More is ... More

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A while back I started to get semi-obsessed with the results of Google image searches, taken collectively. Probably reflects a less-than-optimally disciplined editorial sensibility. Click to enlarge.

Christopher Wool

Something Else / The Mind is a Muscle

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So, in addition to doing our taxes, Emily and I had a chance to race around town and see a bunch of different cool things in New York last week. One day we had lunch at The Modern (pictured above, one of my favorite spots in the whole city), and then spent the entire afternoon wandering around MoMA.

I never found out who the artist is, but this massive felt and fabric panel on the front of the museum reminded me a little of Coco Howard and Spencer Moody's show What We Do Is Also Secret, at VAIN gallery. (Not that they are that much alike, but the layers upon layers of textiles brought it to mind. The more I've thought about What We Do Is Also Secret – the installation part upstairs – the more mind-blowing it is. It's up through February 28th if you haven't seen it yet.)

Yvonne Rainier Trio A (The Mind is a Muscle, Part 1), Choreographed 1966 and performed 1978

There are a bunch of good shows up right now at MoMA. I mentioned Marlene Dumas and Vik Muniz previously, and this time around I was glad to spend some more time with the survey Here Is Every: Four Decades of Contemporary Art. Here are some pics, click to enlarge:

Detail from Bruce Nauman Cones Cojones 1973

Various books by Ed Ruscha

Annette Messager My Vows 1988–91

Detail from Annette Messager My Vows

Christopher Wool Untitled 1990

I have seen that last piece many times, but the violence it exudes – conveyed not only by the phrase itself but supported by the typography, composition, large size, and stark lack of color – never fails to shock.

More later.