With the clocks changed and less than a week till the first day of spring I seem to be getting that feeling that this winter from hell will in fact end this year. This will be my second spring in the Village and I think I might do better this time around, I’m hoping I do anyway. I know last year it was as much a sad time as happy one because I missed my spring in the mountains but those mountains are farther in the past now, another time. I’m not so sure I believe that but it helps some to say it. So now that I did a good job of reminding myself of the mountains let me see what spring brings.
Tax day. Tax day is enough to make me want to drink and it's a good thing because St. Patties Day is Thursday. Green beer, green Corona with lime, green Mexican beer on an Irish Catholic Saint's day, that just makes my head spin. So maybe we should skip to Easter. If I see a pink bunny walking down Bleeker Street I know I have had too much to drink. This paragraph is just sad but its how my mind seems to work sometimes.
Sorry, I was off on a drinking tangent there, let me get back to thoughts of spring. The little buds I see on the trees below me along the street. Those first flowers blooming in the sunshine, a little known secret being that I love flowers, fresh cut flowers. Flowers, candles, a bottle of wine, and a nice warm bath do the trick every time. Grilling hamburgers on the roof, watching the sunset, and drinking cold beer as the last light falls into the river is another one that works. Oh it's just hopeless; all my thoughts of spring seem to lead to alcohol.
Yet with spring two things non-alcoholic are certain. It's time to take Foxy out on the road again this weekend. Time to drive down to my Dad's and get the soft top back on her. And it's time for my seasonal change in musical tastes. Time to lay off the Lady Gaga, nice ass or not, and turn up the Foo Fighters.
Happy spring people ....
Foo Fighters - Rope
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Observations on Politics 3.12
I was watching Rachel Maddow's special on state politics Thursday night and I just began to wonder where it all went wrong with the Republican Party, a party that still likes to call itself the party of Lincoln. I even made a few phone calls to my Dad and a prof I had at Penn State for some help. Staying away from 'moral' issues I took a quick look at Republican Presidents since World War II and came up with a few things.
Dwight Eisenhower was pretty much a status quo President but one who started the interstate highway system and warned the country of the coming military industrial complex. If only the country had listened to him the world could be so much different today. Richard Nixon is just a bitter pill to swallow. Arguably one of the worst Presidents in history he also created the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and signed the Clean Air Act. Noam Chomsky, of all people, once remarked (in the year 2000) that, in many respects, Nixon was "the last liberal president." Gerald Ford was basically a caretaker President who supported and signed the Equal Rights Amendment and opposed Roe vs. Wade.
Ronald Reagan is one I needed help with because it's hard to find anything personally bad about the man yet he did fire the air traffic controllers leading indirectly to Wisconsin today. So I called my Dad and asked him about Reagan. What he said intrigued me; he said Reagan was the only Republican he had ever voted for President and than just for his second term. He also said Reagan did something that needed to be done one ways or another. He made America believe in itself again. I guess you can't fault the man for that. George H. W. Bush seems like another caretaker President but he signed the Americans with Disabilities Act and reauthorized the Clean Air Act. His downfall is that he fathered an ass of a son who would gladly have torn up every constructive thing I have mentioned so far. Well except the highways I suppose, he just wouldn’t have payed for their upkeep.
Somehow things went terribly wrong in the years that followed the elder Bush and politics became war in this country. One has to look all the way back to Herbert Hoover to find a President as anti-middle class as George W. Bush and I can't stomach writing about him. During the sixteen years of the Clinton/Bush Presidencies the Republican Party morphed into the party of the haves against the have nots, the take from the poor and give to the rich, the reverse Robin Hoods. And now as I watch events in Wisconsin and other states, sadly now including my native Pennsylvania, I can think only one thing. This so called Democracy I'm watching is more the Democracy of the People's Republic of America than it is the United State of America.
As for my question, where did it go wrong? I have no clue but we better fix it soon before the America as we 'think' we know it comes to an end and we simply become the 23rd province of the People's Republic of China.
Audioslave - Seven Nation Army
Dwight Eisenhower was pretty much a status quo President but one who started the interstate highway system and warned the country of the coming military industrial complex. If only the country had listened to him the world could be so much different today. Richard Nixon is just a bitter pill to swallow. Arguably one of the worst Presidents in history he also created the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and signed the Clean Air Act. Noam Chomsky, of all people, once remarked (in the year 2000) that, in many respects, Nixon was "the last liberal president." Gerald Ford was basically a caretaker President who supported and signed the Equal Rights Amendment and opposed Roe vs. Wade.
Ronald Reagan is one I needed help with because it's hard to find anything personally bad about the man yet he did fire the air traffic controllers leading indirectly to Wisconsin today. So I called my Dad and asked him about Reagan. What he said intrigued me; he said Reagan was the only Republican he had ever voted for President and than just for his second term. He also said Reagan did something that needed to be done one ways or another. He made America believe in itself again. I guess you can't fault the man for that. George H. W. Bush seems like another caretaker President but he signed the Americans with Disabilities Act and reauthorized the Clean Air Act. His downfall is that he fathered an ass of a son who would gladly have torn up every constructive thing I have mentioned so far. Well except the highways I suppose, he just wouldn’t have payed for their upkeep.
Somehow things went terribly wrong in the years that followed the elder Bush and politics became war in this country. One has to look all the way back to Herbert Hoover to find a President as anti-middle class as George W. Bush and I can't stomach writing about him. During the sixteen years of the Clinton/Bush Presidencies the Republican Party morphed into the party of the haves against the have nots, the take from the poor and give to the rich, the reverse Robin Hoods. And now as I watch events in Wisconsin and other states, sadly now including my native Pennsylvania, I can think only one thing. This so called Democracy I'm watching is more the Democracy of the People's Republic of America than it is the United State of America.
As for my question, where did it go wrong? I have no clue but we better fix it soon before the America as we 'think' we know it comes to an end and we simply become the 23rd province of the People's Republic of China.
Audioslave - Seven Nation Army
3/13 update - After a few reactions to this I think some further explanation might be needed. The point I was trying to make was that at least since the Depression neither party has gravitated completely to the extreme left or right before. I was in no way praising Republican Presidents, if I had included social or ‘moral’ issues it would have been much uglier. The fact remains they did do those things and now most Republican officials don’t even put up the facade of caring about the average American. They seem to care more about who pays them the most than who actually pays their salary. I mentioned many of the things I did because they were enacted by Republican Presidents yet Republicans today would do away with all of them if they could.
I don’t know if this helps at all or just makes it all the more confusing. It was just the occasionally bewildered mind of one dark excruciatingly liberal lesbian looking at a party that has done good things in the past but now seems filled with hate, cares about no one but the wealthy, and whose god is the bronze Wall Street Bull in Bowling Green Park.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Observations
Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota during a hearing on radical Islam in America, recounting the story of a Muslim rescue worker who was a first responder in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.
Full statement video
Full statement video
Observations from the Coffee Shop 3.11
I haven’t posted anything for a couple days because I have been busy getting caught up after last week and getting the gallery back to normal for the coming weekend. But also because I have been thinking about where I want to go with this blog. I totally enjoyed writing about Armory Week and about the art so I think I'll be doing a lot more of that in one way or another. I also had a suggestion that I use more photos with my posts so I may try to do that too. Other than those changes I suppose it's just going to be more of the same ranting for now because I enjoying ranting and you should do what you do best.
But I did have a few other theories on new directions to take like sports, sex, horoscopes, or maybe just a combination of all three. I could read the stars and predict this weekend’s game results while I answer questions. Sort of Dan Savage meets Chris Berman. That's an idea I have to ponder longer but one problem I already foresee is the stars say Philly teams are going to win everything. Now that won’t go over big with any New York fans I happen to know.
Just to get back into it I’m going to throw in one micro-rant here. Something I could go on about but Stephen Colbert said it much better on Twitter last night. "@StephenAtHome: Scott Walker took down the unions! Wisconsin's budget problem is fixed! Now on to the part of the deficit caused by gay marriage."
Stay tuned ....
The Boxer Rebellion - Flashing Red Light Means Go
But I did have a few other theories on new directions to take like sports, sex, horoscopes, or maybe just a combination of all three. I could read the stars and predict this weekend’s game results while I answer questions. Sort of Dan Savage meets Chris Berman. That's an idea I have to ponder longer but one problem I already foresee is the stars say Philly teams are going to win everything. Now that won’t go over big with any New York fans I happen to know.
Just to get back into it I’m going to throw in one micro-rant here. Something I could go on about but Stephen Colbert said it much better on Twitter last night. "@StephenAtHome: Scott Walker took down the unions! Wisconsin's budget problem is fixed! Now on to the part of the deficit caused by gay marriage."
Stay tuned ....
The Boxer Rebellion - Flashing Red Light Means Go
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Observations from the Coffee Shop 3.8
I suppose it is finally time to wrap up my writing on Armory Week and get back to the real world. Maybe it would be better to say my world which doesn't seem all that real sometimes. It's a little sad because I enjoyed the week and enjoyed writing about it so don't be surprised if you see me doing a lot more art writing.
Here are some final thoughts ....
In a week filled with art a few things did leave a lasting impression. Among the best was a set of seven, out of 23 known, brightly colored plaster busts from the series "Heads" by the late David Wojnarowicz. A collector had spent years putting the seven together and the complete set sold for $300,000. For me another real treat to see was a Robert Mapplethorpe dye transfer print the name of which escapes me. Dye transfer itself is a dying photo printing technique due to the fact that Kodak no longer makes the chemicals needed to do it.
Something that made a very negative impression was Ivan Navarro's glowing neon-lit fence titled "The Armory Fence." So many people said so many good things about it but I just didn't like it at all. Maybe it would have worked for me at a Las Vegas Art Fair along with the velvet Elvis paintings but it just didn't work for me here. The fence totaled 82 feet around an open floor and was priced at $40,000 per seven foot section but I have no idea if any of them sold. You might look for it at a trailer park near you.
A question I heard often was whether New York, a city filled with galleries and museums, really needs a major art fair at all. The best answer I found to the question was this; "New York is a city without parallel in this world, and we want to support it, and keep in contact with curators here," said Tim Marlow, director of London gallery White Cube. I'm no expert on these things but I personally think New York without a major Art Fair would be like San Francisco without a major Gay Pride event. It just shouldn’t be allowed to happen if we expect the world to keep spinning in the proper direction.
In the end Armory Week may be the closest I'll ever come to a Penn State football weekend in New York City. Except it only happens once a year, it lasts a week, there probably isn't as much to eat or drink, and the attire of choice is a bit darker in New York.
Here are some final thoughts ....
In a week filled with art a few things did leave a lasting impression. Among the best was a set of seven, out of 23 known, brightly colored plaster busts from the series "Heads" by the late David Wojnarowicz. A collector had spent years putting the seven together and the complete set sold for $300,000. For me another real treat to see was a Robert Mapplethorpe dye transfer print the name of which escapes me. Dye transfer itself is a dying photo printing technique due to the fact that Kodak no longer makes the chemicals needed to do it.
Something that made a very negative impression was Ivan Navarro's glowing neon-lit fence titled "The Armory Fence." So many people said so many good things about it but I just didn't like it at all. Maybe it would have worked for me at a Las Vegas Art Fair along with the velvet Elvis paintings but it just didn't work for me here. The fence totaled 82 feet around an open floor and was priced at $40,000 per seven foot section but I have no idea if any of them sold. You might look for it at a trailer park near you.
A question I heard often was whether New York, a city filled with galleries and museums, really needs a major art fair at all. The best answer I found to the question was this; "New York is a city without parallel in this world, and we want to support it, and keep in contact with curators here," said Tim Marlow, director of London gallery White Cube. I'm no expert on these things but I personally think New York without a major Art Fair would be like San Francisco without a major Gay Pride event. It just shouldn’t be allowed to happen if we expect the world to keep spinning in the proper direction.
In the end Armory Week may be the closest I'll ever come to a Penn State football weekend in New York City. Except it only happens once a year, it lasts a week, there probably isn't as much to eat or drink, and the attire of choice is a bit darker in New York.
Metric - Black Sheep
In Memory Of ....
I didn't know Sabrinaa Nightfire but I did know the name well. I saw her in SL one time years ago at one art opening or another where I noticed a 'cousin' of mine flitting around putting finishing touches on her work. Sadly I know more about her now than I did before her passing. Because of my mom I always feel a little sad when I hear that somebody has succumbed to cancer. Still I wouldn't be writing this except that she seems to have touched so many lives in her SL family and touched them in a good way. In the end I suppose that is all any artist can ask for, to be remembered in a good way.
A friend of mine sent me a a blog post by Rowan Derryth that contains a description that I'm borrowing here without permission, I hope she doesn't mind. It tells me all I need to know about Sabrinaa Nightfire.
".... Only one work here speaks of her struggle: Stage 4, a simple platform with phrases that vocalize her thoughts of anger at having stage four cancer. The one that hit me the hardest was “I have a lot more art to make.” A pose ball with the text “I am SO Angry!” allows one to have a virtual tantrum – something that some might find theraputic today."
Another thing about artists is that they are never finished with their work.
A friend of mine sent me a a blog post by Rowan Derryth that contains a description that I'm borrowing here without permission, I hope she doesn't mind. It tells me all I need to know about Sabrinaa Nightfire.
".... Only one work here speaks of her struggle: Stage 4, a simple platform with phrases that vocalize her thoughts of anger at having stage four cancer. The one that hit me the hardest was “I have a lot more art to make.” A pose ball with the text “I am SO Angry!” allows one to have a virtual tantrum – something that some might find theraputic today."
Another thing about artists is that they are never finished with their work.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Observations from the Coffee Shop 3.7
There is one thing I have yet to get used to about New York. I met the VQ for lunch today and ordered a Philly cheesesteak because I was totally famished. Where the hell is the sauce? I still forget I have to ask for sauce here. Damn Yankee fans.
When you first arrive at the Armory Show you are greeted by an industrial size elevator that takes you to the main floor. What is fun is taking a quick look at who joins you for that ride and if your lucky enough you will get a microcosm of the art world itself. My first group was mainly female but still a varied group. Among them a younger girl in camo fatigues and headphones, an older woman in fur talking on her cell phone, two Eastern European model types dressed in black and knee high boots, and a middle aged man who looked like my dad if my dad had been a physics professor with a penchant for Hawaiian print polo shirts and silk scarves.
What had to be my fav line of the whole week was this. I was eating dinner one night with a group of friends when a friend of Ash came to the table to say hello. One guy was sitting at the table with us and Ash's friend leaned over and said to him “I’m sorry but I have to say this but I hate men! Not you though, I don’t even know you."
Something I try to never do is the Euro cheek kiss greeting but I totally had major problems with that this week. To many Euros around to start with plus in the shows you can't see far enough ahead to get yourself ready before somebody sees you and boom heyas kiss kiss. But my height still comes in handy in these situations because not many people carry a stool around with them.
I know Armory Week is now passed and it's time to move on to other things including a piece I want to write on Contemporary Art. But I don't think this is my last Armory Week post because I just have so much I still need to get out of my head.
Kings Of Leon - Pyro
When you first arrive at the Armory Show you are greeted by an industrial size elevator that takes you to the main floor. What is fun is taking a quick look at who joins you for that ride and if your lucky enough you will get a microcosm of the art world itself. My first group was mainly female but still a varied group. Among them a younger girl in camo fatigues and headphones, an older woman in fur talking on her cell phone, two Eastern European model types dressed in black and knee high boots, and a middle aged man who looked like my dad if my dad had been a physics professor with a penchant for Hawaiian print polo shirts and silk scarves.
What had to be my fav line of the whole week was this. I was eating dinner one night with a group of friends when a friend of Ash came to the table to say hello. One guy was sitting at the table with us and Ash's friend leaned over and said to him “I’m sorry but I have to say this but I hate men! Not you though, I don’t even know you."
Something I try to never do is the Euro cheek kiss greeting but I totally had major problems with that this week. To many Euros around to start with plus in the shows you can't see far enough ahead to get yourself ready before somebody sees you and boom heyas kiss kiss. But my height still comes in handy in these situations because not many people carry a stool around with them.
I know Armory Week is now passed and it's time to move on to other things including a piece I want to write on Contemporary Art. But I don't think this is my last Armory Week post because I just have so much I still need to get out of my head.
Kings Of Leon - Pyro
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Armory Week Randomness 3.6
In the end I may remember the people more than anything else from this week. Deep down I really am just an observer because what I like to do is sit back and take everything in. Still the excitement of the last few days has been just contagious at times and next week could be a big let down after the constant buzz of this one. I've been so intrigued all week by everybody at the shows, at the gallery, and just talking to friends about art.
My brain has just been on sensory overload for days now and for the last few I have been trying to come up with a way to describe it better and have yet to find it. Maybe because it is the first time I experienced anything quite like this. I have been to other shows, galleries, museums, and exhibitions but this is something so totally different and I can't find the right words for it. I might keep trying but I honestly don't know if it's possible.
The always amazing VQ doesn't seemed to have slept more than a couple hours a night since the fairs began and yet she was still all perky at breakfast today. Actually she was probably all perky before breakfast, that would be before she woke me up with a cell call asking what I wanted for breakfast. While I have been into the people she has been into the art and texting me a constant stream of opinions on one gallery's works or another. It's been fun to watch her because more than anything else she reminds me of seeing my sister in a Toys"R"Us at Christmas time.
Finally, between the owners and the connoisseur I haveve worked on my French more than I have in some time. I even came up with a favorite line I used more than once during one conversation or another. "Pourriez-vous me faire parvenir un billet s'il vous plaît?"
I haven't gotten a positive response yet.
My brain has just been on sensory overload for days now and for the last few I have been trying to come up with a way to describe it better and have yet to find it. Maybe because it is the first time I experienced anything quite like this. I have been to other shows, galleries, museums, and exhibitions but this is something so totally different and I can't find the right words for it. I might keep trying but I honestly don't know if it's possible.
The always amazing VQ doesn't seemed to have slept more than a couple hours a night since the fairs began and yet she was still all perky at breakfast today. Actually she was probably all perky before breakfast, that would be before she woke me up with a cell call asking what I wanted for breakfast. While I have been into the people she has been into the art and texting me a constant stream of opinions on one gallery's works or another. It's been fun to watch her because more than anything else she reminds me of seeing my sister in a Toys"R"Us at Christmas time.
Finally, between the owners and the connoisseur I haveve worked on my French more than I have in some time. I even came up with a favorite line I used more than once during one conversation or another. "Pourriez-vous me faire parvenir un billet s'il vous plaît?"
I haven't gotten a positive response yet.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Observations from the Window 3.4.1
So many things on my mind that I want to write about but I'm so totally wiped that they will just have to wait. It seems I might be writing about the things Armory Week has me thinking about long after the fair itself is passed. It's been a long time since I thought about what art actually is but questions a friend has been asking about the fair have me doing just that. My earlier post about Modern Art is one result of that and I think there are going to be more once I get through this busy weekend.
I know I was here last year during Armory Week but I didn't go and it didn’t make much of an impression on me. I guess partly because I was still torn about whether I was even going to stay in the Village at all or go back to the mountains. I'm much deeper into the art world up here now, and also Ash's business side of art, so in ways the whole week has been eye opening. I could write a post on just the forum on Art Funds that Ash went to today but maybe I should just quit thinking, get some sleep, and enjoy the last couple days. Maybe I will.
But first there is one thing I want to mention. I was up early this morning to go to breakfast with the VQs and than get to the gallery by nine or so. While I was eating I got a chance to see the Times review in honest to god print and it just made me smile. What made me smile more was when I got to the gallery and the florist arrived, than the next one, and than the next. Seems it’s the thing they do when you get yourself in “ArtsBeat,” the New York Times arts blog, but it was totally unexpected on my part and I was just smiling all day.
So thank you to anybody out there who is reading this and happened to send flowers. That has to be the high point of the week for me and at the moment I don't see how anything can top it. But there are still two days left so I'll just have to wait and see what happens next.
But for now my bed is crying for me ....
I know I was here last year during Armory Week but I didn't go and it didn’t make much of an impression on me. I guess partly because I was still torn about whether I was even going to stay in the Village at all or go back to the mountains. I'm much deeper into the art world up here now, and also Ash's business side of art, so in ways the whole week has been eye opening. I could write a post on just the forum on Art Funds that Ash went to today but maybe I should just quit thinking, get some sleep, and enjoy the last couple days. Maybe I will.
But first there is one thing I want to mention. I was up early this morning to go to breakfast with the VQs and than get to the gallery by nine or so. While I was eating I got a chance to see the Times review in honest to god print and it just made me smile. What made me smile more was when I got to the gallery and the florist arrived, than the next one, and than the next. Seems it’s the thing they do when you get yourself in “ArtsBeat,” the New York Times arts blog, but it was totally unexpected on my part and I was just smiling all day.
So thank you to anybody out there who is reading this and happened to send flowers. That has to be the high point of the week for me and at the moment I don't see how anything can top it. But there are still two days left so I'll just have to wait and see what happens next.
But for now my bed is crying for me ....
Observations from the Window 3.4
It’s early, I’m tired, and I have to go to breakfast but I wanted to pass something on. We all had a big surprise at the gallery yesterday, a big effing fun surprise. Seems we found ourselves right there in the New York Times. We didn’t have any idea it was going to happen so it was just one of those fun moments and everybody was so excited.
“If you don’t have a booth at one of this week’s big fairs, the thinking goes, you’re invisible — especially if you’re a smaller gallery that’s slightly off the beaten track. The solution? Become a fair yourself. That’s what Zürcher Studio has done, carving its space into six booths and inviting in like-minded downtown and Brooklyn dealers ….”
Read the full review
(A version of this review appeared in print on March 4, 2011, on page C25 of the New York edition.)
Yup one of those moments and now I think I need coffee. Bad ....
“If you don’t have a booth at one of this week’s big fairs, the thinking goes, you’re invisible — especially if you’re a smaller gallery that’s slightly off the beaten track. The solution? Become a fair yourself. That’s what Zürcher Studio has done, carving its space into six booths and inviting in like-minded downtown and Brooklyn dealers ….”
(A version of this review appeared in print on March 4, 2011, on page C25 of the New York edition.)
Yup one of those moments and now I think I need coffee. Bad ....
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Armory Week Randomness 3.3
Today I spent most of the afternoon at the Armory Show and I have one overall observation. It's big, real big, be sure to grab a map or you'll get lost kind of big. I have been to big art shows before but never anything like these two cavernous piers filled with a maze of hundreds of booths and stands. At times the Contemporary section seemed a bit overcrowded, maybe they should cut back on the number of galleries allowed, but the Modern section was less crowded and the spaces seemed much larger.
Something that I noticed right away the number of iPads all the galleries seemed to be using instead of, or along side, catalogs with most booths having more than one. I was told it's the wave of the future but I don't see one in my future at all.
One thing you can not miss seeing, even if you wanted to, is a huge neon glowing fence by Chilean sculptor Ivan Navarro. It radiates bright blueish light in every direction and some neighboring dealers weren't to happy about it. I guess you need to get attention anyway possible at one of these things and after all it was a relative bargain at $40,000 per 7 foot section. Still it just reminded me of some kind of trailer trash yard decoration.
As with anything there was some good, bad, and some pretty effing ugly to be see at the Armory Show. I have to say most of what i consider bad was in the Contemporary section. Taste wise I just tend to shy away from what I consider Post-Modern art, but that is for another post when I get to it.
As with anything there was some good, bad, and some pretty effing ugly to be see at the Armory Show. I have to say most of what i consider bad was in the Contemporary section. Taste wise I just tend to shy away from what I consider Post-Modern art, but that is for another post when I get to it.
Observations from Armory Week 3.3
Today the big Armory Show/Fair itself opens to the public on the two 12th street docks, divided between the modern show and the contemporary show. So what actually is the difference between Modern and Contemporary art?
The Modern Art era is said to have begun during the American Civil War period, the 1860s, even more precisely in 1863 with the work of Manet. Modern art is characterized by the attempt to capture the essence of a subject rather than the resemblance of it. For just this reason it moved more and more towards abstract as time went by.
The major painters of the early modern period include Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Claude Monet, or the Impressionists and Post-impressionists. The early 20th century was dominated by the rivalry between the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and the Fauvism of Henri Matisse. The interwar period saw the rise of Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, and the Bauhaus of Wassily Kandinsky.
Finally the post war years saw the birth of Abstract Expressionism which the first American movement to dominate art worldwide. For the first time New York City, and not Paris, was the center of the art world. Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, James Brooks, and many others define this period.
My personal opinion is that the Modern Art period began to end with the death of Jackson Pollock who pioneered the 'drip painting' method in which he laid a canvas on the floor and threw paint on it. But technically the period was extended into the 1960s and even the 70s by the rise of Lyrical Abstraction which was a movement once again dominated by Europeans as the United States struggled with the Vietnam War and it's aftermath.
Either way the era had ended before I ever set eyes on my first brush.
The idea here was to explain the difference between the Modern and Contemporary eras but I seem to have gotten a little carried away so I think I'll make two posts out of this. Hope this was easy enough to understand.
*I tried not to turn this into a masters thesis but keep in mind there at least a dozen major movements in the Modern era and each can be broken down into three or four sub-movements.
The Modern Art era is said to have begun during the American Civil War period, the 1860s, even more precisely in 1863 with the work of Manet. Modern art is characterized by the attempt to capture the essence of a subject rather than the resemblance of it. For just this reason it moved more and more towards abstract as time went by.
The major painters of the early modern period include Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Claude Monet, or the Impressionists and Post-impressionists. The early 20th century was dominated by the rivalry between the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and the Fauvism of Henri Matisse. The interwar period saw the rise of Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, and the Bauhaus of Wassily Kandinsky.
Finally the post war years saw the birth of Abstract Expressionism which the first American movement to dominate art worldwide. For the first time New York City, and not Paris, was the center of the art world. Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, James Brooks, and many others define this period.
My personal opinion is that the Modern Art period began to end with the death of Jackson Pollock who pioneered the 'drip painting' method in which he laid a canvas on the floor and threw paint on it. But technically the period was extended into the 1960s and even the 70s by the rise of Lyrical Abstraction which was a movement once again dominated by Europeans as the United States struggled with the Vietnam War and it's aftermath.
Either way the era had ended before I ever set eyes on my first brush.
The idea here was to explain the difference between the Modern and Contemporary eras but I seem to have gotten a little carried away so I think I'll make two posts out of this. Hope this was easy enough to understand.
*I tried not to turn this into a masters thesis but keep in mind there at least a dozen major movements in the Modern era and each can be broken down into three or four sub-movements.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Armory Week Randomness 3.2
I hope you don't know why I am writing this but let me just say I will never ever completely trust spell check again, that's all I'm going to say on the subject.
The Armory Show is named for a 1913 exhibition that took place at the 69th Regiment Armory and for the first time showed European Modern art in America. The current fair was started in 1994 in a Gramercy Park hotel and now occupies over 200,000 square feet on piers 92 and 94. Try not to confuse that with The Art Show which starts today at the Park Avenue Armory.
I have never in my life seen so many black leather jackets in one place and no that statement doesn't include my closet. Anyway yesterday I said an art fair was part convention and part art show. Now it seems I need to add a biker rally to that, like an artistic Sturgis without the bikes. Now that's a thought though, we need bikes.
I was on my way up to Armory when I ran into a new Manhattan trend that I'm not at all thrilled about. On my way I stopped in a random coffee shop for a quick lunch and cup of coffee. I sat down with my coffee, opened up my net book, and promptly had another patron point out a sign that said no electronic devices allowed. I blurted out something on the order of "you've got to be freakin kidding me," gulped down my coffee, and bought a pretzel outside. I have no idea how they expect to compete with Starbucks and its free wifi.
Phantogram - When I'm Small
17:45 update - Everything I heard today said that sales were brisk last night at the VIP opening. Highest price tag I saw today was $2.2 million for a work by the late German painter Martin Kippenberger. The only other major highlight was seeing Sotheby's Vice President Lisa Dennison. Rumor had it Courtney Love was there too but I didn't see her or I would have offered her a bite of my pretzel.
The Armory Show is named for a 1913 exhibition that took place at the 69th Regiment Armory and for the first time showed European Modern art in America. The current fair was started in 1994 in a Gramercy Park hotel and now occupies over 200,000 square feet on piers 92 and 94. Try not to confuse that with The Art Show which starts today at the Park Avenue Armory.
I have never in my life seen so many black leather jackets in one place and no that statement doesn't include my closet. Anyway yesterday I said an art fair was part convention and part art show. Now it seems I need to add a biker rally to that, like an artistic Sturgis without the bikes. Now that's a thought though, we need bikes.
I was on my way up to Armory when I ran into a new Manhattan trend that I'm not at all thrilled about. On my way I stopped in a random coffee shop for a quick lunch and cup of coffee. I sat down with my coffee, opened up my net book, and promptly had another patron point out a sign that said no electronic devices allowed. I blurted out something on the order of "you've got to be freakin kidding me," gulped down my coffee, and bought a pretzel outside. I have no idea how they expect to compete with Starbucks and its free wifi.
Phantogram - When I'm Small
17:45 update - Everything I heard today said that sales were brisk last night at the VIP opening. Highest price tag I saw today was $2.2 million for a work by the late German painter Martin Kippenberger. The only other major highlight was seeing Sotheby's Vice President Lisa Dennison. Rumor had it Courtney Love was there too but I didn't see her or I would have offered her a bite of my pretzel.
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