{ 6 comments }

tom moody March 12, 2014 at 11:39 am

Thanks, Paddy and Whitney. One correction: I’ll be reading my comments at 12 noon, NY time, on March 19, 2014. This will be like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, except by invitation.

Paddy Johnson March 12, 2014 at 11:47 am

Sorry about that! Fixed.

tom moody March 12, 2014 at 1:11 pm

Regarding your Troemel review, you’re right that the problem is translating internet excitement into gallery excitement. Am not particularly excited by The Jogging, a kind of Nasty Nets-lite website that has the appearance of spontaneity but carefully stays on message. If we assume that the artist’s various online efforts are about what Nicholas O’Brien calls “aggregation” (certainly Tumblr is all about that) it makes some sense to try to capture that spirit in the gallery setting, with these, let’s call them “hoarder collages” of American Apparel ads and Semiotext(e) book covers. But aren’t those references slightly out of date, relative to elements of the collages such as Litecoins (slightly more obscure than the highly topical bitcoins) and “customized human hair dreadlocks” that you might have to read the press release to identify? And what’s up with those lentils? And ultimately, are the vacuum-sealed collages intriguing to look at, as collages? I’d say not very — to be nice you could maybe relate them to Martin Kippenberger’s bad-boy assemblages. One viewer I visited the show with thought the main value of the work was as a time capsule: in other words, you buy the work on faith that it will say more about the present moment than it does now.

Paddy Johnson March 12, 2014 at 1:51 pm

Why is it time capsule work always seems to interpret our current moment as vacuous and empty?

I assumed Litecoins were the medium of choice because the Silkroad was shut down last year, and that’s been a source of a lot of Troemel’s work. Not sure that’s the case though, since it’s apparently back up and running in 2.0 form. Not sure what the motivation behind sourcing Vice and Semiotext(e) is, but since both seem more gallery friendly content wise, perhaps that has something to do with Troemel’s choices.

Andrew Benson March 12, 2014 at 1:16 pm

LOL “Watership Down levels of gore”

Paddy Johnson March 12, 2014 at 1:44 pm

I am very sensitive to anything even vaguely violent! The site’s great btw.

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