Art

One of Jonathan VanDyke’s “trees” at Pocket Utopia.

Read James’s post for more information, and check out my flickr set.

Daniel Isengart at the 28th Museum Mile Festival, 2006

Tonight is Museum Mile, when 23 blocks of Fifth Avenue along Central Park are closed to cars and museums are open late with free admission. The website has more information.

Our friend Daniel Isengart (alias Madame Butterfly) will be singing German Cabaret songs (with David Pearl on keyboard) on the steps of the Neue Galerie. In case of rain, go find him inside the Neue, at Café Sabarsky.

Neue Galerie
86th and Fifth
6-9PM (three sets)
Corner of 86th and 5th

How can you not love a singer who puts this on his website?

In the fall of 2003, Isengart brought an exclusive version of his One Man Show (entitled “Liederabend”) to Berlin’s legendary Cabaret establishment Bar Jeder Vernunft. Embraced by enthusiastic audiences, the show ran for 3 consecutive weeks, puzzling the scene’s conservatives and the press.

[photo provided by Daniel Isengart]

I spotted this piece in the office at Monya Rowe Gallery yesterday. Go here to see a larger version. Other works from this series are in Larissa’s solo show up now at Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles.

This looks like a good thing to attend tonight. We’re stopping by before hitting a play at Atlantic Theater. A.R.T. was the creation of the late, great Bill Bartman.

Please join us Thursday, June 7th from 5:00 – 7:00 pm at Printed Matter to celebrate the publication of the fourth volume of Between Artists: Amy Sillman & Gregg Bordowitz.

Between Artists is a series of small format, conversation based books edited by Alejandro Cesarco. The books document different positions and strategies of leading and up-and-coming contemporary artists.

Printed Matter is located at 195 Tenth Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets. The artists will be present.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A.R.T. Press is the publishing arm of Art Resources Transfer, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt organization founded in 1987 and dedicated to establishing access to the arts through publishing and community-oriented distribution. Art Resources Transfer is committed to documenting and supporting artists’ voices and work, and to making these voices accessible to the broadest possible public. Since its founding, Art Resources Transfer has maintained two interconnected program areas: publishing (A.R.T. Press), and the free distribution of books to underserved communities (D.U.C. Program).

For additional information on these programs, as well as ordering this and other A.R.T. Press titles please visit http://artresourcestransfer.org/artpress.php.

Reminder: The NURTUREart benefit is tomorrow (Monday) at CUE Art Foundation on 25th Street in Chelsea. Come see us and say hi!

It’s happening this weekend, June 1-3. Check out the website for a map and schedule.

Rune Olsen, Kissing Wolves

Our friend Rune Olsen‘s sculpture of “Kissing Wolves” goes on display today in a window at Saks Fifth Avenue, with the big reveal happening tonight from 7-9 at 49th and Fifth Avenue. It will be up through June 11.

If MoMA’s not careful, Saks (despite having nothing on the site about Rune) may show more contemporary artists this year than they do. At least there is the Barbara London-curated “Automatic Update” coming soon.

Tomorrow is the last day to purchase special tickets for the NURTUREart benefit on June 4. Details:

• Combination ticket with gala entry and choice of one artwork for $200

• VIP Preview (early collecting at the champagne reception) includes choice of one
  artwork for $275.

Go here to buy tickets.

While I appreciate the fact that a lot of money is flowing into the art world right now, and a lot more artists (even ones I know) are making a living from their art, the idea that ones hires an art advisor to “save time” figuring out what one likes is revolting. Some selective quotes from today’s New York Times:

As for the collectors themselves, there appear to be as many types as there are art styles. Most buy the art because they love it, and some buy it for investment reasons. As for others, “no doubt — it makes a banker look more colorful and erudite when he can discuss his art at a dinner party,” Ms. Wächter-Campbell said.

While some work with advisers to accumulate art piece by piece over a number of years, others buy a new vacation home and call to say, “Fill it with art.”

Some collectors are like Ronny Zinner of Boston, who could not imagine building her contemporary collection without Leslie Rankow, a consultant based in Manhattan. “I am extremely busy, and Leslie does an incredible amount of research and legwork to stay informed of what’s going on in the art world,” said Mrs. Zinner, who comes from a family of art collectors and owns works by artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

Ms. Rankow organizes art walks with her clientÂ’s taste in mind, previewing each gallery and work to build an efficient itinerary. She prepares dossiers on artworks and artists that Mrs. Zinner and her husband, Dr. Michael Zinner, are considering adding to their collection.

…

Artnet also creates virtual showrooms for more than 1,700 galleries in more than 250 cities around the world, so that advisers and their clients can start a worldwide search for an artist or style without leaving their computers. There is good fortune in strolling through a gallery and falling in love with a particular work, said Ms. Rankow, but strolling takes time — and many clients have little of it.