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Calendar. 04.03.12.

By c-monster on April 4, 2012 in C-Monster, Calendar, Los Angeles, Museums and Photography. 0 Comments

Beauty Parlor, Tokyo, c. 1975, by Daido Moriyama. Part of the exhibit Fracture: Daido Moriyama, at LACMA. Opens Saturday, in the Fairfax District. (Image courtesy of LACMA.)

L.A.: Elizabeth Peyton, What Wondrous Thing Do I See, at Regen Projects. Opens Thursday at 6pm, in Beverly Hills.
S.F.: Solo ESAS Mujeres, a group show with Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and many others, at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. Through May 5, in the Mission.
S.F.: Everything Ever and Nothing Ever, a group show featuring Deuce 7, Read More Books, Bill Daniel and many others, at Needles and Pens. Opens Saturday at 7pm, in the Mission.
Seattle: Sharon Butler and Allison Manch, Squeeze Hard (Hold That Thought), at Season. Opens Sunday at 5pm.
Nashville: Fairy Tales, Monsters and the Genetic Imagination, at the First Center for the Visual Arts. Through May 28, in downtown.
Pittsburgh: Henri Matisse: The Thousand and One Nights, at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Opens Saturday.
NYC: David Lyle, Misbehaving, at Lyons Wier Gallery. Opens Thursday, in Chelsea.
NYC: Brent Birnbaum, The Bureau of Apology, at the LAB at the Roger Smith Hotel. Opens Friday, in Midtown.
Paris: Helmut Newton, at the Grand Palais. Through June 17. (Adverve.)
Plus: All my latest New York picks in Gallerina…

Tags: daido moriyama, fracture, LACMA.

Miscellany. 04.02.12.

By c-monster on April 2, 2012 in Art, C-Monster, New York and Photography. 2 Comments

Hello, ladies! From the Least Wanted archive: A mug shot of fortune tellers in New York City, 1943. (Image courtesy of LW.)

“Make a cruel and offensive offer.” Papers filed in a lawsuit reveal negotiating tactics at Gagosian. Juicy.
N+1 has a must-read essay on the general oleaginousness of Sotheby’s, which makes their treatment of unionized art handlers even more nausea-inspiring.
If you go to a shit farm, you’ll find shit: Morley Safer went to Art Basel Miami Beach and found general vapidity. Duh!
Roberta Smith deconstructs Safer’s “clueless exercise.” She also takes a dig at “semi-informed” bloggers. (Because lord knows I’ve *never* read anything semi-informed in the New York Times.)
Jerry Saltz has challenged Safer to curate a show. I’d like to suggest that Safer hang out with those Sotheby’s art handlers instead of hobnobbing with Larry Gagosian. You know, something informed and incisive, rather than mere gum-flapping.
Speaking of which: The price of art fairs. Highly interesting piece, even if it appears to be missing the line items for rent-a-boyfriends and cocaine.
Urban Outfitters — a company with a Santorum-supporting CEO — sells (or sold?) T-shirt featuring gay icon Robert Mapplethorpe.
On the world of art celebrity: Klaus Biesenbach and his Twitter feed. (Gallerist NY.)
Larry Rivers’ Legs: Are they a sculpture? Or a structure? I love it when these scintillating questions get asked.
A round-up of interesting artist websites. (Have to agree with Hyperallergic: the David Hockney copyright disclaimer is pretty douchey.)
Sasha Frere-Jones, in defense of Twitter.
Will the train ever leave the station? On trying to fund Jeff Koons’ steaming piece of boner art.
Plus: Heart As Arena comes up with a tasteful alternative to Koons’ dangling locomotive.
Remembering Hilton Kramer…and his incredibly right-wing politics. (Read this all the way through. The end is pretty spectacular.)
Teaching Art in 89 Simple Lessons: If the producers of Work of Art had employed this book to come up with the challenges in the show things coulda been really interesting…
The Gallery of Default Anonymity.
Related: Screenshots of Despair.
Just because: Snoop Dogg’s Soundcloud.

Tags: fortune tellers, least wanted, morley safer, mug shot.

Artist’s Choice: The best YouTube instructional videos devoted to art-making.

By c-monster on March 30, 2012 in C-Monster, Performance art, Sublime ridiculosity and Video. 0 Comments

Creating push-pull a la Hans Hoffman.

How to Jackson Pollock your bedroom while listening to metal.

Glitter poufs. That is all.

Should you sell your art on e-Bay? Or should you listen to that Pink Floyd album one more time?

This is the first post in what will hopefully be a long-running series called “Artist’s Choice.” In which a guest “curator” is invited to share their favorite bizarre/weird/hilarious/absurd YouTube videos. Kicking off the first round is painter Franck de Las Mercedes, who comes through (with flying colors), with a selection of YouTube instructional videos devoted entirely to art.

Thank you, Franck! Now I know what to do with those tired bedrooms walls…

Tags: art world, youtube instructional videos.

Calendar. 03.28.12.

By c-monster on March 28, 2012 in C-Monster, Calendar, Los Angeles, Museums and Pre-Columbian. 0 Comments

A rain god vessel, c. 1100-1400 from Mexico, in the Mixtec style, Middle Post Classic period (1200-1400). Part of the exhibit Children of the Plumed Serpent: The Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico, at LACMA. Opens Sunday, in the Fairfax District. (© Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas / Art Resource)

Fort Lauderdale: On the roster for the Girls’ Club ‘Chick Flick’ screenings: Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus and I Scream Therefore I Exist, both at Girls’ Club. This Saturday at 7pm, in downtown.
NYC: Donald Steele, The Queen and I, at Pocket Utopia (the gallery’s grand re-opening). Opens today at 6pm, on the Lower East Side.
Plus: Get the rest of my New York picks over at Gallerina….

Tags: children of the plumed serpent, LACMA, rain god vessel.

What I’m reading.

By c-monster on March 26, 2012 in Books, C-Monster, Italy and What I'm Reading. 0 Comments

Roman copy of a 5th Century BCE Greek bas relief depicting Hermes, Orpheus and Eurydice, from the Museo Arqueologico Nazionale in Naples. (Image courtesy of Skidmore.)

A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan. Page 214 (from the first Anchor Books edition):

He sensed the proximity of the Orpheus and Eurydice before he saw it, felt its cool weight across the room but prolonged the time before he faced it, reminding himself of the events leading up to the moment it described: Orpheus and Eurydice in love and newly married; Eurydice dying of a snakebite while fleeing the advances of a shepherd; Orpheus descending to the underworld, filling its dank corridors with music from his lyre as he sang of his longing for his wife; Pluto granting Eurydice’s release from death on the sole condition that Orpheus not look back at her during their ascent. And then the hapless instant when, out of fear for his bride as she stumbled in the passage, Orpheus forgot himself and turned.

Ted stepped toward the relief. He felt as if he’d walked inside it, so completely did it enclose and affect him. It was the moment before Eurydice must descend to the underworld a second time, when she and Orpheus are saying goodbye. What moved Ted, mashed some delicate glassware in his chest, was the quiet of their interaction, the absence of trauma or tears as they gazed at each other, touching gently. He sensed between them an understanding too deep to articulate: the unspeakable knowledge that everything is lost.

Tags: a visit from the goon squad, eurydice, jennifer egan, museo archeological nazionale, naples, orpheus.

Photo Diary: Cardboard worlds.

By c-monster on March 25, 2012 in C-Monster, Installation, Los Angeles, New York and Sculpture. 0 Comments

Carlos Bunga’s lobby installation Landscape at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. On view through April 22. (See a related video here.)

A sculpture by Paul Housley at ZieherSmith in New York. The rubber bands make it. <3<3<3 On view through April 21. (Photos by C-M.)

Tags: cardboard, carlos bunga, hammer museum, paul housley, ziehersmith.

Calendar. 03.21.12.

By c-monster on March 21, 2012 in C-Monster, Calendar, Galleries, Mixed Media and New York. 0 Comments

Untitled, by Thornton Dial. Part of the group show Materiality at Allegra LaViola, also featuring the work of Joey Archuleta, Yevgeniya Baras and Matt Stone. On view through April 21. (Image courtesy of the artist and Allegra LaViola.)

London: Dan Graham, Pavilions, at Lisson Gallery. Opens today.
L.A.: A 24-hour screening of Christian Marclay’s The Clock at LACMA, starts Saturday at noon. The best part: there will be donuts!!!!
NYC: Alyssa Pheobus Mumtaz, Hourglass, at Tracy Williams Ltd. Opens Thursday at 6pm, in Chelsea.
NYC: Color Photographs from the WPA (1939-1943) at Carriage Trade. Opens Thursday at 6pm, in Tribeca.
Plus: Get all my New York picks over at Gallerina…

Tags: allegra laviola, thornton dial.

Calendar. 03.14.12.

By c-monster on March 14, 2012 in C-Monster, Calendar and Graffiti. 0 Comments

It’s Pi day — perfect for a little Pi graffiti. (Image courtesy of funkandjazz.)

L.A.: Globalize This! International Graphics of Resistance, at Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis. Opens Saturday. A reception will be held on Thursday, March 29 at 5:30pm.
Berkeley: Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz are giving a talk at the U.C. Berkeley Department of Art Practice as part of the Visiting Artist Lecture Series, this Monday, March 19 at 7:30pm. These are some very good peeps (they run the Slanguage studio in Wilmington) If you’re in the area, this will definitely be worth checking out.
Miami: Natalya Laskis, Shortness of Breath, at Locust Projects. Through April 27, in Wynwood.
Plus: Find all my latest NYC recommends (including an artist-led figure painting class) over at Gallerina…

Tags: pi.

Miscellany. 03.12.12.

By c-monster on March 12, 2012 in C-Monster, Los Angeles, Museums and Painting. 1 Comment

A detail from Untitled, 1979, by Gustavo Montoya. Part of the permanent collection at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East L.A. College. (Photo by C-M.)

Why astronauts crave Tabasco.
Gerhard Richter, asset class. (Nice kicker, BTW.)
Plus: Speaking of good kickers, Christopher Knight picks apart the plan for a statue of Rush Limbaugh at the Missouri state house.
“Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.” Nice essay on the state of architectural writing.
And the award for best promotional book video involving a Teletubby costume goes to…Jonathan LeVine.
Besides women, Rep. Darrell Issa also has Frank Gehry in his sights.
Sort of related: Are women people?
Somehow missed this in all the chaos of the past week: Shepard Fairy pled guilty to one charge of criminal contempt for misconduct (aka destroying evidence) in the Obama/Hope case. He faces up to six months in jail.
A round-up of artists talks about Diebenkorn and what life was like in the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica in the 1970s — all tied to the very worthwhile Ocean Park show that is currently on display at OCMA in Newport Beach.
Have to agree with Greg.org: These Robert Montgomery billboards are well done.
The Denver Museum of Contemporary Art has been up to some interesting things.
This Jeff Koons doc looks like the sorta thing that you’ll want to light up for.
Chinese architect Wang Shu wins Pritzker, a figure who likes to use salvaged materials in his work. More here.
Belated Linkage: I wrote a story about Yevgeniy Fiks’s Commie Tour of MoMA for ARTnews which is chock full of Commie Goodness.
Sticky Buddy, getting at the hair between your cracks.

Tags: east la college, gustavo montoya, vincent price art museum.

Photo Diary: LACMA rock on the road.

By c-monster on March 9, 2012 in C-Monster, Los Angeles, Museums and Sublime ridiculosity. 0 Comments

Rolling Rock: Michael Heizer’s muted granite presence drew an estimated 20,000 people while it was parked in Long Beach on Wednesday. Incidentally, I recently learned that the rock is swaddled in high thread-count cotton linens. Fancy! (Photos by C-M.)

Tags: lacma rock, levitated mass, michael heizer.

C-MONSTER.net

Calendar. 04.03.12.

Miscellany. 04.02.12.

Artist’s Choice: The best YouTube instructional videos devoted to art-making.

Calendar. 03.28.12.

What I’m reading.

Photo Diary: Cardboard worlds.

Calendar. 03.21.12.

Calendar. 03.14.12.

Miscellany. 03.12.12.

Photo Diary: LACMA rock on the road.

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