Matthew Langley Artblog

Art Book Swap New York

2010-01-31T12:42:00.002-05:00

February 6, 2010 from Noon to 5pm

The Museum of Modern Art
Cullman Education and Research Building
4 West 54th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues)

Free and open to the public/ Bring your art books and swap one-for-one with hundreds of donated art books.

Seriously? I get to trade books for other books? - see you there...

Must I paint you a picture

2010-01-29T11:11:00.003-05:00

I've been a huge fan of Billy Bragg since I first saw him open for Echo and the Bunnymen at the Ontario Theater (now a CVS in Adams Morgan - Wash DC). More to the point his ability to blend the personal with the political is inspiring and at the same time heartbreaking. Billy has written amazing throw away lines like "Revolution is just a t-shirt away" but usually more interestingly it is the quiet social commentary and pathos of our lives which strike me as most extraordinary. The Song "The Home Front" is a perfect example of this:

Mother shakes her head and reads aloud from the newspaper
As Father puts another lock on the door
And reflects upon the violent times that we are living in
While chatting with the wife beater next door

The bottom line is that I'm always interested in how Billy Bragg puts his ideas into action. In a rather new example is Jail Guitar Doors an initiative which aims to provide instruments to those who are using music as a means of achieving the rehabilitation of prison inmates.

I think the idea is valid and impressive. I think you might find it to be the same.

http://www.jailguitardoors.org.uk/

A few photos from my show at Blank Space

2010-01-28T01:27:00.003-05:00

Noted with appreciation: Reality Studio

2010-01-27T00:33:00.002-05:00

I went about my day yesterday in the usual fashion - getting up, having coffee and getting to work. Of course like 98% of people I know I stopped to check facebook and a blog or two during the day and stumbled over this treasure trove of goodness about a gentleman named William Seward Burroughs.

Yes, I've written about him before.

This is different though because I was halfway to writing a letter to Tyler Green and Greg Allen because Allen had recently written a small bit about Mary Meyer (JFK'S mistress) and the relation to the Truitts. It's funny because I know a bit more about that whole thing than I should, mostly because of a job I had earlier in my life. But the connection here is clearly conspiracy. Let's be blunt about this one thing - WSB did conspiracy better than anyone.

Anyway I decided not to send a letter - because I really shouldn't, and started reading some of the most interesting things I've ever read about Burroughs in a long time. I'm serious, really quality writing. (not like the drivel I write) I am fascinated by an article called "Burroughs and Beats in Men�s Magazines: William Burroughs Appearances in Adult Men�s Magazines" (URL). Even more interesting is an article about his writing for the magazine Swank. (URL) The article starts from this little passage;

Q: What is with all the men�s magazines?

A: Oh, I read them for the articles.

But here's the punch line. In July 1961, Swank publishes a first section of what would go on to become Naked Lunch. Naked Lunch would go on to be published about a year later. Even further Burroughs was not the only writer to be doing this; Kerouac, Ginsburg and a host of others were publishing in these magazines. Burroughs would later go on to publish as many as 26 articles for the men's magazine Mayfair.

Here is a quick rogues gallery of titles Burroughs published in in the 60's and 70's:
Playboy, Penthouse, Suck, National Screw, OUI, Club, Playgirl, Blueboy, Mayfair, Cavalier, King, Jaguar, Swank. Makes me almost wish that the sleazier parts of our culture would publish with a bit more variety between the cover.

For more information http://realitystudio.org/

10 phrases from the The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator

2010-01-17T21:52:00.002-05:00

More detail is here >.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the figurative-narrative line-space matrix brings within the realm of discourse the essentially transitional quality.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the figurative-narrative line-space matrix brings within the realm of discourse the accessibility of the work.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the Egyptian motifs visually and conceptually activates the essentially transitional quality.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the spatial relationships endangers the devious simplicity of the remarkable handling of light.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the negative space notates the accessibility of the work.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the sexual signifier seems very disturbing in light of a participation in the critical dialogue of the 90s.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the negative space contextualize the eloquence of these pieces.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the biomorphic forms verges on codifying the exploration of montage elements.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the sexy fish contextualize the larger carcass.

Although I am not a painter, I think that the mechanical mark-making of the figurative-narrative line-space matrix endangers the devious simplicity of the eloquence of these pieces.

Late to the party on this one...

2010-01-17T21:36:00.002-05:00

Late (from me) news from Saint Etienne. Richard X has remixed/remade the entire "Foxbase Alpha" album (from the masters as I understand it) which will be released in a highly limited edition. And here's the best part. It's called "Foxbase Beta"

Yes it's all very meta and no doubt pretty interesting. Sold out in the US (no surprise). You can probably find it in all the usual spots.

On gospel, Abba and the death of the record: an audience with Brian Eno

2010-01-17T17:14:00.003-05:00

A really curious interview with Brian Eno by one of my favorite writers, Paul Morley today at the Guardian.

The interview is really a short paragraph on a number of subjects, my favorite being the answer on Abba (or Group Abba - if you will).

On Abba
"In the 70s, no one would admit that they liked Abba. Now it's fine. It's so kitsch. Kitsch is an excuse to defend the fact that they feel a common emotion. If it is kitsch. you put a sort of frame around something � to suggest you are being ironic. Actually, you aren't. You are really enjoying it. I like Abba. I did then and I didn't admit it. The snobbery of the time wouldn't allow it. I did admit it when I heard..."

Follow this link for the whole story

Brian Eno in his studio. Photograph: Harry Borden (from the Guardian)

Thanks to Sharon Butler...

2010-01-14T12:58:00.003-05:00

For the mention over at Two Coats of Paint for my and Heejo Kim's show that opens tonight.

And a final reminder that you are welcome to drop by the gallery tonight from 6 - 8 for the opening. Blank Space is located at 511 west 25th street. Hope you can make it.

Links to note... I'm way late edition

2010-01-13T11:11:00.004-05:00

The NYT on Kenneth Noland's death

Joe Cameron on photo book value vs. photo book use (Please Note: A former Teacher of mine) While you are at that site - this is the best photo related blog post ever.

The Daily Batman (see above) is just too good not to share

I thought Lenny Kaye looked great at Robert Miller last Wednesday

Hot Gossip: Word on the street is Manfred Baumgartner is about to sign a lease for a small gallery space in a terrific location in D.C. (DC could use his return, his last gallery in DC was always amazing - I still remember his Joan Mitchell show)

Someone seems interested in the whole Deitch saga, see Green, Tyler (here, here, here, here, and here) - in all honesty, it's a pretty interesting story.

Photo of my show being installed (Below) - Drop by Thursday night in Chelsea if you can. (511 25th Street)

No Future Projects present Matthew Langley and Douglas Witmer

2010-01-04T11:41:00.002-05:00

Jeffrey Cortland Jones enterprise "No Future Projects" has a small show of Douglas Witmer's and my work on display. Details below:

No Future Projects
Dayton. Ohio
nofutureprojects.wordpress.com

NFP is a temporary and moveable project space and open by appointment only
For more information . cortland242 @ yahoo . com

A new Bushwick gallery to start the new year.

2010-01-02T20:49:00.001-05:00

Storefront is a new space by Jason Andrew (Norte Maar) and Deborah Brown at 16 Wilson Avenue near Flushing. The inaugural show opens Saturday, January 2nd, and runs through February 6th.

Opening: Saturday, January 2, 6:00--10:00 p.m.

with Roland Allmeyer, Bill Adams, Michele Araujo, Deborah Brown, Jeri Coppola, Judy Dolnick, Hermine Ford, Rico Gatson, Theresa Hackett, Arnold Helbling, Andrew Hurst, Norman Jabaut, Mary Judge, Justen Ladda, Ellen Letcher, Amy Lincoln, Mathew Miller, Jimmy Miracle, Brooke Moyse, Steve Pauley, Olivie Ponce, Kevin Regan, Aurora Robson, Mira Schor, Hilda Shen, Adam Simon, Stephen Truax and Austin Thomas.

As a side note, I've added this to the Bushwick galleries map

Some Polaroid goodness

2009-12-22T13:57:00.001-05:00

Found this today - a Charles and Ray Eames movie on the SX-70

Following up from my post last week - here is what the Paul Giambarba Edition Polaroid Film box looks like

Helmut Federle at Peter Blum

2009-12-20T20:55:00.002-05:00

The 5 small artworks that make up this show have a presence and gravitas that holds the room. That's no small feat, because in this day of spectacle over quality and loud over quiet, these artworks have a earthy simplicity that belie number and size.

The surface of these paintings - worked - possibly overworked with light pushing through the center reveal themselves as quiet objects that insist on your attention. They carry themselves with a quiet grace and at the same time require the viewer to spend real time - by this I mean more than a cursory glance at the object. They demand almost a short relationship to pull the most out of the experience.

There is a small bit of writing by Robert Storr that was attached to the invite of the show, he mentions the opaque and implacable quality of the works of HF. I agree. The works carry with them a naturalist palette of deep ochres and umbers that bury themselves in the natural world while at the same time reach and achieve something far different.

Paul Giambarba Edition Polaroid Film

2009-12-17T12:27:00.001-05:00

When: December 18th, 2009, 5:00 - 7:30pm
Where: ICP, 1133 Avenue of the Americans at 43rd Street, New York
Who: Paul Giambarba - PG is the designer of the entire spectrum of Polaroid design. This is no mean feat - and the work he did remains iconic to this day.

The Impossible Project is presenting the last of the "old" Polaroid film in a special event honoring and designed by PG. The claim is to help shorten the wait time until the new film is released. This should be a fairly fun - and light hearted event. Hope to see you there.

References
The Story of the Branding of Polaroid
Grant Hamilton's upcoming Polaroid movie trailer

Calvin Johnson once said this to Rose Melberg

2009-12-14T21:58:00.001-05:00

Rose, it's a river; it's not a well. It's not going to run dry. It's always there.

Art Week at the Strand Book Store

2009-12-08T09:06:00.002-05:00

Somehow book news is all over me this week - I'm going with the flow of it - for today anyway. The Strand is having "Art Week" with a nice line up of events starting today and going into next week. All of these events are at the Broadway and 12th Street location as well as being free and open to the public. I'll also admit this is straight from the press release...

Tuesday, December 8, 7:00pm
Lisa Kereszi, whose photographs are in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; and the Study Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, will show images from her new book, Fun and Games.

Wednesday, December 9, 7:00pm
Award-winning photographer Joel Meyerowitz will present images from the project he was commissioned to do by the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, collected in the book, Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks.

Thursday, December 10, 7:00pm
Robert Polidori, staff photographer for The New Yorker, shows images of Versaille�s conservation project from his new book, Transitional States/Parcours Mus�ologique Revisit�.

Tuesday, December 15, 7:00pm
Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for The New Yorker and author of Building Up and Tearing Down, in discussion with architecture critic James Russell of Bloomberg News.

Above: Lisa Kereszi, Junkyard office with TV, Trainer, Penna. 2001

Holiday books for the creative person in your life

2009-12-07T14:34:00.003-05:00

Usually this post is preceded by receiving the Taschen holiday catalog. No catalog this year, but there are so many great books out this year I've decided to just go forward. So here's a list of what I think are pretty interesting reads.

Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? - Jean Braudrillard.
I think the key to this book is in it's brevity as well as it's frequent uses of art and in particular photography to exemplify the distance between human and natural. University of Chicao Press

The Rockabillies - Jennifer Greenburg. (photo Above)
Greenburg's carefully done photographs reflect the attention to detail required for introducing a contemporary sub-culture (to depict any any subculture really). Published by Center For American Places

Art School (Propositions for the 21st Century) - Steven Henry Madoff
A compendium of voices - Theorists, Artists, Administrators, Student , and Curators. Think of this as a road map for future learning. MIT Press

Your Flying Car Awaits: Robot Butlers, Lunar Vacations, and Other Dead-Wrong Predictions From the 20th Century
That pretty much says it all. Harper Perennial

The Years Work in Lebowski Studies - Edward P. Comentale & Aaron Jaffe
Something here for the slacker and something here for the scholar - just don't spill your beverage. Michigan State University

Miami Art Fairs Day 3

2009-12-06T17:50:00.001-05:00

Spent the Day at Scope and Art Asia. I thought Scope was really interesting this year. The problem with scope is it's always trying to do that one thing that doesn't make much sense in practice - while in concept it seems great. I'm referring to "The Market". To me "The Market" felt a little bit like someone got really interested in ETSY and thought they would try to put something like that together here. In your web shorthand "The Market" = FAIL.

However I was really happy with the rest on Scope. The galleries had a lot of interesting work and you could really see the divergent approaches these galleries had in the presentation of the show. Maybe this is the thing that really works for Scope - the fact that I think they prefer galleries to bring no more than five different artists. This just makes for a very focused approach. Any way it really works for me.

I saw a few things that I enjoyed - I'm avoiding things you've seen elsewhere or before but focusing on what's new to me.

Sara Carter at Aureus Contemporary. These grid and process based artworks were right at home in my heart. Where I'm usually more of a physical and minimal painter she is just the opposite - Lots of color and a thinness to the artwork that allows her layers to be built up over and over again.

Huang Yan at Exhibit A. I'm fairy new to the Chinese market and artist, I know a few but not a whole lot of them, and I have no idea how well Huang Yan is known, I do know that the work I saw was really strong. A combination of painting, bodyart and photography made for some very interesting viewing.

Miami Art fairs day two - evening edition

2009-12-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

I was able to see a rough cut screening of Tamara Davis's upcoming new movie Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child as well as a brief Q and A afterwords. I like JMB and the whole New York scene of the early eighties so I was looking forward to this, but at the same time I was hoping for something really new that I hadn't seen before that helps tear down or build up the mythology. Davis's film, the core of which is her footage shot a year or so (maybe more) before his death is really strong, I just wish there were more of that and less people talking about him.

Davis's goal is to humanize the mythology of JMB and she gets close, and I'm sure will get closer as she continues to dial in the movie, as I stated before - the movie is a rough cut and it's strong. I wonder if I'm too close to the subject matter to see it as a "normal" viewer.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child will premier at Sundance later this winter. I think Miss Davis has some work in front of her.

Art Basel and related fairs - Day Two

2009-12-05T12:55:00.002-05:00

Quick hits from Aqua and NADA. I'm always pretty happy with Aqua as a fair and this is a good year for Aqua although I guess it's not as new as it was a couple of years back and as a result it's hard to keep it on the hipster radar - all in all probably a good thing. One disappointment I had with Aqua this year is the fact that they did not have both the hotel as well as the Wynwood locations this year. It appears the Hotel location was given up - I'm guessing economic forces were involved in that decision.

I have a trickier relationship with the show at NADA. While there is a bunch of art I like there, In the back of my head I'm always thinking that the galleries are all on the same note, and that is not a particularly good thing. I'm sure there are subtleties that you miss at the fairs as it pertains to a galleries program but based on what you see, it is becoming a monoculture in a way I'm not overly comfortable with. I really think this is more a fair thing than when you are actually at the gallery proper.

Here are a few things I saw that made me happy.
+ Kris Graves Projects (Aqua) +KGP is a fairly new gallery in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, I first met Kris at Pocket Utopia and have been impressed with his program. He's brought a bunch of his artists down with him this year and it's a great mix of interesting things to see.

Alex Schneideman at Chandler Fine Art (Aqua). Love these. AS makes images that seem like stripped down abstractions but have an added layer of context that brings forth both a documentary approach to a minimal aesthetic, the only question I get with these is where to next?

Randall Scott Gallery (Aqua) The former DC gallery, now in New York has a great overview of his program as well - I was always a fan of his gallery when I was in DC and that continues here

Lori Nix at Miller Bloch (Aqua). I was surprised to see a series of black and white images of hers in the booth. I was caught off guard by these and think these might be worth exploring a bit more. (can't find a photo - sorry)

Dami�n Navarro at Evergreene (NADA). I really like these amazing monochromatic paintings that share sensibilities with Morris Louis. These were starkly different from much of the other work at the fair - and in that stood out even further.

Sarah Crowner at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery (NADA). Crowner sews panels together (not unlike Blinky Palermo) and then stretches and paints into these interesting and dynamic paintings. Her use of velvet alone is both surprising and gets far more than you would ever think possible from such a simple use of the material.

Patti Smith in Wynwood (Miami Art fairs day one - evening edition)

2009-12-04T11:00:00.003-05:00

I had the amazing privilege of being invited to an event I'll remember for the rest of my life tonight.

That's a pretty powerful sentence, and I mean every word of it. Earlier today I was at the Robert Miller Gallery looking at the artworks on display at ABMB and was lucky enough to be invited to a performance by Patti Smith to an audience of less than one hundred.

If you've read my blog for awhile you might remember that about a year ago I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Ms. Smith when she was in Washington DC promoting the movie "Dream of Life". In that post I pretty much gushed about my fanboy attitude when it comes to both her music and poetry. So I'll skip that part - but I think you can follow along with that quick description.

I was thrilled to hear her read one of my favorite poems Dylans Dog which was performed in a dylanesque twang as well as a great reading of babeloge (in my mind one of the highlights from her album "Easter". She finished the evening with an acapela version of Because the Night that ended in the crowd singing the chorus.

I think these audio files might be of interest to a few people - they are excerpts (almost complete, but excerpts), but very listenable.

Patti Smith - Babelogue (excerpt)

Patti Smith - Because the Night (excerpt)

Art Basel and related art fairs day one

2009-12-04T10:48:00.003-05:00

I spent most of the day at art basel, because let's be honest it is the best show in Miami. I know that a few people think that Basel is a bit conservative. I disagree, but whatever. There are a few stories that people are trying to move forward about the fair this year, but really these are so manufactured that they become rather uninteresting. Here are the few ones that people are trying to float out there and well I think it's up to me to refute them.

1. Someone will talk about "Market Transparency". The truth of the matter is Market Transparency is a child's dream (with about the same grasp on reality) as it pertains to real world economics in an industry that is driven by privately held companies.

2. Art Basel is reinventing itself. This just makes me laugh. Yes the fair has redesigned the floor plan, and added a few new amenities. But face it, it's an art fair and commerce is really the name of the game at the end of the day.

3. Sales are up or down. How would anyone know? Someone might get an honest answer from a couple of friends (off the record, of course) So that seems like a great way to gather empirical data on sales during the fair. Remember that part about privately held companies? Now you know what private means.

With that out of the way, here's a few of the things that caught my eye earlier today.

Agnes Martin: I'm not naming the gallery but when an Agnes Martin is sagging on the stretcher - don't put it on the wall here. It's poor form. No I will not name the gallery.

Pace has a Robert Irwin that you could live with in your home (or even your bushwick apartment). The more interesting thing to me was it was made earlier this year. I'll admit it kind of goes against what I thought he was doing lately. Although it's been awhile since we last chatted on the phone (I kid, we don't talk on the phone , we both prefer to text each other). However the fluorescent light based sculpture was strong and self contained.

Christopher Wool at a few galleries. You know I could complain about that but to be very honest here, I love his current work. The more of it I see the more I want to see.

Some German gallery (didn't catch the name) has a pretty big (20 feet?) Anselm Keifer here - which must mean it's a secondary market gallery because AK evidently is seriously anti art fairs. Or at least as far as his work is concerned.

Gagossian brought a bunch of early Warhol's to the party - I'm surprised at this, it seems kind of obvious and can't they sell them all year long anyway? However at Books and Books tonight I got to paw through the Gago produced catalog of Sonebend's Warhol's - that book is pretty amazing. These two items are probably connected, by the way.

Joel Shapiro has a suite of prints at Gemini GEL which I just love. They have been on a real roll lately with the Ellsworth Kelly print last year (see numerous posts on the subject in the blog) and these. Just great artworks. Please do go see them, I know printmaking is kind of the ignored third cousin of the art world these are honestly worth looking at.

Patti Smith at Robert Miller - PS has been taking photographs for just about forever and the images are strong yet personal - like an even more poetic version of Robert Frank.

I don't even want to talk about this (below) at Deitch.

Big Thanks to Lisa Pressman...

2009-12-01T16:43:00.001-05:00

For including me in her blog series on artists' influences. I could add a few hundred more names to the list but really that's like reading a end of the year list and no one does that, or do they? She was also kind enough to give a plug to my upcoming show with Heejo Kim at Blank Space in Chelsea.

Anyway, check it out, http://lisapressman.blogspot.com

Thanks again Lisa.

Shows if I was near, I'd go see in a hurry.

2009-11-28T16:53:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm still away on Thanksgiving holiday, however that does not mean I've forgotten about you. These shows (all over the place...) point to exciting signs of life all over the country (and one is in England, which, let's face it, is practically in the US. - I joke.. I am a kidder).

Phillip Guston - Small Oils on Panel 1969 - 1973. Through 12/31 at McKee Gallery NYC.
I'm so impressed with the spirit and courage that Guston had when he made the change from his abstract paintings to these that I would probably have followed him anywhere...

3 X 3 - Painting by Imi Knoebel, Robert Mangold and Jason Martin, Sculpture by Richard Deacon, Joel Shapiro and Peter Shelton. 1/14 through 2/13 at L.A. Louver, Venice, California

Susan Rothenberg - Moving in Place. Through January 3 at MAM Fort Worth, Then Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe (1/22 - 5/16) then Miami Art Museum (10/15 - 1/9 2011)

Mark Tansey through January 23 at Gagosian London.
I think Tansey is way under-rated as a painter. I think that might start to change with his new gallery...

Brice Marden in conversation - National Gallery of Art Nov. 22, 2009

2009-11-26T14:05:00.000-05:00

This is the first 4 minutes or so of Brice Marden in conversation with Harry Cooper (curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art). The afternoon was an interesting approach of BM talking about some of his favorites in the collection as well as about a few of his works from the collection as well as the many amazing works from the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection.

Please note: This video is not the greatest thing you've ever seen as I shot this with the camera on my lap - however it is an interesting bit of conversation.