I Like That The Art World Isn't

I See Around 100 Shows A Month, Going From Niketown-size Palaces Where You Feel Like Yelling, To Storefronts In Bushwick. Each Has To Pay The Bills; Keep Artists Happy; And Cope With Collectors (oy!), Curators (ay-yi-yi), Critics (woo-hoo!), And Occasionally Plumbers. That Their Fiscal Life Often Hangs In The Balance Only Adds To The Energy.

Art Is A Way Of Showing The Outside World What Your Inside World Is Like.

The Place Has Had A Super-conflicted Relationship To Its Mission. In 1956, It Opened As The Museum Of Contemporary Crafts. Then In 1986 It Had A Midlife Crisis And Changed Its Name To The American Craft Museum. Then In 2002 The Name Changed Again, This Time To The Museum Of Arts And Design. Maybe In 2025 The Place Will Be Called The Designatorium. The Big Problem With A Museum Of Craft And Design Is That All Art Has Craft And Design.

If Only We Could Persuade Galleries To Observe A Fallow Period In Which, For Two Months Every Other Year, New And Old Works Of Art Could Be Sold In Back Rooms And All Main Galleries Would Be Devoted To Revisiting Shows Gone By.

Among Living Artists, George Condo May Be The Most Embraced By The Powers That Be.