This year the curatorial statement for documenta 14 followed suit with the general state of the arts by concentrating on political unrest, economic disparities exploitation, and the displacement of people. Andrea shares some of her favorite moments of the quinquennial festival, and also gives us a critical review of some of the unfortunate selections made by a few curators.
Read MoreAndrea reviews two recently published books about art made in America over the last 70 years, and shares with us her short list of books she’s eagerly awaiting to be published. The first book she reviews analyzes and debunks common misperceptions about the work of artists from the American Indian Movement. The second book chronicles the many artists living in New York City after the Abstract Expressionist movement, which is the product of a traveling art exhibition first seen at Grey Art Gallery. Though Andrea says, this book “is valuable as considerably more than a catalog to an exhibition.”
Read MoreAndrea reviews “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,” curated by Megan Fontanella, with artwork from five collectors whose gifts to the museum helped the Guggenheim define itself as a pioneering institution. A rare chance to see beautifully-conserved works by Modern masters like Brancusi, Pollock, Mondrian, the show is a must-see this summer, says Andrea.
Read MoreAndrea immerses herself in Doug Wheeler’s “PSAD Synthetic Desert III” from 1971, currently on view at the Guggenheim. Wheeler created a soundless environment inspired by the deserts of northern Arizona. Unfortunately, she writes, the 10 minute slot allotted to visitors isn’t quite enough to feel the full sensory effect of this remarkable piece.
Read MoreIn the second part of a two-part series, Andrea reviews two books that tackle the status of performance art in the museum. Intended to be ephemeral, fleeting, time-bound, how does performance art fit in museum collection, which are by their very nature static?
Read MoreThe textiles on view betray a range of technical skill in both the stitchery and designs. Some show a sophisticated ability to render forms and were obviously transferred from patterns, while others seem to have been made up as the embroiderer went along. It is hard to believe that the precision of stitching in the Bagh phulkari weren’t made by professional craftsmen. There is no surviving literature that would indicate how designs circulated–indeed, there is almost no surviving history of phulkari in general, hence the significance of this collection and its catalog.
Read MoreAfter fifty years is “Zen for Film” an experience, an object, a projection, or a relic? Holling examines the early history of the work, contemporaneous artworks that raised similar questions, and protocols for institutions that would borrow and exhibit examples from various public collections. Some of Holling’s questions are now being answered by the artist’s estate, museums, and film archives–and they offer inconsistent answers. “Zen for Film,” whose subject is entirely bound with its materiality, raises particularly complex questions, and Holling is thoughtful, dogged, and modest in searching for answers. Her examination raises points common to enough 20th- and 21st-century works that art historians concerned with the record as well as curators and conservators tasked with exhibiting and caring for them will have to acknowledge them.
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