Posted inArt

Cats Take Over the Art World

Common journalistic wisdom has it that it takes three examples of a phenomenon to make a trend. 1) Kitty City, a metropolis/playground for cats that was built at Flux Factory in May and unveiled with a kitten adoption drive the first weekend in June; 2) The Cat Show, an exhibition devoted to cats, also with adoption drive (two!) and a zine, opening June 14 at White Columns; 3) Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt, a long-term installation opening later this summer at the Brooklyn Museum that will explore the role of felines in ancient Egypt. And I didn’t even mention last year’s Internet Cat Video Festival, which organizers will reprise this summer, or the Grumpy Cat Art Project at a studio in Alabama.

Posted inArt

Low-Key Independent Art Fair Has Little Bite

The fourth edition of the Independent art fair, among the plethora of shows popping up during Armory Week, is akin to the children’s tale of The Little Engine That Could, and in the end, it did. Compared to the Armory Show, which was like a trip to Ikea (one exhibitor in fact was selling furniture), and Volta, which dared to be different (I skipped Scope), the Independent was part art community, part church sale, and part paean to art team building that was sure to include nonprofit organizations like The Kitchen, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, Printed Matter, and White Columns. It was especially sensitive in dedicating itself to New York organization’s that were hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy, such as The Kitchen and Printed Matter, and not exactly embraced by FEMA compensations.

Posted inArt

Torino’s Big Art Fair, Artissima Giornale #1

TURIN — Everything in this house moves … At any given moment, installations and tableaux are temporarily constructed around the house and then sometimes in your own room your audio set-up will be deconstructed. They are traces left by my housemates Manuel Larrazàbal Scano and possibly Renato Leotta, who normally create full-studio works but also use the entire apartment as their working canvas. Living in a community of artists here in Italy, where all resources are shared and possessions/private property doesn’t really exist, has been an adjustment for me, a New Yorker raised by capitalists.