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Scene report: Twombly
“One more cup of wine for our remaining happiness.”
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1971 (Courtesy Gagosian)
Greta Rainbow on the fashions and fancies of Gagosian’s Cy Twombly opening. Plus, good links from Daisy and our Dirt Discord.
After some etymological research, I have to concede that the word reception does not have any formal association with refreshments. And yet, we still expect these functions to include some kind of sustenance: canapés bobbing over heads, the sound of soft fizz and glasses clinking. While you hope for champagne, you count on prosecco. Neither were found on the Upper East Side the night of Thursday, January 23. The Gagosian Gallery’s opening for a new presentation of Cy Twombly works was extremely well-attended by extremely well-dressed people, and it was decidedly dry.
That the only offering was the art itself—several paintings are on view for the first time; other works on paper are returning to gallery walls for the first time in 40 years—did not deter the throngs. Some never made it through the line snaking around the marble lobby, missing the chance to swan about three rooms of paintings, prints, and exactly one sculpture (though maybe catching sight of director Sofia Coppola and her daughter Romy Mars being ushered swiftly past them). It might have been their last opportunity; after nearly four decades, Gagosian will be leaving 980 Madison Avenue later this year.
When I arrived at the glass doors underneath the aluminum statue of Venus at a quarter after six, I hadn't opened my mouth to speak to another human being all day, or to eat anything other than a packet of my roommate’s rice cakes and a bodega protein bar. Said roommate agreed to meet me; I’d promised free wine. She texted to warn that there were “many fancy people,” though “also a woman with a naya to go bag.” She’d opted to wear her bright green leopard-print JanSport, noting that while the rich can forgo layering to an extent, when it’s this cold, everyone looks a little frumpy.
We the rabble—which is to say, anyone below the Coppola tier—sweated indoors as a single overworked elevator whisked us to the art. We kept our coats on because there was nowhere to put them once ushered past the office area and into the art space. A hierarchy emerged between us and those who belong at the gallery—whether they have a corner desk or know someone with a utility closet key—and could stash the articles necessary to withstand 25 degrees with wind chill to reveal their outfits, unencumbered. This privileged set mainly comprises super pretty women in their twenties, proving that at Gagosian, at least, the gallerina prototype is immutable and immune to aesthetic expansion. A veritable Charlotte York lookalike contest. I scoped out a lot of riding boots paired with mid-thigh skirts, mid-calf skirts paired with loafers, and fitted suits that skimmed smart pumps. This might’ve been the most heterosexual I’d ever seen the art world.
At Gagosian, at least, the gallerina prototype is immutable and immune to aesthetic expansion
While free and open to the public, the event had the air of a recession-era office party. No booze, no music, no BFA-watermarked photo ops. But the floors were freshly polished, tomorrow was Friday, and the bosses had politely bowed out so the interns could chat up their crush from another department. The executives weren’t here. Larry wasn’t here. Witnessing a gallery girl ask a gallery boy, Is this your first time seeing it?, I remembered that while this was an opening, we were already several rungs down the ladder of walk-throughs.
PLAYBACK
Snippets of streaming news — and what we’re streaming.
If you’re in New York City, go see Picnic at Hanging Rock in a new 50th anniversary 4K restoration. (IFC Center)
“Shakersss.mov is a short VHS film directed by and starring multidisciplinary artist Solange Knowles. In this self-documented piece, Solange offers a diaristic, devotional, inward gaze.”
Colin Nagy on fabric - The Book
Tasteland has new intro and outro music! Check out Night Life by CHILLERS (Spotify)
Good news for Girls: Lena Dunham and Little House on the Prairie are coming to Netflix.
“Showbiz! feels like MIKE’s road trip album” (Pitchfork)
Simon & Schuster (the imprint) won’t require book blurbs anymore (Publishers Weekly)
Coconut Records is back. (Consequence)
60 songs that explain the 1990s… ‘How You Remind Me’ edition (Spotify)
Jeff Buckley’s mom didn’t want Brad Pitt to play him (Variety)
MIXTAPE
Good links from the Dirtyverse.
Ski bums are taking back the slopes. (New York Times)
“I’d never heard of anyone else having the pet dream until I found this Facebook page for dream interpretation.” merritt k on a recurring nightmare (Other Strangeness)
On the politics of believing in belief (The Point)
Tatum Dooley argues artists should have newsletters (Art Forecast)
Ottessa Moshfegh in Perfectly Imperfect: “The United States Postal Service is, second to the Department of Motor Vehicles, my favorite American institution.”
“Any brief synopsis of this book will make it sound indulgent, repetitive, and unabashedly nuts, and any honest assessment of it would have to concede that it is, in actual fact, all three of those things.” Daniel Kolitz on Garielle Lutz’s Backwardness (The Nation)
Artist Sasha Fishman interviewed in Daniel Docs
My mother held a big butcher’s knife in her hand. With her other hand, she held me close. “If you leave now, I’ll kill us both,” she said. (Cincinnati Review)
“I’ve had a romantic experience living here, but if you truly want to understand a culture, you have to acknowledge its flaws too.” Michelle Zauner in Seoul for SSENSE
I’ve been telling all my friends to read If Only by Vigdis Hjorth, but you don’t have to take it from me… (LRB)
“Suppose my fear is unwarranted, even exaggerated, but January thrummed with an amorphous violence. From the corner of your eye, its menace lingers, like the Willem de Kooning painting tucked away on a stairwell that antagonizes you with its chaos.” Terry Nguyen in Vague Blue
What went wrong with Pitchfork Fest? (WBEZ)
A short story about lichen and polyamory. (Joyland)
Carhartt WIP x Sacai FW25 (Reddit)
“Is this book a Jewish take on dystopian fiction, or is it a dystopian take on Jewish decline?” A review of Berlin Atomized. (moment)
Karl Ove Knausgaard on Celia Paul (The New Yorker)
Hunter Harris on Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song (Cosmo)
THE BOOK PRE-ORDER SECTION
Changeover: A Young Rivalry and a New Era of Men's Tennis by Giri Nathan (Gallery Books)
Kaplan’s Plot by Jason Diamond (Flatiron Books)
Never-before-published poems by John Berryman! (FSG)
The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey (FSG)
FROM DISCORD
@amelts: A collection of lichen-inspired apparel (Parks Project)
@Yoga_Fuego: “This is the kind of weight loss that formerly presaged some mortal ailment, where tailoring alterations ceased to become much of a concern.” (The Times)
@myk31: “I Want You (Fever)” by Momma
@hedhouseman: A vintage store in Cambridge, Mass. is hosting their annual clothing swap and repair day
🌱 JOIN THE DIRTYVERSE