Untitled (1972) by Peter Young

In case you missed it in the NYT's Roberta Smith took on the long overlooked Peter Young who has a show at PS.1. It seems fitting that with all the focus on psychedelia after Dave Hickey's Site Santa Fe show & the 2002 Whitney Biennial that some artists from the 60's and 70's might get a revival. Yayoi Kusama has already gone through the roof as have Jessica Steincamp, Chris Johanson, Karin Davie, Tim Bavington and Katarina Grosse. There is a younger group of artists like Takeshi Murata and Portlander Shawna Ferreira too. The Portland Art Museum even has an excellent Peter Young on display (fittingly in the big Greenberg room). The painting was given by the exceedingly sharp-eyed Ed Cauduro... the quality of his Warhols, Basquiats, Schnabels, Christopher Wools etc. establish him as the sharpest eyed collector in the Pacific Northwest. He even collected John Chamberlain's first crushed car sculpture, "Short Stop."

Also, the projects shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in Architecture (for British architects doing great projects abroad) have been announced. Im a big David Chipperfield fan because he builds very interesting, crisp yet functional public buildings. Portland should tap him for the upcoming 150 million dollar building for Multnomah County (which will be located just a bit north of the aerial tram and the Ross Island bridge). Look, if the Oregonian isn't going to fill Gragg's shoes somebody's got to hawk these projects and paying Brian Libby and Fred Leeson to freelance isn't the same... just hire Libby and get it over with (this isnt how newspapers think though). Right now Brian's blog is more relevant than the O's architectural coverage. I can definitely say that a host of Portland's most powerful leaders are concerned that the O is abdicating this important civic role, right when Portland most needs a high profile architecture and urban planning critic. Portland is being redefined right now and the O's loss of Gragg = near complete irrelevance. Oh and look what the Tribune is doing about it, at least they are tracking the players.

Next, ArtInfo has a great interview with Richard Tuttle too. Edward Winkleman takes issue with a few bits in the interview though and that too is worth a read. I understand where both Tuttle and Winkleman are coming from though. Tuttle, similar to Agnes Martin and Wes Mills takes a very inward process and makes the focused consciousness into a hermetic world that exists as a less hermetic object. I've heard both Tuttle and Mills describe this process as finding what is"real" and in a way they are right. As artists they need to believe that lie that tells the truth in their work. Ed, as an art dealer doesn't have the luxury of that possibly very real illusion. Maybe it's better to describe some art as a lie that "sells" the truth, with the first buyer being the artist?

Also, I like to see this collector driven idea developed for Portland.