This is a GIF of a guy in a dick costume riding a bicycle. I’m not sure there’s much to say about this beyond the fact that the dick is pedalling with its scrotum. Cue the “Cremaster Cycle” jokes.
The Marciano Art Foundation has been the biggest pleasant surprise of 2017. As I’ve mentioned on the blog before, the new museum, funded by the GUESS Jeans fortune, delivers big-time with site-specific special projects from Jim Shaw and Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch. Those installations are so enthusiasm-inspiring it’s almost easy to overlook the “quieter” collection itself, on display mainly in the third floor galleries.
That would be a mistake, because the collection—the bones of the Marciano Art Foundation—has been curated in such a satisfying , thoughtfully-paced manner that the viewing experience stays engaging throughout. That’s a rarity, unfortunately, in so many hangs of private collections, which tend not to have a specific focus beyond showing off their holdings. Here, though, there are narrative interests evident in the Marcianos’ collection, perhaps highlighted by the apocalyptic nature of the Jim Shaw show and the site-specific “behind-the-scenes” vibe of the Trecartin/Fitch collaboration—namely an interest in social tension or upheaval and works that reveal their process, respectively.
Every city should have an Andrew James Paterson. Pity we cannot clone him.
Since the late 70s, Toronto-based Paterson has produced a mountain’s worth of material in a mountain range long list of disciplines: from seminal New Wave music to Super 8 films, neo-noir novels to ground-breaking critical texts blending art writing and fiction (aka ficto-criticism), diaristic video pieces and digitally sourced art to performed lectures to concrete poems to performance poetry to theatre works. And that’s the short list.
He is arguably one of the most influential figures in Canadian art alive today, and I do not make such statements readily nor lightly. A Toronto without him is unimaginable.
And now, there is even more proof. Collection/Correction, an anthology of Paterson’s critical writings, concrete poems, and film scripts provides a kind of Paterson 101 to new readers and confirms what the rest of us already know – Paterson is an agile and beautifully free thinker, and has always been way ahead of his time. What the hell took this book so long to arrive?
I reached Paterson by email and asked him to “have fun with my questions”. You get what you ask for.
![Image of the day: France is burning. By Valery Hache/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images [h/t The New York Times]](http://artfcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/27France2-superJumbo.jpg)
Image of the day: France is burning. By Valery Hache/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images [h/t The New York Times]
- The latest news from the surreal hellscape that is our nation’s government is that Trump is banning transgender people from the military. Doesn’t it seem like the right wing always comes up with a culture wars bone to pick when their political/economic agenda (Russia investigation, healthcare repeal, etc…) is under siege? At any rate, this is terrible, but if laughing is therapeutic for you, watch this Samantha Bee bit in which she provides commentary to rambling speeches made by potentially drunk Republican congressmen about trans people in the military. How is our country this insane? [Facebook]
- Pussy Riot and Les Enfants Terribles are fundraising for “an immersive theater project” in which the audience would get to experience the Pussy Riot ordeal. That includes everything from their infamous performance in a Russian church to their crazy trial and time in a labor camp. Sounds fun? [Kickstarter]
- Here’s a new, pretty comprehensive list of grants and loans for artists and entrepreneurs. Lots of funding sources on here we’ve never heard of. [Insight Personal Finance]
- Remember “Chewbacca Mom”? The Texas woman who rose to brief, unlikely fame because she laughed so hard wearing a Chewbacca mask in a parking lot on Facebook Live? Writer Alyssa Bereznak does, as she’s been following Candace Payne via Google alerts for the past year. Here she has a timeline of the viral sensation’s rise and fall in public favor. It’s fascinating. The internet is a weird (and judgemental) place. [The Ringer]
- Phew. After much outrage (including plenty of cute tributes from artists included in this link) Microsoft announced that MS Paint would NOT be disappearing, but will be available for download from their app store. [artnet News]
- Rumors have been flying that beloved Baltimore dive bar The Club Charles will be closing, starting August 1st, indefinitely. Some say it will reopen following renovations, but there are few details here. The 66 year old institution is basically like the evening office of the city’s art/theater/literati scene. It’s John Waters’ favorite bar, among countless other filmmakers, musicians, artists, and drunks. I (Michael) will be devastated if this is a permanent closure. [City Paper]
- The Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan 1994 Museum will partner with @popculturediedin2009—an archive dedicated to the drama of the aughts—to mine the decade’s pop-culture. I’m not sure what to think of this. On the one hand, these scandals may already be a source of nostalgia, and therefore hold some enjoyment. On the other, is it not too soon for this? I keep thinking there’s got to be a better use of intellectual engagement than this—particularly given our current political climate. [artnet News]
- Karen Loew makes the case for the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, and looks at what other cities are doing to stop the spread of chain stores, closure of neighborhood retail, and “high rent blight” that’s been hitting Manhattan so hard. Basically, New York is way behind on protecting legacy businesses. This is something every gallerist or artist with a studio (or really, anyone who enjoys bodega food) should be getting behind. [City Lab]
- Related: The Zapatista-inspired Eastside Café (which functions as an art/activism/community space in East Los Angeles) managed to stand its ground against gentrification and buy their building from the landlord when developers came knocking. Amazing. [Remezcla]
- 2070 photographs by Annie Leibovitz were purchased by a wealthy patron in 2012 and donated to The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. That was a boon for Leibovitz who was struggling financially at the time. The problem is, while the donor purchased the work for 4.75 million, it’s valued at 20 million and the Canadian government doesn’t want to sign off on the deduction. The panel tasked with approving the donation has accepted that only some of the photographs are art. Also, it seems the valuation of the portfolio is less than that of the individual works, thus creating the disparity of value. [The New York Times]
- A score for Acquavella Gallery: Phillip de Montebello, former head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will join their staff as curator of special exhibitions. [The New York Times]
- Applications close in four days for the free 360 Xochi Quetzal artist/writer residency on Lake Chapala, Mexico. This place looks beautiful. [360 Xochi Quetzal]
If you spend enough time looking for a “GIF of the Day” several days a week, you’re bound to stumble down some weird rabbit holes online. Trust me, I have seen many a GIF that cannot be unseen.
By comparison to so many GIF repositories out there, the originally-titled German GIF website “animated-animations.de” is fairly innocuous. It just kinda has a charming web2.0 vibe and lots of watermarked CGI images for free download.
But the longer I look at this laughing/grimacing smiley face, the more disturbing I find it. What’s up with that dimple? Where is his body? Is he ROFLOL or in pain because he’s toppled and can’t right himself without limbs attached to his flailing appendages? I’m reminded of that compassion test, with the tortoise on its back baking in the desert sun.
Here all we can do is watch.
I’m taking a brief summertime break from my AFC column in order to direct the summer programming at “camp mom.” I will be back in the new season with more tips and advice on taxes and personal finance for creative economy workers. In the meantime, in honor of all the AFC working artist parents out there, here’s a post on the tax credit that applies to summer camp.
- Following up on our Shark Week coverage, the Discovery Channel aired their “race” of 500 time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps swimming against a Great White Shark, and people are pissed. Obviously, they weren’t going to put Phelps in the water with a shark, but I at least thought there would be a shark. Nope. Basically, they had Phelps wear a fin to give the swimmer the same advantage the fish had, filmed him swimming alone, and then paired him with a computer animation. Lame. There were at least some good memes to come out of this whole thing though. Whomever the intern is that made this image—hire them. [The New York Times]
- Hate read: a guide to New York City’s largest mega mansions. There are typically created by rich people buying two to three buildings, kicking everyone else out, and combining them into one home so oversized it’s hard to imagine most of the space being used. The list of owners living/creating mega mansions includes Michael Bloomberg, Madonna, Larry Gagosian, and Jeff Koons. [Curbed]
- “I’m getting braver at saying the name of a sorely under-known Brazilian artist whose retrospective at the Whitney Museum, “Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium,” comes as an overdue revelation.” This is the first line of Peter Schjeldahl’s review in The New Yorker and we’re seeing grumblings on Twitter of how offensive this is. Get a grip. If you don’t know how to pronounce a name, or if it’s hard to pronounce properly for English people, it’s embarrassing. This is an admission that he’s working to learn, not that he’s revealing his implicit racism. If anyone has a right to poke fun at unpronounceable last names, it’s a guy named Schjeldahl. [Twitter, The New Yorker]
- Artist Sarah Craske found a 300 year old edition of Ovid’s “Metamorphosis” at a junk shop. She’s since cultured centuries’ worth of readers’ bacteria from over the centuries for an artwork. [The Guardian]
- Why is Condo being described as an art fair alternative? The event is an gallery-share model where galleries share their space with foreign dealers for the length of a show. Is launching exhibitions now secondary to participating in art fairs? [artnet News]
- It turns out Alice Cooper has had a Warhol “Electric Chair” painting rolled up in a tube in storage for decades. The rocker totally forgot he had it. [The Guardian]
- Microsoft is killing off its 32 year program beloved of artists, MS Paint. Well, there goes that genre of art making. [The Guardian]
Super Micro Paint is a web app that simulates doodling and animation from an alternate timeline in the 1990s. Basically, it’s a GIF maker that can make simple drawings resemble lego blocks, stained glass, LED lights, LCD lights and more. I spent two seconds on the machine and made, well, crap. (See above.) But I bet it’s possible to do better than a blogger pressed for time. In fact, I know it is—there are plenty of examples of good animated GIFs people bothered to make. A few below. [via Metafilter]
We’re looking at another slow events week, which frankly is a needed change of pace from the insanity the art world puts us through nine months out of the year. I say this because “slow” means there are just enough awesome events for a person to actually see all of them. We’ve got Jaimie Warren’s opening at the Hole this Wednesday. If you’re not familiar with her work, think female George Kushar for the digital age. You don’t want to miss this. The Bronx AIM Biennial,opens this Thursday, and promises to bring together the most promising emerging talent in the city. (They usually disappoint, but we’re listing them regardless because HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL.) And last but not least there’s Polly Shindler “Retreat” at Ortega Y Gasset Projects, a show of quirky interior paintings we can’t wait to see in person. Hope to see you there!
