Ann Liv Young Flavored Pork

Visitors at the small, experimental space PS122, which hosted a tribute show of video, dance and musical performances dedicated to rap artist Kanye West, were probably shocked when the hip hop star showed up at the event himself. But they were likely not as shocked as Kanye, as the night progressed, when performance artist Ann Liv Young came on stage, completely naked, and berated the rapper for his most recent album "808s & Heartbreak". And to add to the bizarre diatribe, while she was complaining that the CD was not his best work, Young rubbed barbecued pork onto her genitals, before eating it.

AN has the story here.

Annie in money troubles

Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz may be better off declaring bankruptcy than battling a creditor suing her for breaching a contract related to a $24 million loan, bankruptcy experts said.

Art Capital Group, a New York-based company that makes loans using art as collateral, extended Leibovitz $22 million in September 2008 backed by the rights to her photographs and real estate in Manhattan and Rhinebeck, New York, court papers said. Three months later, she got $2 million more, according to a suit filed last week in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The financing company sued Leibovitz, alleging she refused to cooperate in the sale of the copyrights to her photographs and won’t give real-estate agents access to her properties for sale. Leibovitz has to repay the loan with interest and other expenses by Sept. 8, according to the suit.

Read it in Bloomberg here.

John Grazier Magazine

The immensely talented DC artist John Grazier has self published a really good magazine about his art, quotes by individuals and collectors.  Grazier writes to me:

"Other artists might consider doing something similar to promote their work.  Publishing it is free!  I think the concept is great, and if someone wants a profit, they just take that option, pricing the publication above print on demand cost-- they will receive payment via paypal."

See the mag here... and yes, Grazier's work is spectacular!

What are we looking for?

More than 200 Times readers have responded to the question the chief art critic Michael Kimmelman poses in his latest Abroad column:

What exactly are we looking for when we roam around museums?

On a recent visit to the Louvre, Mr. Kimmelman observed that “almost nobody, over the course of that hour or two, paused before any object for as long as a full minute.” His conclusion: “Tourists now wander through museums, seeking to fulfill their lifetime’s art history requirement in a day, wondering whether it may now be the quantity of material they pass by rather than the quality of concentration they bring to what few things they choose to focus upon that determines whether they have ‘done’ the Louvre. It’s self-improvement on the fly.”

Julie Bloom in the NYT discusses the comments and their meaning. The comments have a few good points (lack of benches, etc.) but most are full of high handed snobbery and sadness. Read it here.

I'm confused

I'm not sure if this review by the WaPo's Chief Art Critic is a good one or not.

There's not much to see in two art projects now on view in Baltimore. That's why it's worth rushing out to get a look at them before they close in the next few weeks.

In fact my plebian mind fails to understand the bipolar nature of the points in the review, wondering from negative to positive to negative again, and ending in positive (I think), all the while while seeming to praise the actions of a former art curator heading to the fold of a mad South American dictator while rehashing traditional critical arrows at the heart of art and style as if they themselves were new. I think that Blake may be somewhat brilliant in the way that he managed to confuse me, but then again, I could be wrong. Prepare to be confused here.

For an equally brilliant counterpoint, Richard Whittaker interviews Jane Rosen:

Jane Rosen: I want to make work that you don't have to have a Master’s degree in Art History to understand. When I lived in St. Martin there was something about the quiet and the water. I became interested in fishing and met an elegant old black man, Mr. Anstley Yarde, who was very tall and thin and had a great presence. He taught me how to fish. You use a can and string. He’d get me at six o’clock in the morning and we’d get these snails. We’d sit on a rock and drop soda-can lines and just sit there. I never caught a fish but he’d catch them. He’d hear them...and I thought, this man has knowledge. And one day, we’re sitting on the rock and he asked me what kind of art I made. I knew Mr. Anstley Yarde would not understand the art I was making at that time, and I realized I wanted him to understand it. It raised that question: who and what does my art address? Who did I want to talk to and what did I want to talk about?

... Theorists will start talking and I’ll start thinking, "O God. I’m illiterate!" But in actual fact, I’m literate about another range of experience, a range they are not connected to. It’s simply not an issue for them!

Read the interview with Jane Rosen in Conversations here.

Patricia Di Bella at BlackRock

I have always thought that the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD has one of the most beautiful and dramatic gallery spaces in the region. With its impossibly tall gallery space, it opens itself to all kinds of great curatorial ideas. I am told that a new gallery director is coming to Black Rock soon, and hopefully the gallery will receive the attention to its web presence and curatorial care to the space itself, that it currently lacks.

Currently on exhibition are the paintings of Maryland artist Patricia Di Bella, whose large scale work, and uniformity of size give the viewer quite a good visual reception once one enters the large gallery space.

Curtain Falls by Patricia Di Bella
Di Bella's work is a swirl of frenzied theatrical activity and bedlam in a riot of strong brushwork and color impossibilities. In "Curtain Falls" (see above) we're greeted by an odd cast of characters in what I must assume is some sort of unusual narrative. But I am immediately drawn to the odd character on the lower right hand corner of the painting.

We see a female drummer, in dress and ample cleavage, messing around with the drum sticks and posing with them as horns. Is that Sly Stallone? Is it just me or does that face look like Rocky Balboa? Is it an accident of painting or has Di Bella put the Italian Stallion in there for a reason?

I'm not sure, but it certainly adds an unusual twist to this quizzical drama being played on not only on this canvas but also in most of the paintings. What is going on here? What is Di Bella showing us? Is that Bing Crosby crooning some mad song above Rocky? Why does he have wings in his fedora? Is that Monroe with a gag in the rear of the painting?


Running the Finale by Patricia Di Bella
Like any exhibition, some paintings are better than others, and in "Running The Finale" the artist has some issues with her technical facility as we note some issues with foreshortening and proportions. But even those are somewhat overcome by the interesting mayhem going on in the scene depicted on the canvas: it is another madhouse of actions and disturbing emotional ranges.


Sound Check, Teatro Diego by Patricia Di Bella
And it is this mayhem on canvas, with Marilyn Monroe being oddly referenced everywhere, that seems to be the unifying point in most of the work, with possibly the exception of "Sound Check, Teatro Diego," which appears to be a very intelligent homage to Diego Velázquez's "Las Meninas." A bravo to the artist for referencing what is (in my opinion) the greatest painting of Western civilization; it is not an easy task.

BlackRock Center for the Arts is located at 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, Maryland 20874. Call them at 301.528.2260 for more info.

If you missed...

Tim Tate on "All Things Considered" on NPR, you can listen to the clip here.