Culture

Silo has a strong show of video work by Sarah Gregg Millman, with particular attraction for those of us obsessed with the women of New Wave film.

Two of my favorite quotes from Truth Stories follow. The first comes from a series of brunettes telling stories of frustration tied to their working lives. They seem to be mostly waitresses. The second comes from a series of blondes, narrated in whispers, imagining life inside an Impressionist work such as Seurat’s La Grande Jatte. The narratives are created by Millman based on her own life.

He was a pretty good manager. He knew a lot about fine wines and… subservience.

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On weekends I don’t have to help anyone. I’m free.

[still images above provided by the gallery]

Here is an installation shot of Ara Peterson’s Standing Waves in the current show at Greene Naftali. James as more on the show.

Standing Waves, 2004
wood, acrylic
45” × 168” × 30”

I went to look at Bill Gusky’s web site because of his comments on James’s site. There are some interesting works there, including this work on paper from the gallery page.

Untitled 2005
Gouache and Pastel on Paper
14 × 11 inches

We went to Soho tonight for the “block party” on Wooster and the openings at Spencer Brownstone, Guild & Greyshkul, and Deitch.

Block party (I think pedestrians should spontaneously take over streets more often):

and, from the Spencer Brownstone show, I present red, white, and blue:

Paper Rad and Matt Barton extreme animalz: the movie: part 1 2005 video and mixed media [detail of installation]

NY1 has a short segment on the Rhizome ArtBase 101 show at the New Museum. It’s kind of funny in a “gee whiz, it’s art!” way. At least you get to see Lauren Cornell and T. Whid talk, and you have a chance to see Paper Rad and Matt Barton’s fabulous work in motion. For more on the show, read the post James did.

[photo by James]

If you want to see what work we’ve been seeing lately and liked most, check out the homepage of ArtCal. I haven’t had time to work, blog, and see art at the same time, so working and seeing art is winning. I also think this heat makes me less likely to carry around a camera and write things down.

We did see most of Greater New York at PS1 yesterday, but didn’t make it through all of it. I think I have to say my favorite room was the one containing Sean Bluechel, Ryan Johnson, Christian Holstad, and Garth Weiser. Of course, the two middle ones were already very familiar to us. The “challenge” of finding Cordy Ryman’s work throughout the building was fun too.

One more thing. I thought Dominic McGill’s piece in the show was wonderful:

Dominic McGill
Project for a New American Century (detail), 2004
graphite on paper
80 inches x 65 feet
source

While reading John Perrault on doing a Virtual Chelsea Tour, I clicked on the link for Mary Boone since I haven’t set foot in her gallery in a couple of years.

Am I the only one who finds it odd that the home page has no art images, just photos of the artists and two images of empty galleries? Also, when you click on an artist image, the next page shows the artist’s photos larger than their art thumbnails.

Oswald Kabasta [source]

Right now I can hear the “gay pride” fireworks outside. It’s odd to hear something that sounds like we’re being bombed as I listen to a program on KUSC featuring recordings of symphonies conducted by Oswald Kabasta. Go read that last link. Kabasta was a pro-Nazi conductor originally from Austria, and performed in Munich until performances were suspended due to heavy Allied bombing in 1944. After his de-Nazification hearing, and his demotion to the status of a “common laborer,” he committed suicide in February 1946.

The recordings we heard tonight were extraordinary. It’s sad to think such a musical genius was so terribly wrong in his political beliefs.

All hail the power of the internet! I had never heard his story until I listened to this music today from a radio station on the other side of the country.

Invader
Big Galaxian, 2005
Installation – mixed media
12 × 18 feet

This image has particular resonance for me, as someone who grew up in a small Arkansas town, regularly sat in the back of class playing with my Rubik’s Cube (when not reading a novel), and spent free weekend evenings playing video games at the one arcade in town.

It’s up at sixspace in Los Angeles through July 9th.

[photo from the sixspace website]