Archive for February, 2010
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
NY Art On The Go
Our friends at NY Art Beat have upped the anti with a new iPhone app that gets our seal of approval as a must have for any on-the-go-art enthusiast. Listing 600 events from 1000 galleries and museums across New York City, the application provides users with the ability to search by GPS location, opening reception/starting/closing dates, most popular events, as well as providing access to press releases.
Available till the end of February for .99¢, and $1.99 thereafter, so act fast and go get it now. The application follows their already popular Tokyo Art Beat version, which is already the #1 selling app in the Lifestyle category of the Japanese iTunes store.
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
Big Week for Fairey Amidst Growing Controversy
Art of Elysium’s 2010 Heaven Gala (Image via Art of Elysium)
It wouldn’t be a week without some sort of news from the Shepard Fairey camp, and this one is jam packed.
Fairey was named Visionary of the Year and lent design and decoration to children’s charity The Art of Elysium’s 2010 Annual Heaven Gala (pictured above). Fairey is participating in their annual benefit auction, and has donated several items to the fundraising event. The most exciting lot is a personal portrait sitting with the artist. The winning bidder will be entitled to a visit with Fairey for a photo shoot, which the artist will use to create a one of a kind 30″ X 44″ mixed media canvas. The prize is valued at $30-$40,000 for the in person sitting and final artwork (or $20-$30,000 if photos are sent). Other lots include unique 40″ x 60″ canvas depicting his Burmese Monk image, estimated at $20,000, and a rather quirky one of a kind collaged 7 foot lamp, valued at $7,500 (both pictured below). Both the portrait sitting and Burmese Monk can be bid on live via CharityBuzz until March 4, 12pm EST. If interested in the lamp, download an absentee bid form here
The opening of the third and final stop of his museum retrospective, Supply and Demand, set record attendance numbers at the Cincinatti Contemporary Arts Center this past week. Naturally, while in town, Fairey and crew were also out making their mark on the streets. (Lots more photos of the exhibition preparation, opening celebration, and outdoor campaign at the end of this post.)
(All museum and street images via Obey Clothing)
Next, Fairey’s design firm, Studio Number One, has lent their hand to titling sequences for the new Basquiat feature film, which can be seen in the trailer below.
Finally, the controversy over Fairey’s Obama portrait continues. The artist is now the subject of a federal grand jury criminal probe. Authorities are investigating whether Fairey violated federal laws prohibiting evidence tampering and perjury in connection to his copyright battle with the Associated Press. In October the artist released a public statement admitting, “in an attempt to conceal my mistake I submitted false images and deleted other images.” As noted by Copyrights and Campaigns, the criminal investigation hinges on whether or not Fairey (along with his wife) violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c)and 1621. Section 1512 makes it a crime to “alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an object with intent to impair the integrity or availability of the object for use in an official proceeding,” while section 1621 declares that any person who “willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true…is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by law, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
Fairey has filed an injunction hoping to postpone the civil suit with AP. The injunction argues
“Plaintiffs submit that there is a compelling case for postponement. Mr. Fairey is now the subject of a criminal investigation…It appears that the AP is, at minimum, encouraging and supporting that criminal investigation. Mr. Fairey’s criminal defense counsel believes that a deposition at this time would prejudice him and impair council’s ability to properly represent Mr. Fairey. Therefor, if a deposition does take place while the criminal investigation is pending, counsel would advise Mr. Fairey to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.”
While we here at TAC have supported Shepard’s fair use claims in creating his Obama portrait (which now sits in the National Portrait Gallery), we will wait for the facts to further develop before weighing in on the separate criminal investigation, and confine our comments to reporting the findings as they emerge.
Read on for more pictures from Cincinnati opening night and installation Read the rest of this entry »
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Rubell Collection to Expand to D.C.
The recently sold Randall School building was purchased from the by the Rubells in partnership with the Telesis real estate firm from the Corcoran School and Museum. The joint venture will see the site developed into a new Rubell museum, a hotel, and private residencies. (Image via)
Famed Miami based collectors Don and Mira Rubell have just announced plans to open up a new museum in Wasington D.C. to showcase their ever expanding collection of contemporary art. The location will serve as a satellite to their Miami museum, and was purchased for $6.5 million from Corcoran College and Gallery of Art in partnership with real estate investment firm, Telesis. Part of the building will also be developed into a hotel and private residences.
This isn’t the Rubell’s first foray into the D.C. area. In 2002, the couple bought the Capitol Skyline Hotel. The seven story building was designed by their friend, architect Morris Lapidus, known for the Fontainebleau Hotel and other Miami Beach properties. Around the same time, they began focusing on D.C. artists. “The reason we even bothered to find a business [in D.C.] is that the art is amazing,” noted Mera Rubell in a December interview with Art in America. “A hotel is a natural place to create a kind of home. I want artists there—it’s exciting for my existence here whenever I’m here.”
(Image: Jenny Yang via Art in America)
The Corcoran is slated to host an exhibition organized by and culled from the Rubell’s collection. 30 Americans focuses on African American artists in the Rubell’s personal collection and was first on view at their private Miami museum in December of 2008. Last week, Tyler Green’s Modern Art Notes raised concern over the arrangement. Clarifying that works in the exhibit are owned by the Rubell family and not by their foundation, he notes:
“The last line of the Washington Post story on the deal is a classic case of burying the lede: “Officials said the exhibition is not related to the sale.” Really? When an art-museum-and-school is preparing to exhibit a family’s private collection at the same time it is cutting a real estate deal with the owners of that collection (and curator(s) of the show), the arrangement deserves significantly more journalistic examination than a toss-off at the end of a story.”
Spokespersons for the Corcoran affirm the exhibit and property sale are not related. Yet, if the recent hoopla over the New Museum’s upcoming exhibit of museum trustee Dakis Joannou’s personal collection is waranted, perhaps the Rubell’s dealings with the Corcoran are also worth further examination.
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
McGee + HuskMitNavn to Exhibit Together
Barry McGee will be exhibiting under his Lydia Fong monker at Alice Gallery (Brussels, Belgium), alongside Danish artist HuskMitNavn (Remember My Name). While both are known for their work in street and fine art settings, The Last Night marks the first collaboration for the artists. The joint exhibition opens March 25.
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Kill Your Television :: Vote for Ben Jones’ TV Pilot
Your television is one step closer to the psychotic visions of multimedia artist Ben Jones. On his own and as one-third of art collective, Paper Rad, Jones’ paintings, comics, animations, and sculptural creations have been exhibited internationally at many notable museums and galleries, including the New Museum, MOMA, Tate Britain, Peres Projects, Deste Foundation, and Deitch Projects. Now Jones is in the running for a new series on the Adult Swim cable channel. Do your part and vote online for his pilot, Neon Knome here. The world will be a better place.
Check out NY Times’ profile and video interview with Ben here
UPDATE: The world is not ready.
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Matsu Bearbrick Release
Medicom Toy has just released a new limited Bearbrick design by our close and much admired friend, Tomokazu Matsuyama. The two figure set was produced in an edition of 300 and includes both 100% (2.5″) and 400% (10″) sizes. Though the product is exclusive to Japan (available here), savvy collectors will undoubtedly find their way to this limited release.
For our review on Matsu’s current exhibit in San Francisco, read here
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Ed Templeton Rising
Internationally recognized for his painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography, skate-icon and artist Ed Templeton has several significant projects in the works.
Most immediately, Templeton opens a new photo exhibit at Roberts + Tilton (Los Angeles) this Friday, Feb. 26. The works on display are culled from the artist’s personal archives, and were shot spontaneously from the inside of cars over a span of 15 years. Speaking of the project, Templeton says, “I never went out driving just to shoot pictures. Each one of these was shot going from point A to point B for some other reason, organically; they represent the in-between. Most of it is from my frequent visits to LA from my home in Huntington Beach, 1 hours’ drive south. But there is also a lot from taxi rides in Paris, Moscow, London, Barcelona, and St Petersburg.”
Next up , Templeton’s photography will be included in the 2010 Photography Biennial at MAMAC (Liege, Belgium), which runs Feb 28 – April 25. Lastly, his first solo museum exhibition, The Cemetery of Reason, opens at S.M.A.K. (Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art) in Ghent, Belgium on April 2, and will include works across multiple disciplines.
Ed Templeton – The Duality of Femininity, 2009 (Courtesy of Roberts + Tilton and Tim Van Laere)
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Marcel Dzama at Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art
Marcel Dzama – On the banks of the Red River, 2008 (Collection Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal)
Dzama returns home with a new exhibit at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. While several pieces on display first appeared in his 2008 showing with David Zwirner (NY), Of Many Turns is the largest exhibition of Dzama’s works ever organized by a museum, focuses on the artist’s recent multidisciplinary accomplishments.
All images courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York except where noted.
Marcel Dzama – Of Many Turns
Feb. 4 – April 25
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
185, Sainte-Catherine Ouest
Montréal, Québec H2X 3X5
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Coming Soon :: Rosson Crow at Deitch
Rosson Crow is set to unveil a show at Deitch Projects on March 4. For the series, the young painter relocated to New York City to research and submerge herself into the downtown art scene. Like the image above recalling Haring’s Pop Shop, we anticipate the other large-scale oils to drip from the canvas, conjuring up spaces past and present and the renegade debauchery and free spiritedness of this movement.
The show is Crow’s first solo with the gallery, and one of the last before it permanently closes later this year.
Rosson Crow – Bowery Boys
March 4 – 27
Deitch Projects
18 Wooster Street
NY, NY 10013
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Details of Controversial Koons-Curated Joannou Exhibit Emerge
Jeff Koons’ One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (1985) was the first major art acquisition by collector Dakis Joannou, and the only piece of the artist’s work to be shown in the collector’s forthcoming New Museum survey, Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection (Image: the Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens)
The New Museum of New York has just released the details of an already debated exhibition of works from the treasure chest of billionaire collector Dakis Joannou. Though parts of the collection have previously been on view at Joannou’s own DESTE Foundation in Anthens, as well as in Paris and Vienna, the upcoming New York exhibit has skeptics voicing concerns of nepotism. Critics say the show is an obvious conflict of interest, arguing that Joannou, who is one of the museum’s trustees, could easily see the notoriety and value of his collection catapult.
Titled Skin Fruit, the show, which runs March 3 – June 6, will include 100+ works by 50 international artists, selected from the Joannou Collection by guest curator, Jeff Koons (whose work will also appear in the exhibit). Koons’ very first solo showing with a museum was held at the New Museum in 1980, when his Hoover vacuum cleaner installation was displayed in the windows of their former 5th Ave. location. The artist has also been heavily supported by Joannou, who owns 40 of Koons works, along with his 2008 yacht commission.
For more thorough investigative journalism regarding the debate over the exhibit, check out the always enlightening Culturegrrl here
The 50 selected artists are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »