Evening Cocoon, by Kate Browne, in Cragsmoor, New York. Beginning today, Browne will be building a large cocoon in the Plaza Tlatelolco (sight of the infamous 1968 massacre) in Mexico City. It will be lit on March 21st, the first day of spring. (Image courtesy of Kate Browne.)
Anti-Mass, 2005 by Cornelia Parker a the DeYoung Museum of Art in 2008. (Photo by C-M.)
Today is Art Yoga with C-Mon Day at Ed Winkleman. You can participate via the live web stream at the official #CLASS website, starting at 2pm ET.
13 by Artemio. Part of the exhibit ChakrAK-47 at LAXART, through March 20, in Culver City. (Image courtesy of LAXART.)
- In NYC: William Kentridge: Five Themes, at MoMA, opens Wednesday. See a slideshow PBS Art Beat.
- In NYC: Band of Bikers at ZieherSmith, opens Thursday. Book signing on Monday, March 1.
- In NYC: Debra Hampton, Twenty Paces, at Priska Juschka Fine Arts, opens Thursday.
- In NYC: Wolfgang Tillmans at Andrea Rosen Gallery, through March 13.
- In NYC: Bruce High Quality Foundation: The Brucennial 2010, at 350 West Broadway, opens Thursday.
- In Newark: Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in North and South America, at the Newark Museum, through May 23.
- In Miami: Global Caribbean at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, through March 30.
- In St. Louis: Gordon Matta-Clark, Urban Alchemy, at the Pulitzer, through June 5.
- In S.F.: William Leavitt, Show of Cards, at Jancar Jones, through March 20.
- In San Diego: Joaquín Torres-García: Constructing Abstraction with Wood, at the San Diego Museum of Art, through May 30.
- In Valladolid: Private Eyes: The Collection of Laurence Miller at the Sala Municipal de Exposiciones de San Benito, through March 14.
- The Hague: Haute Couture, at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, through June 6.
- In Berlin: Walton Ford: Bestiarum, at the Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, through April 24.
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!!
No. 1-60, by Dennis Lin. At 47 in Toronto, through March 5. See it large. (Image courtesy of 47.)
- In Orange, Calif.: Drawings by Jeffrey Crussell of Joseph Eichler’s 1960s Orange County homes, at the Eichler Gallery, opens Sunday at 4pm. RSVP required.
- In NYC: Housebroken, Flux Factory’s inaugural building-wide exhibition and gala, in Queens, opens Friday at noon. ($15 suggested donation.)
- In NYC: MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight kicks off tomorrow.
- In NYC: Sterling Ruby: 2 Traps, at Pace Wildenstein on 22nd Street, through March 20.
- In Cologne: Nothing is Wrong if It Feels Good, at Mike Potter Projects, opens Saturday at 7pm.
- In São Paulo: Gordon Matta-Clark at the Museu de Arte Moderna, through April 4.
Pufferella, from the exhibit I Know What You Are But What Am I at Factory Fresh in Brooklyn, opening this Friday at 7pm. (Image courtesy of Factory Fresh.)
- In S.F.: Luc Tuymans at SFMOMA, opens Wednesday. Read the NYT profile of Tuymans here.
- In L.A.: After 1968: Contemporary Artists and the Civil Rights Legacy at the California African American Museum, through March 7. That Nadine Robinson piece looks pretty damn badass.
- In San Jose, Calif: The Art of Zines 2010 at Anno Domini through March 13.
- In Houston: Maurizio Cattelan at the Menil Collection, opens Friday.
- In NYC: Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum, opens Friday.
- In NYC: Kiki Smith, Sojourn, at the Brooklyn Museum, opens Friday.
- In NYC: Last week to see Omer Fast: Nostalgia at the Whitney, closing on Sunday. Don’t miss.
- In NYC: Metal Mad: An Army of Artists Paying Homage To Heavy Metal, at Giant Robot, through March 3. (World’s Best Ever.)
- In London: The Worst Condition is to Pass Under a Sword Which is Not One’s Own, at the Tate Modern, through May 3.
- In Berlin: East Side Stories: German Photography 1950s to 1980s, at Kicken Gallery, through April 17.
To the Extreme: Artist Brent Birnbaum channels his inner Ice during his poster signing/performance at Never Can Say Goodbye. (Photos by C-M.)
As any old school New York City hoodrat can tell you, back in the days when the hair was big and the Internerdz didn’t exist, the Tower Records space on lower Broadway was a place of pilgrimage for all things music. In addition to being the spot where you could find plaid-shirted rock nerds deconstructing the various minor schools of punk, it was the only store in the city where you could also get Lowrider Magazine.
The store closed four years ago. But last Friday night, the non-profit group No Longer Empty resurrected its spirit for a night of music-related artsy goodness in a group show called Never Can Say Goodbye. The space, which has been sitting empty since Tower shut down, was filled with music-inspired art, featuring everything from a mock record shop to an in-store poster signing/performance by Ice Ice Maybe (the Vanilla Ice-esque alter-ego of artist Brent Birnbaum). There was also vodka, red wine and plenty of rock and roll hedonism — so much so that I decided to get my boob signed. Later I hurled on a cop car and trashed a hotel room. And all I gotta say is: Sharpie is a bitch to wash out.
Click on images to supersize. Continue reading ‘Never Can Say Goodbye at the Former Tower Records Space in NYC.’
Gravity Always Wins, by Claire Jackel at The Lab in San Francisco, part of the solo exhibit of the same name; opens Friday at 6 p.m. (Image courtesy of The Lab.)
- In S.F.: Tucker Nichols, Temporary Storage Overflow Plan Option 3, at Baer Ridgway, opens Saturday.
- In L.A.: Women Photographers: Put Your Finger on the Button at New Image Art, opens Saturday at 7 p.m.
- In L.A.: Mitch Dobrow, Tropospheres, at Kopeikin Gallery, opens Saturday. Artists reception to take place on January 30 at 6 p.m.
- In Miami: Jacin Giordano at Fred Snitzer, opens Friday at 7 p.m.
- In Miami: Gustavo Roman, Yet Nightly Pitch My Moving Tent, at David Castillo, opens Saturday at 7 p.m.
- In NYC: Bruce High Quality Foundation, Open House, at 225 West Broadway, on Friday at 8 p.m.
- In NYC: Zoe Crosher, The Unraveling of Michelle du Bois, at DCKT Contemporary, opens Friday at 6 p.m.
