Angel Standing By

General Idea, ART SPEAKS, and May's Angel-of-the-Month

08.06.22 — Ottawa, Canada

Over the next four years General Idea coaxed profundity from its work that was previously absent. Instead of infusing forms like painting and sculpture with its own ersatz mythology, the group now stuffed them with human meaning like Greek soldiers filing into a wooden horse—a beautiful gift to be wheeled inside the museum, the gallery, the collector’s home, where an unexpected assault could be launched—or, more to the point, like Mephistopheles first appearing to Faust, following him home disguised as a black poodle.

“Art is a Drug”—my essay on the conceptual art collective General Idea (1969-1994) was published in the May 11, 2023 issue of The New York Review of Books. It was written on the occasion of the retrospective originally at the National Gallery of Canada (now on view at the Stedelijk Museum) and an exhibition at the Drawing Center, New York (now at MAMCO, Geneva).

04.27.23 — Helsinki, Finland

11 May 2023, 6pm, Montreal— I’ll be interviewing the inimitable Helen Molesworth on stage at the Cinéma du Musée, of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1379-A Sherbrooke Street West) as part of the ART SPEAKS program. Helen is brilliant and irreverent and I’m excited to dive into the evolution of her thinking. Please send your Canadian friends! It is free, no reservations required.

And now, finally, I’m delighted to unveil May’s Angel-of-the-Month:

04.04.23 — Los Angeles, California