Hrag Vartanian

Since Hurricane Katrina, refuse and squalor have inspired a popular aesthetic in the art world. There’s a laissez-faire decadence in a work like Peter Garfied’s “One: Number 31, 1950” (2008) sculpture at Pierogi Brooklyn (below).

These artworks of devastation all seem to reference (even if unwittingly) Jeff Wall’s stunning and prescient photograph from 1978, “The Destroyed [...]

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I’m consistently impressed with Jack the Pelican Presents‘ bold taste. The gallery shows art that should’ve been included in New Museum’s “Unmonumental” exhibition instead of the overwhelming number of weak pieces (sometimes by bad artists).
Today, I stopped by to check out the “HEADSetera” show which featured three artists: Peter Drake, Laurence Hegarty and Mark Mennin. [...]

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My article was originally printed in the Brooklyn Rail (May 2008)

Judith Supine Dirt Mansion English Kills April 12 – June 8, 2008
Pink & Aiko The Brick Ladies of NYC Ad Hoc March 21 – April 20, 2008
Super Combo Chashama ABC Gallery April 4 – April 25, 2008
Everyone dreams about having it both ways and street [...]

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C-Monster wanders over to Bushwick’s Lumenhouse to check out “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.”
Art Threat looks at Jerusalem’s odd Museum of the Seam and this line caught my attention:

“While there I saw Orthodox Jews and Muslim women in hijab meditating on the same works and was inspired to linger even longer to absorb the whole of the [...]

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Starting some time in 2001 people in my Bushwick loft building spontaneously created a giving shelf. We slowly began leaving things for other people. Most of the time people picked them up. Among the items were books, kitchenware, electronics, DVDs, clothes and occasionally art work.
It was because of that shelf I felt part of a [...]

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