Last Week in Curatorial Omissions and Advice

by Art Fag City on June 30, 2009 Newswire


Philip Smith

Artinfo’s Ruthie Ackerman asks artists, dealers, curators, and bloggers what art should hang on the White House walls. MoMA’s President emerita Agnes Gund suggests the frequently garish Elizabeth Murray. Artist Andres Serrano proposes his own work. Personally, I’m still taken with Greg Allen’s pick: Sir Charles aka Willie Harris (1972) by Barkley Hendricks, which was wisely seconded by the owner and director of Postmasters, Magdalena Sawon. *Art Fag City has a few picks of our own in the feature.

In other news, Last Friday Art in America published a letter they received June 11 from artist Phillip Smith on the topic of his exclusion from the MET’s The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984.  Smith is the only member of the original 1977 five-artist Pictures show not included in the MET’s exhibition, which showcases thirty. He disputes curator Doug Eklund’s claim that his work “was not strong enough to be included.”  Apparently, neither he nor any of his representatives were asked to provide material for review during that period. Not to state the obvious, but none of this reflects particularly well on Eklund.

RELATED: Regina Hackett nails Douglas Crimp, curator of Pictures exhibition at Artists Space in 1977, upon which Pictures Generation builds. She also provides a great photo essay of Smith’s work and the artists he’s influenced along the way. Via: Anaba

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