The art season.

Usually, at this time, i split my time between art events (The Art Show at the Armory, the Whtiney Biennial, the Armory Show - which is distinctly different from the Art Show at the Armory; a little confusing there) and screenings. But this year, for various reason (namely, screenings), i decided to forego the art events. Do i miss it? I don't know. What's out there? Are there new artists? It's always interesting to see the "hot" names of the season.

Looking in the Sunday Styles section of the NY Times, there were photos from the gala that Asia Society had, with its new exhibition celebrating the Rockefeller Family collection of Asian Art. The other day, Larry went to the press preview, which turned out to be a luncheon, and he wound up being seated with Charles Rockefeller. And in the photos of the gala, there's Charles Rockefeller! Larry loves these situations, because he loves to talk to people, etc. I hate it. I've become worse with the years, almost surly and noncommunicative. Whatever bubbly, friendly vibe i seem to have has flattened out, almost totally. When i go to an event, i'll talk to the people i know, and that's about it.

But the panel meetings this week means i definitely lose out on the Whitney Biennial. I'll definitely have to see it at another time. (I'm already behind with the Without Boundary show at MoMA.) I hope it's fun, but i'm getting the distinct impression that there's a lot of nostalgia going on.

Today, Mark Streeter is showing "Rockaway" and William E. Jones is showing "Is It Really So Strange?" at Anthology. Got an e.mail from Roddy Bogawa; his "I Was Born But..." was shown at the Forum in Berlin. I wish there was a way for these films to get better distribution; i wish there was a way for these films to get any distribution. Yesterday, "No Down Payment" was on TV, and it was one of those sad movies... not because of the story per se, but because it was one of those movies (like "The Best of Everything" or "The Group") where the cast consisted of people "on their way up or on their way down" (to quote "A Letter to Three Wives") and it's sad to see that for every person who "made it" (Joanne Woodward, Tony Randall), there were people whose careers never really took off (Barbara Rush, Patricia Owens, Sheree North). Most people never think of that, but i do. Just as this past year, Gregg Araki finally got out of his development hell deal with MTV and just did a movie, and Ang and James Schamus rebounded after the crushing failure of "The Hulk", so there are always going to be people like William E. Jones, for whom the "exhibition" possibilities for his films are going to be sharply limited. With Bill and Roddy, the idea of focussing a work on pop culture obsessions should have made their work more viewer friendly, but how can that be tested if the works aren't given the chance to be seen?