Archive for January, 2009
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Tonight! :: Steve Powers in Brussels
Steve Powers‘ latest solo exhibit, and first in Belgium, opens tonight at Alice Gallery, Brussels. Over the past several years, Powers art has made the transition from largely narrative and character-based “pop-art storytelling” (seen in his 2005 book, First and Fifteenth), to a more abstract visual vocabulary of icons, text and appropriated imagery. With Semaphores of the Soul, Powers focuses on this stylistic progression, presenting a sampling of work culled from the last seven years, combined with a series of twelve new paintings.
Steve Powers – Sephamores of the Soul
Jan. 29 – March 7, 2009
Opening: Jan. 29, 6-10pm
Alice Gallery
182 rue Antoine Dansaert
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Art Goes Reality TV
Charles Saatchi is set to host a new BBC2 series bearing his own name. Saatchi’s Best of British will showcase six aspiring artist, who will be mentored by notable contemporary artists in preparation for a Saatchi exhibit in St Petersburg, Russia. Just what we need – American Idol meets the Turner Prize. Tune in to see if Saatchi finds his calling as the next Simon Cowell – we definitely won’t be…
If you’re a young British artist, living off of ramen, and fancy this sort of thing, go here
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Watch Your Collection Loose Value
Image: Artprice
Artprice, a popular online source for art market information, including auction and artist sales records, has just announced the launch of My Art Collection, a free online portfolio service that estimates the value of subscribers’ collections. Once registered, members can upload information regarding individual works in their collection to a private account. Artprice will provide quarterly updades on the overall value of the collection, as well as each piece of art work. Perfect timing to watch your collection lose value as we sink deeper into the recession….
Monday, January 26th, 2009
Richard Prince Sued for Copyright Infringement
Art star, Richard Prince, is the subject of a new lawsuit. The suit was filed Dec. 30, 2008 on behalf of plaintiff, ethnographic photographer, Patrick Cariou. Cariou claims that Prince illegally used his photographs to produce the recent Canal Zone mixed media series. Gagosian Gallery and its owner Larry Gagosian (who exhibited and sold the works), along with book publisher, Rizzoli (responsible for the exhibit catalog), are also named as co-defendants.
Back to the Garden, 2008 is one of 20 disputed paintings in Patrick Cariou’s lawsuit against Richard Prince. Image: Gagosian Gallery Patrick Cariou???
The images in question first appeared in Cariou’s book,Yes Rasta (published in 2000 by Powerhouse), and were based on a decade of anthropological study conducted in Jamaica. According to the suit, “none of the Defendants were ever authorized by Plaintiff to appropriate the Photographs, or reproduce, display, or distribute the Photographs, or to adapt the Photographs in order to create the Paintings or any other derivative work based on the Photographs. Defendant’s conduct was and continues to be in willful disregard of Plaintiff’s rights under the Copyright Act.”
Aside from undisclosed monetary damages, Cariou is claiming the “Defendants be required to deliver up on oath for impounding, destruction, or other disposition, as Plaintiff determines, all infringing copies of the Photographs, including the Paintings, any unsold copies of the Canal Zone Exhibition book, in their possession,” and be required to current owners of the paintings that they “were not lawfully made under the Copyright Cct of 1976 and that the Paintings cannot be lawfully displayed.”
See a copy the full suit here
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
Shawn Barber for Wall Street Journal
Shawn Barber took a momentary break from his well known tattoo portraits and appeared on the cover of the Tuesday, Jan. 20th edition of the Wall Street Journal, with a new portrait of Barack Obama. Barber will also participate in World on Fire, a Grammy Awards themed exhibit , featuring artist’s portraits of nominees. The show is slated for Feb. 2-8 at Pacific Lofts in Los Angeles. In the meantime, check Joshua Liner Gallery for more of Shawn’s work.
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
Barry McGee RVCA Mural
Barry McGee has been working on a mural for clothing brand, RVCA’s, new headquaters, located in Costa Mesa, California. The outdoor wall represents an ongoing shift in style that McGee has been alluding to for some time, depicting more abstract elements and geometric patterns, with less of a focus on characters and illustration.
Here’s Mcgee’s personal reflection on his continual progression:
“The images are becoming extinc. I’ve beaten them to death. I feel nothing anymore while I’m painting them…so yes, something is changing but I’m not sure really what. It feels advanced and broken…I’ve often wondered when and if I would ever have an encounter with abstraction. “ -excerpted from interview with Eungie Joo appearing in Larceny zine, published on the occasion of Advanced Mature Work at REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA, Sept 14 -Nov25, 2007.
More of our images after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
AT ARMS LTD. Launches Online Store
AT ARMS LTD. has just launched its online store, including a new record featuring artwork from Josh Keyes. Keyes has lent cover art to the latest recording from NY based band, Hunters, Run! The 7″ record is limited to an edition of 200 hand numbered copies, includes an insert featuring a second Keyes image, and a code for a free digital download for those without vinyl (that’s record) friendly stereo systems.
The artist editions company is also offering exclusive signed versions of their Daniel Johnston’s Jeremiah the Innocent figures. The edition includes a card signed by the artist and is extremely limited, with only 25 white, 20 green, and 20 yellow figures available.
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Survey Says? – Contemporary Market Bottoming Out
The contemporary art market is officially in a depression and, like the global economy at large, will not recover for several years – three to five to be exact, according to a recent ArtTactic study (also cited in a Jan. 20 Bloomberg report).
Conducted once every two years, Art Tactic’s biennial study suggests that confidence levels in the contemporary art market have fallen from an indicator level of 56 to just 10.8, declining 81% since May of last year. The latest study is based on a survey of 145 European collectors, dealers, and auction house specialists, as well as auction results from both Christies and Sotheby’s latest New York evening contemporary art sales – both of which failed to meet low estimates, with approximately one third of all lots remaining unsold. The combined revenue (including fees) from these tell-tale sales reached a mere $238.7 million, 37% below their 2007 total of $640.9 million.
Over half of all respondents believe it will take more than three years for the contemporary art market to recover (with more than 50 percent of that sub-group feeling the market will take over five years to bounce back). 47 percent of those surveyed believe auction prices will continue to fall and bottom out between 30-50% from their May 2008 totals.
In addition to their Art Market Confidence Survey (conducted since 2005), Art Tactic has launch their new Art Market Survival Rating, which assesses the impact of the market on specific artist’s careers over the next decade. The new indicator is divided into two categories – contemporary artists (including Andreas Gursky, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Elisabeth Peyton, Jeff Koons, Jeff Wall, Luc Tuymans, Marlene Dumas, Matthew Barney, Paul McCarthy, Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, and Gerhard Richter), and contemporary blue-chip artists (including Sol Le Witt, Dan Flavin, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Joseph Buys, George Segal, and Robert Indiana). An overall downward trend is evident even when considering a group of artists that many believed could be insulated from the financial shock suffered by the market at large. This should come as no surprise, especially in in the wake of recent talk surrounding the slump in Damien Hirst’s market.
We’re expecting to see these dismal predictions further substantiated as results emerge from the upcoming round of London contemporary art auctions. Follow the troubling action here:
Feb 5 – Sotheby’s – Contemporary Evening Sale
Feb 6 – Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Sale
Feb 11 – Christies – Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Feb 12 – Christies – Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale
Feb 12 – Phillips de Pury – Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Feb 13 – Phillips de Pury – Contemporary Art Day Sale
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
GLIMPSE :: Nouar @ Jonathan LeVine Gallery
TAC had the pleasure of witnessing some of the final preparations for the second solo show by LA-based Nouar dropping at the Jonathan LeVine Galllery. Her exhibition, “You Look Good Enough To Eat!” opens February 21, 2009 and the anticipation is palpable. Nouar’s unique voice was previously unleashed at LeVine’s in 2006, to much critical and commercial acclaim. Since then, she’s been quietly working on a new evolution in her painting – her largest scale works yet. In addition, limited edition prints will be available at the show. Her ‘sweet’ visual treats carry a subversive undertone and traverse the dark corners of the mind, all the while being some of the most finely rendered paintings outside of the likes of Mark Ryden. For those fortunate enough to acquire her work, it’s an opportunity to breathe some much needed fresh air into their collections.
An interview and some sneak peeks of her new paintings follow…
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
On Sale Today :: Mark Ryden’s Fur Girl
At 8pm PST today, Porterhouse Fine Art Editions will release this new edition from Mark Ryden. Entitled Fur Girl, the lithograph poster depicts one of the new paintings appearing in Ryden’s upcoming solo exhibit, The Snow Yak Show, which opens Saturday, February 7, 2009, at Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.
The signed/numbered edition of 500 measures 33″ x 23 1/8″, is embossed with a Porterhouse seal, and includes a certificate of authenticity.