Evening Lecture Series at the New York Studio School

Last month I posted about several lectures series at three area schools. Not much has changed for the IFA and Columbia since then, but today I received the poster/flyer for the New York Studio School’s evening lecture series of artists, critics, and historians. Admittedly, I don’t know a lot of these names, but others are well known. I haven’t seen the work of any of the artists, all of whom are painters and sculptors. Given the traditional nature of the school, I expect their work to be conservative, so it will be interesting to hear these artists’ points of view. First I’ll check out their work, I suppose.

On the art critic and historian side, there seems to be an emphasis on writers from the New Criterion; this includes a panel discussion, called “The New Criterion at 25” and taking place November 29, that includes Michael J. Lewis, Hilton Kramer, James Panero, and Karen Wilkin. I do not read this publication, so this panel will be an introduction of their work to me. (Panero, Wilkin, Roger Kimball, and Mario Naves are speaking on other dates too.) Other highlights include Ken Johnson of the New York Times, David Carrier interviewed by David Cohen of the New York Sun (a little-read conservative newspaper with good art coverage), Jeffrey Weiss (who is speaking on the intriguing topic of “Cy Twombly: Why Sculpture is Boring”), and Arthur C. Danto.

All of these are safe choices, and there’s no one representing either the more theoretical side of art history or hip writers from more mainstream art glossies. But I have heard some good talks there, including James Rosenquist and Jerry Saltz, so I am eager for the fall season.

Update: The New School’s Public Programs brochure for October came too. There’s not much art, except for a symposium on “Tropicalia: The Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture” that coincides with an exhibition on Brazilian art at the Bronx Museum of the Arts next month, and an artist’s talk with Dan Graham, sponsored by the Public Art Fund.