Image via The Associated Press
- In boobs news, in a recent baptism speech, the Pope expressly welcomed mothers to breastfeed in the Sistine Chapel. “Give them milk,” the speech originally read, which the Pope changed to “breastfeed them”. [Wonkette]
- “Is the New York Art Scene Doomed?” Yes, Ben Davis thinks. “In essence, the traditional relationship between suburb and city in American life is reversing.” I’ve drawn the same conclusion, though think that the bluechips are likely to remain where the money is. He’s guessing Detroit will be the next haven. I’d add the Catskills. [artnet News]
- War has been waged over Ryder Ripps’ upcoming show “Art Ho” at Postmasters, which references heroic Ab/Ex gestures while smearing images of model Adrienne Ho. Dissidents are offended by yet another male appropriation of beauty. Defenders have called free speech. We’ve made our views known. [Facebook]
- Another forgery in a museum story. [artnet News]
- How is Carolina Miranda so good at her job? Here’s an amazing interview with Tania Bruguera, the Cuban artist arrested recently for an attempted performance about free speech in Cuba. Read all of it. [Culture: High & Low]
- This is so fucked up. Worried that he didn’t have enough problems of his own to make good art, artist Joseph Gibbons, a former visiting professor at Bard and an instructor at MIT started creating them. He made two films on drug addiction and started robbing banks for “research” purposes. The stick up is bizarre: he points a camcorder at a teller and politely hands the person a note demanding a donation for his church. Exactly what threat, if any, is made in the note is unclear. [The New York Post]
- Music critic Sasha Frere-Jones is leaving The New Yorker to work for Genuis.com. [Gawker]
- Wow, Christopher Glazek’s annotation of his New York Times Magazine profile on Stefan Simchowitz is amazing. It sources statements in response to the piece by its subjects and responds point by point. If you’ve been following this story, reading the annotation is incredibly satisfying. [Genius]
- One of our past contributors John Gawarecki-Maxwell on the conspiracy surrounding the Illuminati in WWE, and conspiracy theories in general. An entertaining read, even for those of us who don’t get the references. [Prowrestling.cool]
- The dialogue continues on A Blade of Grass responding to our follow-up reporting on the Gramsci Monument. Lex Brown, who was a teacher at the monument throughout its run, feels that the Monument was something to be experienced and not analyzed with the standard critical remove. “It was a remarkable idea that came to successful fruition, through real love and real work, and beyond all the restrictions of society, identity, and politics. That reality of love and work needs to be celebrated and elevated.” [A Blade of Grass]
- If artists are now aligning and identifying with small businesses (as Ben Davis and others have been advocating), then there’s a petition on Change.org calling for Mayor de Blasio to support the Small Businesses Jobs Survival Act. [Change.org]
{ 7 comments }
You made your views known on an earlier project of Ripps’. The Postmasters show hasn’t opened yet and you’ve dissed it twice now, on Artnet and here. Whatever happened to looking at artwork first, then reviewing it? I realize you have to keep up with the news cycle — in this case it appears to be running its course 10 days ahead of the show’s opening. Is anticipatory criticism valid now? (Joe McKay had a website ten years ago called PreReview, where he reviewed movies before they came out. It was intended as a joke.)
I actually think we’ve shown enormous restraint when it comes to the subject of Ryder Ripps. Between his deleted tweet (http://artfcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/10365983_1374755972830561_3949643965677994432_n.jpg) and the promo website (http://rr-ho-presi.tumblr.com/), there’s a lot to complain about. It looks like he’s actively trolling for pre-press—and I have a suspicion some of that will end up in the show some how. It’s been pretty hard to stay silent and we haven’t entirely managed that, but all things considered, we haven’t done that badly. He doesn’t deserve the attention.
The deleted tweet refers to the previous project, and the promo website for On Ho is just that, a promo website, not a show. AFC and Rhizome, after having pumped Ripps up to major artist status the past few years, fell all over yourselves backpedaling when he did something you didn’t like. This repudiation of your own judgment now extends to pre-reviewing shows that haven’t happened. The level of vituperation is proportional to your preceding adoration of this artist.
Honestly, I don’t understand the idea that because you once supported an artist’s work you have to always support it. What should happen is that whenever you get new information, you add it to what you know, and re-evaluate based on all the information you have.
Nobody has reviewed the show. In fact, the link above simply signals our intent not to review it. Unless this show does something entirely different than what it promises, I don’t see why we should change our minds about that.
It could be clearer that you don’t intend to review the show and that the negative comments you’ve made about it here and in artnet are based on your impressions of the pre-show promotion. The pledge “I won’t review it” seems extreme based on one project you didn’t like.
Well, we can always re-evaluate when the time comes. But based on the information I have now, I’m not interested in the show.
Whoa, thanks for the props. It’s all the Cali burritos. They keep me operating at full throttle. 🙂
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