Archive

Monthly Archives: June 2009

Flash Points

Interview with Jackie Battenfield

by Trong Gia Nguyen | Jun 30, 2009

Flash Points

Interview with Jackie Battenfield

by Trong Gia Nguyen | Jun 30, 2009

As our Flash Points topic of Art and Economics comes to a close, I sat down and spoke with Jackie Battenfield, whose first book The Artist’s Guide: How to Make …

Letter from London

Letter from London: Dead as a Dada

by Ben Street | Jun 30, 2009

Letter from London

Letter from London: Dead as a Dada

by Ben Street | Jun 30, 2009

The problem with writing about contemporary painting is that it ends up being an excuse for a riffle through the thesaurus for the most headily baroque terms to describe the …

Weekly Roundup

by Trong Gia Nguyen | Jun 29, 2009

Weekly Roundup

by Trong Gia Nguyen | Jun 29, 2009

Throughout 2009, 18 museums and galleries across the UK will be showing over 30 ARTIST ROOMS from the collection created by the dealer and collector, Anthony d’Offay, and acquired by …

Art21 Extended Play

Josiah McElheny | Beauty & Seduction

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 26, 2009

Art21 Extended Play

Josiah McElheny | Beauty & Seduction

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 26, 2009

DOWNLOAD VIA ITUNES | SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS EXCLUSIVE: Artist Josiah McElheny discusses the intentionally problematic nature of beauty and seduction in his “Total Reflective Abstraction” (2004) installation, on view at …

Announcing Art21 Access ’09

by Marc Mayer | Jun 26, 2009

Announcing Art21 Access ’09

by Marc Mayer | Jun 26, 2009

Sign up for Art21’s Access ‘09 – an international screening initiative that will present your audiences with a sneak preview of a Season 5 of Art:21-Art in the 21st Century …

Art 2.1: Creating on the Social Web

@Platea: Art in the Web 2.0 Ethos

by An Xiao | Jun 25, 2009

Art 2.1: Creating on the Social Web

@Platea: Art in the Web 2.0 Ethos

by An Xiao | Jun 25, 2009

Social technologies have been around for decades, but mainstream use of social media platforms has grown exponentially only over recent years. This column explores uses of social media platforms relevant …

Art Reality

by Sharon Butler | Jun 25, 2009

Art Reality

by Sharon Butler | Jun 25, 2009

No matter how hard I try, avoiding reality TV is a challenge. The shows are like invasive kudzu: Nanny 911, Extreme Makeover, The Housewives of New Jersey, Jon & Kate, …

The Importance of Being Earnest

by Mary Cook | Jun 25, 2009

The Importance of Being Earnest

by Mary Cook | Jun 25, 2009

Making art is part of a ground level experience. The artmaking process can be sensory, visceral and seemingly fleeting, depending on the methods of record of an artist’s choosing, be …

Announcing Season Five of Art:21

by Marc Mayer | Jun 24, 2009

Announcing Season Five of Art:21

by Marc Mayer | Jun 24, 2009

We are pleased to announce Season Five of Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century, premiering in October 2009 on PBS, and available on iTunes (link opens in iTunes), Hulu, and other …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Talking with Students about Christian Marclay’s “Video Quartet”

by Julie Thomson | Jun 24, 2009

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Talking with Students about Christian Marclay’s “Video Quartet”

by Julie Thomson | Jun 24, 2009

With the opening of Christian Marclay’s Video Quartet at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (on view through July 26, 2009), I have been thinking about how to …

Back in the Day: Mel Bochner and Marcelo Bonevardi

by Sharon Butler | Jun 23, 2009

Back in the Day: Mel Bochner and Marcelo Bonevardi

by Sharon Butler | Jun 23, 2009

Mel Bochner’s new book, Solar System & Rest Rooms: Writings and Interviews, 1965–2007, is a compilation of his writing, both about art and as art. The book opens with thirty-five …

Weekly Roundup

by Nicole J. Caruth | Jun 22, 2009

Weekly Roundup

by Nicole J. Caruth | Jun 22, 2009

Matthew Barney (Season 2) and Elizabeth Peyton have collaborated on a site-specific installation for the Deste Foundation in Hydra, Greece. Blood of Two is on view through September 30 in …

Letter from London

Letter from London: Everybody Be Cool, This Is An Art Gallery!

by Ben Street | Jun 22, 2009

Letter from London

Letter from London: Everybody Be Cool, This Is An Art Gallery!

by Ben Street | Jun 22, 2009

If  Abstract America, the new show of contemporary American painting and sculpture at the Saatchi Gallery, were a film, it’d be one of those earnest indie dramas made for hipster …

New guest blogger: Sharon Butler

by Kelly Shindler | Jun 22, 2009

New guest blogger: Sharon Butler

by Kelly Shindler | Jun 22, 2009

Thanks to Thomas Micchelli for his thoughtful posts about art and artists old and new. Please follow his pursuits on his own site here. Up next is Sharon Butler. A …

Art21 Extended Play

Arturo Herrera | Powerful Images

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 19, 2009

Art21 Extended Play

Arturo Herrera | Powerful Images

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 19, 2009

DOWNLOAD VIA ITUNES | SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS EXCLUSIVE: In his Berlin studio, Arturo Herrera discusses his relationship to creating abstract collages and images. Herrera takes the process of abstraction a …

Dialing Back

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 18, 2009

Dialing Back

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 18, 2009

Turning again to the oracular nature of art (see Monday’s post), it is compelling to consider that, in the Western canon, drawing as an autonomous art form first came into …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Summer Reading Part 2

by Joe Fusaro | Jun 17, 2009

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Summer Reading Part 2

by Joe Fusaro | Jun 17, 2009

Continuing with my column from May 27, I’d like to suggest a few more books related to contemporary art education that you may be inspired to buy, borrow or steal …

Flash Points

No Preservatives: Conversations about Conservation

No Preservatives: The Clocks’ Tic Tic Tic …

by Richard McCoy | Jun 16, 2009

Flash Points

No Preservatives: Conversations about Conservation

No Preservatives: The Clocks’ Tic Tic Tic …

by Richard McCoy | Jun 16, 2009

Spearheaded by Richard McCoy, a conservator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, this site’s newest column, “No Preservatives,” seeks to define the conservator’s role in the conservation of art in …

Nathalie Djurberg and Paul Chan: Making Weird Worlds at Birnbaum’s Biennale

by Lily Simonson | Jun 16, 2009

Nathalie Djurberg and Paul Chan: Making Weird Worlds at Birnbaum’s Biennale

by Lily Simonson | Jun 16, 2009

Daniel Birnbaum’s poetic theme of the 53rd Venice Biennale, Making Worlds, is, in some sense, an anti-theme, emphasizing the plurality of art today. Birnbaum’s explanation that “we now live in …

Labyrinths

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 15, 2009

Labyrinths

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 15, 2009

The other night I was at a dinner where someone suggested that, all things being equal, what ultimately makes the difference in a body of work is the character of …

Art21 Extended Play

Weekly Roundup

by Trong Gia Nguyen | Jun 15, 2009

Art21 Extended Play

Weekly Roundup

by Trong Gia Nguyen | Jun 15, 2009

Krzysztof Wodiczko is the sole artist representing Poland at this summer’s Venice Biennale. The striking video installation of milky windows depicts the shadows of immigrant workers as they take on …

Letter from London

Letter from London: Pumping Irony

by Ben Street | Jun 15, 2009

Letter from London

Letter from London: Pumping Irony

by Ben Street | Jun 15, 2009

Interactivity is now so commonplace at Tate Modern that I sometimes wonder if visitors are disappointed when they see works of art they aren’t allowed to touch. Not that they don’t. …

Art21 Extended Play

Laylah Ali | Designer Nicole Parente

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 12, 2009

Art21 Extended Play

Laylah Ali | Designer Nicole Parente

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 12, 2009

DOWNLOAD VIA ITUNES | SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS EXCLUSIVE: Artist Laylah Ali and graphic designer Nicole Parente work together in the designer’s home office in Cambridge, MA. The artist’s hand-drawn notes …

No Expectations

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 12, 2009

No Expectations

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 12, 2009

In his New York Times article on the opening of the Venice Biennale, Michael Kimmelman laments that the look of the exhibition “suggests a somewhat dull, deflated contemporary art world, professionalized …

Flash Points

Money Changes Everything

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 10, 2009

Flash Points

Money Changes Everything

by Thomas Micchelli | Jun 10, 2009

I remember, back when I was in art school, walking into a lecture hall where someone had scrawled on the chalkboard, “The only true artists are amateurs.” That was the …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

What’s “The End” Good For?

by Joe Fusaro | Jun 10, 2009

Teaching with Contemporary Art

What’s “The End” Good For?

by Joe Fusaro | Jun 10, 2009

June can be a real catharsis of both the most beautiful and ugly kinds, but it doesn’t have to be a week-to-week whirlwind waiting for the next test. The last …

Pride: Golden Lion Awarded to Bruce Nauman’s “Topological Gardens”

by Lily Simonson | Jun 10, 2009

Pride: Golden Lion Awarded to Bruce Nauman’s “Topological Gardens”

by Lily Simonson | Jun 10, 2009

I have never thought of myself as susceptible to patriotism, but for the second time this year, I’ve felt proud to be an American.  The first incident of pride stemmed …

Name That Season 5 Artist!

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 9, 2009

Name That Season 5 Artist!

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 9, 2009

We received some great feedback and enthusiasm for Season 5 since the release of the trailer back in April. When that went up, we challenged our audience to name the …

Notes from a Novice in Venice

by Lily Simonson | Jun 9, 2009

Notes from a Novice in Venice

by Lily Simonson | Jun 9, 2009

Exclusive to the blog this week are the chronicles of artist Lily Simonson’s visit to the 53rd annual Venice Biennale, which opened to the public this past Sunday. Stay tuned …

New guest blogger: Thomas Micchelli

by Kelly Shindler | Jun 9, 2009

New guest blogger: Thomas Micchelli

by Kelly Shindler | Jun 9, 2009

A million thanks to Victoria Lichtendorf for providing us with such a rich view of Atlanta’s contemporary art scene. Her stint sets a new record for the greatest number of …

Weekly Roundup

by Nicole J. Caruth | Jun 8, 2009

Weekly Roundup

by Nicole J. Caruth | Jun 8, 2009

Bruce Nauman (Season 1) has won the Golden Lion award for Best National Participation at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Visit the Daily Best Media Gallery to see images of his …

Conversations with Stuart Horodner & Lila Kanner

by Victoria Lichtendorf | Jun 8, 2009

Conversations with Stuart Horodner & Lila Kanner

by Victoria Lichtendorf | Jun 8, 2009

Wrapping up my focus on Atlanta during my stint as guest blogger, I questioned Stuart Horodner, Artistic Director at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, and Lila Kanner, Executive Director of …

Interview: Fahamu Pecou

by Victoria Lichtendorf | Jun 8, 2009

Interview: Fahamu Pecou

by Victoria Lichtendorf | Jun 8, 2009

Next up, as part of my spotlight on Atlanta-based artists, is Fahamu Pecou, of “Fahamu Pecou is the Shit” fame. Known for his large-scale painted riffs on art magazines, Pecou …

Letter from London

Letter from London: Parisian Break

by Ben Street | Jun 8, 2009

Letter from London

Letter from London: Parisian Break

by Ben Street | Jun 8, 2009

(Disclaimer: this Letter from London is actually from Paris.) Paris’s gallery zone, clustered for the most part around the Marais district east of the center, is so amazingly lovely and …

Haberdashery Anyone?

by Mary Cook | Jun 5, 2009

Haberdashery Anyone?

by Mary Cook | Jun 5, 2009

179 Canal Street, 2nd Floor. Peeper Place, Dani Leventhal, May 16, 2009. Photo by Margaret Lee on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/margaret-lee) Artists staging their own shows is nothing new. The French Impressionists …

Art21 Extended Play

Ellen Gallagher | Master Printer Craig Zammiello

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 5, 2009

Art21 Extended Play

Ellen Gallagher | Master Printer Craig Zammiello

by Jonathan Munar | Jun 5, 2009

DOWNLOAD VIA ITUNES | SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS EXCLUSIVE: Master Printer Craig Zammiello and artist Ellen Gallagher discuss their working relationship during the process of creating “DeLuxe” (2004–05), a suite of …