A R T L E T T E R
The Timely Magazine of Art
#1 | next>!> Artletter index | March 15, 1995 |
Cy Twombly at the Menil Collection ends 3/19 The early abstract expressionist works (in the hallway) are surprisingly impressive. Best works are in the first and second rooms: the transition from writing to drawing to painting is seamless and unforced. The chalkboard paintings (in room 3) have their fans, too. The new Twombly Gallery was a dim cavern on the dark, overcast day that I went, and looks like the featureless telephone switching station at Heights Blvd. and 8th st. The cloth ceiling was interesting. Beware the infamous "green room".-B.D. George Condo at the CAM 4/23 After all of the art historical points are made, are these good paintings? The cubo-surrealist style works hold up, perhaps because these more intellectual styles coincide with Condo's own analytical leanings, but a bad copy of a DeKooning is still bad when butted together with some other stuff.-B.D. Elvis and Marilyn: 2X Immortal at the CAM 3/26 A grab bag of Elvis and Marilyn imagery, mostly superficial and campy (as expected). Andy Warhol's 1967 Four Marilyns still seems the clearest evocation of how personality can be a commodity. The only piece which enlarged my understanding of the Elvis phenomenon was Rena La Caria's sincere, pornographic Elvis the King.-B.D. Elvis and Marilyn: 2X Immortal at the CAM 3/26 Sharon Kopriva's piece in Elvis and Marilyn is both unimaginative and reprehensibly bad. I must give her credit for coming up with the most amateurish piece in a dull and uninventive exhibit. Her attempt at crucifying Elvis has no more depth than a religious gift store trinket with a gnarly muppet charm. A muppet dipped in shellac.-J.P.S. Barnabas Strickland at the Art League 3/31 Four carved(?) marble panels with images of cars. I looked twice to see if he actually carved them by hand, and I think he did. An interesting, funny idea unnecessarily encumbered with gadgetry. Don't read the artist's statement about what these panels are supposed to be doing.-B.D. Look for Artletter #2 on April 1 Address correspondence to: Bill Davenport, 801 Tulane St., Houston, TX 77007