Archive for November, 2008
Friday, November 14th, 2008
CLOWNS! Preview at Corey Helford Gallery
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with glue? No, really, there’s no Elmer’s involved, but this group show is indeed one of the most cohesive Fall group shows in LA’s fragmented gallery landscape. CLOWNS!, previewed on Nov. 14 by invitation, opens to the public on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Culver City’s art gem, Corey Helford Gallery. The exhibition effort also involves London’s StolenSpace Gallery – with notable international artists such as D*Face submitting a seminal and brilliantly timely piece parodying the venerable (and recently fragile) US institution AmEx. Shag, Dave Kinsey, Gary Taxali and Paul Frank also contribute to the depth of the show.
CLOWNS! amounts to a curatorial statement, with focused, inspired artwork – the Corey Helford Gallery displaying why it is among the leaders in the ever evolving LA art scene.
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Joshua Liner Gallery Update
Joshua Liner Gallery has just relaunched their website. Take a moment and check out some of their exhibited and gallery artists, including Aiko, Crash One, Damon Soule, Josh Keyes, and Greg Simkins. Next up at the gallery are solo shows by Kris Kuksi and Pat Rocha, both opening Nov. 22
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Matt Leines + Ed Templeton Signing/Opening
Reminder! Matt Leines and Ed Templeton’s new shows open this Satuday, Nov. at Roberts and Tilton. Both artists will be signing copies of their new books from 6 – 7pm, before the exhibit opening. More to come…
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Dismal Results at Sotheby’s + Christies
Image: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
The latest returns from this season’s contemporary art auctions are in, and the less than stellar results reinforce the notion that this is a buyer’s market, with overall gains receding back to 2006 levels. The November 10th contemporary auction at Sotheby’s struggled to raise $125.1 million, far beneath the low estimate of $202.4 million. Out of 63 lots, 20 (32%) failed to find buyer, with Sotheby’s taking a hit and losing millions on several lots it had guaranteed to sellers.
The November 12th sale at Christie’s did not fare much better, bringing in a total of $113.6 million, far below the low estimate of $227 million. Again, nearly one-third of the lots on the block failed to sell. Even the famed Basquiat, Untitled (Boxer), 1982 (a highlight of the auction due to its owner, Lars Ulrich of heavy metal band, Metallica, and inclusion in the Brooklyn Museum 2005 retrospective) only found two bidders. Ultimately, the piece sold for 13.5 million (including auction house commission), with an estimate of $12-16 million. Perhaps the most disappointing result was a self portrait by Francis Bacon. What was expected to be a focal point of the sale, estimated at $40 million, failed to find even one bidder.
With these results, one thing has become abundantly clear – the art market has not escaped the financial crisis. “It was a half-price sale, said one Sotheby’s buyer, ”who, In under 90 minutes, dropped more than $8 million (including fees) on works by Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg and Donald Judd.
Source: The New York Times, Mixed Results for Contemporary Art Sale at Christies / A Dreary Night for Contemporary Art at Sothebys
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
NYC::Jose Parla – Layered Days
Layered Days, Jose Parla’s latest exhibition and first solo show in New York, is on view now at Christina Grajales. The show presents a new body of paintings, adorned in layers upon layers of Parla’s signature abstract lettering and textures. Here, the artist’s graffiti roots combine with modern abstract expressionism, conjuring up recollections of both Cy Twombly and Jackson Pollock. In addition, a wall installation builds upon Parla’s themes of history and story telling, through an array of artifacts and photographs combined with original canvas, wood, and ceramic pieces. A hard cover catalog has been published to commemorate the exhibit, and Parla graciously decorated fan’s copies on opening night. Layered Days is on view till Dec. 20.
Jose Parla – Layered Days
Nov. 8 – Dec. 20
Christina Grajales Gallery
10 Green Street, 4th Floor
NY, NY 10013
christina@christinagrajales.com
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Get to Know Eric Beltz
Eric Beltz just closed his first NY solo show at Morgan Lehman Gallery. The Good Land, presented the artist’s meticulous graphite drawings, reminiscent of Colonial America, with a nice tinge of dark humor. Do yourself a favor and pick up the exhibit catalog for a mere $10 here, and if you missed Beltz this time around, Morgan Lehman will show a new body of work at Pulse NY, March 5 – 8, 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
Herakut at Campbarbossa
Campbarbossa is presenting a commission-only show for the European duo, Herakut, in London:
New Works by Herakut
28th Nov through to 7th Dec 2008
Preview 27th Nov 6.30pm – 9.30pm (RSVP info@campbarbossa.com)
22 Wellington Street
Covent Garden
WC2E 7DD
For the uninitiated, Herakut are unlikely collaborative German artists extraordinaire, the cunning confluence of aliases Hera and Akut and the finest artistic alliance of Frankfurt and Efurt the modern art world has to offer. It’s not like we’ve actually researched this part but if there’s a finer alliance we’d like to know. All the works on display are new, pre-commissioned pieces. So this is simply an opportunity to come along, hang out, have a fine time, admire Herakut’s increasingly bold, unique body of work—the strangely beautiful union of Akut’s photorealist spray paint and Hera’s distinctively scratchy, sexualised, everyday world.
Friday, November 7th, 2008
Shepard Fairey Obama Victory Print
As anticipated, here’s one more Obama print, this time celebrating the victory Shepard Fairey has championed through his prolific campaign art. Yes We Did is an offset print measuring 24 x 36, and has been produced in an edition of 5000, with the first 1000 signed by Fairey. The print will be available via MoveOn.org, Saturday, Nov. 8, at 12:30 EST. $500 will get you the more limited signed version, and a mere $80 the larger unsigned edition of 4000. For those still in a festive mood after Tuesday’s results, what better way to celebrate your new president than with the below bottle of wine designed by Fairey for Kenwood Vineyards.
Friday, November 7th, 2008
Must See::Kehinde Wiley – Down
With Down, Brooklyn based Kehinde Wiley has accomplished a monumental new body of work, which stand as defining moment in the artist’s career and testament to true mastery of craft. The focal point of the exhibit are seven new oil paintings (spanning up to twenty five feet in length), which make specific references to works of European sculpture and painting from both the Renaissance and later neoclassical figurative periods. Here, Wiley reappropriates African American males into allegories of religion, death, mythology, and icons fallen from grace.
With the monolithic scale of this series, bold use of color, ornate patterns, and simultaneous references to modern street aesthetics (Nike, aNYthing, Billionaire Boy’s Club, Prada) and classical European cultures, Wiley has accomplished a wildly appealing visual vocabulary that reveals an artist at the apex of his still young career.
Down is Kehinde Wiley’s third solo show with Deitch Projects, and second New York exhibit this year (World Stage: Africa, Lagos – Dakar closed Oct 23 at the Studio Museum of Harlem).
The Art Collectors presents an extensive set of photographs from Down, alongside some of the original European works referenced by Wiley. Click images for larger views.
Kehinde Wiley – Down
Nov. 1 – Dec. 20
Deitch Projects
18 Wooster Street
NY, NY 10013
info@deitch.com
Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Yes We Can.
