Lessons in Art History You knew it was coming: more about Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988). My June 21 entry (you can find it under Archives, June in the column to the left) covered the reopening of the Noguchi Museum in Queens and included a lot of his biography that I really don't need to repeat. Although the Noguchi Museum has its charms, I wanted to see a more traditionally curatorial view of his sculpture in a white-walled venue, removed from the artist's personal aura. This indeed is what we have … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2004
ROTHKO’S GHOST, AN INTERVIEW
Lars von Trier Von Trier and Rothko When we hit a writer's block, we know what to do. We fall back on techniques learned from master poetry teacher Kenneth Koch: create an obstruction or a rule to bat your head against. Choose an insane and rigid form like the sestina; exclude the letter E as Georges Perec did for his novel A Void; pretend you are someone else. We are having a hard time writing about the newly issued, long-lost book by Mark Rothko (1903-1979). … [Read more...]
RUBIN MUSEUM OF (HIMALAYAN) ART
Tibet Invades Chelsea's Eastern Border So far, the most significant art event this fall is the opening of the Rubin Museum of Art (150 W. 17th St.)in the huge building that once housed Barneys. Ages ago, Barneys featured boy's and men's clothes off-the-rack then went upscale and then uptown, leaving a vacant building behind on Seventh Avenue between 17th and 18th. Of course, MoMA is set to reopen this November in expanded quarters. And it will be great to see some of our … [Read more...]
DISABILITY ART
Judith Scott, Untitled, n.d. WHAT'S IN A NAME? [Presented Oct. 8 in Oakland, Ca.at "Margins and Mainstreams: Disability Art Today," American Folk Art Society Conference, hosted by The Creative Growth Art Center.] Disability Art, as in the title of this symposium, is a new term for me. I think I know what it means: art by those with disabilities, art by the physically, mentally, and emotionally disabled. But do we need yet another art term? … [Read more...]
GUY MADDIN, ARTIST
Guy Maddin, The Saddest Music in the World, 2003 (Isabella Rossellini as Canadian beer tycoon) ArtOutside the Art Galleries At a time when it is hard to avoid movies or digital projections in art galleries, why not go back to origins? Musician/artist Brian Eno once prophesized that although it might seem that art has disappeared, we would find it again in an unlikely place. Could that be in movie theaters and thenon DVDs? Not only is the … [Read more...]