Image of the Day

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Mural by Zephyr, Revolt, and Sharp for the beyond-
classic Wild Style (1983) directed by Charlie Ahearn.
Photograph by Martha Cooper.
(Front row: Doze, Frosty Freeze, Ken Swift;
middle row: Patti Astor, Fred Brathwaite, Lady Pink;
back row: Lil Crazy Legs, Revolt and Sharp.)

Cooper's photo is on view as part of Jeffrey Deitch's debut exhibition, "Art in the Streets," which opened last week at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The show is the first exhibition of street art ever held at a major museum in the U.S. When MOCA's board set out to hire a new director a year ago, they reportedly wanted someone who would take risks, and they got it in Deitch.

"Art in the Streets" runs through August 8. More info here.

Bad At Sports?

. Jeffrey Deitch with Deitch Projects director Nicola Vassell

It is no great revelation to say that Jeffrey Deitch embodies the current trajectory of the art world [read his bio here]. His gallery, Deitch Projects, was opened in 1996 and will close at the end of May, when he moves to Los Angeles to direct the Museum of Contemporary Art – an unexpected but all-around seemingly natural next step. In a fascinating podcast for Bad At Sports, Carlo McCormick interviews Deitch on his time in New York and his outlook on the art market. Go here to listen.

The final show at Deitch Projects, Shepard Fairey's May Day, opens May 1st.

What'll We Get from Mr. Fancy-Pants Art Dealer?

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[ via The Year In Pictures ]

Image of the Day

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Tauba Auerbach, Crumple VII, 2009 Acrylic and inkjet on canvas, 96 x 128 inches, at Deitch Projects, NYC. The crumples are not wrinkles in the canvas – she has painted the dots in a way that makes it look that way. Standing in front of it made me feel like I'd been smoking drugs.

The main thing in the exhibit is actually the Auerglass, a custom made two-person pipe organ, which Auerbach plays with Cameron Mesirow, aka Glasser:



Visit taubaauerbach.com and deitch.com for more info and pics. Tauba Auerbach HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE is up through October 17th.

The Name of the Thing One Sees

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We saw a bunch of gallery shows when we were in New York last week, but my favorites by far were Robert Irwin at Pace Wildenstein (above) and Fred Sandback at David Zwirner.

These massive Robert Irwin pieces at Pace were totally overwhelming. The fluorescent lighting patterns immediately called to mind letterforms and swastikas – symbols that convey meaning, whether they are letters put together to form words, or a swastika, which has a ton of meaning certainly in the twentieth century, but also as the oldest known symbol. So I found that, staring into these harsh lights, I was almost urgently trying to pull meaning out of the patterns, but realizing that ultimately they are just formations that in and of themselves had no meaning. If that makes sense.

Fred Sandback's show at David Zwirner was also really intense. These "panels" you see in the photo (see more here) are actually just pieces of string attached to the ceiling and the floor and pulled extremely tight at 90º angles. You could walk right through them if you wanted – but when you're standing next to them, it feels eerie, like if you did walk through them you might enter another world or slam against a forcefield, like a kid running through a screendoor. I found myself thinking about walls and doorways a little differently as we walked around Chelsea for the rest of the afternoon.

There were other bright spots (I liked this photograph by Carolee Schneeman at the Carolina Nitsch Project Room, for example) but overall it was a bit lackluster. No matter, those first two shows were so memorable, it was worth the time.

We also had time for a quick run through Soho one morning. We saw this show at Team Gallery featuring the work of Gardar Eide Einarsson, Davis Rhodes, and Stanley Whitney

…which reminded me of the more geometric elements of Bas Louter's current show at Ambach & Rice (formerly OKOK Gallery, pictured above) in Ballard.

And we tried to see the Stephen Sprouse show at Deitch Projects, but were a little too early and they weren't open (click here to see some images from the show, though judging from a peek through the window, that doesn't really do it justice). It's sort of a bummer to miss things on a quick trip like this, because it's not like we can just go back over there and see it tomorrow or something – but it was great to cruise through our old haunts and see what we saw.

The Sea and the Rhythm

Since August 15th, seven handmade floating sculptures have been making their way down the Hudson, stopping at different ports along the way so their 40 passengers, led by the artist known as Swoon, can step on shore and stage a series of musical and theatrical performances.

The trip will wrap up when the boats dock at Deitch Studios in Long Island City on September 7th. Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea is a sequel to a 2006 project on the Mississippi River by Swoon and the Miss Rockaway Armada. An exhibition at Deitch of Swoon's prints and structures will follow.

I first became aware of Swoon when we lived near the Gowanus Canal and noticed her woodcut-paper paste-ups around the neighborhood. I saw her speak at an AIGA event a few years later, and after that she had a fairly mind-blowing show at Deitch projects.

Her work is very recognizable and you can see it all over, though not quite as much as before, as she is obviously very busy these days.

Click here to see some of my Flickr photos of her paste-ups.
More info on Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea at Deitch and at switchbacksea.org.

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PS - I did a graphic identity project for the Gowanus Canal when I was in school at Parsons. I did a lot of research in the archives of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and this is one of the more interesting photos I found:

The Gowanus had temporarily dried up, and this crowd was having a look from the Carroll Street bridge. A police officer on duty counted something like 38 guns in the mud below.

The Weekend in Pictures

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We decided to be tourists in our own city this weekend. Our sentry, Mr. Littlejeans (aka Fang; Mr. Science), was none too pleased when everyone up and left the house Saturday morning.

First stop was our favorite brunch spot in the city, the Great Jones Café.

After brunch we went to Other Music so I could use up a credit. I love it that most records now come with a code so you can download the MP3s for free—it makes CDs a totally outdated technology. Here's what I got (clockwise from top left: Grand Archives, Gutter Twins, Throw Me the Statue, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks).

Next up we went to the Michel Gondry "Be Kind Rewind" exhibition at Deitch Projects.

There are a bunch of different sets and people can make their own little movies in the gallery.

We also went to the Visionaire Gallery for the Sound exhibition that I've been talking about.

Then I got some more records. I kind of went nuts this weekend because I haven't bought records for awhile. I'll post some MP3s later.

By then it was late afternoon and we decided to go to D.B.A. for a beer, and then to the Cherry Tavern for some more. Tracey took good care of us and they have Straight Outta Compton on the juke so we were quite content.

Next we grabbed a slice at the old East Village standby, Two Boots. It's by no means the city's best pizza (John's wins that battle), but it's unique and delicious nonetheless.

We ended up at Arrow (formerly known as The Rook), where my brother Sky bartends once or twice a week. That's his friend and fellow firefighter Ed on the right.

On Sunday we took a long walk to Newtown Creek, the border between Brooklyn and Queens. It's about five miles from our house in Fort Greene but there's tons of cool things to see on the way.

Kent Avenue, which runs along the East River, is like one big gallery—there's an ever-changing display of a paste-ups, graffiti, and little installations all over the place. This venus fly-trap is painted wood that has been epoxied to the side of a building. More pics from the neighborhood on my Flickr page.

When we got up to Greenpoint we stopped for lunch at this Polish restaurant. Lomzynianka means "girl from Lomza." It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the food is excellent and it's like eating a meal in someone's home.

The Polish are super-amped for Easter. There are great displays in the gift stores and bakeries on Manhattan Avenue.

Our final destination was the Newtown Creek sewage treatment facility—kind of smelly, yes, but architecturally really impressive and worth the trip.

The plant has been there since mid-century, but was remodeled by the Polshek Partnership, which also designed the Rose Center at the AMNH.

After that, we took the G train home, watched The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (beautiful score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, amazing cinematography, a very solid movie all around—though sometimes it seemed like Brad Pitt was channeling Eric Bana in Chopper, and Bana himself would have been better). Then we watched the final episode of The Wire, and it was great.

The End.