Thank you to everyone who made it out West to PROP at Departure Gallery. There were good vibes all round for the new direction my work is taking which was great to hear - the exhibition remains open by appointment until the 23rd October, with another special opening in conjunction with the Private View of Rhizomatic on the 8th October. Curated by Louise Ashcroft from Departure Gallery, this ambitious project is based on philosophers, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guttari's concept of Rhizome and will see works by over two hundred artists take over a 100,000 square foot space at Boeing Way on The International Trading Estate in Southall. More details to follow... but until then, with my mind accustomed to bigger and better art, space and things, queue the doyenne of large scale Public Art to show us how it's really done. 820 Washington Street in New York plays host to the newest commissioned work by Barbara Kruger for the Whitney On Site series at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The monochrome statements, printed on vinyl, have been installed on the pavements and the tops of buildings within this block in the Meatpacking district. "REAL ESTATE ART MONEY SEX" is not only conceptually attractive but in keeping with this area's transformation from subculture central to high culture HQ and may be the most personal expression of Kruger's portfolio to date: for these messages are not for the passerby, they are speaking to a society that inhabits a higher vantage point, able to see from high above while they look down on their conquered territory. Elitist, yet so public in scale, Kruger encompasses precisely what the Art World has become over the last century as well as commenting on New York's central positioning of a market that manages to balance culture with currency. Looks like I finally have an excuse to charter a helicopter from Manhattan Heliport!
820 Washington Street at Gansevoort & Washington
