Andrea Zittel: Escape Vehicle "Sometimes if you can't change a situation, you just have to change the way you think about a situation."                                  The Things I Know for Sure, Andrea Zittel.            'Please Do Not Touch or Enter Artwork' (Sign at the New … [Read more...]

Thomas Eakins, Swimming, 1883-1885                                                                     Thomas Eakins: Untitled Photograph (students posing nude), … [Read more...]

Carolee Schneemann: Meat Joy, 1964 A Living Legend Performance Art - that is, Performances, Events, Happenings, nonmatrixed artists' theater (in Michael Kirby's excellent term) - are not plays, dances, or operas, although they may partake of some characteristics of these, particularly in that they occur in time with a person or persons as the presenter(s). Like plays, dances, or operas, performances are very difficult to write about. There is usually not a script or much of one and, to recast … [Read more...]

Superflex: Guarana Power (display of Guarana soda) Riffs on a Global Groove I was in Tennessee just recently to give a little talk at the brand new Art Gallery of Knoxville, where until the end of the month there’s an exhibition called “Global Groove (Nation Building As Art).” It was curated by director Chris Molinsky. Molinsky, Leslie Starritt, and Bryan McCullough (all recent graduates of the Art Institute of Chicago) are cofounders of this bright new space, which opened in November. My theme, … [Read more...]

Robert Rauschenberg: Monogram, 1955-59 The Poetry of Things If you have never seen Robert Rauschenberg's iconic Bed (1955), Canyon (1959), or the free-standing Monogram (1955-59),or have some pressing need to see them together amid a number of lesser Combines, then you had better visit the current exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (until April 2). You had also better see the exhibition if you really want to challenge yourself with questions of connoisseurship, art history and art … [Read more...]

Tracey Emin: I Can Feel Your Smile Hope for Art I have been pondering the state of art and have become quite optimistic. As usual, many of the artworks I see are of no lasting value (or even of immediate interest), but on the whole art remains a worthwhile pursuit. Although some museum shows were particularly disappointing, an end of the year roundup would have to celebrate both the Robert Smithson and the Richard Tuttle exhibitions at the Whitney. And let's not forget Marina Abramovic's series … [Read more...]

Abramovic: How To Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, 2005. Notes on Performance Art Conventions rule. The iron hand of custom, as outlined last time around, keeps the art world under control. We must have art that stays the same for each visit, over time. We must have catalogues. And catalogues cannot be written about art before it exists. Biographies and pictures of previous works are not quite the same thing as a thorough, thoughtful analysis or...postmortem. The ephemeral, both in museums and … [Read more...]

Richard Tuttle: Purple Octagonal, 1967 Richard Subtle   "To make something which looks like itself is the problem, the solution."               Richard Tuttle The new Richard Tuttle retrospective, initiated by SFMOMA and now at the Whitney (945 Madison Avenue, to Feb. 5), opens old wounds. But a rehash of yesterday's art rages is instructive in outlining how hierarchies function, how blame is apportioned, and how custom … [Read more...]

Yves Klein, Untitled Monochrome Souvenirs of the Future                    Georges Mathieu: What is artfor you?                     Yves Klein: Art is health! What is one to do with Yves Klein? A museum-quality painting survey at the L & M Arts Gallery ( "Yves Klein: A Career Survey;" 45 East 78th Street, to December … [Read more...]

As a service to loyal readers, Artopia can now offer notification of new installments of John Perreault's Art Diary as they are made available. If you should desire an Artopia Alert, please send an e-mail to that effect to perreault@aol.com.      Eugene Andolsek, Untitled. When Outsiders Come Inside If work by the five artists presented in "Obsessive Drawing" (American Folk Art Museum, 45 W. 53rd St., to March 19) were displayed in a Chelsea Gallery sans Outsider i.d., … [Read more...]