James Kalm brings viewers along for a trip down memory lane. 1969 was a seminal year marking the end of the age of Aquarius and the depth of the quagmire in Vietnam. The art world was in revolt politically and aesthetically. Changes were coming fast and furiously. In hind sight many of these “radical” positions have become accepted and represent the current establishment. Still, this run-through allows us to appreciate the first dawnings of this new horizon of creative energy. Organized by Neville Wakefield, P.S. 1 Senior Curatorial Advisor; Michelle Elligott, MoMA Archivist; and Eva Respini, MoMA Associate Curator of Photography.

KPBS: (Radio) UCSD Artists Develop Tool To Guide Illegal Border Crossers To Water - http://is.gd/65ppC

One nice moment from the this half hour interview - was getting the
interviewer to say "undocumented Immigrant" - instead of the politically
correct right wing phrase: "illegal immigrant."

James Kalm taps on the window and convinces Manager Rob Magness to allow viewers a private preview of this exceptional exhibition. Grown and Sewn is a collaborative arts and crafts space that brings works of art together with a new line of well crafted American made clothing. Purvis Young, from Miami’s tough Overtown neighborhood, is a mythical figure among painters and aficionados of “Outsider Art”. James Kalm brings fans this exhibition which features a cross section of Young’s paintings, drawings and book works. Includes interviews with Rob Magness and Skot Foreman.

James Kalm begins a new year with a visit to the studio of Julian Jackson. As a longtime presence on the New York scene, particularly in Brooklyn, Jackson has spent considerable effort promoting and advocating on behalf of other artists and the local community. He along with wife, Rene Lynch, have carved out a unique place with their Metaphor Gallery in the Smith-lantic district in Downtown Brooklyn. In addition to his commitment to art advocacy Jackson continues to practice a highly evolved mode of atmospheric abstraction. Relating to the “Color-field” painters of the mid sixties Jackson extendes the investigation of subtle shifts of value, tone and the concomitant emotional responses evoked by this employment of pure color.

from the New York Times:

Kenneth Noland, whose brilliantly colored concentric circles, chevrons and stripes were among the most recognized and admired signatures of the postwar style of abstraction known as Color Field painting, died Tuesday at his home in Port Clyde, Me. He was 85.

December 26, 2009. In the wake of the New Museum's announcement of a controversial exhibition drawn solely from the extensive collection of billionaire Dakis Joannou, one of their trustees and founder of the Deste Foundation in Athens, and slated to be curated by artist Jeff Koons, who is heavily represented in that very collection and who is a close personal friend of Joannou, there has been a glut of commentary both pro and con. Mostly con.

Many resent the obvious conflicts of interest and the elitist monopolization of the finite resources of the art world by just a few players, who strive to dominate, manipulate and benefit their own interests to the exclusion of all others. Many find this cronyism quite reprehensible, and feel it represents "business as usual" at the New Museum, entrenched abuses of power and privilege that the current "Joannou-gate" has merely made more glaring.

James Kalm pays a heartfelt tribute to one of the legendary artists of the East Village. From 1978 to 1987, a sleazy rundown neighborhood on the butt of Downtown Manhattan became the most exciting and controversial battleground in the art world struggles. A cadre of whacked-out disenfranchised artists, using their own wits and energy, grabbed the international spotlight and for a brief skuzzy moment, changed the course of history.

Martin Wong was an essential character within that milieu and it is fitting that on the tenth anniversary of his death this retrospective of his work is presented.

William Powhida, How the New Museum Committed Suicide with Banality, cover art, Brooklyn Rail, November 2009
(For a larger, more legible image, click here.)

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December 25, 2009. The Brooklyn Rail, founded in 1998, is a scrappy, independent cultural/political broadsheet that covers issues in Brooklyn's waterfront neighborhoods (Williamsburg, Greenpoint, DUMBO, Red Hook) from a politically progressive vantage point. It publishes poetry and fiction and reviews local developments in music, film, dance, theater and books. Most significantly, it provides passionate, detailed, idiosyncratic coverage of the NY arts scene in each and every issue, with a full roster of exhibition reviews, feature articles and long, in-depth "conversations" with artists. Under publisher Phong Bui, it has developed an essential and original voice, and is part of my regular reading list. [Full disclosure: James Kalm, who maintains an ongoing video blog here at post.thing.net, has also contributed regularly to the Rail.]

Viewable online, distributed for free at certain bookstores and alt.culture locations, and also available by subscription, the Rail has a relatively small circulation (around 7,500). Even so, it regularly engages in adventurous promotional efforts normally the province of larger publications; for example, the printing of multiple covers for certain issues to better showcase the artists and contents within.

A case in point: the three different covers of the November 2009 issue. The one I have at home features an image from a Carroll Dunham painting. I understand there was also a Helmut Federle cover. (Both artists had solo shows in NY that month and are interviewed in the November Rail.) However, it is the third cover choice I wish to address here, a b/w drawing by artist, activist, satirist and draftsman William Powhida, executed in full caricature/agitprop mode (and pictured above), in which he addresses cronyism at the New Museum in gleeful, graphic, subversive detail.