PITTSBURGH ARTNEWS BRIEF (5/23 – 6/9)

by Emma Riva / Image courtesy of AAP

Ok, it’s been a minute since I posted an update. No excuses. I was just busy. This is a one-woman show. But I’m here with the Pittsburgh artnews.

The Warhol just opened Patrick Moore’s final show with them, KAWS + Warhol, and while reviews have been a little mixed, the 30th anniversary party was fun! However, Devo did “Whip It” as the second song in their set. Where do you go from there?! Maybe that’s a metaphor for the Icarus-like efforts of museum administrators trying to up their programming. But it’s interesting to reflect on what the museum is going to take forward into its next era. You can brush up on Warhol history with Dominique Seneca’s “Are the Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame Up?”—one of Petrichor‘s best performing pieces.

In more museum thoughts, I found a little more information on the new Museum of Diversity and Culture on the South Side, via KDKA. Collector and founder Michael Berger promises art by Kara Walker, Stephen Towns, and Hung Liu. All big names. It’s mysterious to me that this story seems to have gotten so buried in the last few months, when a new museum is a pretty big deal.

Berger says: “Pittsburgh needs to be the center of culture instead of the center of steel because the center of steel was great in its time, but it’s no longer necessary.” He also says there is “nothing on the South Side”—uh, Brew House would like a word, and also my apartment, the hottest art collection in the city, but I see his point.

It also gets into a larger conversation about what Pittsburgh is doing. Are we all in a circle-jerk of artistic stagnation? I’d love to hear your ideas about what the city is doing to support artists. Maybe a reader poll is in order? That’s something I’ve been wanting to try.

One thing I try to keep in mind with Petrichor and all projects is that Pittsburgh’s artistic history is much richer than a lot people give it credit for. For example, filmmaker and photographer Henry Chalfant is a native of Sewickley. He was recently in town for a screening of Style Wars, which I helped moderate. It was a reminder of the fact that the “greats” of twentieth century art are still around and want to share their thoughts.

So, in events, June 1st is actually a Saturday, and First Friday is actually June 6th, which is confusing. For FF, we have a Bunker Projects opening wth Paul Peng and Cole Modell on a double-bill, June 7. I love when Bunker does that, and it’ll be a great way to celebrate that they now own their building for real.

But other than that the offerings on Friday itself seem a little sparse, rare for a summer on Penn Ave. On Saturday, we have Bottom Feeder Books and Zynka Gallery openings. Bottom Feeder also has a double-bill of Sophia Maria Pappas and Cole Tucci, with Pappas in the front of the space and Tucci in the back.

The show I’m most excited about this month is You’re Doing It Wrong, curated by Blaine Siegel, on June 1st at AAP headquarters on 43rd Street.. The promotional image is from that show, which all sculptors playing with the idea of mistakes and doing things incorrectly. I love it. Make more mistakes. Make bad art, because I’d rather something be bad than boring.

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& show listings to petrichorpgh@gmail.com