I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about this disturbs me.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is buying the Hard Rock business,
including its massive collection of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, in a $965 million deal with British casino and hotel company Rank Group PLC, the tribe announced Thursday.
John Smith
The Girl Chewing Gum, 1976
12mins
Black & White 16mm
The more I see of older art works, the more I worry that very few things are truly new. The latest incident? When I saw John Smith’s Girl Chewing Gum (1976) in Artists Space’s In the Poem About Love You Don’t Write The Word Love. One watches a street scene and listens to a voice appearing to direct the action on the screen. It doesn’t hurt that he sounds a bit like a Monty Python narrator.
I had never heard of this piece when I first saw Noah Klersfeld’s work Pay Roll. Todd Gibson describes it here. Maybe it doesn’t really matter, since I knew nothing of John Smith’s work, and probably Todd and Mr. Klersfeld didn’t either.
luxonline has a page describing the work and a short video excerpt.
Related: 2003 interview with John Smith in Millenium Film Journal.
[image above from luxonline]
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Last week we visited Gasser & Grunert to see Ann Craven’s show of moon paintings. Here are a few shots paired with a real moon photo taken on our block.
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Via Blentwell.com‘s podcast I found this great mix by Don Rimini. Here is their description:
Don Rimini – Absolutely Dangerous
Wow this is some shit right here! Don Rimini stalks les rues de Paris in search of freshly tweaked beats. And with a DJ bag filled with butter cuts from Lily Allen, Uffie, Does it Offend you, 2 live crew and others this set is certain to get your ass werkin’ An awesome blend of electro, techno, booty & bastard pop!
Download (55MB, 1 hour)
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Joshua Johnson’s excellent blog has been a little quiet of late, as he was preparing for a solo exhibition in Williamsburg. It opens tomorrow night at Riviera. We plan to drop by and see his new paintings.
[image grabbed from Riviera’s website
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Dark (Davis), 2006
Acrylic and paper on digital print
24 × 27 inches
I really love James Hyde‘s work. You really can’t tell, without standing up close to this and looking at it from different angles, which part is painted and which is part of the digital print. The “(Davis)” in the title refers to Stuart Davis.
This is one of a couple of works by James Hyde in The Thaw, the second exhibition at Lital Mehr’s new gallery on 18th Street.
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Art benefits are a great way to do good, add to your collection, and discover new artists. We have met a lot of artists by first buying a work of theirs at a benefit. Good things happening over the next few weeks:
White Box Toy Box Holiday Benefit Auction: Thursday, November 30, 6 – 9 pm
We’ve found a lot of great work at their benefits. Unfortunately their site is down at the moment. Joy Garnett has some more details.
Visual AIDS Postcards From The Edge Benefit 2006
Friday, December 1 from 6-8PM:
Preview Party on World AIDS Day
Sneak peek only — NO POSTCARD SALES. $75 admission includes one raffle ticket. One Lucky Winner will select any postcard that evening! Additional Raffle Tickets $25. Other prizes donated by Twin Palm Press, Steidldangin, PowerHouse Books, Printed Matter and more. Participating artists attend free.
SILENT AUCTION of specially selected artworks by Jenny Holtzer, Barton Lidice Benes, Richard Renaldi and others.
Saturday, December 2 from 12-6 PM:
Benefit Sale (Opens)
Over 1000 original postcard-size works of art! ONLY $75 EACH. Buy four cards and get one free. First come, first served. CASH and CHECK ONLY — sorry no credit cards. $5 Suggested Admission.
Sunday, December 3 from 12-4 PM:
Benefit Sale (Last chance)
Less crowds, but still plenty of great art! Still only $75 EACH – same as above.
Hosted by:
Sikkema, Jenkins & Co.
530 West 22nd Street, NYC
d.u.m.b.o. arts center (dac) Winter Auction 2006
Preview reception: Monday, November 27, 6 – 9 pm
Preview and silent bidding: November 27 – December 2, 10 am – 6 pm
Live Auction: Saturday, December 2 at 8 pm
Auctioneer: Christopher Gaillard of Sotheby’s
Pre-auction reception: 6 – 8 pm
Silent Auction closes after Live Auction
Location:
d.u.m.b.o. arts center (dac) Gallery
30 Washington Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
mail@dumboartscenter.org
View works online: from November 27 at www.dumboartscenter.org
All major credit cards accepted.
vertextList benefit: Thursday, Dec 14th, 2006 7-10pm
This vitally important gallery focused on new media is having a benefit to raise money to help pay their rent over the next year. You can still attend the party without buying raffle ticket. Raffle tickets are $200 ($150 for participating artists). All tickets guarantee a piece of art.
Annual Holiday Benefit Party
Thursday, December 14th, 9pm
With live music by Kate Diamond
Proceeds to benefit Habitat for Humanity
Artists donating work to be raffled: Lee Bakofsky, Jud Bergeron, Terry Ekasala, Matt Hansel, Pamela Henderson, Jordin Isip, Julia Marchand, Jennifer Perlmutter, Martha Rich, Paul Richard, Jean-Pierre Roy, Nina Savill, Amy Shawley, Jill Simonsen, Aaron Smith, Wendy Weston, Eric White and more artists TBA!
Raffle tickets are $10 each. Even if you can’t come to the party, you can still purchase raffle tickets. Images and details will be posted online soon.
The Second Annual WAGMAG Benefit Art Show
Admission is free, Tickets for artwork drawing are $150
Tickets can be purchased at the gallery or online
Advanced Viewing: December 2nd-December 16th
Reception and Raffle of work Saturday Dec. 16th, 7-9
Viewing hours: Fri-Sun 1-6
WAGMAG (Williamsburg and Greenpoint Monthly Art Guide) is pleased to present it’s Second annual benefit to support it’s mission to promote the over fifty galleries throughout Williamsburg and Greenpoint, to enlighten gallery goers as to art events and give recognition to the exhibiting artists through current listings and reviews.
All galleries included in WAGMAG are have been invited to participate in this exhibition, as well as some prominent artists from the neighborhood. The resulting show will not only generate funding for WAGMAG but also reflect the spirit and personality of the Williamsburg art community.
Works will be on view from Saturday, December 2nd through Saturday, December 16th. Tickets available during viewing and on the benefit evening. A ticket for $150 guarantees a work of art, a drawing decides the order in which ticketholders select an artwork. Benefit evening, Saturday December 16th 7-9, drawing begins at 8:00.
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Last night, James and I had dinner with friends at the new Klee Brasserie on Ninth Avenue. It was the first time we had spent dinner with the two of them, and they were up for the adventure of dining at a place that had been open less than a week. It’s in the old Magnifico space, but you would be unlikely to recognize it. It has been fully rearranged, with a long bar on one side. I was told that the bar there at the moment isn’t the final version.
The chef, Daniel Angerer, is Austrian, but I would describe the food as creative New York comfort food. There are elements of Austrian/Germanic cooking, plus some Italian and other influences. Not much in the way of Asian highlights.
I like the space. It’s comfortable, and the tables aren’t so close together that they have to pull one table out to seat people. I refuse to eat at places that charge $20+ for entrees and then do that to the customers. The sound level is good, which is another plus in its favor. The place was pretty full, and we could hear each other at a largish table for 4 with no problem.
The wine list is still being worked on, but the one we ordered from had a number of good deals on Austrian wines. We had a Grüner Veltiner and a Blaufränkisch both under $40. There are a number of wines available by the glass or the carafe.
The food was very good, with perhaps a little more excitement in the appetizer course. I have no idea why that is often the case, but I see it a lot when we eat out. Among the group, we had
For main courses, we had
All were very good, but I think the (perfectly cooked) duckling was a little under-seasoned. I never ask for salt in a restaurant, but this time I did. I quickly and courteously received a little dish of excellent sea salt.
The service (which was very pleasant) is still working out some kinks, as is to be expected on what I think was the first night with a significant crowd. For dessert, we had a free assortment of excellent little cookies on the house. They were yummy, but I suspect the kitchen might have been a little overwhelmed at that point and was giving out dessert samplers rather than making individual desserts. Given the chef’s Austrian background, I expect that will change pretty quickly.
Prices ranged from $8-14 for appetizers and $18-27 for entrees. For comparison, that’s around the price range of Red Cat, and slightly more than Trestle on Tenth.
There are rotating specials each day, such as Macaroni and Cheese with Maine lobster and four cheeses on Fridays, and Wiener schnitzel on Saturdays.
I’m very happy to have this in the neighborhood, and expect to visit on a regular basis. I’ll probably do an update after they’ve had some time to settle in, and we’ve had a chance to try out more of the menu.
Klee Brasserie
200 Ninth Ave. (between 22nd and 23rd)
212-633-8033
Related links:
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Since I stared having gallery ads on ArtCal, I’ve tried to be rather picky about what other ads are on the site. Given that my ads cost a fraction of those on Artnet, I was surprised, when looking at the magazine page today, to see an animated Acura ad at the top. Here is a (non-animated) screen grab.
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