I could try to kid you. "Go to an important art exhibit at the Morgan Library" I could say. But don't. Go to the Morgan right away because there is a wonderful, quirky, exhibit of paintings and drawings by (father & son) Jean & Laurent de Brunhoff.

Who you ask? They are the writers, artists, the visionaries of the Barbar books. Now a thousand politically conscious militants have probably told you (as they have me) that Babar books are imperialistic, ethnocentric, and just plain reactionary in a dozen ways. And well they may be but the Babar Books were, for me and for my children, an essential rite of passage which I continue to treasure. I ask you: French, cursive writing and elephants in clothing. Who could ask for anything more.

For Adam Gopnick's New Yorker review click here

Can you stand going to the Met Museum during the holidays? I happen to love the tree and creche they put on display each year. The figures are rich in kitsch, which (if that's not your thing) could be a pain. But let me tell you about another reasons to press the flesh at the Met.

Art & Love In Renaissance Italy is an interesting, complex and very smart exhibit at the Met until February 16, 2009. I saw it under what was, for me, ideal conditions: an unmobbed pre-view with curators' introducing many of the objects and paintings. The show has not received the raves I think it deserves. See the NY Times review here as an example The NY Times has also posted a slide show of a few of the 160 items in the exhibit. You can also check out these YouTubes of exhibit items. But trust me -- seeing them up front and personal is better.

In honor of the suppression of an art exhibition right here in New York where a crucified Jesus made of chocolate was found to be offensive, I present the lyrics to Tom Waits' song, Chocolate Jesus:

Dont go to church on sunday
Dont get on my knees to pray
Dont memorize the books of the bible
I got my own special way
Bit I know jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more

I fall on my knees every sunday
At zerelda lees candy store

Well its got to be a chocolate jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate jesus
Keep me satisfied

Well I dont want no anna zabba
Dont want no almond joy

FINALLY! I have known for over a year that the Brooklyn Museum of Art had acquired Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party." But they have been building a new area to display it. Finally, it is about to open. Judy Chicago doesn't seem as well known here as she is out in Los Angeles. So it is nice to see her art reaching Brooklyn.

I have not met Judy Chicago, but my brother has worked with her on her show "Envisioning the Future" (mentioned here and pictured in the photo on the right in the Hawaiian shirt

He should have gotten one for Raging Bull, for Taxi Driver, for Gangs of New York; but last night, the Academy finally gave in and gave Martin Scorsese his Oscar.

I say, what took you so long?

On a related note, was this the most international awards show in living memory, or what? Was the Academy trying to apologize to the rest of the world for certain recent, cough George Bush cough, offenses to every other country on earth?

Oh and, forget about Al Gore running; not with those extra pounds, Mister.

Brooklyn Children's Museum

Planet Brooklyn: Chinese New Year celebration will kick off the Year of the
Boar at Brooklyn Children's Museum on Saturday, February 10, from 12-5pm. Families can create their own lanterns, learn to play shuttlecock and other Chinese games, and meet real "dragons" from the Museum's live animal collection. And don't miss a special performance by the lion dance team from Yee's Hung Ga Kung Fu Association of Brooklyn - including a peek inside the lion's head!

145 Brooklyn Avenue

Brooklyn Museum

Celebrate Heart of Brooklyn's fifth anniversary in Brooklyn Museum's spectacular collection of ancient Egyptian masterpieces. The galleries include more than 1,000 treasures spanning 5,000 years, from pre-dynastic times through the reign of Cleopatra. See beautifully decorated coffins, a mummy, monumental stone statues, jewelry worn by the pharoahs, and a relief with the world's first-known representation of a kiss, all a part of the collection considered to be one of the finest in the world. And be sure to catch the newly opened Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism. This exhibition has over forty superb examples of nineteenth century French and American landscapes by such artists as Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent.

The Daily Gotham is pleased to announce a new contributor, Richard Rothstein; Richard will be blogging here, and - we wish for want must have - hopefully sharing his stupendous photography, otherwise featured on his other blog, Manhattan Details. Richard was recruited straight off Daily Kos, where he currently has a featured diary, which in turn led us to him. Here's a sample of his work:

So, welcome aboard, Richard.

Just got an email from my friend Susan well worth passing on; it's an article in Frieze Magazine written by her sister, Nancy Spector, who is Curator of Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim and Commissioner of the US Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2007.

The impact of the Bush administration on the art world, I always thought, was confined to its serving as malignant inspiration for any number of deprecatory pieces. We tend to forget that they have their hands on the slender levers of the government's arts funding; and lo and behold, the results are the same rot we've come to expect everywhere.

When I received a gold-engraved card from the White House inviting me to a reception to launch the administration’s new Global Cultural Initiative, I thought at first that it must have been an art-world prank – perhaps a tactical media intervention by the Critical Art Ensemble. But then I realized it was my current role as the commissioner of the US Pavilion for the 2007 Venice Biennale that had earned me this unexpected distinction. The correlation between the Bush White House and culture seemed oxymoronic to me; the title ‘Global Cultural Initiative’ does, after all, have the same vague propagandistic ring and sinister undertones as ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’.

Set in the White House’s grand East Room lined with portraits of past presidents, the presentation was introduced by Laura Bush, who reminisced about the influence of culture during the Cold War, citing the Voice of America’s broadcasting of jazz music into the Soviet Union as a catalyst for the dissolution of communism. Under-Secretary of State Karen Hughes, Bush’s personal propaganda tsar, proceeded to outline the multiple-agency programme, stating that ‘art and culture can play a vital role in helping achieve our strategic public diplomacy goals’. She stopped short of explaining what those goals might actually be.

So not only are there goals, to the delighted astonishment of the world, but they can be achieved through jazz. Nobody knows, of course, if Osama bin Laden is a jazz fan. Perhaps if we'd actually, you know, caught the man, we'd know.

During the 2006 Democratic Primary season in Brooklyn (a hotly contested fight in a place where few Republicans do well leading to the idea that through most of Brooklyn Democrats could run a sponge cake and still beat Republicans) I met a gentleman named Bill Batson.

The very first time I met him, he discussed contriversial issues that my wife and I had skirted, but had yet to publicly discuss. I rapidly became a supporter in his (ultimately unsuccessful) run for Assembly, but I also came to see him as an example of what I call a "community candidate," a political candidate who comes from a background of community activism and participation. Bill's opponents tried to portray him as a lightweight, a nobody. This was grossly unfair to a man who had served his community for years. He was the New York State Senate Democratic Leader David A. Paterson’s Director of Community Relations, the chair and Co-Founder of ACRES, (American Civil Rights Education Services), has worked at The Coalition for the Homeless, 1199 SEIU and the New York Civil Liberties Union, was campaign manager for Norman Siegel's campaign for Public Advocate, served as a mediator between a public sector union and a non-profit health care company, facilitating the end of a nine-month dispute, and has served as a member of Community Planning Board 8, co-chairing the Fire Safety committee and the special sub-committee on the Environmental Impact of Brooklyn Atlantic Yards Development. All of this he brought into politics when he decided to throw his hat into the ring. His failed bid for Assembly came because he ran as a grassroots candidate against big money and development interests. But he has not given up activism.

Scientists can now take bone cells from an extracted wisdom tooth, grow them on a scaffold in a lab and form new bone. Great breakthrough for medicine, right?

But...they are quick to use the idea in a rather odd way. Some couples are having their own bone cells grown in the shape of a wedding ring so they can exchange rings made of their own bone at their weddings. From BBC News:

Scientists obtain bone cells from wisdom teeth and then grow them on a "scaffold" material in the lab.

The efforts are part of a collaboration between scientists and artists aiming to learn how to craft complex shapes from bone tissue.

Examples are to go on display at an exhibition at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London.

Harriet Harriss and Matt Harrison, one of five couples involved in the project, have just been presented with their rings made from their bone cells.

Not sure what I think of that. Maybe I am just a traditionalist, but gold seems fine to me. (Mine happens to be three kinds of gold layered using a similar technique that samurai sword makers use to make swords, made by a Greek artisan).