Glenn Ligon’s ‘Double America’ occupies its own room at a show of the artist’s text-based neon artworks made since ’05, enhancing the impact of a high-wattage piece that brings to the fore division and binary oppositions in this country. (At Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine Gallery through December 8th).
‘Kultur ist ein Palast der aus Hundescheisse gebaut ist.’ Spelling out the phrase ‘Culture is a palace built from dog shit,’ in German gives the idea more gravitas. Putting it in blue neon, more consumer appeal. Both are relevant to artist collective Claire Fontaine’s use of this quote by Bertold Brecht via Theodore Adorno criticizing mass culture’s commercialization. How the art world’s own extreme commercialization in recent years changes the equation is the question begged by this piece. (‘Dogma,’ a show more or less about dogs and people runs at Metro Pictures through Aug 10th).