Archive for April, 2010
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Lawrence Weiner Print Release
20×200 has just released one of their most exciting print editions to date, collaborating with Lawrence Weiner. With the print shop’s egalitarian approach to distributing affordable art at multiple price points and Weiner’s socialist leaning ideals, the two are a perfect match. Prices range from $50 for the 10″x8″ edition of 500, to $5,000 for the 40″x30″ edition of 5. Get it here.
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Peter Funch’s Babel Tales Addendum
(All images © Peter Funch, courtesy V1 Gallery)
Since 2006, Danish born photographer Peter Funch has immersed himself in New York City, vigorously documenting the metropolis’ bustling streets. His recent works are a manipulation of both time and space, built from thousands of individual photographs shot at the exact same vantage point over a long span of time. Through this process, Funch conjures images that are as much anthropological as they are fictional, capturing real, existing spaces that seamlessly commingle with fictitious moments in time that never truly existed.
Babel Tales Addendum opens May 7 at V1 Gallery, Copenhagen. With 41 panoramic works that run the line between reality and fantasy the exhibit signals the conclusion of this four year exploration. Click images for larger views.
Peter Funch – Babel Tales Addendum
May 7 – May 29
V1 Gallery
Flæsketorvet 69 – 71
1711 Copenhagen V, Denmark
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
New York Weekend
Scott Campbell (detail), 2010 (Image via OHWOW)
Lots of events appealing to the younger art crowd in NY this weekend. Tonight, the often-imitated Mark Ryden premieres The Gay 90s Old Tyme Art Show at Paul Kasmin. From there, head over to the new (temporary?) OHWOW gallery space, where tattoo master and artist Scott Campbell unveils his first NY solo. If you can see past all the hipster hats, anticipate being impressed by Campbell’s newest batch of laser-cut money reliefs. The rest of the weekend belongs to the street-art mega-stars. FAILE and BÄST open their Deluxx Fluxx Arcade in a vacant downtown store front on Friday night. If the interactive exhibit lives up to its initial run in London, expect to be shoulder to shoulder with eager fans trading in dollars for custom tokens, awaiting a shot at one of the modified classic arcade and tabletop games. If you aren’t tired of the crowds by then, Shepard Fairy’s May Day opens Saturday night at Deitch Projects (the gallery’s last exhibit before its permanent closing and bidding Jeffrey Deitch farewell to MOCA), and will be followed by an afterparty with DJ sets by Fairey and others.
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Artropolis Chicago
Projection For Chicago, 2008 / Merchandise Mart © 2008 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Text (pictured): "The Joy of Writing" from View with a Grain of Sand © 1993 by Wisława Szymborska, Photo: John Faier)
With major fairs taking place in Miami and New York, many enthusaists overlook Chicago’s annual art events. Artropolis previews today, April 29th, and will be open to the public April 30 through May 3. The event boasts three fairs under the the roof of trade show producer MMPI’s massive Merchandise Mart facility. The largest show, Art Chicago 2010, is now in its fourth year since being purchased by MMPI (who also bought New York’s VOLTAshow from Armory in 2007), and is accompanied by the NEXT Invitational Exhibit of Emerging Art and the Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair.
Art Chicago includes over 150 international exhibitors of contemporary and modern art, with a heavy focus on Chicago and New York based galleries. The fair will present several special exhibitions, including New Insight – an exhibition of top MFA students from some of the country’s most astute graduate art programs, Partisan – which focuses on politically motivated art (participants here), and a display of 27 large-scale sculptures, including works by Dzine, Kiki Smith, Rodney Graham and Florian Graf.
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Here We Go Again :: Fairey Preps for NYC
(All Houston Street mural images © Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)
Out with the old, in with the new. After a bit of neglect, I suppose now is as good a time as any for me to pick up on posting again. We’ll see how it goes.
Shepard Fairey and co. have descended on New York City in preparation for the artist’s much talked about upcoming show at the soon-defunct Deitch Projects. Word is Fairey is looking for anyone who can offer up walls, and with an opening reception scheduled for May 1, we expect the Obey crew to have plenty of time to make their presence know.
A temporary Obey Pop Up Shop will be open April 30th – May 16, and promises a full line of items from the clothing label as well as “many surprises not to be missed.”
Check out our images of Fairey working earlier today on the beginnings of this new Houston Street piece (which replaces Os Gemeos’ mural), as well as studio shots (via Obey) of the crew prepping materials for both the gallery exhibit and store.
Shepard Fairey – May Day
May 1 – 29
Deitch Projects
18 Wooster St.
NY, NY 10013
Obey Pop Up
April 30 – May 16
151 Orchard Street
New York, New York 10002
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
Shawn Mortensen 1966-2009 1YL
With Coachella crescendoing it’s almost exactly one year ago, we lost a tremendous talent and a wonderful person in photographer Shawn Mortensen. His phenomenal photos appeared in the finest publications and captured some of the most subtantive individuals of our generation. His portrait of Tupac Shakur was one of the rapper’s most definitive images. The middle-finder wielding Tupac with a joint in his other hand is still near the top of the all-time sales records for poster releases.
However, there’s a great many masterful portraits by Mortensen. His book Out Of Mind is the culmination of some of his best work. In one of Mortensen’s final artistic endeavors, he had returned to working with a Polariod format. Coming full-circle to a medium that had brought him into the field of photography, the polariod portraits that Mortensen produced in the last months of his life are very special among his impressive output.
Here we contrast the only two ‘double-signed’ polaroids that Mortensen ever produced – Keith Haring from 1989 and KAWS from 2009.
A portrait of KAWS appears in Out of Mind and Mortensen is known as publishing an edition of one for a private collector, as a gift. More on Mortensen from last year on Super Touch Art.
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Son of Electric Illuminati by Ron English
Available Saturday, April 17, noon (EST).
“Son of Electric Illuminati” Silkscreen on gold paper, 18 x 24” ed. of 100.
Signed and numbered by Ron English
$350, free shipping. For sale exclusively on www.popaganda.com
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Banksy’s ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’
There was anticipation in the air in the first of a three night series of press screenings in Los Angeles, after having made a major splash at Sundance. Undoubtedly, Banksy’s EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP presents a truly engaging story about some of the artists behind one of this generation’s most exciting movements in our culture – street art. However, much of the film, directed by Banksy, focuses on Thierry Guetta, aka Mr. Brainwash. Only an artist with the utter swagger as Banksy would be comfortable enough to actually elevate a newcomer like MBW, eclipsing himself in the process. Well crafted, the documentary explores Banksy’s legacy and contextualizes many events in ‘street art’ history, chronicling of some of the most important moments in Banksy’s career, as well as others, like Shepard Fairey. It’s both a comical glance at how art is about perception – and now more than ever – showmanship – while also poignantly substantiating the passion at the core of this form of expression.
The film is uniquely entertaining. With our highest recommendation, it will be very worthwhile seeking it out in your local market as it rolls out. It opens on April 16 in many cities across the USA. Read the rest of this entry »
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
At 9 Years Old, Is Max Burkeman The Next Art Star?
Max Burkeman - War, what is it good for? (Untitled Gun Series), 2010. 2.5 inches each, injection molded plastic and twine.
From the depths of NY’s downtown scene (so deep he’s in Brooklyn and you haven’t heard of him), comes Max Burkeman. We dare to call his first foray into visual art nothing short of brilliant. Burkeman rides a challenging line between conceptual and comodification-where Warhol handguns meet Duchampian readymades. One can only assume if Larry Gagosian and Leo Castelli joined forces somewhere in the mid 1970s, that Max Burekman would be the bastard golden child of their collective machine.
At 9 years old, MB is no stranger to the art world, and is evidently being fueled by the notoriety of his father, DB Burkeman, a prominent collector and entrepreneur with impressive roots in the music business. When questioned about his son’s new series, he noted, “Max has shifted his eagle eye to the world stage of war and its ramifications on commerce & culture. Like Damien Hirsts skate decks, these works are not intended to live in a sterile gallery, but rather be worn as jewelry pieces, making the statement, ‘War, what is it good for?'”
Look out Schnabels, there’s a new kid in town.