Tintin is a god to me. Surely this imaginary globetrotter seems real to most of us. He is also the most beloved of all comic-book heros worldwide – except in America, where he is inevitably confused with the dog, Rin Tin Tin - as well as the first literary boho “backpacker.” Too, Tintin’s second book, Tintin [...]
Category Archives: Reviews
Jim Hodges at Gladstone Gallery
December 12, 2011 – 1:03 pm
The pieces in Jim Hodges’ show at Gladstone Gallery cast transient beams of light onto the walls and into your eyes. Each work considers and consists of bits of color and reflective materials (chips of mirrors, washes of metallic and spills of shine). Mirror Ball, on view at Gladstone’s 24 St. space, is the piece [...]
Torpedoed and Revived on Theater Row
November 21, 2011 – 5:44 pm
burn·ing adjective 1. aflame; on fire. 2. intense; passionate: a burning desire. noun the state, process, sensation, or effect of being on fire, burned, or subjected to intense heat. Both the characters and the actors in Thomas Bradshaw’s newest, and most nuanced play to date, Burning, are aptly on fire. These people respond heatedly to [...]
WhaiWhai: The Pegleg
September 28, 2011 – 11:04 am
When I was in grade school, New York City was heralded as the world’s “melting pot,” an anthropomorphic melding of cultures. Today, word is that teachers have moved onto a “salad” analogy, arguing that while the various human ingredients harmoniously mix and mingle, they retain their separate identities. Whichever school you subscribe to, one of [...]
Beckoned In By Glenn Ligon’s Negro Sunshine
May 16, 2011 – 1:02 pm
Surface contains and carries valuable information in art. Glenn Ligon’s mid-career retrospective, titled America, is on exhibition another three weeks at the Whitney, and allows for an expanded view of his art practice through evaluation of his surfaces. The exhibition’s stark order and his works predominant absence of color heighten the surface’s importance in its contribution to the [...]
Whatever You Guess It’s Not
May 12, 2011 – 11:08 am
Angela Aux is really a man, the title of his new album (recently released on Red Can Records) is Whatever You Guess It’s Not, and the press info provided reads that the identity of the 27-year-old singer/songwriter/producer/younameit is pretty mysterious and that the album deals with the feeling of being lost in a forest of signs. All [...]
Thoughts on Mos Def’s “The Ecstatic”
May 14, 2010 – 12:03 pm
It’s been almost a year since Mos Def released his latest solo album “The Ecstatic” – a year in which a lot of other records have hit the market. Twelve months in which many new artists have appeared on the scene. 365 days in which the music industry has gone further down the drain. But unlike [...]
bobrauschenbergamerica
May 12, 2010 – 1:14 pm
The beginning of bobrauschenbergamerica opens with a giant American flag set and a cast of nine characters moving around, coming and going, re-arranging props, roller skating by flirtatiously, making eyes at one another, climbing in boxes and bath tubs- all preparing you for the ruckus ahead. I was struck by a voice-over that seemed to represent [...]
Exit Through the Gift Shop
April 13, 2010 – 8:38 am
Contrary to expectations, Exit Through The Gift Shop isn’t a film about Banksy, nor is it the story of the rise and subsequent commodification of street art by the art establishment. It is an absurd parable about the dangers of encouraging people to follow their dreams. Los Angeles-based vintage clothing dealer and compulsive videographer Thierry [...]
Mining the Past in the Present: Haunted at the Guggenheim
March 26, 2010 – 9:59 am
Adam Helms‘s, Untitled Portrait (Santa Fe Trail), 2007, from Haunted Opening today, Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance is the latest show at the Guggenheim to focus on performance-based art. Including photography, sound, and video along with performance, Haunted is a far cry from the Tino Sehgal make-out session of the last 3 months or last year’s THEANYSPACEWHATEVER show. [...]
