November 2007

This is a show I'm in that opens Saturday, November 24. Many of these artists are not in what I'm calling the Steffany Martz Biennial (in joke--meaning the Whitney 2008). I'm pleased to be in "Bitmap," though--a kind of counter Biennial for the abject geek set. I started using the word "bitmap" in gallery labels about '98 to the consternation of print mag reviewers so it's nice to be in this crowd.

image: Petra Cortright

VertexList space and Blip Festival have the pleasure to present “B I T M A P: as good as new” a group exhibition celebrating the history of the digital image, the aesthetics of early computing and early video-game consoles. Expect pixels, old monitors and 8 bit sounds!

"B I T M A P: as good as new" is proud to feature: Cory Arcangel, Chris Ashley, Mike Beradino, Mauro Ceolin, Petra Cortright, Paul Davis, DELAWARE, Notendo (Jeff Donaldson), Eteam, Dragan Espenschied, Christine Gedeon, Kimberley Hart, Daniel Iglesia, JODI, Olia Lialina, LoVid, Kristin Lucas, David Mauro, Jillian Mcdonald, Tom Moody, Aron Namenwirth, Mark Napier, Nullsleep, Marisa Olson, Will Papenheimer, Prize Budget for Boys, jimpunk, Akiko Sakaizumi, Paul Slocum, Eddo Stern and CJ Yeh.

A reception will take place at vertexList on Saturday, November 24th 2007 from 7pm - 10pm.
The exhibition will be on display until Sunday, February 3rd, 2008.
Live 8 BIT music performance @ the opening reception, 8.30pm.
VertexList gallery hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday 1pm -6 pm, or by appointment.We are located between Graham and Manhattan Avenues on Bayard St, Brooklyn, NY. For more info please visit our website www.vertexlist.net or call 646 258 3792

And speaking of the lifeworld, check out these prospective utopias in Manhattan.

(the images came from Curbed, here and here)

Re: the Momenta Art exhibition "Air Kissing: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art about the Art World," in Brooklyn, NY:

Me, prereviewing the show on Paddy Johnson's blog: "The last thing I want to see is an extended whine about how horrible/capitalistic/phony the art world is--as content. There are just more pressing issues from the life world that artists could be addressing."

Artist m.river's reply, also on Johnson's blog: "Yeah Tom, like circles, gif animations and electro. Way to hold us up to your higher standards for art.

On another note, the show is great."

My reply, currently in moderation on Johnson's blog: "More circles, gif animations, and electro, less whiny art about other people's art and what a dreadful place the art world is, I say. Thanks for drawing the poles so clearly, m.river."

Update: I'm joking here about prereviewing the show but it's hopefully clear to all but artist TWhid that my remarks on Johnson's blog were addressed to the general topic of "art about the art world" and the work of this ilk I *have* seen.

For the record, here's what I wrote on Johnson's blog that didn't really get responded to:

I disagree with this reasoning: Because some artists have made art about the art world, one must think they blow if one thinks art about the art world blows. (e.g. Alex Bag–she has other personae besides art-specific personae.)

...[I]t’s often a sign that an artist has jumped the shark when s/he starts making art about art. (E.g, Lichtenstein’s awful Leger quotations, Jim Dine’s Greek statues… Sherrie Levine was an exception because a philosophical point about authorship was being made–at least until she started doing gold urinals. Similarly Andrea Fraser’s museum tours were kind of interesting but fucking the collector was just belaboring the point.)

That was my complaint about the Cory Arcangel screen burning piece–the subject was the mechanics of art display and the types of screens "A" list artists get to destroy as opposed to overlooked wharf rats. The last thing I want to see is an extended whine about how horrible/capitalistic/phony the art world is--as content. There are just more pressing issues from the life world that artists could be addressing.