“if you only had six months to live… in new york city”

Dangerous Cheap Art was a checklist project I executed the last six months I lived in NYC. I wanted to make sure I got out there and saw the museums, the galleries, the art that had sustained me for the decade I called the Empire State home.

Here I am blogging, my last day in Brooklyn.

art links 

amy sillman

art 21

artkrush

bellwether

esa’s artrap

drawing center

eric doeringer

inka essenhigh

thrift store art gallery

julie heffernan

margaret kilgallen

manetas

modern art notes

neo rauch

nyc cheap museums

thrift store art

wburg/ arts

art to-do

folk art museum 
drawing center
american craft museum
hoerengraght
amy sillman
richter
galerie neue
ida applebroog
the armory show
amy cutler
ellen gallagher:preserve
whitney biennial
whitneybiennial.com
lari pittman
neo rauch
kokoschka

 

Looks to be this will be the last post of our little experiment – almost nearly 6 months of this. I can’t say I maintained my enthusiasm for this the whole way through. 

Luckily today I went to a couple museums for just the sheer act of escapism, and that I can say is the best reason of all to be interested in art. 

Today I had the good fortune of being granted a few last unexpected bonus hours in New York while sidekick got his house in order. I was regretting not being able to go up to the Met just one last time, so that is how I spent my day. Well the afternoon anyway.

I also went up to see the Mexican Show at El Museo Del Barrio. 

I must say a few things, for some reason I was pissed because they jacked admission up for this special event. $7.00 seems a lot to pay for this teeny tiny museum. Yes, I appreciated being able to see these paintings in the flesh but I felt a little gypped. I guess this is their summer blockbuster. Two other things that hindered my visit, the museum was packed. Lots of school kids and others. 

Usually  I come all the way up to 104th to get away from the masses and get some peace and quiet. My last piece of bitchiness- there is literally a guard for every single piece of art in this show. I felt like I was attending a shop-lifting racket or something. Seriously, I could not see some of the art because these two guards were engaged in this heavy duty conversation that blockaded the pieces. What ever. So I am glad for this little museum that they will be popular this summer, but as far as my own visit, it was short and I was annoyed. Even leaving, I tried to open one door out and two guards (yes two!) yelled at me to exit only through their doors. I don’t know. When I saw the Contemporary Brazilian show their last winter, there was one guard and me. That was it, and it was glorious. 

I suppose today I was under the gun of time constraints so there was that, but still. I walked up 5th, passing many museums I never stepped a foot into, one I regretted not having more time (and money) to visit – for instance there looked like a really interesting show at Cooper-Hewit. I really did want to see the Kokoshka show at Neue Galleries, but they were closed, so I went straight to the Met.

So the Met worked it’s magic. For two hours I became Claudia Kincaid and was completely absorbed into that world and could forget all the other junk that has been plaguing me for the last few weeks. 

I hit all the old favorites for good measure, the 17th Century Dutch wing, especially Rembrandt and Vermeer, I ran into the American Contemporary wing, went up on the roof garden, went down to the Costume Institute, passed through the Egyptian Wing. I reluctantly went into the NYC Photo Exhibit, completely expecting more post 9/11 hype, but I immediately saw a Bernice Abbot and forgot about that. Of course Robert Frank, but who is Helen Levitt? Really wonderful photos of people, especially children playing in the street. I was thrilled to learn about her. 

I still think the Met is my favorite place to escape to in New York. It’s kind of like jumping into an encyclopedia. And yes it is old and grand and stuffy, but there is something about the sheer size of the place that is overwhelming. I have been there more times than I would care to count, and still I turn a corner every time and see something unexpected. I still get lost. Today that is exactly what was needed. Getting lost. 

The New Irascibles 

This just bugs the fucking shit out of me. 

Group Three
Bruno Facchetti (Studio Facchetti), Erik Guzman (Goliath), Rebecca Smith (Bellwether Gallery), Hilario Nun (Fish Tank), Daniel Carello (Rome Arts), Renée Riccardo (Arena@Feed), George Mansfield (4 1/2 Projects), Alun Williams (Parker’s Box), Il Lee (Im n Il), Jacques Halbert (MagnifiK), Megan Bush(31 Grand), Ron Keyson (Keyson Gallery), Michael Pollack (Pollack/Farrell), Ron Segev (Star 67), Chris Murray (FUNY & Video Soapbox), Adam Price (The State of Art), Randall Harris (Figureworks), Daniel Aycock (Front Room)

 

And just one more quick note, is The Egg broadcast nationally? 

(I guess so). 

Who ever is behind PBS with this agenda to make art interesting and fun again, I applaud them. Between this and the Art21 series, I wish more people would take notice that dry, oppressive, elitist attitudes in the art world are dead. And also drowning out this feeling that if you wander out of the epicenter known as NYC, you don’t exist. Sometimes I think, wow it’s a big sky up there people, you just have to look up. 

Hey, look: Gregory Crewdson  has been on the show! Fancy that! 

(scratch previous post, now I hear it has been cancelled. Oh well.)

Here is a brief interview with Gregory Crewdson, the artist showing at Luhring Augustine this month. I don’t think he actually is responsible for the cover art of the following album, but it sure did remind me of so as I was looking at it. Our fact checkers here seem to be having a hard time finding out the truth, but they will continue into the night, to find out who was responsible for such imagery. 

Today, was really lovely. A bunch of rain kept everyone inside, which left the streets of Manhattan deserted and perfect for gallery visiting. 
I didn’t have much time so we shaved down the visit to just the essentials. My first and last stops of the day were my favorite. I have photos up on the Dangerous Chunky site of both the Rothenburg  exhibit (at the new Sperone Westwater site) and of White Column’s new show, “She’s Crafty…And So Is He Sometimes“. 

 

Here is the short list along with my cryptic notes that I made on the subway coming home : 

Susan Rothenberg @ Sperone Westwater 415 West 13 Street, 
(makes me want to paint-i feel so loyal to her-i love sperone’s new space too. The meat packing district is so much more charming than Chelsea-funny being they are less than 10 blocks apart. When I’ m in Chelsea i always want to escape the moment i get there. Like get the fuck out!) 

White Columns -Crafty Show @320 W. 13th Show 
(hudson/horatio)small but fun show. And they were really nice to me about photos. 
__________________________ 

Sue Williams@303 Gallery 525 W. 22 
(boring-especially w/ Brice Marden across the street-i did like her drawings in the back room.Unfortunatey the most memorable thing about this visit was someone left a Cocker Spaniel in the front of the gallery-and as I was leaving the poor thing began vomiting profusely. 

Arturo Herrera@ Brent Sikma 530 W.22nd 
(smart but some pieces almost felt gimmicky. I loved the smell walking into the gallery though, of fresh paint. Nothing can beat that for me) 
___________________________ 
Carol Durham@ Metro Pictures 519 W. 24th 
(same old schtick, its too bad-once after seeing a show of his crayon drawings in Soho years ago I was so inspired I ran over to Pearl Paint and bought some of my own. ) 

Andrea Zittel @Andrea Rosen 525 W. 24th 
(beautitiful/inventive/love her color/sense of economy/ love her work) Andrea Zittel always makes spaces in spaces that make me think of spaces I had dreamed up as a child. And there is such a sense of necocnomy with her material, nothing is wasted. I have never seen a show of hers I haven’t like. The last show she had at AR, three years ago, really appealed to me, where she was addressing time and activity. But this today was wonderful too. 

Gregory Crewdson 
(Yo La Tenga album cover art? Lynchian-moody -pieces, I really liked these photographs, I gave them my full attention. ) That was unfortunately the most packed gallery I visited. I do not get the concept of the group gallery visit. Why. 


Richard Prince@ Barbara Gladstone 515 W. 24 
(identity crisis-too much jasper johns? I liked that last batch of paintings Richard Prince did when he returned to expressionism but now he seems to be emulating early career Jasper Johns, they were slightly appealing but so lacking in originality that I just had to shake my head) 

I have a feeling that will be my last opportunity to get to the galleries. I have so much to do and see in the next week and unfortunately, like sands through an hour glass, these are the days of my life. Even though I dread going to Chelsea, I will miss seeing the art. Something I have thought about a lot in the past six months, that is for certain. 

After all my sneaking around last year with my camera, I found that most galleries are really nice about letting you document work if you only ask. Today everyone was just lovely. 

This poor abandoned blog. No time for art as of late. No time for anything really. I have to get to the Susan Rothenburg show if it is the last thing I do here in New York City. Time is running out, we have 1.5 weeks left to shove a whole life time in. Damn.