Metalmags are so German Public Access circa 1980

Unraveled and Re-Knit

I've completed my first unraveled and re-knit sweater. To be fair it's not exactly a sweater anymore. And it's actually crocheted, not knit. I'm a big fat liar, okay? In the process of unraveling the Charter Club brand machine-knit sweater I lost quite a bit of thread so I had to settle for a much smaller re-creation. Using a loose crochet pattern helped the thread cover much more area than if I had knit it. You can see in the arm pit area of the original sweater that the pattern gets a little complicated. That's where the unraveling became problematic and the thread turned into a mess of knots.

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why I'm doing this. It's cheaper to reuse old sweater yarn than to buy new yarn, even when you factor in the cost of the sweater. Yarn is wildly expensive and I'm tired of paying for it. And, of course there is something of a comparison between machine-made and hand-made in play here, as well as deconstruction and reconstruction.

I've got four other sweaters unraveling right now and one in the process of becoming a re-knit shirt. I would love if anyone would like to donate old sweaters to this project that are otherwise headed for Goodwill. Single-colored sweaters work best (usually if there are multiple colors the sweater unravels into multiple strands and becomes a mess). Send me an email and I will come get them anywhere in the New York area. monicamjohnson@hotmail.com

I Can't Make It Anymore

Better Than the Whitney Biennial

Whitney Biennial

On Wednesday I went to the opening night of the Whitney Biennial, my first biennial of any kind. I have to be honest: it was a low-rent affair. Holland Cotter says it better:

...the overall tenor of the show is low-key, with work that seems to be in a transitional, questioning mode, art as conversation rather than as statement, testing this, trying that. Assemblage and collage are popular. Collaboration is common. So are down-market materials — plastic, plywood, plexiglass — and all kinds of found and recycled ingredients, otherwise known as trash.

Clever, that one... Still, Phoebe Washburn's installation, whose title as well as image is nowhere to be found on the Whitney's website, outshines all the the low-key trash. (alternate Washburn image above) Assortments of yellow and green golf balls stand in for lemons and limes in a factory-like installation that seems to create a botanically-based beverage. Upside-down buckets stabilize a wooden deck, through which plants grow with the help of clip lamps. Instant Gatorade packets flank the inner walls of the factory, making the conceptual link between golf balls, plants and beverage. Aquariums filled with colored water add an element of activity and industry.

Other works I liked were by Frances Stark (middle image) and Ry Rocklen (below). But, of course, these are not images of the work that I liked in the show. Sorry.

The only celebrity I saw the entire evening was Tracee Ellis Ross*, otherwise known as the bug-eyed girl on BET's sitcom Girlfriends. Like I said, it was a low-rent affair.

*I just found out she is also Diana Ross' daughter. I can't decide if this lowers or raises the rent...

Natural History Museum