Jan. 7, 2010 

SANTA FE SCENE COMES TO CHELSEA
The announcement card carries an image that is both arresting and provocative: a painting of a coyote carrying in its mouth a hot dog, complete with a swirl of yellow mustard, the work of artist Steven Yazzie. "In/Sight 2010," Jan 15-Feb. 13, 2010, presents works by 21 American Indian artists at the Chelsea Art Museum. The show is organized by freelance curator Clarissa Dalrymple with Michael Chapman, co-founder of the Unreserved American Indian Fashion and Art Alliance, and draws on the extensive art scene centered around the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. "Most of the artists involved are deeply connected to their tribes," Dalrymple said, "though the show also contains a few conceptual odd-balls."

The exhibition is billed as reflective of the "sensibility and spirit unique to the American Indian experience." Artists in the show are Lorenzo Clayton & Timothy Patrick Corbett, Cloud Medicine Crow, Joe Feddersen, Nathan Hart, Lisa Holt & Harlan Reano, Norma Howard, Athena La Tocha, Jason Lujan, Douglas Miles, Eliza Naranjo Morse, Jolene Rickard, Mateo Romero, Sarah Sense, Preston Singletary, Bently Spang, Renzo Spirit Buffalo, Gail Tremblay, Kade Twist, Will Wilson, and Steven Yazzie. Works in the exhibition are for sale, with the proceeds going to the artists.

FERUS GALLERY TO RESURFACE IN L.A.
When the new Los Angeles contemporary art fair -- which travels under the moniker Art Los Angeles Contemporary -- opens at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Jan. 28-31, 2010, the legendary Ferus Gallery will be there. New York art dealer Franklin Parrasch and Tim Nye of Nyehaus are presenting "Ferus Gallery Greatest Hits Volume I," Jan. 28-30, 2010, a show of works by Billy Al Bengston, Craig Kauffman, Ed Kienholz, Ken Price, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol, all veterans of the pioneering Ferus years, 1957-66. What’s more, the exhibition is being presented in the original Ferus storefront at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard. The two dealers plan to take the show on the road as well, and present it at the Armory Show in New York.

TATE MODERN EXPANSION BREAKS GROUND
London mayor Boris Johnson kicked off 2010 by officially launching the new expansion of the Tate Modern. The Herzog & de Meuron design calls for converting part of the Switch House, an electricity substation south of the Tate’s Turbine Hall, into 5,000 square meters of new spaces for art and performance, with a new brick lattice facade that is to be lit at night. The facility, which is estimated to cost £215 million and open in 2012 in time for the Olympic games, exploits waste heat from the Switch House transformers, using 54 percent less energy and emitting 44 percent less carbon.

GREEK ARTIST TESTS TERRORISM LAW
Greek artist Xenofon Kawadias, a grad of Central St Martins School of Art and Design, is gaining press attention in London for his efforts to put "terrorist textbooks" on display in art galleries, an action that might open him to prosecution under the UK Terrorism Act. According to the Guardian, Kawadias plans to present texts such as the Manual of Afghan Jihad, the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook, and the Islamic Ruling on the Permissibility of Martyrdom Operations as part of an art exhibition. Dawadias says his goal is not to support terrorism, but rather free speech.

Kawadias exhibited the covers of three such books in plastic cases for his MA degree show, and has displayed entire books, sealed in cases, in a show at the 10 Vyner Street gallery. His grand scheme, according to the Guardian, is a library of banned books that would "create a portrait of demons and fears." But British courts have jailed people for possession of such documents (on the grounds that they incite terrorism), and Kawadias says he won’t proceed in England unless he can secure assurances that he won’t be prosecuted.

ARTWORKS FOR NYC TAXI ROOF CONES
Would you prefer to have your artworks in museums and galleries? Too bad. This month, thanks to the Art Production Fund, about 500 New York City yellow cabs have artworks on their rooftop "advertising cones," as they are called. Three artists have been tapped to provide images: Alex Katz (who is presenting pix of recent paintings), Yoko Ono (her familiar "war is over" slogans, in English as well as in sign language) and Shirin Neshat (images of a woman’s eye and a handshake, both adorned with Persian calligraphy). The ad space is donated by Show Media, founded in 2006 by Laurence Hallier and John Amato, in the context of a recession-induced advertising shortfall. Taxi!

MCCALLUM & TARRY SURVEY AT MARYLAND INSTITUTE
Artists Bradley McCallum & Jacqueline Tarry, the collaborative team whose installation of mug-shot portraits of Civil Rights protesters was a highlight of the 2008 Prospect.1 Biennial in New Orleans, are having their first large-scale museum survey this spring. "Bearing Witness," May 6-July 31, 2010, takes place at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore as well as at the Maryland Institute College of Art, the co-organizing institution, and other museum and gallery venues in the city.

In addition to featuring selections from the duo’s 12-year collaboration, the show premieres McCallum & Tarry’s new "Projection Series," described as "a painting-based installation rooted in the language of film stills and stage photographs that investigate the intersection of race and popular culture." The exhibition is organized by Jennie Hirsh and a group of students as part of MICA’s "exhibition development seminar," and is one of several events celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Contemporary Museum. 

MICHAEL BRAND OUT AT GETTY
He had the British accent (Australian, actually) but was perhaps insufficiently cutthroat for the job (i.e., he was too nice). Michael Brand, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for the last four years, has resigned, a year before his five-year contract is up (but he will collect his full salary). Brand, 52, told the Los Angeles Times that the move was his decision, but refused to give further details. David Bomford, the Getty’s associate director for collections, is serving as interim director.

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