Another Year - Already? Not So Fast

How did this year go by so fast? Where did the fall go? Where are my pants? I’m trying to compile one of those end-of-the-year, best memories in art viewing posts, but failing miserably: due to laziness and so many choices, it’s impossible. Kinda like the infamous line by Kurt Kirk Douglas playing Vincent in Lust For Life: “It can’t be done!”

I just saw the Ab Ex New York exhibit again at MoMA: that will resonate for a while, especially the Rothkos I had never seen before. The Morgan has kept my attention this year with Roy Lichtenstein, Degas, Mark Twain, Albrecht Dürer, Jane Austin, William Blake, and the fantastic Catherine of Cleves illuminated manuscripts.

We Want Miles at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art was a thorough and engaging look at an artist upon whom the genius word is not wasted. As a confirmed bike nut, the Museum of Art and Design’s Bespoked: The Hand-Built Bicycle, finally got me into their newly renovated building and I was impressed. We’re in a renaissance of bike riding and building that pleases me to no end, both the pleasure of the latest designs and that we actually are manufacturing – by hand - in this country.

Maria Abramvic: The Artist Is Present at MoMA got a lot of well-deserved attention: I gushed. My first visit to Madrid and the Prado this past spring were as unforgettable as the food poisoning (damn you, lamb shank) that knocked me down for a good 24 hours.

This was a Whitney Biennial year: no matter how it fares I always look forward to the extravaganza and am often surprised. The 2012 curators were recently announced: see, I’m already thinking about it.

But not so fast, the year is still blooming at Schroeder Romero & Shredder's fantastic new space on 26th Street. A dozen of the foremost women painters, past and present, are on exhibit including Jennifer Coates, Angela Dufresne, Judith Linhares, and Louisa Matthiasdottir.

For the ninth installment of the Performance Exhibition Series at MoMA, the artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla present Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano. For this piece, the artists carved a hole in the center of a grand piano, through which a pianist plays “Ode to Joy.” The performer leans over the keyboard and plays upside down and backwards, while moving with the piano across the vast atrium. It's a moving experience, literally (sorry).

I mentioned Roxy Paine's sculptural takeover of the Cohan Gallery last month. My thought then was, how the hell do they transport that? Here is the answer, as it was gently crated in this week's bitter cold. The sides were then covered with plywood.

And in Washington an ongoing controversy over the Portrait Gallery's removal of David Wojnarowicz's Fire In My Belly video. Politics in the nation's capital: shocking, but truly sad indeed.