Slowdays

If you've been keeping up with the 'copter in the past couple of weeks, you've noticed it's been pretty slim pickins. Things have been rather hectic for me with work and my personal life, and what few things I've wanted to post about I just haven't had the time for. I want to check in though, so here are a couple of quick check-ins from the art world.

- Olafur Eliasson / WACK! -

In order to get myself pumped up for Eliasson's New York City Waterfalls this summer, I went to see his first American retrospective at P.S. 1 in Long Island City, Queens, entitled "Take Your Time." (There is also an exhibit at MoMA that I hope to catch) It was a delight to see his photographic work in person, and partake in the joys of his early, simple models. Also, I got to see "Beauty" for the second time, this time more intimately. If you have a chance, check it out. Also, check out the WACK! exhibition if it's still up. While I found a lot of it to be contrived (ironically, most of it probably spurred the kind of feminist art that has led me to feel that it is contrived at all), there was some really good stuff in there, including a relic of Marina Abramovic's "Rhythm 0."

- Cai Guo-Qiang -

Guo-Qiang's "I Want to Believe" at the Guggenheim is a STELLAR arrangement. I went for his exciting new piece "Inopportune - Stage One," but left with a thorough appreciation for his entire body of work. This includes life-sized packs of wolves, a bamboo raft ride, and the extraordinary new method of "painting" with gunpowder. While I went on Friday evening for "pay what you want," this exhibit is well worth paying full entrance price. If you haven't yet, SEE IT.

- The Day There Was No News -

What an exciting little video. I wish this thing were twice as long as it is. It's surreal. On the one hand, it seems to point out how two-dimensional, fictitious, and superficial the television news medium is. On the other hand, when considered with the title, this video has a startling sense of calm to it, that seems to tap into what we might feel if there were actually a day where nothing bad happened and there was nothing to report.