Category

Photography & Art

Maurizio Cattelan at the Guggenheim

By Eric Russ

In another great departure from convention, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has mounted the comprehensive retrospective of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, rewriting the playbook for how an exhibition of this kind ought to be done. Cattelan has become famous in the art world for his irreverent sense of humor and penchant for artistic high jinks.  He has made a career out of defying expectations.

The Art of Merl Ross

By Merl Ross

For me, the act of painting is an ongoing process of exploring where memory meets imagination.

Art-Dealing in the Decentralized World

By Eric Russ

The long lineage of powerful art dealers, begun by larger-than-life characters like Joseph Duveen and Leo Castelli, continues with today’s big players, like Jay Jopling of White Cube Gallery in London and Larry Gagosian (of pretty much everywhere else).  In the face of charges that the art market will finally outgrow an Old World way of doing things, today’s super-dealers have so far managed to maintain their stranglehold on the art market, and at least for the moment, continue to dictate how business is conducted. 

Bill Viola: The Interview

By Karen Pyudik

A student of Renaissance devotional painting and spirituality at large, Bill Viola produces video art grander in scope and freer in dynamism than most of his contemporaries. Though the medium has often drifted toward conceptual and methodic experimentation, video art has always had an expressive side that allows for a great deal of compositional freedom. Viola’s work has explored ancient forms of spirituality, such as Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism, and Sufism, as well as their intersection with geopolitics and technology. 

Is Andy Warhol Dangerous?

By Eric Russ

There are few artists who can lay claim to as recognizable a body of work as Andy Warhol.  Indeed, support for his legacy has emerged in all corners of the world making him an international superstar of the art world, rivaled perhaps only by Picasso.  As a new bevy of collectors enter into the Postwar and Contemporary Art market, from the newly emergent BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Warhols are finding their way into homes all over the world.  For many new art collectors looking to amass a respectable (and valuable) collection, Warhol has become a popular way to make a foray into the sometimes volatile world of art investment.