the art collectors

Archive for July, 2010

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Retna @ Rivera & Rivera

Los Angeles’ art scene is all the more elevated by the emergence of Rivera & Rivera Gallery, located downtown. Their latest offering features Retna, an artist on the cusp of an explosive career trajectory. With underlying major critical support, Retna is shifting to the foreground of museums and serious collectors alike. In a bold move, Rivera & Rivera utilizes their entire gallery space in a thunderously glorious installation that signifies the magnitude of Retna’s voice. Every inch is transformed by the majestic visual landscape. In a fabulous knock-out of an exhibition, Retna and Rivera & Rivera are clearly ushering in a definitive art show.

OPENING DATE: Thursday July 29, 2010
TIME: 8:00PM -11:00PM
RSVP: rsvp@riveraandrivera.com

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

American Art Collecting…

In this LA Times article, American art collectors are singled out as emerging in scholarly significance. Contrasted to older traditions, American collecting has evolved briskly, though failing to reach a mainstream level of visibility amongst the popular culture. In the last decade, the Internet has made it possible for young collectors to hone their taste and create highly-personalized art collections. Speaking from experience, the web has facilitated many aspects of serious collecting, including creation and utilization of channels like this blog and our forum. As American collectors begin to be studied, it’s a certainty to expect that there will be vast differences among us, yet astounding commonalities may also come as a surprise. With new forms of art such as ‘toys’ by KAWS and more galleries bravely appealing to nascent collectors, it’s an exciting time for art. As collectors, American or not, we each share a passion for art; a heritage that is established in the most classical notion of holding something beautiful, or at least endlessly fascinating, in our possession.

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

No Sleep Till Moscow…

I’m off to the airport in an hour for the start of a one month trek through Russia, Poland, and Belarus to trace my family’s past and have a bit of fun along the way. For part of the journey I’ll be searching out our Jewish heritage (or the loss of it?). Aside from my maternal grandmother and grandfather most of my mother’s family was wiped out when the German army marched into the small towns of Divin and Kobryn in eastern Poland (now western Belarus in the Brest region).  So, I’ll be off the map for a little while and you probably won’t hear from me for the next month or so. Maybe I’ll turn the site over into my travel diary for a bit when i return. We’ll see. With such heaviness ahead, the rest of the trip will be dedicated to general antics and seeing what sort of trouble i can find. Call it my Fear and Loathing is Illuminated. Until then, enjoy the rest of summer….

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Interview :: TAC Talks with Curator Mónica Ramírez-Montagut about KAWS

(All Images: Jeff Newman/TheArtCollectors, except where noted)

Despite years of circumventing mainstream art circles and rarely showing his work publicly, KAWS has built up a massively dedicated following of collectors who obsessively seek out his creations, from limited edition toys and clothing, to even more elusive original paintings and drawings. After eight years of absence in the U.S and five years since exhibiting internationally, 2008 marked the artists’ return to gallery walls. With three consecutive solo shows in Miami, New York and Los Angeles, KAWS unveiled entirely new bodies of work that signaled a young artist on the verge of his most productive phase to date.

His most recent display is is no exception to this trajectory. On June 27th, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Connecticut, opened the doors to KAWS’ first solo museum exhibition, providing a retrospective look at his graffiti roots, fine art, and commercial projects, as well as brand new sculptural and installation pieces that stand as his largest and most ambitious to date.

TheArtCollectors spoke with curator Mónica Ramírez-Montagut about the process of creating the landmark exhibition. Read on for the conversation, click images for larger views.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Preview :: Around Town with Viva La Revolucion

JR installation in progress (Image: Geoff Hargadon)

Here are early images of several works in progress for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s upcoming Viva La Revolucion exhibition, including a glimpse of outdoor pieces in progress (sanctioned and not) and museum installation shots from Os Gemeos, Swoon, Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, Space Invader, JR, and Vhils.

In addition, Invader has unveiled a trailer for The Space Invader Walk, a virtual piece which will be presented in the museum as a movie. Watch it here:

Viva La Revolucion: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape opens this week with a members preview ($20 non-members) Saturday, July 17, and general admission beginning on the 18th. On Thurs, Aug. 12 the museum hosts a party featuring live music from Wavves (for the kids). (Click through for additional images)

Os Gemeos (Image: Allasia Brennan)

Space Invader (Image: Invader)

Read on for more…. Read the rest of this entry »

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Barry McGee + Todd James Reunite in Copenhagen

Brush Strokes, a joint exhibit from Barry Mcgee (under his Lydia Fong moniker) and Todd James opened this past weekend at V1 Gallery, Copenhagen. Though there are only a couple of collaborative moments, the themes explored by the two long time friends are a perfect match. Mcgee’s street photography and tag-like block lettered text paintings act as a crucial declaration of identity alongside confusing geometric patterns that mimic the mind numbing, dumbing down effects of constant entertainment and media bombardment. Laying somewhere between Saturday morning cartoons and a Noam Chomsky dissertation, the happy faced war planes, bloody sword wielding tanks and gumball filled soldiers of Todd James’ cartoon drawings provide a darkly satirical commentary on the culture of violence and militarism spoon fed by western media in easily digestible packages.

This is not the first time McGee and James have show together. In 200o the two worked with fellow graffiti turned gallery artist, Stephen Powers (ESPO) on their Indelible Market installation at the University of Pennsylvania Institute of Contemporary Art. The trio expanded the concept for Street Market, a large scale exhibition with Deitch Projects the same year, and were later reunited for the Beautiful Losers museum exhibitions.

Up next for McGee – Looks like he’ll be coming to New York soon 😉

Read on for images from the show… Read the rest of this entry »

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Basel 41 Art Salon Talks Now Online

Videos for all the Art Salon Talks from Art 41 Basel Switzerland are now available to view or download on the fair’s website here. The above conversation, “Collector Power – Who Has It and Who Doesn’t,” between  Josh Baer, art advisor and publisher of the Baer Fax art industry newsletter, and heavyweight collector Adam Lindemann is worth a watch (click pic to launch video).

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Saatchi to Gift Gallery and Millions in Art to England

Tracy Emin’s My Bed (1998),  one of the 200 works of art Charles Saatchi plans on gifting to the British government.

Outspoken advertising and art collecting tycoon Charles Saatchi has announced plans to gift his London gallery and some 200 works of art to the British government upon his retirement. While terms of the donation have not yet been ironed out and Saatchi has not specified a retirement date, the deal would put an estimated $37.5 million worth of art, along with Saatchi’s 70,000 sq ft exhibit space (to be renamed The Museum of Contemporary Art, London) in the nation’s hands.  Statements from the gallery clarified that no charges would fall on the nation’s taxpayers, nor would Mr. Saatchi himself receive any tax benefits from the gift.

While the works to be donated may serve as hefty building blocks for a new museum, ultimately its success as a major public art institution will rest on what government agencies are given the task, who is brought in to curate and direct, how new works will be acquired by the collection, and in doing so, what will be purged.

More at the NYTimes and Guardian

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Absolut ESPO + Aoshima

Absolut Vodka has teamed up with Stephen Powers and Chiho Aoshima for a new promotion called The Absolut Art of Sharing. For the campaign each artist has contributed two designs to a series of four unique drink pitchers. From what we can tell, they’ve been released in various sizes for different markets (1Liter in US, 700ml in Europe/New Zealand, 750ml in Mexico), making it a bit hard and confusing to collect them all if you are that obsessive or that much of a drunk. So far, only 3/4 designs have been released in the 1L and 750ml sizes, so your best bet is to go for the 700ml set, which so far have hit a limited number of specialty stores in the UK, France, Belgium, and Greece. If you are that inclined to figure it all out, check the antics on this Absolut collector’s forum, where we ganked most of these pics from. Oh, and there’s always the easy way – ebay.

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Must See :: Blu’s Big Bang Boom

BIG BANG BIG BOOM – the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

If you haven’t seen it yet, street art animator Blu has just unleashed another inspired short film. The frame-by-frame animation represents new ground for Blu, with the seamless incorporation of found three-dimensional objects into his already well know style of stop-motion surface animation. The project was completed with assistance from ARTSH.IT, with sound design by Andrea Martignoni, who has collaborated with Blu on previous animations. Impressive, bleak, and a must see.