Over at Artnet Ben Davis discusses Jessica Jackson Hutchins breakout at the Whitney Biennial. I like Hutchins work of course but feel she has a ways to go before growing beyond her current Kienholtz meets Franz West filtered through Voulkos and George Ohr charm and really hits on something major and completely her own. The thing is, from our talks I definitely feel she has it in her and I particularly like the fact she isn't terribly self-satisfied (a disease amongst young artists today).

Lisa Radon catches Richard Flood talking about something he knows nothing about, blogs, facebook etc. Personally, I avoided the talk because I feared he might say something like this (Portland is one of the most tech and word savvy cities on earth so I figured it was covered and I could do something productive). Honestly, I hope the New Museum can turn things around because right now it seems to be undergoing death by a thousand cuts in the court of critical opinion. No institution with new in its name and mission statement can afford such repeated stumbling. I disagree with the muckraking critiques too... instead, the real issue is the lack of curatorial compass the institution seems to have (not the less than pretty sausage making process that trustees and museum's must undergo). I could care less about the collector and Koons involvement other than they seem so poorly tuned to the times. So far the NuMu has had one critical slam dunk, Unmonumental. They need a few more so they can outflank the Whitney and other institutions by doing serious and eye opening solo shows that nobody else has done (or seen coming). Right now the NuMu looks like a lone figure swatting at a swarm of bees. Jerry Saltz answers Flood here.

And Seattle chimes in too, I love the fact that Seattle is the most sarcastic city in the USA and the Stranger is ground zero.