Light on Water: Monet at MoMA

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Monets are pretty. I’m sure those who go to see MoMA’s small exhibition devoted to his water lilies series will agree. You might go on to say he anticipates abstract expressionism, that he left his canvasses radically unfinished, etc. All good points, ones that this exhibition will remind you of. Roberta Smith in her NYTimes article also informs you that he was influenced by Japanese screens. I like Monet’s Water Lilies, BUT

perhaps because they are so iconic
or perhaps because they’re just so pretty…
[insert shoulder shrug] they don’t excite me.

I am mildly interested looking at them. I like to trace the bare canvas at the edges and notice how he layered color. I was pleased the colors in my Labor day photos and his paintings tied in nicely. But Monet hardly demands a strong reaction–he’s a more contemplative sort. The kind who was entranced by watching sunsets. And that’s fair enough.

Light on water is quite pretty.

Quick Impressions: Kara Walker, Juergen Teller, Et. Al.

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Last night was one of those great nights in New York city when the whole world seems to be trawling its blocks, wearing every conceivable item of clothing and heading every which way. The people watching was great, the art was much and varied, and the wine was scant. (Recession much?) I started at Sikkema Jenkins, where new work from Kara Walker (above) and Mark Bradford was up. Mark Bradford, who I wasn’t familiar with, has a stunning large piece just in the entrance.

The image above doesn’t really do it justice, I recommend checking it out. Magnus Plessen at Gladstone is also worth a look.

I wandered further up, to Juergen Teller at Lehman Maupin. Unfortunately, I don’t have an image of his crops of nude statues that coldly toy with sexuality and artificiality. I think I enjoyed some of those more than the juxtaposition of his muses in the galleries.


Maybe it was the show, or maybe it was the time of night–about 7:30, but the crowds really started to kick in. And a very good looking crowd it was. I had a slightly awkward moment when a middle-aged WASPy women, who had asked me what gallery we were in, got the mistaken impression that we were going off together in search of wine…but never mind that.


I lost her at the heads. This photo doesn’t quite do justice to Jaune Plensa’s massive illuminated sculptures at Galerie Lelong. I only wish he hadn’t taken to inscribing words accross them. “Anxiety,” “Wrath,” etc felt overly didactic, if didactic is ever a good thing in art. By this time things were kicking, I had lost the people I was with, and I headed down to Zwirner and the Kitchen on 19th St. Both had great, fun, crowded openings (perhaps because they had booze : ). As for the art…I’ll have to check it out under other circumstances.

I tried to squeeze another opening into my night by going down to SoHo, but there was a line halfway down the block to get into this exhibition! The people in front told me they had waited for an hour, and I decided to walk myself home. Somewhere along this walk I realized it was also Fashion’s Night Out , with lingerie stores offering cookies and boutiques with bands.

Was anybody else out last night? Any recommendations?

A Little Happiness and Death

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Happy Thursday…of course you’ll be happy, knowing that The Confidance Man was the most fun and engaging theater experience I ever had. I highly reccomend you hustle down to Pier 40 one night this September to check it out for yourselves.

But more to the point for today, or rather tonight, artist and fellow blogger Bill Evertson provides a nice write up of the exhibition A Book About Death, including his contribution, opening tonight at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery at 7:30. Check out his blog and the show!