Brigid Berlin: The Heaviest to Open at Vito Schnabel Gallery in June

 

 

 

Postcard collage from David Whitney to Brigid Berlin, 1970, 6 x 4 1/3 inches (15.24 x 11.01 cm); Collection of Jordan and Kathleen Pike

In the New York art scene of the mid-1960s and early ‘70s, Brigid Berlin achieved the rarest of feats by becoming an essential member of both of the two opposing spheres of the downtown creative classes gathered at Max’s Kansas City, the definitive watering hole of the avant-garde. She was a fixture in the queer délire of the back room, where Andy Warhol held court among his Factory Superstars, drag queens, and other hangers-on. At the same time, Berlin was equally welcomed by “the heavies” in the front of the bar: the mostly male, infamously macho crowd of carousing artists that included Willem de Kooning, John Chamberlain, Larry Rivers, Donald Judd, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, James Rosenquist, and Brice Marden, among others. Berlin not only penetrated these distinct precincts of the clubby art establishment, but conspired with them, occasionally collaborating on artworks, and even going so far as to turn them into muses for her own polymorphic, deeply conceptual oeuvre. Brigid Berlin was one of them: anartist on equal footing, the heaviest of the heavies.

“You don’t call yourself an ‘artist’ – if others want to, that’s up to them.”
— Brigid Berlin

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‘Richard Avedon: Murals’ at The Met, Celebrating the Centennial of the Famed Photographers Birth in 1923

 

 

 

Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol & member of the Factory, NYC, October 30, 1969. From left: Paul Morrissey, director; Joe Dallesandro, actor; Candy Darling, actress; Eric Emerson, actor; Jay Johnson, actor; tom Hompertz, actor; Gerard Malanga, poet; Viva, actress; Morrissey; Taylor Mead, actor; Brigid Polk, actress, Dallesandro; Andy Warhol, artist.

To celebrate the centennial of Richard Avedon’s birth in 1923, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a selection of the photographer’s most innovative group portraits in the exhibition Richard Avedon: MURALS, opening January 19, 2023. Although Avedon first earned his reputation as a fashion photographer in the late 1940s, his greatest achievement was his stunning reinvention of the photographic portrait. Focused on the short period between 1969 and 1971, this exhibition will explore a critical juncture in the artist’s career, when, after a hiatus from portraiture, he began working with a new camera and a new sense of scale. The exhibition will be organized around three monumental photomurals in The Met collection (the largest measures nearly 10 x 35 feet) that depict the era’s preeminent artists, activists, and politicians. Uniting the murals with session outtakes and contemporaneous projects, the exhibition will track Avedon’s evolving approach to group portraiture, through which he transformed the conventions of the genre.

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The Brant Foundation to Present a Landmark Andy Warhol Exhibition at East Village Location

 

 

 

Andy Warhol, Thirty Are Better Than One, 1963. Synthetic Polymer paint and silkscreen ink on Canvas
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Brant Foundation is pleased to present Thirty Are Better Than One, an exhibition of over 100 artworks by Andy Warhol, at its East Village location. On view from May 10 through July 31, 2023, the survey spans the entirety of Warhol’s illustrious career, from his early drawings and intimate Polaroids to instantly recognizable silkscreens and sculptures. Thirty Are Better Than One pulls in large part from the Brant Collections, which includes an expansive and coherent selection of Warhol’s work. It is curated by Peter M. Brant, founder of The Brant Foundation and an early patron, collaborator, and close friend of the artist.

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Al Diaz/SAMO @ Same Old Gallery ~57 Great Jones Street ~ Once Owned by Warhol & Studio of Basquiat

 

 

 

57 Great Jones Street, home/studio of Jean-Michel Basquiat and current exhibition of Al Diaz/SAMO

57 Great Jones, once owned by Andy Warhol, was the home and studio of Jean-Michel Basquiat. This month, the ground-floor space has been converted to a temporary gallery, inspired by the late artist ~ with an opening exhibition by Basquiat’s friend Al Diaz, also known as #SAMO, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Basquiat’s passing.

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