I’m not really sure what to think of dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s new post on the Daily Beast. It feels like the work of a frustrated artist who is coming to terms with the notion of exile.
Posted inArt
Who Is The Artist? Thoughts on Anonymous Street Art
Evacuated from my Lower Manhattan apartment and hiding from Hurricane Irene, I find myself thinking about anonymous street art and what it means to art-viewing practices. Different from traditional art and even graffiti, the anonymous works that are found on construction walls, corners of the street and shop grates pose a difficult yet exciting problem for the street art or historian enthusiast that comes across them.
Posted inNews
The Beginning of the End of 5Pointz?
Some call it “The United Nations of Graffiti.” Its semi-official title, spelled out in giant letters on its main wall, is “The Institute of Higher Burnin,” though you’ll also find it described as “the world’s premiere ‘graffiti Mecca'” on its website. Now there are questions about how long it will last.
Posted inPerformance
Staying Afloat at the Socrates Sculpture Park
Maybe the name “float” welcomes the flood. After skipping the journey to Queens the previous Sunday due to the torrential rains, I finally made it to Socrates Sculpture Park two weekends ago for FLOAT: Field of Dreams, the fifth edition in the biennial series of “ephemeral and interactive art.”
Posted inOpinion
Required Reading
As we hunker down for Hurricane Irene, we decided to make this week’s Required Reading a photo-heavy one. From images of chairs to maps comparing New York to cities around the world, there are images galore in the links.
Posted inNews
New Energy Among Art Handlers As They Continue to Fight Sotheby’s Lock Out
Hurricane Irene may be fast approaching, but there was another type of storm in full force yesterday in front of the Sotheby’s auction house on 72nd and York Avenue in Manhattan. Art handlers of the Teamsters Local 814 union, who were locked out of their jobs at Sotheby’s earlier this month,doubled their efforts to make their anger heard. Hundreds of workers and supporters took over the usually staid streets of the Upper East Side in front of the Sotheby’s offices, shouting for union rights.
Posted inNews
UPDATE: ALL Major New York Museums Closed for Hurricane Irene
As the storm approaches, here’s a helpful list of what New York-area museums will be closed for the big storm on Saturday and Sunday we are receiving word that almost ALL New York museums will be closed on Saturday and Sunday. We highly advise people to not attempt to visit the city’s museums during this weekend’s hurricane.
Posted inArt
Considering the Images in “The Glass Ceiling”
Photographer Jill Greenberg’s show “Glass Ceiling” at Clamp Art presents outtakes from one of her commercial editorials and plays them off as feminist art, but are they?
Posted inOpinion
Stephen Colbert on Art Redux
There’s nothing like an entertaining compilation of art-related Stephen Colbert banter to brighten up your pre-hurricane Friday. Enjoy.
Posted inArt
An Adventure at Best, An Art Project At Worst
Biking down the boardwalk in the Rockaways, Queens, I glanced behind me at the storm clouds approaching fast. Thunder ripped loudly, and lightning began to flash with increasing regularity. My friend and I had been riding for 15 miles already. We were on our way to Boggsville Boatel and Boat-In Theater, part of art collective Flux Factory’s summer-long extravaganza, Sea Worthy. The show features artists making work “about, around and on the waterways of New York City,” and includes water excursions, processions and boat-building workshops.
Posted inArt
Why So Serious? A Marriage of Theory and Commerce
So, I have to be honest, I don’t know if I am totally sold on the whole group show thing. It makes sense within the scope of the art center, alternative space or museum, but I sometimes question its benefits in the commercial art world. I think the point of the theoretical, thematic or art historical exhibition, should ideally, be just that, an end into itself. What I am suspicious of are the sorts of “group show” exhibitions that serve as a thinly veiled gathering of gallery stable artists.
Posted inOpinion
Joining A Contemporary Art Biker Gang With John Waters
Pope of Trash, filmmaker John Waters, who is known for his filthy classics like Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Hairspray, has joined a biker gang. Surprisingly, it is a contemporary art biker gang.
