Unblogged in 2013

Original National Geographic Illustrations

While I’m full-throttle into the New Year, I can’t quite leave 2013 completely behind knowing that I’ve been holding out on you. Maybe it's because I only completed 44 posts in 2013, that I have a substantial backlog of unposted material.

So to clean house a bit, I've rounded up some of the visual miscillany that never made it onto All My Eyes during the last year. This is the first of at least two, perhaps even three posts.

Superachiever Josh Gosfield balancing an earlier Sweeney-Gosfield collaboration.

At the end of January, I attended a book signing at the Steven Kasher Gallery for Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield’s The Art of Doing. The bonus surprise of the evening was the exhibit of vintage illustrations and photographs from the archives of National Geographic gracing the gallery walls (online exhibit)

Let’s just say that for the shoe-obsessed, Shoe Obsession, at the FIT Museum did not disappoint. (Flickr set)

I had no idea when I visited the Mission San Miguel Arcángel, that I would find exquisite fresco painting in the church, dating back to 1821. This is the only surviving original church interior of California’s 21 missions. (Smithsonian Magazine article about the mission, with pictures.)

There was lots of hype about James Turrell at the Guggenheim. Yes, the color shifts were tranformative, but the mosh-pit crowds precluded my hoped-for transcendent experience. 

I was sick and tired of making mistakes by accident, so in May, I finally decided to learn how to make them on purpose at Laurie Rosenwald's super-fun workshop, How to Make Mistakes on Purpose. And now you can too. There's a workshop coming up in NYC, January 16th.

Can you think of a better way to start the year than with some intentionally perpetrated screw-ups?

Andy Williams had an amazing collection of Navajo blankets that was auctioned at Sotheby’s. Who knew? (link)

Nothing like a June evening at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s estate, to put things into perspective. 

Disney+Animal House+pornography. Paul McCarthy, in his restricted WS at the Armory ("This exhibition contains mature content. Entrance is restricted to visitors over 17 years of age.") was definitely onto something.

Not a conceptual-art piece (unfortunately). “The Little Shooter” onesie was for sale at the general store in Blue Hill, Maine.

Woody and Soon yi on a Sunday afternoon on the Upper West Side. 

Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800, at the Met was fascinating, but overwhelming. A small, simple map accompanying each piece, would have been tremendously helpful to visitors. Closes January 5th.

This preview of works by Les Lalanne to be auctioned, was indoors at Sotheby’s. The "aerial view" carpet, below, hanging at the Salon Art & Design Fair, is a Lalanne piece as well.

Wall constructions by American artist, Charles Biederman (1906-2004), were also at the Salon Art & Design Fair.

A sample of some of the profound wall verbiage featured at the  Christopher Wool show at the Guggenheim. Show ends January 22nd.

Late-November leaf-peeping in my own backyard.

Documentary filmmaker Therese Schecter’s new film, “How to Lose Your Virginity,” made its U.S. premiere on the big screen at DOC NYC. The film’s tag line, “If sex sells, why is virginity so valuable?” truly only begins to hint at the contradictions, and underlying issues of power, money, and personal freedom inherent in the subject.

See how young women today are navigating this treacherous terrain in the upcoming NYC screening, February 25th, at Anthology Film Archives.

Our very own Banksy on West 79th Street! (Interactive map at nymag.com)

Ads Imitate Art: American Apparel and Balthus

Thérèse Dreaming, 1938 (right)

American Apparel advertising and the paintings of Balthus. Need I say more?

"Balthus: Cats and Girls: Paintings and Provocations" is at the Metropolitan Museum through January 12, 2014. The painter of pubescent girls and self-proclaimed "King of Cats" once remarked that "The idea I am trying to get across has to do with religion, not at all with eroticism."

American Apparel ads, many of which have been banned in Britain, can be seen on bus shelters, billboards, magazines and in the archive on their website.

Which do you find more disturbing?

Thérèse on a Bench Seat, 1939 (top)

The Room, 1952-54 (top)

Getting Up, 1955 (bottom)

The Golden Fruit,  ca. 1959 (left)

Girl on a Bed, c. 1950 (bottom)

Nude in Front of a Mantel, 1955 (left)

The White Skirt, 1937 (top)

Nude With a Cat, 1949 (top)

Alice, 1933 (left)

The Toilet, 1957 (top)

Detail of The Living Room, 1941-43 (right)

Guitar Lesson, 1934 (top)

11/27/13 NOTE: One photo that was not an actual American Apparel ad has been removed.