1. Lost and Found: An Evening with Bern Porter
This gathering brought together both well-versed, cultish fans of Bern Porter's work, and curious newcomers to his words and poetry. I especially enjoyed the looping slideshow of Porter's cunning, clever, and comical works of "word art."
In addition, Kenneth Goldsmith's suit (while reading a Bern Porter poem about the monotony of getting dressed) was spectacular and also worth mention:
I also must make a note to go see the actual exhibition on view at the MOMA Library through July 5, 2010.
2. Jennifer Rubell's melting cheese head sculptures/hors d'oeuvres at the Brooklyn Museum's Brooklyn Ball 2010
I did not have the chance to attend this high-falutin, swanky party at the Brooklyn Art Museum, but I'm sure I would have left satiated, in a happy daze. From what I've seen, this was an artful feast of gluttonous proportions including a pile of potato chips and mayonnaise imitating Jackson Pollack's One: Number 31 (1950), and tables full of whole roasted pigs, rabbits, and other edible animals . What made my mouth water the most was the melting fontina cheese heads over Carr crackers, inspired by one of my favorite artist's (Bruce Nauman) Ten Heads Circle/Up and Down (1990).
3. Spring blooms in New York City
Need I say more?
4. Curtis Mann at the Whitney Biennial
Even though this year's Biennial has a significantly less number of artists than previous years, it was still difficult to pick and choose which work to spend time on and which works to give the old 4-second study. I have to admit, I gave Curtis Mann's After the Dust a quick look from across the room and quickly brushed it off. However, a few minutes later I noticed that my companion for the day was not with me anymore, and I found her in the last room still studying this wall-size collection of images. I am delighted that I decided to give this piece a second glance, and I was soon cooing "oohs" and "ahhs" and "how?"
Upon closer examination, I could not figure out how he could have possibly created this effect in the darkroom, and was mystified by thought that he had! It wasn't until I learned that the photographs had been tampered with bleach that it all began to make since. I was slowly putting together the pieces of an exciting puzzle, learning how the artist came to the final product. It was a bewildering art viewing, "aha," moment -- one that I often didn't identify with while witnessing upon other's faces while I was once a museum gallery attendant.
5. Smokebath
Smokebath is an online exhibition, zine, and fundraiser exhibition curated and organized by Peter Sutherland. The online exhibition (fabulous and addicting) and accompanying catalog (a cute, grayscale zine printed on the most wonderfully soft newsprint) includes works by dozens artists based around the themes of camping, nature, and exploring. It sure makes me pine for summer...In fact, I just bought a tent on amazon.com!
6. Drawings by Jenn Brehm
Jenn Brehm continuously works series of water color drawings where she allows her hands and thoughts to evolve freely. She doesn't allow herself to spend more than a brief amount of time on each drawing, leaving each work seems like a fragile object, and even a fleeting image. I love the gestural marks and linear forms that are suggestive of human bodies, even though the final subject falls short of human.
7. Bruce High Quality Foundation at the Whitney Biennial
For showing me images and youtube clips that I didn’t ask to see, yet somehow I can’t take my eyes away.
8. Painting scene during RED on Broadway
I have to say, the play was "fine." The most enjoyable scene depicts Mark Rothko and his assistant priming a canvas with, yep, you guessed it, a deep red pigment. This is the moment where the play hit its crescendo and grabs the viewer in, almost as if a zoom lens is applied onto the stage. Alfred Molina (Rothko) and Eddie Redmayne (Ken, the assistant) leap into a highly choreographed (in fact, choreographed into a cutesy dance) pas-de-deux, where their bodies intertwine through a synchronized rhythm of aggressive brushstroking and arm-flailing.
9. Wall decorations at Pies'n'thighs
Leave it to me to let food leak its way into this list of Top 10 highlights more than once! The food at the recently re-opened hipster soul-food joint, Pies'n'Thighs is delicious, but the choice of wall decorations and posters inside the restaurant are humorously delightful! I particularly enjoy the poster of a bowl of vibrant oranges, a vintage poster of a woman with Subway-Jared style over-sized pants, and a wonderfully simple, gestural, still-life painting of fruit (pictured above, on the left wall of the restaurant).
10. Marco Anelli’s Flickr Steam
Photographer Marco Anelli has been spending everyday at the MOMA during the run of Marina Abramovic's 3-month performance, "The Artist Is Present." Anelli is documenting the face of each person who goes head-to-head, sitting across the table from Marina Abromavic as she looks into their eyes, all day, everyday, for the entire run of the exhibition. I have to say, Marina isn't looking so good these days...her eyes are raw and red, her skin is waxy, and she looks absolutely exhausted (and this is only Day 22!). What is beautiful about the participants (her opponents and/or partners) is they all appear so fresh-faced, optimistic, and sincerely determined (even this kid looks pretty serious!).
Each photograph is beautiful, and when seen as a set on Flickr, a glance of each person creates a poetic mosaic of Abramovic's experiences with the visitors of the MOMA. Even more interesting is the fact that Anelli lists the day and amount of time that each person spent participating in "The Artist Is Present."
