Terracotta bust,
Florentine, 15th or 16th century
© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington

(Ha. We're midway through an extensive conservation treatment here, not looking at Harvey Dent's alter-ego. Which important person's likeness was so meticulously cleaned? Click on the image!)

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I don't want to say I'm growing older, but my approach to multi-room blockbuster exhibitions--much as I adore them--has changed over the years. I used to move quickly through big shows, taking everything in at once with voracious eyes, greedy for more and buying the tee-shirt. Now, it seems, I have to pace myself, both physically and mentally, and make pit-stops to refuel and not look at art for a few minutes. It's a case of calorie/caffeine deficit v. sensory overload ... and, yes, of course. Resting one's feet isn't ever the worst idea, though the tee-shirt might be.

Point being: I love smaller, more intimate shows that overwhelm me *only* with quality. Remember Parmigianino's Antea, on view earlier this year at The Frick Collection? If Antea sounds as appealing to you as it did to me, you'll want to know this: several times each year The Museum of Modern Art, New York mounts exhibitions whose titles begin with "Focus." These are small in scale and comprised of works from MoMA's own collection. Best of all, the Focus series enables the viewer to do exactly that: to focus--on a single artist, medium, time, place, theme or contrast. Very refreshing, these opportunities to concentrate on one idea and use it to analyze a handful of works. Take a look at the image gallery for Focus: Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko, and you'll see what I mean.

P.S. Don't forget that MoMA admission is free for all visitors during Target Free Friday Nights, sponsored by Target, every Friday evening, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Image credit:

Mark Rothko (American, b. Latvia, 1903-1970)
No. 5/No. 22, 1950 (dated on verso 1949)
Oil on canvas
117 x 107 1/8 in. (297 x 272 cm)
Gift of the artist
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl, 1917-18
© Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna

(Say, this portrait is unfinished. How come? Click on the image!)

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Lucas, Kansas is holding The Great Toilet Seat Art Show and Silent Auction to raise funds to construct a public restroom. Now, before anyone says anything snarky like "We're not in Kansas, Toto," or "Art doesn't happen east of the Hudson River," I want to point out that this will be no ordinary public restroom. And Lucas is a pretty darned cool little town. With a population of well under 500, it still manages to boast the Grassroots Art Center, the description-defying Garden of Eden and sculptor Eric Abraham's Flying Pig Studio and Gallery, where the seat art is on display.

But, the public restrooms? A proposed work of art! It's to be called "Bowl Plaza," the facilities will be shaped like toilet tanks and a walkway will resemble a big runaway roll of toilet paper unfurling across the floor. It sounds marvelously eccentric, doesn't it? I want to help publicize this worthy cause (and hope you will do the same) for two reasons. First, because I salute artistic ambitions of every stripe. Second, because I, too, live in a little town. We have few jobs, and few prospects for more jobs but, by gum, we are proud of the art we produce and we do want you all to come see it. Lucas is trying to do a Field of Dreams thing, and I, personally, would drive out of my way to gaze at Bowl Plaza a lot faster than I'd head to a giant ball of twine. Prosperous art lovers everywhere: I very sincerely invite you to bid generously on a toilet seat.