Transplanted Art Discussion Draws Overflow Crowd to Brooklyn Public Library

On Tuesday night in front of a capacity crowd at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Dweck Center, The Review Panel, a prestigious monthly discussion which brings together artists and critics to examine current exhibits at galleries and museums around the city, held its first-ever session at its new home.

“We are privileged to partner with Brooklyn Public Library to bring this dynamic forum of aesthetic debate to the Brooklyn community,” said David Cohen, editor and publisher of artcritical.com and The Review Panel founder. “We feel that BPL is the perfect place to ring in our eleventh year.”

Panelists Cohen, author Siri Hustvedt, artist and critic Alexi Worth, and New York Times art critic Roberta Smith appeared energized by their new surroundings.

Lively banter about Glenn Ligon’s “We Need to Wake Up Cause That’s What Time it Is” at Luhring Augustine gallery in Bushwick —featuring the 1982 film Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip—and the “Flood” exhibit by Charlie Harlan at Pioneer Works in Red Hook dominated the 2-hour long discussion.

Sporting a distinct English accent, Cohen deftly melded art criticism and comedy, using both panelists and audience as foils. Trading words like “phenomenological” with the erudite Ms. Hustvedt; exchanging quips, including “getting down and dirty with Richard Pryor” with the affable Mr. Worth; and bantering with the stoical Ms. Smith — who at one point playfully admonished: “Don’t talk about how I feel about things!” — demonstrated Cohen’s complete mastery of the moment.

When the overflow crowd got a chance to join the conversation, audience members offered insightful comments and the occasional snarky critique Brooklynites are known for.

Kenseth Armstead, a Brooklyn-based artist, was impressively knowledgeable about Ligon’s work. “Where is your agent?” demanded Cohen, inviting Mr. Armstead to join a future panel.

Claiming to be a photographer but “no relation” to the moderator, Stanley Cohen lambasted as “awful” projected PowerPoint slides detailing each exhibition. He then began to explain Pryor’s comic genius, prompting David Cohen to have his microphone taken away.

Following the audience Q&A, Cohen and guests debated the merits of two Manhattan-based exhibitions, then closed the evening by fielding questions from previous Review Panel participants in the audience.

Frank Sheehan, an artist and devout follower who lives and works in Queens, said the turnout in Brooklyn was “three times” the typical attendance at Manhattan’s National Academy of Art and Design, the panel’s previous home.

Stating he had attended many previous discussions, Sheehan praised the panel’s “spectacular vocabulary” which not only provides insights into current exhibitions but also have become instrumental to his practice.

Afterwards, BPL President Linda Johnson acknowledged that the audience was integral to what was a special night at her library.

“The critics are obviously highly acclaimed, experienced, smart and that was a great rapport,” Johnson said. “But the audience was fabulous as well.”

The Review Panel will return to the Dweck on March 8 when Mr. Cohen will be joined onstage by critics Svetlana Alpers and Laurie Fendrich, as well as Brooklyn-based artist David Salle.

PHOTO CAPTION: Left to right: Alexi Worth, Siri Hustvedt, David Cohen and Roberta Smith.
PHOTO CREDIT: Gregg Richards/Brooklyn Public Library