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Art21 Launches New York Close Up

posted on June 29, 2011 by Gina Hong

According to their website, “New York Close Up is Art21’s documentary film series devoted to artists in the first decade of their professional career, living and working in New York City. This innovative project provides an intimate look at the next wave of artists—artists close up.” Art21 held a launch party for the series at the Ace Hotel about a week ago, and the first season is well on it’s way. Here’s the trailer--James Franco makes an appearance at the end.

"New York Close Up" | Trailer | Art21 from Art21 on Vimeo.

The trailer looks fantastic, and we’re excited to watch the series especially considering how diverse the artists appear to be. Hyperallergic, however, warned that “the whole premise of New York Close Up is vaguely masturbatory. This new series shares several similarities with other Art21 projects in that there is no real dialogue about the work. There is no outside criticism, only artists talking about their own vision and Art21 congratulating them on a job well done...without showing well-rounded commentary, it feels much more like a reality television show, and a not very entertaining one at that.” Harsh criticism that we’ll have to watch to confirm; nonetheless the process of watching an artist at work is both entertaining and provocative, and the series looks like it will prove visually stimulating, if not intellectually so.