Uncategorized – greg.org

A Compilation of Felix Gonzalez-Torres Not On View

a framed black and white photo of a close up view of lawn jockey statues painted white along the stairs and balcony of the 21 club, a work by felix gonzalez-torres — Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Natural History), M, aka 21 Club, 1991

Felix Gonzalez-Torres showed “Untitled” (Natural History) for the first time in Every Week There Is Something Different, his May 1991 show at Andrea Rosen’s second floor gallery in SoHo. As the show’s title suggested, the artist changed the configuration and works on display each week. In Week 1, the twelve black and white photos of words carved into the Theodore Roosevelt monument in front of the American Museum of Natural History were in the front gallery, and the thirteenth picture, 21 Club, the bougie former speakeasy with its wrought iron balcony and staircase full of lawn jockeys, was exhibited separately, in the back room. In Week 2, only three of the twelve photos stayed up—Ranchman, Soldier, and Historian—the others, including 21 Club, came down.

After that, Gonzalez-Torres decided that 21 Club should not be exhibited, although it should remain as part of “Untitled” (Natural History). Which is an edition of three, and ed. 3/3 was broken up and sold separately, someone has only 21 Club, and they’re not supposed to show it. This, the moment when I look to see if that orphaned 21 Club has turned up anywhere, is when I realize I’d already written this entire post about “Untitled” (Natural History), including the part I was going to mention next, that Carol Bove defied the artist’s instructions and showed 21 Club in her historical re-creation of Every Week There Is Something Different at the Beyeler in 2011, in 2020, when the AMNH announced they were taking down their racist Teddy Roosevelt statue.

The point of all this now, though, was to look at how Gonzalez-Torres developed a strategy of invisibility; of work existing but not being shown, or seen; of absence; and of absence transfigured into presence.

Sleeping Wake

large undulating lozenge shapes of curved corten steel slabs sit on a gravel bed in a darkening park in seattle, right before the guard opened the gate again to let me out — Richard Serra, Wake, 2004, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle

Turns out Olympic Sculpture Park is *not* open 24/7; I just walked into the other entrance from the guard closing it for the night. I realize I’d not seen a Richard Serra work in twilight before. Maybe one night walking out of the Carnegie International opening party. But this was better.

Krassesfit: Gustav Klimt’s Painting Smock

Speaking of sick artist fits from upper Fifth Avenue museums:

an indigo linen smock with deep pleats around the round collar, and white embroidery on each shoulder, here with the sleeves outstretched to present its magnificence, a replica of gustav klimt's painting smock sold by the neue galerie

The Neue Galerie offers a replica of Gustav Klimt’s artist smock in indigo linen with hand-embroidered epaulets, based on Moriz Nähr’s iconic 1911 photo of the artist and his cat, Katze:

moriz nähr's black and white photo of gustav klimt with his messy combover, slightly disheveled beard, and an absolutely sick full length smock that makes him look like the statue of liberty, except he's holding a black and white cat as he stands in a vienna courtyard

Klimt pic via @neilmatheson66; Neue Galerie pic via @chrissantamaria

[few days later update] Holy moley, Klimt really was That Guy In The Blue Smock, and in 1913 Egon Schiele was there:

a black sharp pencil and two-blue gouache drawing by egon schiele of the barest outline of gustav klimt in his blue painting smock. in two shades of blue, gesturing with long spindly fingers like he's levitating two sardines i don't know what this is about, but klimt's face is uncanny in its resemblance his thinning curly hair is like stretched out steel wool, an incredible work from 1913 — Egon Schiele, Klimt im blauen Malerkittle, 1913, pencil & gouache, 48 x 32 cm, via @topcatt77 via @thelegendaryhitchhiker

Looking for the story on this Schiele portrait, it turns out Klimt’s friend/partner/muse Emilie Flöge operated a couture shop in Vienna that promoted the Reformkleidung, Reform Dress, a loose, flowing, and liberating fashion refutation of Edwardian-era corset-based dresses.

Gustav Klimt in his painting smock & Emilie Flöge in her Reform Dress, c. 1909, photo: Heinrich Böhler, via Klimt: Sonderausgabe

You Had Me At Orange, Glowing Orb

Whether for utility or poetry, the alt text has not sunk into the lower layers of Gagosian Quarterly. Editor Wyatt Allgeier’s interview with Nancy Spector about her Arthur Jafa/Richard Prince show, “Helter Skelter” has exactly one image with an alt tag. The rest are from the related articles links in the footer:

Video still of orange, glowing orb against black background

Black-and-white portrait of Wyatt Allgeier

Black and white portrait of Nancy Spector

Rollin’ High and Mighty Traps: Richard Prince

Richard Prince: Cowboy

Richard Prince

NGL, the show looks better than it sounds.

AIDS (Reinhardt)

General Idea, AIDS (Reinhardt) #4, oil and beeswax on linen on panel, 60 x 60 in., selling at Phillips

General Idea made their first AIDS paintings based on Robert Indiana’s LOVE logo in 1987, in the same Poppy colors as the original. They made a series of Black AIDS paintings, also known as AIDS (Reinhardt), for a summer 1991 show at the Grey Gallery at NYU. Mitchell-Innes and Nash have one, #6, that seems nearly identical to AIDS (Reinhardt), #4, being sold at Phillips.

One or the other might be slightly more legible, or maybe that misses the point; even in the slow pan video in raking light, the Phillips but I expect the Phillips painting barely registers an incised outline of a letter, or a section delineated by slight changes in brushstrokes. It makes an actual Reinhardt seem like a landscape on a summer’s day by comparison. But #4 was also owned for a while by Joseph Kosuth, who we can trust knows his way around a monochrome black square.

L0t 360, 21 May 2026, General Idea, AIDS (Reinhardt) #4, 1991, est. $100-150k [phillips]

CLR James Wrote About Moby Dick While Imprisoned On Ellis Island

Relistening to Christina Sharpe’s 2023 conversation with David Naimon on Between the Covers led me to the panel Sharpe organized at the 2022 Venice Biennale, where Wu Tsang spoke of her silent film adaptation of MOBY DICK, or The Whale, and how she had been inspired to turn to the novel by C.L.R. James’s powerful 1953 essay, Mariners, Renegades and Castaways: The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In, in which James countered the prevailing postwar literary establishment’s view of Moby Dick as a Cold War fable of Ishmaelian individualism and liberty triumphing over doomed Ahabian totalitarianism with an anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist reading of Ahab as an oppressive captain of industry maniacally driving his multinational crew to destruction.

the worn first edition paperback copy of clr james's 1953 book mariners renegades and castaways has black red and yellow blocks with text in them. about the only people who got these copies were the members of congress james sent them to, and they didn't do jack for him — NGL, CLR, my first thought when I saw the first edition was that it looks an awful lot like Ellsworth Kelly’s Tiger, but I think that’s because both objects look like 1953, image via Rulon-Miller Books

Look At This: Blue Postcard

a cyan blue postcard, size a5, a promotional mailer for derek jarman's 1993 film blue, horizontally oriented on a handrubbed pine enzo mari autoprogettazione tabletop — *Blue*, A5

When Derek Jarman’s Blue premiered in the UK in September 1993, it was broadcast simultaneously on TV (Channel 4), and radio (BBC 3). Channel 4 produced a booklet of the film’s text in a letterpress edition of 2,000 [plus, perhaps, a limited edition with a signed monochrome screen print?], which was available for £3. Radio listeners could request a blue postcard to stare at during the broadcast.

The beautiful booklet is everywhere all the time. The postcard, not so much. Examples have been included in various Jarman-related exhibitions, but I suspect very few ever made it into the wild. There could be a swag closet at Basilisk Productions absolutely stuffed with unsent Blue postcards, or maybe they were used to take phone messages with a silver Sharpie. Anyway, I got one, and it’s sweet. A little glossy.

Though I once agonized over the correct aspect ratio for a Blue print, I never considered the postcard. It is A5, 148 x 210 mm, or √2:1, a ratio that has absolutely nothing to do with any screen, and everything to do with the ISO216 paper size standard. Whatever the original aspect ratio might be, it seems the correct ratio is whatever the format demands, whether film, video, radio, or print.

Previously, very much related: Blue Screen Print (2020)

FG-T NPG P&P & Me

a composite graphic for a book discussion at politics & prose by charlotte ickes and josh t franco with greg allen on sunday jan 25 2026 at 5pm, with the headshots of the two curators and the cover of their new catalogue always to return, which has a gorgeous installation shot of a blue mirror at an angle on a white wall above a washed out white marble floor, a centerpiece work by felix gonzalez torres at the national portrait gallery

NVM: SNOW DELAY

I am so psyched for this, a chance to talk with Charlotte Ickes and Josh T. Franco about one of the most incredible catalogues I’ve seen, for one of the best shows in years: Felix Gonzalez-Torres Always To Return, at the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Archives of American Art.

The show closed last year, of course, but the catalogue is only just dropping now. Which might seem slow, but it’s certainly quicker than the catalogue for Specific Objects Without Specific Form, which took several years to be published. But like that book, I already find Always To Return to be one of the foundational texts to shaping our understanding of Gonzalez-Torres’ work and its evolution.

Anyway, we’ll be at Politics & Prose on Connecticut Avenue NW in Washington DC on ~~Sunday, January 25th, at 5PM.~~ [UPDATE: SNOWED OUT, WATCH FOR A RESCHEDULE] Come and get your book, get it signed, and get fed by the curators of this incredible project. [First come, first seated, there is neither an endless supply of chairs or catalogues.]

Adam & Eve & Charles & Christopher

a pair of larger than lifesize figures in polished steel, an older white couple, the man standing, the woman seated to his left, on a landing outside a glass skyscraper lobby, where a large abstract mosaic of a loopy black and brown painting hangs above the security desk. the sculpture is adam and eve by charles ray; the mosaic is by christopher wool. a woman using crutches stands at the top of the step about to descend from the building lobby entrance level to the sculpture level. nyc in the winter evening of january 2026 — installation view, Charles Ray, Adam & Eve, 2023, two blocks of milled stainless steel; Christopher Wool, Crosstown Traffic, 2023, stone & glass mosaic

Every other time I’ve been by the blinds were down, blocking the Christopher Wool mosaic from view. I’m glad Wool made the effort to make a mosaic; it’s very well executed. Both the Wool and the Charles Ray are good, but also feel particularly unimpactful. Maybe it’s just me, and the moment.

Marcel Duchamp Birthday Cake

a black and white photo with film frame info depicts the cropped torso of a thin old white guy seated in a chair, wearing a cardigan and striped shirt, half a birthday cake on a doily on his lap, with ten spirally candles and the uneaten name marcel in icing. the stucco wall, terra cotta tile floor, and chipped pottery dish with a rustic rotorelief spiral in the foreground suggests that it was at a beach resort in cadaques spain where man ray took this picture of duchamp, which is now housed at the pompidou — Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp birthday cake and rotorelief-looking dishware, vers 196o, photo negative at the Centre Pompidou

I love everything about the Centre Pompidou’s let it all hang out presentation of photo negatives in their collection, except the lack of metadata, and the inability to right-click.

Anyway, Marcel Duchamp’s birthday was in July, and he spent the summers in Francoist Spain, so this photo Man Ray made of a half-eaten birthday cake on a very aged Duchamp’s lap was likely taken in Cadaqués in the mid-to-late 1960s.

There are ten candles, and what looks to be the remnant of the number ten written in icing. Was this maybe his tenth summer back, so his last birthday, in 1968? Will this be one of the many mysteries Ann Temkin will solve for us later this year?

Stay tuned!

Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp tenant un gâteau d’anniversaire sur ses genoux, vers 1960 [centrepompidou.fr]

You Wouldn’t Know Her; She Paints In Canada

a still from episode four of heated rivalry where a shirtless white hockey player is standing in a modern living room with a remote in his hand, while his secret boo, sits, half-asianly, with his arms folded on a long dark sectional sofa. behind them is an abstract painting of colorful diamond shapes which happens to match the cover of the book on which this series is based. — Pay some attention to the painting behind the man: a still from Heated Rivalry, Episode 4

I don’t even watch TV, and yet knew a couple of weeks ago that Heated Rivalry had broken containment. But I did not expect to ever find reason for it to end up here. And yet. The picture above is from the fourth episode of the six-part series, a sex-forward, gay hockey romance produced by a Canadian streaming service I’ve never heard of, using some undetermined amount of Canadian public media funding. It’s become explosively popular, and transformed its unknown leads from waiters into stars. But that’s not important now, or at least here.

two emotionally confused hockey players in love sit with their arms folded on opposite ends of a dark sectional sofa, under a painting that is the geometric abstracted version of the cover of the book that tells the story of their love. — two dudes…chillin’ on a sofa…five feet apart because their secret eight-year situationship is really not equipped to handle this kind of emotional complication rn, but one of them has a painting of both of them on his wall

What matters is that someone on Threads—if the post ever turns up in my instagram recommended grid again, I’ll credit them—posted the scene above, and noticed that the painting in between the two guys on the sofa is an abstracted version of the cover of the book from which Heated Rivalry is adapted:

cover of heated rivalry with an illustration of two hockey players facing off on a largely blue field and rink. the one on the left is asian and wears red white and blue. the one on the right is white with brown hair and wears black and yellow.

So one guy in the secret eight-year situationship has a portrait of the two of them in a faceoff, hanging over his sofa—which could mean nothing. Honestly, I don’t know what it means, if it’s an actual plot point or just a production design easter egg. And if it was just a neat cover reference, I’d leave it floating on the internet.

a geometric abstracted version of a painting of a sunset reflecting on a canadian lake is mostly red triangular shards of light against a mustard sky on top, a dark horizon of mountains, and some reflection of the sky reds in the water of a lake below. by douglas coupland, based on a painting by tom thomson — Douglas Coupland, *Thomas (Sunset)*, 2010, oil on canvas, 58 x 72 inches

But that painting is also similar in both form and approach to paintings by that most Canadian master of Canadian subjects, Douglas Coupland. In 2010 Coupland showed G72K10, a series of paintings geometrically abstracted from iconic landscapes by the Group of Seven, artists who formed the foundation of Canadian visual cultural identity in the early 20th century. “These are the images that the Canadian government officially used…to inculcate a sense of nationalism,” Coupland explained in 2012, “So when Canadians see my abstract works, they know they know what they’re seeing – they just don’t know why”

a vivid red and yellow impressionistic sunset over a darkening horizon of trees, with a reflection of the red sky and black forest in the water, a 1915 painting by tom thomson — Tom Thomson, *Sunset*, 1915, oil on composite wood-pulp board, 21.6 x 26.7 cm, collection: National Gallery of Canada

Is this hockey player’s painting supposed to be a Douglas Coupland? The character is Russian and living in Boston, so probably not. But does that mean the production designers weren’t referencing Coupland, or at least inspired by Coupland’s work and approach? Even the most seemingly incongruous element, the wedges of gold leaf, echo elements in Coupland’s most recent iceberg paintings, in 2023.

a bank office building lobby in toronto has two three-dimensional abstract works by douglas coupland in faceted, geometric style. via the purple scarf dot ca — Is that an orgy of hockey players? Two Douglas Coupland works installed in Citibank Place in Toronto in 2015, photo: ThePurpleScarf.ca

The show takes place over many years, and the scene above is in 2016. Which, for Toronto, was a Peak Douglas Coupland Art Moment. He’d just had two museum shows, and unveiled five public art commissions, including at least three new G7-related abstractions, in bank lobbies and plazas all over town.

Now popping geometric abstraction is not just Coupland’s; it’s a language employed by artists as varied as Odili Donald Odita and Dyani White Hawk. But the Canadian force is strong with this one. And Coupland’s low-key intense Canadian-ness seems to resonate with a show that itself has an exceptionally Canadian aura. It’d almost be weird if Coupland wasn’t a reference.

Previously, related, 2011: What I looked at: Douglas Coupland Roots Paintings

Chara Schreyer Facsimile Objects

a photo of a glenn ligon neon sculpture in which the word america is shown twice in white, right side up and upside down, and the lower letters are painted black, so the white neon reflects on the wall behind them. this full-scale photo was made for collector chara schreyer for some reason — *Photograph after Glenn Ligon (Double America, 2012*, 36 x 120 in.), 2016, Diasec flush-mounted, 44 x 129 in. sold from the Estate of Chara Schreyer in 2023. Were the power cables photoshopped out, or did Schreyer have them hidden in the wall?

I cannot remember what I was searching for when I found the buck wildest things sold from the collection of quirky legend Chara Schreyer, but it was not a 13-foot long face-mounted photo of a Glenn Ligon neon sculpture.

Oohs and Awe: Eric N. Mack Timeline Speedrun at 202 Arts

the ledge of the top of a grey granite staircase cuts across the lower right corner of the photo of the atrium-like gallery space of the wexner art center, where lengths of elaborate and intricate and precisely or randomly colored bleached and woven fabrics are suspended from the roof, some pooling on a plinth, others draped and swagged across a line extended through the space, the plaid patterns of several fabrics resonating with the gridded window mullions and beams of the building, while a couple of darker blue ones are pinned to the white gallery wall, and three are laid out on the plinth like area rugs or horizontal paintings. an installation by eric n mack photographed in october 2025 by ian ware for 202 arts review — **Eric N. Mack**: ***A Whole New Thing*** (2025) (installation view). Bleached silk, raw silk, Missoni knit, silk chiffon, silk organza, silk scarves, vintage apron, bleached cotton, vintage saree, and polyester. © Eric N. Mack. Commissioned for “*Eric N. Mack: All the Oohs, and all the Aahs*” (2025-2026), Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus OH. Photo: 202 Arts Review.

Ian was skeeting about not having enough time to write properly about seeing Eric N. Mack’s shows at the Wexner in Columbus and the Academy of Arts & Letters in NYC. Which threw me off, tbqh, because I did not expect the epic timeline of Mack’s major career hits and deepcuts he whipped up for 202 Arts Review.

There are images and links galore, and it really does pull Mack’s public practice together in a way that makes a road trip to Columbus feel inevitable. Mack’s sculptural and painterly resonances have expanded from early DC encounters with the canvas-slash-textiles of Sam Gilliam and Kenneth Noland to Rauschenberg, Nengudi, Hammons, Genzken, and far beyond. But Mack’s work is also clearly, even primarily, about his own references and explorations.

Helen Molesworth describing the Wexner’s architecture as an argument in space finally made it make sense. Which makes the view from above of Mack’s commission, A Whole New Thing, after you climb the stairs, something of a revelation, or a reveal. It’s the opposite of a spoiler, though, because the approach and the movement through it, as seen in other of Ian’s photos, feels like three other works entirely.

OH to NY: Eric N. Mack [202arts.org]
Eric N. Mack: All the Oohs, and All the Aahs [wexart.org]

Dali Skull, Uklanski Skull

fascist bootlicker salvador dali sits in a top hat and tails in the lower left corner of this portrait photographed by philippe halsman, while on the right side, seven nude white women sit, lay, and contort to form a a human skull that fills the right half of the image. circa 1951, this later print is less dark than the mass edition, and is from john koch gallery. — Philippe Halsman, Dalí Skull, originally titled, *In Voluptas Mors*, 1951, this print before 1976, on 14×11 in. sheet, via John Koch Gallery

In 1951 Philippe Halsman had seven nude women sit in the form of a human skull for a portrait he made of fascist cuddlebuddy Salvador Dalí. One of those women, the one seated on the center left, I believe, was Olga Bogach, who I happened to interview in 2007, at the encouragement of some relatives were looking to buy her apartment.

I later edited the interview and uploaded it to YouTube, where it sits quietly to this day. I just watched it again, though, and do like the fascinating story, of course, but also the moral nuances that pop up throughout. As Joan Didion did not say, we tell ourselves stories in order to sell our co-ops.

[The apartment deal didn’t happen for several nontrivial reasons, not the least of which was Olga’s complicated relationship with the co-op board, some of whom, it sometimes seemed, were thwarting a sale in order to get her apartment for themselves, on the cheap. But that is like five tangents from here.]

a black and white photo by piotr uklanski of seven white people, nude, arranged in the form of a human skull, with the artist at the center in an oddly christ on the cross-like pose. unlike salvador dali's version which inspired it, piotr's skull has three men in it (including him). they're still all white tho. anyway, selling at sothebys oct 2025 — Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Skull), 2000, gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 in., ed. 14/20, selling rn at Sotheby’s

The Halsman/Dalî connection was a surprise, because Piotr Uklanski’s own co-ed, self-portrait re-creation, Untitled (Skull) (2000), was an inadvertent guest at our wedding. Or at least the wedding party we had at Passerby, that overflowed into Gavin Brown’s Enterprise while Piotr’s show was on. Except for a sculpture that was a puddle of water in the center of the floor, which we mopped up, the rest of the show stayed. On one wall behind the dessert table was a giant, framed photo of Mt Vesuvius. But mounted on the main wall was a life-sized version of Untitled (Skull). Piotr’s outstretched arms and placid face—and a tangle of torsos and asses—all blend perfectly into every. single. photo. And not even like the background; our photographer shot black & white, and it often really did feel like these folks were right there, celebrating with us.

One of the few prints to turn up from the much smaller (14 x 11 in.) edition is finishing at Sotheby’s as I type this. It was great to see it again, and for a minute I did think of going for it. But then I figured, nah, let someone else have a chance; besides, we have like 300 pictures of it already.

Olga of 67th St (2009), the Halsman’s about 11:00 in, if you’re antsy [youtube]
1 Oct 2025, Lot 942: Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Skull), est. $2-3,000, sold for $6,350, I lost [sothebys]

Willi Smith, Friend Of The Artists

a screenshot of a 1986 photo of a mostly white loft, with a pillow filled white sofa on the left, and a dark metal looking screen behind it, and a coffee table shaped like africa in front of it, and zebra printed rugs on the floor in the foreground, and behind a bent plywood aalto armchair, a set of five christo lithographs and a black and white keith haring painting hang on the white wall. some distinctive floor lamps I wish I'd looked into more are in the middle right. from ny magazine 1986, designer willi smith's loft, designed with rosemary peck

I had to track down this photo from a 1986 New York Magazine feature and take a janky screenshot after seeing @haverst’s tumblr post of someone’s instagram post of photos of designer Willi Smith’s Lispenard St loft, designed with his friend Rosemary Peck.

Because those photos showed Dan Friedman’s Humanoid Folding Screen, but only a corner of Friedman’s Africa-shaped coffee table, and one of Christo & Jeanne Claude’s 1971 lithograph portfolio, (Some) Not Realized Projects. And they didn’t show the wooden shipping pallets Smith & Peck and some hired randos hauled up to the loft from Canal Street to use as coffee tables. [The Cooper Hewitt has a great Peck pic of one pallet. When I tell you they do not make pallets like they used to,]

a white on black keith haring painting of two figures with interlocking infinity ring heads surrounded by glowing rays also each have extremely long penises, also glowing or something, and an x on their chests. haring made this for his friend willi smith on new years eve 1984, and it was sold at phillips london in 2019, who exhibited it sideways — Keith Haring, *Untitled*, Dec 1984, enamel on metal, originally 40 x 36 in. when its first owner Willi Smith hung it, and around 36 x 40 when Phillips sold it in London in 2019

And they didn’t show the enamel painting on a scavenged metal panel Keith Haring made for Smith on 31 December 1984, at a New Year’s Eve party, at all. [And which was hung sideways when it was sold at Phillips in 2019.]

As Jarrett Earnest presented in the Cooper Hewitt’s amazing COVID-era exhibition on Willi Smith, the designer had been friends with the Christo Jeanne Claudes since the early 1970s, and had collaborated with them on several of their most iconic projects. Smith made pink t-shirts and painter caps for the volunteers installing Surrounded Islands in Biscayne Bay in 1983, of which, more later.

The Cooper Hewitt’s Willi Smith — Street Couture Community Archive is an international treasure [willismitharchive.cargo.site]
Previously, related: WilliWear Showroom by SITE, 1982-87