Archive for the 'Events' Category
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
KRUNK PRESENTS FUTURA, STASH & PHIL FROST IN DUBAI
KRUNK in collaboration with Cuadro Fine Art Gallery is proud to present a historic three-man exhibition in Dubai, featuring original works by urban art pioneers Futura, Stash and Phil Frost. On the pulse of the contemporary art world, KRUNK/Cuadro will provide foreign markets in the Middle East and beyond a rare opportunity to view and purchase extraordinary new collections by these world-renowned Contemporary Urban Artists. The show will launched by Cuadro during Art Dubai, the U.A.E’s contemporary art fair, which in only its third year has become a leader in the global art scene. A Collectors Lunch on Tuesday, March 17th and an evening Preview Reception on Thursday, March 19 will open the exhibition, and it will remain on view to the public until June 17, 2009.
The unprecedented exhibition represents the debut of KRUNK in Dubai, the cultural hotspot of the Middle East, and exposes never-before-seen works by Futura, Stash and Phil Frost to new audiences. Sharing a common interest in innovating unusual avenues in the contemporary art market, KRUNK partnered with Cuadro, one of the largest and the most prestigious galleries in the Middle East, to create a dynamic platform for representing artists in today’s global art community. The exhibition breaks the mold, reaching beyond cultural and national boundaries to present these notable Contemporary Urban Artists in an unparalleled forum and show their work alongside leading Middle Eastern and International artists. Utilizing Cuadro’s cutting-edge space and latest design concepts for displaying fine art, a site-specific installation will be rendered by Futura for this landmark event. Music and film backdrops will heighten the viewing experience and the exhibition will feature a soundtrack by acclaimed producer and electronic musician Damian Taylor using recorded samples of Futura at work. “KRUNK breaks with tradition, and this show is aimed at reaching new audiences. These legendary artists will have the opportunity to connect with an exciting emerging market as part of international art fair in Dubai. It is our pleasure to be presenting Futura, Stash and Phil Frost on this unique stage.”
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
LA :: Choque Cultural @ Scion
Choque Cultural, in association with Jonathan LeVine Gallery, opened their latest culmination of the Brazilian urban art scene at the Scion Installation art space in Los Angeles, Feb. 28. Running for the next few weeks, it’s worth a visit. Pics follow.
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
Win a Swoon, Make a Hippy Happy
To help raise funds for her ambitious new undertaking, Swimming Cities of Serenissima, Swoon is raffling off an original work on wood. All proceeds will go towards realizing this grand vision, comprised of a fleet of hand-made vessels that will set sail on the Adriatic Sea, from Slovenia to Venice, Italy.
Raffle tickets are $30 each, and contestants may purchase multiple entries until March 25th. The winner will be announced March 26th. Go get them here
If you’re not already convinced, take a moment to read this letter from Swoon:
Last year, with a team of about 75 friends, crew, and collaborators, I built a flotilla of rafts out of salvaged bits of New York City. Our precarious floating home traveled 140 miles south along the Hudson River. What left as the refuse of the city’s mega construction returned as six vessels trying to encompass a whole world (the seventh died along the way).
This year, with some of those same vessels, and some new, we begin the second leg of our journey. Our destination? It’s the city whose outrageous countenance, rising straight up out of the ocean like that was a fine sort of thing for a city to do, was our original inspiration. Yes ma’am, we’re headed across the Adriatic Sea toward our first love, Venice.
This year we are a crew of 35, all artists, musicians, crackerjack mechanics, and folks who specialize in big, impossible, ridiculous dreams. We will put on a performance and cobble together a cabinet of wonders. We will, in our form, be working on themes of recycling and reuse, considering the footprint of a human community on the planet, and on issues of climate change. We have not found a solution to floods and sinking cities or where to go next, but we know that it’s important to us to create art and community at the same time as we seek a different relationship to our world.
We are starting in the Karst region of Slovenia (a former forest barren to this day after its large trees were cut for pilings in Venice), and skirting the northern coast of the Adriatic. For fun and a little mischief, we will be crashing the Venice Biennale.
Since we are doing all of this in an otherwise collapsed economy we need lots of help. It’s a big project that we are trying to fund with the help of many small contributions from people who would like to be involved and help us get these crafts afloat — even if you just think we’re cheeky and want to see if we’ll sink. This raffle is just one of the many ways we’re trying to get back on the water.
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Fairey on CBS / Live Debate in NY This Week
After debuting with a feature on KAWS last week, CBS Sunday Morning aired the second installment of their three-part series on graffiti artists-turned pro yesterday, this time focusing on Shepard Fairey. Watch the the video here or read a transcript here.
In other news, building off recent controversy surrounding the Associated Press’ claims of copyright infringement against Shepard Fairey, and the artist’s subsequent lawsuit against the news agency, The New York Public Library and Wired will host a discussion concerning intellectual property, and the legal and ethical concerns surrounding “remix culture” in the arts and commerce. The debate kicks off this Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7pm and will feature Fairey, legal scholar Lawrence Lessig and author Steven Johnson.
Remix: Making Art And Commerce Thrive In The Hybrid Economy
Feb. 26, 7pm
Celest Bartos Forum
The New York Public Library
5th Ave. at 42nd Street
Tickets: SmartTix
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
KAWS LA Weekend :: Royal/T + Honor Fraser
KAWS hit the bigtime in LA this weekend. After a VIP reception at Royal/T of artwork from Susan Hancock’s collection (covered nicely by Andrew Hosner’s Sour Havest), KAWS opened THE LONG WAY HOME at Honor Fraser. Among the offerings were KURF Product Paintings (smaller than the original series that included Chum and Kimpsons), a life-size Chum sculpture, bronze Chum sculptures, bronze severed heads and a multitude of large works on canvas.
While the CBS spot on Sunday Morning last week seems like ages ago, the article on the cover of the LA Times Calendar section helped build hype to a massive crescendo, along with the buzz of a new ‘toy’ – the Dissected Be@rbrick set to drop at OriginalFake. The show sold extremely quickly and in the words of TAC forum member and good friend, Everlast, “there was damn near a riot.”
The exhibition at Honor Fraser marks a clear turning point in the career of KAWS, with the highest pricing for his art in a gallery setting thus far. Putting him in the major leagues, the show defied the current economic anemia with a performance that was nothing short of spectacular. Next solo for KAWS is a museum show at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in 2010.
Detailed pics follow, courtesy of TAC forum member and friend, Buddy Bee:
Thursday, February 5th, 2009
Tonight :: Jeff Soto Signing @ Riverside Art Museum
In conjunction with his current solo exhibit at the Riverside Art Museum, Jeff Soto will be on hand tonight signing copies of his most recent book, Storm Clouds, and conducting a slideshow presentation.
Jeff Soto: Turning In Circles Signing and Slideshow
Feb. 5
7:30 – 9pm
Riverside Art Museum
3425 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside CA 92501
Thursday, February 5th, 2009
The Influencers Descend on Barcelona
The Influencers opens today at the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona. The three day project and performance based festival brings artists together across multiple disciplines, in the exploration of “unconventional weapons of mass communication.” This years curated contributors include street artists, Blu and Swoon, the robot wars of Survival Research Labs, Julius Von Bismark’s Image Fulgurator, Improv Everywhere, video artist, Wolfgang Staehle, writing collective, Wu Ming and culture-jammers, Ztohoven, who managed to infiltrate a televised Czech weather report in 2007 and broadcast an atomic bomb explosion.
TAC applauds this free and non-commercial event, whose sole purpose is to support “visionary projects aimed at the exploitation and distorsion of mass communication, global pop culture, technological propaganda and ideological fetishism.”
Program Schedule:
Thursday Feb. 5
7pm – BLU
8.30pm – Improv Everywhere
Friday Feb 6
7pm Presentation of the Image Fulgurator, by Julius Von Bismarck
7.45pm – Wu Ming
9.15pm – Wolfgang Stahle
Saturday Feb 7
7pm – Ztohoven
8pm- Survival Research Labs
9.30pm -Swoon
Off Influencers:
Friday February 6, 4pm:
Workshop with Improv Everywhere (place: Enmedio)
Saturday February 7 de febrero, afternoon:
“mission” with Improv Everywhere (place and time:TBA)
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…
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Weekend Gallery Openings
Crash (John Matos) – Courtesy of Joshua Liner Gallery
This weekend brings yet another round of 2009’s first gallery openings. Here’s a few we’ve got our sights on:
CRASH (John Matos) – Unfinished Business / Oliver Vernon – Unexpected Occurrences, Joshua Liner Gallery, opening reception 7-9pm, Jan. 17 – Feb.
Cleon Peterson – The Occupation, New Image Art, opening reception 7-10pm, Jan. 17 – Feb. 14
Jim Houser, Doze Green, Adam Wallacavage + Tara McPherson – Americana 2009 – Choque Cultural, Jan. 17 – Feb. 27.
Mark Mothersbaugh – Andenken Gallery, opening reception 7pm, Jan. 16 – Jan. 31.
Aaron Rose – Born to Cry, Hope Gallery, Jan. 17 – Feb. 11.
Andy Warhol – Warhol from the Sonnabend Collection, Gagosian Gallery, opening reception 6-8pm, Jan. 20 – Feb. 28.
Wang Zhijie, Zhang Hui, Fan Xiaoyan and others – 14 Chinese Contemporary Artists – Eli Klein Fine Art, Jan. 15 – March 2.
Robert Williams, Robert Crumb, Rick Griffin + S. Clay Wilson – Zap Masters, Copro Nason, opening reception Jan. 17 8-11:30pm – Jan. 31.
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
TAC::Forum – New Memberships Open One Week Only
To celebrate its one year anniversary, The Art Collectors is offering up membership submissions to TAC::Forum, our private collector’s forum. Email submissions will take place for one week only, ending Tuesday, Dec. 30. If you are interested in joining TAC::Forum, please send us an email message (info@theartcollectors.com) including the following: a brief summary about your collection, the last piece of original art purchased, one artist you would love to have but don’t, and most importantly, at least one image including an original work of art from your collection. All emails will be personally read and new members emailed with guidelines for activating their new forum account with us.
On a side note, we’ve had several requests from our blog readers asking about joining our forum. To date, all our members have come to us via invite or referral. Our reasoning behind keeping TAC::Forum private has been to enable a small and committed community who provide insightful commentary and conversation to flourish, while reducing our need to moderate. Over the next week we hope to see many new members come aboard.