tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126493002011-08-16T23:11:10.451-04:00One paragraph reviews on art, movies, books, and pop culture by a know-nothing who knows it allAlicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comBlogger6561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-9407870265800223782008-06-14T15:31:00.004-04:002008-06-14T15:38:00.279-04:00

Hello, Good People. As you can see, blogging hasn't been at the top of my to-do list. At some point, I'll post about why I'm on permanent hiatus. Perhaps, some day the blogging passion will return. Until then.... peace.

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-69238916654183386752007-11-01T13:03:00.000-04:002007-11-01T13:08:23.431-04:00

It's been a little crazy this week. Be kind, and give me a little slack for a bit. :) By Monday, Amp Power should be up and running again. Thanks

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-86769545776439508912007-10-24T11:30:00.000-04:002007-10-24T11:26:52.088-04:00

If you're an artist and want to attract people to your next show, try to get Homeland Security involved. I would probably never think of checking out Duke Riley's "After the Battle of Brooklyn" exhibit at Magnan Gallery, if Riley hadn't received so much press and digital ink last August. When this water performance artist attempted to navigate his homemade submarine around the waters of

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-60734085448888848352007-10-23T18:00:00.000-04:002007-10-23T17:59:34.869-04:00

The label "alt-folk" makes me throw up, but recently that's all I've been listening to. I put the blame squarely on Suzanne Vega's "Beauty & Crime" disc. I had ignored Suzanne Vega after her 1987 "Solitude Standing," but I picked up her new disc because it is a paean to New York City post 9/11. I got hooked big time. I'm the type of person who likes to burn things out fast; that is, I listen to

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-77093085958921035152007-10-22T08:38:00.000-04:002007-10-21T22:57:11.620-04:00

James Valerio's paintings at George Adams gallery make me smile. These hyper-realistic paintings seem to be allegorical. However, the stories on these canvases are not standard symbolic tales but ones for the viewer to make up on his own. "Comic Times" shows a couple in their pattern-busy living room. The wife reads the funnies as intently as someone reads the business page, while the husband

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-27418870161259520572007-10-19T12:45:00.000-04:002007-10-19T12:45:30.689-04:00

It may be thought of as a gimmick, but I like it: creating art under extreme situations--and elements. As part of his ongoing "Drawing Restraint" project, Matthew Barney sailed from Gibraltar to New York last December. As the boat rocked to and fro, Barney drew and painted with what he had available. The final art images are now on view at the Serpentine Gallery in London, and some were printed

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-26980743602771480262007-10-18T17:45:00.000-04:002007-10-18T17:45:08.956-04:00

I could almost start going to church again. Jackie Nickerson's photograph exhibit, "Faith," at Jack Shainman gallery documents Catholic religious orders in Ireland. Although these images were taken over the past two and half years, the church's recent scandals seem far, far away. Priest pedophilia, ordination of women, ban on abortion? Never hoird of 'em. This hermatically sealed world harkens

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-10437606714630049852007-10-17T10:23:00.000-04:002007-10-17T10:42:57.396-04:00

The Saatchi Gallery's featured photograph for its current survey of post 9/11 American artists reminded me of another similar striking image. In Josephine Meckseper's 2003 "Pyromaniac 2," a model holds a lighted match in her mouth as though it were a cigarette and delivers us a "dare me" look. Meckseper's work combines anti-capitalism with humor, and the gallery describes this photo as "an emblem

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-57339004378106724702007-10-16T08:22:00.000-04:002007-10-15T23:26:23.671-04:00

Even as a woman, I'm a little intimidated by A.M. Homes. I just finished her 1999 book "Music for Torching." Think William Burroughs meets Richard Yates. It's that good. The novel, which I picked up in the bargain bin for $1.98 (!), is a satire, a sometimes brutal tale, about a husband and wife who feel "stuck" in their lives in the suburbs. Homes manages to make this story completely absurd but

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-80505610308166306802007-10-15T08:30:00.000-04:002007-10-14T22:55:30.635-04:00

Do we spot a trend here? It's time to publicize art works that deface Jack and Jackie. The Foundation for Italian artist Mimmo Rotella is hawking the artist's 1963 "L'ultimo Kennedy," in which JFK is given the treatment. More recently, Douglas Gordon does a little slash and burn on the missus. Ripping the Kennedys feels somewhat passe to me, more circa early 1980s. And I think that Jello Biafra

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-92178745911944557652007-10-12T10:45:00.000-04:002007-10-19T12:47:21.691-04:00

Remember that pictorial spread in W magazine a few years back featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie portraying a bored 1960s couple? The 60-paged catalogue, which was photographed by Steve Klein, oozed with smart mise-en-scene and tons of back story. Well, at least one image wasn't as original as I thought. Julius Shulman took a very similar photograph almost 50 years ago. (The image is

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-24043587908734996372007-10-12T10:00:00.000-04:002007-10-12T09:53:58.599-04:00

Am I the only person in the world who is tired of Tom Ford's ongoing media blitz to prove he's not shy about sex? He likes to woo the press, and they all eat up his calculated, "shocking" sound bites. In his latest business venture at the perfume counter, the (former?) designer likes to talk about the alluring smells of body odor and men's crotches. T.F. and his don't-you-forget-about-me

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-62344112499871091082007-10-11T09:45:00.000-04:002007-10-11T09:45:29.254-04:00

Sometimes people are just screwed up, and no amount of therapy, yoga, or hocus-pocus rituals is going to save them. That's what I came away with after reading Kathryn Harrison's (very short) memoir "The Mother Knot." The book chronicles Harrison's coming to terms with her rocky relationship with her dead mother. (This includes exhuming her mother's body, having it cremated, and then throwing

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-57651998792132729852007-10-10T11:30:00.000-04:002007-10-10T11:23:50.721-04:00

Poor Jackie. What did she ever do to deserve the pummeling that artists like to give her? Was it Warhol who started this never-ending spanking machine? It seems that Ms. O's image as the bouffant, helmet-headed Jackie Kennedy usually takes the worst beating on the canvas. Douglas Gordon is the latest artist to deface Jackie in an upcoming show at Gagosian gallery uptown. And, last year, Jack

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-35125904892560195422007-10-10T10:30:00.000-04:002007-10-16T13:07:28.915-04:00

Who could ever imagine that Amp Power would be mentioned in the same breath as "Meet the Press" and "The New Republic"? Well, it happened this week in New York Magazine's comments section in which the weekly cited rave reviews for its Bill Clinton-in-Drag cover, along with one lone dissenting voice--yours truly. The weekly writes that "The New Republic's blog called it 'hilarious.' The Amp Power

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-86464748999388232232007-10-04T17:46:00.000-04:002007-10-04T17:30:49.895-04:00

Is it possible to go back home again? To recapture that feeling when you watched a particular movie that zapped you right between the eyes because it encapsulated both your inner thoughts and worldview? Almost 20 years ago, one movie really sang to me: "Lord Love a Duck." Before "Heathers," there was "Lord Love a Duck," a dark comedy centered on high school life that playfully skewers just about

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-61081683448880442342007-10-03T10:29:00.000-04:002007-10-03T10:51:41.869-04:00

Not long ago, New York Magazine issued out one of my favorite all-time magazine covers, featuring a curmudgeon Woody Allen and a steamy Scarlett Johansson sitting on a beach. How far a magazine can fall. This week's magazine's image of a photoshopped Bill Clinton in drag tops my worst all-time mag covers. Accompanying an article speculating on Bill Clinton as "First Lady" (get it?), the morph-job

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-9364425946717622282007-09-26T11:35:00.000-04:002007-09-26T11:38:07.214-04:00

Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and "Air Force One" with Harrison Ford have a lot more in common than you may think. According to director Michael Haneke in a NYT profile, both have "a distinct political agenda [and] a common goal — the total manipulation of the viewer. What’s terrible about the Harrison Ford film, though, especially terrible, is that it represents itself as simple

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-29090679214468501722007-09-19T12:09:00.001-04:002007-09-19T12:17:03.261-04:00

Dear Gentle Readers (all three of you), I'm not lazy. I'm not slacking. I've been wide awake and busy with my non-blogging life. I will start posting on regular basis oh-so soon. I'll do my best to get back on track with more riveting reviews and catty comments. --Amp

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-8391562058981460732007-09-12T12:00:00.000-04:002007-09-12T11:55:09.060-04:00

Is Marc Jacobs spring 2008 collection really front page news? The New York Times thinks so. Cathy Horyn proclaims that Jacobs offers "an antidote to the cartoonish Jessica Rabbit sexuality that has dominated women’s fashion for more than 20 years." However, what caught my interest in the article was a quote from artist John Currin, who is known for his hardcore graphic sex paintings. “So often

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-48951201989427051592007-09-11T08:16:00.000-04:002007-09-10T23:24:16.320-04:00

One of my favorite contemporary artists, Mel Leipzig, has been elected into the National Academy of Design. Along with Sol LeWitt, Kiki Smith, Cy Twombly and Richard Serra, Leipzig is one of 19 artists to be awarded membership to the academy this past year. Leipzig has a few exhibits coming up this month. On Sept. 25, Tomasulo Gallery will showcase Leipzig's paintings that focus on artists in

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-65833826581166160992007-09-10T08:54:00.000-04:002007-09-09T23:00:54.708-04:00

Did you know that going to art galleries is very hip, very sexy, and so very Banana Republic (according to the clothing retailer's latest ad campaign)? The ads published in Vogue and the New York Times spotlight models hanging out in front of abstract paintings with gallery invitations either tucked in oversized bags or used as shields for whispers or kisses. Apparently, these ads is B.R.'s way

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-4279394003687253952007-09-07T08:21:00.000-04:002007-09-06T23:19:28.800-04:00

New York Times tipped me off to this fun show at Danziger Projects. Andy Freeberg turns his lens on those I-dare-you-to-approach front desks in almost every single Chelsea gallery. In person, these formidable barriers are intimidating, but these images capture how silly they are. However, I have been in even more uncomfortable situations in which a gallery staff member sits out in the open in a

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-75144667928268118742007-09-06T17:00:00.000-04:002007-09-06T17:00:40.239-04:00

"A humorless misfire that wastes the talents of some fine actors." Ouchy. That's one of the notices for Woody Allen's new film, Cassandra's Dream, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, which GreenCineDaily has posted. If I received these types of reviews, I would go into hiding for years. From the Hollywood Reporter: "Lazy plotting, poor characterization, dull scenes and flat dialogue." The

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-41196490964786414802007-09-04T18:27:00.000-04:002007-09-04T18:20:22.030-04:00

The relationship has always been tight, but when I see it in black and white, I always think "sell out." At some point, gallery-quality photographers usually take up a fashion shoot for that bread and butter money. As New York gears up for Fashion Week, I've recognized a few names attached to photo spreads in local publications. Tierney Gearon, whose Mother Project I really liked, got tapped for

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-78403532556428858792007-08-28T08:00:00.000-04:002007-08-28T00:02:02.901-04:00

Everyone has been talking about Gwyneth Paltrow's unrecognizable cover shot on W magazine. But the real reason to pick up this month's issue is the 17-page spread of Laura Dern photographed by Juergen Teller. Any actress in her late 30s who stands before Teller's unmerciful lens should be applauded. She has real guts. This is the same woman who let David Lynch shoot her in "Inland Empire" with a

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-9710152549357273382007-08-13T13:30:00.000-04:002007-08-13T13:22:52.509-04:00

Once again, it's vacation time for me. This will be my last break for the summer. See ya in a week or so. (Image via Euro-quest.tripod.com)

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-72406943469048620162007-08-10T07:48:00.000-04:002007-08-10T00:03:14.438-04:00

Michael Somoroff's "Illumination" at BravinLee programs is like a planetarium visit for grown-ups. Walking through this darken maze of light shows, video projection, and computer-generated imagery, the viewer enters Plato's Cave and a mosque's interior. The 360-degree rotation inside the mosque as daylight streams through a high opened window is the exhibit's standout. Using multiple curved

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-50811751052471777522007-08-09T08:13:00.000-04:002007-08-09T00:47:39.715-04:00

In the New York Times review of the Morton Bartlett exhibit at Julie Saul gallery, Roberta Smith compared the artist, who created and photographed life-like dolls, to everyone from Lewis Carroll to Martín Ramírez. She failed, however, to mention the much closer similarities between Bartlett and Dare Wright, who created the "Lonely Doll" children books. (I've posted images of Wright's doll on the

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-79636431943783027082007-08-08T08:32:00.000-04:002007-08-07T23:45:08.828-04:00

This may be a bad sign: I saw Thomas Flechtner's show at Marianne Boesky gallery less than a week ago, and I couldn't remember a single image. I had to refer to my notes and visit the gallery's website to refresh my memory. But when I did, I remembered, "Oh, I liked this stuff." The exhibit has two parts: one uses lightboxes to showcase photos of blownout cherry blossom trees, while the other

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-31936256485608975032007-08-07T08:14:00.000-04:002007-08-06T23:42:44.417-04:00

Is a group show successful if only a handful of the artists succeed in the exhibit's intent? Sometimes, yes. Sean Kelly gallery's "Role Exchange" features 27 artists whose selected pieces explore identity switching, borrowing, and co-opting. Too many of these photographs and videos, however, are just an excuse to play dress-up. Too much camp and playacting and not enough assimilation and blurring

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-18938919252992642002007-08-06T08:05:00.000-04:002007-08-05T23:45:55.695-04:00

When I first started reading Jonathan Rosenbaum's New York Times op-ed piece about Ingmar Bergman, I literally gasped. Trashing the genius Swede auteur? And so soon after his death? The man's body isn't even cold and out come the knives to slash away at this fabled master of celluloid. Entitled "Scenes from an Overrated Career," Rosenbaum writes, "The hard fact is, Mr. Bergman isn't being taught

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-13864196527777438982007-08-02T08:42:00.000-04:002007-08-02T00:06:03.678-04:00

Yuri Masnyj's sculptures and watercolors at Metro Pictures gallery give a flirtatious wink to Russian Constructivism and Cubism. The perceptive in the watercolors is charmingly just a bit off; reds, pinks, and blacks are the dominant colors; and the silhouette of a guitar pops up again and again. Almost all of the works depict bookshelves full of thick tomes with Cyrillic lettering on their

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-32685249803553481352007-08-01T08:21:00.000-04:002007-07-31T23:44:55.459-04:00

Why, oh why, do most photographers feel compelled to portray members of a subculture as freaks? (Let's give Diane Arbus a good spanking if she's the cause of all this.) Matt Hoyle's exhibit of photos at Point of View Gallery focuses on those crazy and kooky people who like to swim in frigid water. So guess what? All the swimmers look like either homeless people or Bellevue patients. I dig the

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-30793798517790736862007-07-31T08:26:00.000-04:002007-08-02T00:16:20.925-04:00

Yes, we all agree that John Cassavetes, the director, was innovative and pumped real life into film and that his work still inspires legions of fans. But John Cassavetes, the actor? Heaven help us. In his own films as an actor (I'm thinking of "Husbands" and "Opening Night"), Cassavetes was tolerable. But in movies in which he was not at the helm, he drives me to distraction. His forced intensity

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-67095893577929672052007-07-30T08:32:00.000-04:002007-07-29T23:56:24.553-04:00

I never realized that early American artists had such a utopian vision of America until I saw Sarah Peters' exhibit, called "Being American," at Winkleman gallery. Peters' ink drawings and terracotta sculptures riff on that era's themes and works. It's hard to tell whether Peters is embracing or poking fun at those first artists, however. Although her drawings depict a world of earthly delights

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-33741700413161369802007-07-27T08:35:00.000-04:002007-07-26T23:35:49.591-04:00

Banks Violette's show at Gladstone gallery is a controlled chaos, just like the death metal music that inspires this artist. White lights, black metal plates, shiny aluminum, and smashed mirrors are the source materials for a number of Violette's sculptures. In one assemblage, javelin fluorescent lights are collapsed on the floor among a tangle of black cords. On a series of shattered mirrors,

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-33268155361075420482007-07-26T08:01:00.000-04:002007-07-26T00:11:26.222-04:00

My summer album is Charlotte Gainsbourg's "5:55." I've listened to it repeatedly for the past few months, sometimes three times in a row in one day. With music by Air, Gainsbourg sings in a breathy, talky voice. Perhaps the disc's beguiling quality comes from Air's hypnotic groove, or perhaps it is Gainsbourg's French aura and pedigree that ensnare me. I wonder if Charlotte, who must be one of

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-55732725079547326022007-07-25T08:32:00.000-04:002007-07-24T23:55:28.281-04:00

Calling Maya Deren. Your legacy lives on. Jesper Just's short film, "A Vicious Undertow," which is being screened at Perry Rubenstein gallery, feels like something the surrealist Deren could have created. Shot in black and white, this 10-minute mood poem is about the past, the present, regret, and hope. With no dialogue, the three characters (two women and a man) communicate through whistling,

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-13502832261895675412007-07-24T08:07:00.000-04:002007-07-24T00:03:32.312-04:00

The DVD menu for Spalding Gray's "Swimming to Cambodia" made me cringe. In a crude animation, Gray, who committed suicide in 2004 by jumping off the Staten Island Ferry and drowning, bobs and sinks between waves. The viewer can opt to play the movie or choose selected scenes while S.G. almost drowns. Even thinking about it now makes me wince. Granted, the DVD for this 1986 film was probably

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-28926789784317534342007-07-23T08:34:00.000-04:002007-07-22T23:46:30.981-04:00

"First Contact: A Photographer's Sketchbook" at Silverstein Photography gives group shows a good name. In fact, I would still rate this an excellent exhibit even if it weren't the summer and Chelsea galleries have basically gone on holiday. By displaying the contact sheets of some iconic photographers (Robert Frank, Robert Capa, Arnold Newman, Richard Avedon, and Diane Arbus), this show reveals

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-70571933500629107522007-07-18T18:52:00.000-04:002007-07-18T18:52:46.093-04:00

He wins lots of book awards and receives ecstatic press notices, but I have yet to find a person who considers himself a fan of Ian McEwen. Yes, people devour every book he issues out and praise his writing, but there's always some plot point or story twist that really irks them. Perhaps they feel he could be a "great" writer if he didn't resort to extreme moments to tell his story. I don't have

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-85615106291456415862007-07-17T18:10:00.000-04:002007-07-17T18:13:08.109-04:00

Last April, Tyler Green requested bloggers to post on works of art that "rhyme," meaning, two pieces that share visual cues. Only recently has one image triggered another for me. The latest Chanel lipstick ad seems to be a blatant ripoff of Marilyn Minter's 2004 "Jawbreaker." (Madison Avenue admen aren't exactly artists--but on second thought, perhaps they are....) In the Chanel ad, a woman's

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-88802047579847250222007-07-16T18:19:00.000-04:002007-07-16T18:17:57.318-04:00

Irritated and bored. That was my experience every time I read a chapter from "Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him." Written by real-life art collector and super-rich Danielle Ganek (her hubby is a hedge fund manager), I read this horribly titled book about the behind-the-scenes world of Chelsea art galleries. Ganek goes slumming with this first-person narrative, told by a gallery's receptionist.

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-17858866587952020272007-07-11T19:45:00.000-04:002007-07-11T19:43:18.837-04:00

I'm slacking. My vacation-induced laziness has affected my blogging. I'll start posting regularly again...starting Monday. Promise. (Image via timedoctor.org)

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-73616303846444164812007-06-22T08:07:00.000-04:002007-06-21T23:54:57.469-04:00

Back in a week or so. Stay tuned for more riveting reviews and catty comments. (Image via nevasport.com)

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-18275126023829509462007-06-21T18:10:00.000-04:002007-06-21T18:05:11.865-04:00

Believe the lukewarm reviews of Andreas Gursky's recent show at Matthew Marks gallery. I marched in wanting to love this exhibit, but there's something lifeless about it. Perhaps Gursky is o.d.'ing on himself. Many of these large-scale photographs felt like knock-off Gursky images. The artist devotes a lot of wall space to Formula 1 racing teams. (Good God. The Nascar obsession is seeping into

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-76933343058941966982007-06-20T08:00:00.000-04:002007-06-20T00:05:57.779-04:00

These reproductions don't capture it, but Melvin Martinez's paintings at Yvon Lambert gallery are very fishing-lure shiny. Besides using oil and acrylic paints, Martinez decorates these works with lots of glitter and confetti. The show is entitled "Fresh Paint," and the paintings' dominant vertical lines must refer to the image of globs of paint dripping down a canvas. Although the thick paint

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-87326980113985299862007-06-20T07:59:00.000-04:002007-06-20T00:08:19.464-04:00

Here we go again: another "Gotcha" art show. The photograph of the amplifier on the right? Fake. The microwave below? Fake. Like Robert Gober, Kaz Oshiro has created uncanny replicas of electronic devices and small appliances, including scuff marks and coffee stains, on display also at Yvon Lambert gallery. Unlike Gober, Oshiro lets the viewer in on the forgery. The back of each work reveals

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-35792944927244632022007-06-19T08:53:00.000-04:002007-06-19T00:14:49.643-04:00

I consider myself a Francophile, but I have never really dug Edith Piaf. So, I nudged myself to see "La Vie en Rose," a biopic on the singer, hoping that the flick would turn me onto to this French icon. It did. Piaf is sort of like Judy Garland: she belts out songs, and it's her heart and soul that pulls you in, not her vocal skill. Marion Cottilard, who plays Piaf, is A+ and amazing, but this

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-21118095133136924752007-06-18T08:32:00.000-04:002007-06-17T23:37:09.589-04:00

When you enter D'Amelio-Terras gallery, keep repeating to yourself, "This is not a Cindy Sherman show, this is not a Cindy Sherman show." Sure, black and white photographs that look like old film stills adorn the walls, but the artist behind the camera is Sam Samore. Even though this exhibit is Shermanesque, this show stands on its own. Whereas Sherman's faux film stills tipped their hat to

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-46599261653943748352007-06-18T08:18:00.000-04:002007-06-17T23:34:03.248-04:00

I liked Massimo Bartolini's extremely small show (only two works) also at D'Amelio Terras gallery mainly because I thought, "Hey, I could do that." Here's how Bartolini created these paper designs. He folded a large piece of paper into a paper airplane, unfolded it, and then traced the creases with colored pencil. Viola! You just got yourself some art to hang on your wall. Bartolini framed the

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-79885515947620639122007-06-15T08:11:00.000-04:002007-06-14T23:44:50.648-04:00

Frankenstein and Alice in Wonderland get the conceptual art treatment in Jason Meadows' exhibit at Tanya Bonakdar gallery. And it works. This primarily sculpture/assemblage show not only mixes up imagery from the two literary classics but also borrows concepts from other art forms. For instance, "Monster Marquee" features dual images of Frankenstein's creation on a bathroom mirror cabinet (a

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-2523458993374270952007-06-14T08:18:00.000-04:002007-06-13T23:37:37.904-04:00

After seeing a small show of R. Crumb's work at David Zwirner's gallery, I may need to rethink my dogmatic view that cartoons don't deserve to be in an art gallery. I was entertained. This exhibit felt more like a sampling of the cult figure's drawings, many of which are doodles on paper place mats from restaurants in France, where he now lives. After seeing Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary on

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-25764538695726840272007-06-06T23:50:00.000-04:002007-06-06T23:50:33.608-04:00

Back next week. Stay tuned for more riveting reviews and catty comments.

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-85162151141923129392007-06-01T08:16:00.000-04:002007-06-01T00:13:11.584-04:00

I checked out Yue Minjun's show at Max Protetch gallery only because Yue is hyperhot. (One of his paintings recently sold for $1.4 million). With this show, Yue remains consistent. Known for works that feature multiple self-portraits with a big smile and laughing, the artist has created 25 statues of himself, entitled "25 Contemporary Terra Cotta Warriors," referring to the First Emperor of

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-86529746785189497942007-05-31T08:27:00.000-04:002007-05-31T00:20:21.639-04:00

Not only is "Live from Neverland," Paul Pfeiffer's video installation, 10+ years too late, but it is technically shoddy as well. The exhibit takes place in two rooms at The Project gallery. In the first room is a soundless video of Michael Jackson's reading a statement about child molestation accusations. In the second connecting room, on a large film screen, a chorus of Filipino adults--who

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-89742920221893809782007-05-30T08:54:00.000-04:002007-05-30T00:17:20.529-04:00

If a photograph comes to life only after you read its title, is that still a good image? Most of Tina Barney's large-scale photographs, which document a visit to China, at Jane Borden gallery feel stilted, posed, and average. However, after I read the image's title, I took a second look and warmed to it. For instance, the bottom two photos seem run-of-the-mill but become interesting after you

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-32945567371559525102007-05-29T08:24:00.000-04:002007-05-29T00:14:50.902-04:00

Jim Dine's fascination with Pinocchino is no little whim. He's spent a good portion of his life being obsessed with the puppet, and the culmination of that curiosity is his new show at Pace Wildenstein gallery. Dine seems to have a love/hate relationship with the story of Pinocchio. Dine really abused these wooden sculptures. Some are sandblasted, and one is carbonized with a blowtorch. With

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-87332365799917644022007-05-25T08:10:00.000-04:002007-05-25T01:17:27.401-04:00

Andrew Wagner's "The Talent Given Us" turns the idea of reality TV on its head. Wagner's film stars his own family members in a scripted, fictional story. However, I kept wondering which scenes or conversations were real or ad-libbed. With reality TV, on the other hand, I find myself thinking every scene or piece of dialogue is fake. "The Talent Given Us," which was released in 2004, is about an

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-17017677709415102762007-05-23T09:08:00.000-04:002007-05-23T00:08:16.880-04:00

After seeing Takashi Murakami's show at Gagosian Gallery uptown, I understand why people describe the artist as "Japan's Warhol." Like Warhol, Murakami's work for this show uses iconic imagery, repetition, and large canvases. And, like Warhol, Murakami's paintings feel cold. That icy feeling drains meaning from his series of portraits of Daruma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. But who knows perhaps

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-87796132225724382462007-05-22T08:32:00.000-04:002007-05-22T00:39:44.411-04:00

Not only is Mitchell-Innnes & Nash's exhibit of 26 paintings by Georges Rouault a museum-quality show, but the gallery's staff is wonderfully welcoming and friendly. As a lowly blogger, I am typically met with heads-down, no-eye-contact Chelsea gallerists when I ask for a press release. At Mitchell-Innes & Nash, on the other hand, the gentleman working the desk quickly called the staff for a

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-34649404322433184712007-05-21T17:45:00.000-04:002007-05-21T17:25:29.853-04:00

A woman's fractured state of mind leads to nightmarish choices as she becomes unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Sounds like the plot for every David Lynch film since "Twin Peaks." But Robert Altman beat Lynch to the punch with the 1972 "Images," starring Susannah York. While watching the flick recently, I had to keep reminding myself that Altman was the director and writer.

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-66905970970741501152007-05-18T08:44:00.000-04:002007-05-18T09:44:42.474-04:00

The main focal point of Jim Lambie's multimedia exhibit at Anton Kern gallery are defaced (or let's say "modified") Persian rugs on the walls. Attached to the rugs are tear-drop or round cutouts of aluminum, silver trays, and mirrors. The craftsmanship looks pretty shoddy, and the concept is too elusive to grasp unless it's printed in black and white in the gallery's press release (something

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-28174717626111834212007-05-17T08:12:00.000-04:002007-05-17T17:15:38.769-04:00

You and I may think that Michael Jackson is a washed-up has-been, but apparently he's still a creative inspiration for a few artists. Flipping through the most recent ArtForum, I spied not one but two ads for galleries whose artists' shows focus on M.J.: Paul Pfeiffer's exhibit, "Live from Neverland" and Meredith Danluck's "Michael Jackson, Jesus Christ...Coca-Cola." I went to Pfeiffer's show

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-82514766176737786502007-05-16T17:45:00.000-04:002007-05-16T17:51:37.608-04:00

Wong Kar Wai's "My Blueberry Nights" debuted at Cannes, and Variety's Anne Thompson found it to be "a delicious mood poem." I was wildly disappointed with Wong's last film, "2046." I'm rooting for Wong to make a comeback, but why does it have to star Norah Jones and Jude Law? According to Thompson, the movie's highlight is " a soft, sumptuous, slow kiss." My upper lip curls as I imagine Jones and

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-54130130888068621982007-05-16T08:23:00.000-04:002007-05-16T00:10:05.377-04:00

I'm not the only one who likes Seonna Hong's recent paintings at Oliver Kamm/5BE Gallery. All of the works that feature her little girl protagonist were sold soon after the exhibit opened. Hong's dark allegories portray a youngster in an ominous world of black birds and shadowy forests. Like Alice in Wonderland, however, the venturer in these paintings seems completely confident in the realm of

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-86850454289900629072007-05-14T08:45:00.000-04:002007-05-14T00:38:00.452-04:00

The photo of artist Josephine Meckseper modeling in the New York Times Magazine may be the artist's cleverest creation yet. The magazine's Mother Day spread featured women wearing something that belonged to their mother along with top designers' clothing. In her installations, Meckseper likes to mix images of consumerism and political protest. Although the image of Meckseper is subtler than her

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-38999625439641462342007-05-11T08:26:00.000-04:002007-05-10T23:46:18.047-04:00

I can't put my finger on it, but there's something creepy about Kathy Butterly's sculpture on view at Tibor de Nagy gallery (and I mean that as a compliment). These ceramic pieces are like living masses that are trying to find their form. The smooth, rounded shapes seem both humanly vibrant but also dilapidated and diseased. The seven earthenware and porcelain sculptures are small, only about 7

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-82053714835669219492007-05-10T08:57:00.000-04:002007-05-10T00:38:03.143-04:00

Dana Schutz is hot, hot, hot, and the overflowing crowd at her exhibit of new paintings at Zach Feuer Gallery proves it. I find her work somewhat seductive. There's a little Francis Bacon vibe going on here mixed with David Hockney. Not all the paintings in this show work, however. In a few, holes are cut into the canvas, revealing blackness. Seemed kind of amateurish. Overall, an "event" exhibit

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-75849033774438688912007-05-08T08:23:00.000-04:002007-05-08T01:26:44.690-04:00

Katherine Bowling's paintings at Greenberg Van Doren gallery venture into cliched subject matter territory (moonlit nights, birds in flight, desolate beaches). Thankfully, Bowling's technique and colors are intriguing enough to keep the viewer looking. Bowling paints on spackled wood panels; the brushstrokes are smooth and flat. Her color palette is both ominous and dreamy. How I wish, however,

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-46981523287522055192007-05-07T09:07:00.000-04:002007-05-06T23:47:01.194-04:00

If the Met is just too far uptown for you to check out the Paul Poiret exhibit, which starts this Wednesday, you can get a taste of Poiret in Midtown. Bergdorf Goodman at 5th & 58th has dedicated its window space to celebrate the visionary designer. As I walked by the store this weekend, the tourists and natives were crowded around admiring the displays. (Image via Dept.kent.edu)

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-83254067365748741262007-05-07T08:36:00.000-04:002007-05-06T23:42:53.341-04:00

The Place: Wildenstein & Company gallery, 19 E. 64th StreetThe Time: 3 p.m., Saturday, May 5.The Exhibit: Claude Monet: A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia GranoffThe Reviews: RavesThe Price: $10The Line: Really, really long, stretching down 64th and snaking around Madison Ave.The Decision: Skip it and come back on a weekday instead(Image via New York Times)

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-91829064924056203982007-05-04T08:15:00.000-04:002007-05-03T23:31:11.623-04:00

Last chance to check out the Vik Muniz exhibit at P.S.1 in Queens. Muniz uses everything under the sun--including spaghetti, caviar, wire, and trash--to recreate both famous and common images. He then photographs those creations. The above image of Jackson Pollack is made with chocolate syrup, the middle picture with gumball machine-sized toys, the bottom with marinara sauce. Although some may

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-790321664124667302007-05-02T08:27:00.000-04:002007-05-02T16:58:42.855-04:00

In the past, I've frowned upon the Metropolitan Museum of Art's mounting exhibitions that spotlight fashion. However, a recent Vogue spread in which contemporary designers reimagined the clothes of Paul Poiret has me chomping at the bit (or hemline) for the opening of "Poiret: King of Fashion" on May 9. Poiret (1879-1944) is known primarily for liberating women from the corset. The textures, the

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-11366105674115970152007-05-01T08:16:00.000-04:002007-04-30T23:49:08.557-04:00

This isn't a makeshift soup kitchen; this is art. Artist Rirkrit Tiravanija has turned part of David Zwirner gallery into an insta-cafe that serves up free homemade soup (Thai curry and chicken noodle--both excellent). Like my fellow gallerygoers, I was more interested in eating than in contemplating this high-concept installation, called "Free." Much more successful is a recreation of Gordon

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-80672015159520115332007-04-26T08:47:00.000-04:002007-04-30T17:20:54.615-04:00

Here's your chance to stare at people and never get caught. At Marian Goodman gallery, Thomas Struth's photographs of museum-goers looking at masterpieces celebrate both the people who love art and those who couldn't care less. It's hard to tear your gaze away from these folks at The Prado and Hermitage museums. My favorite images are the ones that featured teens who are far more interested in

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-85272431702426435412007-04-25T08:24:00.000-04:002007-04-24T23:50:07.652-04:00

Lacome went just a touch overboard when it touched up Clive Owen for its men's fragrance ad. Yes, both these photos are of actor Clive Owen. Known for his rugged, weathered looks, Clive looks unrecognizable in the Lacome print ad. He looks like he's had too many chemical peels and sun-tanning sessions. Keep in mind that the movie still on the right is also retouched. Lacome's photoshopaholics

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-39237731961154293902007-04-24T08:10:00.000-04:002007-04-23T23:55:03.252-04:00

David LaChapelle's surreal photographs at Tony Shafrazi gallery could be interpreted as either a condemnation or a celebration of the U.S.'s materialism and superficiality. Using doomsday imagery, LaChapelle's photos depict people after the floods and hurricanes--and everyone looks glamorous. The camp-factor is pretty high, so the show's theme can't really be taken seriously. These photos poke

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-37090452845386298722007-04-23T08:11:00.000-04:002007-04-22T23:32:11.293-04:00

My jaw dropped when I heard Leonard Lopate on his radio show interviewing Farley Granger. Who knew that he was still alive?? If you live in New York City, you can see the star of a few Hitchcock classics in the flesh tonight, the 23rd. Film Forum is hosting an evening with F.G., which coincides with the publication of his memoir. I always thought Granger's acting was stilted, but I would still go

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-29452593944716887032007-04-19T08:40:00.000-04:002007-04-19T00:16:49.850-04:00

Here we go again: more pornographic imagery on your contemporary canvas. Like John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage, Chinese artist Wei Dong dives into "does this shock you" waters. Comparatively, however, Wei Dong's paintings at Stux gallery, which features lots o' bottoms and genitalia, seem chaste. Like his contemporaries, Wei Dong uses the painterly techniques of the old masters. There's a patchwork

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-65554567927673508792007-04-18T08:03:00.000-04:002007-04-18T17:28:21.304-04:00

Get ready for a wow: the above reproduction is only an inch or so smaller than the original. Patrick Faulhaber's diminutive paintings at Danese gallery are about five to 10 inches wide and three to five inches high. Venturing into Edward Hopper territory of lonely landscapes, most of these works are studies of fluorescent and natural lights. Faulhaber works from photographs and uses a magnifying

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-3995508559171020202007-04-16T08:23:00.000-04:002007-04-16T00:13:56.765-04:00

Jorge Pardo is known for his design aesthetic, but, to me, his show at Friedrich Petzel gallery looked liked a bunch of junk. Walking into the gallery is like entering a super cheap version of Ikea. Lights with fried tendrilled lampshades hang from the ceiling, while wine credenzas line the walls. The lamps I could deal with if I were 18 years old and decorating my dorm room. The wine credenzas,

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-61419158495472361082007-04-16T08:11:00.000-04:002007-04-16T00:12:42.580-04:00

I missed it, but the New York Times caught it: a Richard Serra sculpture flying through the air. Over the weekend, MoMA installed Richard Serra's mammoth steel sculptures in its Sculpture Garden. A crane hoisted the colossi over the wall on 54th Street and into the garden. The museum's Serra retrospective opens June 3. (Image via New York Times)

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-28473344904865901772007-04-13T08:38:00.000-04:002007-04-12T23:17:24.430-04:00

"Sad, lonely, desperate." Those are the notes I made after I saw Nan Goldin's early '70s photographs of drag queens at Matthew Marks gallery. Goldin's work has never been considered a picker-upper; still, these 40 black and white images left me feeling drained and empty. People form these subcultures to connect and find joy, but they still can't escape who they are. It's hopeless. All the makeup,

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-88458737191541687922007-04-12T08:02:00.000-04:002007-04-11T23:59:58.233-04:00

Takashi Yasumura's photographs seem a little too set-up for me, but I still enjoyed this exhibit at Yossi Milo gallery. A little Stephen Shore with a dash of William Eggleston, these large images document domestic scenes at Yasumura's parents' middle-class home in Japan. The juxtaposition of objects and clashing colors kept me looking and made me smile, as did the intense Kodachrome-like colors.

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-26017715347955211392007-04-11T08:27:00.000-04:002007-04-10T23:07:46.799-04:00

Here's a fun little twist: a movie that makes you want to read and get drunk. "Bukowski: Born into This" has the perfect balance between the notoriously inebriated writer's persona and his work. Although I've read Bukowski in the past (he gets an A+ for consistency--or rather, for telling the same story again and again), this documentary made me want to run out and buy more of his books. The

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-89297165464661233252007-04-10T08:57:00.000-04:002007-04-09T23:18:50.520-04:00

Ho-hum. Another photo exhibit, another freak show. Well, that's what I thought initially when I checked out Tanyth Berkeley's images at Bellwether gallery. Yes, the show spotlights albinos, transgender women, and folks who hang out around 42nd Street. However, after viewing Berkeley's video of hotdogging roller skaters in Central Park, this show's theme hit home: people's fierce drive for

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-56866523984542062462007-04-09T08:44:00.000-04:002007-04-08T23:18:29.030-04:00

Can't believe that "Grindhouse" came in fourth place this weekend, earning only $12 million. I was one of those moviegoers who spent Easter weekend watching the flick's scenes of dismemberment and car-crash mayhem. This three-hour campy gore fest is a marathon, and perhaps that's why it didn't perform better. Favorite parts: Josh Brolin as a thermometer-chomping doctor; Rose McGowan's

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-64603747819600869662007-04-06T08:48:00.000-04:002007-04-09T23:11:22.329-04:00

I see a trend. Let's call it "trick realism." The artist recreates an object with such precision that the viewer thinks it's the real thing. Robert Gober's rifle and step stool, Huang Yong Ping's taxidermic animals, Johannes VanDerBeek's bush, Karel Funk's hyperrealistic paintings, and now Mayumi Terada's miniature photography belong to this school I just invented. At first, Terada's black and

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-20652767722850652162007-04-05T08:51:00.000-04:002007-04-09T23:16:33.932-04:00

No, these are not photographs. Nor are these ads targeting the hip-hop crowd. These images are acrylic paintings by Karel Funk (love the name) at 303 Gallery. Funk grooves on the way light hits and reflects Gore-Tex material. His subjects are all young men, the majority with only their backs visible, against a white background, . These are the type of paintings that causes the viewer to pause

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-25099210851951614602007-04-03T16:45:00.000-04:002007-04-09T23:14:44.277-04:00

I just discovered my new favorite filmmaker: Agnes Varda. If you think the French New Wave of Godard, Malle, and Truffaut is a little too male-centered, Varda and her 1961 flick, "Cleo from 5 to 7," will help to inject a little estrogen into the movement's mix. Still, this film about a pop singer who wanders around Paris as she waits for cancer test results encompasses the best of the New Wave

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-78278701439533178602007-04-03T08:34:00.000-04:002007-04-09T23:13:10.349-04:00

This may be a problem. The farther away the subjects in Justine Kurland's photographs at Mitchell-Innes & Nash the better the image. In other words, in those images in which mothers with their young children are in the foreground, the photos look stagy and the women appear self-conscious. Kurland set out to create an Eden of naked moms and nursing toddlers, but these gardens of earthly delights

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-59015340090227532012007-04-02T08:15:00.000-04:002007-04-01T23:58:13.737-04:00

It's all in the details when it comes to Johannes VanDerBeek's exhibit at Zach Feurer Gallery. Entitled "Bed Bush Ruins," the show's four sculptures at first look rather mundane until the viewer steps a little closer and takes a deeper look. Like seeing the Virgin Mary's image in a piece of burnt toast, three wise old faces appear in the stuffing of "Bed." "Ruins" at first seems to be an unknown

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-76590567884696961802007-03-29T08:00:00.000-04:002007-04-04T15:58:55.996-04:00

Rachel Harrison's exhibit at Greene Naftali gallery is a tour de force. Examining (or rather savaging) male power, Harrison's sculpture and assemblages are both humorous and dead serious, over-the-top and subtle. Her target is America with Dick Cheney (whom else?), Arnold Palmer, Alexander the Great and many others as its stand-in. To really "get" this show, the viewer must read a press release

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-73287282898403191072007-03-28T08:05:00.000-04:002007-04-16T17:39:57.323-04:00

Baby got burned. I rented "Where the Truth Lies" because I read a capsule review that described its leads as based on Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. Wrong! After reading Jerry Lewis's memoir last year, I consider myself a curious fan of this duo. (I've even rented the DVD of the Martin & Lewis Colgate Comedy Hour.) Thinking I was going to see a flick about the Martin & Lewis working relationship by

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-49086687613917267372007-03-27T08:00:00.000-04:002007-03-28T16:25:26.694-04:00

Cary Leibowitz's exhibit at Alexander Gray Associates is very inside baseball, very wink-wink, and, surprisingly, less irritating than you would think. For instance, wood blocks and large campaign buttons pronounce, "I Love Warhol Piss Paintings," referring to a period of Warhol's work that a lot of people hated. In addition, the artist riffs on Frank Stella's "Rainbow," with a painting of upside

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-2908598706436378752007-03-26T08:06:00.000-04:002007-04-04T17:46:07.205-04:00

Memo to Kubrick fans: If you haven't already seen "Making the Shining" (yes, just "Making," not "Making of"), definitely check out this 1980 documentary by the director's daughter, Vivian. Here are some of my favorite bits: 1) Jack Nicholson getting into character while swinging an ax -- and almost knocking over an assistant director -- and growling, "Death to [female genitalia]; 2) Kubrick

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-11573385176152025442007-03-24T18:30:00.000-04:002007-03-24T18:27:23.683-04:00

In this weekly feature, I review in one sentence or less videos/DVDs of movies that you either have seen already or wouldn't bother to see."The Haunting" (1963 ), directed by Robert Wise: Got bored. (Image via Tintype)

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12649300.post-83515761693278879362007-03-23T08:58:00.000-04:002007-03-28T16:38:52.417-04:00

I really wanted to like Joan Snyder's new work on display at Betty Cunningham Gallery. Snyder has been painting for 35 years and she seems to doggedly follow her own personal muse. I like the "painting" part of these works; it's the mixed media element that I could do without. Seeds, twigs, rosebuds, and papier mache are glued onto the linen canvas and painted over. Unfortunately, this is a

Alicattehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00261313202707760594noreply@blogger.com