James Kalm brings viewers a brief tour of "Monumental Piccolini", a provocative show highlighting current abstraction by contrasting the ambitious scale of classic "New York School" works with the more modest productions of contemporary practitioners. One of the contentions of curator Jennifer Riley was that, due to market forces, monumental works are being ignored by galleries. It's hoped that by creating a dialog between works, scales and generations the sphere of formalist abstraction will display its vibrancy. Includes interviews with Craig Fisher and Jennifer Riley.

April 8, 2010. Just heard, couldn't quite believe it. Malcolm McLaren died today.

From the NY Times blog:

2:45 p.m. | Updated
Malcolm McLaren, the impresario, promoter and self-promoter who once claimed to have invented punk rock, and who assembled and managed the youthful, unruly members of the Sex Pistols, the breakthrough British punk band, has died. He was 64.

James Kalm recovers from St. Patrick's Day with a visit to the latest exhibition of works by controversial artist Marlene Dumas. Since 2005, when one of her paintings set a record for attaining the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by a living female artist, Dumas has become a lightning rod for criticism. Dumas's "Against the Wall" uses the image of the wall as a metaphor of the intractable and tragic situation present in the Middle East, and contrasts the political and spiritual implications of what these structures portend.

Thomas Bey William Bailey Podcast"This week's podcast on the Belsona Academy: 'Viractual' Special with mixed media artist / art theorist Joseph Nechvatal, known for his past collaborations with Rhys Chatham ('XS: The Opera Opus'), Stephane Sikora ('The Computer Virus Project II') and much much more.

shot by Jamie Dalglish at 52 Bond Street, New York