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Marilyn Minter on Bad Boys and Old Ladies: The Art World Loves Them

by Paddy Johnson on October 23, 2015
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After looking at the Minter show in Denver, I spent a bit of time watching a panel discussion on the show at The Contemporary Art Museum Houston between Director Bill Arning with Curator Elissa Auther, artist Marilyn Minter and cultural critic Linda Yablonsky this spring. I didn’t end up using any of it in the review, but there’s some great material here.

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Artspace opens its glorious building for lucky winners

by Whitney Kimball on October 1, 2015
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El Barrio’s PS109 is a ginormous castle converted into a $52 million apartment building with fabulous amenities, and artists can live there for as low as $500 a month.

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A Brief Look at Peter Shelley’s Telephone Operator (1983)

by Paddy Johnson on September 24, 2015
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I’ve been a passive fan of Peter Shelley’s Telephone Operator (1983) for a while, but only today did I think to look up the video. All these years, I’d never paid close enough attention to realize the song is about an upset drunk male whose come ons haven’t seduced a telephone operator! As it happens, the video fetishizes digital technology using much of the same iconography as digital artists. Circuitry is everywhere and so are computers. Here, we see a circuit board shirt, circuit board line drawings, actual circuit boards, a computer, a room full of computers, a room full of telephones, dot matrix print outs, and Tron-like renderings of figures and the inside of telephone cables. All of this seems to suggest a rather creepy scenario in which Shelley becomes increasingly obsessed. Even 30 years ago, technology was a good way to violate other people’s privacy. And much like today, also a convenient way to get laid.

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Kunstraum by the Navy Yard

by Paddy Johnson on September 1, 2015
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A visit last week to the Kunstraum introduced me to their new studio program dedicated to provided short term affordable studio space and exhibition space to artists. The spaces I saw didn’t look to be much larger than a couple hundred square feet—perfect for some and small for others—but part of the program includes the opportunity for studio artists to use the gallery as a space for curation and events. So that’s awesome.

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May the Light of iPhone Shine Down Upon Us

by Paddy Johnson on August 7, 2015
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What a strange coming of the Lord, Anthony Antonellis‘s stained glass iPhone presents. Unlike most places of worship, this space is entirely empty, lit only by the glow of the phone. This version of the phone doesn’t appear to connect us with anyone. Is this what life with a smart phone is like; solitary and quiet? The space reminds me less of a temple than it does a movie theatre; a place where we sit together in silence while sharing something of a communal experience.

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Friday Trivia: That Time a Warhol Flick Almost Caused a “Lynch Riot”

by Corinna Kirsch on May 22, 2015
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“Lobby full, one red-faced guy very agitated, says I have 30 seconds to give him his money back or he’ll run into theatre and start a ‘lynch riot’.”

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