It is hard to be unique in Chelsea. Enter summertime at Kravets-Wehby Gallery. Making my gallery rounds in May, I wandered in and wondered: is this the output of a kooky old reclusive woman. To my delight it was Justin Samson. His previous New York shows at John Connelly Presents were superb and this show delivered as well. It is such a joy to admire someone’s work and not know you’re walking into view their latest. Samson’s idiosyncratic works consumed the space with labor and passion for his craft blatantly visible. His “Multikulti” was one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. There were familiar shapes and colors that led you to historical references, yet his art is going in directions not visited by others. Speaking of directions not visited by others, these shows are on my best of 2011 list as well: Butt Johnson @ CRG Gallery, Nick van Woert @ Yvon Lambert, and David Adamo @ Untitled. Continue Reading More »

Screen shots from last week’s tweets for Doug Barrett’s “INSTITUTION/AUDIENCE/4′33″/TWITTER MIRROR”

Entire feed HERE

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Prism Schizm

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of taking a visit to the Hamptons to escape the oppressive New York City heat. Brooklyn based painter Ryan Wallace was my host and showed me around the latest exhibition at Halsey Mckay Gallery, a new summer long gallery venture. Their second show, Patterns and Light is a solo exhibition of work by San Francisco artist Chris Duncan. It’s funny that I came to escape the heat; walking into a room full of Chris’s work is like staring into the sun.  The largest work in the show, Prism Schizm is the most obvious in this respect. The yarn construction is like a tapestry of homespun summer air erupting from a tiny quicksilver pyramid. Two floor level mirror constructs feel like pooled quicksilver set out to collect strings of color that ooze lazily from its grinning wall sized façade. Continue Reading More »

LANY, pronounced L. A. New York, is the high functioning group show at Peter Blum Gallery in Chelsea where seven artists from both cities have ample space to show their work.  The non-thematic (beyond bi-coastal geography) show, organized by Mario Diacono includes work by New York-based Daniel Rich, Andy Cross and Benjamin Degen and Los Angeles-based Kara Tanaka, James Melinat and Kevin Appel.  There is also a show within a show by New York-based Luisa Rabbia. Continue Reading More »

Miami – This past weekend was Wynwood’s popular monthly gallery walk. Nestled in Midtown Miami is the Design District and Wynwood’s Art District. This area participates by welcoming the public to stroll through the over 50 galleries, studios and project spaces every second Saturday.  Announced by the Miami Art Dealers Association a few months back, this particular art walk now has new extended daytime hours (2-9pm) with many participating galleries. The neighborhood often hosts its own ‘Wynwood Market;’ a mix of art, fashion apparel, handmade crafts, jewelry and books. Continue Reading More »

Installation, Can I Get a Witness, 2011

Joshua Abelow set out to create a personal, visual archive through his blog, “ART BLOG ART BLOG,” but within a year he was getting up to 900 hits a day from over 125 countries. Less than two years later, the blog has materialized into a physical, artist-run gallery space, ART BLOG ART BLOG, with nine independently curated exhibitions, open through October 29, in a donated space located in Chelsea at 508 West 26^th St, Floor 11.

“ART BLOG ART BLOG” (the blog) emerged in early 2010 as an important way for Abelow to build a community over the web and engage with artists in other cities. Now back in New York, Abelow maintains his blog as a diaristic visual journal, with daily posts including other artists’ work, book and album covers, posters, personal work and photographs, poems and quips, and more. I had a chance to sit down with Abelow, and the curators of the upcoming exhibition, “Can I Get a Witness?” to find out more about the project. Continue Reading More »

When it comes to Art Galleries in New York, I have to admit, I have a crush on the Lower East Side. Perhaps that’s trite, but I don’t care.  I have been watching with cheerful expectations the last couple of years as one after another small, independently owned gallery moved into the neighborhood. The gritty, DIY aesthetic of the storefront gallery is something that appeals to me on a visceral level. There is something more personable here.  I no longer feel the need to rally against the white cube aesthetic of museums or larger Chelsea galleries when standing in the charmingly askew planes of a gallery that’s walls have begun to sag.  There are a number of incredibly well curated, exciting contemporary galleries in this neighborhood. Needless to say, I can’t resist excitement when a promising new one joins their ranks. Continue Reading More »