Culture

Publicity still from Nobody’s Lunch

Some of you readers whose mailing address is in my possession will receive an invitation in the mail to this. The rest of you in NYC are encouraged to buy a ticket, and tell them James and I sent you. I noticed Lauren Cerand is on the benefit committee too, so maybe we will finally meet each other.

How wrong can you go with an event that will have James, me, the Wau Wau Sisters, Princess Superstar, and Alix Lambert in attendance?

I have written about The Civilians many times, but if you want to hit the highlights, go to these:

Gone Missing (includes MP3s)

Nobody’s Lunch

The Ladies

Quoting the announcement:

underCOVER VAUDEVILLE
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Cocktails and undercover mingling 8pm, showtime 9pm
Tickets: $65 (Benefit and Afterparty); $10 (Afterparty only)

El Flamingo
547 West 21st Street
(between 10th & 11th Avenues)

With COVERversions of Michael Friedman’s songs performed by members of The Civilians with special guests >>> Tony winner KAREN ZIEMBA (Contact, Chicago), neo-roots music group OLLABELLE, cabaret chanteuse MAUDE MAGGART, Broadway star JEFFREY CARLSON (Taboo, The Goat), the vivacious and acrobatic WAU–WAU SISTERS, the incomparable DALE SOULES, Her Royal Rhymeness PRINCESS SUPERSTAR, and our underCOVER MC, funnylady BAYNE GIBBY.

Ticket price includes performance, silent auction, afterparty, and
complimentary Corazón Tequila cocktails and TsingTao beer. Cash bar for other drinks.

underCOVER AFTERPARTY
10pm to Midnight
with dancing and music by DJ Kozmik

[like our previous benefit parties underCOVER Vaudeville promises to be a rollicking good time so feel free to spread the word, but remember it’s underCOVER — please don’t tell Robert Novak]

Click this link to purchase tickets.

Abigail Lazkoz
More Medals, Bigger Responsibility, 2005
Indian and pigmented ink on paper
42.5 × 65.5”

Vicki Sher
Safe, 2005
colored pencil, ink, and gouache on paper,
22 × 15”

I feel like such a bad print journalist when I write about shows right before they close (in the case of Abigail Lazkoz), but I wanted to mention these two drawing shows that really struck me.

“Struck me” is an interesting phrase to use, given the reason for this post. Both of these shows are drawing shows with some admirable subtlety. A lot of drawing shows today seem to be aimed at showing the kind of work that will stand out at big art fairs. That’s not to say that a lot of it isn’t still worthwhile, but to find a couple of shows with excellent drawing that don’t have that kind of improvisatory, “look at me” quality is refreshing. These are thought out, well-executed drawing shows not to be missed.

Laskoz is up through this Saturday, and Vicki Sher’s show closes on the 19th.

Updated: I forgot to mention that I first wrote about Vicki Sher’s work last year.

I love Paula Cooper’s history of supporting good causes, ranging from ACT UP to the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund. Joy Garnett’s NEWSgrist is the best place, other than the CAE’s site linked above, to follow the case.

Quoting the press release:

An April 17 auction to benefit the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund has attracted donations from some of the biggest names in the contemporary art world, including Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Alexis Rockman, Ruben Ortiz Torres, Hans Haacke, Kiki Smith, Chris Burden, and a great many others.

We may not make it to the event, as we already have tickets to an American Symphony Orchestra concert at 3.

Street art is one of my favorite things about walking around in a city. Some recent examples, seen in person or on the web:

Williamsburg images by James

Cut Up Show in London, via Wooster Collective

“At the forefront of a new breed of urban intervention, Cutup have rethought traditional methods of making a statement through the subversion of the visual landscape of the city. CutUp’s billboard images are created by slicing up adverts and collaging the pieces into a newly ordered image.”

In Brunnhilde’s immolation scene in Götterdamerung at the English National Opera, she is a suicide bomber.

It makes sense to me.

Like most people, I am more likely to look at the photo reports from Artnet.com’s magazine section than the articles — except for Jerry Saltz. One of the main providers of those photos, Nancy Smith, is now out on her own. I helped her with the programming for the site, and the first Art Lovers New York report on the new site is now live.

The magazine and blog-esque parts of the site will be launched in a bit, now that the first new photos are up.

P.S. All of my art and culture links are now on ArtCal.

White King
50” × 56“
Oil on canvas

We saw one of Butler’s paintings when we visited Van Brunt at the DiVA Fair. There is now a show at the gallery, located in Beacon, NY. Does the name sound familiar? Butler is better known as the founder of the Psychedelic Furs. I was told by Carl Van Brunt that he went to art school, and decided to make a career in music after being told by a professor that only a handful of visual artists in England actually made a living with their art.

Sounds worth a day trip, especially for those of us who grew up with New Wave.

Never, ever go to MoMA on a day when one wants to use the coat check. There was a 20+ minute line, and that was for the “members” line.

I look at several photo blogs, but Mica Scalin’s Hello? is the first video blog I’ve seen. She has some older entries on the video art fair DIVA.

I’m intriuged by the courses in modern and contemporary art at MoMA. The member price of $130 is quite good. Does anyone have an opinion on them? James and I might consider taking one, since neither of us have any art history background.

Alternatively, if some of my readers could help me come up with a good reading list on art history, I would really appreciate it. Any period is fine as long as it’s a good text on the subject.