By MICAH J. MALONE In most biographical accounts of the late Al Taylor his identification and origin as a painter, as opposed to a sculptor, is almost always noted. Also, and more pertinent to my interests, was his trip to…
By MICAH J. MALONE Legal contracts, artists relationships with science, Boston’s slow march into “the Modern” era, as well as “the capitalist, linear escapism… of the Western Psyche” are just a few of the topics covered in Issue #127. I’d…
By MICAH J. MALONE Two recently opened shows in Portland, Oregon have positioned traditional and craft skills as a series of political acts: gestures that challenge convention and seek to re-affirm new roles within the discourse of art. While Timothy…
By MICAH J. MALONE For the past few columns I have focused on artists who began their careers – and built reputations – with work marked by a ruthless economy of means. Many artists who start with low cost materials…
By MICAH MALONE & MATTHEW NASH While editing the article “How To Start And Run An Alternative Gallery Space” by Big RED publisher Matthew Nash in issue #118, editor Micah Malone proposed: I would love a piece that talks more…
By MICAH J. MALONE Sports and art rarely coincide. Only a handful of contemporary artists come to mind that have utilized sports and athletes as a primary subject. Paul Pfeiffer’s wonderfully jarring videos of basketball star Larry Johnson in perpetual…
By MICAH J. MALONE I’ve hesitated to comment on the following story, if only because it is still being written. However, the fascinating conundrum that faces Chris Burden and Gagosian Gallery is far too rich to pass up. As was…
By MICAH J. MALONE What does it mean to sell something that does not have a definitive form? In my exploration of this question, I will focus on the generation that has led to many misconceptions about the commodity status…
By MICAH J. MALONE The fantastic book “Old Masters and Young Geniuses” does something almost unheard of: Author David Galenson formulates the two distinct archetypes of modern art through economic criteria and data. For Galenson, modern artists can be differentiated…
By MICAH J. MALONE Marcel Duchamp was always part of the market. Indeed, one can argue (and many have before me) that nearly all of Duchamp’s gestures were linked in one way or another to the economic machinery of his…
MARKETWATCH By Micah J. Malone Marketwatch was created as a means to speculate on what is good economic value in art. From time to time I will write upon great market choices, emphasizing small-scale enterprises. When talking about art markets, comparisons…
INTERVIEW WITH EMILY ISENBERG By Micah J. Malone I got to know Emily Isenberg in our brief but memorable crossover in Portland, OR. I had just moved to town and a mutual friend thought we should meet. This friend however, did…
By MICAH J. MALONE Print this article With several prominent commercial galleries shutting their doors only a year removed from two of the best non-profit spaces closing, it seems as good as time as any to talk about funding. Recently,…
By MICAH J. MALONE Anissa Mack’s recent exhibition at Small a Projects does something extraordinary: she participates in a “local” community’s practice without irony. Considering her subject matter is local crafters at a country fair, this is no small accomplishment.…
By MICAH J. MALONE The sparse and poetic work of Avantika Bawa seems at once both subtle and authoritative. “Sit/Stack”, the title of her exhibition at Portland State University’s Autzen Gallery, came to me like a command, a forceful voice…
By MICAH J. MALONE Jessie Rose Vala’s exhibition “The Tortuous Veil” is a new series of work based on four enigmatic mythical archetypes: The Werewolf, Vampire, Shape Shifter, and Zombie. While these entities have pervaded pop culture for much of…
By MICAH J. MALONE Camouflage is a modest exhibition dealing with artist’s use of pattern to construct paintings. The title of the exhibitions takes its name from Andy Warhol’s giant 37-foot canvas. While pattern has certainly been a major theme…
By MICAH J. MALONE Sean Horton has always had a knack for initiating projects. At one time or another, Sean has been integral to the founding of a record label, a gallery, an online arts journal and a graphic design…
By MICAH J. MALONE I’m going to be sick to my stomach. Christoph Büchel and Mass MoCA are still at it, with no ideal or agreeable solution in sight. As it stands at this moment, the museum will continue with…
By MICAH J. MALONE Print this article It is fair time again. On the heels of The Armory show, Scope New York and a host of others, the art world is fully entrenched in the workings of commerce. I hear…