AP Story:

Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.

Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats.

"This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It's letting the terrorists know we are out there," Fernandez said.

If you're not headed to Miami (or already there), here is your TODO list from the Hotel Chelsea Blog.

The de la Cruz collection belongs to one of the grandes (and most gracious) dames of the art scene, Rosa de la Cruz, who frequently opens her art-filled house to the public (by appointment). Every nook of her Key Biscayne home — from the living room to the laundry room — is filled with works by the likes of the video artist Aida Ruilova and the painter Martin Kippenberger as well as a psychedelic installation by Assume Vivid Astro Focus. Photo by Kevin Cooley. [source]

Via Modern Art Obsession, found in the Wall Street Journal:

The four-year-old Art Basel Miami Beach fair attracts thousands of visitors to its contemporary art sales and industry parties, but increasingly some of its biggest draws are tours of art owned by wealthy collectors, which offer a glimpse of some of the city's most lavish homes and properties. Most of these are invitation-only, but it's sometimes possible to get in through a local gallery or the fair office.

...

While it is all part of the fair's goal of sharing art, these open houses can offer a financial benefit for collectors, who sometimes get discounts from dealers in exchange for prominently displaying works in their homes. Zach Feuer, a New York dealer, says that last year he lowered prices for three Miami collectors who showed the pieces in their home tours.

I don't know how much we'll manage to see in Miami, but there are several performances I want to recommend.

Elena Kovylina, Still from Waltz as performed in Berlin, 2001

The first is Elena Kovylina's Waltz, presented by Schroeder Romero, which will be performed as part of the NADA Fair on December 1st, at 11:30am. Here is an excerpt from the gallery's press release:

This will be the first time it has been performed in the United States.

Elena Kovylina, a Russian artists, will perform Waltz which, through its motions, is a metaphor for he rise and fall of the Russian military and culture. It was recently presented in video form at Schroeder Romero in the exhibition Russia Redux #1, curated by Elena Sorokina. Holland Cotter of The New York Times called it "a stirring performance in which grace and violence mesh.

Waltz was conceived in 2001 and has been performed in Germany and subsequently in several European cities. The artist subverts the prevalent clichés of the "Russian woman" whose body became one of the main sources of revenues in the new capitalist economy of the 1990s. She also subtly comments on a forced "reconciliation" between Russia and Germany, the former absolute war enemies and ideological adversaries. Choosing members of the Western audience to dance, the artist reverses the prevalent aesthetics of failure, empowering herself and symbolically activating what has been repressed.

James wrote about the exhibition Russia Redux #1, which I would consider one of the best shows of the year. You can read more about Waltz on the artist's web site.

The other recommendation is basically all performances related to Frisbee, especially "Champion Fine Art Dance" with Flora Wiegmann and Felicia Ballos on December 3rd at 4pm.

Colter Jacobsen, installation view

We visited White Columns on Saturday, and I have to say the current set of shows is the best work so far of Matthew Higgs's new administration. Roberta Smith appears to agree. Congratulations to White Columns for such a great review.

The group show in the main space, titled Open Walls and curated by Mr. Higgs, includes great work, with only two artists (Alexandre Singh and Robin Graubard) whose work I've seen before. The other artists in that show are Tariq Alvi, Colter Jacobsen, Christopher Russell, and Pam Servatius. The wall collage/painting/etc. by Colter Jacobsen and the collage wheelchair on the ceiling by Tariq Alvi are particularly impressive.

Elizabeth Peyton, Ladovico Capponi

In one of the White Rooms is a fun show called The Early Show, curated by Elysia Borowy-Reeder, Scott Reeder, and Tyson Reeder of the General Store in Milwaukee. The premise is a show of early work by artists who are now well-known, ranging from Cory Arcangel to David Reed. Some are works from the artists' teens, but some are from childhood. It appears Ms. Peyton already had developed a specific style by the time she was 16 or 17. I also loved another opportunity to see the video of a performance by Insecticide, the band of a very young Cory and Jamie Arcangel.

Alba Ballard, Soft and Dry

While you're there, don't miss Arne Svenson's images of Alba Ballard's costumed parrots.

[All images are from the White Columns web site.]

Steve Greenfield

This makes me very happy. I don't know why so many liberals, including homos, think she's great. She says she likes the Defense of Marriage Act, she doesn't think public health insurance should cover abortion (Viagra seems to be OK), and she voted for both the PATRIOT Act and the Iraq War.

Steve Greenfield is challenging her in the Democratic primary. Here is an excerpt from his web site:

Are you troubled by the notion that a Democrat who favors the war in Iraq, favors continuing the occupation and increasing troop levels in Iraq, favors the USA PATRIOT act, favors expanding nuclear power and weapons development, favors the death penalty, favors corporate welfare, boasts of having cosponsored more Republican initiatives than any first-term Democrat Senator in history, and who represents a state where upwards of 80% of the registered Democrats are opposed to her positions was expected to run unopposed in her primary race next year? Is this democracy?

January Blog has a post on a new project by Harrel Fletcher, in which he documents the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. In Viet Nam, the war we call the Viet Nam War is known as The American War. The photos are artless, photographed at odd angles, in order to minimize the reflected flash.

Go read the post, and then visit the project's web site.

We're headed to Miami, as James says, November 30th to December 4th.

Part one is here.

At Jessica Murray's group show, a new discovery for me was Ivelisse Jimenez. Here is a detail of one of her wall pieces.

Ivelisse Jimenez, IT1104 (10 con 10 series) [detail], 2005, mixed media, 96 × 60 x 70" (dimensions variable)

The show include Lisa Sigal, who also has a small show worth visiting at Frederieke Taylor.

We visited Andrew Kreps while things were still being set up, but we're headed back soon to see Roe Ethridge and Adam Putnam. The latter has an amazing installation upstairs.

Julia Friedman has a show of affordable art for your shopping pleasure. James has a photo of Alejandro Diaz making one of the cardboard signs we purchased.

Others to see: Will Ryman at Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, and Gelitin's Tantamounter 24/7 lasts until Wednesday night.

To make it easier to point someone to one page when requesting press access, I've created about pages for myself and James.

If you've written something wonderful about us on your blog and I haven't linked to it, please do let me know!

[photo by the lovely and talented Robert Boyd]

Earlier in the season, I wasn't feeling so excited by the work I was seeing in Chelsea, except for a few exception like the always-reliable Foxy Production.

Our visits in the last couple of weeks, though, have made me much happier. I'll put of some highlights tonight, and add a few more in the next day or so.

Larry Mantello's outrageous installations at Kustera Tilton. We first saw his work in a great installation at Henry Urback in 2003.

Julia Oschatz, Untitled (72-05), 2005, Oil, enamel, acrylic, spray paint on canvas, 21 5/8 × 15 inches

Julia Oschatz's New York debut show of videos, installation, and paintings at Leslie Tonkonow is one of my favorites of the year. Check out the gallery web site for more images, plus some video excerpts.

James has already written about the Josephine Meckseper show at Elizabeth Dee, so go read him.

Mark Napier's show Empire, at bitforms, manages to combine interactive computer-based art with a beautiful visual aesthetic that I have rarely seen in the field. You know it's a good tech-y art show when James is really into it. Visit Mark's web site for more information on his work.

[All photos except Marge are from the respective gallery sites. Marge was photographed by me.]

I found the Hotel Chelsea blog via BlogChelsea. They have a short interview up now with gallerist Daniel Reich. I hadn't realized he lived in the hotel. We live on the same block.

Check out Tom Moody's post on Cory and his distant relative Allan D'Arcangelo.

Cory Arcangel

Allan D'Arcangelo

I'm too discouraged to post on political topics too often, but here are two things I want you to see.

Target may like to pretend it's the hip alternative to Wal-Mart and K-Mart, but they have decided that their pharmacists are allowed to decide whether to fill prescriptions for emergency contraceptive pills (such as Plan B) based on their religious beliefs. That's crap. You're either a pharmacy or you're not. Leave that stuff to the churches who are already abusing their tax-exempt status to interfere in our lives. As I said to James, apparently religious freedom is the only right left.

Via Ed Winkleman, I learned of an excellent series on the group blog Obsidian Wings about the debate over habeas corpus and torture currently being conducted in the Senate. Well, not really conducted, since they're trying to ram this stuff through with minimal debate. The idea that the Senate is talking about secret trials and repealing habeas corpus for any group at all (Magna Carta, anyone?) is appalling.

Remember, after World War II, a number of German and Japanese officials and military officers were executed for the things many Republicans, including Dick Cheney, are advocating. Check out this op-ed from the Washington Post for more on the topic.

In a perfect world, these people would be hauled before The Hague. We'll see.

That's a lot of money! After losing their space at the (theoretically to be built someday) World Trade Center site, this news appears today in Crain's New York:

In a boost to arts downtown, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said it plans to give the Drawing Center up to $10 million for a new home and will begin considering grants of another $35 million.

...

Separately, the LMDC said it will start accepting applications from cultural institutions and individuals for $35 million in arts grants. The announcement comes nearly five months after the city and state earmarked $45 million for cultural purposes out of the $800 million of federal money dedicated to Lower Manhattan development.

Eric Doeringer, Bootleg "Damien Hirst" Paintings With The Real Thing

You can use the search box on my site, or on James's, to see how often we have written about Eric Doeringer. We are big fans.

On Saturday, Mike Weiss called the police on Eric. James has the story. This is my favorite part:

He packed up his work and confronted Mr. Weiss, who admitted he had called the police. He said that he didn't like "seeing people walking around with tiny paintings," while he was paying high rent for his gallery and, "trying to sell $30,000 paintings."

When Doeringer told him he was certainly going to let everyone he knew in the art world hear about what he had done, Weiss said, "If that's the way you want to play it, I'll call the police whenever I see you anywhere."

I think 24th Street needs more of art like Eric's not less.

--

Update

Eric has posted his account on his website.

Another Update

The New York Times published an article on the Eric's adventure on Saturday.

Today James and I, along with our friend Dan, visited the Top of the Rock, otherwise know as the top of the RCA (now GE) building. Unfortunately the days of deck chairs are over, but we still had fun.

Swarovski crystal from the planet Krypton in the entry area

Dan and James in front of the very nicely done barriers

Obligatory Empire State Building photo

Initial level viewed from one of the higher ones. There are three different levels.

Der Spiegel has a slideshow of art works from what may be the final exhibit in the Palast der Republik, with commentary on the building.

My previous post on this show and the Palast is here. The above image is mine, not from the slideshow.