New York seems, to me, to differ from other major world cities in the recyclability (is that even a word?) of its symbols — especially its architecture and public art. To get what I mean, consider the Louvre by contrast. You experience it as an art museum, and yet if you’ve given your tour book [...]
Archive for the ‘Art’ category
The stuff of life
I’ve been thinking about stuff a lot lately. Not “stuff” as in philosophical musings on the human condition, the meaning of existence, etc. I mean the stuff we keep in boxes, packed into closets and attics and basements. Admittedly, the two do intersect a fair amount.
Last week I began wading through 15 or so big [...]
The writing’s on the wall
I can think of three reasons why, for as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by restroom graffiti.
First, I love the idea of secret lives, that there are so many people out there yearning to say something, but need total anonymity to do so. Of course, the people who speak out via [...]
Disarmingly decorative
If you’re in New York tomorrow evening, you could do worse than to drop by the opening of our very own Lane Twitchell’s new show at Roebling Hall in Chelsea. (At the very least, go see it before it closes in a month.)From the press release:
In the Project Room, Roebling Hall is pleased to present [...]
Gone bananas
I’m kind of glad I missed the opening — and first few weeks — of Stefan Sagmeister’s book-launch show at Deitch Projects, one of the few interesting art spots left in our neighborhood. (And by “interesting” I mean all the delicious, snotty ambivalence that word tends to conjure.) The reason I’m glad? Because the exhibit [...]
Objectification of desire: part two
A while ago I started ruminating on the objects that we acquire, what might be termed material culture, and today I continue.
One thing I have learned about taste is that it stays close to home. I remember hearing that vintage Poole Pottery is more expensive in the town of Poole in Dorset. That [...]
Thursday playlist: YouTube for 6th graders edition
Our guest curator, Molly, attends middle school in lower Manhattan. An expert in Web-surfing, she considers YouTube just one of the places to find cool things. The following is the product of two years’ worth of careful YouTube analysis. These are the links every person on the planet should know.
1. Muffins
At first, you want some [...]
Reading prejudice
Dear Reader:
I often shy away from the popular, which occasionally means missing out on the great. A surfeit of hype clouds the original and layers it with expectation. However, I have tried to make a habit of tackling literary classics—in spite of the dreary image that this moniker and their popularity promote in [...]
Ex-Patsy
A couple years ago, at a dinner party in the East Village, a friend told me he was looking for a bass player for his band, a Patsy Cline covers outfit with a German lead singer. They were hoping to pull together a line-up for Performa 05, a big performance art biennial that fall. They’d [...]
The Pirate Twins
One evening on the sands
Mary found
the pirate twins – so –
she took them home
and bathed them
and fed them
on this
that
and the other
she taught them how to dress
what ‘S’ stands for
where to find Jamaica
and the Milky Way
how to dance
and how to play
but they didn’t care
they bit their nails and sucked their thumbs
put things into the cat’s milk [...]
