Exposure, a new photography exhibition presumably modeled after Jen Bekman’s Hey Hot Shot, asks a $25 submission fee for a chance at $2,800 and a show at Leo Kesting Gallery. Now everyone has a chance to show with the same people who brought you celebrity sculptor Daniel Edwards. Score! Deadline June 17th, 2008

Related: Oprah’s Dead Bitches. (Via Gawker)

Screengrab AFC

On June 27th the Brooklyn Museum will launch the third and final stage of Click!; the exhibition. Curated by “you”, Click! takes it’s premise from John Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds, a book building on the premise that collective choices are often better than those of experts. As such, in early March the museum held a call for photo submissions, and this month “America votes”.

I suppose the premise is reasonable enough, though having seen the results of the last two election cycles, it becomes abundantly clear that the criteria Surowiecki describes as necessary for effective collective judgment isn’t always met in this country (this being diversity, independence, decentralizion and aggregation). I doubt meeting these requirements and proving a facile point will be too much of a problem for Brooklyn Museum, but who cares? I spent about thirty minutes reviewing seemingly countless pedestrian photos though I only needed to see about 10 to know it wasn’t worth my time. For the museum to put together a reasonable show they’d have to at least start with a few good pictures. I hope they prove me wrong, but at this point, I fear I’m going to be looking at a Best of Flickr (Brooklyn) exhibition come July.

Murakami at the Brooklyn Museum. Via Patrick409’s flickr stream.

At this point we can all go see Murakami, Vuitton, and HOMELAND SECURITY “team up” at the Brooklyn Museum, a combo that has a lot of news presence, and about 550 square feet worth of boutique in the exhibition. I like that the press release openly talks about how unpopular the Vuitton Murakami enterprise was with the press, but you’d have to be in some sort of coma not to have your bullshit detector go through the roof with this;

A partnership between the government and industry that serves such needy organizations as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency and Immigration Control and Enforcement, the foundation provides funds to the families of slain agents, as well as doing outreach, “making the police and the feds seem ‘cool’ to kids.”

I’m skeptical of most marketing aimed to make products that wouldn’t ordinarily be of interest to kids appealing, and law enforcement agents are no exception. Also, it’s entirely unclear what programs the Homeland Security supports as a means of achieving this goal, since those listed don’t include the educational outreach they claim. The Foundation’s primary purpose appears to be providing emergency funding and/or financial assistance to the families of agents and officials who have been injured or killed in the line of duty. That’s just fine of course, but it would be nice to see how much money they’ve given out to people. Nothing is listed on the site, though there is a handy page telling visitors how they can participate. “Stay vigilant. Stay strong. Stay committed to freedom.” and visit this other page telling you how to prepare against 14 different natural disasters and 5 variations of terrorist attacks. What a resource.

Related: Bloggy’s Your Moment of Oh My: As Barry Hoggard wisely observes, the federal government should provide these resources to families and citizens rather than expect private fundraising to take care of them.

Outside ApexArt, Photo: AFC

Call me the Art Bitch, but the likelihood of getting a polite response to a stupid question isn’t all that high after I’ve been waiting in the cold for half an hour. Such was the case yesterday evening while I stood outside Apex Art in the hopes of viewing “Lots of Things Like This”, an exhibition curated by Mr. McSweeney himself, Dave Eggers. “What’s going on?” asked one casual observer, to which someone replied, “It’s a Dave Eggers exhibition”, as though he was the artist, not the curator. “Oh, is it a club?” the guy continued, unfortunately prompting the kind of response that only fuels the thought that the art world is full of snots, “No!” I said haughtily, “It’s a not for profit gallery space”. Undoubtedly piercing the beer thought bubble above his head, he got the picture and walked off.

In case you’re wondering, my patience for waiting in lines exhausted itself almost immediately after that, so I never saw the show. However, shortly before that decision was made, I witnessed about five million camera flashes go off at the corner of Church and 6th ave. I assume it was either Mayor Bloomberg or Mr. Eggers, though at that point I didn’t care enough to check it out.

Joseph La Piana, Image copyright Robert Miller.

Anyone else see the mob scene in Chelsea last night out front Robert Miller? I took a detour into the gallery on my way to Bridge, though based on what I saw, I can’t say I’m further ahead on figuring out what all the fuss was about. It would appear Joseph La Piana’s Kenetic State inspired all the hoo-haa — an artist who uses his breath to create the tube colored paint splats you see above. Frankly it’s hard to imagine a more limited interpretation of life, particularly because the representation of exhaling explores form at the expense of volume and texture. Jim Campbell’s Photo of My Mother, Portrait of My Father or Sabrina Raaf’s The Grower, for example, investigate similar terrain, but bring a level nuance, poetics, and beauty, La Piana never approaches.

Bridge Fair, Installation view

Meanwhile, Bridge fair was comparatively quite; understandably so, since they don’t have the blue chip draw of Robert Miller, but most of the work was just as bad if not worse. I suppose the experience you get from this kind of fair is similar to hunting through a dollar store; You never find what you’re looking for, but you’ll always get something else. In other words, reliably, there’s usually some piece of crap you never expected to like, and yet against all good judgment you do, and one or two reasonable galleries. In this case, Glow Lab and Hogar Collection stuck out as the clear winners, because there was enough good art in both booths to outweigh the inevitable weaker works. In particular I responded to Glow Lab, an appropriately hung salon style booth, the arrangement of the work itself mimicking the cities that inspire the galleries artists. Swoon, Tom Brauer, Mark Price and Heather Johnson all displayed strong print, collage, and mixed media works, though that list is only a small sampling of the artists they have on display.

Glow Lab at Bridge

Despite all the bad work at Bridge, unlike Miami, my viewing experiences have not yet led to the kind of vitriol that left me silently murmuring hateful words about art. At least not yet. I haven’t seen a fraction of the fairs yet, so perhaps I’ll have to wait until Sunday before that happens. Speaking of Sunday, should any readers care to pay money to hear what you get for free on this site, I’ll be talking with a bunch of bloggers at Red Dot Sunday morning. Details below:

Bloggers Edward Winkleman, Paddy Johnson, Carol Diehl and Sharon Butler discuss blogging. Joanne Mattera will moderate.

Sunday, March 30th, 2008
11:00 a.m.
Red Dot Fair NYC
Park South Hotel
122 E. 28th St., btw. Park & Lex.
NYC.

General admission to the fair is $12.

We don’t normally report on exhibitions outside New York, but we will make exception from time to time for shows that interest us. Using the title M-Class Planet, a term coined on Star Trek meaning a planetary atmosphere capable of supporting human life, Keary Rosen’s upcoming exhibition at Jenny Jaskey in Philadelphia naturally appealed to the nerds here at the AFC HQ. The show itself is comprised of three kenetic sculptures, as well as video, drawing and photography. Jpeg evaluation being what it is, I find myself quite fond of what appears to be a photograph of an owl, but don’t yet have an overall sense of what the show will look like. Guess you’ll just have to go see it to find out. The exhibition opens this Friday, 6-9, a perfect excuse for those not interested in art fairs to get out of the city. Full disclosure: I went to grad school with Keary Rosen, and on an unrelated note, love his work.

Postmasters delivers my favorite press release of the month, beginning benignly enough with a standard format sheet listing show details, and describing the baroque Internet based collages of Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung, [editors warning: this link will do annoying things to your browser]  A snippet of the ordinary below,

Born in Hong Kong and now living in New York Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung creates explosive political spectacles in a form of dense, psychedelically flavored video animations, sculptures and digital collages…

This is followed by a description of a portion of the final scene in one of the artist’s videos, which features a man masturbating with a ballet box covering his cock, his head wrapped in an American flag, and his hand on a tv remote control shaped like a gun.  When the man reaches his climax he turns the screen in to a Washington Monument that explodes red white and blue from it’s tip.  The end, (or so says the press release).  Press clips and recent exhibitions are then noted, before closing with this final jewel;

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung’s work is not about “lessness”.

An understatement to say the least, and most amusing opposition to the Whitney Biennial’s “unofficial theme” I’ve read to date.

MK Guth, Ties of Protection and Safekeeping, 2007-08, at the Park Armory, Photo AFC

Newbie journalists and critics such as myself certainly found The Whitney Biennial’s press preview offerings exciting Tuesday morning.  The museum had fresh coffee, a plate full of bagels and other yummy food - a real step up from nothing - which a lot of us are used to.  Of course, one really should know better than to proclaim they are moving up in the world based on their bagel consumption, because inevitably such conclusions bite you in the ass. In my case the ass-biting turn around time was exceptionally short;  after arriving late to the Park Armory portion of the Biennial,  I was to witness the person ahead of me grab the last complimentary lunch.  Thank you JERRY SALTZ for nabbing that final serving!

To be fair, Mr. Saltz really can’t be blamed for my imposed art starvation that day; the man merely fended for himself…unlike all those waif thin girls I saw walking around with multiple boxes.  Now without a lunch, I spent the next twenty minutes trying to find a room devoid of food smells while listening to Biennial/Park Armory press release-ease orated over a speaker.  There was no escape, but eventually, the curators stopped talking so we could all look at the rest of the show.  It was probably close to 2:30 when I finally found a seat to relax after having viewed everything.  A colleague sat down beside me with her lunch box in hand, “Oh I see you managed to get one of those lunches.” I said irritably.  “Oh yes” she replied, “I took two! The food is so good, and it’s a free dinner for me now, so you really have to grab the opportunity when you have it.”  I didn’t reply.

An in depth review of the Biennial is forthcoming, but in the meantime I’d like to share a few highlights and lowlights from the show.

Not bad! An installation shot of the fourth floor, featuring the work of (from right to left) Heather Rowe, Rodney McMillian, and Olivier Mosset. Photo AFC

John Baldessari, Installation view, photo AFC

Not good. John Baldessari may be an established artist relevant to art making today, but those recent paintings above aren’t influencing anyone. At least I hope they don’t.

Omer Fast, The Casting, 2007, Production still, 14 minutes, Photo AFC

My viewing of the Biennial is incomplete because I haven’t seen the majority film program yet, but so far Fast wins my pick for best in show. His video The Casting mixes a sergeant’s compelling recollections of a bad romantic affair with the accidental shooting an Iraqi suggesting these edits might mimic the same distortions the soldier himself describes of his memories.

Kembra Pfahler, New York, New York, New York “Actresstocracy”, 2008, detail, Photo AFC

Worse in show goes to Kembra Phfahler’s baby dolls o’dread. It looks like Scope miss placed one of their artists in this Biennial.

Phoebe Washburn, It Makes for my Billionaire Status, 2007 Photo AFC

We all knew eco art would have to be included in the Biennial this year, but Washburn doesn’t do a bad job as far as that kind of investigation goes. Feeding plants with Gatorade and growing them in golf balls the artist transforms discarded materials into complex architectural forms. Of course, my own background might make me partial to this particular piece; I grew up on a farm, played a lot of golf as a teenager, and not two years ago, grew to crave Gatorade while training for a marathon. This work definitely speaks to my interests.

Sherrie Levine, Body Mask, 2007, Photo AFC

These sculptures look like inverted urinals to me, which unfortunately may be a more interesting reading than the serial gold belly and boobs Levine presents. Make this strike two for cannonical artists presenting work in the Biennial. You’d think there was some sort of mandate on the part of the Museum’s curators to chose the worst work by established artists. Richard Serra at the last biennial and Mel Bochner before him immediately come to mind.

Gardar Eide Einarsson, Black Suit (Sic Semper Tyrannis), 2008, Photo AFC

As it may or may not be evident from the photo above, Einarsson’s Black Suit (Sic Semper Tyrannis) now up at the Park Armory as part of the Whitney Biennial, showcases a dinner jacket and suit pants one hung inside another.  As evidenced today, the preview clearly drew press and special patrons either not accustomed to looking at objects or thinking much, one man inquiring of the work, “Why are the pants so short?”

More on the Biennial shortly.

Richard Serra, Backstop, Andrea Rosen Gallery Photo: AFC

Omitted from the above photo is the security guard stationed at the other end the room, whose only job is to warn people not to get too close to the piece. Given the recent online discussion about photography rights in galleries, I had initially thought he was stationed there only to police my camera, though it turns out the concern is public safety. I can’t imagine the art viewer who has enough strength to make that sculpture pose a safety risk to themselves, but I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Mostly I was interested in the guard because I’ve been noticing a lot more gallery security these days, 303 Gallery being the most obvious example. Incidentally, I asked the person positioned at 303 gallery what their purpose was, and apparently they aren’t the photo police, but simply stationed to make sure theft doesn’t occur. Given various reports online, I suspect they’ll also nail you for clandestine photography, but the woman I spoke to told me this wasn’t her job.

Matthew Ronay, Installation view, photo copyright of Andrea Rosen Gallery

Despite the impression my lead Serra photo might give, as you’ll note above, Matthew Ronay’s sculptures compose the main space exhibition. For those wishing to read a full review on the subject, Deborah Fisher wrote a piece for ArtCal zine a while ago I largely agree with. As she wisely points out, the new hanging tree leaves and other hippy looking sculptures certainly lack the teeth of his anal cupcake beads, and cum finish lines of previous years. Rather than repeat Fisher’s thoughts however, I will mention as an aside to the exhibition, that it’s been difficult to look at Ronay positively, since watching his bad punk band The Final Run Ins play last spring at Taxter and Spengemann. Andrea Rosen only adds salt to this wound every time I enter the gallery, his CDs prominently displayed at the front desk. For what it’s worth my reaction to the band was something along the lines of: This is worse than mediocre band I’d ignore were they playing at a venue other than a gallery. The low point of the performance was clearly reached when The Final Run Ins played a cover of the Sesame Street pinball song; though it normally doesn’t need to be said, if the Family Guy beats you to your best cultural reference, you might consider dropping the song.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, To view this video click here.

Three times now I’ve tried to view in its entirety Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ text based videos, In Black on White, Gray Ascending, (2007) at the New Museum and failed. Displayed on 7 screens, each 11:36 in length, the piece tells a story of conspiracy, abduction, and perhaps political assassination, all to the tune of some jazzy music you probably heard a few years ago at a bar in Soho. It’s a lively installation, and from what I’ve seen, a very good one, but it’s housed in a narrow glass room that makes almost impossible to stick around for the full hour plus worth of viewing material. Of course, in some ways, the space makes a lot sense for the piece; right next to the cafeteria, visitors can eat their sandwiches while watching the movie. The plan would have been perfect, were it not for the fact that the glass separating the two spaces provides a very effective sound barrier, so visitors don’t really experience the video installation while eating their lunch. Perhaps at some point we’ll see In Black on White, Gray Ascending appear online, and will be able to watch it that way.  Then I can complain about why it’s not the same experience, and how the overly large time investment required for a piece on the Internet deters possible viewers.

Four screengrabs AFC 

“So I can go to the website and watch this, if I knew how?” the gray haired society woman asked her guide.  She was speaking of Oliver Laric’s video 50 50, at the New Museum, a work she may not have connected with for a number of reasons, not the least of which being I was hogging the headphones.

I mention her words because they represent either the reason net art will never find an easy home in  museums, or why it needs to be there.  For many, the best and only way to display net art properly is virtually, and therefore its space in the museum  doesn’t make much sense.  Old lady society simply reaffirms this while kicking the artist for creating something in a medium she distrusts and will never adapt to.  For others, her words reveal the necessity of giving net art a physical location because they underscore the responsibility of the museum to find and introduce the public to new art.   Certainly this woman would never find 50 50 on her own, nor would she think about its value.  While she may not contemplate it further, the museum gives an important seal of approval to art that at least increases the chances of that happening.  I like to think Unmonumental Online’s presence in the gallery represents the end to the thought that the mere existence of Google should mean that people will naturally find all the art they never knew existed.

I see no shortage of unusual decisions by galleries this month. Take Luxe Gallery, which debuts the robotic experiments of M.I.T. artist in residence Pai Lindman this Friday. Lindman creates chairs “echoing the devices used in early photographic portraiture”,  and provides video footage of a machine designed to contort the face. I guess I’ll have to see the show before making any final judgments, but I have some serious reservations. What is the value of a piece whose documentation claims only to remove the intentionality behind facial expression? What’s more the one photograph provided predictably shows the body’s resistance to the device. It looks bad.

Left: Brandon Herman, Right: Ryan Pfluger, Image copyright of the artists.

Envoy is now the gay pin up boy gallery. This month they show the work of Ryan Pfluger, who exhibits at least a few photos of scantily clad young men, shooting poses awfully close to those in American Apparel ads. This show will be followed up by Brandon Herman, who in conjunction with a number of homo erotic horror shots, also photographs a large number of men in their underwear. While both artists make good work, Brandon Herman in particular has an affinity for the overly staged and dramatic. These works are considerably less successful.

Jordan Buschur, Image copyright realform projects.

David Gibson of Article Projects has a reputation for supporting the work of emerging artists which we like, but his choices can be inconsistent. I’ll leave it to you to prejudge Jordan Buschur.

Dave Choi, detail from Titan’s Revenge, mixed media, 34x 24×20 in., 2006

For those readers not nerdy enough to identify Titan’s Revenge as a ceremonial javelin from the online Dungeons and Dragons-esque site Diabloii.net, have no fear; Dave Choi’s sculpture of the same name undoubtedly references what you’d expect: Greek mythology. Opening Saturday at Hogar Collection, Name No One Man by Michael Behle and Dave Choi, promises a fine exhibition of sculpture and paintings. Admittedly, new comer Behle represents a bit of a blank spot on the Art Fag City radar having not seen his work before (UPDATE: Opps. I have seen it,) but we certainly like what we’ve witnessed from Mr. Choi. Diamonds Cut Diamonds, an excellent group show curated by Johnston Foster at Rare Gallery, won us over in 2006, the artist contributing a number of weird free standing and wall mounted creatures including this giant flowered piranha. Choi went on to show this similarly hilarious monster of plastic greedily holding on to a mannequin’s leg at Red Dot last year. From the looks of things, we’ll be seeing a few more of these guys Saturday.

UPDATE:  The opening for this exhibition was originally listed incorrectly as Friday.  We apologize if you made the trip out in vein.  We did too.

Does anyone else think January’s opening round of exhibitions looks a little thin? I’m not looking forward to much tonight, which frankly, depresses me.  I’ve come up with a pick or two below, but issue the speculative warning that there may not be a lot of good work around Chelsea for the next month or two.

Michael Bell-Smith, Glitter Bend, 2008, video loop

Michael Bell-Smith looks like a good bet, though unlike his last show, there are fewer works available on the Foxy Production website for preview so it’s hard to do much prejudging of jpegs and quicktime videos.  I am however relieved to see Electricity in the Air, (American Beauty) has not been included in this “digital sublime” themed exhibition, since far too much cultural narrative on the subject of beauty accompanies the piece to ever achieve that goal.   As a bit of background to his work, I recommend reading Geeks in the Gallery, a three part conversation I moderated between MBS and Tom Moody in July 2006, which discusses their respective shows and a number of issues the work brings up.   Both artists are incredibly smart and well spoken, so it’s well worth the read.

AA Bronson returns to his collaborative roots at John Connelly Presents this month.    Those who were fans of the General Idea, a three person collective of which he was a member, may similarly find interest in this show, though I suspect the results will be very different.  Now collaborating with 11 other artists Terence Koh amongst them, Bronson presents at least one body binding photograph, a double toilet cubicle joined by a glory hole, and an array of other works including a small piece by Joseph Beuys.  As I mentioned in Miami, Terence Koh’s installation at Perez Projects might have benefited from a little more editing in the anal bone probing department, so I naturally have some reservations about this show, but I guess there’s no need to judge prematurely.   Even if I don’t wholly agree, AA Bronson’s defense of Koh’s work posted in a previous comment thread, provides a good counter point;

I have to admit, I liked Terence’s photos. I always thought that artists like Dieter Rot, who just let art pour out of them, without self-reflection, are the real deal. They may not edit very well, and the marketplace thrives on editing, but who cares? Terence is similarly unique, I think, in his ability to just let the art flow… and to do that you ultimately have to not give a shit about the marketplace, which—contrary to appearances—describes Terence well: another quality I favor.

If Koh’s interested in spectacle, which I think he is, he probably gives shit about the current market, because it embodies marvel and exposition.  Art does pour out of the man though, and as imprecise a term as that is to describe an endeavor of merit, I buy it.

David Wojnarowicz, Untitled, [Falling Buffalo], 1988-89, Gelatin-silver print . Courtesy of P.P.O.W.

Schroeder Romero
637 West 27th Street, Suite B, 212-630-0722
January 10 - February 16, 2008
Opening: Thursday, January 10, 6 - 8PM

Even if the intent behind all the work in Schroeder Romero’s exhibition Caucus, isn’t political, David Wojnarowicz’s photograph capturing buffalo falling off a cliff certainly takes on a few of these qualities, particularly in light of the primaries. A well known painter and photographer working in the 80’s and early 90’s, Wojnarowicz work as a writer and activist, takes on an equally sad poetic tone. DiVA TV hosts an mp3 from his Reading series well worth the listen.

I suspect some of the other work in the show may lack Wojnarowicz’s sophistication; William Powhida’s website documenting the artworld’s allies and enemies as identified by you, for example, feels a little shallow for my tastes, but I guess we’ll see how that piece turned out tonight. Much like a mixed tape, very few group exhibitions present work that pleases everyone equally.

Those wishing to maximize the openings they attend in one shot, would be well advised to go to Cheslea this Thursday between 6 and 8 pm. Over the last couple of days I’ve entered 100 plus listings into ArtCal the majority of them happening on the 10th. I have a few comments on shows picks, but before I get to that, an observation on press releases: The most common mistake this year seems to be forgetting to include specific opening information (ie assuming editors will know whether or not a gallery has a public reception without actually telling us). We will write to confirm any details we have question about of course –indeed in many cases this information is not listed because no reception is planned –, but remembering to include it will both give the gallery a better chance of making it into the artcal mailer, and keep me from pulling my hair out during particularly busy times.

On that note, every year we receive submissions from galleries who give us a show title and reception time, without closing or opening dates, a exhibition description, and a usable jpeg. Inevitably such galleries have a website that consists of their name only. Please remember that listings are made from the information given to us; if all we have is an opening time and a show title, we can’t fill in the fields required to upload the exhibition.

Greek and Roman wing, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image via the Met.

Is nobody else bothered by the fact that the Greek and Roman exhibition at the Met is organized with no discernible chronology? I was reminded of this question once more this morning after having read Edward Winkleman’s post about the renewed interest in antiquities. Winkleman mentions Jerry Saltz’s article in New York Magazine, which some what surprisingly names the Met’s new Greek and Roman wing as the best exhibition of the year. Saltz is right of course, the status are great, but for all the art and scholarly resources available to the Met, very little is done to establish a time line regarding how it all progressed. Call me old fashioned, but trying to piece all the details together on my own isn’t what I call a good time, particularly when the aesthetic arrangement of the sculptures isn’t designed to give the viewer a sense of artistic development.

Update: Blogger Tom Moody adds this comment to the discussion:

This much I have figured out from a few visits (and the Met website):

“The Leon Levy and Shelby White Court…designed to evoke the ambulatory garden of a large private Roman villa…[features] nearly 20 Roman sculptures created between the first century B.C. and the third century A.D.”

These are all in a hodgepodge, facing every which way, lovely but disorienting.

“The galleries surrounding the new Roman Court present a substantial number of works from the Museum’s rich collection of Hellenistic art as well as the arts of South Italy and Sicily.”

These are roughly chronological in a clockwise circuit around the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court.

Etruscan art, and other areas of specific focus, are grouped outside the chronology.

That’s the best I can come up with.

Brian Belott, Swirly Music, Installation view, 2007, photograph AFC

Glitter and cats tend to be materials that work best on the net, but Brian Belott successfully brings this subject matter into the setting of a gallery with a late 60’s early 70’s aesthetic and sound track. Belott’s Swirly Music, at Canada New York, mounts keys from a piano around the main exhibition space, several ascending speakers, and various sparkling cat and landscape paintings. In another room several more cat paintings face twin TVs mounted on a pile of books.

Typically, such exhibitions at least in part rely on the skill of material manipulation, and while there’s obviously some of that going on, the real virtuosity lies in the way the artist’s ability to find forms of representation and expression that so peculiarly match his own raw energy. The whole show feels like a cartoon, virtually every static object suggesting movement of some kind.  The value in this, lies not just in an invigorating experience, but in imparting the knowledge that such life and vitality exists in the objects around us.