Ellsworth Kelly at the Guggenheim
- Post-War Art master, Ellsworth Kelly, died yesterday at the age of 92. “I want to live another 15 years.” Kelly told the Observer in November 2015. “But I know I’m not going to. I’m not really whole any more. I think it [the state of his lungs] is to do with the turpentine, because I wasn’t a smoker, but I need the oxygen now. I feel like the world is over there, and it keeps coming at me, and I want to do it, respond to it.” [The Guardian] [The New York Times]
- A fantastic review of Jackson Pollock’s black paintings in Dallas by Christopher Knight. Almost from the day they were first shown, Pollock’s controversial black paintings have been commonly regarded as emblematic of a hugely important artist falling apart and flaming out. After seeing “Blind Spots,” which unfortunately will not travel in the U.S., I now think of them in a very different way: The paintings instead show him experimenting with the artistic implications of what he had already achieved. [The Los Angeles Times]
- Curator and writer Alexander Shulan just opened LOMEX, a new gallery in the L.E.S. The space, as described by Nate Freeman is remarkable for its lack of usable wall space. The first show includes no painting. Shulan says he wants to turn over shows every two weeks and promises a unconventional program. [ARTnews]
- Joss Barton interviews Ted Kerr about his new project in honor of Robert Rayford, the first confirmed victim of AIDS in the United States, who died in 1969. It’s a fascinating story that prompted me to read Rayford’s Wikipedia entry, which offers a somewhat conflicting account of his life. [Visual AIDS]
- Makers of the game Cards Against Humanity have purchased a 1962 Picasso linocut. Depending on how their 150,000 subscribers vote, it will either be donated to the Art Institute of Chicago or shredded by a laser and distributed amongst them. [Hyperallergic]
- Oh dear god why? Here’s your hate-read of the day: someone actually wrote a think-piece about Tina Fey’s Philly accent on SNL. Miraculously, the words “privilege” and “appropriation” don’t make an appearance. As an aside: all of us from Baltimore and Philly cracked ourselves up at the Artist-Run Show by remarking on the cruel irony that so many galleries from the Mid Atlantic had to repeatedly say the name “Oooooh-shun Terruhhhhce Hooh-tel.” [Philadelphia Magazine]
- SF MoMA is hiring for tons of jobs, including a curatorial assistant! [Snaphire]
- A Very Bushwick Christmas: locals are putting up lights with messages such as “GENTRIFICATION IS THE NEW COLONIALISM” and “NO ME DISPLACES”. Fuck yeah! [The Village Voice]
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