TOAST

TOAST is the TriBeCa Open Artist Studio Tour. I spent a rather dispiriting afternoon touring around the studios. I started at the NY Academy of Art at 111 Franklin St. which had an exhibition of alumni and faculty work. The work was figurative and fairly conventional. It was hung like a 19th century salon, much like the royal Academy summer shows, which was probably just as well as it didn't encourage lingering over individual artworks. I only visited three artists studios because I found it rather depressing. The "studios" were in fact people's living accomodation which had been converted into make-shift gallery spaces. The artists presented a rather bohemian front which said more about their own sense of identity as an "artist' than any merit in the actual work.

On the upside I saw Julia Kristeva talk about her new novel, Murder in Byzantium. She spoke about the interweaving of autobiography, history, fiction and politics. What a treat.