Features are likely to be a bit thin around here for the next couple of days due to deadlines, though the Fresh Links will continue to be updated. In the side bar you can look forward to reading random art news stories and reviews, mixed with such treasures as Cabela’s Bridger Mountain Man Coyote Fur Hat [pictured above]. As if discovering there’s a market for the heaviest fox hats in the world weren’t weird enough, the product reviews are almost predictably even stranger. Says one testimonial,

My grandma always wore possum pants when I was a kid and I wanted to continue in the same tradition….It has kept me as warm as any gutted mammal can during the harsh winters here in old Wisconsin. I do have to be careful not to wear it when my dogs are around since it makes them a little jittery especially when my boyfriend likes to make it “growl” and “bark” at them, sending them into a fighting frenzy. They once ripped it from my head and would you believe the coyote hat put up a good fight against my two dogs. Lucky for the coyote he can’t bleed anymore now that he is gutted and made into a hat.
If you are looking for a hat that not only keeps you warm but brings the spirit of Christmas into the hearts of all, than this is the hat for you!”

Clearly yule tide greetings could not be warmer now that you can receive and give them with a fox on your head. A trend in the making to be sure. Link via Borna.

Sarah McKenzie, Build Up, 2005, oil on canvas, 72 x 72 inches

Expect a few fresh links to arrive throughout the day, but probably not too much more by way of posts on the main page. I’m running around the city today, and probably won’t be in front of my computer for long enough to write something coherent. In the meantime, take a look at the paintings of Sarah McKenzie. She’s currently in an exhibition I curated for the General Electric World Headquarters titled This Modern World, and her paintings are nothing short of fantastic. Also, if you haven’t done so already, do take our Comic Con vrs Art Fairs quiz. It’s awfully fun, and at least according to the results thus far, you’re likely to be stumped by a few.

Horseballs

I’m going to be busy most of the morning, so I’m leaving you with this horseballs video courtesy of Ben Coonley until I can get back to the blog. How could you not enjoy this?

Kinetic, Photo AFC

Unless some kind of uploading miracle happens I’ll be busy catching up on artcal for the better part of the day, and therefore won’t be posting much. As a result, I’m posting this picture of Kinetic, the nicest doorman Scope has hired to date. Apparently the fair was good to the guard, giving him the opportunity to meet Matt Dillon, Lance Armstrong, and David Byrne. I’ll have to take some notes from the man since I couldn’t spot a celebrity in the crowd if I tried. Look forward to reviews on Scope and LA Art in the days to come.

Ariel Dill, Myrtle, 2006,Acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Posting will resume a little late in the day here due to over-exuberant Easter celebrations.

Installation view, Photograph: Roxana Marroquin. Image copyright Time Out

Between the artcal newsletter and various deadlines, I’m  out for the day.  In the meantime I recommend TimeOut’s review of the Whitney Biennial.  Howard Halle wisely observes the increasing strain on the museum by outside competition, his best argument summed up by the fact that Rachel Harrison’s best works aren’t at the Whitney but on display at the New Museum.

Aaron Williams, Church 1, 2005, oil on canvas, 12 x16 inches

It’s not like there isn’t plenty of news to discuss, but it will have to wait nevertheless. I’m out of town for the day, so posting will resume Monday. In the meantime, please enjoy the paintings of Aaron Williams.

You saw it here first folks! AFC brings you the latest in Wall Street power point lectures and more importantly, stick figure drawings! This informative “SubPrime Morgages For Dummies” lecture lets all of us who haven’t a) been buying homes without the money to do so, or b) reading the financial section of the New York Times, in on how we got in this mess in the first place. And of course, it’s all illustrated with these skillfully rendered drawings of buyers, bankers, brokers, and investors. Enjoy!

In other news, regular programming on AFC will return next week, after deadline hell passes.

Installation View: Mark Schubert, Yard Work, May 2006 Image copyright Monya Rowe

I’m out of town today, so there won’t be much on the blog.  Meanwhile, enjoy an installation view of Mark Schubert’s last exhibition above.  He will open his second solo show at Monya Rowe Thursday February 21st.

Ariel Dill, Tusk, 2006, Acrylic on Canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Maybe I’ll get lucky and have some time to post material near the end of the day, but impending deadlines will certainly interfere with the appearance of any significant write ups through mid afternoon. In the meantime, enjoy the work of Ariel Dill.

Noah Fischer, Rhetoric Machine, Installation detail, 2006.  Image via Oliver Kamm

I’ll be on a truck for most of the day paying for the upkeep of this blog, which means you won’t see much more than the posting notice here this morning and comment moderation will be slow.   No doubt I’ll find something to complain, love, or feel ambivalent about for Friday, so, um, look forward to that I guess.

Ryan Johnson, Pedestrian, 2007, Wood dowels, acrylic paint, wood glue and steel, 190.5 x 183 x 48 inches, Courtesy Guild & Greyshkul

I’m out of town today, so there won’t be too much in the way of posts. However, there’s plenty on the site to check out, for those who missed yesterday’s events ranging from old toys, to Harun Farocki teasers, to a crappy mp3 I made at the New Museum last week recording the band Wizzards.

Well, some weekends I’m responsible and write a post prior to heading out of town, other times I’m not so disciplined, and say, watch the first season of The Wire instead. Needless to say, I’ve got no posts for today, but we’ll be back in full swing within a day or two. I hope you will enjoy this space panda in my absence.

Biljana Durdevi, Poslednji dani Deda Mraza/The Last Days of Santa Clause, Via ArtForum.

I’m out of town today so there won’t be much on the site. On a related note posting will be light from here on in, since the holidays have begun. Art Fag City sends warm seasons greetings to our readers with the promise to keep you abreast on all breaking news pertaining to Damien Hirst’s Christmas plans. We know you care.

ArtForum excerpt on The Last Days of Santa Clause below:

The new normal: Tom Holert on contemporary art in Belgrade.

Poslednji dani Deda Mraza (The Last Days of Santa Claus), 2001, an impressive painting by Biljana Durdevic. The corpse of a paunchy middle-aged man is laid out on a wooden table in an old-fashioned morgue, his figure foreshortened and stretching diagonally across the picture plane. His red coat, trimmed with white fur, has fallen open to reveal a grayish undershirt and briefs. He sports fashionable sunglasses, as if transported to his resting place straight from a nearby shopping mall. The young, Belgrade-based Durdevic, one of the few artists in “On Normality” who is widely known outside of Serbia, has invested little empathy in her rendering of this corpse. Rather, Durdevic’s baroque, necrophiliac realism comes across as a scrupulously unflinching, unforgiving, and perhaps even vengeful study in disillusionment. It doesn’t take much of a leap to read this postmortem as a response to a society that counts graphic images of dead bodies among its infotainment staples, sustaining itself through a politics of fear practiced by both ideologues and organized crime bosses.

Anyone looking for an aspiring journalist fresh from the Art Institute of Chicago? Located in Paris, this young graduate recently contacted Art Fag City in hopes that we might have a position for her. In an effort to help this woman out, I’ve posted her solicitation below, and an email address where she can be reached. Do not hesitate to contact her.

from: mnuernATarticDOTedu
to: tipsATartfagcityDOTcom
date: Dec 12, 2007 6:00 AM
subject: hellos from paris

hellos,
i found yer site linked to another site linked to another site… you see.
i recently graduated from the school of the art institute of chicago and moved to paris to chase down my dream of being a reeeal artist.
i see that you keep tabs on things… only in new york? yes. maybe. not?
well, im writing to you cause im interested in writing a monthly review
of the art happs in paris for yer site.
if yer interested (read: curious) im happy to send along a resume, CV and
writing
samples.
thanks bunches,
seasons greetings…
mabel nuernberg

*wink*
mabel

In other news our final posts on the Miami art fairs will return tomorrow. I’m off today paying some bills.

Grandma Johnson attended the BlipFestival at Eyebeam last Thursday observing a number of youths at least 10 years her junior dancing to chiptunes.  I probably wouldn’t have felt quite so self conscious if there were a few more people around, but the crowd was thin enough that those who chose to dance stood out as teenagers.  Rather than show you the one shot I managed to get of someone relatively well known — a quarter head of one of the members of Bodingstandig — I rooted around youtube a bit to find some of the finer footage I missed over the weekend.   DJ Big Wiz performing with minusbaby [above], is in my opinion, amongst some of the better clips from the festival on youtube.

A word of warning: Depending on how things go for us this morning, this may be our only post for the day.  We’ll be spending the majority of our day in an airplane.

Installation view from Brian Belott’s Swirl Music at Canada Gallery

We’re running a little behind today, so we probably won’t be able to get too much up. I’m posting this photo from Brian Belott’s Swirl Music, with a promise of a full review Monday. The show is nothing short of excellent.

I’m out of town today, but given yesterday’s post, I thought this jpg by John Michael Boling was appropriate.

Elsie Kagan, My Blue Heaven, 2006, Oil on canvas, 42 inches in diameter

I intend to be in a food coma for the majority of today and tomorrow, so don’t look for too much new content here over the holidays. On an administrative note, please bear with us while we work on a solution to slow comment moderation. Anyone who can point us to a comment white listing plugin for wordpress that actually works, please get in touch with us via tips@artfagcity.com. Alternatively, those interested in pursuing a glamorous career in volunteer comment moderation might also drop us a line.

Not the sculpture, but the closest picture I could find in my hasty Internet search.  A drawing of Stalin by Picasso.  1953 

Facebook can be a real treasure trove of goodies if you use it right.  Originally posted by the self described fledgling historian Greg Afinogenov and forwarded to me by B, this quote has been circulating around the site.  Picasso on being commissoned to do a statue of Stalin below.

“Can you imagine if I had done the real Stalin, such as he has become, with his wrinkles, his pockets under the eyes, his warts. A portrait in the style of Cranach! Can you hear them scream? ‘He has disfigured Stalin! He has aged Stalin!’

“And then too, I said to myself, why not a Stalin in heroic nudity? … yes, but Stalin nude, and what about his virility? If you take the pecker of the classical sculptor … so small … But, come on, Stalin, he was a true male, a bull. So then, if you give him the phallus of a bull, and you’ve got this little Stalin behind this big thing they’ll cry: But you’ve made him into a sex maniac! A satyr!

Then if you are a true realist you will take a tape measure and measure it all properly. That’s worse, you made Stalin into an ordinary man. And then, as you are ready to sacrifice yourself, you make a plaster cast of your own thing. Well, it’s even worse. What, you dare take yourself for Stalin! After all, Stalin, he must have had an erection all the time, just like the Greek statues … Tell me, you who knows, socialist realism: is that Stalin with an erection or without an erection?”

Posting Notice: This will be the only post of the day.  Tomorrow the blog will be active, but will close up shop Thursday and Friday for the holidays.