This week: Resistance activities, some Blouin Artinfo gossip, RIP John Berger, two art historians try to stop a museum from sending a�painting to the Trump Inauguration, Carroll Dunham on Kerry James Marshall, openings in Chelsea tonight, and Paul D’Agostino asks artists which��exhibitions they’re�eager to see.
At Gothamist, David Colon compiles a list of ways�to resist Trump this month.�”Self-identifying nasty women are invited to submit artwork to the NASTY WOMAN exhibition�to be sold for $100 or less, with all the proceeds going towards Planned Parenthood. While the exhibition will be free during the day, Friday and Saturday nights will feature concerts that benefit the Callen-Lorde Community Heath Center and the New York Immigration Coalition on Friday and Girls for Gender Equity and SisterSong on Saturday.�January 12th – January 15th, Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Avenue” Read more.
ArtNews reports downsizing at Blouin Artinfo’s�Modern Painters. “In an email recently laid-off MP editor Scott�Indrisek makes reference to ‘unexpected budget cuts….The kind in which you terminate your editor-in-chief midway through the closing of your March/April issue.'”��Read more.
�Ways of Seeing author John Berger has died. From the obituary posted at�NYTmes: “John Berger, the British critic, novelist and screenwriter whose groundbreaking 1972 television series and book, �Ways of Seeing,� declared war on traditional ways of thinking about art and influenced a generation of artists and teachers, died on Monday at his home in the Paris suburb of Antony. He was 90.” Read more.
Paintings are political. From Hyperallergic: “Two St.�Louis-area residents�have�launched a petition�demanding that the Saint Louis Art Museum�s cancel its loan of the George Caleb Bingham painting �Verdict of the People� (1854�55) for�Donald Trump�s Inaugural�Luncheon in Washington, DC later this month. The petition, created by art historian�Ivy Cooper�of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and St. Louis artist�Ilene Berman, has already gone past its original goal�of 1,500 signatures and is approaching its new target�of 2,500 signatures.” Read more.
From BBC News: In China, eight artists were arrested for organizing a silent protest�about�air quality. “Chengdu and other cities in Sichuan province see heavy pollution. The air quality has prompted particular concern over a petrochemical plant in nearby Pengzhou, even though the area is not known for its heavy industry. And the anger is not just confined to niche groups.”�Read more.
In the January issue of�ArtForum, Carroll Dunham writes about Kerry James Marshall’s retrospective and concludes that the paintings won’t speak to everyone–the meaning may elude many viewers. �”Perhaps the most striking aspect of this work is its narrative blankness; there really isn�t much going on.�The painting demonstrates a truth about artistic practice without serving up allegorical or metaphorical red meat, and in this it provides a more enveloping viewing experience. This is characteristic of the artist�s general approach: Extremely dense fields of subjects, many fraught with significant cultural baggage, are allowed simply to present themselves, opening windows onto the experiential richness of personal and social realities that may not even be vaguely familiar to many seeing his work.” Read more (paywall).
At Brooklyn Magazine, Paul D’Agostino invited 25+ artists to tell readers what they’re looking forward to in 2017. Cathy Quinlan�writes: �”I don�t usually look forward, I don�t even keep up, but there�s always some good painting at Sideshow�s annual group show�I�m also looking forward to Jack Whitten at Hauser &�Wirth, Allison Guildersleeve�s paintings of nature at Asya Geisberg, seeing Kerry James Marshall�s �Mastry� again, Lynette Yiadom Boakye at The New Museum, �Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,� checking out Two Coats of Paint and Raggedy Ann�s Foot to find out where the paintings are, the Asian Collection at the Met for new ideas (really)�and Centotto, Studio 10 and Valentine, to see what they are showing and to talk about art!” �Read more. (�Thanks for the shout, Cathy!)
I’m looking forward to a slew of openings in Chelsea tonight.�Check out The List at artcritical. See you there!
