Courtesy of the Artist

Question: What starts with blood and ends with a post-op tranny? Answer: My studio visit with LA based artist Joel Kyack. Luckily there were some bacon strip band-aids on hand. Stepping into the Boyle Heights studio, I felt set up. Was this finger bleeding, paper clip and butane operation staged for me? Answer: No. Joel Kyack is attacking life and art, and sometimes people get hurt. Recently back from a Miami show and departing the following day for Milan, the studio was filled with more convo than recently finished art objects. New York will get its due though come April, when Joel will have a solo show at Kate Werble Gallery in SOHO. Until then, here is my Q and A with the artist: Continue Reading More »

For his third solo exhibition at Triple Base in San Francisco, Jay Nelson has masked the entire gallery floor with hand cut, custom shaped panels of ACX plywood. He’s divided the space with a new wall, and installed two separate arrangements of recent works in traditional, consciously transparent orderings. Nelson’s constructed all the necessary tools of perception (the wall, the work, even the floor) and pieced it all together to create an abstraction that according to the artist, was developed “with as little intention as possible.” Continue Reading More »

When I walked into Thierry Drefus’ aged mirrors firmly planted on the wooden floors of the Invisible Dog – it was during the opening of (naked) absence – (blinding) presence, which also coincided with their holiday dinner party back in December. The entire space being spliced by these large reflections, instantly drew me to knowing who was the artist behind the installation. Eiji Sumi soon joined the party, and over a bowl of homemade cocktail, the artist Thierry Dreyfus introduced himself and advised us to see his other piece in the back of the gallery. Walking through the door, the room opened up to something of a lucid dream. The diffused light changed the dimensions of the air, and without knowing what to expect, I became in sync with the heartbeat that was intensely thumping in the background. Peaking in and out of the white shadows is a godly figurative sculpture. Then, hearing muffled voices from other human figures, the magic spell was broken. A few weeks later, after the artist returned to Paris, I decided to investigate Sir Thierry Dreyfus, an internationally renowned and respected artist, through the eyes of a New York based emerging lighting artist, Eiji Sumi. Both artists, living in influential cities, tell their stories using the element of light. Continue Reading More »

Courtesy of the New Museum

George Condo was born in 1957, meaning he is 53, the same age as my mother.

The artist’s newly opened retrospective “Mental States” at the New Museum, was exceptional in part for this reason. It was refreshing to see an exhibition of this weight and vitality at the New Museum. It was especially exciting considering the artist is not “younger than Jesus” but 4 decades into his mature career.

At the risk of seeming vague or trite, or both, there is something timeless about George Condo’s Work. During the 1980s, while friends like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Mary Heilmann were developing their own signature styles, Condo wasn’t. Rather, he was constructing his toolbox. The artist has become a master of appropriation, not of material but of style. He has an uncanny ability to pull inspiration and support from across art history. An avid museum visitor, the artist constantly footnotes artists as disparate as, Picasso, Bacon and Fragonard. Continue Reading More »

This month, I had the opportunity to have a studio visit with legendary photographer Martha Cooper.  We sat and “talked shop” about photography and New York City, thirty years back and now. I always knew of Martha Cooper, but there were things about her photographic career I only learned of that day. The 1980’s movie Beat Street – little did I know that she was the still photographer.  Perhaps she is best known for her extensive coverage of the early Hip Hop days, as it emerged from the Bronx. These images have been published worldwide, helping make Hip Hop the predominant international youth movement it is today. Looking at her collection of images and many published books,  (Street Play, Subway Art and New York State of Mind – to only name a few) it is evident that Martha had the desire to document NYC simply as it was, making images which hold views of complete authenticity which add to historic preservation.

Martha’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and published in numerous magazines from National Geographic to Vibe. She lives in Manhattan where she is the Director of Photography at City Lore, the New York Center for Urban Folk Culture. For the past five years Martha has been shooting a personal project in SoWeBo, a neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore. Continue Reading More »

Rachel and Friends, 2009 ©Alex Prager, Courtesy of the Artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery

Art enthusiasts have been anticipating this week’s VIP Art Fair – the first virtual art fair – with mixed opinions from all sides of the game. Fair booths and lounges have been translated on to the comforts of a (lonely) screen. An online art fair definitely saves all the legwork and on airfares, but without this pumping physical action, it filters out all the fun. In the midst of this virtual fair, we pulled a few highlights for those who don’t feel like becoming a registered VIP. If you’ve been to the fair, we’d like to hear your comments. Continue Reading More »

(Color Photos: Jenny Duffy, B/W Photos: Rameen Gasery) Continue Reading More »