Category Archives: Contemporary Art

What drew you to the Egyptian Galleries?

One morning in late September, I went to Lan Tuazon’s studio in Bushwick with Pierce Jackson, who is making the videos for Raw/Cooked. Lan was talking us through her sculptural combines, which are now on view in the Museum’s 3rd … Continue reading

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Behind the Scenes on The Latino List

If you’ve visited The Latino List exhibition, you may have wondered how Timothy Greenfield-Sanders creates such monumental photographs. It all starts with the camera. For over 30 years Greenfield-Sanders’s signature tools have been the large-format camera and the large-format negatives … Continue reading

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Calling Rapaljes, Rapeljes, Raplees and all descendants!

Get ready for some surprising encounters when you visit the Brooklyn Museum’s beloved period rooms this February, when several of the rooms will be the site of a group show called Playing House, which I’ve been working on with curator … Continue reading

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What’s the deal with the pumpkins?

If you have walked through Raw/Cooked: Kristof Wickman then you have probably noticed the abundance of cast pumpkins. As the Coordinator for Raw/Cooked, I had the pleasure of working closely with the artist on the exhibition and when all was said … Continue reading

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Give a Flower, Share Your Experience

As Eugenie noted in her post, The Moving Garden is installed in our Rubin Pavilion and the artist invites the visitor to take a flower from the installation on the condition that the person takes a detour on the way … Continue reading

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The Power of Flowers

A long granite table top filled with roses now welcomes visitors as they enter the Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway.  You might be tempted to think that this spectacular new flower arrangement is part of a campaign to beautify the … Continue reading

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How has your culture shaped your life and accomplishments?

All eyes will be on you this fall when you enter the Great Hall and encounter the twenty-five massive photographic portraits by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders that comprise The Latino List. Those of you who remember his incredibly popular and thought-provoking 2008 … Continue reading

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A Tree Blossoms in Brooklyn

In preparation for the exhibition Sanford Biggers: Sweet Funk—An Introspective, conservators took part in preparing and installing Blossom, 2010, a recent acquisition to the collection. Blossom is a mixed-media installation depicting a life-size sculpture of an oak tree extending out … Continue reading

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A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

Judging from the aphorisms “a penny saved is a penny earned” or “a penny for your thoughts,” the copper cent at one time possessed a degree of value that it has since lost, but there’s a place for those seemingly worthless … Continue reading

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Skylar Fein and Abraham Lincoln: a look into Brooklyn’s collections

With the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War it is a good moment to look back through time and how Americans have been depicted over the years in both the objects we live with and through the popular press. … Continue reading

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reOrder: Breaking Ground

Some may have seen my post in December about my visit to a drafty construction site in Manhattan to view Situ Studio’s full-scale mock up related to the firm’s reOrder project. The mock up consisted of one of the column … Continue reading

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reOrder Takes Shape

As many may know Situ Studio, a Brooklyn based architectural and fabrication firm, has been preparing for their installation reORDER, which will be presented here in conjunction with the completed renovation of the Museum’s Great Hall, March 5th 2011. Situ … Continue reading

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Collaborations, Continued

The current exhibition Andy Warhol: The Last Decade features some remarkable paintings that Warhol made with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente in the 1980s. With the earliest of these, one artist would begin a canvas and then it was circulated … Continue reading

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Object of the Month: August 2010: Miscegenated Family Album

It’s when a work of art is able to communicate on many different levels at the same time – when it can speak to audiences on both an emotional and intellectual level – that I often feel it’s the most … Continue reading

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Hank Willis Thomas on View

Last year I blogged about a great new acquisition, Hank Willis Thomas’ “Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America.” I am thrilled that we have now installed this series of 41 photographs on the Museum’s fifth floor. It is a … Continue reading

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