Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Magda Danysz Launches Shanghai Gallery, Exhibits JonOne
Parisian gallery Magda Danysz celebrates its 10 year anniversary with the launch of 18Gallery, a new exhibition space in Shanghai. To commemorate the occasion both galleries are hosting solo shows by JonOne, one of the earliest NY writers to import graffiti to Paris, when he relocate there at the end of the 1980s. Since then his art has gained widespread popularity and is arguably more well known in France and throughout Europe than back here in the States. His Shanghai show is already underway and the Paris exhibit launches this Saturday, July 4.
Read on for more images from the 18Gallery opening and a video interview with JonOne. Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Shepard Fairey Green Energy Print Release
The Obey Windmill print will be available sometime today via Obey Giant. The site alludes to future use of the design as part of a Green Energy Initiatives campaign, hinting to “Keep a look out as you might see this image around in the days to come.”
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
First Solo in Italy for Ron English
On july 9th Ron English opens his first solo exhibition in Italy at Milan’s Don Gallery. In the meantime, here’s a small preview of some classic images that will be on display. More to come…
Monday, June 29th, 2009
A Note on Internet Plagiarism
Image: Chris Tait / The Gauntlet
For regular blog readers, the issue of plagarism should be a familiar one, especially when concerning image content. Blogs and other sites who pass stolen photos or text off as their own create a virtual frankenstein in cyberspace. As more and more sites (often unknowingly) re-report falsely credited content an ongoing and out of control cycle of continual plagiarism grows. Case in point – recently we contacted close to 20 blogs who had mistakenly used one of our photos, crediting it to another website who knowingly took the image from us and passed it off as their own.
Why are we mentioning this now? – Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting photographer Tod Seelie, whose work we’ve admired here at TAC for some time. Tod has been victim of this sort of property theft by many websites, including some very highly regarded and trafficked ones. In fact, many of you out there owe Tod a thanks (and a credit) for the stunningly inspirational images he has captured during his ongoing aquatic voyages with Swoon. While TAC is also no stranger to this unethical conduct, his case is far worse in our eyes. Its one thing to nic a photo that was originally published as edititorial content. Its far more shameful to steal the art someone makes a living off of.
There is federal legislation protecting against Internet copyright infringement. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) holds ISP’s responsible for removing stolen content. We urge all bloggers who have fallen victim to copyright infringement and content theft to download this cease and desist letter (thanks for the tip Tod!) and start sending it to the ISPs providing service to the guilty websites (you can easily find out a site’s ISP using a site like register.com). It only takes a few minutes and the potential impact is an important one.
Oh – In an ironic side note, while searching for an appropriate image to use for this post, we came across the above one on at least five different sites, all accompanying articles about plagiarism. It took us some time before we actually found one that attributed it back to the original source.
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Opening Night NYC w/ WK + Invader
WK Interact and Space Invader proved their continual popularity as signature-hungry fans fought through the packed opening night crowd for joint solo shows with Jonathan LeVine this past Saturday.
WK’s Motion Portrait presents recent large acrylic on canvas paintings, as well as his well known mixed media and wheat-pasted doors. While several of these works were presented at the Aqua Art Fair during Art Basel Miami last December, the newer motion portrait series does represent a welcome departure for the artists, in both subject and form.
The focus of Invader’s Top 10 is the artists signature Rubik’s Cube mash-ups, this time reworking 10 classic album covers including the Beatles, Velvet Underground, Sex Pistols, Clash and yes, even Iron Maiden. We were most intrigued by Invader’s use of digital technology, in which the artist created a black and white tile mosaic that can be read by smartphone cameras, in turn triggering a time-lapsed Quicktime video of Invader constructing one of his pieces. Magic? – not really. The piece utilizes QR coding (think barcode) that points to a specific URL.
Shows run till July 25. Read on for our extensive photo recap. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Jim Houser in Milan
Philadelphia based artist and founding member of Space 1026, Jim Houser, opens The Tip of The Sword, his first solo exhibit in Italy, on July 1 at Milan’s Galeria Patricia Armocida. We’ve been vocal about our admiration for Houser’s instantly recognizable visual narratives and folk-inspired installations. If you are in the Milan area, this one’s not to be missed. Here’s a couple of images of new works.
Jim Houser – The Tip of the Sword
July 3 – July 31
Galleria Patricia Armocida
Via Bazzini 17, 20131 Milan, Italy
info@galeriapatriciaarmocida.com
Friday, June 26th, 2009
R.I.P. Michael Jackson
1958 – 2009. Dangerous (1991) album art by Mark Ryden.
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Preview :: Neckface in Copenhagen
On June 26 V1 Gallery welcomes Neckface for the opening of Return To The Womb, his second solo show with the space. Judging from the preview images we received, it looks like Neckface is conjuring up more densely layered imagery than seen in his previous work, and incorporating some pop cultural references for the first time. One thing is clear, even with the new approach, its as nasty as ever.
Read on for images Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Subway Art 25th Anniversary Special Edition
There is no arguing the pivotal roles Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant played in the documentation of New York City hip hop and graffiti from the late 70s through the 1980s, and that their images have been just as crucial to these movements’ recent resurgence in popularity. Many of Cooper’s and Chalfant’s now iconic photos were collected in the 1984 publication Subway Art, limited to an initial run of 5000 copies. It has been in print ever since. To celebrate the book’s 25th anniversary, Thames and Hudson have produced an updated and expanded edition of Subway Art, along with a special limited edition of 100 copies produced in collaboration with Black Rat Press, including two signed photos by Cooper and Chalfant.
On Thursday, June 25, Black Rat Press welcomes Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant and subway artist Blade to London for the official book launch of Subway Art: 25th Anniversary Edition. More info here
Cooper and Chalfant at Revolutionary Books, NYC signing in May.
Image: Joe Conzo via Martha Cooper
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Another Bristol Banksy Vandalized
Image: Bristol Evening Post
The Bristol Evening Post reports that one of the city’s most well known Banksy murals was hit by paintball vandals earlier this week. The piece has been protected by the Bristol City Council since 2006, when a public vote revealed that over 90% of respondents were in favor of conserving it. The act is an obvious retaliation against the artist’s current high profile exhibit at the Bristol Museum and comes just two months after another Bristol Banksy was defaced. When will the haters realize these antics only drum up more publicity?