Phong Bui

Phong Bui - artist, art critic, publisher of Brooklyn Rail.

OXO

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

boyz club =brooklyn rail

kalm james said...

Phong is probably one of the great success stories in the New York art scene. Here’s a guy who came with nothing as a boat person from Viet Nam, worked his ass off, started making some connections in the art world and had a vision.

Whether you love or hate the “Brooklyn Rail” it fills a unique place in the New York discourse. People who bitch about the exclusionary nature of the major art publications know that the “Rail” covers more art, dance, music, poetry and lit than any other local publication, and in a timely manner. The “Rail” has given a voice to dozens of young writers who have gone on to the Big Leagues, covered the scene from the top museums shows to tiny start-up galleries on the outer edges of Bushwick, and done all this with grants and donations (not pages full of she-male escort service ads).

Phong is a very talented artist as well, and he’s sacrificed countless hours and energy to producing one of the most influential news papers in the city. I give him my total ups, and yeah I write for the "Rail", so I should know.

Anonymous said...

I was promised an interview and then left my Brooklyn gallery and then i was ignored...completely. I didn't ask for the interview, i was flattered...Phong Bui taught me a lesson on local politics...but this endeared no respect from me, just a lesson, another boring lesson.

Anonymous said...

Phong is an artist's artist. He is only ever about art, artists and ideas. He works his ass off and is exceedingly generous, especially with other artists and non-profits.

Anonymous said...

notorious name-dropper, needs to get off his pedestal. sure he knows some people but that isn't enough.

Anonymous said...

have seen Bui in action,
he's kind of like a groupie.
if you are well known and can help him, he will suck up to you.
if you are not "somebody" he will not waste his time. altho' the bklyn rail is a good thing, it smacks a bit much like a publicity machine for his friends and patrons and it's an obvious vanity vehicle for his awful portrait drawings of artists he makes sure to place on every other page. vain.

Anonymous said...

The Rail has its good points and bad points, but Phong is the real deal: extremely smart, and generous. A+++++

Anonymous said...

I have nothing to offer Phong (I'm an artist assistant), yet he has always gone out of his way to be incredibly generous to me, talk to me about my work, and include me in invitations. Out of all the people I have met through my job, Phong has been the nicest. I just wanted to write that in response to the poster who said "if you are a nobody he won't waste his time".

I think Phong loves people, likes to talk to people, and loves the energy of ideas and exchange.

Anonymous said...

predator editor, vampire squid with nothing to offer other than regurgitated de Kooning quotes. his drawings are masturbatory crap. without john yau the rail would be completely irrelevant. but even he has become monotonous