Oliver Herring Opening

Oliver Herring's opening was packed with people who have participated in his TASK events where he solicits suggestions from the audience and then makes them perform the function. For this show he was working with teens who suggested "Make a knife, then kill someone." The resulting portraits are packed with a faux violence, like a late night horror movie.

But at the opening, everyone seemed friendly and unthreatening. He also had the best idea for an after-opening dinner. Outside a truck pulled up from Rickshaw Dumplings and dished out meals in plain white containers. Guests picked up the food then went back into the gallery for a fun sit down gathering.

Billy Sullivan Opening

Though I've been traveling a lot in recent years, I've still managed to keep some friends in New York. One of them is Billy Sullivan, the sweetest painter that I've ever met. Maybe, it's because he is a photographer too and teaches with me over at SVA's photo department. At his opening the other night, there were plenty of other friends of the artist including Joe Gaffney, Marilyn Minter, Mary Heilmann, and Elaine Reicheck. But the best friends were the subjects in his paintings who all showed up and peopled the opening as if the paintings had come alive. Actually, this was not much a stretch since Sullivan captured his models as if they were in mid conversation, fully spontaneous with real life.

Generous as he is, Sullivan also curated a group photography show in the smaller project room of the gallery. My favorite was an image of a chalk outline of human body on the wall by Dustin Wayne Harris, a former SVA student.

Dachshund Parade

The Dachshund version of the Whitney Biennial opening happens twice a year in Washington Square Park. Yesterday, there had to be over 200 doxies nuzzling each others' butts and occasionally playing with each other. Mostly, the dogs seemed pretty happy to meet others of their own kind, but since no dachshund is aware of its size--they all think they are bigger than they are--they probably would have been just as happy at a convention of Great Danes. Still, my dog Felix made friends...that is until he peed on a lady's handbag.

Back on track

I've taken a hiatus, but now I'm back on track because so much is happening in NYC right now, I can't stop commenting.

On Sunday, April 19th, I was at the benefit for Participant Inc. Totally fun, so I hope it raised lots of moolah for Lia Gangitano, the most self-sacrificing curator in town. My good friend Jim Dart did his bit, picking up my photo of Model UN which I showed at Partipant in 2006 as well as another photograph of a psychiatrist's office by Shelburne Thurber. The turnout was great, packed with Lia supporters, including Jay Gorney, collector Howard Morse, NYFA director Ted Berger and PS1 curator Klaus Biesenbach. But, as always, Lia stacked the crowd with artists--Laura Parnes, Kathy Burkhardt, Lovett and Codagnone, board president Adam Ames, Robert Boyd, and others. Performances by Kembra and Beaut, brought everyone back to the 1980s. The Pyramid Club isn't dead. It's just resting.