My former landlord in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—a sphinx-like Teutonic manchild who sublet me one of the ad-hoc drywall sleeping lofts in the colossal warehouse he leased near the Bedford Avenue subway stop—still owes me $1200. It was my security deposit from 2008 and I don’t expect to get it back. I don’t mean this story as revenge [...]
El Anatsui has been a superstar in the art world ever since the 2007 Venice Biennale, where he received international acclaim for his large-scale sculptures made from thousands of discarded metal liquor bottle tops. In these pieces, the tops are flattened and stitched together with copper wire to form lush, shimmering canvases of intricate pattern [...]
I was prepared to hate the Gaultier exhibition at the DMA. I have a complicated relationship to fashion. I studied fashion design and merchandising at Pratt Institute in New York. When I realized that instead of designing couture under my own fashion label, I’d most likely end up designing underwear for plus-size women, I switched [...]
Gold is on people’s minds a lot lately—more than usual, what with inflation worries, “End the Fed” protests and calls to return to a gold standard. People fear their dollar bills may soon be worth less than the paper they are printed on. As overhyped as these concerns may or may not be, food prices [...]
Composed of wall-mounted sculptures, sound and film, Reel to Reel, Jeff Shore and Jon Fisher’s current installation at McClain Gallery, holds small revelations about the nature of machinery, art, music—and technology itself. Walking into the dark gallery space, I found my attention drawn to the many different aspects of the installation. Wire-ridden sculptures with jittery [...]
Last night, the DMA hosted its latest State of the Arts panel, on the topic of contemporary art in Dallas. The panel was made up of a brotherhood of institutional leaders and curators: Jeffrey Grove, the DMA’s Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art; Dr. Michael Corris, Chair of Studio Art at SMU; Peter [...]
This year is an election year in Mexico. This election will be a pivotal one for the entire country. I was living in Mexico City when the current president, Felipe Calderón was elected to office in 2006 with an extremely controversial win that left most demanding a recount (sound familiar to everyone stateside?) and a [...]
Last Friday night, “The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Artists Reconfigure the Signs of Power, 1973-1991 opened at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. In it were some of my favorite Guerrilla Girls posters. It was nice to see them but it was also kind of ironic. 2011 was the (unofficial) “Year of the Guy” at the [...]
Last weekend I went with a friend to a string of local openings. Some of the shows I saw I don’t even remember looking at, although I distinctly remember every conversation I overheard or had on the night in question. The conversations were compelling and funny, and at times actually intelligent sounding, which is probably [...]
