Happy Halloween!

from Ilona Malka Rich

and Todd Norsten

Whitney's plans change

I don't know how many of you were following the Whitney museum expansion project, but it looks like they might be moving downtown instead of the neighboring historic brownstone. The blueprints and model had already been drawn up, angering many nearby residents but now since DIA has decided not to build on the High Line, the Whitney has set its sight on the land. This allows for a larger expansion and they don't have to close for two years.

Miss October @ Gallery Project

cristin richard - (delicate ghostly lingerie made of intestine casing) I have seen cristin's work all over starting at ccs, district arts gallery, dirty show, and at kidd gallery. I think this show is beautifully curated and I think cristin's works stand strong among the other delicate, posed works - don't forget all made by women!

nicola kuperus - (all color photography) What's not to love....pretty legs, elequently posed crash victims and ladies working on or being engulfed by cars! This (above) was my favorite photo. You might recognize her as the other half of Adult...check out more pics here.

mona shahid - (encaustic on panel) You might have seen mona's works at hilberry gallery during the Summer Pack shows about a year ago. Foggy layers of thick wax cover large portraits of familar faces. Mona, a wayne grad, has work reminestant of other wayne figurative painters like wilbert, ellen phelan and kristin beaver (also in this show). I love the surface of her work - it is like looking though transparent layers of frosting into the eyes of someone you one once fantasized about!



claudia shephard - her verticle gown paintings surley fit into this show but for me this was the weakest of the bunch. They felt tight and hestitant in painting style - similar to a staged still life class.

kristin beaver - (large scale oil paintings) I was very happy to see a couple new works by kristin in this show! Her paintings are where she had left off in the latest works at meadowbrook - they are soft, pastel, ethereal, yet still in control. The subjects look less angry or confrontational like in previous works and now have squinting, powerful glares with light, flowing costumes and spotlight effects in the background color. It seems like a more staged narrative is occuring instead of subjects posed infront of a wall in traditional hipster attire.

This piece reminded me of clint snider's basement installation!

MOCAD: it's finally here!

As you can see it was a great night! With all the anticipation of its opening, I can't believe mocad is finally here. It is a wonderful show (even if they are older works by the artists)...I am impressed! I spoke with many people who volunteered and put in long hours to make it all happen. I think the general feeling of detroiters feeling a little skeptical disappeared once they saw the show and swarms of people. Most people now can feel proud to say they now have a contemporary in their city. I know this is a pretty glittery review so far but I think it is hard to criticize after knowing so many people who worked so hard to make this happen. The only thing I can say is that I wish they would have more shows scheduled and more frequently (although I spoke with someone on the head steering committee who said they were in discussion of the third show already). I think with the momentum of this show it would be nice to see another show sooner than April but they will most likely have more shows once they are fully operational. I am sure that after a while once the museum gains more recognition they will hire a full time director to run the museum and keep the caliber of shows on a high. For now I wanted to get the pictures up and I will probably discuss the works further in another post. Enjoy!

nari ward - white flight tea bar





nari ward - airplane tears



kara walker - 8 possible beginnings or: the creation of african-american, video animation.

paul pfeiffer - live from neverland, video installation



mark bradford - mixed media collage (above) on plastic mesh (below)

Tabaimo - hanabi-ra, video animation

jonathan pylypchuk - press a weight through life and I will watch this crush you, mixed media







christopher fachini - the red box sound system plays the mental machine



roxy paine - SCUMAK no. 2 (aluminum, computer, conveyor, electronics, extruder, stainless steel, polyetheylyne)

first look at mocad opening...

I will post many pictures later today but for now I wanted to leave a small preview of what the openings was like. Enjoy!

It Came From Detroit @ DFT

A great look at the detroit garage rock scene. Documentary, by detroit director, screens at the DFT Friday at 8pm.

friday @ gallery project

MOCAD's all-nighter

Uh oh....looks like there is some last minute scrambling tonight at mocad. I went downtown for motor city art night and somehow my car took me on a secret assignment. They appeared to just have finished the exterior graffiti because I caught them bringing in the hoist. Inside still looked in disarray...but maybe my eyes were just a little fuzzy. I could see crews of people moving about but one thing that I didn't spot was any art. The inside has definitely transformed but I can't honestly believe that from what I saw tonight, that tomorrow is the big grand opening.

Looks like Hilberry and clan have a lot of directing to do tonight.



I look forward to the opening tomorrow night...I hope to see everyone there wearing their "I heart mocad" t's!

Thursday MOCAD Opening!

Patrons Preview 6 PM
Food and drinks Tour the "Meditations In An Emergency" exhibition with curator Klaus Kertess 6-8 PM Experience live performances and meet some of the featured artists, including:Barry McGee, Roxy Paine, Jon Pylypchuk and Nari WardContribution
$125 per person advance $135 at the doorMuseum Preview

8 PMHors d'oeuvres, cash barExperience live performances and meet some of the featured artists Contribution $45 per person advance $55 at the doorAmbient music during the preview hours by Clark Warner (Minus)

Afterparty 9:30 PM Ghostly International presents DJs Matthew Dear and Ryan Elliott (Spectral Sound) from 10-1 AM, cash bar Contribution $10 per person

beverly fishman @ lemberg gallery

Cranbrook painting professor beverly fishman (left) is not shy when it comes to color. I had been suspicious of the cranbrook palette for some time now and if you have ever been to a cranbrook student show then you might have seen some commonality when it comes to the bright, at times neon, colors. At first seeing fishman's works I wondered if her sensibility had leaked out onto the students' works but after a few minutes of casually looking around the gallery, fishman pleasantly introduced herself to me. I cannot stress how much I love when artists are accessible and NICE. Being a mysterious, crude artist is never becoming. After talking about the benefits of the LA art scene and her downtown LA studio that she sadly had to just give up, I brought up her paintings and her influence on the cranbrook painters. She assured me that she encourages students to test the limits...try new things and she never wants students to be swept away by her art practice. I could tell just be speaking with her for a few minutes that she is a very encouraging teacher. She had me sold by the end of the conversation on moving to LA!



As far as the work goes I had mixed feelings upon entering the show. It wasn't a matter of the painting not working but a matter of taste. I can confidentially say that I left enjoying the scorching, honeycomb and text textured paintings. The title of the show "chromophilia" is summed up by the gallery as an adjective for fishman's addiction to color and the medical definition, " the property possessed by most cells of staining readily with appropriate dyes." Within the silkscreen, silkscreened vinyl and collage on powder-coated metal are strands of nonsensical text that read as sort of a DNA formula. Also in the neon, computerized patterns are pharmaceutical symbols and other simplified medical graphics.











All in all....great show to see and discuss/critique with your friends.