorn Bubble staffer Jessica Dawson tweeted on the thing.
- RIP former LA Times art critic William Wilson. Here he is on Doug Wheeler in 1968.
- In the LAT, David Pagel reviews Kaz Oshiro’s exhibition at Honor Fraser gallery in Los Angeles. Oshiro was on last week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast.
- Why are major museums loaning artworks to private, commercial galleries? Seems like a pretty obvious violation of Association of Art Museum Directors guidelines regarding care of collections and the motivation of loans, but, as ever, AAMD’s rules mean whatever it wants them to mean at a given moment. Ken Johnson reviews an early Serra show at David Zwirner gallery. It’s full of museum loans.
- Geoff Dyer takes to the LAT to consider Jeff Wall and “War/Photography,” which is now at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Exhibition co-curator Anne Wilkes Tucker was on Episode No. 53 of The MAN Podcast.
- Randy Kennedy lifts the curtain on Mike Kelley’s ‘house,’ overseen by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
- On Hyperallergic, Ben Valentine offers up a nice summation of the mess at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
- Dan Duray profiles Andrew Kuo over at GalleristNY.
- In The Stranger, Erin Langner reviews the Carrie Mae Weems retro at the Portland Art Museum. Weems was the guest on Episode No. 47 of The MAN Podcast.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: Wangechi Mutu discusses her work on the occasion of her first career survey, which is now at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. On the second segment, a clip of a prior conversation I had with Barry McGee. A survey of his work has touched down at the ICA Boston. Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
April 15, 2013, 8:06 am
Weekend roundup
- While I was away, the Baltimore Museum of Art cut its staff by about ten percent through layoffs and by eliminating unfilled positions. On one hand, the BMA didn’t lay off staff during the Great Recession. On the other hand, between the unfortunate, improper renting of its art collection and this, it’s evident — and somewhat predictable given the steep decline of metro Baltimore — that the BMA is struggling. Idea.
- Blake Gopnik visits Claes Oldenburg for the New York Times.
- Philip Kennicott analyzed the deal-in-progress between the Corcoran and the University of Maryland. There are a number of eyebrow-raisers here — especially the bit where Kennicott describes the nutty ideas of philanthropist Wayne Reynolds as “intriguing” — but it’s a good take on the current State of the Mess. (Speaking of Reynolds, if anyone Storifyed Kriston Capps’ live-tweeting of his presser, please share.)
- NYTer Robin Pogrebin reports that MoMA will tear down the former American Folk Art Museum. No surprise, right? The building was never a good place to see art.
- In the Detroit Free Press, Mark Stryker profiles Shirin Neshat.
- Sebastian Smee reviews the Barry McGee survey at the ICA Boston. The show originated at the Berkeley Art Museum last fall, when McGee joined me on The Modern Art Notes Podcast.
- Steven Litt reports that the Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired a significant Max Beckmann.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: On the occasion of his inclusion in the exhibition “Lifelike” at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego” and a just-opened exhibition at Honor Fraser gallery in Los Angeles, Kaz Oshiro discusses his take on trompe l’oeil painting. On the second segment, Deb Sokolow talks about her fictional drawings. Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
April 1, 2013, 7:18 am
Weekend roundup
- Must-read: In The Art Newspaper, Blake Gopnik smartly slams the “exhibition-industrial complex” and especially museum-collection rental shows.
- LACMA tries something new and different with an installation of American art. (Hint: It includes something for which I’ve long advocated.) Christopher Knight approves.
- For the Financial Times, Simon Schama visits the ‘new’ Rijksmuseum.
- In the LAT, Stanley Meisler features the National Gallery of Art’s Durer show.
- Carol Kino profiles Barry McGee in the NYT.
- Christian Viveros-Faune reviews James Nares-at-the-Met for the Village Voice.
- This pseudo-analysis of MOCA’s attendance figures from GalleristNY is quite silly. Attendance is not a meaningful indicator about the quality of a museum’s exhibitions, scholarship, collection-related or conservation activities. To put it another way: Was curator Ann Temkin’s Philadelphia Museum of Art retrospective of Barnett Newman an indication that the Philly Museum was in a “slump” because the Newman show was one of the least-visited exhibitions of 2002? Of course not. It is widely considered one of the most important monographic exhibitions of the last decade or two.
- Frick Collection deputy director Colin Bailey will be the new director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. This should tell you all you need to know about the challenges inherent in that job: When FAMSF held a press conference announcing Bailey’s hiring, board president Dede Wilsey was there… and Bailey wasn’t.
- Nota bene: I’ll be traveling through April 14. The Modern Art Notes Podcast will publish/air on Thursdays as usual. Expect some archives-related features on other days.
On this week’s MAN Podcast: Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Jeff Rosenheim discusses his exhibition “Photography and the American Civil War,” which opens tomorrow. On the second segment, Dara Friedman talks about her exuberant “Dancer,” which is on view at the Hammer Museum. Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes,SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
March 25, 2013, 7:15 am
Weekend roundup
- The must-read of the week comes from Sebastian Smee who traveled to Japan to write this piece for the front page of the Boston Globe: How the MFA Boston thumbs its nose at its home audience when it sends its art to Japanese museums. (Sadly, this is a continuing theme for director Malcolm Rogers’ MFAB, which has routinely prioritized non-Boston audiences by sending the city’s art away from New England.)
- The SF Chronicles Carl Nolte reports that Ess Eff’s famed Palace Hotel has removed the Maxfield Parrish above its bar. Why? Market > tradition and history.
- NYTer Randy Kennedy offers a smart, national look at social practice and how art institutions encourage it.
- Carolina Miranda offers a short, clever take on this past weekend’s MoMA event.
- Roberta Smith desires to be heard on the perpetual MOCA mess. Four-plus years of MOCA crisis have revealed this: Analysts removed from the situation tend to blame Eli Broad. Analysts more engaged with the institution realize that it’s the inactivity of the board that gives Broad power. And then there’s that endorsement of Jeffrey Deitch with which Smith still has to deal. Oh, and USC isn’t in Pasadena, either. But, you know, other than all that…
- The Baltimore Sun’s Mary Carole McCauley takes a look at the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Armory-centennial-timed Max Weber show.
- In the LAT, Steve Appleford advances “War/Photography,” the blockbuster MFA Houston show that opened at the Annenberg Space for Photography on Saturday. Exhibition co-curator Anne Wilkes Tucker was a guest on The Modern Art Notes Podcast when the show opened in Houston.
- Smith loves Helen Frankenthaler at Gagosian.
- Holland Cotter reviews the Albrecht Durer-from-the-Albertina works on paper show now at the National Gallery.
- The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Mary Abbe enjoys the MIA’s ‘Truthiness’ exhibition.
- In LA Weekly, Andrew Berardini reviews the long-term Laura Owens exhibition at 356 S. Mission Road.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: Examining “Gutai: Splendid Playground” at the Guggenheim with co-curator Alexandra Munroe. On the second segment, I discuss the confluence of Cold War-era paranoias with Yevgeniy Fiks, whose most recent show at New York’s Winkleman Gallery closed over the weekend. To listen: Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes,SoundCloud, Stitcher or RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
March 18, 2013, 7:34 am
Weekend roundup
- On the big story of the week, which is once again the Museum of Contemporary Art: Um, the National Gallery of Art would give MOCA credibility (or anything else) when it comes to contemporary art? In the must-read of the week, Christopher Knight laughs and laughs and laughs at that silly notion. The whole idea is kind of like your grandfather teaching a high schooler how to use an iPhone.
- Knight’s essay came on the heels of this Mike Boehm story revealing the extent of Eli Broad’s involvement in the last two MOCAMesses.
- The NGA plans to spend $30 million to add 12,000 square feet of gallery space and a rooftop sculpture garden to the East Building. Given the NGA’s significant space needs and its stasis over the last 40 years, this ain’t much. The whole idea is kind of like cleaning out your attic to make room for hundreds of superb paintings. (Oh, wait, it’s not like that, it is that.)
- Speaking of the MOCA-NGA semi-story, here’s all the Washington Post’s coverage of it: .
- The Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Crow profiles Mike Kelley.
- Martha Schwendener reviews Deb Sokolow’s campaign at the Wadsworth Atheneum.
- Artinfo’s Alexander Forbes chats with Katharina Grosse.
- At Hyperallergic, John Yau takes on Al Held.
- The NYT’s Patricia Cohen follows up on last week’s news about the evident mess at FAMSF.
- Catherine Opie talks with LA Weekly’s Alissa Walker about her new show at Regen Projects.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: Discussing two of the top art historical exhibitions of the season: Curator C.D. Dickerson III talks about “Bernini in Clay” at the Kimbell Art Museum and Nathaniel Silver shares “Piero della Francesca in America” at The Frick Collection. Plus a special bonus: An extended clip of Llyn Foulkes playing his Machine at the Hammer on Feb. 26. To listen: Download the show. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, RSS. See images of art discussed on the program.
March 11, 2013, 8:02 am
Weekend roundup
- MOCA, MOCA, MOCA: Christopher Knight on why pursuing MOCA is a good deal for LACMA and LATers Jori Finkel and Mike Boehm explain that there’s more support for LACMA’s bid now than there was in 2008.
- NYTer Carol Vogel tried to cover the story, which resulted in an epic 157-word correction explaining that Vogel got darn near everything wrong. In a related story, the NYT has made travel editor Danielle Mattoon the new culture editor. Seems pretty obvious where she oughta start.
- Bill Poundstone on MOCA’s online ‘keep us independent’ fundraising drive. (Check out the right-hand side of the page here.)
- In the NYT, Hilarie M. Sheets profiles Shinique Smith.
- In the San Francisco Chronicle, John King finds Leo Villareal’s design project for the Bay Bridge is mighty thin.
- Kenneth Baker offers up many smart takes on SFMOMA’s Garry Winogrand retrospective.
- Andrew Russeth profiles Mark Dion for the New York Observer.
- On the occasion of his Hammer retrospective, Carolina Miranda profiles Llyn Foulkes for NPR.
- In Nuvo, the Indianapolis alt-weekly, David Hoppe “wonders about the [Indianapolis Museum of Art's] continuing relevance in this community.” Smart take, especially after all the mere stenography the Indianapolis Star has fed its readers on the IMA cuts.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: Photographer and essayist Leo Rubinfien discusses the Garry Winogrand retrospective he curated for SFMOMA and Gary Simmons talks about his Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth “Focus” exhibition. Download the show, subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, RSS. See images of Winogrands and Simmmonses discussed on the program.
