James and I took photos of Joe Ovelman’s wall at 23rd and Tenth Avenue this morning. Yes, I said morning. Remember all of the Prada skirt posters on that construction wall? They’re now covered with something much better. Here are a few images from my Flickr set.
<imgsrc=“https://www.flickr.com/photos/bloggy/141636602/in/set-72057594127393552/” alt=“Joe Ovelman” />
I just got a news alert from Crain’s. Link is here, but I’ll excerpt the parts I find interesting:
Commissioner Julius Spiegel ordered the exhibit — located inside the Brooklyn War Memorial Building in Cadman Plaza — shut down Thursday afternoon after receiving an unknown number of complaints, according Marni Kotak, a participating artist and spokeswoman for the exhibit, called Plan B.
..
Ms. Kotak says that three graduate students who were monitoring the exhibits, which included a watercolor featureing gay male sexuality and a sculpture of penises in a lightbox, were ordered to leave the premises and were locked out of the building on Thursday.
The exhibit had been approved by Brooklyn College faculty and the Wednesday night opening was attended by the president and Brooklyn College Provost Roberta Matthews. “The faculty knew ahead of time what was going to be in the exhibit,” said Ms. Kotak. Still, Brooklyn College has opted to move the exhibit rather than fight the shutdown.
“In keeping with the public nature of the space, as well as its position as an honored war memorial, Brooklyn College has respectfully decided to move the entire student exhibit to our campus,” said Ms. Matthews in a statement. </blockquote>
I think moving an art show because we can’t have sexuality in “public” is bullshit.
See Tom Moody for what other countries manage to show without bringing about societal collapse.
I received an e-mail from Christopher Moss, one of the artists in Plan B, the MFA thesis exhibit for the art school of Brooklyn College. He pointed be to a blog that has been set up for more information. His e-mail stated:
On Thursday May 4th MFA students at Brooklyn College were surprised to find their exhibition shut down the day after a successful and well attended opening. MFA Students were monitoring the exhibition at the Brooklyn War Memorial when around 3:00 p.m. a locksmith arrived to change the locks, later a building supervisor insisted the students leave immediately. Later gallery director Maria Rand contacted Julius Spiegel, Borough Parks Commissioner, who said he had received complaints about 2 or 3 of the works’ content. The show was scheduled to run through May 25th.
I was gallery sitting at the time.
Apparently at the moment the artists don’t even have access to their work. It’s locked up by the Parks Department.
It sounds like this is coming from the Parks Department, and the Borough authorities, not the school. Someone should explain to them that locking up art shows without warning isn’t much of a tribute to Brooklyn or New York City.
As I was looking at the Plan B site, I see that our friend Carl Ferrero is one of the artists. Perhaps this image by him was deemed worthy of shutting down a show:
Carl Ferrero, Pray For Your Pleasure (excerpt), 2005-2006, watercolor on paper, 30″×22″
We all know how well the authorities in NYC react to words like “pray” anywhere near naked bodies or sexuality.
I note the Brooklyn College Art Department’s home page tells us this about its history:
Founded by artists escaping German fascism on the eve of World War II, the art department started as the world’s first comprehensive Bauhaus art program in a liberal arts setting. Over the years it grew to include Abstract Expressionists, Realists, and Abstractionists drawn from the New York art world, as well as art historians with distinguished scholarly reputations.
Shutting down MFA exhibits doesn’t sound like a very good way to honor that history.
Updated: As a commenter pointed out, the Carl Ferrero image is not the one in the show. See this post by James for what we believe are the ones in the show.
The best reason to be in Chelsea on Saturday? James can tell you.
Brooklyn Academy of Music has a great silent auction which ends on May 7. You can bid online via the web site.
We saw the work when we were at BAM for the Brooklyn Philharmonic concert with Ute Lemper. There is a lot of great work.
I should have done it sooner, but I’ve added Jersey City as a neighborhood for ArtCal, and added the first show, at The Garage. Unfortunately, it’s ending this weekend, but I’m looking forward to listing more!
For the starving artists out there who want to see the likes of DJ Spooky and The Wau Wau Sisters with us on Monday night, here is a tip: Use “DUCK” as the discount code between May 1 and May 5 to get $10 off. I’m pretty sure this is for the concert-only tickets.
On an unrelated note, my apologies for the lack of posting. I’ve been under the weather for a week, but my antibiotics seem to be kicking in now.
My ArtCat service has a new gallery client:
Remember, I host artist pages too if you know anyone looking for an easy to manage web site. Dennis Christie says, “It’s so easy!”
I loved those photographs when I saw them in a group show at Hudson Franklin. Visit the artist’s web site for more. All are C-prints in an edition of 5. The images were provided by the artist and gallery. You have until May 6th to visit them at the gallery on 26th Street.
Grandma looking through the screen door, 2004
Aba with tea and milk, 2004
Grandma at the Passover table, 2004
Ema at the Passover table, 2004
James and I visited White Columns today to see the works in the "Momenta ":http://www.momentaart.org/ benefit which happens Saturday night. There are lots of good pieces, and the format is very democratic. Most of the work goes to people who have bought a $175 ticket. They draw numbers randomly, and that determines when you get to choose from the 110 available. A couple of years ago, we ended up with works by Kiki Smith, Joey Kotting, and Michael Cambre.
Visit the web site for more information or to buy tickets online using PayPal.