The NY Times review today of the 2010 Whitney Biennial features a photo of the Thomas Houseago work “Baby.” Nice to see it in it’s NYC resting place. For awhile there, we had our doubts.

As one of the packing & crating suppliers for the Biennial, FINE ART SHIPPING had the challenge of figuring out how to deal with this artwork, which was originating at the artist’s studio here in Los Angeles.

Among the challenges:

• too big to fit in our local trucks
• too large for normal handling via the Whitney elevators
• a piece that was both delicate AND heavy
• and most fun of all, changing dimensions as the artist continued to work on the piece

After much back and forth with the studio and the Whitney curators, it was decided to prebuild a slat crate structure for the piece, rather than fabricate a full museum standard crate. The slat or “skeleton” crate would save crucial inches off the height and width, and every whisker of an inch counted.

OK, so we will deliver the prebuilt crate to the studio, and pack the work there and then…but wait. Once crated it turns out the packed crate will be too large to exit out of the studio doorway. And if packed outside, it won’t fit back in. “Baby” can’t be left in the street!  More phone calls and emails.

In the end we used the studio lift (thank goodness for their help!) to get the piece into the base of the slat crate, then finished packing the crate outside the studio, on the pavement beyond the studio doors. Luckily, a quiet street. Luckily, not raining. Only a bit of sawing and repositioning of braces was required due to the artist adding a couple of hundred pounds of concrete to the thing since we had last seen it… All in a day’s work. Then on a preplanned “just in time” basis the Whitney’s climate controlled trailer, with larger clearances than our local trucks, stopped by and we loaded “Baby” into the trailer. Very carefully.

In the best possible way, we were happy to see him go. That’s one big baby.

Betsy Dorfman

 For Los Angeles drivers tired of having their visual space indentured to ads for lap bands, beer, Vegas hotels and grinning automobiles, here, finally, is a breath of fresh paint – actual art on billboards. Thanks to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture , 21 newly commissioned works by established artists will go up at locations around Los Angeles. More info, maps, and images of many of the works are on the exhibition website at http://www.howmanybillboards.org

Congratulations in particular to artists James Welling, Kerry Tribe, Daniel Joseph Martinez, and Alan Ruppersberg, whose works we have handled over the years for storage and/or for the Whitney Biennial. Nice to see them up in such a public format. At some 35,000 possible “visual impressions” a day, that’s a big audience whizzing by. Or crawling, depending. Each will be on display for only a month or two, so get your map and head on out. Probably best with a designated driver, leaving you free to crane and thrall and snapshot without causing undue risk to those actually trying to get somewhere.

Betsy Dorfman

Recent news reports have detailed the upcoming sale of artworks from the Michael Crichton collection, currently on display at Christie’s in London. The paintings to be sold include a seminal work from the Jasper Johns “Flag” series, as well as works by Picasso, Lichtenstein and Rauschenberg . Old friends all.

FINE ART SHIPPING has moved, installed, shipped and stored many of these works over the past decade-plus for the Crichton family. Packing and crating these recent few to send off for display in London was an exercise in nostalgia to be sure. We have softpacked the Johns for Mr. Crichton to carry on an airplane, installed it at residences in New York and Los Angeles, and each time we handled it was a thrill. The office emptied out, art handlers mysteriously appeared as the crate was about to be opened — there are artworks which claim their own audiences, and this is one.

On September 11, 2001 our Los Angeles based crew was packing art at the Crichton residence in upstate New York, some 90 miles from ground zero. We were immediately invited to stay in the home for several days, allowing us to give our hotel rooms to our NY based crew, who were unable in those early days and hours to return to the city. So this goes beyond a business relationship, to what has been a partnership of care and concern for this art over many years and circumstances.
Following the current exhibition at Christie’s the artworks go on sale in New York in May. To the new owners we can only say: may the vibes, all good, be with you.

Betsy Dorfman