Posts tagged as:
Joel Mesler
by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on July 13, 2017
- A sign that really rich people are getting richer: the public spaces in their new condos are decorated with art by the latest up and comers. These are the kind of stories that make me want to poke my eyes out. (Who cares if rich people buy things and why do they always have to buy the same things?) [Artsy]
- A round-up of the nation’s “best” glamping opportunities. I had no idea Glamping was so expensive. Keep in mind you’re basically sleeping in a tent but one that rents for as much as $1500 a night. In New York, that price comes with an increased chance of getting lyme disease. [Curbed]
- The Tate Modern has put together a show of black American art made in 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and it’s now making waves. [Reuters]
- Something about this Joel Mesler confessions column reminds me of The Awl’s “The 40-Year Old Reversion” a story about privileged Park Slope mothers who do drugs, drink too much and cheat on their husbands. Mesler is looking back at a life riddled with anxiety, compulsive spending and regular blackout drunk binges, but then, as now, he does so through the lens of an upper middle classer. His problems are and were real, but are also clearly cushioned by cash, and it’s hard not to begrudge that. (It’s worth noting that the Reversion story is infinitely better, because it attempts to get beyond the experience of one person.) [ARTnews]
- Amazon has filed a patent for underwater storage and fulfillment facilities. I’m a little skeptical that this plan is anything more than a PR stunt. They claim the facilities would help counteract “inefficient use of space”, because, um, what? It seems like management of an underwater space involves far more logistics in terms of getting stuff in and out of the depot. We’d like a Jeremy Bailey response to this please. [Dezeen]
- Google’s doodle today honors Eiko Ishioka, on what would’ve been her birthday. The late Japanese visual artist has won a Grammy and an Oscar in her career as an art director and costume designer. [Al Jazeera]
- Las Vegas is still waiting for its much-delayed art museum. In the meantime, galleries have taken to staging large-scale exhibitions as pop-ups in warehouse spaces. Now, the team behind the city’s forthcoming Art Museum at Symphony Park are trying to make some permanent gallery spaces out of old warehouses. [Las Vegas Weekly].
- As galleries continue to drop like flies in New York and London, gallerists are looking to alternate models. Some are doing nomadic programming in other galleries and splitting costs/proceeds, some are doing pop-ups, online businesses, house shows, and even using a boat as an exhibition space. [The Art Newspaper]
- Someone beheaded a statue of the Hawaiian sea goddess on the grounds of the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo. The sculpture by Fred Soriano is valued at $15,000 and the artist says it can be restored if the head is recovered from the thieves. [Ledger Enquirer]
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by Paddy Johnson and Rea McNamara on November 27, 2015
- Renowned Canadian artist Alex Colville set a new auction record last night. “Harbour” (1975) sold for $1.6 million at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House’s sale of post-war and contemporary art, more than double its $500,000-700,000 estimate. This bests his previous record ($1.1 million for “Man of Verandah” in 2010), and follows the recent news that his National Gallery summer 2015 retrospective attracted the third largest audience to the institution in a decade. [Canadian Art]
- Joel Mesler will close Untitled on Orchard Street so he can focus on Feuer/Mesler and Mesler/Feuer. Rising rents were a contributing factor, he told ARTnews. “We decided to tell the landlord to fuck off and we walked,” Mesler said of the Orchard Street location. Can’t wait to see the new gallery and all—the new space opens in February—but was that bit of real estate dick swinging from Mesler really necessary? [ARTnews]
- Okay, who fed the Times the “Basel is focusing on female artists” story? Because galleries showing mega-established female artists at the fair is not even remotely newsworthy (and certainly not self evident from looking at the site). In a separate section, there’s also a quote from Peter Stevens, the executive director of the David Smith, claiming that Hauser & Wirth offers a new approach to dealing with estates because they try to get exposure for under-known bodies of work in an established artist’s estate. Um, that’s the basic job description. Will art world bullshit ever end? [The New York Times]
- Newly discovered photographs document Abstract Expressionists Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, and Jack Tworkov celebrating Thanksgiving together. The photographs are pretty blurry, but whateves. The photographs provide more evidence that friendship and turkey have a long history together. [Hyperallergic]
- It’s Black Friday. Buy some art online! 20×200 is offering 20 % off framing on all their prints. Artspace is offering 10 % off site-wide, 20 % off artspace editions, and four prints for $99 from the sixties collection. [20×200, Artspace]
- The Arctic Circle Residency, notable for bringing together artists, scientists and educators, is accepting applications for its upcoming summer and autumn expeditions. A previous participant in the programme was Winnipeg artist Sarah-Anne Johnson, whose Arctic Wonderland series stemmed from her 2009 residency. [artrubicon.]
- Like Simon Denny’s reverse spying on NSA, Swiss duo !Mediengruppe Bitnik similarly co-opt the spy’s tech arsenal in creating installations—like hijacking the closed-circuit screens in a London subway station—as a form of counter-espionage. [ARTnews]
- My new favourite aquatic, microscopic invertebrate just might be the “water bear”. They look like the distant cousins of Fraggle Rock’s doozers, can survive in both freezing and boiling temps and is a genetic marvel thanks to its “horizon gene transfer” that could completely re-think that whole “tree of life” genetic metaphor. [Maclean’s]
- Goat refuses to be Siberian tiger’s lunch in a Russian zoo. After chasing him around the enclosure, they become friends. Interspecies love forever. [Telegraph]
- Guilty pleasure: 100 best photographs taken without Photoshop. Pretty much all the claims in this headline are dubious, but the photographs are a good reminder of how awe-inspiring the world’s landscape can be. [Bright Side]
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by Paddy Johnson on June 10, 2015
- Joel Mesler tells the story of his gallery UNTITLED, as contextualized within the New York art market. Lots of great stuff in here, particularly this: As I write this, Chelsea is still the center of the New York art world, but it increasingly seems to only have room for high-rise condos and luxury hotels. There are galleries there now that are the size of major corporations, and they’ll likely get to stay, or at least leave on their own terms, but the future looks bleak for everyone else. [Artnews]
- Even clowns need insurance. [Mental Floss]
- This weekend artist Tania Bruguera was arrested Cuba again, along with dozens of other activists. And she’s got bruises to show for it. Bruguera was observing a silent protest by the Ladies in White. Each Sunday, the group of female relatives of imprisoned dissidents attend mass wearing white, then carry photos of their missing family members through the streets. [Hyperallergic]
- The CBC has fired prime time political correspondent Evan Solomon for using his position to broker art sales between galleries and the wealthy figures he interviewed. [The Toronto Star]
- The Times has published The Art of Dissent, a documentary about the collaboration of Jacob Appelbaum and artist Ai Weiwei for Rhizome’s conference Seven on Seven. [The New York Times]
- There’s some disconnect between seeing pictures of a bunch of collectors schmoozing and art Chapman Brother’s burnt body art that got them there. [Artsy]
- Three suicide bombers were shot near the entrance to the ancient Egyptian temple of Karnak in Luxor. [The Art Newspaper]
- Ooooh. Can Atlay at Arcade. [Contemporary Art Daily]
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by Paddy Johnson Paul Legault on March 12, 2015
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Zach Feuer <3s Joel Mesler of Untitled. After launching a space together in Hudson last year, these two gallerists are now moving into a 3,500 square foot loft space (319 Grand Street) in the LES. Feuer will leave his gallery in Chelsea. “I’ve been in Chelsea for 15 years and I kinda wanted a change.” Feuer said. “I have a better time when I see shows on the Lower East Side, and I don’t mean that as a knock on Chelsea in any way.” Sure, who would see that as a knock? [Artnews]
- David Chipperfield has been picked to renovate the southwest wing of contemporary and modern art. That means more space for the contemporary collection (which will have to sublet a place at the Breuer Building) and twice as much Roof Garden. Get ready for the Met’s massive 2020 roof party! [Observer]
- More on NYC’s ferret vote: Earlier this week the city decided not to overturn its 16 year ban on keeping ferrets as pets. But of the 10 members voting five abstained. Why? Bruce C. Vladeck abstained because he decided he didn’t care about the subject. Other members abstained because they were worried about public health issues. Anyway, apparently hedgehogs are also banned pets in NYC. The next battleground? [The New York Times]
- The TEFAF Art Market Report is out. Let me guess: the art market grew? Yes, indeed. The interesting tidbit here: Sales made at art fairs account for 40 percent of all dealer sales in 2014. The fairs are here to stay. [TEFAF]
- The best analysis of the TEFAF report, which has not yet been released in full, comes predictably from Marion Maneker. “The biggest issue is that McAndrew is simultaneously claiming a 7% rise in Euro terms (with a congruent 6% rise in transaction volume) and a 20% fall in Dollar terms” Also, there’s this: “Here’s another troubling statistic from the report. McAndrew says Contemporary and Modern categories account for 76% of all sales. Contemporary is just a hair’s breadth from becoming the majority of the market, McAndrew claims. That would be a landmark (and possibly unsustainable) event.” [Art Market Monitor]
- Josh Baer on the ADAA art fair: “A major exhibitor who brings a diverse group of major works each year explained why the fair has turned into ‘theme’ shows and one person booths, we think to the overall detriment to the fair. As there is an application process for the coveted booths all dealers must submit early on a plan for their exhibition – they can’t just say ‘trust us to bring great things as you know our program,’ instead they must come up with forced artificial ideas. We think the organizers should hit the reset button on their strategy.” [BaerFaxt]
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