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survival in new york

Wednesday Links: Transphobia, The 00s, Chewbacca Mom Make Comebacks

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on July 26, 2017

Image of the day: France is burning. By Valery Hache/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images [h/t The New York Times]

The latest news from the surreal hellscape that is our nation’s government is that Trump is banning transgender people from the military. Doesn’t it seem like the right wing always comes up with a culture wars bone to pick when their political/economic agenda (Russia investigation, healthcare repeal, etc…) is under siege? At any rate, this is terrible, but if laughing is therapeutic for you, watch this Samantha Bee bit in which she provides commentary to rambling speeches made by potentially drunk Republican congressmen about trans people in the military. How is our country this insane? [Facebook]
Pussy Riot and Les Enfants Terribles are fundraising for “an immersive theater project” in which the audience would get to experience the Pussy Riot ordeal. That includes everything from their infamous performance in a Russian church to their crazy trial and time in a labor camp. Sounds fun? [Kickstarter]
Here’s a new, pretty comprehensive list of grants and loans for artists and entrepreneurs. Lots of funding sources on here we’ve never heard of. [Insight Personal Finance]
Remember “Chewbacca Mom”? The Texas woman who rose to brief, unlikely fame because she laughed so hard wearing a Chewbacca mask in a parking lot on Facebook Live? Writer Alyssa Bereznak does, as she’s been following Candace Payne via Google alerts for the past year. Here she has a timeline of the viral sensation’s rise and fall in public favor. It’s fascinating. The internet is a weird (and judgemental) place. [The Ringer]
Phew. After much outrage (including plenty of cute tributes from artists included in this link) Microsoft announced that MS Paint would NOT be disappearing, but will be available for download from their app store. [artnet News]
Rumors have been flying that beloved Baltimore dive bar The Club Charles will be closing, starting August 1st, indefinitely. Some say it will reopen following renovations, but there are few details here. The 66 year old institution is basically like the evening office of the city’s art/theater/literati scene. It’s John Waters’ favorite bar, among countless other filmmakers, musicians, artists, and drunks. I (Michael) will be devastated if this is a permanent closure. [City Paper]
The Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan 1994 Museum will partner with @popculturediedin2009—an archive dedicated to the drama of the aughts—to mine the decade’s pop-culture. I’m not sure what to think of this. On the one hand, these scandals may already be a source of nostalgia, and therefore hold some enjoyment. On the other, is it not too soon for this? I keep thinking there’s got to be a better use of intellectual engagement than this—particularly given our current political climate. [artnet News]
Karen Loew makes the case for the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, and looks at what other cities are doing to stop the spread of chain stores, closure of neighborhood retail, and “high rent blight” that’s been hitting Manhattan so hard. Basically, New York is way behind on protecting legacy businesses. This is something every gallerist or artist with a studio (or really, anyone who enjoys bodega food) should be getting behind. [City Lab]
Related: The Zapatista-inspired Eastside Café (which functions as an art/activism/community space in East Los Angeles) managed to stand its ground against gentrification and buy their building from the landlord when developers came knocking. Amazing. [Remezcla]
2070 photographs by Annie Leibovitz were purchased by a wealthy patron in 2012 and donated to The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. That was a boon for Leibovitz who was struggling financially at the time. The problem is, while the donor purchased the work for 4.75 million, it’s valued at 20 million and the Canadian government doesn’t want to sign off on the deduction. The panel tasked with approving the donation has accepted that only some of the photographs are art. Also, it seems the valuation of the portfolio is less than that of the individual works, thus creating the disparity of value. [The New York Times]
A score for Acquavella Gallery: Phillip de Montebello, former head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will join their staff as curator of special exhibitions. [The New York Times]
Applications close in four days for the free 360 Xochi Quetzal artist/writer residency on Lake Chapala, Mexico. This place looks beautiful. [360 Xochi Quetzal]

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Updated: Demanding Progressive Politics from Progressive Politicians

by William Powhida on June 28, 2017

New York is a famously blue state for politics that often seem conservative. Currently we have eight members of the Independent Democratic Conference holding the party’s agenda hostage in Albany because they think it’s too liberal. This includes single-payer health care, expanding abortion rights, and adopting public campaign financing. So, while I’d like to see more leftist policies take hold on both the city and state level, I have some concerns about the politicians that are supposedly leading that charge.

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Tuesday Links: Draw Sean Spicer Like One of Your French Girls

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on June 27, 2017

Sean Spicer

In Los Angeles, the battle between Chicano anti-gentrification activists and gallerists in Boyle Heights continues to escalate. Maybe they should just team up to fight for something like New York’s proposed Small Business Jobs Survival Act together? [NPR]
CNN hires veteran sketch artist William J. Hennessy Jr. to record press briefings now that cameras are no longer allowed. They should hire Molly Crabapple to do some work for them too. [artnet News]
Talking Pictures opens today at the Met. For the exhibition, curators asked six pairs of artists to communicate with one another by sending photos from their smartphones back and forth. The show comprises records of that exchange in various formats. It seems kinda silly. [The Verge]
Sarah Douglas at ARTnews offers a recent history of gallery closings. The list does a good job at providing an overview of what’s happening in the industry and refutes the gallerist argument that these closures simply reflect the fact that there are too many galleries in operation. It’s not like these were bad galleries that didn’t make it because they were bad at the game, somehow. These were great galleries and businesses, often in operation for more than a decade, that should have been able to make it work. The business for lower tier galleries may not be sustainable. [ARTnews]
A lot of Alexander Calder’s sculptures and mobiles are meant to move, so they need to handled to make that happen. As such, The Whitney has hired “activators” for its new Calder show and the Times has a new feature showing them in motion. SO. COOL. [The New York Times]
Curbed provides an exhaustive account of just why Penn Station sucks so much and why this is going to be the “Summer of Hell” for commuters passing through. [Curbed]
Tarot card reader Maria Pilar Abel Martínez claims Salvador Dalí is her father and has taken the estate to court to prove it. No big deal except the court, siding with Martinez, ordered Dali’s dead body exhumed so a paternity test could be administered. If she is proven to be the heiress she would be entitled to a portion of the estate. The estate is expected to appeal. [Hyperallergic]
Rea McManara wrote about Alison S. M. Kobayashi’s detective work and performance when it debuted in Toronto last year. Now, it’s all the rage in New York. In fact, from the recordings she based her work on, the only brother still alive, Larry Newburge, gets choked-up when discussing it with the Times. It sounds like a great, great piece. [The New York Times]
Magazzino, or “warehouse” in Italian, has joined the ranks of museums in the Hudson River Valley. It’s the brainchild of collectors Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu, and will showcase works from their collection of Arte Povera works from postwar Italy. [The Art Newspaper]

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Thursday Links: Some Dreams are Stupid

by Paddy Johnson on March 30, 2017

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Joseph Keckler will be chatting with Lisa Levy between 2-3 pm on Radio Free Brooklyn about his work as an opera singer and the AFC Goth Opera benefit. Tune in. [Radio Free Brooklyn]
The Artist Studio Affordability Project has spent years promoting the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, and New York’s City Council still can’t manage to pass a bill that is unilaterally in the interest of New York City residents. Kirsten Theodos helpfully breaks down all the bullshit arguments against this bill, and explains why it should be passed. [The Villager]
The impossibility of managing entry into foreign countries aside, let’s see cities come up with zoning for Clouds Architecture Office latest proposal—a high rise suspended by an asteroid that circles the earth. Large drones could help people get in and out of the building, the firm says—or simply parachuting down. Um, sure. This is less a dream than it is a PR stunt, (which we have dutifully linked to). [Curbed]
Contemporary art is more popular than ever in US Museums. Now, more than 50 percent of temporary exhibitions launched showcase contemporary art. That’s a significant shift—20 years ago, Impressionist shows ruled the land. [The Art Newspaper]
An interview with Whitney Biennial curator Christopher Lew about the Dana Schutz controversy and the Biennial as a whole. [artnet News]
More on the debate over the Fearless Girl sculpture that is placed facing a bull in the financial district. Critics, including Hyperallergic’s Jillian Steinhauer, think the sculpture makes a disingenuous statement. “If you’re talking about a financial company that has a history of fraud and screwing people over, a lot of those people are going to be women…If you think of feminism as a larger project of empowering women across all classes, not just women on Wall Street, it’s kind of bullshit for them to be putting up this front of, ‘Oh, we love women. We want women leaders.’” I guess, but I’d say this is better than what the alternative this criticism would seem to suggest—a sculpture depicting the exploitation of women by financial companies. No one is going to rubber stamp that, so they might as well lead by example. [Campaign Live]
On Kawara’s One Million Years (Reading) will launch at the Venice Biennial this year. The piece involves a pair of people reading from a two-volume book by the late artist that lists, in chronological order, one million years into the future and one million years into the past. They need volunteers. [ARTnews]

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Monday Links: MLK Day, Luxury Apocalypse Bunkers, Museum Loans to Inauguration, CalArts Walkout

by Michael Anthony Farley on January 16, 2017

LA-based artist Kadir Nelson on his Martin Luther King cover for The New Yorker: "hat happened to his dream of racial and economic equality, and what is the impact of non-violent resistance over half a century later?"

LA-based artist Kadir Nelson on his Martin Luther King Jr. cover for The New Yorker: “What happened to his dream of racial and economic equality, and what is the impact of non-violent resistance over half a century later?”

Museums all over the country are celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with special programming. The Studio Museum in Harlem will be open on a Monday (!) and free. [culture type]
Pianists rejoice (in a sort of hauntingly melancholic way?) French pop/classical musician Maxence Cyrin has released the sheet music to his beloved, spooky cover of “Where is My Mind”. You too can now download it and regale your roommates/neighbors with bittersweet ennui. [Maxence Cyrin]
The world is going to shit, and the wealthy aren’t taking any chances. Elites can now buy into a community of decommissioned military bunkers, far from rising seas and nuclear targets, that’s been reconceived as a luxury apocalyptic enclave. Don’t worry, it will be fully stocked with a spa, en-suite media rooms, and armed security. [Dezeen]
The list of the world’s most expensive living female artists is here (yay feminism! shruggy-face to assigning “value” based on the market?) and it features the usual suspects: Yayoi Kusama, Cindy Sherman, Jenny Saville, etc… But it’s nice to see names such as Vija Celmins and Bridget Riley on the list, who have been in the game a long time and weathered many fickle cycles of taste. [artnet News]
Whoa. The Women’s March On Washington organizers have released their platform, and it includes everything from living wages for sex workers to recognition of the burdens women of color bare in the care industry. This is awesome. [BUST]
If you’ve ever dreamed of art school at Harvard but aren’t the heir to a hedge fund fortune or oil-rich emirate, here’s your chance! (sort of). Harvard will be giving away free online photography classes this year. [Konbini]
Ugh. The St. Louis Art Museum is lending George Caleb Bingham’s “The Verdict of the People” (1854-55) for Trump’s inauguration luncheon. People are upset, because, you know, that would imply that Trump’s election was “The Verdict of the People” instead of an archaic and racist institution designed to give rural whites outsized representation in government. [The Daily Beast]
CalArts students have joined the #J20 Strike, and are planning a walk-out in solidarity. We will also be striking, and you should too. [Hyperallergic]
For those who can’t afford a car or rising NYC rents, here’s a list of walkable, transit-friendly suburbs within commuting distance of Manhattan. [Curbed]
Are civic megaprojects like the Second Avenue Subway and Hamburg’s gorgeous new Elbphilharmonie a dying breed? Given cost over-runs and an increasingly fractured political sphere, it seems like these two accomplishments might be a last gasp of public sector city-building in much of the global north. [Community Architect]

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5 Steps to Take the Pain Out of Grant Writing for Artists

by Eleanor Whitney on May 31, 2016

Editor’s Note: earlier this month, we launched AFC Workshops: 21st Century Survival for Artists, a two-part series of courses led by artists, educators and art-world insiders designed to give artists the tools to get ahead. Due to the positive response to our May 21 workshops, we decided to run on the blog a series authored by the facilitators summarizing their course’s key takeaways. (If you’re interested, there are a few spots still available for our upcoming June 18 workshops.)

First up, Eleanor Whitney, who led our “Grant Applications, The TL;DR Overview” course. Whitney is a Brooklyn-based community manager and marketer, writer, and educator. She is currently the Community Marketing Manager at Dev Bootcamp and has also worked at Shapeways, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Rubin and the Brooklyn Museum.

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On Zona MACO: How to Excel at Being an Average Art Fair

by Michael Anthony Farley on February 11, 2016

Last week, I visited Mexico City’s Zona MACO (México Arte Contemporaneo), Latin America’s largest art fair. This was on the heels of our visit to Material, a satellite fair that impressed Paddy and me beyond our expectations. Walking into MACO felt just like visiting the most art fair-y of art fairs by comparison—which is to say, the immediate experience was predictable. There were long convention center lines, groups of “fresas” queuing up to take selfies in reflective sculptures, and familiar overexposed blue-chip names such as Alex Katz and Richard Prince. (“Fresas” is Mexican slang for “yuppies”, literally translating to “strawberries”.) MACO devoted a good chunk of floor space to design wares—from furniture to high-end sunglasses. I wasn’t immediately inspired to lend the event much thought beyond snapping some photos. With a few days of reflection, I realize Zona MACO is noteworthy for its extremes. And that’s not just the quality or quantity of blatantly commercial crap. For all the lackluster blue chip staples on the floor, I also saw an impressive amount of well-curated project booths that smartly positioned emerging artists and galleries in dialogue with the establishment. These two poles served a useful purpose: they lay bare how contemporary art fairs function. Zona MACO is the best model I can think of to demonstrate how for-profit fairs must work to remain both commercially viable and discursively relevant. For better or for worse, MACO excels at both.

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Tuesday Links: Mind Blown. David Bowie was an Art Critic

by Paddy Johnson Michael Anthony Farley Rea McNamara on January 12, 2016

ice-house-quebec-hero-1

Weird. There’s an art historian who writes speeches for conservatives. [artnet News]
How did I not know that David Bowie was an art critic on the Modern Painters editorial board? Mind blown. Here, William Boyd reminisces about the time they wrote a fake artist’s monograph and launched it with a party at Jeff Koons’ studio. [The Guardian]
We love these portraits of Canadian ice huts. [Modern Farmer]
This recap of the Creative New York Conference back in October recaps audience ideas for the future of arts in New York—and they couldn’t be better. The conference was attended by over 200 leaders from arts organizations, philanthropy and government. Amongst the ideas listed as support for the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, as a means of giving artists some control over the space they rent. [Creative New York Conference]
What has the Icelandic art scene been up to? Spending a lot of time on Facebook, apparently. Just like all of us. [Reykjavik Grapevine]
Just announced: the Art Gallery of Ontario’s 2016 contemporary art programming includes a Kitty Scott-curated exhibition of new works by Theaster Gates utilizing objects drawn from the Frankie Knuckles’ vinyl collection currently housed in Stony Island Arts Bank as well as an art historical survey of Toronto artist works from the 1960s to 1980s co-curated by Wanda Nanibush. [AGO]
Job alert: the Art Newspaper is seeking a temporary, London-based researcher to handle its Exhibition Attendance survey. Yes, this is suited for a recent arts grad. Day rate is ￡75. [The Art Newspaper]
Related: residency alert! If you have a moving image-based practice and are interested in a ￡8,000 bursary and a studio space in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, UK, apply to the Berwick Visual Arts’s annual residency programme. Deadline is January 18. [ArtReview]
Mayor Bill de Blasio is claiming success on his affordable housing plan. New York City has gained 40,204 units since 2014, which puts him on track for his goal of adding 200,000 over the next ten years. [Curbed]
The new wage mandate will increase affordability housing costs by 13 percent. [Politico New York (paywall)]

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