The Year in Art: By the Archivist

1. Best Painting Show: Neo Rauch at the Met

2. Best Group Show: M*A*S*H 2007, Curated by Amy Smith-Stewart and Omar Lopez-Chahoud

3. Best Gallery Show: Hany Armanious at Foxy Production

4. Best Retrospective: Zhang Huan: Altered States

5. Best Sculpture Show: Michael Jones McKean at Sunday Gallery LES

6. Best New LES Gallery: Sunday Gallery and Smith-Stewart Gallery

7. Best Painting Flop of 2007: Jules de Balincourt at Zach Feuer

8. Best Sculpture Flop of 2007: Banks Violette at Team and Gladstone Gallery

9. Worst Museum Show: Terence Koh at the Whitney Museum

10. Best Old-Timer-that's-still-got-it Show: Paul McCarthy at Maccarone

11. Worst New-Comer-That-Will-Never-Have-It: Aaron Young

12. Biggest Upset: Documenta 12, Venice Biennale, and Munster

Unmonumental: The New Museum

We arrived at the New Museum at 3:00 hoping to get in free, my friend had thought that it was going to be free for the first 30 days, but it was only free for the first 30 hours. So... 12 dollars later we were entering the steel, drywall, and concrete palace that is the symbol of the modernist white cube. The museum is a great blank slate of opportunity that may offer up some controversial shows, complete flops, and what we hope will be some historic exhibitions. 

It's amazing that the building cost 55 million, my friend noted that it felt like the "Ikea of museums". It's sleek, simple, kinda cheap, but nice. I thought this was the perfect metaphor for the New Museum, it was going to switch ideas and exhibitions the same way that Ikea changes their displays every month or season. I kinda like the idea that a museum will follow the current trends, and try to have their finger on the pulse of contemporary art. 

The first show "Unmonumental" was curated by Richard Flood, the chief curator of the museum, and I'm under the assumption that he will have his hand in most every show in the near future. I'm not going to critique the show in terms of what I believe is good or bad, because I respect the fact that the museum is exposing a trend which is so explicitly revealed here. Most of the time curators are trying to find a diverse group of artist that are all making different types of work, but that have small threads that connect them either conceptually or visually. But this show blasts the strategy out of the water, Flood decided to choose 30 or so artist that combined look like a solo artist exhibition. 

I felt like the show was similar to what I hope to do with this blog, figure out who's who and what's what in the art world. "Unmonumental" brings together artist making sculpture out of junk, found objects, and cardboard. They have commissioned some of the artist to create unique works for the show, one the most astounding was by Gedi Sibony. This guy was probably given 10,000 or so to make a cardboard, plastic tarp, and plywood installation that seems to have been dragged out of a garbage bin and thrown into the museum. The poor guide that is provided by the museum tried to explain this piece to me, and of course I asked her to explain it to me, since it was one of the most ridiculous installations in the show. It was pretty funny... the conversation went something like this....

me: so... what does it mean?

guide: well... it doesn't really mean anything... (she liked looking at it from a certain angle, which she positioned me in)... you have to get past the fact that the materials look like trash... this work is very difficult

me: really?

guide: yeah... i love the title (she walks me over to read it to me). I'm not sure how it relates to the installation, but I really like it...

The title was some pedantic bull shit that had nothing to do with the trash that the museum paid good money for.

me: wow... how much did the museum pay for this?

guide: oh... they don't tell me those kinds of things...

me: well, knowing that would make it much more interesting, don't you think?

NO RESPONSE... awkward moment....

To me, Sibony was fucking with the entire institution, getting paid to pick out some trash and display it... remind you of anyone... R. Mutt...

guide: We all understand that he is not the first artist to make art this way, but the museum was very excited to have him make this work...

me: wow... thanks for the explanation... that really helped... 

guide: thank you for asking... (i think i was the most work she had done all day)

Recap:

• The work meant nothing
• was difficult
• expensive
• had been done before
• and had a nice title with no significance... 

Now that's what I call contemporary art.

Miami Love

WOW!! Miami was fucking amazing!! I've heard so many stories in the past about how great the Miami Art Fairs are, but until I had the chance to experience them for myself, I had no idea what people were actually talking about, it kinda felt like a myth, but now... I'm here to say that Miami is the Playground for the art world!

Let me start by making a correction, there were actually 24 Fairs, not 18, I had a chance to see about 15 or so. I've ranked the top 10 from best to worst. 

1. Scope

2. Aqua Wynwood

3. Pulse

4. Nada

5. Photo Miami

6. Art Basel

7. Art Miami

8. Zones

9. Bridge

10. Red Dot

Okay, so let me explain. Scope was number 1 because they had the youngest and most experimental work. It was a huge fair that felt ambitious and fresh. Scope had a great range of galleries from all over the world, and the work was engaging (don't get me wrong, there was some real shit there too) but overall the fair had a great energy about it. Aqua was well organized, the art chosen was beautiful, and the presentation was better than any other fair. Pulse had some really great galleries, but the fair was slightly boring and predictable. Nada was a complete snoozer, but the galleries there are some of the best, up and coming... they have some high price art, but so many of the artist shown had sub-par work, and weren't represented well in this format. Photo Miami is next, they put together a sophisticated fair that had great presentation, but it's kinda difficult to weed out what's good from bad. 

All five of those fairs come ahead of Art Basel. Why? Well... Basel is the Monster, the Giant, the Fair that people travel the globe to visit, but One major thing is missing. NEW ART! Walking through Basel feels like walking through a history class. Maybe it's new art to some collectors or the lay audience, but for anyone who keeps up with the current art world, they are not looking at Basel to reveal what's new and hot. Basel felt like a secondary market fair that had art world giants exhibiting their commercial work. Nothing interesting comes from a fair that's simply about who will pay 100,000 dollars for a tiny drawing. The younger fairs reveal what is being made by the next generation. Maybe that's not important, but I am certainly more interested in what will be happening in the future rather than what the old guys have been doing for decades.

And "Art Positions" is a FUCKING JOKE! why the fuck would any respectable gallery pay money to exhibit their hard working artist in a container. This does no justice to the art or artist. This section of Basel is an embarrassment, and should be done away with. It's not hip or cool, or "kinda interesting" it's simply a joke to make an extra buck by the Fair. 

And for "Art Supernova"... when I see a supernova i'll let you know... none in sight yet. All though there was a cool piece that had two fans keeping a cassette tape string floating in air. But the rest was just boring. 

Moons over Miami: Chelsea on the Beach

Every December Rich people from all over the world gather to celebrate the holidays by traveling to the sun drenched, silicone filled, latin loving, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing town of Miami Florida to spend huge amounts of money on contemporary art, which will adorn their walls during the Christmas season, and hopefully impress their equally wealthy neighbors, and perhaps cause bits of jealousy amongst the collectors that weren't invited to the Deitch Party or given their VIP pass to the Nada Party (which fetches a $125 cover).

I've heard rumors of 18 Fairs this year! What the FUCK! 18 Fairs? Also, rumor has it that this maybe the last year that Art Basel comes to Miami, which is the Fair that makes the Most MONEY, and is the Real reason why people go to Miami. The rest of the fairs are for the galleries that aren't in the cool kids club yet, but have hopes of playing with big boys and girls someday. Some of the new cool kids play at NADA, which has the Over Priced young artist that will eventually fade into obscurity or fall of the face of the art world earth.

Then of course you have the ever battling Scope Art Fair vs. Pulse Art Fair. If these fairs had a free entrance they might be worth walking through. You may find some decently priced work of young young artist that will hopefully make it to NADA or Basel within the upcoming years. But a collector would need to have a really keen eye to decipher crap from shit, and make a difficult decision that may not require the advice of a over priced consultant that buys name brand art and talks the bull shit talk as if they have their finger on the "pulse" of the young art world. 

So... my flight leaves on Sunday. I'll be there all week to experience the extravaganza to its fullest. I plan on drinking my way to the top, and in-between the drinking I'll hit the beach and run into everyone that I always see in Chelsea every week at the openings. It's going to be Chelsea on the Beach. 

I'll report back, maybe even while I am there...

Bad Art

Presenting...

Jacob Feige & Eva Struble

How Many fucking painters are making post-apocalyptic pantings that talk about landscape and rainbows? Please! I found this guy after I was looking up Eva Struble who also makes landscapes paintings, but who is collected by Saatchi, which makes her more important than Jacob. But I would argue that she probably sold to Saatchi because she went to Yale, and Mr. Feige hasn't yet because he went to Cranbrook. But I'm sure Lombard-Fried won't have a problem selling either one these decorators work because they both make great, easy-to-live-with, pretty paintings that will make them a decent living, but never really change anything. 

Jacobs work tries so hard to be hip, it does all the right things to stay safe and pretty. It's an academics dream come true, but he never leaves the art student realm. Nothing happens in the work. There is a Jacob in every Grad school in the country. He just happens to have a connection to this gallery, but at the end of the day... the work is just Boring.

Eva on the other hand is a better painter, but fall short in content, she attempts to have a point, but maybe she's just an abstract painter at heart. So many young artist (Eva 1981) feel they need to fill their work with phony content so they can come to terms with the fact they they just want to make an abstract painting, but can't. So... Eva, "just paint, therein lies salvation" -PC. From looking over Eva's resume I imagine she's a smart young lady (Brown Alum), with fat pockets (mom and dad)(well traveled), and if she's attractive, well... she will certainly continue to make her way in this art world. But if she wants to make any contributions she may have to choose to actually have an opinion or voice (ie. not just make beautiful landscape paintings), no one can get away with decoration forever.

if Roberta likes it...

It's always interesting to see a show and think "fuck! this is really great work!" but feel like the rest of art world may not be intersted. Well, Hany was not overlooked by the contemporary art worlds Clement Greenberg, Roberta Smith. Ms. Smith is the ONE that everyone reads, and I was very happy to see this show get reviewed.

HANY ARMANIOUS

Year of the Pig Sty

Foxy Production

617 West 27th Street, Chelsea

Through Dec. 5

The inaugural New York exhibition of Hany Armanious, an Egyptian-born artist who lives in Sydney, Australia, is a kind of riot of fabrication, conflict and mindless consumption involving quantities of mud that cover the floor, are splattered on the walls and are central to the art.

In the center of the gallery little cylinders of mud are being cast, dried beneath a light and then assembled into long staffs that might be pool cues. In the far corner polystyrene barriers form a large pen, strewn with mud and shreds of plastic fabric, where two strange, shell-like forms of cast mud face off. The pig theme may explain why they suggest enormous truffles or other fungal forms about to battle to the death.

In the near corner a pile of clogs, mostly cast in pink silicone and mixed with socks, casts of human feet and white net billiards pockets, spill from bags and boxes.

Themes of industry, creativity, elemental nature and consumption are touched on here, evoking a narrative whose combination of obscurity and elaborateness could be a necessity or simply a received idea. From an American viewpoint, Mr. Armanious’s precedents include Joseph Beuys, Matthew Barney and Jason Rhoades, which is neither here nor there, but his debut conveys an impressive sculptural ease and an appealing, provocative bit of let-it-rip madness. Anything, or nothing, could happen.

ROBERTA SMITH

Whitney Biennial 2008 Artists

So here is it... 

The list that people wait for every two years, the list that people will be angry about, and the list where "I can't believe he/she made it" will be gossiped about by young artists. 

The youngest this year is Rashawn Griffin (1980), a young black Yale grad that was probably suggested by Thelma Golden. I think he really needs to make something great for this show because thus far this young artist hasn't done anything to merit the Biennial.

While I was going down the list, the first artist that I thought might be sleeping with one of the curators was Joe Bradley cause this guys work is fucking awful. He shows at a trendy gallery  (Canada), but please, how could this be important some of the most important work in the art world today?

Joe Bradley's awful work (but wait, saatchi bought it so it must be worthy of the Whitney Biennial)

Then we have Gardar Eide Einarsson, who I actually like, but just because he's the cool kid that has cool friends, the kinda kid that would skip school and smoke weed (also I think he's a skater, and who doesn't love a skater). Also, he shows at Team Gallery, which has another artist in the Biennial (Carol Bove). But he's in it a few years too late, he should've been in it when his buddies Banks Violette and Terence Koh were in it, but I guess Shamim is spreading out her Goth boys so that she can later curate the project room with another black and white artist that she can write the catalogue for. I think Ms. Momin just likes to have these young coked up kids that are renegades or seemingly renegade around to improve her social life. I hope Gardar makes a sculpture for the show, cause I'm tired of seeing the wall pieces.

Then we have two artist from The Core Program, William Cordova, and Leslie Hewitt (she's not there now, but was there last year). These two artist knew each other at Yale (2004), and have both had some buzz around them. BTW, I've always wondered how Cordova got into the Studio Museum Residency even though he's not black? Anyway, Hewitt has been a break out star, and I'm still trying to figure out her work, she is a young black artist who has torn her way through the art world since she left Yale. For awhile it felt like every time I went to a show, she had a piece in it, but they were never enough to make me really understand why everyone loves her so much. I think this is another Thelma Golden Suggestion, along with Cordova. I kinda feel the same way about these 2 as I do about Griffin, they need to make something to merit the Biennial. I have more faith in Hewitt than Cordova to make something interesting.

Matthew Brannon... snoozer... how this guy got this far is beyond me

Some of the artist I look forward to seeing are:

Rachel Harrison (she's influenced so many young artists)(I'll blog about her later)
Roe Ethridge (so many artist copy this guy)
Coco Fusco (hard core)
John Baldessari (old school, but great)
Jason Rhoades (this is an homage)

NOW... for the "Painters"... it's funny how painting always serves as a backdrop for the Biennial, most of the year every fucking review is about painting, and that's how most galleries pay the bills, which usually leads to the Art Market success of an artist, which then leads them to be "doing so well" which then gets them into the Saatchi Collection, which then gets them into the Triumph of Painting, which then gets them into the Biennial... anyway, I'm not sure who's who in this years show, but Karen Kilimnik is always a crowd pleaser. I'm so glad that young painters selling for hundreds of thousands like Kristen Baker, Kehinde Wiley, Jules de Balincourt, Dana Schutz, and some of the other "big sellers" never make the cut for the Biennial, it goes to show that sales don't equate to important art. 

So... here is the full list... I'll probably touch on more of these artist in the near future. But CONGRATS to all the artist that truly deserve the recognition, and the ones that will use the opportunity to truly impress and engage the art community.

These are the artists selected for the 2008 Whitney Biennial:

Rita Ackermann Born 1968 in Budapest, Hungary, Lives in New York, New York
Natalia Almada Born 1974 in Mexico, Lives in Mexico City, Mexico and New York, New York
Edgar Arceneaux Born 1972 in Los Angeles, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Fia Backström Born 1970 in Stockholm, Sweden, Lives in New York, New York
John Baldessari Born 1931 in National City, California, Lives in Santa Monica, California
Robert Bechtle Born 1932 in San Francisco, California, Lives in San Francisco, California
Walead Beshty Born 1976 in London, England, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Carol Bove Born 1971 in Geneva, Switzerland, Lives in New York, New York
Joe Bradley Born 1975 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, Lives in New York, New York
Matthew Brannon, Born 1971 in Saint Maries, Idaho, Lives in New York, New York
Bozidar Brazda Born 1972 in Cambridge, Canada, Lives in New York, New York
Olaf Breuning, Born 1970 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Lives in New York, New York
Jedediah Caesar, Born 1973 in Oakland, California. Lives in Los Angeles, California
William Cordova Born 1971 in Lima, Peru, Lives in Houston, Texas and Miami, Florida
Dexter Sinister Stuart Bailey, Born 1973 in York, England, David Reinfurt, Born 1971 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Based in New York, New York
Harry (Harriet) Dodge and Stanya Kahn Born 1966 and 1968, respectively, in San Francisco, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Shannon Ebner Born 1971 in Englewood, New Jersey, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Gardar Eide Einarsson Born 1976 in Oslo, Norway, Lives in New York, New York
Roe Ethridge Born 1969 in Miami, Florida, Lives in New York, New York
Kevin Jerome Everson Born 1965 in Mansfield, Ohio, Lives in Charlottesville, Virginia
Omer Fast Born 1972 in Jerusalem, Israel, Lives in Berlin, Germany
Robert Fenz Born 1969 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coco Fusco Born 1960 in New York, New York, Lives in New York, New York
Gang Gang Dance Lizzi Bougatsos, Brian DeGraw, Tim DeWit, Josh Diamond, Nathan Maddox, Founded 2001-02 in New York, New York, Based in New York, New York
Amy Granat and Drew Heitzler Born 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri, and born 1972 in Charleston, South Carolina, respectively, Live in New York, NY, and Los Angeles, California, respectively
Rashawn Griffin Born 1980 in Los Angeles, California, Lives in New York, New York
Adler Guerrier Born 1975 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Lives in Miami, Florida
MK Guth Born 1963 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Lives in Portland, Oregon
Fritz Haeg Born 1969 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Rachel Harrison Born 1966 in New York, New York, Lives in New York, New York
Ellen Harvey Born 1967 in Kent, England, Lives in New York, New York
Mary Heilmann Born 1940 in San Francisco, California, Lives in New York, New York
Leslie Hewitt Born 1977 in New York, New York, Lives in New York, New York and Houston, Texas
Patrick Hill Born 1972 in Royal Oak, Michigan, Lives in Los Angeles, California
William E. Jones Born 1962 in Canton, Ohio, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Karen Kilimnik Born 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alice Könitz Born 1970 in Essen, Germany, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Louise Lawler Born 1947 in Bronxville, New York, Lives in New York, New York
Spike Lee Born 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia, Lives in New York, New York
Sherrie Levine Born 1947 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and New York, New York
Charles Long Born 1958 in Long Branch, New Jersey, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Lucky Dragons Luke Fischbeck born 1978 in San Francisco, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Daniel Joseph Martinez Born 1957 in Los Angeles, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Corey McCorkle Born 1969 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Lives in New York, New York
Rodney McMillian Born 1969 in Columbia, South Carolina, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Julia Meltzer and David Thorne Born 1968 in Hollywood, California, and born 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Jennifer Montgomery Born 1961 in New York, New York, Lives in Chicago, Illinois
Olivier Mosset Born 1944 in Bern, Switzerland, Lives in Tucson, Arizona
Matt Mullican Born 1951 in Santa Monica, California, Lives in New York, New York
Neighborhood Public Radio (NPR) Formed 2004 in Oakland, California, Based in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Diego, California, and Chicago, Illinois
Ruben Ochoa Born 1974 in Oceanside, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California
DJ Olive Born 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts, Lives in New York, New York
Mitzi Pederson Born 1976 in Stuart, Florida, Lives in San Francisco, California
Kembra Pfahler/The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black Born 1961 in Hermosa Beach, California, Lives in New York, New York
Seth Price Born 1973 in East Jerusalem, Lives in New York, New York
Stephen Prina Born 1954 in Galesburg, Illinois, Lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California
Adam Putnam Born 1973 in New York, New York, Lives in New York, New York
Michael Queenland Born 1970 in Pasadena, California, Lives in New York, New York
Jason Rhoades Born 1965, Newcastle, California, Died 2006, Los Angeles, California
Ry Rocklen Born 1978 in Los Angeles, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Bert Rodriguez Born 1975 in Miami, Florida, Lives in Miami, Florida
Marina Rosenfeld Born 1968 in New York, New York, Lives in New York, New York
Amanda Ross-Ho Born 1975 in Chicago, Illinois, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Mika Rottenberg Born 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lives in New York, New York
Heather Rowe Born 1970 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lives in New York, New York
Eduardo Sarabia Born 1976 in Los Angeles, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California, Guadalajara, Mexico, and Berlin, Germany
Melanie Schiff Born 1977 in Chicago, Illinois, Lives in Chicago, Illinois
Amie Siegel Born 1974 in Chicago, Illinois, Lives in New York, New York and Berlin, Germany
Lisa Sigal Born 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lives in New York, New York
Gretchen Skogerson Born 1970 in Teaneck, New Jersey, Lives in New York, New York
Michael Smith Born 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, Lives in New York, New York and Austin, Texas
Agathe Snow Born 1976 in Corsica, France, Lives in New York, New York
Frances Stark Born 1967 in Newport Beach, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Mika Tajima/New Humans Mika Tajima, Born 1975 in Los Angeles, California, Lives in New York, New York
Howie Chen Born 1976 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Lives in New York, New York
Javier Téllez Born 1969 in Valencia, Venezuela, Lives in New York, New York
Cheyney Thompson Born 1975 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Lives in New York, New York
Mungo Thomson Born 1969 in Woodland, California, Lives in Berlin, Germany and Los Angeles, California
Leslie Thornton Born 1951 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Lives in New York, New York
Phoebe Washburn Born 1973 in Poughkeepsie, New York, Lives in New York, New York
James Welling Born 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut, Lives in Los Angeles, California
Mario Ybarra, Jr. Born 1973 in Los Angeles, California, Lives in Los Angeles, California