Letters of Note

I'm very excited to have been introduced to Letters of Note. Letters of Note is a blog based archive of correspondence - an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos. A fantastic idea and contribution to us all - well done Shaun Usher! The site accepts contributions so if you are a holder of letters you have an audience now. In looking through the site (which is updated several times a day) I'm moved by the scope and historical reach of the content. Truly fascinating stuff.

The above is a rejection letter from MOMA's Alfred Barr to an unknown but not entirely off the radar Andy Warhol.

Transcript
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART NEW YORK
19 THE MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 11 WEST 53rd STREET
TELEPHONE: CIRCLE 5-8900 CABLES:
MODERN ART, NEW YORK

October 18, 1956


Dear Mr. Warhol:

Last week our Committee on the Museum Collections held its first meeting of the fall season and had a chance to study your drawing entitled Shoe which you so generously offered as a gift to the Museum.

I regret that I must report to you that the Committee decided, after careful consideration, that they ought not to accept it for our Collection.

Let me explain that because of our severely limited gallery and storage space we must turn down many gifts offered, since we feel it is not fair to accept as a gift a work which may be shown only infrequently.

Nevertheless, the Committee has asked me to pass on to you their thanks for your generous expression of interest in our Collection.

Sincerely, (Signed) Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Director of Museum Collections

Mr. Andy Warhol
242 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York

AHB:bj

P.S. The drawing may be picked up from the museum at your convenience.

Hyperallergic: the 20 most powerless people

Riffing on Art Review's top 100 power players in the art world, Hyperallergic presents the 20 least powerful. I think most of us can identify with this list.

My personal fave:

8 – Anyone living in only one place, as opposed to “between Berlin and Beijing,” or “based in London, Amsterdam, Sao Paolo, and Los Angeles.” Where have you been, mono-urbanity is so 20th century. How do you expect to address globalism by staying put? You probably feel even more like a failure if you were born and grew up in the same city that you currently live in. If that’s the case, you should just fake an accent.

continue reading



(Image via Plugimi Photostream.)

Maya Pindyck - Friend Among Stones

Here's a friendly plug for poet and artist Maya Pindyck. She has a new book out - Friend Among Stones - and some local readings in our fair city.

Wednesday, 10/28, 7:30pm
Guerilla Lit Readings
Bar on A: 170 Avenue A at 11th St.
with Yvonne Garrett & Elizabeth May

Here's a sample:

The Lesson

A certain bird used to make the wrong sound.
Her keeper cried, Go lower, lower—your pitch
feels uncontained. The bird pressed her beak
to the keeper’s cheek, puncturing his flesh
until a spot no bigger than an ant’s abdomen,
no bigger than the period concluding his command,
appeared. The keeper mistook the act for kindness
and crooned, My love, my infant—try again.

www.mayapindyck.com

Untitled - Jack the Pelican Presents

Brea Souders,Untitled # 7, 2009, C-print, 20 x 20" ed. 1/5

Featuring works by:

Justin Adian
Gina Beavers
Eduardo Cervantes
Marika Kandelaki
Brea Souders
Christopher Saunders
Davis Schild
Rachel Schuder
Eric Shows

SEE IMAGES

I currently have 2 pieces in the following show. at Jack the Pelican Presents. Stop by if you happen upon Williamsburg.

Outside In exhibition extended until Oct.22

Great news on the self promotion front! The group exhibition Outside In has been extended until Oct.22. So if you haven't seen the show you have plenty of time to get down to East Broadway. It is worth the trip. Here are the show details again.

Outside In (curated by Mary Dailey Pattee)

From the press release:

LaViolaBank Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Outside In,” a group exhibition curated by Mary Dailey Pattee and featuring the work of six artists: Daphne Arthur, Marina Berio, Diane Carr, Mira O’Brien, Leighton Pierce and Christopher Saunders.

Outside In is a multi-media exploration of the connection between real space and the landscape of the subjective mind. Drawing on land, sea, sky and the atmosphere of imagined vistas, the artists in this exhibition engage the landscape tradition as a means of addressing broader questions related to entropy, destruction and renewal in the contemporary world.

LaViola Bank Gallery

179 East Broadway NYC 10002

September 16 - October 22, 2009

Some selected installation views:

Artist: Christopher Saunders (and above selections)

Artist: Mira O'Brien

Artist: Leighton Pierce

Artist: Marina Berio