The apparent lethargy of the New York art world has less to do with 9/11, or even the Bush economy, than the shift of galleries from Soho to Chelsea, which, as I wrote in the New Art Examiner in 1997, was a calculated move to create an artist-free Brasilia for collectors (among other things, of course). The dealers are now reaping what they sowed in the form of an overall diminished sense of energy. Chelsea is a giant outlet mall, with huge spaces all apparently designed by the same person, providing festival-circuit artists with a place to strut their stuff in NY before moving to the next Biennale. Increasingly I'm convinced that the action--yes, it's come down to this--is in artists' studios. You get to see a lot of work and hear the best explanation of it, before the ideas get turned to hash by a condescending or airheaded Manhattan gallerist. True, you don't get always get the nice white box, but c'mon, we're pros here! These, then, are notes from a few recent visits I did. Coming soon: the rest of this post, where I discuss recent visits to four NY studios. I'm still working on it, and I confess, the only reason I'm putting in this teaser is because I wanted some text between the images in the preceding and following posts, for layout reasons. That's the freedom I have, here in the blogosphere. |
return to: Tom Moody |
"...I like his post about the lethargy of the art world and Chelsea as an artist-free Brasilia for collectors...." |