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.

James Kalm sneaks into the Gagosian Gallery on the “down-low” to take a brisk tour of this recent group of paintings “Horizontal Tracking Shots” by Mike Kelley. Kelley uses the theatrical device of the “set” or “backdrop” as a coloristic ground on which to place his eccentric imagist paintings. These large planes of uninflected designer colors place the applied paintings into a context with high formalism, creating a complex dialog between the abstract and the eccentric.

James Kalm slips in and records a brief walk-through of this exhibition by Gerhard Richter before he is bounced from the gallery. Richter is undoubtedly one of the most highly regarded painters of his generation and the current Godfather of the German Conceptual painting tradition. This show features works created since 2005 and debuts a series of large near monochromatic light gray paintings that represent an approach to Minimalism that further complicates the artists duel approach to his subjects. A room filling multi-panel piece “Sinbad” uses a technique of poured paint on the back of clear plastic panels and delivers a decorative impact that much previous work avoided.

James Kalm is delighted to bring viewers along for a holiday stroll through this exhibition of small works by one of New York’s most influential painters. Executed during a five year period while Guston was developing his “Hooded Figure” and “Roma” series, these pieces show the concentration and focus the artists was bringing to his return to figuration. Divided into four categories - single objects, hoods, city scapes and studio interiors - these small pictures retain their power despite their size, and give testament to the high regard Guston maintains among young contemporary painters.

James Kalm slides through this exhibition just before closing time to bring viewers a glance at works by one of today’s most influential “bad” painters. Robert Williams has been a presence on the West Coast art scene for decades. He came to my attention while I was still in high school as the artistic director of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s studio. There after, he teamed up with the likes of Robert Crumb and S. Clay Wilson as a contributor to the iconic Zap Comix. In 1979 he birthed and became the Godfather of “lowbrow” and, in 1994 founded JUXTAPOZ Magazine. His aesthetic encompasses Hotrod and surf culture the seamy side of Hollywood grudge, punk, hipster, slacker, and scuzz, the epitome of current “bad taste".

James Kalm is slumming on the Lower East Side when he comes across this opening. Tracey Emin is a founding member of the YBAs (Young British Artists) and represented Great Britain in the 2007 Venice Biennial. Featuring over 53 works in neon, film, sculpture, embroideries and monoprints, this extensive show continues the artist’s exploration and objectification of her own sexuality, lust, longing and desire.

James Kalm makes a pre-Halloween visit to bring viewers some tricks and treats from the painterly grab bag of Nicole Eisenman. Combining styles and techniques, Eisenman presents a series of large “Beer Garden” paintings that capture friends and inhabitants of this bohemian milieu. The pictures are rife with art historical references and show Eisenman’s regard for past masters like Picasso, Nolde and Ensor.

James Kalm makes a pilgrimage of fandom to the book launch party for Jerry Saltz’s latest literary endeavor “Seeing Out Louder”. The sequel to “Seeing Out Loud”, this edition features reviews, essays, and thought pieces that display the wit and observational acuity that have established Saltz within the top fifty most influential individuals in the contemporary art world.

James Kalm treks into Marlborough Chelsea for the second one-man show by the eccentric abstract painter Steven Charles. Three days earlier, your reporter biked to West Harlem for an impromptu studio visit and interview with the artist. Charles discusses his recent investigations of figurative subject matter and accumulative sculpture.

Well known curator Bob Nickas has spent several months visiting studios in L.A., New York, London, Paris and Berlin and he’s selected a group of works that exemplify his version of where abstract painting is today. "Cave Painting" is the second in a three part series of exhibitions presented in conjunction with the publication of his new book Painting Abstraction by Phaidion Press. Presented in the unusual space of the basement of 511 West 25th Street, this show will no doubt be controversial, and should give the painting pundits many topics of debate. Includes an interview with Gresham’s Ghost Director Ajay Kurian.