One freezing January winter night at the Museum of Modern Art, as JLO wowed fans at the premier of her film Parker, an art event on the second floor signaled the start of the new series ARTISTS EXPERIMENT. “Capital Exchange: A Dinner Event” was a 3+ -hour, sold-out, three-course art party which proved that good art can be political, that it is never too late to admit this, and that contemporary museums are finding new ways to broaden their missions, to respect the diverse heritages of their staff and constituents, and to stage interventions that are credible art experiences. This month’s blog will examine the first course in MoMA’s experiment to use the whole museum as a curated studio/performance space. Continue reading →

Interior view of Where My Heart Will Lead Me (circus wagon)

Going from Studio to Gallery to Permanent Installations

Finding and stepping into Cameron Fuller’s studio in the former boiler house of a pharmaceutical complex under Highway 55 in South St. Louis gave me a new understanding of the importance of the studio – both the artist’s shaping of the space and its shaping of the artist. Cameron built a wall, a door, work benches, and otherwise first turned the industrial space into a studio. Then came the tools, the paint, construction and other raw materials, a ramp for his motorcycle, and glass cases for his smaller dioramas. Cameron’s time both organizing and creating in his studio has served him well. I’ve been in the studios of more famous and more seasoned artists but this studio drove home, for me, the importance of a space where the artist’s imagination is equipped, nurtured, and freed. Continue reading →

When I met Amir Bey at an exhibition curated by Matthew Day Jackson, we briefly discussed his recent sixth exhibition in Japan but not his permanent installation, The Procession of Folk #3, on the MTA #4 line at the Mount Eden Station in the Bronx. Commissioned in 2003 and executed in 2006, the twelve glass windows (on the platform and mezzanine) portray varied people with Japanese, African American, Turkish, and other heritages. “The windows are made of faceted glass, which is textured and more durable than stained glass, a sort of mosaic of thick chunks of colored glass,” the artist told me. “The Procession of Folk is an ongoing theme that I’ve devoted different works to, from stone carvings to bronzes… I see humanity as a procession, and I am part of that movement through my work.” Continue reading →

Meeting new artists often opens my eyes to new processes and materials. Alice Hope was on a ladder hanging thousands of pieces of ball chain at the Greene Space, part of the WQXR radio station in Tribeca, when we met. The dangling metal strands in slightly different hues from dungeon gray to nickel clung together on a grid with neodymium magnets.  A radio studio is a new kind of “studio” setting, and Hope’s delicate yet bold wall-sized installation is a new kind of sculpture. Continue reading →

The third floor at the Whitney opens to Wade Guyton’s untitled 2006 U series—five Epson UltraChrome inkjet on linen iterations of semi-abstract images of flames and floating capital U letters on black. My first impression is that these are reproductions with imperfections. I am not immediately interested. Furthermore, they did not seem original or sculptural. However, the exhibition behind this wall was a physical experience that became intense and invigorating, for the entire floor of the Whitney was set up in two main areas with unobstructed views. Since the “studio” is ONE context of the 80 works in the exhibition, I want to explore this new work with you. Continue reading →