(An Appropriate Distance)

 

FROM THE MAYOR'S DOORSTEP

We all know and love the young Joan Miró (1893-1983).  He was the brightest star in the surrealist firmament that graced Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, whether it was with his wickedly witty paintings or his serenely lunatic "poetic objects." But what of his later work?  Only a few of the paintings from after World War II measure up, but I found many happy divertissements among the 20 artfully patinated bronze sculptures made between 1966 and 1974 by this versatile Catalan artist and on view in "Miró the Sculptor: Elements of Nature," at Acquavella (through February 29). Read More 

 

 

Recently, I joined the milling throngs visiting the Museum of Modern Art on a free Friday evening to view "Joan Miró: The Birth of the World" (through June 15). On view are approximately 60 works by the master Spanish surrealist (1893-1983), almost all from the museum's permanent collection, and tracing his career from 1917 to the mid-1950s. 

 

I suppose he qualifies as a hero to postmodernists because he belonged to an underprivileged ethnic minority.  But hey, if they want to make a fetish of him, it's quite okay with me.  For he was a wonderfully wise, witty and whimsical artist -- one of the all-time greats. Read More 

I suffer from anti-snob snobbery. I fight it as some shows & venues have good art despite being chic. Brooklyn additionally irks me because our mayor, Bill de Blasio, boasts of being a Brooklynite and wouldn’t move into Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s elegant official residence in Manhattan, for donkey’s years. Here, however, I will report on five Brooklyn shows and two in Manhattan. What do they prove? We shall see. Read More 

Occasionally, a show is mounted that neither stirs me personally nor makes me feel that most of my readers would want to see it, but that I still feel deserves a review (even if I am not the right person to write it). Why? Because so much time & effort & maybe even love have gone into its creation, and because Read More 

A number of shows that I’ve seen in the past month merit attention, mostly because of their quality (though sometimes for other reasons).

At the top of this list is “Divine Influence: Past and Present” at Wilmer Jennings (through December 31). Billed as “contemporary abstract art and items from the Merton D. Simpson Read More