by Christopher Schreck on November 4, 2011
Despite the occasional mad rant or impromptu bathing session, riding the MTA today is generally a much tamer prospect than it was in 1980, when Bruce Davidson began documenting the trains and its passengers. Those efforts resulted in the 1986 monograph Subway, celebrated as a frank depiction of a unique and perhaps infamous moment in New York's history. A third and final edition of the book is now available, and to mark its release, the Aperture Foundation gallery has a selection of prints on view. While the work ultimately contributes little to the conversations driving art photography today, it nonetheless stands as an anomaly in both Davidson's work and the longstanding tradition of subway photography, and as such warrants some discussion.
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by Christopher Schreck on November 3, 2011
Who wants to see a bunch of art work hanging in The Guggenheim’s Rotunda? Good news for those who do: virtually everything artist Maurizio Cattelan has produced since 1989 is now suspended in air for all to see.
Maurizio Cattelan: All, the first retrospective of the artist’s work, marks Cattelan’s sort-of retirement from the art world. In the exhibition catalogue, curator Nancy Spector paints Cattelan as a “tragic poet of our times.” (Cue lil’ Hitler!) Setting that stuff aside, though, it seems that in presenting his life’s work this way, Cattelan plays to his reputation as art world prankster. The question, of course, is how seriously we’re supposed to take the joke.
Our images from this morning’s press preview after the jump. The show opens Friday and runs through January 22nd.
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Paddy Johnson, Editorial Director
