Anthony Elms

Children of the Earth! This week, with the support of the “TD Curated Spotlight” program, I assembled a crack team, primed & ready for any high-stakes heists. Come out to offer them your love before they just take it. 5U Space: Mika Obayashi Big Ramp: Todd Stong New Dracula Theater: Laura Leigh Post Times: Anthony Discenza Ulterior Gallery: E’wao Kagoshima + a bonus Thursday evening hour with: Witch Hotline Go to the NADA NYC site for schedule & details. @newartdealers

Today on #MasterpiecesTheater we turn to page 95: “If one is alone one must pretend to be two. With two, one must pretend to be three. Anything more than that is too difficult, even with several windows and several mirrors of different shapes. With more than three people it is best to pretend to be alone.”

“In the end, though, every story breaks off way before it’s complete. The site of interpretation is not a ruin but a dump.” Lyn Hejinian, “Lola the Interpreter” 1. Just one of those bafflingly poised, ebullient, grit syncopation, early 90s stitched Sam Gilliam works. 2. There’s opening paragraphs & then there’s opening paragraphs. From Nick Mauss’s jewel encrusted writings collection. 3. Munari momentums. 4. Edna Andrade, orderly. 5. & Lassnig schmear. 6. Felt Fosse, might sideways shuffle stage right later. 7. Damned if Ryan Foerster didn’t close one flourish of an exhibition just to follow it with a tart digestive of another. Same space, different tendrils. For those missing Chartreuse. 8. Necessary dose of Vuillard’s daily lush. 9. & then Foerster’s gallerist, Kerry Schuss, comes round. Got to see this modest delicacy thanks to @mamietinkler Mamie Tinkler’s precision “Field Recordings.” 10. [plop] 11. For many years now a favored bedside companion. RIP 12. A little Al Loving in Detroit. Like a shoulder roll of nonchalance. 13. “Burn local” 14. Another Munari clip. 15. I’ve always depended on a fondness for Reichek. 16. FFS. Not the most inspiring or surprising of details underscoring our weeks. 17. Still, day begins... 18. ...& ends, to the accompaniment of a bit more Hejinian.

Some standard operations & procedures. @mattressfactory @thebrick_la @henryartgallery @newyorkartcriticsassociation

“Words have meaning because they have all these hands & mouths on them for years.” Elizabeth Willis 1. Speaking in tongues. 2. Dia al-Azzawi from 1967 3. That’s Solvej Balle; that’s not wrong. 4. “I’m not supposed to fall in love with that?” In a time like this? Kamrooz Aram. 5. “The whole freaking system,” as they say. 6. Reobsessing over “Last Things” by Deborah Stratman, in anticipation of worse. 7. Too many gone greats for a short month’s time. Thaddeus Mosley, in glass. 8. Always willing to be sent to the corner if it is Dike Blair’s. 9. ...or baffled by Lucas Blalock butterbulbs. 10. & caught in Gabriele Münter’s eyelids. “Kleine Dietrich” 11. Four on the floored by Frankenthaler. 12. With little awareness of what I stepped into. 13. Pati Hill, from “High in the Sky” a chapter from “The History of Dressmaking: A Journal (1972-1977).” 14. Got to restart an office library somewheres. 15. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the “Earley.” The John Russell prints exhibition at Hoffman Donahue scratched all ivories. 16. Let’s leave on the great Vaginal Davis.

New York Art Critics Association Best of 2025 launch TONIGHT Friday, Feb. 20, 6-8 PM Kerry Schuss gallery 73 Leonard St. NYC **please note: copies are $5 each, cash only. @newyorkartcriticsassociation @arnoldfriend6 @lindabit390 @matthewhiggs2015 @bklynkennedy @_noah_dillon @the_middle_of_the_day @noah.beckwith #OliviaShao @kerry_schuss_gallery

Today on #MasterpiecesTheater My soul is more than matched; she’s over-manned; and by a madman! Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field. But he drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his impious end; but feel that I must help him to it. Will I, nill I, the ineffable thing has tied me to him; tows me with a cable I have no knife to cut. Horrible old man!

📘 A closer look: The digital catalogue accompanying the exhibition «Oliver Ressler. Scenes from the Invention of Democracy» brings together newly commissioned essays by Anthony Elms (@sloth_division ) and Tabea Panizzi (@tttabea ) as well as an in-depth conversation with @oliver.ressler — offering further context and perspectives on his works. Browse the catalogue online and take your time to explore 🔗 Link in Bio The exhibition is on view until 1 March 2026! Design: Janice Beck, Jiri Oplatek (Claudiabasel) #MuseumTinguely #OliverRessler

[pointing] “65% cotton!” 1. Detroit ala Mies ala Noah Davis 2. “Liontaming in America,” Elizabeth Willis, inevitabilities. 3. If there’s not some Bob Fosse, it’s not My Barbarian 4. ...pausing when you both got a thing to celebrate... 5. Carnival, Struggle & other Brazilian Stories per Alberto Pitta & Elian Almeida. 6. Vaginal Davis tapes, just one more reason why Video Data Bank is so crucial & @saicpics bearing down on VDB so inept. & asinine as per usual. 7. On point. via Mark Thomas Gibson. “Show up to withhold.” 8. “Nocturne in Black & Gold: The Falling Rocket.” 1875. Whistler 9. Standards & Procedures. 10. All this king’s hand tools & all this king’s pictogram literacy put the rowing machine back together again. (sans socket set surprisingly) 11. A baffling stillness to this Mathew Cerletty painting I can’t quite shake. 12. & 13. This. (...& maybe even desiring to be entry 410....) Beautiful, beguiling, precise, pointed, playful, riveting. There’s more astute visual interpretation here than in practically any art criticism you’ll encounter on a monthly basis these days, without sacrificing juicy bits, situated attentiveness or opinionated slyness. & I say all this having never seen Double Indemnity, the underlying architecture for this whole mise-en-scène procedural. (Sorry to miss the marathon reading/screening this was published for.) 14. “Pic’s Heart: Thirty-Two Poems for Children.” Claude Cahun, Lise Deharme. Kept at bay in vitrine. [sigh] 15. Elizabeth Willis, knee deep in the sticky wickets.

Ever think to yourself: “How might Anthony connect Henri Rousseau, David Attenborough, Bjõrk, Nuotama Frances Bodomo, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dali, Michael Gondry, Jean-Jacques Rousseau & Apichatpong Weerasethakul, (including sidelong glances toward Raúl Ruiz & John Dewey) without the guidance of a half-empty bottle of scotch nearby?” Now’s the chance! Saturday, January 10th, 1-4PM at the Barnes Foundation. Rousseau Film Series: Shorts Curated by Maori Karmel Holmes Screening Running Time: 40-ish minutes Un Chien Andalou (1929) by Luis Buñuel Sakda (Rousseau) (2012) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul Boneshaker (2013) by Nuotama Frances Bodomo Human Behaviour (1993) by Michel Gondry

💥 Now available: the digital publication accompanying the exhibition «Oliver Ressler. Scenes from the Invention of Democracy». The online catalogue features newly commissioned essays by Anthony Elms @sloth_division (curator, writer and artist) and Tabea Panizzi (curator, Museum Tinguely), as well as an in-depth interview with @oliver.ressler . Alongside installation views from the exhibition at Museum Tinguely, it includes linked video excerpts from the works. Explore the publication now on our website and dive deeper into Ressler’s practice and the exhibition. 🔗 Available at tinguely.ch Design: Janice Beck, Jiri Oplatek (Claudiabasel) «Oliver Ressler. Scenes from the Invention of Democracy» is on view until 1 March 2026 💭 #MuseumTinguely #OliverRessler

“I only wanted to introduce a bouquet.” 1. A proper monument. Dave McKenzie 2. ‘Tis always the season for the reason of Kevin Killian’s Amazon reviews. 3. ...& Luciano Berio... 4. A slivery stunning Mira Schendel. 5. Diane Simpson workarounds. 6. A certain regal rationing to Lucy Skaer pelts. 7. Just a Saturday. 8. Thankfully Marc Fischer visits always bring published rewards. 9. Last Saturday. 10. b/w 11. The curl of Hans-Peter Feldmann’s “Zebra” installed directly across from “Jacke.” 12. Brinkmann foreground pulse; Big Bang background radiation. Occasional Sound + Music 13. Excuse the self-promotion...but please see this show. 14. Early Joel Shapiro of scale & with feels. 15. Mom always said I’d make a better door than a window: Vunkwan Tam, Loong Mah. 16. Round up the usual suspects. Poor, Friday XIII 17. Catherine Sullivan, “Five Economies (big hunt / little hunt).” Didn’t realize how much I’ve missed you. 18. “Envois.” Is it Jacques Lacan? Is it Sharon Kivland? Is it and? It sings. 19. Timeline treasure in the newly reopened Studio Museum. Begs a question: Just how many museums make rather than display culture? 20. Pope.L. Words rich enough to nearly excuse the editors misspelling David Hammons’ & Cecil Taylor’s names.