~ED HOPPER . . NEW WHITNEY
EDWARD HOPPER . . . vs VAN GOGH ?
it’s a – tie !!
just, one’s American, and the other . . Dutch.
finally – !!
caught a great photo in the mainstream media of the new Whitney building – today !!
it’s by BILLY FARRELL, I’ve always liked his work.
you get a great sense of the water, the sky, that this an ISLAND. and the playful genius of the building, itself.
PHOTO BY BILLY FARRELL / WALL STREET JOURNAL, Mon April 27, 2015
and, as well over the weekend, the NEW YORK POST chimed with the first really compelling – art (and eats !!) coverage. it’s the first time I actually felt interested in the agenda over there. I mean its pretty fast and heavy . . on the underground beat – talk about . . gritty !!
I mean, if you forget about hoping that this museum, and it’s current set of curators, who are more like librarians, than anything else . . sorry but it’s true, could actually do a giant intellectual leap or even stretch . . and put up some really cutting edge art, on that innovative infrastructure, their ‘classic’ holdings are . . beyond inspiring.
forget that Mary Heilmann stuff . . sorry, but she’s taking up space that should go to others that got swept under the rug, by her questionable rise. I never understood that acclaim for her work, for the life of me. was that Roberta’s handiwork ?
maybe it’s because I studied under that great color field painter GUIDO MOLINARI back in Montreal ? probably so. once you taste hardcore, once you eat sushi – it’s hard to eat . . canned tuna.
though that cascading stairway of bare electric light bulbs by FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES, 1994-95, (scroll down the link for the article, below – for a great installation photo !!) is wow. industrial hardcore gritty chic – or what !!
but EDWARD HOPPER ? to see those beauts, of light, and the American angst, the heartbeat of the American landscape, before everything went totally haywire – wow, now that’s what I call . . divine opportunity. (scroll down that same link to see . . his classic ‘Early Sunday Morning’) show me a Hopper line drawing, a preliminary working sketch, a watercolor. they should do a huge, totally immersive throw-down in the spirit of that Cattelan Guggenheim retrospective, yeah, that’s what I’m talking about !!
also, there is truly something rather great and mysterious to that ROBERT HENRI portrait of GERTRUDE WHITNEY, the museum’s founder, who scandalized the social scene with her love of pajama’s – before Julian did – !!
talk about a light source, I’d like to see that – up close and personal.
damn digital images, anyway.
gotta love that Gertrude Whitney – indie spirit !! . . “a sculptor and savvy collector, she once offered 700 pieces to the MET, which basically said, ‘No thanks’ (!!)
. . so in 1931 she started a museum of her own.” (!!)
no wonder her spirit – lives on.
it’s also a great and generous idea to have a small exhibition room, and an eatery open to the public – without needing to sign up and pay a $20 admission fee, every time you want to hop over – from the High Line.
so, here’s my no-brainer of a prediction:
their ‘pay-as-what-you-want’ Fridays / 7-10PM . . are going to be hot, until people tire of the classics, but maybe that will give them just enough breathing space . . to up their cutting edge – game.
my first request ?
get KEVIN MORBY !! – back in town – for a concert !!
and let . . CINDERS put up a group show – for the back-drop.
Red Rover, red rover . . !!
yeah, Whitney white bread, oops I mean white glove admins . . you sure can hire ME as a creative consultant for a super exciting cutting edge program – any day.
or just a one-off, guest curator gig, lol.
my contact is at the top of this page – at the left.
as if . . . pigs can fly – over the moon.
what do they say ?
hope, and courage – are the 2 most important human traits.
check out: ‘The curators’ Guide to the New Whitney’, NEW YORK POST.