Our art is supposed to be influenced by suburbia, not our lives.

That’s my favorite line from Advice from a Caterpillar, which we watched last week. Recommended for the gays, the art world, and all of us who love both.

Speaking of suburbia, Bill Owens’s series of photographs of that title is excellent. There is a book too.

Bill Owens, Unititled, from Suburbia, ca. 1972-73, black and white photograph, 16” x 20”

Image from James Cohan Gallery

I liked these dark political works when I saw them at Rokeby at Pulse.

When I saw this painting:

I was reminded of one of the most effective memorials I have ever seen — the Geschwister Scoll Platz in Munich. Click on the image to get a bigger version that is easier to read.

Here is an image from the gallery’s website:

Sam Dargan, The great only appear great because we are on our knees, 2006

Many art bloggers such as myself would like to be compensated a bit for our time, or at least our hosting costs. In our case, our two blogs use up a lot of bandwidth, especially James’s.

I’m researching the possibility of setting up an art and culture ad network, so someone could come to one place and buy ads on various art and culture blogs, plus ArtCal if they so choose. It also would give those of us who want ads, but don’t want hyper-ugly animated ones, a chance I hope.

If you’re interested in such a thing, either as a publisher/blogger, or as a potential advertiser, drop me an email. Feel free to comment here as well if you have any ideas.

Angela Dufresne, Kasper Hauser, 2007, oil on canvas, 30 by 45 inches

There are a lot of beautiful film-inspired paintings in Angela Dufresne’s latest solo show at Monya Rowe.

Mark Creegan, Download Smurfette (detail), 2006

If you’re in Los Angeles, ArtCat artist Mark Creegan has a solo show at Dangerous Curve opening March 17.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I’m finally starting to recover from the art fair cold/flu thing.

• Dave Greenblatt, a collector I met via Bill Arning, has started a new blog with a focus on collecting for those without tons of money, including of lot of information on great multiples and editions. I hear he is even working on publishing a set with a group of interesting artists.
• DUC is one of my favorite charities: “The Distribution to Underserved Communities Library Program (DUC) distributes books on contemporary art and culture free of charge to rural and inner-city libraries, schools and alternative reading centers nationwide.” Their website has a video of Chuck Close talking about the program. It was started by the late great Bill Bartman of Art Resources Transfer.

Reuters has a short video on Emergency Room at PS1 that features Jaishri Abichandani, who was in the show we curated last November.

Jade Townsend, Untitled, 2007

This was one of my favorite things from the art fairs this year. James has a post with more information. The artist is represented by Priska C. Juschka Fine Art.

Here is a video so you can hear how it sounded:

Click To Play

If you missed the performance of M.R. SONTAG (Mark Golamco and Rachel Mason) at M*A*S*H last Thursday, or if like us you were there and could barely see because it was so crowded, all hail the power of YouTube.