Culture

Tyler Green points out an interesting fact:

Matthew Barney’s The Cremaster Cycle wasn’t the Krensian success that the Guggenheim (and a compliant press corps) had claimed. Here’s why: Cremaster drew 3,151 visitors a day to the GuggEnron. Meanwhile, the show immediately after Cremaster drew 3,314 visitors a da, outdrawing Cremaster by over 100 people a day. What outdrew Cremaster? A permanent collection hanging.

We’ve been to a few openings since we returned from Mexico City. Recommendations:

East of the Sun and West of the Moon, curated by Amie Scally at White Columns (no images up yet). We were there for the opening, which is not the best way to judge a show, but my favorite pieces in the show were the paintings by Clare Rojas. I found a web page with images of her work to give you an idea here. The other highlight at White Columns is the White Room show by William Crow. We finally met this charming young artist in person, after having gotten in touch with him when we bough some of his work at the Cynthia Broan $99 show.

The other show we attended last night was David Hilliard at Yancey Richardson. His multi-image works are technically brilliant and somehow haunting, as if they have narrative content that we can’t quite guess.

The night before (Thursday) we went to the opening for Robert Beck at CRG Gallery. It’s a pretty conceptual show, so you will want to read the press release, and maybe talk with Glenn McMillan, which is what I always do when I go. Even without the conceptual content, the pieces in the show are beautifully constructed objects.

Wow. I just learned via Tyler Green (Modern Art Notes) that Adam Weinberg, the new director of the Whitney, gave an interview to The Art Newspaper in which he throws into doubt a 2006 Biennial.

While Mr Weinberg has not decided how to organise the 2006 biennial, he is giving serious thought to “an installation of the entire museum top-to-bottom with the collection”.

Later on in the article, after talking about the museum’s lack of space, we also read this:

Mr Anderson had investigated the possibility of mounting the Biennial and other exhibitions in the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue, but Mr Weinberg has not formally explored that possibility as yet. Meanwhile, he intends to reclaim for exhibitions part of the indoor/outdoor gallery on the lower floor of the building which currently houses the restaurant and shop.

I just noticed the use of “Mr” (no period) rather than “Mr.” Is that a new trend? Are periods passé?

In an earlier post I mentioned that the Rivington Arms people didn’t think they needed a website.

I once asked whether they were going to get one, and they said, “that’s not really the audience we’re aiming for.” This comes from people who were chatting with trucker-hatted visitors who were explaining that one simply cannot live comfortably in NYC with an apartment worth less than $1 million.

Now I understand why, but I still think it’s cheesy to act as if they’re demeaning art by making it easier for people to find the gallery or learn more about their artists. The Friday NY Times, in its article about young art dealers, tells us that one of the partners is the daughter of Brice Marden.

On a more upbeat note, read the happy aspects of the article over on jameswagner.com.

I updated my earlier post about this Target Margin play. They have been extended for a week.

My cold is back, and I’m busy, so no brilliant write-up for you, just a recommendation. Go see These Very Serious Jokes, the beginning of Target Margin’s Faust project. They are doing their own translation, by Douglas Langworthy, and it is beautiful. Plus: David Greenspan plays Mephistopheles!

The run (at HERE) ends February 1:

Sun Jan 25 @ 7pm
Tues Jan 27 – Sat Jan 31 @ 8.30pm
Sat Jan 31 and Sun Feb 1 @ 4pm

Target Margin and The Civilians (mentioned a couple of days ago) are two of the most interesting theater groups out there. I go see almost everything they do (exceptions only for scheduling, not aesthetic reasons) — in the case of TM since 1991!

Update: See James‘s take on it.

Our friend Yuval Pudik (see the illustration above) is doing the costumes for “Just an Old Song”, a dance piece by Fabio Tavaresone that is of the works in the latest Food for Thought event at Danspace at St. Mark’s.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Curated by Wally Cardona, Heidi Latsky, and Susan Osberg
January 30-February 1
[Fri-Sun] at 8:30 PM
Admission: $5 + 2 cans of food or $10

I recommend going on the 31st, and then heading out to Williamsburg for a party where you can also see an installation by him:

After party & art exhibition
Featuring “Untitled No. 2″  A drawing installation by Yuval Pudik
@ NAR, 152 Metropolitan Ave.  (corner of Berry)  
Williamsburg, Brooklyn  
Tel. 718-599-3027

Tom Moody has a post about a novel that sounds like a possible precursor to The Matrix: Wolfbane by Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth. Go read his description.

While you’re there also read what he has to say about the sculptures by Ross Knight at the entrance to the Sculpture Center. I loved those when we went to the opening of the Kabakov show, plus the In Practice Projects group show, featuring a lot of good and fun art, including an audio piece on personal hygiene by Nicolás Dumit Estévez in the restrooms.

I wrote about this play after we saw it a year ago.

You now have another chance to see it, February 6 – 29, 2004.

The Civilians

To buy tickets

Here is another post I did on The Civilians and their show “Gone Missing.”

Their fundraisers are always fun, and I’m on the benefit committee, so if you want to hear about the next one, please send me your mailing address.

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Update: We’re going on the 14th. It’s $25 instead of $15 on that date, but it’s a benefit for Dixon Place and there is a reception afterward. What, you think we would eat out on V-day in this city?

Jeffy Whitty (of Avenue Q fame) has a play, The Hiding Place, at Atlantic Theater (the 16th Street location) through January 25. He manages to be very funny plus put in some very smart commentary on theater, the visual arts, and the literary world. The whole cast is great, but I really loved Susan Parfour, and I would go see Kate Blumberg in anything.