With the news that Documenta14 director Adam Szymczyk has led the massive 50-million dollar budget quinquennial into more than 8 million dollars of debt, it may be heartening to hear that there are other similarly named events that have managed to stay well under budget. Take The Backyard Biennial, which launches tonight (amongst the chaos that is Bushwick Open Studios) and runs through next weekend. According to Patrice Helmar, the organizer of the event, and proprietor of the backyard venue in Ridgewood Queens, the entire show was put on with a budget of zero dollars. The biennial includes the work of over 60 artists and takes place in queens.
It’s 85 degrees out right now, but we might as well admit it’s not summer any more. All of which is to say, it’s time to get back to work. As such, we’ll be resuming limited posting next week. By that I mean you can expect the blog to be updated about once a week with reviews and opinion posts by yours truly, along with any announcements of events we’re launching. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I’m continuing to work on a few projects we’ll be announcing soon. I can’t wait for that!
So keep your eyes peeled, and in the interim enjoy the limited posting. I promise to deliver only the best of what I’ve become known for: articles that are full of unfettered opinion, and copyediting errors—typically published at least a day later than I’d hoped.
We’re taking a short break for the month of August so we can plan for the new season. We’ve got a lot up our sleeves and we can’t wait to tell you about it. Look for us in September for some big announcements. See you then!
Watching the heinous dumpster fire that is the American news these days, sometimes it’s nice to reminisce about a more innocently crispy orange-faced villain from the news cycle’s simpler times. Remember Patricia Krentil, a.k.a Tan Mom? Her fifteen minutes of fame may have been shorter than her toddler’s sessions in the tanning bed, but boy did she leave behind a legacy.
For starters, her attempt to cling to fame with this insanely ill-conceived music video:
In his final L.A. Art Diary post, Michael Anthony Farley explains why he can’t live in Los Angeles, even though it seems like everyone else is these days.
Donald Trump, who has the drawing ability of a seven year old, produced a drawing of the New York City Skyline that sold for close to $30,000. It was originally made for a charity event in 2005. The drawing is without a doubt the worst presidential drawing we’ve ever seen, and possibly the worst drawing by an adult. And that’s an evaluation that comes completely independent of his incompetence as a president. The line drawing doesn’t reach the edges of the page, doesn’t indicate that Trump has any awareness of what Manhattan even looks like, and includes two swooshy lines at the bottom that maybe indicate water or are perhaps just needless flourishes. It appears Trump signed the piece in gold marker and of course the only recognizable building on the skyline is Trump Tower. [artnet News]
Rhizome is offering 4-6 “microgrants” for web-based artworks, ranging from $500-$1,500. Applications are due August 14th. [Rhizome]
Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield has come up with a reinvention plan that includes raising 60 million dollars to help it refocus its mission to include science and history as well as art. The details of this plan, however, are making The American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors—of which it is a member— very uncomfortable.The Berkshire wants to deaccession works to fund this new mission. This breaks with the association’s code of ethics, which dictates that Museums not deaccession works unless the funds are used for acquisition and direct care of the collection. Seems unlikely the museum will be able to remain a member of the association if it continues along this path. [NPR]
Non-art neon is making a big comeback in New York, from signs to restaurant interiors. [Eater]
Brace yourselves, New York, Miley Cyrus wants to return to the Big Apple to have another art exhibition. [Just Jared]
Why are auction prices so high for Mark Grotjahn works? An abstract painting by the 49 year old fetched $16.9 million at Christie’s and his primary market works can sell for $20 million. In a profile in the NYT, it’s revealed that Grotjahn has a rare amount of control over his career, working in with multiple galleries in multiple cities, often bypassing dealers completely, and having the final say over who his works sell to. This power shows up in the piece, as pretty much every quote comes off as an entry in a competition to offer the most ass-kissy complement to the artist. Notably Grotjahn didn’t respond to requests for comment. We weren’t asked, but we’re a bit confused about how even the best business management could push the value of these patterned paintings up so high. It’s not that they’re bad—but only a few feel truly distinctive. [The New York Times]
Danielle Directo-Meston considers the gentrification issue in her family’s house hunt. Not a lot of new information here, but it has plenty of Los Angeles-specific details and conversations about strategies for preventing displacement. Possible suggested legislation includes a ban on house flipping within a year and another that incentivizes owners to live in their properties for ten years. [Curbed]
Into the Unknown is a science fiction show at the Barbican Centre in London that should get the sci-fi nerd in us pretty excited. There are 800 works, going all the way back to the 19th century, and Hyperallergic has a review and photos to show off the exhibition. The review, though, doesn’t seem very excited about any of it. It’s a flat description, that complains that Octavia Butler and other African American artists didn’t get their due, but it’s still a significant show regardless because who else is doing this? I say, give us a few more photos and let us decide. [Hyperallergic]
Let’s not sugarcoat this week—the news has been terrible from start to finish, even though the Democrats have had some victories. So let’s take a break and spend some time with the beloved bear cam before Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, pulls the plug on this too.
Probably the most salacious news broke late yesterday and has nothing to do with art. Trump’s new Director of Communications, Anthony Scaramucci, called up the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, talked about killing leakers, firing his entire department to get the leakers, and described Steve Bannon, the White House’s Chief Strategist, as a cock sucker. The New Yorker reached out to Bannon for comment but received none. [The New Yorker]
Healthcare lives to see another day thanks to three Republicans who voted no and 49 Democrats, making the vote 51-49. The Republican representatives are: Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Thank you. Again, nothing to do with art, except for how thousands of artists depend on it. [The Internet]
Oof. Over in Toronto, 401 Richmond Street, a long time location for artist-run centers, festivals, theatre companies, supportive arts institutions, artist studios, etc learned they’d be getting an enormous tax increase. The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), which calculates commercial property taxes, decided that 401, which enjoys subsidized rent because they do not bring in a lot of money, should pay the same tax rate as everyone else on that block. Bad news for the art community. [Canadian Art]
Jerry Saltz gives MoMA’s redesign a resigned thumbs up after getting a tour with the architect Liz Diller, a partner in Diller Scofido + Renfro. Diller talked about trying to solve problems of flow with Saltz, which he appreciated. Ultimately, he thinks Lowry is the problem, not the architects. [New York Magazine]
The Artist Pension Trust is having troubles. The business pools work by thousands of artists to provide them future financial security, and recently announced it would begin charging for storage. Many artists involved are not happy about this. [artnet News]
Governor Andrew Cuomo floats the idea of selling naming rights to subway stations as a way of earning additional cash. It doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to me, though it may increase the disparity between “rich” stations and “poor” stations if they aren’t smart about how they sell the product. [Curbed]
For those who missed Up Close: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel at the WTC Oculus, I’ve got good news—Gothamist has great pics. [Gothamist]
Congratulations to Lorna Mills for having her gif featured on Wonkette and captioned appropriately, “Clusterfuckery. Heinous clusterfuckery most foul.” Hard to imagine a more fitting GIF for the political stories as of late, though I wish this one involved just a tad more ass fucking. Then it would be perfect.
Photographer Paul Raftery has documented the bizarre architecture of Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet capital Astana. The city looks like a weird low budget sci-fi show’s CGI landscapes brought to life. [Dezeen]
BienalSur, a new biennial organized by the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero of Argentina, launches this Fall with 379 projects scattered across different continents. This biennial format is sort of uncharted waters—Buenos Aires is the hub, but the focus is on South America in general, and projects will take place as far away as Paris and Tokyo. [The Art Newspaper]
The American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors have both come out against the Berkshire Museum’s plan to sell 40 artworks to line its endowment and renovate its building. “One of the most fundamental and longstanding principles of the museum field is that a collection is held in the public trust and must not be treated as a disposable financial asset.” [The New York Times]
Ralph Steadman and Ceri Levy got a profile of their collaborations over at VICE. They make cheesy activist drawings of endangered animals, which are relevant because Steadman used to collaborate with Hunter S. Thompson, a well-known journalist and founder of the Gonzo journalism movement. (Thompson’s significance is never explained.) Anyway the drawings look exactly as you’d imagine—contrived splatter, extreme poses, compositions that all sit in the middle of the page. They’re no Walton Ford, that’s for sure. But the author seems to believe that if Steadman played into artist stereotypes more, and was “weirder, hermetic, less astonishingly prolific, and more pretentiously grandiose”, he’d be recognized as one of the truly great artists of our time. Sure. [VICE]
Why is today such a slow art news day? (Yes, we saw the Dana Schutz controversy. Lay off her, already.) I literally just found myself reading this blurb about butter sculptures at the Ohio State Fair, fascinated: “The American Dairy Association Mideast says the sculpture unveiled Tuesday salutes chocolate milk as the official drink of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. It’s the first time the butter sculpture has included color. Cocoa was added for the bottle.” [Seattle Times]
Thank fucking God. The MTA board has pushed back against the authority’s ambitious new rescue plan that would include more fare hikes. The authority’s chief financial officer, Robert E. Foran, pushed for those hikes, but the board thinks the money needs to come from other sources. Andrew Cuomo, the state governor has promised half the funds for the rescue plan, but New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has resisted giving the authority the rest. The mayor needs to man up. [The New York Times]
TRIXI studios has used new ARKit software to develop an augmented reality version of A-Ha’s “Take on Me” video. Is this the future of music videos? [The Verge]
Fiercely Independent. New York art news, reviews and culture commentary. Paddy Johnson, Editorial Director Michael Anthony Farley, Senior Editor Whitney Kimball, IMG MGMT Editor
Contact us at: paddyATartfcity.com
