This Is A Race: November 2008

My trip to the US last week was a whirlwind affair. I took the bus down coz I'm po', and arrived at Penn Station at 5:40 on Wednesday morning. I ran out to Brooklyn and drank big coffees at VERB before I could get into my sublet to drop my stuff off and take a shower, then ran back to Manhattan. First stop - Columbia University. Gorgeous campus on the Upper East Side. I had never been and knew very little about the school so I walked around and gave myself a little tour. Then I went to the Film School and got to speak to some people and ask all my questions. They gave me DVDs of student work and all the info I needed.

Then I went to SCHILLER'S in the East Village to have a greasy lunch and watch a couple of the student films on my laptop while I ate. After lunch I went to BBLESSING and had a look, not that I could buy anything at the moment. Then I checked out the Elizabeth Peyton show at the NEW MUSEUM but I wasn't that into it - I kind of get turned off by paintings of cool people, not because they're not good, but because it makes me feel like I'm a loser again cause I'm not friends with those people.

Elizabeth Peyton's "Live to Ride" at the New Museum:

Next stop, ZOMBA on Madison Ave. to pick something up. I could feel Britney all around me.

Finally, off to NYU Tisch for their info session - which was much more administrative than informative which was a little disappointing...but I got to ask what I needed to ask.

Back on the L Train to Brooklyn where I ran into WHITNEY, one of the winners of America's Next Top Model. Poor thing isn't fat anymore, she's just a pretty girl now.

Whitney in her glory day:

Quick rest up and check in to see if anyone was up for a drink or dinner, but alas everyone was busy or non-responsive and I was starving so I went to BONITA, my favourite Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn, for some Mexican Corn, Fish Tacos, and Sangria while I finished reading CAMERA LUCIDA.

Back at the sublet I checked out what was going on in New York, and almost went to the BAD ART AUCTION in Manhattan, but decided to check out THE METROPOLITAN in Williamsburg instead. It turned out to be ladies night, so I downed a pint in .2 seconds flat, waved goodbye to all the lesbians ("Enjoy your death trap, ladies!"), and headed back to the apartment before midnight for an amazing sleep.

Thursday I was up at the crack of nine, heading to Grand Central to catch the Metro North to New Haven. A couple hours later I arrived at YALE SCHOOL OF ART for their open house. I was early, but so were the other 50 people who were on the shuttle-bus with me. We sized each other up silently on the short trip. When we arrived we signed up for the open house at the school and then had half an hour to kill. I checked out the CURRENT FIRST YEAR MFA SHOW and was excited. It wasn't the most polished work, but it was all fascinating and invigorating - especially considering they had put it together within a short month and a half. Ran across the street for a coffee, then headed back to the atrium for the open house with visions of being the idiot who spilled his coffee and caused a ruckus during the introducton. I sat next to a woman in the overcrowded room as we both hoped this was a usual turnout, rather than an especially competitive year. After looking around for a while I turned to her and said "Everyone's so pretty..." And they were. Skinny, polished, fashionable assholes everywhere you turned.

The dean, ROBERT STORR, spoke beautifully about the school, its history, and its philosophy. I was filled with excitement because everything he said was exactly in line with what I wanted from grad school and where I felt I was in my career. But I suppose that's why it's such a good school.

The group broke off into their respective areas of prospective study. I went down to "The Pool" - the crit room for the photography course. GREGORY CREWDSON and RICHARD BENSON led a presentation on the photography program, along with some first and second year students. Then we broke and they served some food and I got to speak with Crewdson a little bit, which was gut-wrenching and exciting and affirming. Then it was back to the station to catch the bus to Boston.

Richard Benson:

Five annoying hours later I arrived at MASSART and met JOBANANA. She took me on a tour of the school and then we ate Kraft Dinner with cream and margarine and washed it down with Trader Joe's. Oh student life.

4 hours of sleep and then we were up at 5:30AM to catch the bus back to New York with a handful of Jobanana's classmates. Upon arriving we went to APERTURE in Chelsea to see the LUIGI GHIRRI show, which didn't blow me away save for a couple images. Then we met up with ABELARDO MORELL, Jobanana's professor, to get a tour of the WILLIAM EGGLESTON show at THE WHITNEY by one of the curators of the show. It was amazing to see the godfather of modern colour photography's prints and video work with the insightful commentary of a curator.

Abelardo Morell's "Camera Obscura: View of Volta Del Canal in Palazzo Room Painted With Jungle Motif, Venice, Italy", 2008:

William Eggleston's "Untitled", 1975:

Downstairs at The Whitney we saw CORRIN HEWITT doing his exhibitionist photo-performance. Then I got to sit down with Abelardo (Abe) and talk with him and the class about the shows and why I was applying to grad school. So amazing to have had that chance.

Corin Hewitt's "Seed Stage" at The Whitney:

Then it was off to THE MET to meet a curator from the photography department, Jeff Rosenheim, who greeted Abe like an old chum which was really impressive. Jeff then took us through a few exhibitions, including REALITY CHECK, an exhibition about truth and representation in photography which was of particular interest and concern to me as it related to my work a whole lot - particularly CRAIG KALPAKJIAN and JULIAN FAULHABER (whose print was cleverly hung facing THOMAS DEMAND'S). Crewdson's photo was also hanging in that show.

Craig Kalpakjian's computer generated photo-realistic "Corridor":

Julian Faulhaber's "Tankstelle":

Thomas Demand's "Attempt" - made out of construction paper:

Gregory Crewdson's incredible 48x60 inch "car and spooky garage from Twilight":

The other show he guided us through was an ACQUISITIONS show, which he was so excited about, and it rubbed off. Being in the same room with Van Gogh, Brancusi, and Thomas Struth was pretty great. I was also struck by SARAH GOODRIDGE'S "Beauty Revealed" and ADELINE HARRIS SEARS' "Autograph Quilt" (but superficially cause of the cubes).

Sarah Goodridge's comment on marriage, "Beauty Revealed":

Adeline Harris Sears' beautiful and architectural "Autograph Quilt":

Finally, JoJo and I split from Abe and the class to go to The MOMA to see PIPILOTTI RIST'S POUR YOUR BODY OUT (7354 CUBIC METRES).

Pipilotti Rist discusses her installation at The MOMA:

Johanna's phone photos of the Pipilotti Rist installation:

Johanna sipping a Margarita:

Spent, we headed back to our friend's to crash.

Saturday we slept in, had Polish bagels with veggie cream cheese and milky tea, went to BEACON'S CLOSET where I found a great velvet and vinyl sweater (sounds gross but it's great) and a t-shirt with boobie drawings on it, then headed into Manhattan. We met MIMI (our friend who was kind enough to let us crash at her place) at PACE MACGILL GALLERY where she works, and saw the Richard Benson show (one of the professors from Yale) and got to see/hold some PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA prints (another Yale prof) prints, some WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY prints, some TOD PAPAGEORGE prints (another Yale prof/director), and see a rare platinum-palladium IRVING PENN print.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia:

William Christenberry:

Tod Papageorge:

Then we went across the street to BONNI BENRUBI to see ABE'S SHOW and really be blown away by having spent the day with him on Friday. I was so inspired and impressed and excited to see his prints in person.

Abelardo Morell's "Nadelman/Hopper -Yale University Art Gallery", 2008 - the colours in this are incredible in person:

Then Gingerbread Lattes at Trump Tower, a tour through BENDEL'S, and back to Brooklyn for a DARK AND STORMY (it was a ginger-filled day) and round two at Bonita. This time I had fish tacos and Mexican Corn again, but a CHELADA instead of sangria, and we had a chance to catch up with Mimi.

Dark and Stormy me having a Dark and Stormy:

Then Johanna and I drank KALIMOTXOS and wine and figured out I am ripped and had an art/life meltdown of big intensity over $2 Pabst Blue Ribbons at CLEM'S.

Sunday morning, Johanna and Mimi had left and I was on my own. I grabbed a coffee and headed into Manhattan for a leisurely walk through Central Park on my way to THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, cause I had never been. I ended up getting pretty distracted upon entering the museum, so I did a SQUID AND THE WHALE tour, checked out the Mexico wing, then left while still trembling. Bugged out, I decided to do an easy stroll down good old Bleecker, where I saw an overly tanned (and taller than expected) VALENTINO, then wound up at CARACAS for yet another South American meal and a beer.

That beer led to a litre of Sapporo from the convenience store on the way back to Brooklyn where I gathered my things and settled my nerves before heading to the overnight bus, where I ran into my unwitting muse ADRIENNE. Then I popped 4 Gravol and clicked my heels and was at Union Station having McDonald's breakfast with iced coffee before I could say "Snickerdoodle".

And that was my trip! I'm so excited because I felt at home and validated and affirmed at all those things after the past while of rejection and questioning...

Coming soon...Owen Pallett photos and a video in January that I'm really exciteg about.

Labels: ART, BAD DOG, JEALOUSY, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY

I'm having such an incredible soul-filling time visiting schools and being in the US. I'll write more soon but I'm just about to crash after a fantastic day of touring NY museums with the graduate students from MassArt. We had curators personally guide us through William Eggleston's exhibit at The Whitney and a contemporary exhibit, 2 mini-exhibits, a book exhibit, and an acquisitions exhibit at The Met while Abelardo Morel lead the group. I'm so inspired right now. And drunk.

I leave you with one exciting find from today: Joachem Wtewael, a 16th century Dutch painter who used copper as his canvas for oil paintings - they glow so beautifully in person.

More soon.

Labels: ART, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PHOTOGRAPHY