"It is very good, at least once in your life, to start at zero." ––Anni Albers Last night I had the pleasure of attending a sold-out talk at the Museum of Modern Art given by Nicholas Fox Weber, author of the newly-published The Bauhaus Group (and the recent Le Corbusier plus many other books) and executive director of The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, on the topic of "Women and the Bauhaus: Weaving/Anni Albers" in conjunction with the Bauhaus: Workshops for Modernity exhibition. I was in... [more]

If you live in LA, you can't have missed the hoopla about MOCA's 30th birthday and all the self-congratulatory stuff about the-museum-back-from-the-brink-celebrates-its-gala, with worldwide famous and famed art amateurs Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in attendance, to witness the Francesco Vezzoli orchestrated "performance" with no less than Lady Gaga. In case you wondered, tickets to attend the [more]

Auto Exposure and White/Black BGs (2009, 23MB, 3:53 min.) Educational video by Ian Parks. [more]

drawing by marguerita... [more]

We got a sneak peak at the Japan Brand NYC pop up shop at Felissimo today and can't wait to go shopping when it opens next Monday. Japan Brand curates artisanal objects from Japan (including paper goods, furniture, fashion, kitchen and decorative items) and assembled an impressive group for this year's pop-up shop, which continues for the next five weeks. Most of these items are on sale in the U.S. for the first time, and almost all of them are available in small quantities. A range of events wil... [more]

Los Angeles [more]

Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento: What Do Artists Want? [more]

Installation Still from “Only God Knows I’m Good” (via Lehmann Maupin) Lehmann Maupin Gallery has opened a new solo show by British artist Tracey Emin at their Lower East Side location. Emin, most notorious for her 2005 work “Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 – 1995″ deals primarily with issues of lust, dreams, and the alienation of sex. The media in “God Only Knows I’m Good” is varied: the artist employs embroideries, video, monoprints, sculptures, and neons. The embroideries encompass... [more]

Installation Still from “Only God Knows I’m Good” (via Lehmann Maupin) Lehmann Maupin Gallery has opened a new solo show by British artist Tracey Emin at their Lower East Side location. Emin, most notorious for her 2005 work “Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 – 1995″ deals primarily with issues of lust, dreams, and the alienation of sex. The media in “God Only Knows I’m Good” is varied: the artist employs embroideries, video, monoprints, sculptures, and neons. The embroideries encompass... [more]

Installation Still from “Only God Knows I’m Good” (via Lehmann Maupin) Lehmann Maupin Gallery has opened a new solo show by British artist Tracey Emin at their Lower East Side location. Emin, most notorious for her 2005 work “Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 – 1995″ deals primarily with issues of lust, dreams, and the alienation of sex. The media in “God Only Knows I’m Good” is varied: the artist employs embroideries, video, monoprints, sculptures, and neons. The embroideries encompass... [more]

There's toooooo much to do this weekend. I'm still in cleaning and clearing mode at home, so I don't know how many activities we'll actually attend! Maybe you can squeeze in a few hours for the following: The Great Los Angeles Walk is held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. My friend and fellow blogger, Mike Schneider from Franklin Avenue has been organizing this event for the past few years. I really like his route this year....I hope to catch up with the walkers at some point, near my neighb... [more]

© Henry Roy / Gottlund Verlag Henry Roy’s Spirit seems to live even as it lay open on my kitchen table. The cover image depicts a sleeping man in breathtaking color. The man’s rich, dark skin and the green of a plant in the background pop against the amorphous beige interior that surrounds the scene. Spanning the past ten years of his career, Spirit collects nearly 50 photographs and 6 short stories that capture a mystical energy. With the eye of a portraitist, Roy skillfully isolates his subje... [more]

© Henry Roy / Gottlund Verlag Henry Roy’s Spirit seems to live even as it lay open on my kitchen table. The cover image depicts a sleeping man in breathtaking color. The man’s rich, dark skin and the green of a plant in the background pop against the amorphous beige interior that surrounds the scene. Spanning the past ten years of his career, Spirit collects nearly 50 photographs and 6 short stories that capture a mystical energy. With the eye of a portraitist, Roy skillfully isolates his subje... [more]

This piece, along with 4 others, will be part of an art show called The 100 Euros Show in Stuttgart, Germany, opening this Friday.I think this is the first time my art has been shown outside of the U.S.If you're in Germany- GO CHECK IT OUT!... [more]

by Marilyn Mitchell (Untitled) is a new comedy that parodies contemporary art – especially the New York art scene. Jonathan Parker's view is at times painfully funny, at other times too realistic. It made me squirm with recognition. All contemporary art lovers will want to see this film. The story follows two competitive brothers, one who is a visual artist (Eion Bailey) and the other is a deadpan atonal music composer (Adam Goldberg). They form a love triangle with a beautiful gallery... [more]

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Self Portrait Project brought to you by Art House CoopBe part of a massive exhibition of self portraits from artists all around the globe! All you need to do is sign up to get started. Create an 8x10 inch drawing, photo, collage, or anything that represents you. Send it back to us and we will cover our gallery walls with all of the portraits. We're not sure what the actual record is, but we think it will be one of the largest portrait exhibitions ever!Afterwards, not only will we have the exhibi... [more]

jeff koons shows his new ab fab pieces @ gagosian beverly hillscongrats to jeff & respect! to the painters ;-) ... [more]

Wanna go to an opening today?Georgetown ARTS 2009 has an Opening Reception on Thursday, November 19, 6-9pm, and my good friend and Govinda Gallery owner Chris Murray will talk about the Georgetown art scene at 7pm.The Show continues on Friday, November 20, noon-8pm, Saturday November 21, 11am-6pm at 1209 31st Street NW in G'town at the former Smith and Hawken space. As noted above, the opening reception this evening will feature Govinda Gallery owner Chris Murray talking about the history and evol... [more]

For great event ideas and destinations visit ExperienceLA.com. ... [more]

In 2006 I wrote a post detailing some acquisitions at SFMOMA. Among the SFMOMA curators with whom I spoke was Sandra Phillips, who heads up the museum's photography department. She told me this story. I've tried to interest magazines in it for years (maybe it would be a better book?), but because it's a season of New Topographics at LACMA and because of the recent launch of a George Eastman House project, I thought now would be a good time to share it. Robert Adams and Nick Nixon are two of the... [more]

Kelsey Brookes @ Quint Contemporary Art from Zack Nielsen on Vimeo. Sezio.org previews Kelsey Brookes : Bigger, Brighter, Bolder -- opening Friday, November 20th at Quint Contemporary Art in La Jolla, CA.... [more]

The Spotted Pig has been on everyone's radar for years but when you're invited to a party with Jay Z, Jack White, Alicia Keys and a bunch of other cool music cats, well, it takes on a whole new personality. Too much fun for words, and pictures were just not what one takes away from such an experience...Shout out to ever lovely,always beautiful AB girl, J and super pastry chef, Catsy; hope I spelled her name right!Image Credit: southernconnecticutcommunity.com... [more]

Gregg ChadwickThe River Dreams16"x11" oil on linen 2009I am reading WS Merwin's recent book of poems - The Shadow of Sirius - and thinking deeply about the mystery of our place in the universe. I had a chance to chat briefly with WS Merwin after his wonderful reading at the Hammer Museum on October 29th. We spoke of elephants and mystery and nature. Inspiring stuff.Professor Stephen Yenser is doing an amazing job with this series of poetry readings at the Hammer. And Mona Simpson's favorite writer... [more]

Date: Friday, November 20, 2009 7:00pm Location: BlueStockings 172 Allen St New York, NY Wu Ming is a pseudonym for a group of Italian authors, "a band of guerrilla novelists" whom have collaboratively written several novels, including 54 (2002), Manituana (2009), and, under the pseudonym of Luther Blissett, Q (1999). read more [more]

Madi Ju and Rizzoli International invite you to celebrateSHOOT@UCCASunday, November 22, 1:30-3pmUllens Center for Contemporary Art798 Art District, Jiu Xian Qiao Lu No.4, Chao Yang District 100015BEIJING PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA SHOOT is a collection of 'photography of the moment' by Stephen Shore, Nan Goldin, Walter Pfeiffer, Boris Mikhailov, Wolfgang Tillmans, Juergen Teller, Mark Borthwick, Ari Marcopoulos, Hiromix, Glynnis McDaris, Linus Bill, Jason Nocito, Yurie Nagashima, Tim Barber, Peter Sutherland... [more]

11/18/2009 - 12/14/2009 4081021596_093359c966_o(2).jpg Uncommon Ground, Steve Lambert and Victoria Estok. Photo Christine A. Butler. Eyebeam is pleased to announce our call for next season's Residents and Fellows is NOW OPEN. Eyebeam Residencies are a 5-month opportunity for production and presentation of projects querying art, techn... [more]

Text by Kay Roberts - Opening tomorrow evening, Thursday 19th NovemberPURPLE DESK is a 30 part work, a series of 30 photographs, the offices of the cardinals in the Roman Curia, the Vatican City. Matthias Schaller was given access to these rooms, making portraits of place, but without the presence of each cardinal. The series was realised between 2004 and 2008 and is now a book published by Editions Steidl, this will be shown at the chapel, along with 2 other books by the artist published by Steidl. On... [more]

John Haber, who writes one of the web's very best sources for solid art criticism at John Haber's Art Reviews, interviewed me recently about some of the topics in my book (How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery), and it's out now in this month's Artillery magazine. It includes a photo I most definitely need to rethink (or just keep on hand should I ever need a mug shot), but it was a really fun interview, forcing me to dig a bit deeper about a few of my central assertions throughout the bo... [more]

Apparently Jerry Saltz has deleted his big facebook thread with the pigpile on Tyler Green. If you saved that conversation send it to me and I'll post it here. Discretion assured!UPDATE!: wrongly worded above... i'm not facebook friends with jerry and had not realized there are/were multiple new museum debate threads. i'm just interested in reposting the new museum debate stuff... for those of us not in the 4500 club.... [more]

A (1) Passion play; in which the lead carries not a cross but rather a dollar sign made to resemble a (2) swastika; upon a floor tiled with (3) Stars of David; before a backdrop depicting (4) banking crises? Well, that's what Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung seems to have presented in his work In G.O.D. We Trust, on display through January 9, 2010, at Monique Meloche Gallery. Why? Hung is a collage artist. And his collages are animated: colorful shapes rapidly pass across a singular wall-mounted video... [more]

BLDGBLOG: The Archaeology of SeclusionJournalist Christoph Hinterreiter recently teamed up with photographer Wolfgang Thaler to document a nuclear bunker called D-0 in what is now Bosnia.As Hinterreiter wrote in an email: The bunker was the largest structure of its kind, and was for use by the upper echelon of the former Yugoslavia. The premises are still fully furnished and equipped with military apparatus—code books are positioned beside telexes and restrooms are equipped with originally... [more]

We’ve heard the business gurus: This is the age of creativity. Only the dreamers survive. The MFA is the new MBA. But hold on. Stefan Leijnen and Liane Gabora, researchers at the University of British Columbia, Canada, point out that too much creativity may not be a good thing. Their argument boils down to this: Innovation–creativity–is necessary to introduce new ideas. But for any innovation to take root, it must also be copied. Society depends not just on creators but also on followers.... [more]

Recently, American Art staff member Tierney Sneeringer was very excited to conduct her first Spanish tour, welcoming the "Friends of the Canal Museum" to the Luce Foundation Center. To schedule a Spanish tour with Tierney, e-mail AmericanArtLuce@si.edu. Tierney Sneeringer, una empleada del Smithsonian American Art Museum, estaba muy entusiasmada cuando hizo recientemente su primera gira en español, recibiendo al grupo "Friends of the Canal Museum" (Amigos del Museo Canal) en el Luce Foundati... [more]

ART MATTERS ANNOUNCES 2009 GRANTEES William Cordova Support for travel to Peru, Uruguay and 35 US states to document historic landmarks associated with radical community activist groups. Simone Leigh Support for travel to Durban, South Africa, to research contemporary material culture in Zululand. Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere Support for travel to Castelfidardo, Italy to attend the 34th annual Festival Internazionale Fisarmonica and tour the Borsini factory. Marc Andre Robinson Suppor... [more]

When it comes to social media marketing you’ll hear some people say that it is best opportunity out there for bloggers and website owners, and others will tell you that it’s a complete waste of time. In my opinion, and from my experience, social media brings a lot of potential for getting exposure to just about any website, but it should only be part of the equation. Other types of traffic like search engine visitors, direct visitors, and those who come via links from other sites are mor... [more]

As a serial and/or compulsive collaborist, I���m sometimes asked to do difficult, if not downright awkward, acts in the name of art. The following is a prime example and I hope you will join me in the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat of group performance art. I���m working, with Brinson Renda and Preston Poe, on an online and real world performance project - The Purple Reign. http://tinjail.com/purple/ The script for the performance is basic. Read the lyrics of the 1984 c... [more]

The first 30 images can be found by clicking here.... [more]

Robert Pattinson’s got nothing on Francis Bacon! Who needs fan sites and movie trailers when you have ArtsConnectEd.org? See the slideshow presentation created by a Twilight fan, who uses artworks by Bacon and others to illustrate an outline of this, uh, literary sensation. It’s not too early to get a start on next year’s Halloween costume: Take inspiration from this paper-crafted self-portrait-as-helmet by 3D artist Eric Testroete, inspired by “big-head mode seen in videogames” Se... [more]

Robert Pattinson’s got nothing on Francis Bacon! Who needs fan sites and movie trailers when you have ArtsConnectEd.org? See the slideshow presentation created by a Twilight fan, who uses artworks by Bacon and others to illustrate an outline of this, uh, literary sensation. It’s not too early to get a start on next year’s Halloween costume: Take inspiration from this paper-crafted self-portrait-as-helmet by 3D artist Eric Testroete, inspired by “big-head mode seen in videogames” Se... [more]

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where peoplemail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.-----Email Message-----I worked for Reuters my entire life and was one of their most senior, valued employees. I was laid off last year when Thomson bought them over. Thank you so much for sending this in. If you can't join 'em, beat 'em.-----Email Message (pic)-----A designer friend told me that the secret inspiration for the new Pepsi logo was the Simpson's Comic Book Guy.-----Email Message-----My ex-husband and I left the court house the day of our divorce and spen... [more]

In 1977 I set some small wood stakes in the front yard of the house I rented on Mariposa Street near downtown Los Angeles and stretched yellow twine between them, forming two large X’s on either side of the walkway leading up to our front door. The piece was called I Stake A Claim In LA and had the supplemental component of a want-ad I ran in the Los Angeles Times for the duration of the week the piece existed.As initial announcement of my arrival in Los Angeles, the stake piece served as my address... [more]

Artist Peter Walsh is a writing fellow for Performa ‘09. He just let me know about the project Scoring Performa, which has a number of writers, well, scoring the annual performance art festival. The resulting document is a wide variety of takes on what the assessment of art can be: critique, summary, reaction, etc. From Peter’s own post (an excerpt): “Some Notes on Liveness: Part One” By PETER WALSH I’m addicted to the privilege of “being there.” In a society where the eyewitness testi... [more]

Guido van der WerveMarc FoxxThrough November 28(disclaimer: this essay is not to be confused with the review of the show to follow in next month's ArtReview)A favorite of mine is Adalbert Stifter’s children’s story Rock Crystal from 1853. Stifter is not a familiar name in America, mostly because other than a few anthologized stories and his novel Indian Summer, he is out of print and virtually [more]

20 years ago today East Germany acknowledged that the Berlin Wall essentially meant nothing. This historic moment was carried out in the aesthetic visage of massive crowds gathering on either side, helping each other climb the wall, champaign popping and finally hammers giving way to cranes in the removal of the barrier. It was a powerful signal that heartened many and was basically the point of no return in the fall of Communism. I took this photo while visiting this past summer. To the left is the... [more]

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  Fifty years ago designers Charles and Ray Eames assembled 22,000 images of common objects for Glimpses of the U.S.A., a film presented at the American National Exhibition in Moscow.  Despite any language barriers among the international audience, Glimpses of the U.S.A. successfully illustrated a thriving, post-war America because of the universality of the objects being shown. What’s The Rush? Topics On Convenience assembles an international group of artists who also draw inspiration f... [more]

The trouble with Agreements and Contracts is that it attempts to state clearly, for however many parties are involved, responsibilities. This can protect all parties involved in business. Some however use it as a tool to trap innocent parties. This makes us wary when it comes to signing anything. Rightfully so and as an adult, you need to be aware and Read Everything you sign. If you read it completely and have questions you need to raise those questions Before signing contracts and agreements.... [more]

Two portraits of Vladimir Mayakovsky by Alexander Rodchenko, via paris.blog.lemonde.fr Amazon.com Widgets James and I have been listening to this excellent box set of vocal music from the former East Germany. The widget above plays a sample of Friedrich Schenker's "Leitfaden fur angehende Speichellecker" (Guide for bootlickers-in-training) composed in 1974. The text is based on a 1927 poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky, in which the poet provides a satirical "guide for toadies" and at the end rips off the mask and says te... [more]