Slashstroke at the V&A

I love writing for Slashstroke because I love reading Slashstroke. Editor David and friends recently took over the William Morris room at the V&A and produced some really beautiful images with visitors. See more here.

I'm going to be writing a little for the Slashstroke blog this month on the Cory Archiangel show currently at the Whitney, and talking (I hope) to Aaron Pfenning, formerly of Chairlift, about his new project, Rewards. More soon.

Primetime

We went by the Young Artist's Sale at the lovely Scarlett B's Primetime on Sunday and snapped up a work by our friend Ben Phelan. Even better, he's promised to come install it at home over dinner next week. Ben's light sculptures have been a fixture at Yeasayer shows for the past while, and although this one doesn't incorporate light, the amorphous shape (reminsicent of Keith Haring lines) and its connection to the rest of Ben's 2D and 3D work makes me super-excited to have a piece of his to look at each day. Here's an image from the Guggenheim "It Came From Brooklyn" series with Ben's light sculptures at work on stage and in the audience.....

The Now Museum

I took part in an international conference held at the New Museum in New York earlier this year, and there's now video up of the participants (who included some great speakers on contemporary art - Paul Chan Philippe Vergne, Claire Bishop, Bruce Altschuler, Terry Smith etc) Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the final panel on "Artists and the Museum" for my paper.

ArtStar

From Chris Heaney's Harland and Wolff series

I'm really excited about working with ArtStar, a great NY-based company who promote affordable art prints, especially as it means I get to support work I love. My first "curator's pick" is a photographer whose career I've followed since art school in Glasgow. Chris Heaney photographed the (then recently-decommissioned) Maze prison back when he was an undergrad, and his work has grown ever more haunting beautiful since then.

What I admire most is how he blends a successful commercial career with his art practice. I don't see a division between "art photography," "documentary" and "commercial." The most compelling photography blends these elements rather than creates divisions (this is the truncated version of my thoughts on this, maybe for another, longer post). Here's my short interview introducing his work, where you can also find links to his prints on ArtStar if you want to take a peek.

From The Switch Room series

From Incarceration series

My writing buddy

And this is who has been keeping me company while I write. Harry, our year-old cat and the apple of our eye. Quite a sweetheart. As I've been researching Mayan archaeologists for my lecture on Ancient Maya Art, I came across the wonderful Russian epigrapher Yuri Knorosov who also seems to have had a Siamese Blue kitty too. Pretty wonderful expression on his face.

New Website for Writing

I finally have a site where all my writing projects are collected, hurrah! I've added some new pieces in the last few months, with more to come as I keep myself busy over the summer. And, this 'ere blog will be in use more as I begin another project that has been pushed back until this summer vacation - building a cache of teaching materials after my first year of teaching art history survey. More to come! For now, I'm excited about my new website.