THE PIT

Moving In Together

I'm sure you've all heard the news--that Freight + Volume and ATM gallery are moving in together.

I'm sure that moving in together will act as a lifeline for smaller, struggling galleries, but is it the best option? I have all sorts of theories as to how this arrangement will work (I can only imagine that they will be trading off months to exhibit in the space), but more perplexing are the mundane, operational questions. Will they share a receptionist? How will they store double the inventory? Will they share office supplies? I'm sure my questions sound silly, but aren't these the very types of questions that, if not addressed pre-move-in, are what lead to the dissolution of most roommate situations?

I also find myself wondering about these seemingly unimportant details simply because I wonder how popular this model will become. Will a standard be established? How do they deal with things like insurance? How does one insure their artwork within a shared space? Ahhh, it boggles my mind.

I did a little research on advice for unmarried couples moving in together, and it seems to me that this advice might apply nicely to businesses in the same boat:

1. Have a plan to merge possessions (well, one can only assume they'll be sharing a printer and cleaning supplies)
2. Be meticulous about money. (a/k/a/ in matters involving money, have a written agreement)
3. If one party is financially supporting the other, there should be no expectation of payback (this is probably good advice to follow--no one gets burned this way)
4. If you split up get a lawyer. oy. Still, good advice.

Naughty or Nice @ Mixed Greens

Beginning Thursday, November 19th, 6-8pm, Mixed Greens is unveiling Naughty Or Nice: a teensy exhibition of "naughty" and "not so naughty" artwork by Mixed Greens artists. Mark your calendars for some pre-holiday fun.

Wednesday: not-so-breaking news

Hi readers--sorry I missed blogging the last two days. I'm getting caught up on news:

Trophy hunting at the Lehman sale.

Art related (amazing) halloween costume.

What you get when you mix Rocky Horror with Midtown. Awesomeness.

Jerry's new book (and I hear one of the books will have $500 in it....was he that worried that people wouldn't buy his book?)

Performa 09! ribs and ribs and ice and peanuts and peanuts and peanuts!

Art to see on Halloween

ok, so Hirst hasn't yet made a PIRATE diamond skull, but here's to wishing...

Here are some options to check out if you're in the mood for Halloween-themed Art festivities:

-Collect Dumbo Halloween Art Crawl
-Sat, October 31st -- Lyons Wier Gallery's 3rd Annual HALLOWEEN PARTY -- come in your craziest costume & join us as we enjoy the sights & sounds of the New York Village Halloween Parade which ends near our block on 7th Ave & W.20th Street
-"When All is Said And Done" @ Possible Projects (ok, not really halloween-themed, but you should just see this!)
-NYStudio's "House of Horrors"
-Howl-O-Ween Dog Bazaar (maybe this one's for the dog fans out there) @ Denise Bibro [and yes, this is part of an art exhibition]

not-so-in-love (OY edition)

An Olsen is presenting at the Art Awards. (I'm not sure if the "oy" applies to the Olsen or the Art Awards)
Malfunctioning tongue at Urs Fischer's opening. (I say "oy" here, but I really mean "typical"--don't malfunctions always occur during openings?)
82-floors? (I say "oy" here out of sheer awe. I think it overwhelms me. I mean, 82 FLOORS??) [thank you ArtCat for Tweeting this one]

It's love

More specifically, it's ArtWeLove, an online arts magazine, gallery guide, newspaper, and reporter, all rolled up in one. It's an expertly browse-able space, meaning you can search by artist, type, movement, style, keyword,...you name, you'll find it. "Our contributing writers selectively curate news, shows, and artists, enabling you to explore art by affinity." Oooh, we like all-things-curatorial.

Speaking of love, last night I got totally hooked while watching Art:21 "Art in the Twenty-First Century" (on PBS). You can watch individual clips of the artist interviews online (here's one from last night's episode with Julie Mehretu). It was absolutely inspiring to see Mehretu's airplane-hangar of a studio in Berlin, and John Baldassari's committed student, ever-so-thankful he gave her the opportunity to walk his dog. These short clips and interviews were thoughtful, totally entertaining, and oftentimes endearing. This might be my new favorite TV program. That is, until LOST starts back up again in February.

rainy wednesday: SHOUT OUTS

above: Stas Orlovski's Midnight Storm, 2007 (currently on exhibition at the Islip Museum)

It's a rainy day in NYC, so I feel like lifting everyone's spirits with a post dedicated to SHOUT OUTS.

SHOUT OUT to HJ in Seoul for reading The Pit!
SHOUT OUT to Little Paper Planes blog! (because we like Little Paper Planes, and we love that they have a blog!)
SHOUT OUT to Artforum's Scene & Herd...I recognized an old friend in one of the photos.
SHOUT OUT to Steve Cohen's hedge fund for eliminating that potential conflict of interest
SHOUT OUT to Printed Matter and PS1
SHOUT OUT to Hamlet (he appeared to Christina in her dream last night)

Tuesday links!

Something to do with your old clothing...for the sake of art.
"Let's start a Wave"...hmm..not sure I'm going to use that phrase, but the program looks cool.
This is rather old news, but it seems there's always news about the Warhol Authentication Board these days.
Banks As Art Museums? via Illicit Cultural Property Blog
sooo funny. "I'm not even from Manhattan! I'm from Queens."

Nicities

Artists Who Use Text To Say Nice Things.

THIS WEEKEND: check out Artists Who Use Text To Say Nice Things @ 206 Rivington Street. Sat + Sunday ONLY (Oct. 24-25th), 1-6pm.

Anthony Campuzano, Alex Da Corte
Nicole Docimo, Alyssa Duhe, Carl Ferrero
Dana Frankfort, Patrick Fry, Incidental
Chris Johanson, Cary Leibowitz, Gillian MacLeod
Mark Mahosky, Heath Nash, Jack Pierson
Megan Plunkett, Franklin Preston, Trevor Reese
Alyce Santoro, Reed Siefer, Sighn
Mickey Smith, Charlie Welch, Shawn Wolfe

SHOUT OUT to Trevor for making me aware of the show, and SHOUT OUT to Aaron Krach for hosting it in his apartment.

Kim Beck's window installation @ Mixed Greens

above: detail of Kim Beck's installation, "Everything Must Go!" in the windows of Mixed Greens.

Kim Beck's installation Everything Must Go! is finally on view as one of the window installation projects at Mixed Greens.

The installation is inspired by Beck's recent encounters with similar signs

advertising vacancies,  which began appearing on houses and storefront windows in 2008. Placards meant to announce a sale, liquidation or foreclosure have since become commonplace and easily ignored—ubiquitous in our current landscape.

In Everything Must Go! the result is a jarring reality-check that puts Mixed Greens and all of Chelsea up for sale.  Her drawings are stacked and competing for space in an installation that mimics the surrounding urban landscape and a general feeling of unease. The work provides a thoughtful consideration of our current economic, artistic, political and visual landscapes.  As Heather Pesanti writes in a recent essay: “Beck’s gentle and delicately meticulous use of materials imbues her work with an elegantly beautiful artistic aesthetic that belies its disenchanted beginnings.”

 

 

Thursday reading round-up

Fear not, Polaroid fans...instant film is saved!

"...the work still remains—in concept, as a dent in the tent..." Oy.

AFC is @ Frieze! (and seems to be liking it, but not luvvving it)

MAD's Slash: Paper Under the Knife (perfect to check out on this rainy weekend)

Today's SHARK ART

Art + Food

Edible artwork @ Performa 09?? amazing.
Restaurant week = delivery week (West Chelsea NEEDS more food options)

have you joined Tasting Table yet?  just sayin'...

In case you missed it

Tamara Gayer's "Happiness Is Easy" site-specific installation (on the facade of Mixed Greens) was deinstalled last week. Stay tuned for our next window installation, "Everything Must Go!" by Kim Beck (scheduled to install on Thursday, October 15th)

Rudy Shepherd participated in The Kitchen's annual Block Party (for the High Line). Here's a shot of Rudy at his drawing stand. 

FRIDAY FUN DAY: Adia Millett's opening & filming on 26th street

Some pictures from Adia's opening last night:

Bustling crowd at Adia Millett's opening at Mixed Greens

Fun on Millett's Seesaw sculpture (part of the site-specific installation "The Birth of Bardo (Ups & Downs)")

IN OTHER WEST 26TH STREET NEWS:  FILMING!

Evidence of major-movie film crews...we think it's for Wall Street 2 (this is the view from our window!)

More filming going on @ West 26th Street. Looks like they're projecting some serious light onto the Cedar Lake building.

Adia Millett: Installation pics!

There's been a flurry of work + progress here at the gallery. Below are a series of pictures showing the progress of Adia Millett's site-specific installation "The Birth of Bardo (Ups & Downs)". Keep in mind the "room" that she's installing had to be constructed from scratch as well.

The wall and the ceiling are built.

Painting the "room"

Working on the wall decor

Checking the lights

Storing everything while we clean around it.

More photos will be posted of the completed installation...or...you could just check it out in person tomorrow night, @ Mixed Greens, 6-8pm.

SHOUT OUT to MocoLoco blog for listing Adia's show.

Tuesday links!

above: took this image from this Beautiful/Decay article

Loved, loved, loved this article in Beautiful/Decay about a studio visit with Stas Orlovski. Check it out--there are incredible photos of his studio and his newest work.

Today, I'm also loving artist-run collectives. Here's one you should know about: 440 Gallery (because it's located at 440 Sixth Avenue in Brooklyn). Please note that they are also having a "Small Works" exhibition in December. You can read about the submission guidelines here (Due by November 10th!)

Well, McDonalds' has finally conquered. I never thought they'd go this far.

Ed's back from Berlin, and his post today had me laughing. After some museum experience, I can tell you that the occurrence of a visitor "prodding the work" isn't all that rare.

SHOUT OUT to Ghislaine over at Interior Design...she did this blog post about Coke Wisdom O'Neal's Box Series.

REMINDER: Adia Millett's exhibition The Birth of Bardo opens this Thursday at Mixed Greens. I would post pictures of the intense construction going on over here, but I forgot to bring my digital camera cord to work. Alas, pictures must wait until tomorrow. Join us for the opening, Thursday October 8th, 6-8pm.

shark art, and other Thursday links

above: screenshot of NYTimes video footage of shark replacement in Damien Hirst's "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living"

FLASHBACK to the 90s--perhaps the most famous of sharks-in-art. Click here to read the NY Times article chronicling the history of the preserved shark (actually a few sharks). And click here to watch fascinating video footage of the shark being replaced.

In other news:

No nude Brooke in the Tate.

At least one gallery is expanding.

Yet another theft.

Get your NURTURE ART Benefit tickets now!

Today (until midnight), it's your LAST CHANCE to buy tickets for the NUTURE ART Benefit at the discounted price. A $200 VIP ticket gets early entry to the reception for 2 people, as well as a piece of art! Buy your tickets here!

artist campaign

above: screenshot from jcrew.com (pg 9 of the October catalog)

An unlikely collaboration caught my eye last night on 5th Avenue--the store windows of JCrew glowed brightly with Ryan McGinness' work. I got closer and realized it was a photo of McGinness' studio, with the artist himself, dressed in a JCrew ensemble.

This morning I found this article about JCrew's newest campaign, "Life Imitates Art" (this campaign includes not just McGinness, but also Vito Acconci, Stephen Shore, Billy Sullivan, Chris Dorland, Glenn Ligon, and Julien Smith--impressive, to say the least.)

I headed over to jcrew.com to check out the catalog and found myself giggling at the shots of the artists in suits in their pristine studios. I felt particularly worried for Julien Smith's "italian cashmere" cardigan in his studio shot--wet paint and cashmere certainly don't mix. However preposterous and overly pristine, I have to say that this is a surprisingly fresh approach to promoting artists (particularly the lesser-known artists in this group). My only question: where are the women artists?

Book fairs, GOSSIP GIRL, & other Tuesday tidbits

above: screenshot of Glenn Horowitz Booksellers website

Dirk Westphal's Endless Bummer will be presented by Glenn Horowitz Bookseller at the NY Book Fair, opening October 1, 6-8pm.

IN CELEBRITY NEWS:

A film crewman stopped me as I walked to work this afternoon because they were filming GOSSIP GIRL on West 26th street. North side of the street. The scene (with Taylor Momsen) begins almost exactly in front of the glass entryway doors of the 531 building (hello Mixed Greens), and follows the girls as they walk over to Cedar Lake's building. Our noses were pressed up against the windows to observe. I'm going to have to watch the episode and get a screen shot of Tamara Gayer's installation "Happiness is Easy" in the background.

other Tuesday tidbits:

iphone art (which made me think of copyright issues--ex: posting images of artwork to Facebook, etc....since Apple is so militant re: licensing, etc., is there fine print somewhere that says that the pictures you take with your iphone are owned by Apple? I wonder...)

Artworld Salon contributors are contributing more frequently these days. And we like it.

Celebrating "Rip-Offs"

my interest in filming locations was sparked by the Gossip Girl encounter.