saltz on underdog

I've gotta say, I keep seeing press on this show at gagosian and I really wish I could see it in person. In just looking at the pics from the show it looks like one of the best curated big group shows I have seen in a while. There is something about it that reminds me of what the STUFF show at mocad should have been or even a cleaner version of RRR. I also enjoy that a former detroiter artist installed the show - which gets props from jerry about the placement.

Saltz on Underdog:

"...The show has some good work but a lot of great energy; art is hung cheek-by-jowl, which creates a series of crackling chain reactions where you see connections between artists, even if a few of those connections are between lesser artists...

In some ways, "Underdog" is simply what frustration and ambition look like now. The fact that the exhibition is so willing, so absolutely intent, on exposing and investigating this frustration is a sign that this is important content, and that attention should be paid to it. It’s really interesting to see these artists acting out this drama at Gagosian, despite the contradictory pitfalls involved. In addition, the show is so up-front about its in-groupness and back-scratching that you begin to understand that these conditions are effective ways to draw polemical lines in the curatorial sand, to circle the wagons against dubious tendencies, and strut somewhat. More artists should curate more shows of themselves and their friends and associates. Vampire dens are interesting places. "Underdog" rests everything on its overall energy; it sacrifices any one object, every object really, so that all the work on view might congeal into one weird mass..."