NEW ART GETS SPUNKY
The new fall season promises nothing if not new art, and one of the first to take a ticket in this hotly contested sweepstakes is Exit Art with its annual show of emerging artists, Sept. 8-Oct. 27, 2001. Fearlessly dubbed "Spunky," the exhibition is organized by Exit Art braintrusters Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo with show coordinator Fairfax Dorn. The artists: Alicia Ackerman, Larry Bamburg, Avner Ben-Gal, Sandra Bermudez, Timothy Blum, Frank Bramblett, Cooper, Jason D'Aquino, Sharon Engelstein, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Chris Fancione, Tomer Ganihar, Marc Grubstein, Kimberley Hart, James Hegge, Yongkyoung Kim, Sun K. Kwak, Sigalit Landau, Edmundo de Marchena, Patrick Martinez, Ryan McGinness, Philip Rantzer, Blake Sandberg, Hyungsub Shin and Mette Tommerup.
Veterans of Exit Art's new talent shows include many of today's contemporary-art superstars, such as Inka Essenhigh, William Cotton and Shirin Neshat. The works in "Spunky" are for sale at prices ranging from $500 to $20,000.
VERMEER TO SILVER SCREEN?
The considerable success of Pollock, actor and director Ed Harris' labor-of-love biopic of superstar painter Jackson Pollock, seemed guaranteed to deliver still more Hollywood adaptations of the lives of famous artists. This week's hot title is Girl with a Pearl Earring, a film version of the popular novel by Tracy Chevalier that fictionalizes the life of a 16-year-old housemaid who worked for Johannes Vermeer and sat for the painting of the same name. According to the trade press, filming is slated to begin this fall in the Netherlands with an undetermined cast -- though Kate Hudson is said to be in talks for the lead.
GUGG RESCHEDULES VEGAS OPENINGS
The Guggenheim Museum has pushed back the opening date of its two Las Vegas satellite spaces for three weeks. The Hermitage Guggenheim Museum and the Guggenheim Las Vegas now open to the public on Oct. 7, 2001, with "Masterpieces and Master Collectors" and "The Art of the Motorcycle," respectively. "After arduous and careful analysis of the construction and installation paths, and after consultation with all of the construction managers and museum professionals working on this project, we had come to the conclusion that there was a real possibility that we might not be ready if we maintained the 16 September opening date," said Gugg director Thomas Krens. Both museums, which are designed by Rem Koolhaas, are located at the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino.
HOLZER AT NEW CHEIM & READ
Veteran art dealers John Cheim and Howard Read, who opened Cheim & Read on West 23rd Street in 1997, are moving the gallery to larger quarters at 547 West 25th Street. The inaugural exhibition, opening Oct. 16-Nov. 17, 2001, features a new work by Jenny Holzer in her first New York gallery show since 1994. The new 6,000 square foot gallery, which was formerly a garage, was designed by Gluckman Mayner Architects, and features two large galleries and a third smaller exhibition space. Holzer's new work, which is titled Oh, is described as "an intimate text about a girl child" that runs on multiple electronic signs.
TRANS HUDSON CLOSES
One of the pioneering galleries of New York's Chelsea art district has closed. Trans Hudson, which was opened by Joseph Szoecs eight years ago at 416 W. 13th Street (moving there from its original location in Jersey City), exhibited a range of works from Korean conceptual artist Beom Kim to the history paintings of the late Sidney Tillim. Szoecs, who ran the gallery on a shoestring, said he shuttered the gallery because he was emotionally and fiscally exhausted. A former trader on the New York futures exchanges, Szoecs says he plans to establish a money management firm, and hopes to reopen a gallery "when I can afford it."
The disreputable stretch of 13th Street is still to be a gallery destination, however, as Sperone Westwater is reported to be taking 15,000 square feet at 417 West 13th Street.
TACOMA READIES GLASS MUSEUM
The new $48-million, 75,000-square-foot Museum of Glass, designed by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, is slated to open in July 2002 on the waterfront in Tacoma, Wa. Though the scheduled opening is a year off, glass lovers are invited to a sneak peek on Sept. 7 (for more info, call 253-396-1768). Erickson's design features a 90-foot-tall, tilted stainless steel cone that will house a "hot shop" -- a working glass forge. Other dramatic components are a $9.3-million, 500-foot-long steel and glass pedestrian bridge designed by Dale Chihuly that connects the museum's rooftop plaza to the city downtown, and a plaza artwork commissioned by the city of Tacoma from Howard Ben Tré. The museum is headed by Josi Irene Callan and Neil Watson serves as curator.
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