catch-all entry about art stuff

My new job consists of sitting behind a desk transferring phone calls all day (yeah, I get paid to do a robot's work) so I spend a lot of time cruising the internet. This cruising results in curious finds that make me want to post to my blog, but alas, the firewall at work is so intense that I can't log on to ESSNK.

I wanted to share with you some of my discoveries from my time in this great wide world of wonderous weberosity, so this is a catch-all entry: links and thoughts about How We Live Today.

1) Fashematics: http://fashematics.com
A fashion blog I discovered through NYT that puts together two or more images that almost always make an incredible reference point to the latest designs to walk the runway. Funny and fun to look at, although hardly substantial.

2) Modern Art Notes: Tyler Green's modern and contemporary art blog, also discovered via the NYT article on the New Museum's trustee collection show that is fast approaching. The first couple of entries on this blog deal with the issues of the New Museum's trustee, Dakis Joannou, displaying his private collection in a show curated for the museum by Jeff Koons. The whole things smacks of nepotism and art world elitism and is, frankly, a shame. When I first read the article I was sliding towards the apathetic opinion of "what's the big deal?" but after I read the materials on Modern Art Notes and read this extensive drawing/chart of the situation by William Powhida, I realized that I am extremely not OK with what's going on here. The New Museum should totally rock, but instead it gives us the same tired art-ejaculation bull-shit of people like Elizabeth Peyton and Jeff Koons who is FUCKING 57 and has a BILLIONAIRE PATRON in Joannou. And if I have to see one more crappy video installation where people throw paint on each other to electronic music and clearly were only friends of the friends of curator, than I will VOMIT ON THE PLACE ITSELF. And listen, I interned with the New Museum. I love the building. I love the promise it holds as an institution. And I love the fact that it was started by Marcia Tucker who wanted to find contemporary art at the source, before it became a commercial success (loosely paraphrased Powhida on that point). However, this museum is suffering from a serious case of malaise and laziness, using the same names over and over and pushing artists who are too overused. The New Museum should make its mission statement:

"Give me your tired sculptors, your poor painters,
Your huddled digital artists yearning to break free,
The wretched artists of your teeming lands,
Send these, the homeless artists, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my rainbow beside the stack of silver blocks"

...Ya know?

3) But all this art blog stuff eventually led me back to this one piece that I had learned about in my abstract studio art class in college: The Walter De Maria lightning field. Dia Beacon maintains it and it is located in New Mexico somewhere in the elevated parts of the state. You can stay the night there (that's pretty much the only way to experience it) for 250 bucks (That includes room and board for a night) . They recommend that you experience the field at dawn and dusk and try it at night because of the lightning, although it isn't a guarantee. Add this experience to my bucket list because DAMN I WANT TO GO TO THERE. Even if it is expensive.