Archive for the 'Conceptual' Category

Page 3 of 4

Art Yoga. And the very many cool happenings at #CLASS.

By c-monster on March 6, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Galleries, New York and Sublime ridiculosity. 2 Comments


The Art Yoga tribute to Marina Abramovic: Yoga in lab coats. Later, we sat around and stared at each other. (Screengrab taken from the live webstream.)

There’s all kinds of goodness going down at #CLASS this weekend and in the coming week, starting today with a panel on the art world’s shade of pale, organized by An Xiao, the motivational stylings of Rod Verplanck, and through the weekend, with working sessions and a contemporary art wake. This will be followed, mid-week, by balloon-popping with Man Bartlett, a feminist tea party with Suzanne Stroeb and Caitlin Rueter, a merciless Q&A with art dealer Magda Sawon of Postmasters, and a lecture, on Friday, by Yevgeniy Fiks, on Communist Modern Artists in the Art Market.

I attended Fiks’ fascinating guerrilla tour of MoMA early this week, in which he led us through a number of the works in the permanent galleries created by communists and sympathizers. (See my Tweets from that event here.) The history nerd in me (I have a thing for Cold War-era politics) was totally loving it. You can see reports on the tour at Bloggy and jameswagner.com. Fiks’ totally wonderful Russian accent just brings it all together.

Find a full schedule of events over at the official website. And I’ll see you in #CLASS.

Tags: , , .

Get Ready to Shred. And many other happenings at #CLASS.

By c-monster on February 26, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Galleries and New York. 5 Comments


Ready to go all Ollie North on your art and other meaningful pieces of paper. (Image courtesy of Steve and Jaime at Brooklyn Street Art.)

There is all kinds of goodness going down at the #CLASS show at Winkleman Gallery in the coming week and I’m hoping you join us. On Saturday (as in tomorrow), William Powhida will be leading a gallery walk/slush in Chelsea, Mira Schor will be reading from her essay On Failure and Anonymity and blogbuds Barry Hoggard and James Wagner will be talking all about collecting. On Sunday, there will be hanging out, Battleship and artsy talk in Second Life. And, next Wednesday, at 2pm, I will be assisting my partner-in-crime, El Celso’s performance of Art Shred, in which he will dispose of several dozen works of  art, meaningful love letters and one-of-a-kind family photos. If you haven’t submitted anything for shredding, no worries: walk-ins are welcome. I’ll personally be disposing of a raft of love letters from someone who I once had a kind of intense mind-meld with. Yes, it will be wrenching to see them destroyed.

Plus, a list of other #CLASS related projects and information:

Plus, a small video preview for Art Shred:

Tags: , , , , , .

Get some #CLASS: Take on the art industry at Winkleman in NYC, starting Sunday.

By c-monster on February 19, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Events, Galleries, Installation, New York and Sublime ridiculosity. 12 Comments


William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton organize a month-long lab — and I’m part of it. (Image courtesy of Winkleman Gallery.)

Needless to say, the last few months in the art industry have been highly entertaining. There was William Powhida’s Brooklyn Rail cover last November, which picked apart the internecine machinations of a buncha high-powered types at the New Museum. Then, there was the announcement that a major commercial gallerist has been named director of a super mongo museum in L.A., an institution whose obscenely-rich trustees saw fit to spend its endowment into the ground. And then, of course, there’s Jerry Saltz’s Facebook, which is keeping the art establishment’s hairs on end wondering who the heck he’s gonna call a ‘dick’ next. In other words, there’s been a LOT going on. And most of it doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Which means that #CLASS — a think-tank about the art industry — organized by artists Powhida and Jennifer Dalton and hosted by the Winkleman Gallery, couldn’t come at a better time. This special project will turn the city’s artistic gaze from its navel to the art industry through a month-long series of events that will include a raft of insightful happenings: guerrilla gallery tours, frank Q&As with established art dealers, work sessions, panels, beer-drinking, chalkboard-writing, art-shredding, motivational speaking and even art yoga (led by me). In other words, the plan is to terrorize Chelsea for a month. (I’m not positive that this is indeed the plan, but it’s certainly my plan.) The best part: anyone is welcome to be a part of this. And it’s all FREE.

You can find the entire schedule of events at the dedicated #CLASS website. But here is just a taste of what’s to come:

  • Sunday, Feb. 21, 4pm: The party gets rolling this weekend, so peel your ass off the couch and get down to Chelsea for the first official #CLASS social. An Xiao will serve as social media paparazzi paparazzo. :-p
  • Friday, Feb. 26, 6pm: A session on ‘Bad Curating‘ by Stamatina Gregory and Jovana Stokic. (I believe that attendance is required if you work at the New Museum.)
  • Saturday, Feb. 27, 2pm – 6pm: All kinds of juicy stuff is going down on this day, including a guerrilla gallery tour being led by William Powhida and a how-to on collecting by blogbuds James Wagner and Barry Hoggard.
  • Sunday, Feb. 28, 5pm: Debbie Ainscoe leads a session in Second Life — from the UK. Nerdarrific!
  • Wednesday, March 3, 2pm: ART SHRED is an on-site shredding service that will help artists and other participants liberate themselves of important works of art, meaningful love letters and one-of-a-kind photographs.  This session will be led by my partner-in-crime, Celso. If you have something of consequence that you would like to have shredded, e-mail him at celso[at]elcelso[dot]com. Walk-ins welcome.
  • Thursday, March 4th, 4pm: A discussion/rant/12-step program about art school and the ivory tower, organized by Sharon L. Butler.
  • Friday, March 5, 2pm: Art Yoga with C-Mon: Bow to the Art Industry. Get body and mind ready to navigate the hazards of the art world with a 75 minute yoga class geared at those who want to re-contextualize the nature of liminal space while remaining lithe enough to be considered for possible art/fashion spreads in T Magazine. Class will be led by yours truly, a certified yoga teacher (Om Yoga Center, class of 2003 — seriously). The session will begin with sun salutations to Marina Abramovic and quickly spiral downwards from there. Bring a mat and an open mind. Class capacity 18; first come first serve. Later that same evening, at 6pm, artist Nic Rad will present his ‘Celebritist Manifesto,’ a defense of celebrity culture that will make clear that James Franco is the most important artist of the decade.
  • Saturday, March 6, 6pm: Rod Verplanck, a motivational speaker who, among other things, will teach you that “the very smallness of your ideas is the key to wild success.” Sounds like a must-do. (Courtesy of Schroeder Romero.)
  • Wednesday, March 10: Again, all kinds of good happenings will occur on this day, including balloon-popping with Man Bartlett, a kindergarten class tour of Chelsea with Jennifer Dalton, a feminist tea party and a merciless ask-the-dealer session with Postmasters gallerist Magda Sawon in which she vows “to truthfully answer any and every question posed to her as long as it does not involve her weight, social security number or other people’s money.”
  • Wednesday, March 17, 4pm: Art World as High School. Which class of retainer-wearing nerd are you? Find out with this helpful and informative session.
  • Saturday, March 20th: Another full roster on this day, including art gift wrapping with Zoe Sheehan Saldaña, assessing assessments with important-sounding people from Princeton, and a closing-night event that’s all about ranting!!!

There’s much much much much more going on, and it’s all listed HashTagClass, so get over there already. Plus, you can read more about it at Art in America and the Wall Street Journal. Update: And ArtNet!!

Tags: , , , , , , .

I never understood Matthew Barney…

By c-monster on February 17, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Sublime ridiculosity and Video. 3 Comments

…until I watched this.

***

On a totally unrelated note: The New York Observer has a story about Jerry Saltz’s Facebook page. I gotta admit,  that as much as I relish El Saltzino’s ranting in the same trashy way I love domestic beer and a good diving elbow drop, it’s kinda weird that this story didn’t include a single critical reaction — or reactions from people mentioned in the story (um, like Klaus Biesenbach or Tyler Green). And it doesn’t even mention John Yau. A real missed opportunity for some interesting reading.

Tags: , , , , , , .

Tino Sehgal: Getting conceptual at the Guggenheim.

By c-monster on January 29, 2010 in C-Monster and Conceptual. Closed


(Image by _Robert_C_)

In early January WNYC put out a call to listeners to have someone join me at the press preview for the Tino Sehgal exhibit at the Guggenheim. The London-born Sehgal doesn’t show objects of any sort (he doesn’t even allow for the production of wall text, catalogues or certificates documenting his work). So, the idea was to have someone share in the experience and discuss what it was like on-air. More than 100 folks submitted comments (wow!). And super-smart Brooklyn-based painter Susanna Heller was chosen for the task. She was a willing and able partner-in-mischief. We had a total blast together. You can get the lowdown on our experience of Sehgal’s totally kooky ‘situation’ right here.

Thanks to everyone who submitted comments. The response was fantastic. And if you happen to live in New York – even if you give a rat’s ass about art: do not miss an opportunity to see the Guggenheim totally nekkid.

[P.S. Special thanks to the Gugg for somehow letting me get away with this.]

Tags: , , , .

Calendar. 01.26.10.

By c-monster on January 26, 2010 in C-Monster, Calendar, Conceptual, Los Angeles, Museums and Sculpture. Closed


Untitled Sound Suit, by Nick Cave. From the exhibit, Meet Me at the Center of the Earth, at UCLA’s Fowler Museum, through May 30. (Image courtesy of the Fowler, via LAT.)

Tags: , , .

Because I’m on a drumming kick.

By c-monster on January 21, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Music and Video. Closed


Rush Fort, by Kelly Burns.

Tags: , .

Calendar. 01.21.10.

By c-monster on January 21, 2010 in C-Monster, Calendar, Conceptual, Murals and Painting. Closed


Monopoly, 2009, by Susana Rodriguez. Part of the MexiCali Biennial, which opens at the Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis in L.A., this Saturday. Panel discussion at 2 p.m.; opening reception at 4pm. (Image courtesy of MexiCali Biennial.)

Tags: , , .

I’ll take you to the Guggenheim and we can get conceptual.

By c-monster on January 7, 2010 in Announcements, C-Monster, Conceptual and Museums. Closed


Guggenheim Museum. (Image courtesy of Ruud Raats.)

Hey Folks: I’m cooking up a little mischief over at WNYC. For the upcoming Tino Sehgal exhibit at the Guggenheim — which will consist entirely of “constructed situations” (a.k.a. performances) — we’re inviting one person to join me at the press preview on January 28th to take in the madness and then tell us what you think about it. It will no doubt be incredibly weird. Sign up at WNYC’s website by leaving a compelling, pithy comment on why it should be you.

xox,
C.

Tags: , .

Admiring museum-quality pizza at MoMA.

By c-monster on January 6, 2010 in Assemblage, C-Monster, Conceptual, Conservation, Food, Museums and New York. 2 Comments


Extra olives with a light dusting of acetone, please: Gabriel Orozco’s pizza crust, part of Working Tables, 2000-2005. See the piece in context here. (Photo courtesy of MoMA.)

If there is something that absolutely inspires the art nerd in me, it’s the totally whacked out materials used by some artists. Blood. PeaRoeFoam. A stuffed angora goat. Which is why I was quite excited to find a pizza crust in the Gabriel Orozco retrospective when I visited MoMA last week. The above crust, part of the piece Working Tables, resides in the museum’s stately permanent collection. (It is very important crust.) Which got me wondering: what exactly does a museum do with crust? Is it Orozco’s original crust? Or is it replaced regularly with fresh crust? And what about crust munchers like roaches and mice?

For answers to these burning questions, we turned to MoMA’s associate sculpture conservator Roger Griffith, who has worked in the museum’s conservation lab for more than a decade. Griffith, it turns out, has some experience dealing with art objects made of food. Among them, Janine Antoni’s Gnaw , an installation that consists of 600 lbs. each of chocolate and lard that has been gnawed by the artist. (No doubt a joy to maintain). He was also the man in charge of caring for a small block of artist-made cheese fabricated from human breast milk at a temporary MoMA exhibit several years ago. (“My job was to make sure it didn’t mold,” says Griffith. “I would just take it out of the fridge, pat it down, salt it and put it back.”) He was kind enough to give us the lowdown on pizza à la Orozco:

  • The Crust is O.G.: This is Orozco’s original crust which has been with the museum since MoMA acquired it in 2005 from the Marian Goodman Gallery.
  • It’s Part Plastic: Part of the reason this crust (which is at least five years old) still looks good — and hasn’t been attacked by critters — is because it was treated by the museum’s staff upon  arrival. When MoMA acquired Working Tables, the crust was a normal, everyday crust. But once it entered the museum’s conservation lab, it was bathed in acetone (“to remove the fatty acids, the parts that cause degradation,” explains Griffith) and then soaked in a solution of acrylic known as B-72. The acetone dissolves the fat; the acrylic replaces it. To keep it looking natural (acrylic has a tendency to shine), the conservation department spritzed it with an acetone mist to eliminate unnatural sheen. Voilà! Plasticized pizza dough that looks totally real, yet barely ages. (Like some Upper East Side ladies I know…)
  • It’s Stored in Highly Secure Packaging: When the crust isn’t on display, it’s put away in marva-seal, which according to this website, is the same packaging that the U.S. military uses to wrap its MREs (or Meals Ready to Eat). Which strikes me as incredibly handy, because if all hells break loose, we can always drop Orozco’s crust somewhere over Afghanistan — solving all manner of foreign policy woes.
Tags: , , .