THEPAPERBAGWRITER

8 Poems

2009-02-09T18:59:55-05:00

NEW YORK STATE (4) In bleached wig and war Paint, I’m disguised. And sold Off all my clothes. Put on the white belt with A thousand stitches and buy A one way ticket To the nearest war zone. FORMING Plastic baggy…

The Leonoids

2009-02-09T18:21:07-05:00

Bruce is praying the astronomers are wrong. They called 2000 a peak year and he saw five meteors all night long. They called 2001 “super-peak” and he saw hundreds in the first minute. They’re calling 2002 “off-peak.” So far he’s seen three in two hours. …

Mr. Stud

2009-02-09T17:48:40-05:00

The package comes on a Friday. There is a five-foot box leaning against my door when I arrive home. It is not addressed to me but my address is printed sideways on the label, so I bring it in anyway. I have to use a ballpoint to cut…

ROAD TRIP: BOSTON!!

2009-01-26T15:07:39-05:00

I’ve noticed lately that the site has become a little New York-centric, which all and all is not a bad city for an art magazine to be centered around, but there is art elsewhere (if you know where to look.) I’m constantly on the road, investigating other art scenes and…

Art After Bush?

2009-01-10T21:59:53-05:00

The confetti has fallen on Capitol Hill. Our new president has been sworn into office and a new era, we hope, is underway. But Tuesday’s inauguration marks more than the end of an eight-year administration, but an end to eight-years of fiercely political art; work that was at its best…

What Ever Happened To The New Cacophony?

2008-12-29T05:44:44-05:00

In the wake of the art contemporary art markets’ most tumultuous year, critics and curators are scrambling to make sense of what’s left and comb through the wreckage to find morsels of legitimate art. What I suspect will happen is a much needed correction of the market to weed out…

Looking Forward: What We Want To Hear In 2009

2008-12-29T05:09:13-05:00

Despite the immanent industry apocalypse the record companies have been warning, 2008 was a remarkable year for music marked by a series of strong releases from our favorite artists as well a handful of new ones. If we have high hopes for 2009, it’s because we know what’s coming. Here…

What We Expect For 2009

2008-12-27T20:47:24-05:00

It’s been a weird year. The stock market collapsed, the art bubble burst, Montebello stepped down as director of the Met and Kren finally got booted from the Guggenheim, Christie’s isn’t meeting their marks and Sotheby’s is going under and yet Damien Hirst still made two-hundred million dollars and the…

PBW Launced

2008-12-19T21:48:56-05:00

Welcome to the new and improved PBW. Thank you for your patience as we revamped the site. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter for updates as we launch new content in the coming weeks.

Live Forever at The New Museum

2008-11-10T00:14:29-05:00

In an art world championed by monumental sculptures and large-format prints, Elizabeth Peyton, painter of small oil portraits and aquatint street scenes, would seem an unlikely success. But such is the mystery and romanticism that shrouds the elusive artists’ career; one that begun in a Chelsea hotel room and continues…

After Nature

2008-11-09T02:24:22-05:00

In his second major show at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, special exhibition director Massimiliano Gioni unveils his desolate vision of a not-so-distant future that is at once hopelessly romantic and knowingly absurd. With ninety works by twenty-six artists, the exhibition spans three floors and makes use of the…

Kalle Lasn

2008-11-09T02:03:11-05:00

Before YouTube and Flickr, before DeviantArt or Blogspot, Kalle Lasn was hard at work scheming for the democratization of the mainstream media. With the first issue of AdBusters in 1989, Lasn introduced the world to a whole new aesthetic, one born of the people, by the people, without ad agencies or corporate interventions. Twenty-years and a half a dozen titles later, Lasn is working harder than ever; but he’s not alone. His operation has grown into an industry and his network now counts over 100,000 members. We spoke to Lasn from his Vancouver offices on the occasion of the release of his latest book, Design Anarchy, an anthology of aesthetics.

For Two Voices in 5/4

2008-11-08T20:59:01-05:00

a new prophetess dreamed it from the red apex of a carnival cranial plate shift or earthquake buries the ferris wheel across the street waits in bed for your father; wants to check your flight, he insists on sleep subterfuge at…

Fauntleroy

2008-11-08T20:39:58-05:00

Mamma, him, his father was ill his mother, very ill, shut down fifty percent more abortions left his widowed mamma optimistic in America Grumpy hard-hearted life changes and grandfather’s wishes transforming curves into hard lines …

Broken Shoulders

2008-11-07T21:09:47-05:00

I want to have a car accident. If I sit in a passenger seat, I want to reach over, yank the wheel so the tires tip, and feel myself roll. I don’t why. I clench my fists, sit on my hands and think to myself, “That’s not right,…

OBAMA-RAMA!!!

2008-11-07T19:48:00-05:00

It’s been an exciting week; a new president has been elected and the promise of a new era has restored hope among millions of troubled Americans. When Barack Obama announced his victory Tuesday night to a crowd of teary-eyed spectator he spoke of hope, progress and change. Words that have…

The Great Correction 2009

2008-11-07T19:09:18-05:00

You don’t need an analyst to tell you which way the line graphs are heading and even if art may have looked impenetrable six months ago, even the most hopeful collectors are running to Sotheby’s. But the economic doom and gloom isn’t all bad though I wouldn’t stop that auction…