Books
A Global Toy Story
Do children's toys breed a culture of violence and war? This was one of the many questions you're left to ponder when reading Miniscule Blue Helmets on a Massive Quest by Dutch artist Pierre Derks.
Review
Art
Nothing Is Hidden and Everything Is Revealed
The paintings of Lauren Luloff have always been as much concerned with finding the way of their making as they have been with the final result. This emphasis on an openness of process is at the core of everything she does.
Art
Speechless: The Commons at Botanic Gallery
Speechless is an evolving series that reviews, discusses and/or comments on art works and exhibitions using images, screenshots, videos and other visuals.
Art
Ackermann and Guston Go Toe-to-Toe, One Loses
Franklin Parrasch Gallery’s exhibition Rita Ackermann + Philip Guston is the third in a series of two-artist, cross-generational shows. Included in this show are two works on paper by Guston (dating from 1966 and 1971), and a new painting by Ackermann (2012).
Art
Fresh Work from a Member of the Old Avant-Garde
This week I had the opportunity to check out the newest exhibition at Brennan and Griffin Gallery, "Guy Goodwin: Recent Works." It’s one of those exhibitions you feel good about from the moment you enter the room.
Books
Wheel Life: Paul Scheerbart's Quest to Build a Perpetual Motion Machine
My favorite shelf in the home library is where Raymond Roussel, the Comte de Lautréamont, E.T. A. Hoffmann, Leonora Carrington and other writers form a brilliant phalanx of eccentricity and marvel. I turn to it like a five-hour energy drink, sampling a few pages of, say, Raymond Queneau or Heinrich
Art
Second Sight: The Photographs of George Hendrik Breitner
It’s unlikely, half a century from now, that a shadow oeuvre will appear among the personal effects of many contemporary artists, a secret body of work that parallels or even exceeds their public output. This is what happened with the Dutch painter George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923), whose several
Art
The Uses of Dismemberment: MoMA’s Exquisite Corpses
Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, as discussed in last week’s post, was assembled out of discarded body parts — an exhumed limb here, a torso there — with everything “awkwardly sewn into a corporeal pastiche.”
Art
A Finnish "Yes" at a New Gallery in Jersey City
Studio 371 is a new gallery in downtown Jersey City. With more than 3,500 square feet, lots of natural light and raw aesthetics, the space is ideal for a range of work, including large installations and performances. The current show, Kyllä Kyllä, features the work of artists Trevor Amery and Kathry
Books
A Photographer Looks at London's Tattoos
Photographer and photojournalist Alex MacNaughton’s latest book titled London Tattoos, is a lighthearted book of portraits featuring Londoners and their tattoos. Shooting his portraits in the studio against a neutral white background, reminiscent of white gallery walls, MacNaughton treats tattoos, a
Art
Virtually Sketching in Metal
In his first solo show, Bernard Klevickas has staged the space of Orchard Windows Gallery on the Lower East Side for contemplating industrial process and the aesthetics of machinery and its methods. Turbulence is a small, but detailed, show of sculptures created between 2002 and 2012 from metal and
Art
The Man Behind the Squeegee
Corinna Belz’s new documentary, Gerhard Richter Painting (playing at Manhattan's Film Forum from now until March 27), offers a rare glimpse into the life and work of the celebrated and self-proclaimed “secretive” German artist. For a little more than 90 minutes, we watch Richter labor over two new p