 |
| Maureen Gallace |
So, as this blog
attests the last few months have been savagely shitty and instead of wallowing
in it further, I’m going to be positive for a change. I tend to not like being
overly positive because, hello, shit is too real out there, but sometimes you
just have to embrace things with a squeezy hug versus white fists. Also, it’s
May ya’ll and the weather is getting warmer and flowers are blooming and even
this cement city we call home seems full of life.
Below are some
recommendations that made me smile the past week or so. I hope you are smiling
a bit more and if not, fake it till you make it babies.
Maureen Gallace
at PS1 MoMA
Went to see Ian
Cheng’s show at PS1 and although I liked that show, I was really surprised and
happy to see Maureen Gallace’s show of paintings. They are discreet oils of houses;
beaches; flowers and they feel like an antidote to all the heavy dystopian
over-the-topness in art of late. Light, shadows, speckling of sky are
masterfully, I mean truly masterfully done and although the subject matter
might feel pedestrian, these paintings are anything but. They are quiet but
haunted, beautiful but complicated, they are so clear yet have this enigmatic
quality that makes you aware of what the word impressive means. This show is
formal and feels classic but wow, does it feel like a breath of
fresh air. So much of art today is overly cryptic and sophomorically dense. In contrast, this show is transparent and light which makes it risky and bold.
Sam McKinniss’
Consumer Report on ArtNews
Want to laugh
out loud at your screen while at work? Then read Sam’s Consumer Report on
Artnews. This is a little thing that the mag does wherein they ask an artist to
archive/live-stream their lives for the past 24-48 hours or so. These are all
sort of funny but Sam’s is even funnier, and even if you don’t know Sam, it’s
still very fucking funny because Sam is brilliant with words and his timing in
all things is genius. It also makes you see the ‘art
world’ scene in a true-blue way. One that is full of everyday glamour, friends,
humor and booze.
Adriana Ramic at
Kimberly Klark
So I’m biased, I
know and like both Adriana and KK gallery but kids, you just have to make it
out to Ridgewood to see this show. This is a small space that is packed with
wonderfulness. Dirt, moss, and flowers cover the floor and Ramic’s coded
language, conceptual puzzles are like a Mensa child’s dream wallpaper. It is
smart and charming and it has chops all around. Also, why isn’t there more art
work with dirt? All those guys from back then are dead now, let’s make dirt alive
again! Really, a very charming show which has gotten the critical kudos it
deserves. Trek out if it is far away from you and then enjoy a pint and pretzel
at Gottscheer nearby and contemplate the lexiconic fairies you just witnessed.
Reading
Duh. It’s the
best thing ever and you can have You
time and also look and be smart. Fab. Fab. Fab. Maybe I’ll put together a
summer rec books list from some friends and share in a few weeks but for now in
no particular order or reason here are some I recommend for this month. Octavia
Butler – Wild Seed; Kool AD – OK; Dostoyevsky – Idiot; Joan Didion – Play it as
it Lays; Raymond Chandler – The Big Sleep; Jean Rhys – Quartet (always!); Andy
Warhol – From A and B and Back Again; Calvin Tompkins – Living Well is the Best
Revenge.
Getting A Hair
Cut
Getting a hair
cut is a form of catharsis, or it can be, and I think it should be. As the
season changes I think it’s the best of times to re-vamp your look and to get
rid of all that dead debris that is your hair. I chopped off over 7 inches last
week and let me tell you, I feel so much lighter in all ways. It’s a personal
thing and can be radical or just a hint but I think care and re-invention of
self is a must do at least once a year. If you don’t have hair
enough to cut then do something else but I encourage anyone who is sick of
their look or wants to kick start the new you, cut it. Just cut it all off.
