Tuesday, April 6, 2010

"Fictional Foundation for Fictional Dead Artist"

While we're talking about shows that are no longer up, my entry is about a Good Friday jaunt to the Brucennial (art = religion?). The Bruce High Quality Foundation doesn't lack self-confidence; the site notes that the Brucennial is "The Bruce High Quality Foundations's signature public program, as well as the most important survey of contemporary art in the world ever." Ever!

What's cool to me is that instead of waiting for traditional museums and curators to recognize them, a group of relatively young artists have taken charge of their careers and curated themselves. Such self-starting puts me in mind of youngish designers who make and sell their own products instead of waiting for clients or producers or talking about making and selling same. In the case of the Brucennial, it doesn't hurt to be the son of a famous older artist. That said, I give major props to Vito Schnabel and his collaborative Bruces. Not surprisingly, some of my favorite moments in the show are more graphic than anything else.


Above: A graffiti-like moment; artists's names are handwritten on the wall. The lack of typeset labels implies an ad hoc show. Sebastian Black is on the left; Julian Schnabel is on the right (the spray paint-like circles/arrows are mine). Below: totally unrigorous, I didn't note the names of the artists featured in the next three shots. I especially got a kick out of the book-art in the bottom-most shot, including an apparent nod to Ed Ruscha.



1 comment:

Suzanne Dell'Orto said...

I saw the "I Like America and America Likes Me" by the BHQF at the Whitney Biennial, but was a bit underwhelmed. This show looks more interesting and more robust!

The handwritten labels are a wonderful idea.