ARTWATCH

In what is now a time-honored tradition here at BAT, I'd like to offer some extremely tardy art tips...plus one that isn't so very untimely.

Closing May 18! The Courbet retrospective at the Met struck me (on a fairly quick walk-through) as showing how uneven his work could be—and also how diverse it could be. Amid the portraits, still lifes, animal images, landscapes, and erotica, I got a sense of Courbet (who looks a lot like Johnny Depp in the self-portrait used to market the exhibition) as a kind of egoist and sentimentalist as well as a rebel searching a cause, anything that would stir him in some way and inspire him to put his skills to good use, perhaps pushing an envelope or two in the process. The museum presents the erotica in a very 19th-century way—in a chamber that includes another chamber for the most explicit work, including an image further enclosed in a stereoscope. Here's the New York Times review.

Closing May 28! It's worthwhile just to step inside the Guggenheim and take a gander at the show—that's all I've done so far—to see how Cai Guo-Qiang's I Want to Believe fills the atrium with cars and lights suspended in the air. You can also see portions of the other works and wonder what the hell it's all about. A memorable spectacle. Here's the New York Times review.

Closing September 21—so there's time! At the American Folk Art Museum, Dargerism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger looks at Darger's compelling art as well as art inspired by it. I haven't even set foot inside this one yet, but I look forward to going! Here's the New York Times review.