bob nickas
Komplaint Dept. - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's Anna Wintour
"Pink is punk" reveals that the New York fashion industry and its sometime institutional handmaiden, the Costume Institute at the Met, its curators and the tacit captain of both ships, Anna Wintour, wouldn't know what punk is or was if it bit them on...
Komplaint Dept. Why. I Hate. Graffiti.
Have you noticed how lame graffiti in New York has become in 2013? Especially the one-liners you see more and more of, with their pseudophilosophy and visual impairment. Where exactly is the art? And what's the message?
Komplaint Dept. - It's After the End of the World
Most people wouldn't expect to find Sun Ra and Billy Pilgrim in the same room, but Bob Nickas got the two of them together to talk about the end of the world and why some people are upset the apocalypse hasn't come.
Komplaint Dept. - Long May Neil Young
On the occasion of Neil Young's recent resurgence—two new back-to-back albums with Crazy Horse, for which they are currently on tour, and his autobiography, 'Waging Heavy Peace,' marking his 67th birthday—I’d like to take a moment to consider one of...
Komplaint Dept. - Giving Up the Ghost: Andy Warhol Visits the Warhol Show at the Met
'Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years,' an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, recently opened to some very negative reviews. The show is such a colossal disaster that another critical thrashing seems entirely pointless. The only...
Komplaint Dept. - A Tour of the Monuments of Salt Lake City: Robert Smithson, the Melvins, and the Mormons
I went out to Salt Lake City to see Robert Smithson's 'Spiral Jetty,' give a talk at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and surprise my friends the Melvins at one of their shows.
KOMPLAINT DEPT. "The Logical Extension of Business Is Murder" David Cronenberg's 'Cosmopolis'
Why has one of the best movies of the year gotten so many bad and iffy reviews, registering from lukewarm to hostile?
Komplaint Dept. - Royal Trux Ruined My Life
Where creative couples are concerned, breaking up is hard to do.
Komplaint Dept. - If You Build It, They Will Come. If You Tear It Down, Will They Go?
A candid conversation on the horrendous state of new construction in New York, with the crankiest of architecture critics, Ivana Force-Majeure, and our own Bob Nickas.
Komplaint Dept. - Why Won't Jeff Koons Leave Us Alone?
Now he wants to hang a 250-ton train above a park.
Komplaint Dept. - Catch As Catch Can: Richard Prince Vibration, Yeah! (Slight Return)
These ramblings pick up from the previous column, which commented on the recent case against Richard Prince, who was sued for copyright infringement by the photographer Patrick Cariou.