Archive for August, 2009
Monday, August 31st, 2009
Mike Shinoda’s Glorious Excess (Dies)
LA’s Japanese American National Museum is now hosting a prodigious art exhibition by Mike Shinoda entitled Glorious Excess (Dies). The massive creative effort is a pivotal point in the career of the young artist, as he establishes himself outside of his work in music. Shinoda’s adroit use of all types of media to channel his voice is remarkable. The show signals the artist’s ability to create his vision in a plethora of mediums, including digital platforms. It’s clear that the concept of the exhibition has been thoughtfully embedded into each rendition. It’s not too early to opine that Glorious Excess (Dies) provides one the year’s most memorable moments. On view until October 4.
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Farewell, Josh.
Today, a friend lost his life in a scooter accident while driving across the Williamsburg Bridge, here in NYC. Word came in shortly after reading the day’s blog posts about the new Judith Supine piece on top of the bridge. Though not its intent, I can’t help but feel it’s an appropriate memorial to one of the nicest guys I can think of. Goodnight Josh Link- rest in peace and dreams. Our prayers are with your family.
Image: Wooster Collective/S. Duncan
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Update :: Art Surfaces from Sea No Evil Benefit
Shepard Fairey – Paul Watson, 2009. (All Images © the artists/Sea No Evil)
Just in are these images from the upcoming See No Evil art auction, benefiting the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, who have spent the past three decades protecting and preserving the world’s ocean life. As we previously reported, the charity event takes place next Saturday, August 29th, in Riverside, California. Amongst the most exciting contributions is a new Shepard Fairey original portrait (pictured above), depicting Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepard and subject of the Whale Wars television series. Other notable contributions include Anthony Lister, Greg Craola Simkins, Dave Kinsey, Glen E. Friedman, Gregory Euclide, Jeff Soto, Logan Hicks, Mario Martinez (Mars-1) and Tim Biskup (see the full list on our previous post).
Glen E. Friedman
For more on Captain Watson and Sea Shepherd, read Raffi Khatchadourian’s 2007 profile in The New Yorker (thanks to Trevor for the tip), which actually portrays the vigilante activist as having utter contempt for the arts:
He regards civilization’s greatest artistic and cultural achievements—from architecture to music and film—as expressions of human vanity, “worthless to the earth.” He sometimes asks people to imagine the outrage that would occur if someone were to destroy, say, the Vatican or the “Mona Lisa,” and he compares that with the indifference that people exhibit toward the mass extinction of plants and animals. “In anthropocentric society, a harsh judgment is given to those that destroy or seek to destroy the creations of humanity,” he has written.
Whether or not this is an accurate portrayal, many prominent individuals within the arts community have rallied around Sea Shepherd. In fact, some of the organization’s biggest financial supporters are well know actors and musicians, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mick Jagger, Martin Sheen, Sean Penn, William Shatner, Edward Norton, and Uma Thurman to name a few.
Want to get on board but not attending the benefit? Donations can be made directly to Sea Shepherd here.
Logan Hicks
Gregory Euclide
Sea No Evil Art Show 2009
Saturday, August 29
Riverside Municipal Auditorium
3485 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA 92501
info: erin@seashepherdartshow.com
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Warhol’s Michael Jackson Canvas Sells
Andy Warhol - Michael Jackson, 1984.
Culture Monster, the LA Times arts blog, announced the recent sale of Andy Warhol’s Michael Jackson 30 x 26 inch painting for over $1 Million USD. Offered at private auction by the Vered Gallery in East Hampton, the painting was last sold for $278,500 USD in Sotheby’s May 13th event. It’s unquestionable that the demise of the ‘king of pop’ is responsible for the sharp rise in value in mere months, but it’s also a sign of a recovering art market. Blue chip artwork remains among the best ‘alternative’ investment options available.
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Urban Deconstruction @ Guy Hepner Contemporary
KAWS, Limited Time Only, 2006.
Art showman and prominent dealer, Guy Hepner, is hosting a unique show of 6 paintings by the icons of ‘urban’ art, KAWS, Mr. Brainwash and Bansky. Opening August 24, the show is historically relevant, bringing three globally significant artists together from private collections in one gallery. If you have not stopped by and experienced Hepner’s new Robertson location, this is the perfect opportunity to get acquainted. Following Urban Deconstruction, Hepner is mounting a solo show by photographer Russell Young. KAWS’ grandiose Limited Time Only, an acrylic on canvas rendition, features an homage to Goya with the disruption of his witches from the 18th Century masterpiece entitled ‘Linda Maestra, Plate 68 of Los Caprichos’.
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Shepard Fairey Close Knit Charity Print
(Image: © Obeygiant)
Shepard Fairey will release a limited print edition of his recent Close Knit image at an undisclosed time today. Priced at $50, all proceeds from the signed and numbered edition of 450 will benefit the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. The original spray painted stencil and mixed media collage on canvas was auctioned off during the organization’s annual Art For Life charity auction last month.
Catch it here
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
McGee Acqusition by Berkeley Art Museum, Named Guardian Artist of the Week
Barry McGee – Untitled, 2008, acquired by the Berkeley Art Museum. (Image: Ratio 3)
As part of its current exhibit, Galaxy: A Hundred or So Stars Visible to the Naked Eye, The Berkeley Art Museum is exhibiting a recent Barry McGee acquisition. The 13-panel ballpoint pen-head installation was purchased from Ratio 3 Gallery, where McGee presented a solo exhibition last September. In a video walk through, curator Lawrence Rinder adds valuable insight to these drawings, shedding light on their origins and meaning. Rinder notes that McGee based the series on a homeless person he encountered on Harrison Street in San Francisco’s Mission District. ”He saw a man who was so striking, Barry couldn’t get him out of his mind…and proceeded to make a number of drawings bases on this experience.” This is not the first piece of McGee’s art in the museum’s permanent collection. In 2004 they acquired an early piece dated to 1994.
In related news, with a new monograph just two months away and a substantial UK museum exhibit at the Baltic Centre recently completed, The Guardian’s Jessica Lack has selected Barry McGee as artist of the week.
see 2:36 – 3:43. (Video © Berkeley Art Museum / Pacific Film Archive)
The McGee grouping acquired by BAM can be seen in this image from A Moment for Reflection: New Works by Lydia Fong, at Ratio 3 Gallery, 2008. (Image: Ratio 3)
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
The Writing’s on the Wall :: Two New Books Explore the Rise of Text in Art
John Baldessari - I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art, 1971. (Image © the artist, Marian Goodman Gallery and Sprüth Magers)
A picture may or may not paint a thousand words, but what about the word painting the picture?
The roughly ten year period from the mid 60s – 70s, saw an explosion in the use of text in (or text as) contemporary American art. John Baldessari’s stylistically and aesthetically void text paintings must have seemed absurd to many who first saw them in the late 60s. By the mid 1970s, artists’ use of the written word had grown substantially. Consider some of the most well regarded names exhibited by Leo Castelli over the span of a few short years. In 1968 hei presented his first show with Bruce Nauman, followed by Lawrence Weiner in 1971 and Ed Ruscha in 1973. All three worked heavily with text, exploring territory ranging from minimalism to pop.
(Images: © Black Dog Publishing, Taschen)
Out next month, Art and Text (Black Dog) presents a select survey of text in art. Using seminal early 1900s artist El Lissitzky and Kurt Schwitters as a starting point, the book moves through the 1960s conceptualists (including those mentioned above) to heavyweight contemporaries like Jenny Holtzer, Barbara Kruger, Richard Long, Martin Creed and Tracy Emin. Absent from the volume, but worthy of consideration, are names like Steve Powers, Tauba Auerbach and Greg Lamarche, who represent a new wave of artists continuing the dialogue between art and text.
Barbara Kruger – Untitled (I shop therefore I am), 1987 (Image © Mary Boone Gallery)
Type – A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles, Vol. 1 (available now from Taschen) steps further back. The first book of a two volume set traces the evolution of the printed letter by providing both a written history and visual compilation of typefaces prior to the twentieth century. The source material is near astounding, drawing from the monolithic collection of Jan Tholenaar, who amassed one of the world’s greatest private collections of type specimens prior to his passing this year and before the book’s publication. Included with purchase of the volume, is unlimited access to an online image library of 1000+ high-resolution scans of type specimens, downtloadable for unrestricted use. For the casual reader, Taschen has made the entire book viewable for free in PDF format here. Volume 2 is scheduled for release in February of next year.
Sample page from Type, Vol. 1 (Image: © Taschen)
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
KAWS + Wonderwall Designing New Brooklyn Studio
Image © Complex
Complex has just published a new interview with KAWS, where the artist speaks of a new Brooklyn studio being designed with Masamichi Katayama, founder of Wonderwall Inc., who are highly regarded for retail design including Uniqlo, Bathing Ape, Marc Jacobs, and Colette stores.
Monday, August 17th, 2009
Giving Back While Getting Over :: More on Steve Powers’ Love Letter to Philly
All Images © Steve Powers
With his ambitious Love Letter to his home-town of Philadelphia, Steve Powers once again proves mastery of the art of giving back while getting over. Early last month we reported that production on the 50-wall Market Street mural was already underway, in partnership with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.
Now, with several more locations painted and more project details to announce, Power’s updates us via a new website. In addition to the multi-site mural, Love Letter will include a documentary film with scripted elements, a sign school and shop that will provide training for local youth and free signage for businesses along Market Street, and two books - a small paperback that will be given free to area businesses for them to sell to visitors, and a hardcover book that will document not only the artwork, surrounding neighborhood and inspirations for the project.
Keep track of Love Letter’s progress on the project’s site or follow the Twitter feed here
