Cheney reminds us why we need to impeach Bush before anyone starts indicting members of his administration.

Cheney Hails Ford's Pardon of Nixon

The nation honored Gerald R. Ford in funeral ceremonies Saturday that recalled the touchstones of his life, from combat in the Pacific to a career he cherished in Congress to a presidency he did not seek. He was remembered as the man called to heal the country from the trauma of Watergate.

Ford's decision to pardon Richard Nixon, so divisive at the time that it probably cost him the 1976 election, was dealt with squarely in his funeral services by his old chief of staff, Vice President Dick Cheney.

"It was this man, Gerald R. Ford, who led our republic safely though a crisis that could have turned to catastrophe," said Cheney, speaking in the Capitol Rotunda where Ford's body rested. "Gerald Ford was almost alone in understanding that there can be no healing without pardon."

I have to admit that Matt Greene's show at Deitch was not one of my favorite things I've seen lately. Roberta Smith, in the New York Times, seems to agree. Her review begins:

Matt Greene's résumé includes lots of the right names in terms of galleries, critics and museum shows, but the paintings in his New York gallery debut disappoint. They seem conservative, thin and calculated to appeal to young, straight, male hedge-fund managers with a yen for lap dances and a taste for magazine illustrations from the 1960s.

My local phone store's holiday window. See here for the happier days before they started falling off the trees.

I would not think that associating the Gucci name with Donald Trump is really a plus.

Gucci inks deal for Trump Tower flagship, Crain's New York

Luxury retailer Gucci Group has made plans to move its flagship to Trump Tower and create the worldÂ’s largest Gucci store.

..

Gucci will relocate to the new site from its current holding at 685 Fifth Ave., at East 54th Street, in 2008.

The image above is from the DVD of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, directed by Peter Sellars. It is set in a luxury apartment in Trump Tower. It's very 80s. The countess has a Princess Di haircut.

John Hodgman, photo from captain joy's flickr stream

John "the PC guy" Hodgman's new book, Areas of My Expertise, is now available as a free audiobook at the iTunes store.

[via MacSlash]

Jonathan Podwil, Meeting, 1983
1998
oil on linen
36 × 42 inches

The blog on the Saatchi Gallery website has a preview of Jonathan Podwil's upcoming show at Plane Space. I'm told the writer found his show via the ArtCal listing.

I was watching the latest video episode of Cool Hunting, and enjoyed the images of Joe Ovelman's work at (I assume) Oliver Kamm/5BE at the NADA Fair. Here are a few stills.

Horn & Hardart building at Broadway and 104th Street
(amNewYork Photo/Lane Johnson)

Several people I know are in the paper today. Susan Dessel is in an article in AM New York about the attempts to save the Horn & Hardart building at Broadway and 104th Street.

Ed and Debbie Hamilton, whom we met at our place finally last week, have a piece on the editorial page of the New York Times (!) about their Hotel Chelsea Blog.

[photo from AM New York]

Yes, there's ArtCal for making a list, but given the street layout of Williamsburg, we always use a map to plot out the most efficient course when we visit the galleries there. And we always use a copy of WAGMAG.

This indispensable resource is having a fund raiser tonight. It works the same as Momenta Art's benefit: buy a ticket, and when your number is called you get to choose a work from among those remaining. Tickets are $150. You can view the works today from 1-6PM if you need a preview to make your list.

Reception and Raffle of work Saturday Dec. 16th, 7-9
The Front Room is at 147 Roebling St.
(the corner of Roebling & Metropolitan, Brooklyn).

Works by:
Amanda Alic, Mike Asente, Sarah Barker, Cecelia Biagini, Kelly Bowman, Thomas Clark, Ethan Crenson, Greg Curry, Linda DiGusta, Hubert Dobler, Elise Engler, Benjamin Evans, Diego Fernandez, Peter Fox, Linda Ganjian, Erik Guzman, Jerelyn Hanrahan, Jody Hanson, Randall Harris, Sean Hemmerle, Amy Hill, Eric Hollander, Curt Hoppe, Mary Hrbacek, Richard Humann, Fran Kornfeld, Peter Krebs, Ben La Rocco, Eliot Lable, Jesse Lambert, Yulia Lanina, Pauline Lethen, Dominick Lombardi, Stephen Maine, Eliot Markell, Karen Marston, Mark McGloughlin, Loren Munk, Aron Namenwirth, Ivan Navarro, Alexandra Newmark, Russel Parish, Gelah Penn, Deborah Pohl, Carl Pope, Lisa Reddig, Ron Richter, Grace Roselli, Daniel Rosenbaum, Todd Rosenbaum, Emily Roz, Carol Salmanson, Secret Project Robot, James Sheehan, Judith Simonian, Patricia Smith, Carri Skoczek, Deborah Spiroff, Sto , Miho Suzuki, Jim Torok, Jeanne Tremel, Joanne Ungar, Rosa Valado, Kathleen Vance, Don Voisine, Nancy Wechter, Jessica Weiss, David Wells, Mary Westering, Mark Wiener, Mika Yokobori, Dan Zeller

Go here for images of some of the works.

We'll be there, so say "hi!"

For the Mac geeks in the audience, this is an interesting idea: 10 Mac apps for just $49 (over 85% off) and have 25% donated to a charity of your choice. I was already planning to buy the Delicious Library for cataloging CDs. If they hit $100K, we all get TextMate for free, which is what really interests me.

Ryan and me on 24th Street, photo by James Wagner

A lot of artists I know are really into reality TV / competition shows. Ryan Humphrey is the first one I know personally who is actually on one: Bravo's Top Design.

More info on Ryan from:

• me
• James

[via Dennis]

James already wrote about one of these, but here are my favorite things I've seen lately in Chelsea.

David S. Allee, Garage Driving, 2006, Chromogenic Print, 50 × 60 inches

David S. Allee, Cross Lands at Morgan Lehman (already closed)

Disturbing but gorgeous large-format prints of American civilization's battle for space of cars and humans.

__

Installation view of When The Revolution Comes at Kathleen Cullen

This is a great show of primarily politically-oriented art curated by Michael St. John.

__

Josedgardo Granados, Commute 8

There are some beautiful works on paper by this artist in the project space at Kathleen Cullen.

[The installation view is by me. The rest are from the galleries' websites.]

"concrete liberty hurdles" at Madison Square Garden
August 31, 2004
photo by James Wagner

From today's New York Times:

City Fights Efforts to Release 2004 Convention Arrest Records

Faced with lawsuits from hundreds of people arrested during the 2004 Republican National Convention, the Bloomberg administration is fighting to keep secret a vast array of records, testimony and videotapes collected that week.

The city contends the materials could be embarrassing to people who were arrested, disclose police intelligence, or reveal environmental conditions that may hurt commercial development on the West Side waterfront or be useful to terrorists.

In addition, the city lawyers said that medical reports from police officers who complained of getting sick after working at a temporary holding pen were “unreliable” and “likely to contain misinformation.”

They're just throwing out excuses hoping one will stick. Given that a huge number of people were arrested just for walking down neighborhood streets at the wrong time (many of them not protesters), the city has big payouts coming. Perhaps someone can ask Bloomberg to donate some of his money instead of making the taxpayers of New York pay for his attempt to cozy up to the Republicans and their convention.

Nancy Baker
Waiting For My Prince, 2006
Oil on Wood Panel
36 × 36 inches

Nancy Baker, who is represented by Winkleman / Plus Ultra Gallery, is the newest artist to sign up for my ArtCat hosting service. Click on her name or the image to see her new website.

Leave it to an Indian-owned phone store to have the best holiday window on my block.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about this disturbs me.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida is buying the Hard Rock business, including its massive collection of rock 'n' roll memorabilia, in a $965 million deal with British casino and hotel company Rank Group PLC, the tribe announced Thursday.

Seminole Tribe of Fla. buying Hard Rock - Yahoo! News

John Smith
The Girl Chewing Gum, 1976
12mins
Black & White 16mm

The more I see of older art works, the more I worry that very few things are truly new. The latest incident? When I saw John Smith's Girl Chewing Gum (1976) in Artists Space's In the Poem About Love You Don't Write The Word Love. One watches a street scene and listens to a voice appearing to direct the action on the screen. It doesn't hurt that he sounds a bit like a Monty Python narrator.

I had never heard of this piece when I first saw Noah Klersfeld's work Pay Roll. Todd Gibson describes it here. Maybe it doesn't really matter, since I knew nothing of John Smith's work, and probably Todd and Mr. Klersfeld didn't either.

luxonline has a page describing the work and a short video excerpt.

Related: 2003 interview with John Smith in Millenium Film Journal.

[image above from luxonline]

Last week we visited Gasser & Grunert to see Ann Craven's show of moon paintings. Here are a few shots paired with a real moon photo taken on our block.

Via Blentwell.com's podcast I found this great mix by Don Rimini. Here is their description:

Don Rimini - Absolutely Dangerous

Wow this is some shit right here! Don Rimini stalks les rues de Paris in search of freshly tweaked beats. And with a DJ bag filled with butter cuts from Lily Allen, Uffie, Does it Offend you, 2 live crew and others this set is certain to get your ass werkin' An awesome blend of electro, techno, booty & bastard pop!

Download (55MB, 1 hour)