at the sign of The Pink Pig

Jamie Oliver: A Man Of Substance

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  November 19, 2010]

My memory does Jamie Oliver a disservice.  The Naked Chef debuted more than ten years ago, but I still recall him cooking a beef roast for Jamiroquai while muttering "wicked" in mockney.

I have followed his subsequent, rather more impressive career, from a distance.  Watching a screening of an episode of Jamie's American Road-Trip at the Crosby Hotel this week, I had to admit he had quietly become a man of substance.

Jamie speaks after the jump.

Small Beauties: Goya, Oursler

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  November 15, 2010]

The joy of small beauty pervades two New York galleries this season.  Tolerate the stuffy, claustrophobic basement gallery at the Frick for a superb exhibit of drawings by Goya and other Spanish artists.  Then invade the dark, airy space of Lehmann Maupin on Chrystie to interact with Tony Oursler's installation, "Peak."

Nowhere To Hide: The United Solo Theater Festival

[New York Peasant by Kim Davis:  November 9, 2010]

“There is no mercy, nowhere to hide,” said Omar Sangare, artistic director of the United Solo Theater Festival.  The actor is “exposed.  There is a unique and intimate dialogue with the audience.”

Omar Sangare

This dialogue will happen no less than forty-seven times over just two weeks on the stages of 42^nd Street’s Theatre Row as the world’s largest festival of one person performances brings together drama, comedy, dance, circus and story-telling from all over the world.  “We are so broad,” Sangare explained, “that it’s difficult to describe all the directions in which the solo artists will go.  Something musical, something from literature, original pieces.”

Richter's Works on Paper

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  October 27, 2010]

I've struggled somewhat with Gerhard Richter's paintings over the years.  The photo-paintings can be memorable - dramatic - but one's response can't help but be colored by the informational content of the original photo from which Richter worked.  Is one's response to his Baader-Meinhof series, for example, an aesthetic or a political response?  Does it matter?

On the other hand, I've found his steely abstractions, for all their blurring and scraping, worth a second or third look.

MoMA Does Abstract Expressionism: This Time It's Big

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  October 18, 2010]

I sometimes feel like I've written more about Abstract Expressionism on this blog than about pork or hamburgers.  It is in no way a forgotten episode in the history of modern art.  Never will be if MoMA has anything to do with it.

From the informative but cramped Greenberg v. Rosenberg showdown at the Jewish Museum in 2008 to the spacious 2008 show at the Haunch of Venison in the same year, I think I've done the dribblers and gesturists justice.  And let's not forget MoMA's own Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection show, a generous selection of AbEx's from a private donor back in 2007.

But bigger and better, of course, is the way to go.

The Gysin Fix, The Bells, And Other Art

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  August 17, 2010]

If you've read the occasional book about the Beats or about William Burroughs, the name Brion Gysin might ring a bell.  He haunts some intriguing corners of modern art and literature, apparently a phantom influence more than anything else.  Something to do with "cut ups."  Well here's your chance to make fuller acquaintance.

Flowers And Faces: At The Galleries

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid: June 7, 2010]

The showing of Claude Monet's late works at the Gagosian in Chelsea is in the running to be the most popular private gallery show of the summer.  Even on a weekday morning, there's a scrimmage around the door - partly caused by attendants enforcing the obligatory bag check.

Scroll down for Helmar Lerski.

New York Book Awards

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  May 10, 2010]

I have been out and about very little over the last few weeks, thanks to a series of silly health problems.  I did manage to show up at the New York Society Library, though, for the annual book awards, hosted this time around by Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker.  I mention it mainly because all of you, I am sure, will want to read at least one of the prize-winners - whether or not you find time to do so is another matter, and I fully understand.

Uptown/Downtown: From The Whitney To The Dead Boys

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  March 22, 2010]

To the Whitney for another biennial, as much out of some probably misplaced sense of duty as out of real curiosity.  The seventy fifth such event, which had me scratching my head until I discovered it was originally an annual show.  I mean, the Whitney looks very young for 150.

His Presence Fills The Space: Kentridge At MoMA

[New York Peasant:  March 1, 2010]

To the buzzing halls of MoMA for a preview of "William Kentridge:  Five Themes" and a few glasses of hospitality courtesy of the museum.  What a stunning show it is, and an instructive comparison with the Tim Burton extravaganza which fills much of the rest of the building.