Painter Leopold Plotek reflected on his early work last night during a lecture at the New York Studio School. Skipping over the first five years of his "juvenilia," Plotek showed slides of paintings based on shadows and fragments of architecture he saw in Italy. Although the paintings might look abstract they were based on things he saw in reality. "I've never actually painted a non-depictive painting," he said. After working in this particular mode for years, Plotek said he reached a point where he wasn't interested in painting like that any more. "You run out of steam when you can actually give instructions to someone else to do your painting," he said....
The art blogs and critics are abuzz over Joe Bradley's show at Canada, which I'm not interested in seeing. Holland Carter tips his hand when he says "because the artist doesn't call on painterly competence, the work stands out in a gallery scene that has, overall, the ready-for-prime-time surface sheen of an M.F.A. show." Carter is a critic whose job is to see lots of shows. Of course he's looking for standouts. It's like a chef saying the glass souffle was exceptional. Well... yeah. There's a tie to art as commodity here that makes the duty of art to be new and different. The Joe Bradley brand is certainly soaring. Bradley's work is to art what phone sex is to real relationships. Real relationships can be soulful, maddening, heart-breaking, and always stay with you. It's not the gossip about the relationship that's worth talking about; it's not the things your friend said, or how the relationship relates to the history of gender. There's an actual, direct experience that's worth something, even if it ends poorly. Phone sex? Not worth talking about....
In an artist talk at the Studio School Tuesday night, painter Ruth Miller boiled down her life's work: "I love still life. I love objects. I love looking." That affection has carried Miller, 78, a very long way. She returns to the same subjects, painting the same tree over and over, or doing multiple canvases from the same still life set-up. "I never tire of working from the same tree, as long as I can find more challenges," said Miller. "It's like entering a world that I can slowly take possession of."...
I had a talk about Chelsea yesterday that ended with a group of artists cheering the idea of galleries going under during the economic downturn. We were talking about the art world in general, but Carol Diehl at Art Vent has a different side of that coin: only the professionals might survive. And there aren't a lot of professionals out there. Carol took a group of collectors to several galleries and was met with frustration: Highlights: waiting for more than 20 minutes while gallery assistants looked for someone who could give us a price (all the pieces in the exhibition were priced the same--$200,000). The impeccably dressed young woman who rattled off a canned speech about the artist's political intentions for the work without regard to the glazed-over look of her audience. The gallery associate who referred to my clients as "You guys" and told us the price was "like $75,000." The dealer who joked about the price of a painting and another who asked my clients how they felt about the elections. And finally, in a gallery rife with assistants, asking to see work by a particular artist and being told that anyone who could show it was "in...
Now that Obama's been elected, the New Museum with install Elizabeth Peyton's "Michelle and Sasha Obama Listening to Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention August 2008" at the artist's current retrospective. The painting is in Peyton's typical Isn't-life-touching-and-fleeting mode and fails to capture any of the strength or individuality of Michelle Obama, who's a hell of a woman and deserves a better portraitist. As Intelligencer predicted, as soon as Obama won the announcement was made. It makes sense - Peyton's subjects are always winners, aren't they?...
In 1957, psychiatrist Humphry Osmond coined the term "psychedelic," a conflation of two Greek words meaning "soul manifest," to describe drug experiences that altered one's perception of reality. The same year, Life magazine published an article on the visionary qualities of hallucinogenic mushrooms. "The genie was out of the bottle," said New York Times art critic Ken Johnson, in a lecture at the New York Studio School on Wednesday. And art hasn't been the same since. To be sure, Johnson wasn't talking about the commercial excesses of psychedelia, or art meant for stoners. It's more about a theory of mind that shifts after using drugs like LSD, shrooms, mescaline, or pot. Johnson's idea about the post-psychedelic shift in art is interesting and far-reaching, and difficult to talk about if only because of the stigma that comes with talking about drug use -- even if it was mild experimentation 30 years ago. Johnson has interviewed a number of artists for whom the psychedelic experience permanently changed the way they perceived the world. Artist Chris Martin said "For many artists of my generation, it is crucial." Art by Chris Martin...
I went to drop off my rent check last night. I knocked on my super's door, and Avram answered the door in his underwear. He's an beefy, gray-haired Greek man with a thick mustache. He speaks a very rough English. "You vote today?" he asked. "Yes." I felt defensive, because Jen and I had just had a conversation about immigrants' attraction to laissez-faire Republicanism. So I asked him, "Did you vote?" "Yes, yes. I vote." He eyed me, smiling, and asked "The black one or the white one?" It was a simple question, absurdly put. I looked at the explosion of gray chest hair coming out of his low cut, sleeveless t-shirt. "The black one," I said. "Is good," Avram said. "After eight years, is time for change."...
David LaChappelle's show at Tony Shafrazi included giant pieces made of corrugated cardboard (which the gallery makes sure to note is recycled). Although there was a piece featuring Paris Hilton, the imagery was certainly original -- including a funny piece with moving parts called "Art in Heaven."...
There are some incredible paintings on view for Christie's Impressionist & Modern sale this week. Three caught my attention and I realized they had a similar subject matter: two women in domestic interiors. Matisse's women are maternal, Vuillard's are quiet and luminous, and Milton Avery's are sophisticated and chatty. It's beautiful stuff, and I've listed the auction prices in case anyone wants to surprise me with a package. Just make sure to get signature delivery -- those punks in my building already made off with my birthday presents....
For a few years now, I've kept a list of art shows I want to see at galleries and museums in New York. It's a little file on my Mac and I've updated every few weeks or so, as information comes to me. I try to keep a copy of the list on me at all times, since I never know when I'll find myself in midtown or the Upper East Side with a little time on my hands. Of years of ridiculously hording this knowledge, it finally occurred to me that other people might find this list useful in the quest to find quality art shows. So, without further ado, I give you Harry's List. It's a page that I will update on a rolling basis and users can check into to see if there's anything interesting showing. I've put a handy graphic up on the right for easy access. Since I haven't seen most of the shows on the list, I can't guarantee quality. Let me know if you've seen a show that you don't think deserves to be on the list, or a show that should be on it but isn't....
