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Monday, January 23rd, 2012

KAWS Appropriates Iconic Walt Disney Statue

The word is KAWS and Medicom will release their latest figure collaboration, Partners, this Saturday. This time, the artist appropriates a bronze statue of animation legend, Walt Disney , which can be found in Florida’s Disney World (souvenier miniatures of the original also exist.) Take it or leave it, KAWS seems to be commenting on his own biography, which includes a stint working for Disney’s animation studios after college. Instead of holding his character creation’s hand, as Disney was holding Mickey’s in the original, we see Companion cowering away from his creator. Our old friend markilepsy happens to be visiting the amusement park right now with his family, and quickly snapped this for us:

Posted by ATARMS | Filed in Product, Sculpture | 1 Comment »

 

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Pirovino KAWS Collection

Hypebeast and HighSnobiety recently unveiled a view into the KAWS collection I’ve been focused on building for the past several years, including an interview that covers a bit of the journey up to this point. Shot by Brandon Shigeta, the photos present works in a variety of mediums including ink, watercolor, pastel, acrylic, bronze, resin, wood, and vinyl. Here are some exclusive photos that were reserved for this space:

Posted by pirovino | Filed in Collections, Los Angeles, Sculpture, TACVault | 1 Comment »

 

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Internally Yours :: Nouar @ Helford

Nefariously clever Nouar is on the eve of letting us taste her latest visual treats at the Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City’s jewel. We’ve been fans for years, having interviewed the artist when she exhibited with Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Today, her evolution continues to provide delectable interplay of a highly personal narrative. The works in “Internally Yours” feature three-dimensional sugary confections, gelatin dessert molds and a bright, beguiling color palette that lure the viewer in. However, like Jeff Koons’ brightly-colored balloon animals, the characters have a significance beyond their deceptively innocent appearance. “For this show,” Nouar says, “I used food as a visual metaphor to symbolize how dangers are hidden, and how we don’t see them coming until it is too late.” For example, in her painting “Sweet Entrapment,” a bright-pink gummy bear smirks at the doe-eyed brunette trapped inside its stomach.

‘“Internally Yours” represents the idea of confinement, submission and eternity,” Nouar explains. “Sometimes, we find ourselves in situations we don’t want to be in. It feels like the world has swallowed us up whole.”

The techniques used in this exhibition were inspired by the 2009 group show at Corey Helford Gallery,“The Multi-Plane Show”, for which artists were asked to paint transparent panes in order to achieve a three-dimensional effect. “For my submission, I wanted to utilize the idea of actually being able to see through an object to see what is inside or behind it,” Nouar says. “After several attempts to tint the glass, I realized I would have to create a new transparent layer altogether. Thus I begun experimenting with sculpting and casting resin to achieve the effect I wanted in the final finished piece.”

Don’t miss the special ‘takehome’ tidbits on opening night.

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

Opening Reception Saturday, June 11, 2011 from 7-10pm
On View June 11 – June 29, 2011 Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by pirovino | Filed in Los Angeles, Openings, Sculpture | Comment now »

 

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.)

 

Friday, November 5th, 2010

KAWS @ Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris / Spongebob Print Release


(All gallery images via Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin)

KAWS Paris outing offers the opportunity to witness his latest fixation with large-scale sculpture. After the debut of the giant black Accomplice at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum,  here we note the side-by-side accompaniment of a gargantuan pink Accomplice (both in an edition of 3, plus 1 Artist Proof). Aside from the massive dissected Companion at the artist’s Tokyo store Original Fake, Galerie Perrotin is the stage for an uber-scale brown 5 Years Later Companion (ed. 3 +1 AP). What truly marks this show is the ultimate evolution of brilliant colossal sculptural works, leaving the paintings in relative shadow. For the first time, KAWS has produced multiple immense sculptures for a solo gallery exhibition – an impressive offering indeed.

Together with the monumental 5YL Companion currently on display in Hong Kong, as well as the edition of life-size Chums, this exhibition clearly signals the direction KAWS is taking towards titanic renditions.

UPDATE: Just a few short hours before doors opened to the preview of the Editions|Artist’s Book Fair in New York last night, the Aldrich Museum announced the release of a new KAWS print at their booth. Priced at $800 the 20″x20″ edition of 100 depicts the artist’s rendition of the Spongebob character (image below) and is KAWS’ first print since his 2007 Dissected Companion edition. After the fair’s end, twenty remaining prints will become available via Art + Culture Editions.


KAWS – Kawsbob, 2010 print released by Aldrich Editions. (Image © Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)

KAWS, Pay the Debt to Nature
Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin
76 rue de turenne 75003, Paris
11/6/10-12/23/10

Posted by pirovino | Filed in Editions, Europe, Openings, Sculpture | 15 Comments »

 

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.

To commemorate the installation Creative Time has released two editions with LaVerdiere and Myoda. Towers of Light Triptych consists of three digital c-prints measuring 13×15.5 inches each, available in a signed and dated edition of 100 for $1500. Also available is Towers of Light Over the Empire, a single image from the series priced at $500. All proceeds will help support Creative Time’s future public art projects. Order here


Also worthy of mention is NY based artist Eric Parnes‘ sculpture, Two (pictured above). Comprised of twin plexiglass towers filled with World Trade Center debris collected from Ground Zero on the day of the 9/11 attacks, the piece serves as a startling commentary on the conflicted nature concerning the preservation and exhibition of artifacts associated wartime atrocities.
 

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Lowride to High Art :: Dzine at The Bass Museum

Dzine-bass-museum-1
(All Images © Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors)

Chicago based artist, Dzine (Carlos Rolon) appropriates the aesthetics of lowrider “Kustom [car] Kulture” into high art circles. In doing so, he redefines these objects, deeply rooted in Chicano ethnic and communal identities, as vibrant and viable works of sculpture.

As noted by Denise M. Sandoval in Cruising Through East Los Angeles: Chicano Lowrider Stories, “lowriders can be seen as embodiments of Mexican-American or Chicano social history, a heritage that is often misunderstood by other segments of the American populace…and speak to the creation of cultural space[s] within the urban environment…”  While celebrating this heritage, Dzine simultaneously urges the viewer to see beyond such connections. “On one level its a folkloric tradition, but its also just one degree away from a Mariko Mori sculpture,” the artist reflected. “To put my work in a different environment where people might look at it as its Starke or Gerhy did it, is to make it aesthetic rather than sociological – to see this like I do, as a sculpture (Paper Magazine; Carlo McCormick, May 2008).

Dzine-10

Dzine’s works are currently on view at The Bass Museum of Art, Miami (he also had a new work on display earlier this month with Deitch Projects at Art Basel, Miami – pictured below). The most innovative piece in the exhibit it a customized chandelier, tricked out with 24 karot gold, crystals, speakers, velvet, and rear view mirrors. Here, Dzine has flipped his usual method appropriation on its head, taking a high culture status symbol and reworking it into the lexicon of the street. With such compelling and instantly accessible works of art, we can’t help but imagine one of his wheeled-wonders bulldozing over Damien Hirst’s Diamond Skull. Here’s to wishful thinking.

Read on for our extensive images – click for larger views. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Expect Delays for Koons’ Train

koons-train
Train
– Production Model © Jeff Koons Production / Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Bloomberg reports that due to budget constraints and a drastically shrunken endowment, Jeff Koons’ $25 million commission for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been postponed, and may come to a complete halt altogether. Dubbed by The Art Newspaper as most expensive museum commission ever,  the proposed sculpture would dangle a full-scale motorized replica of a 70-foot 1943 Baldwin locomotive from a crane in front of the museum’s entrance. Three times a day the train’s wheels would start up, while sounding its whistle and blowing off  steam. “We wouldn’t do it unless someone funds it; someone has to write us a check,” said Barbara Pflaumer, LACMA’s associate vice president for communications and marketing.

Posted by ATARMS | Filed in Los Angeles, Museums, Public Art, Sculpture | 1 Comment »

 

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Phaidon Releases Anish Kapoor Monograph

Anish-Kapoor-book

Phaidon has just released the most up to date and comprehensive monograph on Anish Kapoor, covering 30 years of the sculptor’s work over 528 pages and 446 color photos. The publisher is also running a 20% discount on all purchases in their webstore, now through December 11. Sign up to their email list to receive a discount code.

Posted by ATARMS | Filed in Publications, Sculpture | Comment now »

 

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Let There Be Light :: Monumental Times for James Turrell

James-Turrell-Roden-Crater
Roden Crater, view from southwest. (Image: © James Turrell, Photo: Florian Holzherr, 2003.)

James Turrell is about to unveil a new light work and his largest ever museum installation at The Kunstmuseum in Wolfsburg, Germany. James Turrell: The Wolfsburg Project opens Oct. 24 and runs though April 5, 2010. In addition, Pace Wildenstein, NY, is currently holding its fourth solo gallery exhibit with the artist, featuring fifteen large-scale light works on view for the first time.

JamesTurrell-Ganzfeld
Ganzfeld Piece, Begehbare Installation, Stuttgart, 2009. (Image: © James Turrell, Photo: Zooey Braun.)

The most anticipated events, however, are still a few years off. After more than three decades of development in Arizona’s Painted Desert, Turrell’s Roden Crater will finally open to the public for the first time. The unveiling is scheduled sometime during the course of the artist’s upcoming museum retrospective, which will debut in 2012 at the Guggenheim before traveling to LACMA, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and several international institutions. Since 1972 Turrell has been transforming the extinct volcanic crater into an open-air observatory that will enable visitors to witness celestial phenomenon with the naked eye, viewable from only a handull of locations around the world.

An interactive book entitled Turrell World Tour will coincide with the opening of Roden Crater. The publication will highlight 137 public works across 18 states and 23 countries, and will function as a passport that is signed and stamped at each of the 85 destinations. Upon completing the tour, readers will be invited as a personal guest of the artist’s to the site.