People don't seem to be talking much about the Martin Puryear show at the National Gallery - and it's a shame because the work is so good and Puryear is one of the few local artists to reach the international arena.

However the exhibition is disjointed as parts of the show are located all over the gallery. Four or five pieces are in the west building, Ladder for Booker T. Washington is installed in the main rotunda in the east building and the rest of the show is shoehorned into the smaller galleries of the west wing of the main building, forcing the viewer to go through a maze of rooms. Even with only two or three artworks in each gallery, they feel tight and really with one exception the works are unable to resonate with each other.

To me one of the great beauties of Puryears work is the absolute craftmanship that is evident in his work in every form and material he uses. These are well thought out and beautifully made objects that hint at mystery and the eccentricity of the creative process. This ecentricity has always intrigued me - its almost cagean in the way that these artworks refer to something but they never give the whole picture. Instead they give a distillation of visual approaches without giving away the whole idea behind the piece. I find them to be some of the strongest sculpture made in the last 20 years.

Highly recomended, despite the awkard staging of the exhibition.

Martin Puryear, Old Mole, 1985

Labels: 80's, Museums, Sculpture, Washington DC

Bernard Holland writes in Sunday's New York Times of the re-staging of Phillip Glass's Einstein on the Beach. Claiming that it completely changed the way he thought about musical theater - he makes a good point about the difference in approach to traditional musical events. Einstein... never relies on chorus-verse-chorus or for that matter a traditional intermission, instead it uses repetition and tape loops to provide and opening for the listener to walk away for a bit and then return. Why not, the opera is almost 5 hours long, however it is a "fast" 5 hours.

I saw EOTB in 1992 at the BAM festival, and I will say that the performance asks for as much as the listener is willing to give and returns to the listener an abundance of ideas, images and thinking about what opera is and could be.

A lot of people tend to forget that EOTB is not just a Philip Glass opera, it is also a Robert Wilson opera. Although I don't speak of him often, I am a big Robert Wilson fan. So thoroughly have the images created by Wilson penetrated my thoughts about EOTB that it is impossible not to see them when I hear Philip Glass's music in other places. The images, specifically the spaceship in act 4, and the tall chair are amazing images both alone and as objects on a set.

Robert Wilson is an artist who I think deserves some kind of large scale showing of his work, lets hope this happens soon. Robert Wilson also collaborated with David Byrne on a project called The Knee Plays the record of the music for these pieces has finally been re-released and is well worth your time. I will admit to not being a big David Byrne "world Music" fan, however this music recorded with the New Orleans based "Dirty Dozen Brass Band" is, if I may speak like James Lipton, a delight.

My apologies on the quality of the photos - they were taken quickly out of books in the studio and are really not the greatest things.

Labels: 80's, New York

In the coming week I'll be posting a round up of a few new magazines (art based) I've been reading - I'm sure that will prove incredibly insightful. So today, I'll be writing about a magazine that has been out of print for over 20 + years. Enjoy.

Wet Magazine was started in 1976 by Leonard Koren, the publication revolved around the idea of "gourmet bathing." early issues were actually filled with this kind of information. However very quickly things changed - and for the better. Wet began to push into broader areas where art met street and high culture. I was introduced to Wet by Nancy Roeder while I was at VCU in the early eighties - this is where I first learned of Frank Ghery, and the art fringe of Los Angeles. In contrast Wet had an east coast "sister" as it were in "Interview", which focused on New York. (don't even for a minute think it focused on the east coast) Of course Interview had Andy Warhol behind it (as well as Glen O'brien) and seemed to have more money to use - although as far as ground breaking visual approaches Wet was always more interesting than Interview. This is especially clear as "The New Wave" began to take it's hold. The visuals for that period in time may not have been 100% developed by Wet, (See ads below) but they sure were brought to the front from pink flamingos, leopard skin, wacky asymmetrical design, plastic palm trees, air brushy trendiness, and graph paper design, Wet became the archetype of everything we think of when we think of the eighties.



Interestingly enough, Wet was also forward thinking; articles with/about W. S. Burroughs, Laurie Anderson, Frank Ghery, Love Hotels of Tokyo, buildering (a small subset of rock climbing), Henry Miller, Brian Eno, Jim Carroll, Yoga, Dick Dale, Kenneth Anger, and a hundred other oddball ideas and people made Wet the definitive idea source of its time. (I like Wet as much for its ads as well as its content)

Usually you can find a few copies of Wet on ebay and every once in a while at yard sales. I would be willing to bet that it's easier to find issues in LA - but I don't live there so I can't say for sure.

Labels: 80's, Magazines

With the current big show of "Modernism" comes news that the Corcoran is going to go large this fall with a Ansel Adams show. The Adams show will feature 125 images from The Lane Collection.

It has been widely reported that attendance has been down at the Corcoran over the last few years - however with this years crop of shows, that is looking to be a thing of the past. I for one would love to see the Corcoran do a series of smaller shows, in conjunction with the blockbusters, similar to what Ned Rifkin did in the eighties with his "Options" series.

A quick explanation about the "Options" series; these were small one room shows that were up usually for 2 maybe 3 months at most and were not beholden to a catalog - they were usually based around a single idea (The Generic Figure, New Sculpture, etc.) although every once in a while a solo show (Tony Cragg, I think) would happen.

I always thought it was a great way to showcase work in a different light.

Labels: 80's, Museums, Washington DC

"Exposure" is a difficult record. I'm not going to lie to you, but it is well worth listening to - even now as the retro-eighties sound is pumping through what is being called indie rock, this record is still sounds current, even though it was made in 1979. The reason I write about this record is two fold;

1. it's an amazing record that deserves a wider audience.
   
2. it's approach to collaboration, experimentation, and it's artistic community

Robert Fripp, is best known as the brain behind "King Crimson" and in the traditional music story, he gets screwed by the record industry. After taking some time with an ill-fated trio, he becomes a studio musician, David Bowie and Brian Eno call and the next thing you know, Fripp is playing on David Bowie's "Heroes", and Fripp is in the game again.

However this time there is a bit of a twist, he teams up with unlikely collaborator. Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates).

But wait, one of the most remarkable things about this record is the music. Ideas are floating in and out of this disk with every track. Multiple viewpoints in some songs to open abstraction in others, however Hall becomes the unknown hero of "Exposure". His vocals are everywhere on this record - in ways that you would never imagine; sounding like a seventies metal god to emulating a film noir detective. While Hall is singing, Fripp is reaching out to the New York music community - playing along is: Brian Eno, Phil Colins, Barry Andrews, Peter Gabriel, Terre Roche among others. In fact, Fripp says the greatest thing about this record was the artistic community around it. People would drop in and give opinions or play a part and then continue with the day - one night Fripp and Blondie play together - performing Donna Summers' big hit, "I Feel Love" as well as Bowie's "Heroes". What we are really talking about here is a true artistic community. I think that is really exciting and this recording is only stronger for it. Chris Stein (Blondie, TV Party) and Amos Poe (TV Party) would end up doing photography and video for the cover art bringing this community full circle.

"Exposure" in my mind is backwardly titled - its really about exposing the listener not the artist. In a way its similar to one of those paintings that just continually open up to the viewer pulling you in deeper - giving you more every time you look. In a world too full of artworks that might as well be pictures of Elvis on velvet, "exposure" delivers in a very rare way.

Labels: 80's, music

There is such a buzz of excitement around all of Miami - as I was driving down Collins Ave from the airport, I saw at least three other art fairs loading in so there is a good bit of action and expectation in the city right now. Today was just a really busy day - not exactly a day for viewing much, but I did see a great Botero. I don't remember who has it - or for that matter who bought it already - but all I could say was wow. It just stopped me in my tracks It's a painting of a nun who is just exploding with internal conflict with these two little parsed lips desperately holding it all in. Just a fantastic painting.

I spent most of my time just trying not to bump into people - and I realize ABMB really opens tomorrow - so I expect it's going to be really pretty crowded this year.

On the social end of things we had a free concert from Peaches on the beach - she seems a bit past her prime - she would have been great three or four years ago -she's playing at the opening of Art Positions (these are the containers at the beach) but at least the organizers are trying to keep that area young (and she is german) so I can see how the choice was made. Plus she orbits the whole art thing a bit anyway.

Friday night Dennis Hopper is introducing a screening of "Easy Rider" which although Hopper has a art connection, it is still a pretty cool thing

But the big news was my meeting Russell Simmons - granted I only meet him for like 10 seconds but we are talking about Russel Simmons here - totally cool. I'm not even that big a hip hop fan. By the way, RS is one of the founders of DEF JAM records and the PHAT Farm clothing line. He was at a party being thrown in honor of Kehinde Wiley.

I discovered a really great magazine called "Parabol". Each issue is curated like a show, but the really cool thing is the size - folded out its 33 inches tall by 23 inches wide opened its 33 by 46 inches. When its open its like the width of a double bed - the typography just screams off the page and there is no better way to look at art when its reproduced at such a great size. Many of you know I've been looking for issues of a magazine from the eighties called "The Manipulator" it has the same qualities as "Parabol".

That is kind of it for ABMB today, however I was given a program guide for The Pompidou and the big news is that there is a Herge Show starting this December. Herge is probably best known for his comic "Tin-Tin" and who doesn't love Tin-Tin. (note to Jimmy Cohrssen - I want at least one t-shirt from that show)

Tomorrow I'll be visiting INK, ABMB, Aqua Art Fair and the Art Positions - so its a pretty big day.

One last note - hotels here have been charging almost double what they usually charge and people are screaming. Some folks are paying 600 - 700 a night for poor service at a premium price - so my 70 dollar hotel seems like a great value.

Labels: 80's, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Books, Comics

In 1991, David Wojnarowicz and Sylvère Lotringer met in the East Village to conduct a dialogue on Wojnarowicz's work. DW was already in the last stages of AIDS, and saw his dialogue with Lotringer as a chance to be clear about his aspirations and political views. Later SL reached out to DW's collaborators and friends - Julia Scher, Richard Kern, Kiki Smith, Nan Goldin, and others. The untold story that emerges here is the collaborative work of artists. It comes down to the fact in DW's case that he was a great synthesizer of ideas and images as well as a great artist.

for more information please visit semiotext(e)

Labels: 80's, books, East Village