Archive for the 'New York City' Category
Friday, November 26th, 2010
Flying High :: Murakami in Macy’s Parade / Settles Lawsuit
(Image via NYClovesNYC)
Happy Thanksgiving!
With the 84th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade complete, Takashi Murakami becomes the latest artist to contribute balloon designs to the iconic holiday celebration, following previous collaborations with the Estate of Keith Haring, Jeff Koons and Tom Otterness. Giant renditions of his signature characters Kaikai and Kiki floated through Manhattan accompanied by Murakami himself, who was adorned in a furry dragon costume topped off with a headdress featuring his flower design.
In other news, according to a recent KaiKai Kiki press announcement, Murakami and Kaikai Kiki Ltd. have reached a settlement with Cerulean Co., Ltd. regarding the sale of an original work titled Flower Ball Blood (3-D) V. The sale was conditioned on Cerulean not reselling the work for a fixed period of time. However, when the piece was slated to be auctioned by Christie’s in London five months after its purchase, Kaikai Kiki filed its lawsuit demanding immediate return of the painting, along with s compensation for damages. On October 30, 2009, the suit ended in an amicable settlement, resulting in agreement for the return of the work in question.
(Image via sandrasoroka)
(Image via NYClovesNYC)
(Image via sandrasoroka)
Murakami shows off his parade costume (All Artwork including Kaikai and Kiki (c)Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved., via New York Times.)
Concept Illustration. (All Artwork including Kaikai and Kiki (c)Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved., via New York Times)
Murakami works on concept sculptures. (All Artwork including Kaikai and Kiki (c)Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved., via New York Times.)
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
NYC Openings
The above Barbara Kruger print will be released at the Editions|Artist’s Book Fair in an edition of 200, priced at $200.
Here’s our picks for this week’s art openings in NYC.
Thursday, Nov 4
Robert Lazzarini – friendly-hostile-friendly, Paul Kasmin Gallery, 511 W 27 St., 6-8pm
FAILE – Bedtime Stories, Perry Rubenstein 527 W. 23 St., 6-8pm
Dzine – Voodoo, Leo Koenig Projekte, 541 W. 23 St., 6-8pm
Editions|Artist’s Book Fair, 548 W. 22 St., preview 6-9pm ($20), Free Fri-Sun
John Currin – New Paintings, Gagosian, 980 Madison Ave., 6-8pm
Jenny Holzer – Retro, Skarstedt, 20 E. 79 St., 6-8pm
Friday, Nov. 5
Hiroshi Sugimoto – The Day After, Pace Gallery, 545 W. 22 St., 6-8pm
Matthew Monahan – Anton Kern, 532 W. 20 St., 6-8pm
Andy Warhol – Warhol’s Andys, Ronald Feldman, 31 Mercer St., 6-8pm
NY Art Book Fair – PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Preview 6-9pm, through Sunday
Saturday, Nov. 6
Raymond Pettibon –Hard in the Paint, David Zwirner, 525 W. 19 St., 6-8pm
Luc Tuymans – Corporate, David Zwirner, 525 W. 19 St., 6-8pm
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Hot Glue and Hot Dogs :: Kenny Scharf & Dearraindrop at The Hole
Kenny Scharf & Dearraindrop – Cosmic Cavern Hole (installation view) – (All images via The Hole)
For their fourth exhibition, The Hole continues to push beyond the stuffy confines of traditional white wall presentation with a collaborative exhibition between influential pop-artist Kenny Scharf and the emerging art collective Dearraindrop. Heralded for his contributions to the NY pop-art scene of the 1980s, the show not only exemplifies Scharf’scontinued influence on a new generation of artists, but his ongoing active participation from within such movements. Hot Glue Hullabaloo promises to be a playful and electrifying hot mess of mixed media installations, fusing the artists’ affinity for comic book art, technical painting, found trash, and crafts. Join the party tonight from 6-9pm.
Kenny Scharf – Hot Dog in Space, 2010.
Joe Grillo, Laura Grant and Billy Grant – Mutant Pop, 2010.
Joe Grillo – Egyptian Paramount, 2010.
Kenny Scharf and Dearraindrop – Hot Glue Hulaballoo
Oct. 28 – Dec. 4
Opening Reception: 6-9pm
The Hole
104 Green St.
NY, NY 1012
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Affordable Art Fair NY Opens Today
Kent Rogowski – Untitled #10, archival pigment print. Available at 20×200/Jen Benkman Project
The Affordable Art Fair opens tomorrow, Sept. 30 in New York and runs through Sunday, Oct. 3. Now in its eight year, AAF includes some 70 international galleries, with works ranging from $100 – $10,000. Tickets for the event, including tonight’s early private preview, can be purchased here. Planning a visit and looking for a bargain? We suggest checking out the prints of 20×200/Jen Benkman Project, who will also be offering convenient on-site framing services for all their editions.
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
Tonight’s NY Openings
Matthew Day Jackson – The Tomb, 2010 (Image via Peter Blum Gallery)
It’s September again and here in New York that means the gallery season has begun. Here’s a few openings on our radar for tonight:
Marianne Boesky – Jay Heiks – Inanimate Life – In creating this multimedia series of works that explore processes of evolution and regeneration, corrosion and decay, Heikes was inspired by Douglas Coupland’s description of the year following the end of the world from his 1998 novel Girlfriend in a Coma. Heikes was particularly affected by the line “ten million pictures fall from ten million walls,” which alludes to the end of art and culture, as we know it. “I never put too much stock in the fact that any of these mediums were truly dying because I saw them as corpses dragging themselves through the streets to rehabilitation centers, only to be reborn more grotesque and perverse than before,” Heikes said in reaction to the text.
Peter Blum – Matthew Day Jackson – In Search of (Soho) / The Tomb (Chelsea) – The Whitney Biennial and Greater New York alum presents a new body of multimedia and sculptural works based on his 2009 residency and exhibition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology List Visual Arts Center.
Morgan Lehman – Opening Ceremony – The gallery presents its inaugural exhibit in a brand new and expanded Chelsea exhibition space
The group show includes works by each of the gallery’s eighteen represented artists including Laura Ball, Eric Beltz, Andrew Schoultz, Paul Villinski, Paul Wackers, Ryan Wallace, and others.
Eric Beltz – Timber Beast, 2010 (Image via Morgan Lehman)
David Zwirner – John McCracken – New Works in Bronze and Steel – The esteemed sculptor of minimalist geometric forms presents his first bronzes alongside new stainless steel works.
Pace Galleries – 50 Years of Pace – The gallery celebrates its 50th year with a multi-site exhibition of some of the key masterpieces that have passed through their doors, featuring loans from important public and private collections worldwide. With works spanning more than a century and a selection of rare archival materials, the four separate exhibits will shed light on some of the landmark exhibitions and sales from the gallery’s extensive history. Covering the gallery’s engagement with Pop art, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalist Art and the Post-Modernist, to contemporary art in the 21st century, some artists included are Pablo Picasso, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, Mondrian, Giacometti, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Dan Flavin, David Hockney, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Duke Riley.
Bryce Wolkowitz – Airan Kang – Light Reading – The South Korean artist unveils her first U.S. solo show, presenting her “Digital Book Projec”t for the first time in New York.
FAILE – Prints & Originals Book Launch and Show (151 Orchard St.) – The street art turned gallery duo open the doors to a temporary pop-up shop and sell hand-customized versions of their new book, along with a selection of long sold out and sought print editions.
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
Remembering 9/11
The twin beacons of light eminating from lower Manhattan and illuminating the New York night sky this week are a somber reminder of those who lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Currently in its eighth year, the memorial was spearheaded by Creative Time in partnership with the Municipal Arts Society and artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda.
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Accidents Will Happen :: Barry McGee Hits Houston Street
(All images and text © Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)
After a month away overseas (more on that to follow), I’ve come home to New York. Before leaving I had gotten word that Barry McGee and company would be coming to the city sometime soon to lend their treatment to the Houston Street mural wall on the Lower East Side. I thought for sure I would miss it, but returned earlier this week to learn I had made it back just in time. So, after several weeks of being absent from TheArtCollectors, I couldn’t have imagined a better way to jump back into things. I hope you’ll agree.
In an amazing twist, life imitated art in New York Sunday night when Barry McGee and crew descended on the Houston Street wall. Beginning at midnight, McGee, together with longtime collaborator Josh Lazcano (Amaze), began a massive spray-painting spree, bombarding the surface with hundreds of simple red tags. Working through the cover of night, the team created the ultimate graffiti writer’s roll call and a strangely beautiful, if not challenging piece of commissioned abstract art. By dawn, it would go much farther than even they could have imagined.
In the coming weeks, reactions to the piece are sure to be mixed, and it didn’t take long for questions to begin. Police made their first visit around 2am, clearly not knowing what to make of the Tony Goldman sanctioned property previously occupied by a Ketih Haring replica, a meticulously illustrated mural by Os Gemeos and the design heavy graphics of Shepard Fairey. No, this couldn’t be legit, this couldn’t be art. After a minor interruption a permit was produced and the police were on their way. They’d be returning though.
By 4am (with some added contributions from Chino) Twist and Amaze had completely filled in the wall with the names and crews of graffiti writers past and present. Seeing the project near completion, spectators, assistants and overseers had left the scene, leaving the artists free to “touch up” a few things. They were soon disrupted by a carload of ass-shaking club girls who briefly hijacked the sidewalk for a personal photo op. Acting as official photographer, Martha Cooper quickly stepped in keeping control over the site, and we turned our cameras on the drunken booty bunch. Barry and crew entered the frame. However amusing it was, this was clearly not how those involved had intended to end the night. Whatever – DFW – this bullshit would all be over soon and they could get back to what they were here for and waiting till dawn to complete.
4:45am and back to work. As it ascended to a few of the harder to reach spots, the buzz of the boom lift was suddenly drowned out by screeching tires. We turned our heads left just as a passing SUV smashed full force into a graffiti-adorned box truck, briefly taking flight and coming to rest on its side. The smell of oil and gasoline filled the air as it trickled out and drenched the pavement. “Call 911,” “Get that fucking cigarette away from here!” A few passersby rushed in and attempted to tear back the shattered windshield to reach the driver. Trapped on his side in an airbag filled compartment, they eventually opted to use the back end as an escape hatch. Bleeding from his forehead, but able to walk, he was pulled from the rear of the vehicle and helped into an ambulance.
By 5am the street was blocked off by police and fire department, bringing more unwelcome attention to the wall. Ordered down from their perch, the artists were subjected to another round of police scrutiny, this time focusing on their recent early morning final additions and concerns regarding the exact zone the work permit covered. Things seemed uncertain, if not dismal over the next hour.
What the hell had just happened? Walking west from the wall, a few hundred feet down the street to the accident and back up again, I started to take it all in – the totaled truck flipped on its side, the broken glass, the flashing lights and sirens all set the backdrop of 850 sq. feet of graffiti. I felt a certain sort of chaotic energy and unnerving excitement, as if one of Barry’s frenetic gallery and museum installations had spontaneously slammed full force into the middle of Houston Street. By 6am he and his mates were in there clear and off to the airport to get the hell out of New York City. Me? I walked up the block and back home where I couldn’t fall asleep for another three hours.
READ ON FOR MORE IMAGES Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
R.I.P. Rammellzee (1960-2010)
(Image: Kostas Seremetis)
We are sad to report the death of pioneering graffiti, hip-hop, visual and performance artist, the one and only Rammellzee. Check out Fast Company’s profile and the tribute below, sent out today by our friends at Anonymous Gallery:
New York artist and performer Rammellzee (born in 1960 in Queens, New York) is credited with being one of the inventors of graffiti art as we know it. Through writing, drawing and painting on subway cars in spray paint and felt-tip pen in the late ‘70s, he became interested in the symbolic value of letters. Rammellzee named his style “Gothic Futurism,” describing the battle between letters and their symbolic warfare against any standardizations enforced by the rules of the alphabet. When his style of writing became more mainstream in the world of graffiti, Rammellzee built his letters into flying armored vehicles, bursting forth with a style and philosophy all his own that he termed “Ikonoklast Panzerism”
He has continued to explore these ideas through a variety of media ever since, from the paintings that in 1988 Gerrit Henry described in Art In America as having “a Star-Wars-via-Jackson-Pollock look” to the legendary hip-hop single “Beat Bop” that was produced by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and became not just one of the most collectible hip hop releases ever, but a model for generations of witty and experimental musicians.
In 1982, he appeared in the seminal hip hop documentary Wildstyle by Charlie Ahearn. Rammellzee has shown in galleries and museums throughout the world including P.S. 1 in New York and performed in his iconic self-designed masks and costumes at the 2005 Venice Biennale. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, however Ramm always contended his highest achievements could be viewed from the train yards…
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Pop Will Eat Itself :: Lichtenstein’s Still Lifes at Gagosian
(All photos: Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)
Though Roy Lichtenstein is most remembered for his pioneering contributions to the early American pop movement of the 1960s, he continued to make new art up to the 1990s. From 1972 – 1986 he produced a large body of painting and sculpture that can be described as pop still-lifes. Technically, these were rendered in the same style of his popular comic-book based art, mimicking mechanical methods of production through the use of vivid primary colors, sharp lines, and his trademark simulation of the Ben-Day printing process. Thematically however, Lichtenstein’s subject matter veered away from mass culture and the recreation of commercial imagery. In place of D.C. comic panels we find the objects of traditional still life painting like fruits, vases or items arranged on tables.
Make the mistake of reading too carefully, and you might think there was some grand message here – that in the same way mass media has, the stuff of these works too has become part of our collective consumer conscience. However, like the rest of his art, Lichtenstein was quick to question any profound reading of this series, noting, “When we think of still lifes, we think of paintings that have a certain atmosphere or ambience. My still life paintings have none of those qualities, they just have pictures of certain things that are in a still life, like lemons and grapefruits and so forth.”
For a body of work whose deeper meaning even the artist was quick to denounce, this is truly a site to behold. In the first exhibition devoted entirely to this series, Gagosian Gallery’s presentation of some fifty still lifes is one that rises to museum standards and deserves to outlive its summer gallery viewing. That being said, reflecting on his art with John Coplans in 1972, Lichtenstein remarked, “I don’t think that whatever is meant by it is important to art.”
Roy Lichtenstein – Still Lifes
Gagosian Gallery
May 8 – July 30
555 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
212.741.1111
(All text and photos: Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)
Friday, June 18th, 2010
With Move, New Challenges for Whitney
(Image: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Architects via NY Times)
In his New York Times piece today, Nicolai Ouroussoff provides an insightful, if somewhat critical overview of the Whitney’s proposed design for its new location in New York’s meatpacking district. The article comes weeks after the museum’s board officially announced plans to break ground next year on their future downtown home, with completion targeted for 2015. With construction prices at a long-time low and its endowment hit hard by the economic downturn, the museum has given architect Renzo Piano the task of trimming costs and meeting crucial building deadlines, before prices rise back to pre-recession levels.
While acknowledging the necessity to do so, Ouroussoff skeptically questions what the final result of such cutbacks in both dollars and time will be. Noting that few institutions’ identities are as closely linked to their physical structures as the Whitney’s is to its original Marcel Breuer building, Ouroussoff challenges the museum and its architect to succeed at making sure the new location “rise at least to the same level as the original building as a place to view art,” warning “Anything less will not only be a shame for the city, but a defining emblem of failure for the Whitney.”
A rendering of the new Whitney, viewed from Washington and Ganesvoort Streets, with the High Line shown in the foreground. (Image: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Architects via NY Times)