The new year and the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy mean that much of Chelsea won’t be open for another week or two. In the meantime, we’re seeing what we can. Here’s our report from 20th through 22nd Streets.
It’s September. It’s time for some art. This week, AFC is going to give it to you Shark Week-style with a preview of the first fall art openings, and every day we’ll give you a new preview based on neighborhood. We’ve chosen what should be good, and what should be on your radar. Today’s post: everything in Chelsea you should know about in the month of September.
We love this line from Roberta Smith’s piece on Michael Mahalchick: “In Mr. Mahalchick's best work an almost devotional sense of precision shines through a thin veneer of slovenliness. Elsewhere the veneer thickens.” [NY Times]
In other newspaper-critics-agreeing-with-us news, Adrian Searle doesn’t like the Hans-Peter Feldmann exhibition at the Serpentine (which was largely drawn from last month’s groan-worthy 303 Gallery show). [The Guardian]
On the other hand, Frieze has a review of a Richard Prince show that honestly starts like this: ”'Good artists borrow, great artists steal' is a quote often ascribed to Pablo Picasso. It could also be the motto of Richard Prince, who is known for appropriating existing photographs, and hence taking the Picasso quote almost literarly [sic], something that has caused him copyright lawsuits in the past.” For real, guys? Can we start using the big-boy ledes, please? I think I started an essay with that quote in tenth grade. [Frieze]
New York has a piece by Justin Davidson about what the renovations coming to Times Square will look like. The answer? Boring. Which is exactly what Times Square needs. [New York]
So The Times sent art critic Holland Cotter to Africa for a month. His verdict: everything is African, too African, or not African enough, but at least now we’re making things more African, and also less African. It’s a sensitive, inquisitive dispatch, but we’re not sure where it’s going. [NY Times]
Nadja Sayej says she got a Documenta press kit that consisted almost entirely of photographs of curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. We understand that there wouldn’t be much in the way of installation photographs—the exhibition, after all, is still six weeks away—but still, these photos are hilarious. [ArtStars*]
This week, another installment of our radical idea of telling people whether the art we saw was any good. As always, it’s a mixed bag; this week we looked at shows by Virginia Overton, Fred Sandback, Stan Douglas, Moyra Davey, Vibha Galhotra, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Douglas Huebler, Dan Walsh, and Ugo Rondione.
We see a lot more art than we ever get to tell people about, and we want to fix that. Towards that goal, we’ll be posting some quick hits – a paragraph or so of notes from each show we see in a day. Then we’ll argue. Then you can argue. It’ll be fun. These aren’t full reviews, but they’re a starting point. This week, Sergej Jensen, Thomas Scheibitz, Eric Wesley, Michael Snow, On Kawara, and Damien Hirst.
For those among us who've braved the 70 degree days and thundersnows of the past couple weeks to go see it, it's time to discuss Karen Kilimnik's The Hellfire Club episode of the Avengers currently on view at 303 Gallery (thru April 23).
Every few weeks here at AFC we pick a show to commit to seeing and thinking about, and after two weeks we come back to discuss what we've seen. This time it's Karen Kilimnik's current show at 303 Gallery. Although best known for her paintings, for this show Kilimnik has employed a variety of methods and materials: paintings, photographs, photocopies, props, drawings, all complete with soundtrack.
Jeppe Hein Date: FRIDAY, JANUARY 28TH 2011 - SATURDAY, MARCH 5TH 2011 Venue: 303 Gallery, 547 West 21st Street AFC’s Rating: 7/10 (Will Brand) Full disclosure: Jeppe Hein is one of my favorite contemporary artists. His works span a wide range: Dan Graham or Olafur Eliasson-esque light tricks and mirrors; raw elementalism; interactive pieces; and hilarious – actually “Ha-ha” hilarious, not [...]