Kiki Smith’s “Bowed Woman” tries to hide in the corner in shame for being part of Jeff Koons show at the New Museum (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
SELECTIONS FROM THE DAKIS JOANNOU COLLECTION
New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Wednesday-Sunday through June 6
Admission: $12 (free Thursday nights 7:00 – 9:00)
212-219-1222
www.newmuseum.org
For “Skin Fruit,” the new multimedia exhibition at the New Museum, guest curator Jeff Koons rounds up many of the usual suspects — Matthew Barney, Charles Ray, Urs Fischer, Chris Ofili, Terence Koh, Cindy Sherman, Paul Chan, Takashi Murakami, Paul McCarthy, Kara Walker, Richard Prince, Franz West, and Jenny Holzer — but has chosen some of their uglier work, resulting in a monstrosity of a show. The sculptures, paintings, video, and performances were all selected from the collection of New Museum trustee Dakis Joannou. Of course, while it is possible that Koons didn’t really have that much to work with and that the show is more indicative of Joannou’s tastes than Koons’s, that doesn’t excuse this uninspired, crowded wreck, perhaps exemplified by John Bock’s first-floor installation, “Maltratierte Fregatte,” centering on a purposefully smashed bus, or even more by Kiki Smith’s “Mother/Child” sculpture in which a man is playing his own skin flute. There are a couple of excellent rooms, however, one designed by Robert Gober and the other pairing Maurizio Cattelan’s “All” white body bags with a woman singing “This is propaganda,” then telling visitors that it is by Tino Sehgal. “Skin Fruit” pales in comparison to the other current celebrity-curated show in town, “Size Does Matter,” the two-floor FLAG Art Foundation exhibit put together by basketball star Shaquille O’Neal. Coincidentally enough, Koons has included in “Skin Fruit” his own “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank,” the first artwork acquired by Joannou and one that features a basketball suspended in a tank of water. (Koons has also curated the current Ed Paschke exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery on Madison Ave., which runs through April 24; Koons worked as an assistant to the late Chicago painter, explaining, “Ed Paschke taught me what it meant to be a professional artist.”)
Friday, March 26 A Proposition by Rodney McMillian: 13 unrelated ideas, lecture, $8, 7:00
Saturday, March 27 A Proposition by Rodney McMillian: 13 unrelated ideas, guest speaker response at 12 noon, performance featuring McMillian, Tracie D. Morris, and Chicava HoneyChild at 3:00, $8
Thursday, April 1 Get Weird: Mick Barr + Infinite Body, $12, 7:00
Saturday, April 3 First Saturdays for Families — Skin Fruit: Why Trash It?, free, 10:00 am