Venice Is The Perfect Place

First Let Me Report That The Art In The Barnes Collection Has Never Looked Better. My Trips To The Old Barnes Were Always Amazing, But Except On The Sunniest Days, You Could Barely See The Art. The Building Always Felt Pushed Beyond Its Capacity.

Now People Look At 'the Scream' Or Van Gogh's 'irises' Or A Picasso And See Its New Content: Money. Auction Houses Inherently Equate Capital With Value.

The Debut Show, “second Lives: Remixing The Ordinary,” Is Supposed To Be About How Artists Reuse Humble Or Unusual Materials. There’s Good Work Here, But Much Of What’s On View Is Actually More About Obsession And Repetition: A Couch Made Out Of 3,500 Quarters, A Necklace Composed Of 100 Handgun Triggers. The Building, Too, Seems Caught Between Wanting To Be An Object Of Decorative Delectation And Making An Architectural Statement.

I Think That A Lot Of Artists Have Succeeded In Making What I Might Call "curator's Art." Everybody's Being Accepted, And I Always Want To Say, "really? That's What You've Come For? To Make Art That Looks A Lot Like Somebody Else's Art?" If I Am Thinking Of Somebody Else's Art In Front Of Your Art, That's A Problem.

Make An Enemy Of Jealousy And Envy. As Fast And Soon As You Can…. The Art World Is High School With Money.