The New Orleans Museum of Art hosted a luncheon today for members of arts community that amounted to something much more than the usual meet and greet.
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I had heard that Frieze New York was huge, but I have been to Armory and Basel Miami, so I assumed that it was just another art fair, sure there would be a lot of stuff to look at, but nothing this hardened New Yorker couldn’t handle.
I’m going to start this essay with the conclusion. Why should we be looking for different ways of thinking about and living in the world? Because many of the dominant political social, and intellectual structures that currently underpin our society have proven themselves to be colossally flawed, so we need to begin looking for different ways of doing and thinking about things.
CHICAGO — The National Governors Association has just issued a report titled “New Engines for Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design.” I decided to read the whole thing, a task that I approached with some dread, given the prospect of wading through 45 pages of corporate art-speak. In fact, it turns out that the report is written in a refreshingly clear style, and it lays out a set of concrete proposals that make sense to anyone who has thought about this subject.
South African artist Frances Goodman doesn’t apologize about much when it comes to art.
During last night’s Arthur Miller Freedom to Write event, writer Salman Rushie talked about the fact that censorship exists to change the subject. When it is introduced in the realm of art, it becomes the subject; the attack onto the work becomes the work. As Rushdie said, “Assumptions of guilt replace assumptions of innocence.” The question redirects to, why are artists so troublesome?
By all accounts, Pearl Blauvelt (1893–1987) was a recluse who lived in northeastern Pennsylvania in a house without running water, plumbing or central heating. Her neighbors referred to her as the “Village Witch.” In the mid 1950s, she was declared incompetent and moved to a facility where she resided until she died. The house she lived in stood vacant for nearly fifty years, until it was bought and restored. The people who bought the house discovered Blauvelt’s drawings in an old wooden box lodged under long-abandoned piles of things.
Neal Medlyn has been channeling pop stars in New York galleries and theaters since the early aughts, and has built a repertoire of performances that run heavy on exhibitionism and intellectualism. His most recent show, Wicked Clown Love, which premiered at The Kitchen in February, is based on a trip to the Gathering of the Juggalos, the annual hardcore rap festival organized by the group Insane Clown Posse. Medlyn and I met at a bar in Chelsea, where he told me about how he made Kanye West cry, among other juicy tales.
On a chilly march morning I took to the streets of Bedford in an attempt to get a sense of what people thought about Contemporary Art. Randomly I asked those walking up and down Bedford what they thought about the current state of contemporary art, who their favorite artists were and then took their picture.
We’ve all heard the complaints about income inequality. And although how to actually solve the economic crisis is up for debate, we all agree that it’s a hard time to make a living. This is true for everyone, not just artists, but perhaps artists can lead the way in offering real alternatives to our flawed economic system. Artists, as creative people already faced with an extremely competitive market where success is hard won, are in a unique position to confront the issues of income distribution.
