I understand why the metaphors between art and food work: art is “nourishing” to your soul; a chef is an “artist,” his plate the “canvas,” and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, these metaphors are such cozy bedfellows that they’ve all but become cliche. Which is why, when I first heard that a Neapolitan pizzeria/gallery had opened in midtown Manhattan — as in, an authentic, Naples-style restaurant plus a gallery space, so intertwined that the name, PizzArte, is a mashup of the two — my first thought was that this had to be a gimmick.
July 29, 2011
Posted inArt
The Summer Exhibition David Lynch Wishes He Curated
While exploring the New York Academy of Art’s 5th Annual Summer Exhibition at Flowers, all I could think about was one person: director David Lynch. Not only because I am a fan of the master of the surreal psychological horror, but many of the works in the exhibition featured a similar eerie atmosphere that pervades Lynch’s films and it wasn’t just the disproportionate amount of works with rabbits.
Posted inArt
Beijing’s Williamsburg, Caochangdi
If Beijing has a Chelsea, 798 Art Zone, then surely it has a Williamsburg. That “alternative” neighborhood is Caochangdi (草场地). According to legend, Ai Weiwei moved out here in early 2000 to set up his studio and the China Art Archives and Warehouse. It was a strange move at the time, but galleries and artists soon followed, and the area is now home to a number of well-known spaces.
Posted inArt
Summer Guests in Bushwick
The mercury in your thermometer can easily climb to 100+ degrees during these dog days of summer in north Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood. The concrete streets are helplessly desolate and even the Bushwick pigeons seem to have given up. Bushwick has been quieter lately, and the local art scene might have been hiding in the close proximity of blasting air conditioners most of the time, but even with all these factor you can definitively say that it certainly is not dead. In fact, several prominent Bushwick galleries and art spaces opted out of the summer break and have been serving up refreshing art options.
Posted inOpinion
MoMA Yings & Crystal Bridges Yangs
Are American art institutions engaged in a Manichean battle between exclusivity and access? Will this be settled with a mud wrestling match between Crystal Bridges benefactor Alice Walton and MoMA director Glenn Lowry? Please, oh please, say it will be.
