Lou Haney

Saturday, July 16, 2011

isn't it ironic?

I took the train to Williamsburg this afternoon. I checked out some galleries and the whole neighborhood.

Here are some images of street art in the 'Burg (i don't know if anyone calls it that)

Yesterday was quite the adventure. I worked in the studio and attended a lecture about art and neuroscience by Suzanne Anker. In the afternoon, I got a text from some ole Oxford friends inviting me to join them at the William Tell opera in Kaltonah, NY at Caramoor. It sounded like an adventure and I had not left the city so off I went. Here are some pictures of the Caramoor grounds.

We attended a lecture before the opera in a beautiful Italianate courtyard. Marc is writing a book about William Tell as a symbol of rebellion. The performance of this opera is a historical clue as to the feelings of the people towards their ruler.

The opera was performed outside in a beautiful tent (sorry for the bad picture). It was an amazing experience- all four hours of singing.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I see Chelsea

It is Thursday night- openings! We went up to Mixed Greens. They had a great group show, Cabin Fever. Here are a couple of my favorite pieces.

Painting by Abraham Storer

Mixed media piece by Megan Foster

Jonathan Ehrenberg's great lo-fi videos

Art Blog Art Blog

After Mixed Greens, we went across the street to Ross Bleckner's Studio. Bleckner is in the Hamptons this summer so he donated his space to his former assistant, Joshua Abelow and author of Art Blog Art Blog. He has been hosting shows in the space (called Art Blog Art Blog) all summer. The show, "Can I Get A Witness" had some interesting pieces but I loved the space. It was big and white with incredible light/windows/view. How do you make art when the view is so amazing?

I am not sure who made what...

Nice drawing but the way it is hung feels gimmicky.

View from Bleckner's studio

Another view- the High Line from above. I can't stop taking pictures of it...

Midtown

Another High Line shot- I have never seen it from above. I'll stop (for now).

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

studio update

Honey Don't or Honeydew You?, 24"x 36"- I love painting the plastic!

Acrylic painting on Yupo, 9" x 12"

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Whitney: color me happy

I headed uptown to the Whitney on Saturday. I saw the Lyonel Feininger and Cory Archangel shows. Unfortunately, I could only take pictures on the Cory floor so I had to troll the internet for the Feininger images.

Cory Archangel's work is about digital, internet, and video game culture. I would compare him to Warhol, Christian Marclay, and Tim Hawkinson. This is a giant video game piece about bowling and he has programed the game to throw gutter balls.

I love the robotic display stands which he programmed to dance (a la Hawkinson)

Big, shiny, colorful--- my favorite. These pieces were very nice. He gives all the coordinates so you could make them yourself in Photoshop. The questioning of originality of the artist (a la Warhol) is very interesting.

The rainbow one was speaking to me....

He also did a mash-up (a la Marclay) from YouTube guitar tutorials. I love the DIY spirit of the piece however the musical quality wasn't as elegant as Marclay's mash-ups. I guess that is the difference between YouTube as your source material and movie scores.

The Lyonel Feininger show was on the 3rd floor. Feininger was an American who moved to Germany in his teens but came back to the US in the late 1930s. He was the painting professor at the Bauhaus. My favorite works were his early Die Brucke paintings. His use of color is fantastic- it looks so fresh. I am not a fan of his analytical cubist phase but I love the lyrical and expressive quality of his first paintings.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Jerry Saltz

click to enlarge

On Thursday, Jerry Saltz gave a lecture on Thursday at SVA. He was great. I felt ready to conquer the art world after he spoke.

Here are the links- Jerry's recent piece for New York Magazine- "Generation Blank"

blogsphere response #1, response #2

You Met!

I just got back from a wonderful morning at the Met. We went early to see the Alexander McQueen show. I snuck one picture in the exhibit. It was amazing. Maximal, textured, theatrical- it had it all. My favorite was the red satin and sequins (of course). Here is a link to some of the objects. Wow!