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Yayoi Kusama

Explain Me with Kenny Schachter: How Trumpian is the Art World?

by Paddy Johnson on November 7, 2017

This week on Explain Me, William Powhida and I talk to Kenny Schachter about the art world and it’s problem with truth. In addition to a bunch of talk about the upper tier—Schachter’s speciality—we grill him on the troubles of the middle tier, which he mostly describes as cyclical and thus not as bad as they seem. Tune in for the back and forth on this—we disagreed. We also discuss the market for Yayoi Kusama, Joe Bradley, Israel Lund, and a slew of unnamed middle tier artists trying to make a go of it in an unfriendly market environment.

You can always find the podcast on Art F City, but remember we’re also on iTunes and Stitcher. Also, we have another bonus episode slated to run at the end of the week filled with reviews and news, so look forward to that.

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Monday Links: Cindy Cheng Wins Sondheim Prize, “Art Barbie” Fails to Win Art Battle L.A.

by Michael Anthony Farley on July 17, 2017

Frida Davidsson, winner of Art Battle Los Angeles. Image via @fridadavidssonart Instagram, [h/t artnet News]

There’s now a booming outlet for fanfic, including stories “portraying a near future where the Trump administration has criminalized selfies, radicalizing Kim Kardashian as a freedom fighter for women’s rights.” The Toronto startup Wattpad has moved the online subculture closer to the mainstream publishing world, and former AFC editor Rea McNamara has written a fascinating profile on the subculture and its transition. [NOW]
Designer Raul Lopez has deconstructed the uniforms of corporate America into genderless cubist forms and they’re amazing. [Vogue]
The Broad’s upcoming exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors is expected to be a huge blockbuster when it opens on October 21. The museum announced yesterday that they’ll be pre-selling all 50,000 tickets for the show online on September 1st at noon. I’d be worried about servers crashing from that volume of traffic. [Los Angeles Times]
In other L.A. news, Art Battle just took place in the Arts District and it sounds like it was terrible. It’s a live painting competition, which involved lots of paintings of pop culture things, dollar signs, hearts, and someone named “Art Barbie”. [artnet News]
Wow. Add this to the bucket list: the late French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle left behind a 14 acre sculpture park in Tuscany inspired by Gaudi’s Park Güell. Her “Tarot Garden” is populated by giant goddess figures and a feminist takes on the tarot deck. This looks really cool. [Artsy]
Hong Kong high school students just set a world record for a display of 1,214 3D-printed sculptures of buildings from the city’s skyline. It kinda looks like a Won Ju Lim installation! (The 3D printing marathon was organized to celebrate the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to mainland Chinese rule… which has been a less than great thing so far for the city’s pro-democracy activists, but that’s another story). [South China Morning Post]
Congrats to Cindy Cheng, winner of the 2017 Sondheim Prize of $25,000. (As a curator, I’ve worked with Cheng before and can vouch that she totally deserves it!) Here, Angela N. Carroll, Bret McCabe, and Cara Ober discuss all the finalists. [BmoreArt]

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Highlights From the Armory

by Molly Rhinestones on March 4, 2017

The Armory Show opened this week, creating a theme park for art collectors and lovers from across the globe. Over 200 galleries and site specific installations are on view at Pier 92 and 94 on the Hudson River. This year features a welcome overhaul of the fair’s floor plan, spearheaded by the new director, Benjamin Genocchio. The delineation of a “Modern” section, usually on view at Pier 92, has been phased out, relocating 17 dealers from the “Galleries” section and the “Focus” artists upstairs. In past iterations of the fair it seemed highlights were positioned in high traffic areas near the entrance and by the time the fair fatigue hit you found yourself stuck at a dead end inside labyrinth of the dullest booths. The new design features wider aisles and better traffic management, making for a vastly more pleasant experience. This year’s a hit folks—at least in terms of visitor experience.

In particular, the Armory’s special “Focus” section, curated by Jarret Gregory, stood out. The section culled 10 artists from around the world together to examine a question taken from 19th Century Russian Socialist Writer Nikolai “Chernyshevsky, “What Is To Be Done?” (a breath of fresh air when at times the theme of the fair seems to be “How Many Yayoi Kusama and Marina Abramovic Works Can We Fit Into This Pier.”).

My highlights and commentary below.

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Massive Links: Mystery Art Fair Sentence

by Art Fag City on February 28, 2017

Alice Neel at David Zwirner

Does anyone understand what this means: “Art fairs do not struggle or close because of competition from other fairs; they close because of competition for their client galleries’ and visitors’ money and attention, such as rising rents or larger spaces, supporting museum exhibitions, publications, and so forth.” So fairs close because the rent is too high and museum exhibitions and catalogues distract from their events? [The Art Newspaper]
A McDonald’s in Italy may become a tourist attraction. During construction of a new McDonald’s restaurant an ancient road was discovered—along with three skeletons. Rather than halting construction the restaurant sponsored a dig to reveal the road and even cast the skeletons in resin. According to the Times, though, the location is unlikely to become a huge tourist attraction due to its remoteness. [The New York Times]
Someone attempting to take a selfie in Yayoi Kusama’s mirror infinity room stepped back a bit too far and fell over one of pumpkin sculptures. It broke. [Hyperallergic]
Is Sotheby’s turning itself around? The company boasted a profit of 65.5 million in the fourth quarter, beating expectations. Still, there is a market downturn. Sales have slipped 27 percent compared to this time last year. [ARTnews]
Another Alice Neel show at David Zwirner—he launched one last year too. This one’s getting some love from Christian Viveros-Faune. [artnet News]

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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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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Rejoice! Our Times Are Intolerable and Nasty Women Are Front-and-Center

by Michael Anthony Farley on January 9, 2017

New York’s week is characterized by two dominant themes: revisiting art history, and women owning “nastiness”. Monday, NYU’s Grey Art Gallery is launching Inventing Downtown, an ambitious look at how artist-run spaces informed the city’s radical aesthetics decades ago. Tuesday, Kate Hush illuminates archetypal feminine deception and betrayal at Cooler Gallery. She’ll be joined by legions of Nasty Women starting Thursday, when the Knockdown Center kicks-off a four-day fundraiser for Planned Parenthood featuring art, dance parties, and more. Alden Projects has a timely survey of Jenny Holzer’s early poster work that opens Friday, and White Columns is opening it’s 11th Annual, Looking Back. That’s but a sampling of the art history-mining going on this week. Stay nasty, New York, and remember that you always have been.

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Monday Links: Goodbye Alan Vega

by Rhett Jones on July 18, 2016

vega_links_rip_mon

Famed founder of Suicide and prolific poet Alan Vega has died at the age of 78. [The Quietus]
Following budget cuts and buyouts, the Met says it will begin layoffs in order to balance its budget. More than 50 people reportedly accepted the buyout offer and the Met says that layoffs will increase the total positions cut to more than 100. [New York Times]
Jonathan Jones takes a stand against all of those people who think that you can make great art by clicking a button in a photo filter app. We’re pretty sure that is practically no one, but glad he’s on the case. [The Guardian]
It turns out Damien Hirst’s work isn’t toxic after all. [The Art Newspaper]
The Contemporary Austin has established $100,000 art prize that will also include a solo show for the winner. [Artforum]
Is transrealism the first major literary movement of the 21st-century or just “Post-Internet” for books? You be the judge. [The Guardian]
The Keno Brothers, antique specialists famous for appearing on Antiques Roadshow are involved in a couple of bizarre lawsuits. Having worked at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s, one would assume the brothers would know how to handle themselves at an auction. But, on at least 3 occasions at two different auction houses, they say they didn’t realize they were bidding against each other and sending the respective item’s prices soaring. They’ve refused to pay and are being sued by different auction houses. [New York Times]
Photojournalists are packing bulletproof vests, gas masks and other war-zone type gear to get ready for the Republican National Convention. They aren’t the only ones who are worried, the head of Cleveland’s largest police union has asked for open carry laws to be suspended during the convention out of fear for officer’s lives. [Wired, CNN]
Speaking of the RNC, Jon Stewart will be rejoining Stephen Colbert as he broadcasts live from the convention this week. [CNN]
Yayoi Kusama is releasing an illustrated edition of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid.” [Dazed]

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The Armory: The Forgettable Fair

by Paddy Johnson on March 3, 2016

It’s hard to imagine a more art boring fair than this year’s Armory. Looking back at yesterday’s photos there’s virtually nothing to say about any of it. The fair is filled with generic art market standards: neon, monochromes, mirrors. If you’re looking for an art genre, the boilerplate version of it is on view here. At least last year’s iteration was bad enough to warrant ridicule. This one will be instantly forgotten.

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The Best of Art F City, 2015

by Rea McNamara on December 31, 2015

Revisiting the ‘Simple Net Art Diagram’, reviewing an art fair’s virtual tour, calling out Georg Baselitz, breaking news on the USC MFA Class, and even bringing back nerdocracy. Readers, we truly feel a real sense of accomplishment for the stories we wrote in 2015, especially after amassing them in a ‘Best of’ list such as this. We not only paid artists to attend art fairs, but also investigated sexism is arts publishing and even had two Renaissance cosmetics experts dish on body hair removal. Who else publishes this shit? No one.

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Worst of 2015

by Michael Anthony Farley on December 30, 2015

What were the top five most scandalous stories we covered this year? The ones people read, shared, and re-tweeted the most, of course. I delved into our site stats to ask why we love bad news so much.

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