On The Road Again

So what was one to do over a week in Boca Raton, Florida?

Especially since I had to miss Second Saturday Staten Island this month. Deep Tanks features an amazing exhibit until June 4th; a retrospective of Island artist Arthur Williams. 

Arthur Williams at Deep Tanks, Installation View

Highly graphic, slightly hallucinogenic, this densely packed mini-retrospective includes over 100 works in painting and ceramics. Williams has a Pop sensibility, sometimes crossed with the retro checkerboard styling of the 80s. 

Arthur Williams at Deep Tanks, Installation View

The numerous canvases range from adept to truly surprising. I found myself oddly drawn to the objects over the two dimensional work, but all the works are infused with humor and compassion. 

Arthur Williams at Deep Tanks, Installation View

It will undoubtedly put a smile on your face. The show is up until June 3rd and if this doesn't get you up and off your ass and over here, well.......

I was fortunate to have picked up a copy of Alison Bechdel's "Are You My Mother?" from the New York Public Library before taking off to the sunny South. And could I have picked up a more appropriate book? This graphic memoir by the creator of "Dykes To Look Out For" follows up on her 2006 "Fun House". Where the latter dealt with her relationship to her homosexual, transvestite father, this current volume deals with her relationship with her mother, often focusing on the period of her developing "Fun House".  It is a big story contained in a slim volume, but Bechdel is a veteran of the panel concept and knows how to utilize the format to her advantage. Actually a study of the Mother-Daughter relationship at the turn of the century, the author pursues a multi-threaded approach; the story encompasses the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott and author Virginia Wolff with "sidebars" into the worlds of Sigmund Freud and Stephen Sondheim in a masterful slight of hand.


And I read it in under a week!!


So what DOES one do in Broward County? Well I called Girls' Club in Fort Lauderdale to see if they might be able to open up for me Saturday morning (official hours 12-5 Weds-Fri) on my way down to Miami. And sure enough, they accommodated me! 

Re-Framing The Feminine at Girls' Club, Installation View

"Re-Framing The Feminine" is an exhibit curated by Dina Mitrani, a Miami curator, of almost 50 photographic works from the organization's founder's collection. And it is an impressive collection; leaning heavily in works of the past 25 years, it does pay slight homage to earlier women photographers with unsurprising works by Ruth Orkin and Helen Leavitt. The general slant is the "female" eye but a large majority of the work features the female body. 

Re-Framing The Feminine at Girls' Club, Installation View

The show has a pleasant mixture of the familiar (Tina Barney, Vera Lutter, Sally Mann) and the unfamiliar (Courtney Johnson, Delia Brown, Ania Moussawei) that plays it fairly safe but has some definite high notes that include Lucinda Devlin's interiors of "fantasy" motels, Carrie Mae Weem's charmingly elegiac Untitled photograph, and Delia Brown's sly vamp on the Becher school grid in "Some of My Clothes". 
But where were Catherine Opie, Justine Kurland and Sarah Charlesworth? This may be the downfall of dealing with just one couple's collection when curating a "big" show.


I decided to breakfast in FTL and remembered a place called the Egg and You Diner on Rte 1 in Wilton Manors. I chalk it up to my New Jersey upbringing that made me sense this was a "serious" diner and I indulged in a sinfully delicious breakfast of biscuits with sausage gravy. Sitting at the counter I met other late morning diners who had journeyed 30+ miles just for their poached eggs with cheese sauce!! Yum yum yum!!!

According to friend and curator Dan Cameron, I missed a really good show at the Miami Art Museum while I was down that afternoon, but I did get to visit Scotty's Landing for a leisurely late afternoon meal. Lousy service took some time to acknowledge us, but they did offer Magic Hat #9, a personal hot weather fave. I also experienced my first fish taco!! Featuring fried grouper in a flour tortilla, I did wish the accompanying sides of guacamole, slaw and salsa hadn't arrived in covered #6 plastic containers, but the final composed product was not unsatisfactory.



Speaking of Magic Hat Brewery, I decided to forgo my usual vodka and whatever this trip for a six-pack of their Summer Elder Betty brew. To my luck it's an American Hefeweizen beer with a lovely dark color to it; the elderberries add a dark fruitiness that balances the sharp mustiness of the wheat beer. Nicely done.


Then came Mother's Day when I accompanied my Mother to CHOPS Lobster Bar in Boca Raton so we could split the Dover Sole entree. For high end eating down there it wasn't too shabby. Considering the date, the restaurant was humming but not overwhelmed and the service was attentive without being overbearing. The initial room is a bit dark but the main dining room has a vaulted tiled ceiling reminiscent of the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station and an ample view into the active kitchen. The bourbon ginger cocktail I had as a starter was excellent and set the bar for the rest of the meal. The Caesar salad was creamy and not overwhelmed by enormous croutons as it often is; here they were represented by thin small dark "crisps". The sole was prepared with care table-side and maintained the general level of richness the entire meal had. Sharing a slice of strawberry cheesecake for dessert, we both slowly rolled home remarkably full!!

Judi Dench and Friends in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

What do you do on a rainy Florida afternoon with your Mum? Why not go to the movies? My Mom had been pitching for the new British import The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, so off one rainy afternoon we went to the multiplex. Effectively directed by John Madden (Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown, Shakespeare in Love), a strong ensemble cast featuring Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith as a group of "older" English-folk who find themselves trying to adapt to the ways of the sub-continent in a run-down "hotel" being run by a inexperienced but enthusiastic Sonny (Dev Patel of "Slumdog Millionaire") is perfectly fine. Nothing really surprising unfolds here (the gay character dies and receives a full Hindu burial, the toxic couple separate healthfully, the "desperate" find "hope", Sonny stands up to his Mum, and old codger Maggie Smith ends up liking India!!!) but it is nice to see how competent actors deal with mediocre material. The cinematography does do a nice job of capturing the whirling kaleidoscopic of urban India. If you must.

Here, Abroad, & a Cup of Coffee: Reports from NYC and FL

Dear Reader,

Forgive my absence. February is a time of highs and lows. February 2nd brought good news from Staten Island Chuck that Spring was due early (again) this year. February 14th left an empty mailbox and an empty box of self-bought chocolates!

Family obligations (my mother's 85 birthday party) forced me to spend the President's Day weekend in Florida. But before I went, I did happen to take in a few shows before I left. Here are a few notables:

Christian Marclay @ Paula Cooper: "The Clock" was THE media event of February in Chelsea. Once more Mr. Marclay exercises his skill as editor and craftsman in this 24 hour long video. Seamlessly composed of film clips from the medium's earliest to most recent moments, Marclay not only chronicles the movement of time through cinema, but literally created a clock that takes the viewer through the history of cinema.

During the 48 hour non-stop screening of the video, people lined up down W 21 St in the freezing cold to experience this cinematic monument. An well worth it. But the piece definitely required return visits. And I did find it a bit strenuous to take in long stretches. By the end of 30-45 minutes I found I needed to stretch my legs and get some relief from the seamless editing! The piece strikes viewers in different ways at different times as clips become recognizable then vanish to re-emerge minutes later.

I must say that no matter how impressive this project is, I did not find it half as engaging and disturbing as his "Crossfire" piece which I saw at White Cube a few years ago (WC also screened "The Clock" to record crowds in London). That piece, which provided little escape from its onslaught, was more exacting and demanded a much more visceral response from the viewer

visually and aurally. Though I admired the technical and editorial savvy of "The Hours", I never felt bad about leaving it!

Tony Feher @ Pace Wilderstein - "Next On Line"

is Tony Feher's recent show. Tony was an artist I encountered early in his career at the Richard Anderson Gallery many moons ago. Richard had an uncanny eye for spotting new interesting work (Bill Jacobson's first blurry portraits were also displayed with Richard). I have a seminal memory of an early show of Mr Feher's there involving a grid of old milk bottles on the floor which contained a blue liquid portrait of a shark. Over the years Mr. Feher has toyed with various arrays of objects that were reminiscent of Barry Le Va with a post-modern twist. This show at Pace Wilderstein has the artist back in an element that he is most comfortable in: liquids. These witty, deliciously simple works return to the artist's most basic element: liquids and the line. It was infectiously fun yet scientifically precise. I loved these 'drawings' but would hate to have one in my collection!!

Martin Kersels @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash - "Charms. Stacks & Flotsam". The big man of CA art comes to NYC with an all out sensual assault! I've been a big Kersels fan from way back. His latest one-man show in NYC has him at a smart sassy apex! The artist's interest in weight and balance is still in the foree, but Kersels has used an fun and imaginative array of materials to intercede for the physical premise of the artist. The exhibit of beautifully rendered drawings and silly/serious objects dangling from the ceiling were lovely, but my true interests were in the "Stacks", small sculptural objects made up out of books. Hewn, cut, divided and re-assembled, these pieces showed the artist at great reserve yet working in his classic arena! I want two!!

Don't miss the Flotsam drawings along the back walls: delicate, intricate and negative, they show the artist as not merely material in a commercial sense but as a human one as well. Beautifully rendered, I never imagined this bumptious artist could produce drawings so heart-felt and delicate!

Fate (and family) brought me down to the Ivory

Coast of Florida this February (ie Fort Lauderdale) but fortune brought me to the Girls' Club of Fort Lauderdale. A private family foundation house in a fabulous home in the Las Olas Downtown art area. I stumbled upon two intriguing shows: Frances Twombly: Paintings and "Facsimile:, a group show. Beautifully designed, this alternate artists' space presented these two long-term installations that were both provocative and mutually stimulating. Ms. Twombley presented a series of canvases installed specifically in the Girls Club space.

Minimalist in their appearance, these canvases are all hand woven and develop a cultural dialogue between art and design. The more time I spent in the space, the more fascinating these monochromatic works became. Brava!! The group show upstairs collected a various and intriguing group of artists whose work mirrored Twombley's focus on production and the art of the material. Showcased in the gallery above Twombley's, it parallels the artists' fascination with material, production and art history. Stand outs include Tim Davis' "Rainbow Bread" and Jonathan Rockman's "Expand and Contract".

I was particularly smitten with Elaine Reichek "Swatches, Albers 1-3", 2007. Using programmed embroidery machines to recreate Albers' 'Homage to a Square', these works reflects upon art history while distilling it into a digital age. Ghada Amer, Orly Genger, and Jonathan Seliger add a sensible, sensual gravitas to an excellent group exhibit.

If in the FTL area, not to be missed!!