I headed down to Louisville, Kentucky for the first time to check out the hotel/museum 21c owned by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. The red penguin, seen above in pajamas for their annual pajama party fundraiser, is the logo and mascot of the establishment. The 90-room property, which occupies five 19th-century brick buildings on West [...]

Art Basel 2010. Overall, some excellent works on view. There were fewer Americans visiting than in previous years but buying still seemed to be happening for smaller ticket items. I preferred Volta and Liste which had some really great works by artists I had not heard of before and some by better-known artists for “accessible” [...]

Born in 1908 to a wealthy family who made their money manufacturing sewing thread, Henri Cartier-Bresson wanted to avoid going into the family business and desired to become a painter–he ended up becoming a photographer who would change modern photography instead.
In the 1920s, photography was a century old but was not thought of as an [...]

“Everybody Knows this is Nowhere” is the name of the show that just ended at Team Gallery. I was lucky enough to hear the artist speak about his work. Both large color and smaller black and white photographs were on view. I was immediately drawn to the small portraits of young people in their teens [...]

Matthew Pillsbury is a gracious host who is extremely articulate not only about his work, but also photography in general. Matthew explained that he wants to “reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary” in his photographs and he also seeks that quality in works he purchases for his own collection. It is clear listening to him speak [...]

This show, the non-establishment alternative to the Whitney Biennial, organized by Vito Schnabel, and housed in a space on loan from Aby Rosen has some heavy hitters: David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Dan Colen, George Condo mixed in with emerging artists. Some good stuff on view:
Dan Colen’s easily identifiable canvas.
Nicole Stone’s tripartite work has repetition of text on the [...]

No need to worry, you have until May 30th to go check out the 75th incarnation (sans theme) of the Whitney Museum’s signature exhibition. Curated by Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari, the layout of the show is very viewer friendly; it is a very manageable show with a strong selection of artists–and female artists are [...]

A quintessential modernist, Man Ray recast the concept of artistic identity by working as a painter, photographer, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker, poet, and essayist. He utilized techniques not normally associated with fine art: airbrushing paintings, exposing objects on light-sensitive paper to create “rayographs.” Looking back in history, his fame as a photographer overshadowed his accomplishments as [...]

“End of an Era” is a show of works by Damien Hirst at Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue (on view through March 6th); it highlights recent paintings of jewels done by Hirst as well as a “blinged out” gold-plated shelf lined with fake diamonds entitled Judgment Day (a la his Pharmacy series in which did [...]

Eero Saarinen had architecture in his blood. He collaborated with his father, a famous architect in his own right, in the 1930s and 1940s and that helped Eero develop a name for himself. Not only was he one of the most celebrated architects of his time but he had his share of controversy as well. Rising to [...]