The sculptures and videos in Same Rock are based on a “little Switzerland” in Appalachia, founded on the promise of its similarity to the Alps, and explore myths of universality, aesthetic deception, and the politics and economics of mountains. Please Enjoy… offers...
BOOKS: Hold Still
Part journey of self-discovery, part family history, part window into an artist’s oeuvre, Sally Mann’s memoir Hold Still is simply wonderful, sharing that same combination of hauntingly beautiful lyricism and truth that are the hallmarks of her photographs.For most...
BOOKS
With trunk tucked up compactly—the elephant’s signof defeat—he resisted, but is the child of reason now. His straight trunk seems to say: when what we hoped for came to nothing, we revived.—From “Elephants,” Marianne Moore Dick Blau uses his camera to map...
BOOKS
According to his Wikipedia entry, this is Michael Peppiatt’s eighth book about Francis Bacon. If all of his Bacon books were packaged like a deluxe DVD, this would be the really good feature length documentary about the “making of.” He certainly deserves to tell his...
ART BRIEF
Last year I was invited to view a controversial painting that the owner claimed to be a genuine Rothko he bought at a small LA auction many years ago. The painting was not officially included in the Rothko catalogue raisonné despite the fact that the owner discovered...
UNDER THE RADAR
Archiving cultural ephemera is a tricky business. Anyone who’s followed my writing for even a brief time will have encountered some kind of rant about how the institutional canonization of cultural insurrections like Punk, zine culture, hippies, beats, etc.,—or...
BUNKER VISION
Long films aren’t new. As early as 1914, there was a film (The Photo-Drama of Creation) that ran eight hours. Wikipedia lists at least five films from that decade, which ran at least six hours. In 1971 Jacques Rivette made a famous 13-hour film (Out: One) that had one...
RETROSPECT
The most famous Hollywood movie I appeared in was Roger Corman's Death Race 2000, which was bizarre because coming from New York, I didn’t know how to drive yet. Over the years the movie became one of the most popular American films in Europe, including France....
ASK BABS
ROCK AND ROLL IS FOR THE BIRDSDear Babs, What do you think about using live animals in an artwork? I recently went to a museum in Montreal and witnessed an entire exhibition of finches playing guitars! The air conditioning was blasting and I thought they needed little...
SHOPTALK
DANGEROUS TERRITORYLOCAL HOMIES ANSWER MACCARONE GALLERYSometimes gentrification can backfire, especially if you crow about it too loudly. Last September New York gallerist Michele Maccarone told The New York Times that Boyle Heights, where she was opening her LA...
SIGHTS UNSCENE
RECONNOITER
Stephen Cohen is the founder of photo l.a. and the Stephen Cohen Gallery, which is now the Cohen Gallery on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. In January the stalwart photo fair celebrates its 25th anniversary. Artillery: Why did you start photo l.a.? What made...
Dan Hernandez: Genesis 2015
While Dan Hernandez was standing in front of the Leonardo Annunciation a few years ago at the Uffizi, he recognized similarities between the painting and the classic arcade game Street Fighter II. Leonardo has the Archangel Gabriel leaning in toward the Virgin with a...
JAMES HYDE: GROUND
Entering James Hyde's show at Luis De Jesus, one immediately wonders: What sort of pictures are these? At first glance, it is difficult to determine whether the expansive images are manual or mechanical, painterly or photographic.Materially, they are hybrids. Each...
MIAMI VIRGIN DIARIES: DAY 4
I LOVE THIS MUSEUM.I wanted to visit at least one local arts institution before leaving town, and I’ve heard good things about the Perez Art Museum, so that’s where we went Sunday. The new director there—Franklin Sirmans—was the curator for contemporary art at LACMA,...
MIAMI VIRGIN DIARIES: DAY 3
Yesterday, I highlighted the artworks in the South Tent at Pulse Miami Beach. Right now, I’ll explain my reaction to the North Tent: it’s a little complicated. I never want to denigrate anyone’s taste, so believe me when I say I’m not judging when I describe the...
Miami Virgin Diaries: Day 2
Okay, so I’m really liking Miami Art Week because I’m learning so much about the business of art. Take for instance last night’s yearly party thrown by Jack Shainman Gallery: You could call it a purely shallow affair that effectively markets its gallery and artists as...
Miami Art Virgin Blog
Today we visited the Miami Project/Art on Paper fair. The design and layout of the event was nicely integrated into the existing infrastructure of the Deauville Beach Resort. Whoever did the visual logistics and design did an excellent job—almost like being on the New...