James Lee Byars AMA

a lacquered bronze sculpture the size of a medium melon and the shape of a junior mint sits on a white pedestal against a white featureless background, an auction photo of a james lee byars sculpture sold in 2013 by Wright, of Chicago
James Lee Byars, no title, no date, lacquered bronze, 5 x 10 1/2 x 9 1/2 in., image via Wright20

As I was thinking of ephemerality, handmade paper, and Japan, and artists who should have been asked to make an Art Kite for Lufthansa in the 1980s, who should drift into view but James Lee Byars.

And as I was looking to see if Byars ever made a kite, I stumbled upon this sculpture of lacquered bronze. It’s melon-sized, 10 x 9 inches, but only half that high, flattened, like a giant Junior Mint. In a sculptural oeuvre full of marble, gold leaf, handblown glass and giant spheres, it is not the most remarkable object.

But what a history. It has been around. It was in the collection of Robert Mapplethorpe. Then in 1989, while the AIDS crisis and rightwing attacks on the arts—and on Mapplethorpe—raged, it was sold at Christie’s by the artist’s estate. And it was acquired by the American Medical Association. What its existence was like at the AMA is a mystery. Was it in the president’s office? On a pedestal? In a nook? In a closet? What we can know, presumably, is that after a couple of decades, someone looked at this giant, bronze Junior Mint and decided the organization would rather have $10,000. So they sold it at Wright, the local auction house in Chicago—where it actually brought in $31,250. Which probably left them feeling pretty good about their decision. No word on it since.

RTFM: FG-T @NPG/AAA BTS

a white hand holds a small white hardcover book with a silver foil mirror-like cover to take its picture, the dude's other hand, black iphone case, and tie dye bandaid on one finger tip all reflecting in the cover. along with a light string, not turned on. behind the book, is an array of reflective facsimiles of manet paintings, and one bagged facsimile of a felix gonzalez torres puzzle. the book is felix gonzalez-torres: final revenge (a workbook), published by the national portrait gallery and the archives of american art in 2025. the hands are mine.

There is a book. I did not know there is a book. I’ve visited the Felix Gonzalez-Torres show at the National Portrait Gallery & Archives of American Art multiple times and have written about it even more, and I did not know there was a book. I fixated on Felix’s “Untitled” text portrait in both its installed versions, and wondered how the Smithsonian’s curators made them, and I picked through the history of this and other text portraits, and wrote a whole-ass blog post about it, and I didn’t know there was a book.

Reader, there is a book, and it is literally about all of that. In Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Final Revenge (A Workbook), co-curators Josh T. Franco and Charlotte Ickes wrote a whole essay on their experience and process of creating the versions of “Untitled” they’ve showed. Along the way, they fill out many key aspects of Felix’s work, from its changing history to its changing present.

Continue reading “RTFM: FG-T @NPG/AAA BTS”

Jacob Kassay Dummy Wedge

a glass wedge is in a library book, presumably discarded, with a stamp from the buffalo and erie county public library on the top edge of the pages, bisected by the glass wedge. the book's title is barely legible, but the whole point of this post is that it might not matter so much. via printed matter/artsy
Jacob Kassay, No Title, 2013 — ongoing, glass, library book, from the Printed Matter Benefit Auction ending May 2, 2025 at Artsy

I guess I’ve never actually asked, but all this time I assumed that the books Jacob Kassay inserted his prisms into were all on an undisclosed reading list of some kind. An esoteric phenomenology syllabus, ex libris Alain Robbe Grillet, whatever, some kind of over-arching epistemology that may have been invisible on the scale of a lone volume, but that cohered in some way of the artist’s devising.

And that the glass prism was then crafted to fit precisely in a certain spot in the book—or at least in a certain volume—that, when you looked in, distorted and perhaps simultaneously revealed one piece of a larger informational puzzle.

a jacob kassay artwork consisting of a glass wedge fitted precisely in between the pages of a library book, this one in french, with a cream cover and a red border, oh fine, it's a collection of poemes by constantin cavafis published by gallimard, and there's a library bar code sticker on the cover, in the lower left corner. from the portfolio page of ross art studio dot com
Jacob Kassay, coin de verre & livre de bibliothèque, via Ross Art Studio

And now I wonder if I have it exactly backwards, and it’s the wedges that are the drivers. Kassay has donated a glass & library book sculpture to the upcoming Printed Matter benefit auction [less than four days left to bid!], and the winning bidder will receive, “a dummy book and wooden dummy wedge to be used only to procure the correct format of library book.” So maybe there are instructions of genre or title, but it sounds like the determining factor is “correct format”? Which you test with a dummy wedge and dummy book?

Indeed, it’s right there, in the artist packet from Galerie Art Concept in Paris, which characterizes the wedges as glass sculptures, and the books as support:

“The positions of the glass wedges inside the library books are necessarily temporary. The wedges don’t belong to any particular book but rather shift from book to book like a hermit crab, finding the other book that precisely fits it. This is why I chose to house them in library books – as a kind of format logic which focuses on their qualities as objects, rather than as texts with specific content.”

And now the image of distorted texts is replaced by roaming wedges, ever in search of a new book—or at least ready to trade up if the fit is right.

the sun hits the white veined marble panels sandwiched between an undulating grid of light grey granite beams, beveled to a wedge profile that rises to each joint, on the facade of the beinecke rare book library at yale, designed in 1963 by gordon bunshaft and photographed by lauren manning of vermont danby marble dot com
the white veined marble and light grey granite façade of Gordon Bunshaft’s Beinecke Library, 1963, image: Lauren Manning via Vermont Danby Marble

Also, I found this comment from Kassay’s glass fabricator, that the wedges are “inspired by the façade of the Beinecke Library at Yale.” which, I assume is a reference, not to the translucent marble, but to the beveled granite lattice that holds it. Maybe I should just ask.

Art Kites Project, Strings Attached

robert rauschenberg's 20-ft tall by 10-ft wide kite flying in a cloud filled sky over himeji castle in japan, which is in the lower right corner of the 1989 image. the kite is orange and red silk screenprinted with black images of chairs and peeling paint in classic rauschenberg collage style. via the rrf instagram
Robert Rauschenberg, Sky House II, screenprint on silk collage, bamboo, 372 x 248 cm, image via ig/RRF
Sky House I, meanwhile, Rauschenberg kept for himself, according to former assistant Thomas Buehler

Robert Rauschenberg’s genius in making a 20×10-foot Art Kite was in understanding the opportunity while ignoring the assignment. Because the opportunity was to make two Art Kites, and have your Art Kites fly in the “vernissage in the sky” at an Art Kite Festival held amidst the blossoming sakura on the grounds of Himeji Castle. While the assignment was to promote Lufthansa.

a 1989 photo of a big square yellow kite with the lufthansa logo of a screaming chicken or whatever the nazis came up with, which the reformed german staffers who reconstituted the company anew in 1953 adopted straight up, just somehow with no nazi association or past now, it's a miracle, flying in a lightly clouded sky over himeji castle. from art kites, the goethe institute catalogue, where the last page and the last image turns out to be the same as all the other money shots of artist-designed kites flying over himeji-jō you just flipped through, and the caption reads, the world tour of the art kites is sponsored by lufthansa, in english and japanese
And for the first 461 pages, I thought the show was about how flying and art are the same glorious expression of human freedom: “The world tour of the Art Kites is sponsored by Lufhansa” [p.462]

Obviously, it was more than that, but also just that. The Art Kites Project was sponsored by Lufthansa and organized by Dr. Paul Eubel, director of the Goethe Institute Osaka, which commissioned 100 artists from around the white world and Japan to create Japanese-style kites in 1987. The kites would fly once in Japan, on April 1 & 2, 1989, and once in Europe, on April 21 & 22, 1990, go on tour for three five years, to 21 museums in Japan (8), Europe (12), and Canada (1), before being auctioned off.

Continue reading “Art Kites Project, Strings Attached”

My First Cady Noland Disclaimer

a 1994 cady noland artwork leans against a white gallery wall. it is a rectangular slab of honeycomb filled aluminum panel, and reproduces in blue ink what one must believe is the authentic design of a flyer or advertisement inviting people in new hampshire to an old time political rally with music, balloons, and fun for all, for ronald reagan the senile celebrity horse ridden into power by a republican partyful of the most venal ideologues of the 20th century, whose political machinations and corruption have been the source of decades of documented suffering and damage in the world. this once belonged to, or at least passed through the gallery of goldman trader turned dealer robert mnuchin, father of goldman trader turned trump treasury secretary steven, and whoever bought it from mnuchin is selling it at christie's in may 2025
Cady Noland? Untitled, 1994, 15 ½ x 13 x 2 in., screenprint on aluminum panel, Christie’s says it’s signed twice, but without a statement from the artist, can we really even know?

For the first time in several years, Christie’s has *not* published a disclaimer from the artist when it brought a Cady Noland sculpture to the market. And boy, does it need one, so let me try:

Continue reading “My First Cady Noland Disclaimer”

Sam McKinniss’s Neighborhood

a sam mckinniss painting in a gilt frame with a little plaque underneath, joe santo, class passing, depicts a fey young white guy in a cream jacket, blue shirt, yellow tie, khakis, sitting with his legs crossed, a groomed dog in his left arm, and holding a glass of white wine in the floppy palm of his right hand, evincing a world weary pout as he looks toward the painter or viewer. behind him is a deep brown paneled wall. a painting from mckinniss's undergraduate days, it sold in 2015 and again in 2024.
Sam McKinniss, Joe Santos, Class Passing, 2006, 29 1/4 x 39 1/4 in.,

I’ve been wanting some Sam McKinniss painting in my life, and I did not see the show he just had in LA. So I looked through the auction internet, and found this great, odd, early painting of actor Joe Santos? Is that what I’m seeing? A 2006 painting of Joe Santos looking like an Instagram Birkinfluencer? Did it really sell at the Auction Barn last August for just $900? Was everyone at the beach? WTF is happening?

Only when I was looking for the backstory, and looking at the back of the painting, did I realize it had actually sold once before, in 2015. For $1800, also in Random, Connecticut. The first seller had the invoice and McKinniss’s CV and artist statement in a folder taped to the hanger wire. Very responsible.

Which is all fine. But in 2006 Sam was still an undergrad, finishing his BFA at the University of Hartford. His first solo show, at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, was only in 2007. It was titled, Portraits. What else was in this show? Is it in the new book?

[a bit later after ordering the book update]: It might be in the book. In a conversation with Natasha Stagg, McKinniss explains that he used to take photos of “people in his life” that he would turn into paintings “in a diaristic way, not dissimilar to examples set by Nan Goldin, Jack Pierson, or Mark Morrisroe, the Boston School.” This practice extended into the mid-2010s, while it’s not so clear when McKinniss began painting from iconically found paintings. So maybe we should be more awed at an early, incredibly deep cut publicity photo of young actor Joe Santos in a regional production of Brideshead Revisited, than a glamor shot of one of McKinniss’s classmates doing Insurance Executive Realness.

That question will have to wait, because check out the painting that came up for sale right before Sam’s in 2015:

a lowell nesbitt painting of alex katz's studio in 1972 is dominated by a deep purple brown floor, with some incisions like it's wood, but maybe it's painted concrete, anyway, it's glowing with light from the left side of the frame. three wooden folding chairs, two and a stool, dot the floor artfully, while the empty white wall along two sides is actually flecked with the remnants of paint. the only seemingly unpainted thing is the white canvas leaning against the wall, which is painted white. to its left is a very low, long cabinet of paint jars, not extremely painted. this nine foot wide painting somehow did not sell in 2015 or 2016 at an estate auction in connecticut.
Lowell Nesbitt, Alex Katz’s Studio – 72, 1972, oil, 65 x 95 in., somehow didn’t sell in 2015 OR 2016?

Nine feet wide? This painting by Lowell Nesbitt of Alex Katz’s studio is an absolute unit. And look at that floor. That wall. That blank canvas. Those chairs. OK, maybe not the chairs so much, but actually, yes, the chairs, too. Like so many of Nesbitt’s paintings, it’s odd, slightly off, and beautiful. And the kind of thing that could hang a Sam McKinniss painting next to.

Previously, related: ‘You can imagine yourself owning it.’
Pictures Sam Makes; Wade Guyton Simulacrum Facsimile Object; Bankruptcy Lawler

Some Things John Waters Collected

a tight cluster of smallish aworks from john waters' collection on the wall of the baltimore museum of art in 2022 includes, most prominently, at the center, four warhol jackie-style black on blue or white silkscreen paintings of jonbenet ramsay by erik luken, a campbells soup can drawing that's probably mike bidlo, above a flyer for empire, the 1964 film. on the left is most recognizably, a spot painting, which is actually an eric doeringer bootleg
Installation view from Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection, a 2022-23 exhibition of promised gifts at the Baltimore Museum of Art

Yesterday Eric Doeringer posted his discovery of his bootleg Damien Hirst spot painting among the works John Waters has promised to the Baltimore Museum of Art. It was on view at the museum in 2022-23 in a selection—curated by Catherine Opie and Jack Pierson—from nearly 400 works from Waters’ collection. It hung next to a Warhol Jackie-style grid of Jonbenet Ramsay portraits by Eric Luken. While being perfect objects on their own terms, these two works help situate Waters in the place, moment, and discourse of art. For the Doeringer, that was on the mean streets of early 2000s Chelsea. For the Luken, that was probably an emerging art fair. [His only show (so far?) was with Joel Mesler & Daniel Hug’s short-lived LA gallery that rode the 2000s art fair wave.]

a low-contrast mimeographed flyer for the premiere of andy warhol and john palmer's 1964 film empire is a horizontally oriented film still of the top half of the empire state building against an empty evening sky, with three tiers of lighting at the top. maybe that's the moon, that tiny white dot on the lower center, or maybe it's the light on top of a distant building. made by jonas mekas in 1965

Speaking of short-lived collabs you never hear about, Waters also has the best/only thing you can really collect from one of the greatest artworks of the 20th century: a flyer made by Jonas Mekas for the world premiere of EMPIRE (1964), by Andy Warhol and John Palmer.

If you think I’m leading with all this to head off criticism that I’ve become a one-topic fanblog, you’re only partially not wrong. Because this is all stuff I found along the way while trying to get a legible image of the work beneath Doeringer’s painting, which is a scrap of paper on which Cy Twombly wrote his address.

Continue reading “Some Things John Waters Collected”

We’re All Paul Reveres Now

April 18th, 2025 was the 250th anniversary of the lighting of the lanterns in Old North Church, which signaled to fellow patriots across Boston Harbor that British troops were on the move. Political historian Heather Cox Richardson recounted the incident in a riveting and inspiring talk at the Old North Church.

Her emphasis was on the ordinariness of the people involved, and the seeming smallness of their actions, even though they faced real, dangerous consequences. This is all the more important now as we ourselves are confronted with choices to do the next right thing without assurance of the impact. [the YouTube channel that posted video of the speech could not be more random, and its nascent virality is leading it to be reuploaded, so I’ll watch to keep the most authoritative version here.]

The star of the “one if by land, two if by sea” story is Paul Revere, but Cox Richardson gives full attention to his collaborators, John Pulling, Jr. and Robert Newman, who had access to the Old North Church and who actually lit the lanterns. [As a keyholder for the church, Newman was arrested the next morning, and Pulling bounced to Nantucket.]

the sons of liberty bowl is silver and photographed from the side on which paul revere engraved the dedication to the 92 massachusetts colony legislators who resisted the king's order to rescind their support for an earlier letter calling for self-governance. collection, mfa boston
Actually, it’s because it’s been polished so much that it looks like that. Paul Revere, Jr. Bowl, 1768, silver, 5 1/2 in high, 11 in. diameter, collection MFA Boston

The seeming insignificance of a particular action of resistance was on my mind when Liz Deschenes posted a picture of the Sons of Liberty Bowl on instagram today. Conceptually, at least, I’m a Paul Revere engraving fan, but I confess, I’d never given the Sons of Liberty Bowl much thought. And despite what the MFA Boston says, if you had asked me to tell you the nation’s third “most cherished historical treasures after the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” I would never in a million years have said the little punchbowl Paul Revere made for his friends.

But we are in different times, and have a different relationship to tyranny than we did even a few months ago. And it has been worth giving the bowl a new, closer look.

Continue reading “We’re All Paul Reveres Now”

Agneta Block Botanical Mayhem Frontispiece

an elaborate watercolor frontispiece for a 17th century collection of botanical illustrations has an oval medallion shaped frame covered all over with elaborate foliage, flowers, vines, etc., basically symmetrical along a vertical axis. at the top the frame is set with a medallion of agneta block in profile. at the bottom is blocks' family oval crest which involves some swans and what look like three red destroyers on a black field. in the empty center of the frame is inscribed in florid dutch calligraphy, nice images of exotic plants and flowers, reviewed? checked? by agneta block. from arader galleries in philadelphia
Albert van Spiers watercolor frontispiece for Agneta Block, 17¼ x 12 5/8 in. when it was sold at Christie’s in 2004, but since it’s been mounted, it’s 19 x 13 1/2 in. at Arader Galleries

Speaking of pioneering 17th century Dutch naturalist and pineapple cultivator Agneta Block, this extraordinary watercolor with Block’s family crest and her medallion portrait was a painted for her by Albert van Spiers.

Based on the inscription, it’s thought to be the frontispiece for a collection of botanical illustrations Block commissioned from Johanna Helena Heroldt, who was the daughter of another botanical illustrator Block supported, Maria Sibylla Merian. At least 126 illustrations by Heroldt in three groups could be connected to the project for Block, who had one of the largest collections of exotic and rare flowers and plants in Europe.

Albert van Spiers, called Pirameid, design for floral frontispiece for Agneta Block, Arader Galleries [aradergalleries.com via Cynthia Kok/JHI Blog]

Riding Rail With Caspar, Maggie & Cy

This coming week in conversations from the Brooklyn Rail’s New Social Environment series I’m trying to squeeze into my schedule:

Tuesday 4/22: The Curators from the Met’s Caspar David Friedrich show;
Wednesday 4/23: Maggie Nelson talking book with Darcey Steinke; and,
duh, Friday 4/25: Carlos Basualdo and Michelle White talking about 30 years of Cy Twombly Gallery

See the whole schedule and sign up for free. [brooklynrail.org]

The Pineapple of Versailles [And Surrey] [And Vijverhof]

oudry's moody and dark painting of a pineapple plant in a pot with a single pineapple growing out of it, dramatically lit. in the collection of the chateau de versailles
Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Ananas dans un pot, 1733, oil on canvas, 130 x 98 cm, collection Chateau de Versailles

In 1733 Jean-Baptiste Oudry, 47, had been a painter to Louis XV for several years. He had a studio in the Tuileries and an apartment in the Louvre. He kept very busy being on call, painting whatever the king wanted painted. He painted the king’s hunt, both the action and his dogs and daily catch; he painted the exotic animals in the king’s menagerie. While cranking out paintings on demand for the king, he was also named chief designer for the king’s tapestry manufactory at Beauvais, and for the factory at Gobelins. And some time probably toward the end of the year, he painted a portrait of the first pineapple grown in Europe France*. [whoo boy updates below]

Continue reading “The Pineapple of Versailles [And Surrey] [And Vijverhof]”

Nobody Expects The Roma Deposition

this altered version of Caravaggio's Deposition from the Vatican Museums in Roma is a cascade of mourning figures holding or looming over the dead but still absolutely caked up body of Our Lord, with an outsized clipped version of Richard Prince's under-oath face roughly pasted onto the main figure in the center, the one who is holding Jesus, but, importantly, also looking straight at the viewer. Obviously, since this is a picture about Prince's deposition in a lawsuit, the so-called correct thing would be to paste his face on Jesus's, and in less apocalyptic times, I might have, but [looks at the world] I'm not taking that chance rn

For a brief shining moment in 2023, a website called depositionrow.com hosted the entire 6h42m42s video of Richard Prince’s deposition in the copyright infringement lawsuit over his Instagram New Portraits. And then it was gone.

Well, now you can watch it again. Starting today, it is playing on a computer on a table in a Janis Kounellis installation at Sant’Andrea di Scaphis in Rome, Gavin Brown’s deconsecrated side hustle. What are you waiting for?

[apr 30 update]: there is video now, it really is like this for six hours.

prev: The Second Deposition of Richard Prince, 2023

Jasper Johns: Take An Object, Add Some Little Guys To It

a close up film frame grab of jasper johns touching up the corners of a copper intaglio plate sitting on a white worktable at ulae. the horizontal rectangular plate features three stick figures holding brushes, a motif johns first used 7 years earlier. via hans namuth and judith weschler's 1990 film, jasper johns: take an object
Johns adding these little figures in Namuth & Weschler’s 1990 film, Jasper Johns: Take An Object

“I thought to add these little figures, which appear in a different drawing of mine, an old drawing. They’re in the bottom of Perilous Night, for John Cage.”

Oh hey, look, it’s Jasper Johns in 1989 discussing the addition of his little stick figures to another work for what sounds like the first time since he used them in 1982.

jasper johns 1990 print, the seasons, is a jumble of elements from his painting series of the same name, rearranged into an interlocked cross form, with three tiny stick figures appended to the bottom.
And little guys: Jasper Johns, The Seasons (ULAE 0249), 1990, intaglio, 50 1/4 x 44 1/2 in., ed. 50

Johns is talking to filmmaker Judith Weschler, who produced Jasper Johns: Take An Object with photographer Hans Namuth in 1990. The short film is bracketed by two extended scenes of Johns at work: in 1972, painting in his own studio, and in 1989, printmaking at ULAE.

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Twombly Four Gators

a 1972 work on paper cy twombly made for robert rauschenberg is a horizontal sheet of cream paper with a row of four souvenir postcards depicting alligators, rougly evenly spaced, with variously thick or thin lines drawn above and below them. a couple are overlaid with transparent graph paper. below them, in the lower center of the sheet, a fifth postcard is mounted face down, so that the text portion is up. it reads cy twombly captiva dec 20 72, to bob r. xmas 72. two clusters of thickly drawn, diverging diagonal lines point down from the top gator row, alongside the label postcard. small numbers are written near or above the various lines, with meanings not readily apparent. the work was in the collection of rauschenberg when it was published in twombly's drawings catalogue raisonné
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1972, collage on paper, 22 3/4 x 31 inches, image via CR-Works on Paper, v6-17

You cannot fully understand Twombly’s art unless you know that there is gators.

Twombly went to Rauschenberg’s house in Captiva in November 1970 and made collages; in December 1971 and made prints, but those catalogues raisonnés were checked out, so who knows? In the winter of 1972, he made this collage as a Christmas present for Rauschenberg. It has four, possibly five, postcards of alligators on it.

I really didn’t think of collage as a Twombly thing. But it looks like a major part, maybe even most of his works on paper in the 1970s were collages. He collaged with catholic zeal: Leonardo images; mushrooms and natural history book illustrations; graph and drawing paper; fragments of other drawings; and, in Captiva, especially, touristy postcards.

Twombly’s lines here index the placement and width of the postcards, and of their crossed out captions, as if the composition is a conceptual schematic of itself. It’s still very much a drawing.

No King, 2025

a screenshot of laura hoptman's instagram post of a vertical cardboard sign with NO KING in big black letters above of brushy red bluish-white American flag rippling in a breeze, a protest sign painted and carried on april 5 2025 by artist verne dawson
Verne Dawson, No King, 2025 paint on paper and cardbaord, via IG/lhoptman

I love No King. I love the flag. I love Verne Dawson, who painted this protest sign, and carried it in a massive protest. I love the millions and millions of people around the country who protest. I love Laura Hoptman who posted it on IG. I hate that instagram took their sweet time showing it to me ten days after Laura posted it, and Verne carried it. And I hate that there’s a guy trying to be a king, speedrunning the violations of human rights and liberty in the Declaration of Independence with such malevolence, that it compels so much effort to stop it. And I hate that it’ll take more effort, but here we are. No King.