Recently in art Category

Modern Art Obsession, a blog well worth visiting and reading, is written by a dedicated collector of photography (Mike, a "youngish NYC Art Collector, working on Wall Street by day, and a total art fanatic by night and weekend" as he describes himself). It does, however, occasionally feature other media as well. He recently wrote about visiting Art Chicago

"Possibly the best thing about going to Art Chicago this year for MAO, was the VIP program, and getting to see the Richard and Ellen Sandor Art Collection. These events were mostly very well organized drinking events, but they also included several amazing collection visits. By total luck.. MAO got to visit possibly the nations most impressive historic photography collection..at the Chicago gold coast home of Ellen and Richard Sandor. (Yes .. we know, it's hard to believe this collection is actually West of the Hudson River !) ..."

Photo credit: Dana Johnson

Joe Fyfe painting


Felix Lehner and Hans Josephsohn

I've been meaning to write about this for some time, but kept getting sidetracked by other events. Last summer, I met the very interesting painter and "writer on art" Joe Fyfe.

A dupe, a puppet, this is the real role of this earnest yet utterly insipid and awful painter. A way of having painting while denigrating it by definition- by de-skilling it, thus raising the importance of its 'conceptual' underpinings/'context'- as in text- written in reams of sameness by academics/curators in order to further their various ambitions within the climes of todays art world. All, while marginalizing the role of art, the artist in the whole rancid equation.

James Kalm: Karen Kilimnik (No Photos Allowed) at 303 GALLERY



Kalm maps the process as he tries to comply with proper protocol for access to Kilimnik's current show. In the end, to file this "Report", Kalm again goes on the "low-down" for exclusive unauthorized footage.

"I went into the New York fairs knowing that I couldn't do the same kind of reporting I'd done in Miami. In fact, I really wanted to view rather than report. But as I started to see work that interested me, the camera came out. Perhaps not surprisingly, ..."

Read more at her blog.

The Art Newspaper presents a very sensible article on the topic of ethics concerning museums' frequent role in increasing the financial value of art work through their exhibitions. The piece is written by Adrian Ellis, the director of AEA Consulting. Link here.

Edward Winkleman has a post about it, which will probably generate a very interesting discussion in the comments, as his posts usually do. Link here.

Yes, we can also point out and extol the virtues of artists we admire.

One of the greatest treasures Chicago has is the photographer Dawoud Bey.

Bey was one of my surprise discoveries last year when I was in the Chicago Art Fair. He came to my booth, we talked, I found him very interesting. Back at Wesley's where I was staying, I googled him, my favorite spy tactic. I was amazed at how outstanding his photos were! I had suspected that he would be a good artist, but here I was presented with a great one. His works unite a strong humanism (that disgraced word) with striking formal qualities in service of an art at once aesthetically challenging, sociological (in the best sense) and personal. And all that depth is carried lightly, under a mantel of (seemingly) direct image making.

His most recent works feature pictures ...

Sharkforum contributor Norbert Marszalek and frequent Sharkforum commenter William Dolan have delightfully announced the launch of a new blog e-zine about art: www.neotericart.com. Titled "Neoteric Art," the two painters say it has been created to encourage open dialogue between painters concerning work, issues and the art world.

Neoteric is a pleasing adjective meaning "modern; new; recent." It would be a wonderful term to replace the currently overused "contemporary" and the now-historically placed "modern," as well as to get around the politically loaded "postmodern." Sharkforum wishes them well, and wishes Bill in his Artists' Project booth good luck too. Visit the site here.

Time Magazine, and website, writer Richard Lacayo has had it with curatorial dialectic syntax, as exemplified in the Whitney Biennial. Link.