Archives for March 2008

I'm back again with SoJo (Soterios Johnson to you) on New York Public Radio, 93.9 FM and 820 AM, to impart some further Whitney Wisdom at precisely 7:51 a.m. tomorrow morning.Right! If I were you, I wouldn't bet on those numbers. Let's just say it should be aired some time or other tomorrow during Morning Edition, to which you can listen live here.Of course, I'll provide a … [Read more...] about My Whitney Biennial Mini-Review Tomorrow on New York Public Radio

Claes Oldenburg, "Soft Drainpipe---Red (Hot) Version," 1967 Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, National Gallery of ArtIt's a far cry from when Baltimore Museum director Adelyn Breeskin, through deft wooing, snatched the modern art collection of the local Cone sisters out from under the nose of the Museum of Modern Art's Alfred Barr, who had haughtily declared that the … [Read more...] about National Gallery Invades Baltimore Outskirts: Meyerhoff Outpost Planned

Richard Gluckman's concept design for an addition (left) to the Albright-Knox GalleryThe website of Gluckman Mayner Architects, Richard Gluckman's firm, indicates that the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, may already be further along than has been publicly disclosed in engaging what the museum's director recently said would be a "world-renowned architect" to design an … [Read more...] about Is Richard Gluckman the Albright-Knox Expansion’s “World-Renowned Architect”?

Robert Bechtle, "Six Houses on Mound Street," 2006, private collection, courtesy Gladstone Gallery Heather Rowe, "Something Crossed the Mind (embellished three times)," 2008, Collection of the artist, courtesy D'Amelio Terras (with CultureGrrl in the mirror)Let's get this out of the way immediately: The pretentious, off-putting introductory wall text for the soon-to-open … [Read more...] about Witty at the Whitney: A Most Endearing Biennial

I'm off to the press preview of the Whitney Biennial, but I leave you with the introductory wall text, below, which will take you the rest of the day to decipher. To whom exactly is this jargon addressed? Surely not the general museum-going public. This show doesn't actually open to the public until Thursday. There's still time for a rewrite! Otherwise, abandon all hope, ye who … [Read more...] about WhitneySpeak, Biennial Edition: What Are They Thinking?

"Artemis and the Stag," sold from the collection of the Albright-Knox Gallery, now on loan (as "Artemis and the Deer") at the Metropolitan Museum (above)We thought that the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, was in pretty dire economic straits. After all, it had claimed that it needed to sell major artworks, long proudly displayed and admired by the public, because local … [Read more...] about Albright-Knox: We’ve Sold Our Art; Now Let’s Expand Our Building!

Susan Flamm, PR director of the American Folk Art Museum, today responded to my questions about how reversals and lawsuits involving the museum's major benefactor, Ralph Esmerian, may affect the museum and its collection. Flamm wrote: Ralph Esmerian has been a generous benefactor of the American Folk Art Museum for more than 30 years. Through the museum's exhibitions, … [Read more...] about Folk Art Museum Addresses the Esmerian Mess (UPDATED)

Conservator Gry Landro, studying damaged corner of "The Scream" through a microscope. Munch Museum, Oslo The Munch Museum, Olso, announced today that the stolen, damaged and returned "Scream" and "Madonna" will go back on view this summer. Restoration is nearly complete. They were seized by armed robbers in August 2004 and returned two years later.According to the press … [Read more...] about Munch’s Recovered “Scream” and “Madonna” Soon Back on View

CultureGrrl has just switched over to a new, improved format (as will the rest of the ArtsJournal blogs). ATTENTION: Do all of you notice that new third column on the right? That's where you can (finally) PLACE YOUR ADS on the blog that has become required daily reading for the most important museum directors and curators, art dealers and auctioneers, collectors, art scholars, … [Read more...] about New Format, Same Old Grrl

People who can't stand CultureGrrl and want to enjoy some schadenfreude should come see me get pummeled at a Columbia University Law School panel discussion in New York about museum deaccessioning. The scene of the bout, scheduled for Mar. 11 at 6 p.m., is the school's Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts, Jerome Greene Hall (corner of 116th Street and Amsterdam … [Read more...] about The CultureGrrl Curriculum: Help! I Need a Law Degree!

What did Tom Krens do the day after he announced his imminent departure from the directorship of the Guggenheim Foundation? He lectured at the TED2008 conference in Monterey, CA., about his vision of what museums should be. The annual conference gathers thinkers in a wide variety of fields and bills itself as "a chance to mentally recharge. A chance to step back and consider … [Read more...] about Starting Over, Krens-Style

In haste, some important links:---Jeffrey Weiss calls it a day at Dia, discovering that he's a curator, not an administrator. Carol Vogel of the NY Times has the story. The board chairwoman, astonishingly, tells Vogel that they're in no hurry to find a replacement. This boat seems to be drifting further out to sea. The "win-win" scenario that I posited here seems ever more … [Read more...] about Quick Takes: Dia Departure, Büchel Debacle UPDATED, Un-Gifted Folk Art Museum