Details have surfaced for this year’s Sea No Evil art auction, benefitting the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Donating artists include the Clayton Brothers, Audrey Kawasaki, Shepard Fairey, Elizabeth McGrath, Mark Dean Veca, Jeff Soto, Greg Simkins, Richard Coleman, Skullphone, Travis Louie, Amy Sol, Maya Hayuk, Tim Biskup, Glen E. Friedman and Tara McPherson.

Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd and focus of the popular Animal Planet television series, Whale Wars, will be the featured speaker, with DJ sets by the Crystal Method, Shepard Fairey and others.

Click  flyer for full list of participating artists.

Sea No Evil Art Show 2010
July 31, 6pm
Riverside Municipal Auditorium
3485 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA 925o1

Anonymous Gallery opens an exhibition to benefit Haiti on March 7. The show is shaping up to be quite an opportunity to pick up work by some very respected artists, while supporting a worthy cause.

Participating artists: Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Crash, Lee Quinones, Dondi White, Tauba Auerbach, Swoon, Futura, Jose Parla, Todd James, Eric Haze, David Ellis, Doze Green, Faile, Bast, Greg Lamarche, Kostas Seremetis, Rostarr, Chris Mendoza, Yuri Shimojo, Kenji Hirata, Cope2, Indie 184, Erik Foss, Henry Chalfant, Dan Witz, Ricky Powell, Shelter Serra, Eric White, Jamel Shabazz, Michael Holman, Eve Sussman, Joseph Ari Aloi, Kenzo Minami, Daze, Aaron Sharp Goodstone, Taylor McKimens, with more to come.

The gallery is also participating in SCOPE NY, and will feature works by Eric Haze, Greg Lamarche, and Kostas Seremetis, along with operating a mobile pop-up-shop out of an airstream trailer, where they will be selling artist products and editions.

N’Ap Boule – A Benefit for Haiti
Opening Reception – March 7
Anonymous Gallery at Collective Hardware
169 Bowery
NY, NY 10002

Anonymous Shop at The Standard Hotel
13th and Washington Street

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
(All museum and street images via Obey Clothing, auction images via Art of Elysium)

THE LOST ART OF THE FILM “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS”

BENEFIT ART PROGRAM TO HELP RAISE MONEY FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

SA Studios Global’s Film Marketing Division has teamed up with Quentin Tarantino, Upper Playground and The Weinstein Company to present, THE LOST ART OF INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.

On February 18th, 2010 from 6p – 9p the world will get to preview and purchase the “Lost Art of Inglourious Basterds” at The Upper Playground Art Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles.  All proceeds from this program will be donated to The American Red Cross to help the victims of the Haiti Earthquake.

This creative team has assembled the following select group of accomplished artists, David Choe, Sam Flores, Estevan Oriol, Grotesk, Jeremy Fish, Patrick Martinez, Alex Pardee, Dora Drimalas, Munk One, N8 Van Dyke, Rene Alamanza, Morning Breath and Skinner Davis, to create their own poster art based off their interpretation of the Oscar Nominated film, “Inglourious Basterds” artwork.

Each print will be numbered and signed by Quentin Tarantino. Only six (6) of each amount will be made.

The gallery will open will be open to the general public from 6p – 9p on Thursday February 18th, 2010 at Upper Playground Los Angeles located at 125 East 6th Street in Downtown LA. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase the limited edition prints for $300.  The prints are giclée archival and are only available for purchase at Upper Playground, Los Angeles.  Phone orders and web orders will not be accepted.  Prints will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.  The purchase of prints will be limited to one per buyer. For a view at all the pieces…

Check out these new displays featuring KAWS’ designs at Kiehl’s flagship NYC store. As previously reported, the artist and luxury beauty company have teamed up, creating a limited edition moisturizer to benefit Rx Art. While the product is available now in three sizes,  you may want to hold off till next week when KAWS gift boxes and shopping bags will be available in store.

100% of net profits will benefit  RxArt, a New York based nonprofit which invites well known artists to decorate hospitals and children’s medical centers. No word yet whether KAWS will be creating one of these installations, but his youthful imagery and cartoon references would be perfect fit.

London’s Royal College of Art held its annual RCA Secret sale this past weekend. The week long exhibition culminated with the sale of  2700 postcard-sized works of art from the institution’s current roster of postgraduate students, mixed in with a lengthy list of contributors from professional artists and designers. Having a keen eye and the patience to camp out on the staggering cue reaped heavy rewards for some. As with previous year’s events, the artists’ identities were not revealed until after each sale. This year, a few lucky buyers took home £40 works by Gerhard Richter, Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin, John Baldessari and Yoko Ono. Click through for more of the art works revealed.

Shepard Fairey has designed two prints for L.E.A.D. Uganada, a nonprofit educational leadership initiative for children affected by AIDS, war, and poverty. Available now, Yellow Cans and Blanket each measure 18 x 24 inches, and have been produced as signed, numbered editions of 450, available for $75 each. Buy them here.

via TWBE

KAWS has teamed up with  nonprofit, RxArt, and luxury beauty products company, Kiehls, lending his designs to a limited skin moisturizer. With prices ranging from $26 -$70, you can feel good about indulging in one of the 3 available sizes. 100% of profits will benefit RxArt’s continuing mission of curating installations in hospital settings across the United States.  Past projects include works by Donald Baechler, Ryan McGinness, Matthew Ritche and Frank Stella.

Ryan McGinness’ RxArt installation for the NYU Child Study Center. (Image: RxArt)

JR and Geoff McFetridge (All Images © Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)

The Lance Armstrong Foundation and Nike’s STAGES opened yesterday at Deitch Projects‘ temporary gallery space in New York. The traveling exhibition (which premiered in Paris in July) brings together a heavy hitting list of contemporary art’s biggest names including Richard Prince, Cai Guo- Qiang, Ed Ruscha, Kenny Scharf and Andreas Gursky, with the most respected artists who have crossed over from street and graffiti cultures. Ranging from painting and sculpture, to modified bikes, the works on display have been influenced by (some more literally than others), and will raise proceeds for the LIVESTRONG mission of raising awareness and fighting cancer.

Futura, Jules de Balincourt, Dustin Yellin, Eric White, Tom Sachs, Shepard Fairey, Jeffrey Deitch, Lance Armstrong, Nike CEO Mark Parker, Geoff McFetridge, Rosson Crow, Jose Parla. and Dzine in front of Cai Guo Qiang’s gunpowder painting. (All Images © Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)

In attendance were Lance Armstrong, Nike CEO Mark Parker, Jeffrey Deitch, as well as many of the contributing artists including Tom Sachs, KAWS, Shepard Fairey, Futura, Jose Parla, Dustin Yellin, Eric White, Rosson Crow, and Geoff McFetridge. Stages opens to the public Saturday, Oct. 31 and will be on view until Nov. 21. The exhibition will then travel to Miami during Art Basel, before heading to Los Angeles and its final destination at the Portland Art Museum early next year.

TAC was on hand for the afternoon press preview, followed by a private opening night reception. Read on for our extensive photo recap, click for larger images.

STAGES
Oct. 31 – Nov 21
Deitch Projects
489 Broom Street
NY, NY 10013

The New York Art Book Fair opens later this week at P.S.1 Arts Center in Long Island City.  After last year’s overly crowded gathering at Phillips de Pury, we hope the change of venue lends to a less hectic visit. The weekend-long event plays host to over 200 international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, and independent publishers, as well as a conference and several special events, including signings by photographers Ryan McGinley and Peter Sutherland. This year, Printed Matter curates a special exhibition of the books and posters of artist Richard Prince, from the 70s to today. We are also looking forward to Gallery 360′s project room, where they will present Japanese Pop, Then & Now, with works by Kiyoshi Awazu, Suzy Amakane, Keiji Ito, Erika Kobayashi, Yutaka Kuriyama, Keiichi Tanaami, Tadanori Yokoo, and Aquirax Uno. A preview night benefit takes place this Thursday and includes entrance to a party at Deitch Studios, Long Island City. Tickets(available via Printed Matter) begin at $20 and include limited artist editions by Elmgreen & Dragset, Jutta Koether, Tom Sachs, and Mungo Thomson.

NY Art Book Fair
Oct. 2 – 4
Preview + Benefit Night: Oct. 1
P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Ave.
Long Island City, NY 11101