This week is a grab bag of reviews, video clips, profiles and historic finds.
John Baldessari
Posted inOpinion
Required Reading
This edition of Required Reading has a heavy dose of California and some very critical texts.
Jon Jackson says goodbye to LA with billboards — Mike Kelley shows in LA after 8 years — Donald Kuspit tears apart John Baldessari — Paddy Johnson gives Brad Troemel the thumbs down — House Republicans hate federal arts funding
Posted inArt
Tuesday Video: John Baldessari Sings Sol LeWitt
Everyone loves songs and singing, right? Especially during the holidays? Well, with this video conceptual artist John Baldessari sings his own carol, putting Sol Lewitt’s Sentences on Conceptual Art to your favorite well-known tunes.
Posted inBooks
Reading The Believer’s 2010 Art Issue
It’s easy enough to tell that The Believer is a publication from California from looking at the cover of their 2010 Art Issue, much less getting to the table of contents. A 70s psychedelic mashup of art icons, a John Baldessari suited figure, a dinosaur figurine, and a Picassoian acrobat by Clare Rojas march up a ray of red and yellow light into … the mouth of a skin-less human body? New York this is not.
Famously co-edited by Vendela Vida, writer spouse of writer wunderkind Dave Eggers, The Believer is well known for its cutesy tone and off-beat vibe, helped along by its graphic design and a coterie of Californian cultural denizens. None of these are bad qualities in themselves, but when editing an “art issue,” it might be best to start looking outside of the narrow perspective of your own aesthetic.
Posted inNews
In the Museums: Fall 2010 in New York
This fall is a great time to be in New York. The always interesting Teri Tynes over at Walking Off the Big Apple has compiled a select (but extensive) list of New York museum shows this fall. There’s a lot to see and do and here are some we’re really looking forward to …
