Art Fag City

AHO Brings Vaginas to the Table: An Interview With Team Screw ‘Em

2010-03-18T21:18:21Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Screw ‘em poses for AFC photographer Marina Galperina. From left to right: Andrea Merkx, Michelle Haley, Birgit Rathsmann and Charlotte Becket’s drill.

Who are some of the teams competing in this Sunday’s Art Handling Olympics at Ramiken Crucible? We caught up with Screw ‘Em, one of 15 teams competing in the games. This is what they had to say.

Paddy Johnson: When and how did you hear about the Art Handling Olympics?
Screw ‘em: Are you kidding? Is there anyone that doesn’t know?

PJ: How do you all know each other?
S’em: A sorceress inducted us into the cabal in an abandoned subway tunnel. She forced us to read so much theory it made our eyes bleed… No - seriously, we met through softball.

PJ: Are you the only all girl team in the competition?
S’em: Is this some kind of trick question?

PJ: What have you done to prepare for the event?
S’em: We already had the skills, so we’ve just fine tuned our style.

PJ: What skills do you think your team brings to the table that others will not?
S’em: Vaginas

PJ: What did you think of the Brice Marden hanging at MoMA in 2006?
S’em: It needed more pink.

PJ: 59 on center or 58 on center?
S’em: It doesn’t matter as long as we’re well hung.

This post is brought to you by Atelier 4, Art Fag City’s official Art Handling Olympics Sponsor. Atelier 4, Moving Art Forward

Howard Halle Uber Pans The New Museum’s Skin Fruit

2010-03-18T20:52:43Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Installation view, Skin Fruit, New Museum. Photo: AFC

Wow. Time Out New York’s Howard Halle really hates Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection, an exhibition currently on view at the New Museum. Let’s run down the list of zingers:

a perfect storm of wretchedness brought on by the collision of too much wealth and too little taste

a consensual hallucination—one in which everyone agrees that NewMu board member Joannou is some sort of Medici, instead of an overleveraged resort developer with an eye for flashy, often puerile art.

The show looks like a yard sale of pushed buttons, or more to the point, given the emphasis on grotesque figuration, like the cantina scene from Star Wars.

I have three additional criticisms of my own to add.

Almost no wall text. Does collector Dakis Joannou or curator Jeff Koons really like Robert Gober? The viewer is never told why seemingly countless works by the artist are included and the exhibition’s composition doesn’t make that clear.

The show’s theme — Here’s-some-stuff-I-bought-that-Jeff-Koons-likes — relies only on the celebrity status of the show’s participants as a draw to the show. I can experience Jeff Koons sensibility in his art, why do I need to witness it with a bunch of objects he’s demonstrated he has no investment in?

Other collectors do it better: One need only look to 30 Americans or the Hernan Bas exhibition at The Rubell Collection to know others have curated their exhibitions much more skillfully. Notably they launched those exhibitions without using a museum for which they are a trustee as the venue.

Normally I wouldn’t reduce feedback on a show to a series of bullet points, but frankly I don’t think this exhibition deserves much more than this.

Debate Over Potential Commercial Conflicts MoCA

2010-03-18T16:09:53Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Blum & Poe facade

Lee Rosenbaum reports that Jeffrey Deitch has told her it’s impossible for him to sell off all his gallery holdings in three months, so he’ll have to continue some commercial activity while he’s director at MoCA. The problem with this is that Deitch could potentially boost his sales through the museum’s programing. Realistically speaking his hand in exhibitions probably won’t been seen for another 12 months though as museums typically work about a year ahead of schedule on shows. Even if he wanted to, it’s unlikely Deitch could engineer a profit scheme like this.

Opinion on the potential conflict is mixed. Like Rosenbaum, blogger Tyler Green thinks there are too many thorny issues at play. Greg Allen does not. “AAMD: Directors can’t “deal,” but can “collect.” Allen told Green over twitter “Selling? No mention. Call me when MOCA trustee turns up as buyer of Deitch’s auctioned art”

Fair enough.

Regardless of all this though, it’s safe to say Deitch’s statements to the press have varied somewhat, at least to the degree that we don’t know when the actual selling will stop. I’d be happier if the public was given a little more insight on that, though liquidating an entire inventory of that size is no doubt extraordinarily difficult in such a short period of time, so I don’t think Deitch is exaggerating his position. I’m not well versed enough in the business of galleries or museums to predict the kind of conflicts that could arise in the sale Deitch’s inventory while he’s director, but would feel a lot more comfortable about the process if he was starting at MoCA this November as opposed to June. Why chance the matter?

Meanwhile Culturemonster’s Christopher Knight reports that Museum of Contemporary Art will hold a fundraising event at Culver City’s blue chip gallery Blum & Poe. This is a bad idea. As Knight points out,

Appearances matter. In this case, there is no way to determine whether the relationship between the gallery and the museum is philanthropic or business-driven.

I suppose MoCA could vow never to buy art from Blum & Poe to mitigate the conflict of interest issues but I doubt that’s going to happen.

Fresh Links!

2010-03-18T14:42:22Z

MOCA / Home

Now in Comic Sans thanks to Cory Arcangel. I think I like the printed press releases in Comic Sans better. You can change a web font pretty easily. Its lack of permanence reduces the stunt appeal.

Fresh Links!

2010-03-18T14:42:22Z

Skin Fruit: Artist David Livingston Wears His Big Dick to New Museum

Profound

Fresh Links!

2010-03-18T14:42:22Z

William Powhida: Hooverville Catastrofuck

Powhida responds

The Art Fag City Media Round-Up

2010-03-18T20:02:09Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Ann Liv Young, Young Snow White performance. Photo by Nicholas Strini for Time Out NY

Looks like it’s press day here at AFC. Between MSNBC talking to me about foursquare, two articles from The Observer discussing AFC stories, and my front page feature at The L Magazine, New Yorkers will be lucky to go to the bathroom without catching a whiff of me.

Speaking of whiffs, we’ve got to hand it to Pee in the Pan performance artist Ann Liv Young, who told the New York Observer she’s been able to bump her show rates up to $7000 a performance. The article penned by Alexandra Peers recounts Young’s performance at PS1 two weeks ago, which prompted P.S.1 director Klaus Biesenbach to shut the electricity shut off. It also notes her increased visibility since that time and the surrounding controversy. We covered the story here extensively as it first broke.

Meanwhile, Leon Neyfakh discusses the phenomenon that is William Powhida, noting the response to the art world flanner has been mixed. Based on the comments in AFC’s This Week in Comments: Powhida!, I’d say the current attention is largely positive, though artist Lisa Beck offers a rationed response in The Observer. “I don’t think that the power structure has exactly trembled. … In fact, I know that some of the figures he makes fun of take delight in being included in his work. It’s like being the subject of a roast at Caesar’s—a tribute, or mark of their importance.

Hang In There: An Interview With The Art Handling Olympics Founder Shane Caffrey

2010-03-18T20:54:09Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

The Art Handling Olympic’s founder Shane Caffrey guards his packing supplies. Photo by: Marina Galperina

Sunday March 21 marks New York’s first Art Handling Olympics, a competition that will determine the city’s best art handlers. I wanted a sneak peak about what was in store for the weekend, so I spoke with the event’s founder Shane Caffrey to help get me up to speed. We discuss dumpling slamming, Macgyver, and well, yelling.

Paddy Johnson: How many teams are participating in the Art Handling Olympics?

Shane Caffrey: Fifteen teams are competing in the qualifier race and then there will be four teams that will move on to compete in the Olympic games.

PJ: And how many different games are there?

SC: There’s Hang In There, Pack It In, Static Hold, and The Eliminator, so there’s four games - five events total including the qualifier. The qualifier is our homage to all the people that slave in trucks. It’s a race covering about a three-block loop from Ramiken to Bar 169 to Dispatch Gallery and then back to Ramiken. And since there are four people on each team, two people will be inside a commercial box and two will push. When they get to bar 169 they will have to slam down orders of dumplings and a shot of well whiskey and then run off to Dispatch to pick up an art work to bring back to Ramiken.

PJ: Normally, with art pick-ups in New York truckers very often get parking tickets. Is this part of the competition?

SC: I hadn’t thought of issuing parking tickets to anyone…and logistically I might skip that, but I like the idea a lot. It could be a penalty because those will accrue throughout the game.

PJ: Who are the judges?

SC: Carlo McCormick, Senior editor of Paper Magazine, Filippo Gentile, the head preparator at the Brooklyn Museum and Justine Birbil, the Director of Michael Werner Gallery uptown. All of them are very excited.

PJ: And what kinds of things are the judges going to be looking for? Will they have scorecards?

SC: Yes. Each judge will have a scorecard and they will be using a point system. So from 0.0 to 10.

PJ: So it’s like figure skating?

SC: [laughs] Exactly! JUST like ice skating. And the judges for each event will be looking for professionalism, style, and team co-operation. What they’ll be looking for will vary slightly from event to event but that’s the overall gist. Each event is timed and the time is recorded, and the fastest times of each event would all be tallied at the end.

PJ: So you should be fast?

SC: Yes. You have to hang stuff without a level in a ridiculously fast amount of time, with a lot of cards stacked against you logistically in terms of what’s on the back of the pieces and stuff and having people scream at you.

PJ: Wait, you’re going to have screamers on hand?

SC: Yeah, and we’re thinking about pulling screamers from the audience so it might be a nice twist towards the end. So people could get the chance to be a collector or curator or…

PJ: An asshole of some variety? Have you talked to many of the teams about how they are preparing?

SC: I’m getting very cryptic answers. I’ve spoken to many different teams, mostly through email, though I’m bound to acquire everyone’s phone numbers tonight or tomorrow. A lot of sarcasm involved in response to the training. When asked how they are training they say “Way too long” or “longer than they care to admit”. People have told me that their teams are having strategy meetings. My friend Jay, worked The Armory this year, and he said a lot the art handlers he talked to who were on teams were getting together and talking about how the qualifier’s the most important thing. Everyone wants to move on to the Olympic games, so everyone’s taking that event extremely seriously.

PJ: Will you be participating yourself?

SC: I’m the MC. I’ll be the general host of the day, and the chief heckler. I will take a lot of joy at screaming at people myself.

PJ: What happens in the case of rain?

SC: Nothing changes. If it’s pouring rain the teams will be racing in the qualifier, just, you know, in the rain. That is art handling.

PJ: So if the works get too wet, will they be penalized?

SC: I mean, if it’s really, really raining, I’m not going to be like, “This piece of cardboard is wet”

PJ: So as long the paint isn’t running off the piece then it’s okay?

SC: Yeah.

PJ: Art Fag City will be providing live media coverage of the event. What other media outlets will be covering the event?

SC: Artnews, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, WNYC contacted me and said they wanted to do a piece, as well as a Lower East Side blog called The Low Down. To be quite honest though the event is not for those people. The event is for the guys and girls who are going to be competing and everyone else who needs a good fucking laugh.

PJ: People really like this competition. They also really liked the hotty art calendar that was announced a while back - I don’t know if it ever got made - What do you think the interest is in art handlers?

SC: [laughs] Oh man, I wish I knew. I have been continually surprised each week with the growing interest of this event because to be honest, I was hoping to get four teams registered. I thought it would just be a bunch of art handlers hanging out all day. Art handlers are incredibly interesting people. They come from all over the world, and they all come to New York with different stories and backgrounds. You could be sitting in the back of a truck eating a sandwich with a guy with a PHD and a girl who just got back from a dance troupe in Berlin. I love the men and women I’ve worked with over the years…they just have a lot of soul, and a really amazing sense of humor. That’s what I most consistently see. This is the segway to the art handlers reality show.

PJ: Which I think would get a lot of play. I have the sense it would fair a little better than the artist reality show. The job of an art handler is a little bit easier to define. The job of an artist is not…My favorite stories of art handlers are the ones where they chainsaw through some important work (the least favorite of dealers and auctioneers I’m sure).

SC: If people only knew how much that shit happens every day and you just never know about it. A dirty secret with art handlers is that a good art handler can cover his tracks really well. It’s amazing what you can do with a sharpie.

PJ: What’s been your most successful hanging of a show?

SC: Catherine Sullivan’s video installation at Metro Pictures in 2007 was particularly taxing and when we made that it was as if we’d all given birth at the end. It was incredibly long hours. We did with four guys (myself included), what the Walker Art Museum did in double the time with double the people. And audio-visual shows are the most difficult to do. They are the most demanding and nerve wracking. I remember was at Meineke Muffler two days before the show opened getting muffler pipes bent to solve a problem for a curtain rod…stuff like that. But I get off on all that shit…Like “we’re out of power! That’s alright we’ll just hook a bicycle up to a generator.” The Macgyver side of it.

PJ: Is there a game that reflects that?

SC: The most Macgyver will be the eliminator. The teams will have to think on their feet. With someone yelling at them.

PJ: Ah the other constant. Comradery and…YELLING.

This post is brought to you by Atelier 4, Art Fag City’s official Art Handling Olympics Sponsor. Atelier 4, Moving Art Forward

Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Bad Times for Good Art

2010-03-17T15:41:18Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Here goes nothing: One of the more nerve inducing articles I’ve had published to date is now up at The L Magazine. This week I talk about The State of Contemporary Art. Conclusion? It’s not good.

Until taking this assignment, I had the luxury of avoiding the question everyone loves to ask and nobody wants to answer: What is the state of contemporary art? Or as I like to put it, “Is new art any good?” For the most part, the answer is no, and those inside the profession know it. Formulaic production plagues the field, work is masqueraded as more meaningful than it is, and the money invested in bad art is significant enough that undeserving artists receive accolades. It sucks.

If art is in decline—or at least at a very low point—are there signs to prove this point and is there anything to be done about it? Undoubtedly the largest and most consistent problem contributing to the impoverished state of contemporary art lies in the enormous imbalance between the rich and the poor. Most artists simply don’t make enough money off their art to live comfortably, and contrary to popular myths linking suffering and great art, this isn’t good for anyone. “I’m doing a lot of meditating so I can eat less,” artist Graeme Gaerad told me last year. It didn’t strike me as particularly healthy. Sure, strife forces change, but if a bus hits an uninsured artist, bankruptcy won’t make their art any better. Last I heard, the artist I knew walking around with a broken foot because he couldn’t afford to get it fixed wasn’t working a hell of lot.

To read the full piece click here.

AFC Talks to MSNBC: Is Foursquare the New Facebook?

2010-03-17T15:16:27Z

Image via: MSNBC

Why don’t I get more opportunities like this? Thanks to MSNBC for granting me the privilege of complaining to a national audience about why the art world’s disinterest in technology is a major inconvenience in my life. Helen A.S. Popkin’s MSNBC article “Is Foursquare the New Facebook” describes foursquare to the olds, and quotes me about why I’d want to use a popular social media tool that marries GPS and cell phone technology. Long answer short? If my friends all used the application (and they don’t) it would be easier to meet up with more of them during mass gallery openings. I suggest reading the long of it though. Popkin is quite funny, and the article explains foursquare well.