...more recent posts
Pamela M. Lee on Robert Smithson in the new (Dec/Jan) Bookforum:
In its rigor and heft, its scope and illustrations, the new Robert Smithson exhibition catalogue is as compelling as a codex. Published on the occasion of a major traveling retrospective originating at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MoCA), itconveys the gravity of its subject through an encyclopedic array of entries: an exacting survey of Smithson's career by the exhibition's curator, Eugenie Tsai; a scholarly essay by an internationally esteemed art historian (Thomas Crow); an unpublished interview (conducted by Moira Roth) rescued from the dustbin of history; and shorter, more specific takes on diverse aspects of Smithson's practice—the logic of salt in his work; his enantiomorphic chambers; his architectural ambitions; his formative impact on contemporary art. These texts make an unequivocal case for the singularity of Smithson's contribution, detailing a much more complex picture of the artist than that of the cowboy architect behind Spiral Jetty.
A quick glance at some Argentine contemporary:
The Malba ('The Dia of Buenos Aires')
Ruth Benzacar ('The Leo Castelli of Argentina' - they will be in Miami if anyone is going)
Dabbah Torrejon (dealer with an interesting roster of younger Argentine artists)