The Flying Dutchman of the NYC Art World

For better or worse--and I'm not fully sure if it's a blessing or a curse--I feel compelled/fated to see every art show of consequence in New York City. And over the past dozen years, I haven't missed much--I've probably seen 90% of the major exhibitions at the city's Top 20 art museums--and, oh, roughly 80% of every notable show at commercial and non-profit galleries in Chelsea and Soho (and maybe 50% of the buzzy/big-name shows on the Lower East Side, the 57th Street corridor, and the Upper East Side).

                                       Bryant Rousseau: Art Critic/Model Manqué

Based, if nothing else, on the sheer volume of my viewing--and I'd be surprised if any (sane) person sees more--I have developed a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of the contemporary-art scene and think I'm well-positioned to spot some interesting trends, call out emerging artists worth a look and take note of established names who are pursuing (positive or unproductive) detours. I'll opine on work I love and hate and offer some general observations about the state of the art market/the broader cultural world.

I'll be petulant about my pet peeves, hopefully funny at least once in while, incisive when I can be, always passionate, never precious (fingers crossed). As the title of my blog puts it, I promise to see everything--but I'll try to limit my posts to when I genuinely have something to say

And just for the record: My qualifications as a commentator aren't exclusively limited to my exhaustive, obsessive consumption of the city's art-world buffet. I was the founding top editor of ArtInfo, giving birth to what has now grown into one of the better chroniclers of the art market and its attendant personalities and "product".

So I have written about art for a paycheck, have interviewed some celebrated creative talents (Frank Stella, Vito Acconci, John Lurie), have some semi-sophisticated insight into the commercial machinations of dealing art and continue to have some well-connected friends whose gossip, advice and voices I'll include on occasion--because what's a blog without a little name dropping? (Last night, I went to hear C.J. Ramone at Webster Hall with a small group of friends, including 2010 Whitney Biennial painter Maureen Gallace, one of the best colorists in the biz, as evidence of which I submit her September Sunset:

And while I remain mostly closeted, I'll come out here: I am also an artist myself (there, I said it). My work is Conceptual, comic and reflective of one of my primary visual concerns: color (my first, visceral response to any object--object d'art or object d'everyday--often has to do with whether its palette is pleasurable or appalling to my eye). Much of my own input also incorporates language--with the tricky goal of eliciting laughs while eluding lameness. 

If you accept the caveat that the site hasn't been updated in  seven years--and only reveals about 10% of my "oeuvre"--I'll give you the link to my online gallery: AffordableModernArt. What have I been up to the last seven years? Still making art, week in/(w)eke out, reliably and religiously, but I haven't gotten around to scanning and posting the 1,000 or so paintings and 850 drawings I've done in the interim. I'll get to it--but making them is a lot more fun than marketing them.

But enough about me. It's on to the NYC art world.....