ENTERTAINMENT
January 19, 2010 | By Geraldine Baum
The dealer had heard about the two young artists who spent the occasional evening ransacking a hotel room, ripping apart phone books, writing on the walls and getting stoned. Even the artists weren't sure this was art. But Jeffrey Deitch was. He handed them keys to his SoHo gallery and for almost a week they crammed it with 2,000 shredded phone books, and stabbed a broomstick and broken wine bottles in the walls for "Nest," a show that was to remain there for a month. It didn't even survive the raucous opening night party.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 12, 2010 | By CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT, Art Critic
Why does the Museum of Contemporary Art's board of trustees dislike art museums? That's the uncomfortable question hanging in the air as the nation's premier contemporary art museum names Jeffrey Deitch, 57, its fourth director in 30 years. In selecting new leadership, trustees shunned candidates from an international museum roster that has grown vast in recent decades. Instead they reached deep into the New York art market to find a director for the critically admired, financially strapped institution.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 12, 2010 | By Mike Boehm
Jeffrey Deitch stepped into a gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Monday where a photographer was set to take his portrait in front of a painting in the shape of a bull's-eye by Kenneth Noland. But Deitch, 57, had another idea for a backdrop: He suggested "A Lot to Like," James Rosenquist's massive 1962 canvas that occupied another wall in the gallery. "Jim's a friend," Deitch said. The offhand remark illustrates the assets and potential drawbacks that New Yorker Deitch, appointed Monday as MOCA's new director, brings to his new role in Los Angeles and the larger art world.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 9, 2010 | By Mike Boehm
L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art says it will name its new director Monday, and one of the names in play is that of Jeffrey Deitch, a high-flying New York City art dealer who, if chosen, would represent a break with art museum convention. Neither the museum, nor arts patron Eli Broad -- whose $30-million pledge was the cornerstone of the museum's rescue from financial peril in late 2008 -- would comment on the finalists for the job. "We've interviewed about 13 people and no decision has been made yet, by either the search committee or the board, but we hope that will happen soon," Broad said.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 11, 2009 | Mike Boehm
When it comes to extracting free labor from famous cinematic figures, it would be hard to top Francesco Vezzoli. The Italian video artist's output over the last 12 years reflects his ability to get highly paid cinematic talent to work without pay. Vezzoli's enlistees so far have included Helen Mirren, Sharon Stone, Courtney Love, Benicio del Toro, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Sonia Braga, Marianne Faithfull, Natalie Portman, Roman Polanski, Michelle...
ENTERTAINMENT
November 11, 2009 | Susan Carpenter
Bifocals resting on his nose, Chris Burden mounted the scrawny Benelli motorcycle and kicked the machine to life. Revving the motor in first gear to make sure the 41-year-old beast would stay awake, he upshifted to second, then third, forcing the rear wheel of the tiny bike to spin faster and faster against the big wheel with which it was making contact. With the motorcycle revved to 50 miles per hour, Burden's graying hair fluttered from the wind generated by the enormous metal flywheel.