Links! Who's Behind This Art Tree?

by Will Brand on April 16, 2012 · 1 comment

• We love this line from Roberta Smith’s piece on Michael Mahalchick: “In Mr. Mahalchick’s best work an almost devotional sense of precision shines through a thin veneer of slovenliness. Elsewhere the veneer thickens.” [NY Times]
• In other newspaper-critics-agreeing-with-us news, Adrian Searle doesn’t like the Hans-Peter Feldmann exhibition at the Serpentine (which was largely drawn from last month’s groan-worthy 303 Gallery show). [The Guardian]
• On the other hand, Frieze has a review of a Richard Prince show that honestly starts like this: ”‘Good artists borrow, great artists steal’ is a quote often ascribed to Pablo Picasso. It could also be the motto of Richard Prince, who is known for appropriating existing photographs, and hence taking the Picasso quote almost literarly [sic], something that has caused him copyright lawsuits in the past.” For real, guys? Can we start using the big-boy ledes, please? I think I started an essay with that quote in tenth grade. [Frieze]
• New York has a piece by Justin Davidson about what the renovations coming to Times Square will look like. The answer? Boring. Which is exactly what Times Square needs. [New York]
• Eleven Rivington has a shiny new space on Chrystie Street next to Lehmann Maupin. [Brian Boucher, Art in America]
• So The Times sent art critic Holland Cotter to Africa for a month. His verdict: everything is African, too African, or not African enough, but at least now we’re making things more African, and also less African. It’s a sensitive, inquisitive dispatch, but we’re not sure where it’s going. [NY Times]
• Nadja Sayej says she got a Documenta press kit that consisted almost entirely of photographs of curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. We understand that there wouldn’t be much in the way of installation photographs—the exhibition, after all, is still six weeks away—but still, these photos are hilarious. [ArtStars*]

Tagged as: 303 Gallery, Adrian Searle, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Documenta, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Holland Cotter, Michael Mahalchick, Nadja Sayej, roberta smith, Sam Steverlynck, Serpentine Gallery