Duhn-dun-dunnn… summer is over everyone. Well, sorta, we still have some
weeks/days where summer-like activities can be enjoyed but September is the
start of the art cycle. This past summer was jammed packed with art things, so
how could it be more insane!? Well, brace yourselves for the fall madness that
is about to ensue. It’s good in a
way, it helps you fade into the coldness and dark days that will be winter in
New York and going to openings, events, parties, and other things of that sort
are usually the only thing that get you out of the sheets. I will be away for some of this, the
peaked insanity of getting back into gear, but I will roil in these upcoming
weeks of September with eyes rolling, a nonplussed facial expression but also
with a hippity hopped stepping to the plate of this never ending game of
art. I look forward to it even
though I say I don’t at times.
In expectation of the future art to come, I will take
today’s post to reflect on the things from this past summer. Enjoy the calm before the storm.
Charles Burchfield – The Whitney has hung a selection of
works by American artists from the first half of the twentieth century
entitled, American Legends: From Calder to O’Keefe, a bit much of a title I know, but even in this
staid show there is a room of Charles Burchfield paintings paired, or more like
placed, with Edward Hooper paintings that are just so fantastic. Burchfield is one of those artists that
slip my mind more often then he should but every time I see him I go, “gah”
inside. He is just splendid and
refreshing to see. The sharing of
space with Hopper also works well, probably the best thing about the whole
show. Burchfield is so very good
and he reminds one so much of seasons.
EXPO1: New York, MoMA PS1 – I saw this show because it had
people involved in it that I know and I like to see things that people I know
do. I saw this soon after it
opened and I thought perhaps my feelings for it would change. This was a disappointment of a show
overall though and that has stuck with me since seeing it. It is so idea specific that it somehow
seems limiting, or too reliant, on the seriousness/prescience/coolness of the
idea that some of the actual installations, artists selected, and works selected
felt a bit checked off. Some
things were good though, of course, in a big show like this, there are always
good takeaways. The work that
stuck out the most was the Olafur Eliasson’s Your Waste of Time (2013), which has remnants of the glacier, Vatnajökull
from Iceland in a freezing room in which you can walk around. There were other things that I really
wanted to love like Josh Kline’s ProBio contribution but sadly I have to say that things felt a bit off
somehow even though singular works were good. I especially was eager to see Ian Chang’s work (who I think
is probably one of the best artists around) but sadly the day I went it was not
working, which is a part of things but yeah, a bit disappointed in the whole
she-bang. EXPO1: New
York does register a bigger thing though,
this mix of doom-climate-future-tech-diaspora-survival-physic-shifts that seems
to be a focal point for many artists.
China Chalet – I went here for more things then I ever
needed to. Will it continue to be
the place things are hosted or will there be somewhere new for the fall? Things always, always change.
Small rooms, lots of art – This summer I went to a lot of
shows in basements, garages, and tiny things up flights of stairs that were
stuffed with art and people. I know
I went to many more things in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan then I did in
Chelsea this summer, by more then double.
This is a thing that will keep happening. It takes longer to get to these places since space costs
much more then it did in the art world of the 70s and 80s but yes, it is a good
sign that artists, art organizers and entrepreneurs will still make new things
happen even if for a night, a day, or in between their work shifts.
Book bags and baseball caps – Every girl is wearing
them. All of them. All. Of. Them.
Dinner Parties – Hosting and going to private, intimate
dinners and their likes is like a studio visit for peers and friends. It gets you to the point of things and
lets you talk deeply or vaguely about things, as you prefer, but the duration,
the smallness and the directness of being able to converse and share a night, a
meal with a few others is possibly my favorite thing to do. It is different then being at a party
where senses are heightened and watching and being watched is central. It is different then going to a bar and
just unraveling before each other.
It is slower, safer and in a way relieves façade. It is about everyone wanting the other
person there and that let’s people be open and relaxed which is the best way to
be.
Tall Boys – So many tall boys this summer. I love it!
20ish year olds – Yes, there is this annoying young fetish
thing that the art world is really riding on that’s dumb to me. Not towards the young artists that may
be participating but to the people/organizations that should know how obvious
and mildly(very) lecherous it looks.
Anyways, youth is youth. It
will always be the best thing ever and there is a reason why it is
treasured. I think youth is great
and more then that this summer I have met a lot of interesting artists, art
practioners and characters in general that are 22-23-24 years old and they are
like sparkles to me. Not in a
shiny object sort of way but in a, ‘wholly shit you are how young and doing
what?!’ They are bringing it and they deserve to be treated as peers. Yes, being like almost ten years older
then them and being a generally maternal person anyways does make me say things
like, “oh my god, you are how young?” and “oh my god, you are so adorably
un-jaded” but yeah, I think most of these young ones (the good ones) will save
some of the things that should be saved or perhaps to preserve the weirdness
and add to the intelligence needed in the art world and its communities. P.S. Everyone who is not 20-24, STOP
ACTING LIKE IT. It’s
embarrassing. Really. Stop it.
