Eric Farache reports on his recent trip to New York City

Yes, it was freezing. Yes, there were line ups galore in front of every major art gallery or museum but, New York is still a great time.

You can see the herds of people in line that you are trying to avoid at all costs.

I took in the Maurizo Cattalan show before it closed at the Guggenheim, it was an amazing thing to take in but at the end of it all, I am no longer sure what I think of the artist- it was a lot of one liners, winks and leg pulling. Not much gravitas when you have a miniature Hitler floating by a cord, sizzle sizzle!, but steak....????

I caught the JFK piece about a year and a half ago at the New Museum in NYC, you went around a corner, its dark, and boom, a dead man in a coffin- and it is JFK! This was not just all denouement seeing it again, it also made you see how things looked silly and just too pop-shebang-fizz (to borrow from Gainsbourg)

The New Museum now? Forget about it! about a three hour wait in the -9 told me to move on.

I stopped at the Sperone Westwater, just down the street in the Bowery. A show of sculptural work, old and new, not much of a focus but it was interesting stuff and the building is a massive structure which has work in the elevator on display. Most apartments could fit in this elevator mind you.

A sort of Gorilla John the Baptist with rubber gloves and disposable cups, all made out of marble, an ironic tour de force.

Also, dropped in on Caroline Falby, she is an ex-pat who is working on her Masters at Hunter College in city. Her studio is close to Times Square, it is this massive building which just feels like an old art building.

You can check out some her work here. She is working on some new stuff at the moment- she seems very interested in the War of 1812 and what it means to Canada and the United States. In the meantime, you can see her multi referential work which employs a breezy technique to inject joy and a seemingly carefree element to the work.

Reflections on a Recent Issue of Modern Painters by Eric Farache

When was the last time you went into a magazine shop? If you haven't done so lately, you should make the time. We always hear that print is dead and it probably is, but after spending some time in Presse International on College St, I really thought it was just awesome how many magazines are left and that there was some great stuff - especially Modern Painters. 

Like many people, I get a lot of art info off the web, but holding a copy of Modern Painters is something else. The cover has a very specific texture and smell and the colour rendition in the magazine is terrific. My interest is not nostalgic, although I used to order the magazine when I ran a camera store, knowing it would not sell and I would get to take them home, this magazine, this thing, places art and its contents in a world of its own.  I loved it all over again.

The November 2011 issue is full of a fairly diverse content and includes an interview with Maurizio Cattelan talking about his retrospective at the Guggenheim (it is a mounting of his sculptures hanging from the centre of the gallery) and an article on the painter Michael Borremans (some people will really enjoy his style of painting). The artist Byron Kim, director Julia Leigh , writer and Director of Sleeping Beauty are also featured.

Can you find more content online? Absolutely, but there is something great and altogether optimistic about buying a magazine -- seeing what is featured, wondering about how some truly bad art has the money to advertise, all that good stuff.

So this holiday season, whatever your interest, treat yourself.

You can read about that Guggenheim show here