Monday, November 2, 2009

The November Brooklyn Rail Cover [Updated]


Update:  A friend brought it to my attention after some confusion that there are indeed three different covers for the November issue of the Brooklyn Rail.  I spoke with Phong Bui, the publisher of the Rail, who told me he wanted to promote other artists featured in the issue and do something different with the publication.  The issue was divided into thirds, and I believe my drawing about the New Museum can only be found on the cover of the 7,000 issues printed.  They are currently available in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at Spoonbill & Sugartown as well as other locations on Bedford Avenue.  It is also available elsewhere and I will see if I can get a list from Phong where those are.  The fact that there are different covers came as something of surprise to me and with such a politically sensitive issue I think it may appear that the Rail may have hedged in their commitment to the cover.  I'd prefer to think after knowing Phong for many years that he felt obligated to run the other potential covers as well, since my drawing was delivered two days before the current issue was finished and ready to be sent to press.
    The fact is the drawing was originally slated to be an editorial cartoon in the spirit of Ad Reinhardt.  For Phong to make the decision to use the image on the cover at all attests to the Rail's commitment to critical perspectives on art.
 

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

CONGRATS!

Mark Stone said...

Absolutely brilliant!

Adam Humphreys said...

saw this - googled you

Martin said...

nice i want to get it signed. this is the best kind of editioned art. i love this piece.

Fiona said...

This is brilliant!

smark said...

Awesome! Did they censor it?

Aja Kellie said...

Job well done. have you received anything but praise for this?

William said...

Awesome! Did they censor it?

It wasn't the Brooklyn Rail's decision.

Job well done. have you received anything but praise for this?

The NYPress wondered if I wasn't just trying to get invited into the circle and Flavorwire used the drawing to advertise their review of Urs Fischer's show. I'm not interested in critiquing his work at all, only how the New Museum will be showing the collection of their trustee Dakis Joannou, who also happens to be a big collector of Urs. I'm interested in the connections between the collector/trustee, the artist, the dealer, the curators, and the museum.

Flavorwire decided that Urs' work is just so good that it trumps the major ethical issue.

XRX XJX said...

E P I C

Kelly King said...

when I got to the rendering of the 'Imaginary Museum' i laughed out loud. ...some things have to be art, to be visual, to be in front of you on the page. very nice.

fabian G. Tabibian said...

It's so good that it's more than a bit humbling.

Thatcher Keats said...

"Whomsoever has not himself been under the tentacles of this throttling viper shall never know it's fangs"