Kusama at New York Botanical Gardens

Narcissus Garden, 1966/2021 I visited Kusama: Cosmic Nature at the New York Botanical Garden’s (NYBG) 250 acre site in the Bronx on a glorious spring day in April, 2021. Walking freely among the flowering trees and shrubs and viewing art live and up close was both liberating and joyful after all the restrictions of my…

Beautiful Youths: Dandies from Persia

At the Morgan Library & Museum, there is a compact exhibition highlighting youth culture in Safavid Iran.   About ten pages from an album compiled for a powerful governor in early seventeenth century Persia highlight Safavid fashion and pastimes.  These single pages from the Read Persian album feature a youthful figure in the center of the…

Fuyuka Shindo @ ISCP’s Open Studios

On Saturday, November 11th, I went to the International Studio and Curatorial Program’s (ISCP) Open Studios which is held twice a year.  I met Fuyuka Shindo in her second floor studio which now resembled a small gallery since all hints of the artist’s daily labors had been nicely tidied up to display her art.  On…

Naeem Mohaiemen: There is No Last Man

The film, titled Tripoli Cancelled, is a nonsensical (a little bit), disturbing (not really), light (maybe)piece about a man as he confidently wanders around a decommissioned airport  as if he is used to living there.  PS1’s wall text explains that it is loosely based on the experiences of Mohaiemen’s father being stuck in the same airport (Ellinikon…