Kim Levin: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts."I make lists of things to do and follow them. Lately, my pocket calendar doesn't seem adequate, so I've taken to making out a list on a new three-by-five card every two or three days. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to cross an item off the list. The items even include things like 'studio,' which simply means go to the studio that day and paint." The words are Peter Plagens's, from a 2005 lecture at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , but they might just as easily have been uttered by Kim Levin. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Except that Levin doesn't even paint--she's "just" a veteran New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of critic and curator--though she does share Plagens's organizational penchant, and recently conjured up an exhibition at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts from little more than her own lists (identified, more precisely, as "Notes and Itineraries, 1976-2004"). Levin's rundowns, most written on the backs of galleries' invitation cards, are of exhibitions in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens--hundreds and hundreds of them--and were compiled, prioritized, color-coded, annotated, and (at the suggestion of a European museum director) squirreled away over the course of a twenty-year career as a regular contributor to the Village Voice. Such a meta project (it is perhaps only the curatorial input of John Salvest, who also organized an exhibition of material from Levin's archive at Marshall Arts, Memphis, in 2003, that might qualify these records as art in their own right) recalls other self-reflexive gambits like Simon Linke's paintings of gallery advertisements, as well as the many and varied uses to which lists have been put by artists including Angela Bulloch Angela Bulloch (born 1966 in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada) is a London and Berlin based sculptor, installation - and sound artist who is recognised as one of the Young British Artists. , Danica Phelps, and Emma Kay. They also, of course, recall the kinds of jottings, doodles Doodles can mean the following:
So where precisely does the interest of these artifacts--which include pristine-looking cards and annotated press releases as well as lists--lie? Part of their appeal is surely that of the snapshot or time capsule: Viewers responded differently according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the extent to which their own exhibition-visiting histories intersected with Levin's, but most clearly appreciated the way in which this collection continues to map an ever-changing scene. The ebb and flow the alternate ebb and flood of the tide; often used figuratively. See also: Ebb of artists' names, thematic curatorial conceits, and trends in graphic design is immediately absorbing, while the number of cards and press releases promoting once powerful dealerships that are no longer extant (John Gibson John Gibson is a common name, shared by:
But beyond the ephemera's commemorative souvenir value was something a little less geekish. Ultimately, what makes Levin's lists significant is their function as diagrams of the thought processes This is a list of thinking styles, methods of thinking (thinking skills), and types of thought. See also the List of thinking-related topic lists, the List of philosophies and the . of an individual working critic. Even if we can't precisely decipher her system of stars and circlings, we can observe her finding her way, changing her mind, deciding what's important, and recording first impressions. The dense, detailed look of the installation was attractive, but more telling--and often hilarious--were the spontaneous, personal reminders: FOR SQUIRRELS For Squirrels was a band formed in 1992 based out of Gainesville, Florida. The band's original lineup consisted of vocalist Jack Vigliatura IV, guitarist Travis Tooke, drummer Jay Russell and bassist Bill White. ? by a sketch of a spiral staircase from a Jene Highstein show at Pamela Auchincloss Project Space; STILL IN SCHOOL! jotted incredulously on a Jules de Balincourt Jules de Balincourt (born 1972 in Paris) is a French painter. He was educated at the California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco receiving a BFA (1998) and went on to study at the Hunter College, New York graduating in 2005 with an MFA. card from LFL LFL Lower Flammable Limit LFL Lutherans for Life LFL Lingerie Football League LFL Like for Like (comparison of sales) LFL Libertarians for Life LFL Lucasfilm Limited LFL Lot for Lot LFL Looking for Love . Levin is a consummate insider but here arrived at a kind of unlikely outsider art, complete with the graphomania with which it is often associated--though viewers doubtful of the sanity of critics in general will perhaps have been less surprised by the parallel. |
|
||||||||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion