Some nice work by Scott David Johnson depicting aerial views of crowds and protests. More images can be seen on the Tinlark Gallery website or better yet in person at the gallery if you happen to live in the LA area. posted on 11/20/08 by ahf
(I know. Superb title.)
Illustrator and graphic designer located in Amsterdam. She specializes in maps and posters, and makes them fun. I just had to rep some print and graphics. posted on 11/20/08 by beryl
Jamie Warren's photographic works are kind of vulgar, kind of gross, kind of hilarious, and more or less kind of obnoxious but don't they make you feel better? At least I am. Kind of jealous too I didn't get the party invite. posted on 11/20/08 by Fei
While the majority of gallery goers attend openings under the pretense of pretending to look at the art, we all know what we go for. The fashionistas and the free wine! World's Best Ever , a new blog I've been perusing lately delivers the gratification to our true intentions- with a new series entitled "Artorialust." The premise is simple: they straight up take pictures of all the girls at openings. This series exposes and reinforces the simultaneous artifice and superficial glamour of the Who-What-Where/Wear we love to hate to love.
Plenty of nice geometric abstractions on Todd Chilton's portfolio site. Geometric abstractions can sometimes be a bore but Todd manages to get it right with his playful paint handling and the occasional drip of paint. posted on 11/19/08 by ahf
I've seen a lot of great paintings by Pearl in the past and was excited to feature her work in Issue: V of Beautiful/Decay. However I hadn't seen much of her work until I stumbled onto her website today. The videos are hilarious and tie into her paintings nicely. This new discovery does make me wonder whether the video work came first or the paintings? posted on 11/19/08 by ahf
Stylistically speaking, Anton's drawings hark back to Italian Futurism- glorification of youth, violence, and fantasies of what pleasure advances in science could bring to humanity. It would seem though that instead of elevating technology (can't we invent another word for this already?) he is mocking it by celebrating the very icons it is now embodied by. Or better yet, the empire that now belongs to Steve Jobs. posted on 11/19/08 by Fei
Spotted Hirst
Footage from the installation of Damien Hirst's painting John, John as part of the exhibition Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today at the Museum Of Modern Art. posted on 11/18/08 by ahf
British designer Benbo George's work is what work in surrealist movement would look like if they had designers. I couldn't find much about him on his site but the great sampling of images are enough to earn a trip to his portfolio site. posted on 11/18/08 by ahf
These transcendentally intergalactic images are like cryptic icons from the future.
I'm pretty sure this is what it would look like if an alien landed on earth and created a transmission from his ship that beamed down a chronological history of time cascading into future mankind straight into your dreams.
Staring at these makes me feel like the ape from 2001: A Space Odyssey mongering around a black monolith, totally unable to comprehend its enigmatic might, but also somehow advanced in civilization and technology.
Vlad Mamyshev-Monroe is a master of camouflage and likes to play as many different people as possible. If the three artists are recounting the failure of being the engine of image making in a self-focused narrative role, Mamyshev-Monroe fills a role which makes failure the fate of her life. In the 2005 video 'John and Marylin', he tells the supposedly true love story of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe which remains shrouded in any number of conspiracy theories to this day.
If a swirling primordial sea took acid and turned to pen on paper, I imagine they'd look something like Yusuke Gunki's psychedelic oil spills. posted on 11/11/08 by sasha
I don't know if describing Benedict Radcliffe as a welder, fabricator, or furniture maker would do him justice because he has a variety of metal bending and graphic abilities as well as successfully joining two VW Golfs together. Radcliffe has done some commission work for Paul Smith, Puma, Red Bull, Comme des Garcons, and has some beautiful personal projects up on his website. posted on 11/14/08 by beryl
Even though these images by Rico Gatson are pretty much just photos of heroes from the Black Power/consciousness movement (with some lines thrown in), I love them. His show just came down at Steve Turner Contemporary last week.
I was listening to this story on NPR the other day about the paradigm shift in black masculinity; the guy's thesis contrasted the thugged out archetype (like 50 cent) who exerts his manhood through his ability to control (wars, women, money),which he argued was very much in line with Bush's Texan cowboy/John Wayne war-mongering frontier justice stance.... versus Obama, who is essentially paving a return to the heralding of black intellectualism within masculinity. Bring it on! Bring on Fela, Angela, Kathleen, Huey....!
Hadassah recently had a show up at New Image Art. She creates these really cool paintings and drawings that are sort of about light, movement, figuration, abstraction all at once. For some reason it surprised me they were by a girl? posted on 11/11/08 by Sasha
Not much info on Claire Brassil's site about her or her work but I find these mixed media paintings quite interesting. Rendering the heads of the figures in graphite gives them a ghost-like quality but not sure if the supernatural is something that Claire is consciously trying to reference. Either way it's worth spending some time exploring her site for more examples. posted on 11/17/08 by ahf
I enjoy Ikonen's 'Snowflake' series (top photo), about global warming and its effects on the climate in Finland. I have seen a lot of student work about global warming, and this has to be the most exciting. Also a witty and humorous photographic exploration for Miranda July's book "No one belongs here more than you" (Bottom photo). posted on 11/14/08 by beryl
These two make their experiments look like a sophisticated candid camera joke. Its fun to see their playful approach to dark things like in the case of their 'turn off a light while you plunge to your suicide attempt' (unofficial title I have coined) experiment where a girl in a dark room, climbs a table and reaches for the noose. As she jumps off to her hanging attempt, the lamp goes on and she lands on the floor of the room. Ah, life is worth living if the room gets brighter. posted on 11/14/08 by beryl
Is there anything these dudes can't do? After recently interviewing Brian Willmont I got totally hip to Apenest. Then, a week later at this house party I saw one of the huuuuge "Everything" prints and thought dang, that's nice looking. For around $30 a pop too, its a pretty sweet deal. Check it out. posted on 11/11/08 by sasha
Gothic arch speed metal, robotic Netsuke head,
kinetic art companions, ambient rumble modification,
glow-in-the-dark unicorn, a man in a suit made of
pepper cans, a painting reproduced in flowers.
Craft workshops, wandering minstrels, gallery
massages, hum quartet, clapping ensemble, murder
mystery, musical aliens, trash replicas, a lost nose.
And inside a large existing wall vitrine, an animatronic
sleeping kitten or puppy is observed gently breathing.
Another event for the weekend. Be there or be square. Then go to Felt Club the next day and check out our stuff. Yay!
These sweatshirts illustrations are amazing. The top one is called "Fart." They remind me of a giant grown up puff paint party. From design/fashion/illustration studio Shobo Shobo. posted on 11/11/08 by sasha
Beautiful/Decay is partaking in the festivities of the Felt Club: Holiday 2008 indie craft fair! We will be selling our signature apparel of artist designed shirts and hoodies…but before you flail your arms and use the justification of the economy for your inability to attend…Beautiful/Decay came prepared in making all their apparel 50-80% off! This will be a great way to enjoy your Sunday (11/16/08) at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center all day from 11 to 7pm… Hope to see you there! posted on 11/14/08 by miho
As if either genre could get any sillier, combine free-spirited motion exploratory modern dance with bedazzled contemporary art, and you get Nick Cave's "sound suits." However, in a lot of ways they're really kind of in the vein of African art/costuming that are meant to be "danced" or used in performance, check out the bottom image showing to masks dancing on market day in the town of Dossi in Burkina Faso.
This vid is pretty amazing too, it shows the sculptures being performed:
Charlie Roberts recent exhibition at Richard Heller showcased a contemporary double-take on old European salon style exhibitions. His subject matter sifts through the sheer availability and prevalence of, signs, symbols and iconographies present in today’s visual landscape. Roberts notes, “the groups of things isolated on blank pages started as a sort of excercise or study to ween my hand and eyes off using photographs to paint figures from in my paintings, and over time they became a end in themselves, a way to make a painting with out.” Organized in loose, self-devised groupings, in a pseudo-scientific faux-taxonomical manner Linnaeus would be proud of, Roberts draws parallels between hundreds of gestures and ideas. The result are images that look like they could be pulled straight from vintage Audobon Society botanical illustrations. Yet with titles and conglomerations of groups such as “NYC Hip Hop,” “Gang Bangin’,” and themes such as obsessive object collecting and Scientology, Roberts depicts not the wildlife of geographic and biological discovery, but bravely explores our digital, information-soaked New World.
Click the link above to view more works & read the full article. posted on 11/11/08 by sasha Lee
Excerpts from Emmeline's interview with the Arnhem Fashion Biennale basically sum up her work (the lack of clothing, the preference to nature)...
1. Which piece of clothing makes you the happiest?
From an old sock.
3. Things you can't live without...
Rummaging and collecting.
7. What's the status of fashion today?
We are thrown back upon our own wherewithal more than ever before. Fashion compensates for the fact that we're actually all homeless.
The premise of these ink drawings are so simple, yet charming. I'm reminded of the obsessive patern-making of Kusama, but in sweet little vignettes. posted on 11/11/08 by Sasha
Fei was talking about accidentally cutting her finger today. Then I saw this and thought of how difficult it would be to produce with FOAMCORE, my arch nemesis material, and Susy's weapon of choice. Time is never wasted and Trap are c-prints on archival card and foamcore. Props. Canadians rock. posted on 11/11/08 by beryl
Beautiful/Decay unveiled three new Artists Series Apparel t-shirts on our online shop today. We have two stellar designs from typographical wizard Alex Trochut and a Sentimental Soycheese mandalic homage to the coming of the apocalypse (according to the Mayan calendar) in 2012. Also released this week, four new designs (including the “Kobe” for girls) from Aya Kato’s fantastical, Japanese-manga-meets-French-art-noveau magical mind. Visit the B/D Shop to get these new designs just in time for the holidays! posted on 11/11/08 by ahf
Paterson is another fine artist from the U.K. and has recently been doing solo exhibitions based on sound and it's re-interpretation. For "Earth-Moon-Earth" she sent a transmission of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to the moon and back, then created a composition with the received data from the surface, which was played on a self-playing grand piano (the video above shows some of her process). She also set up microphones under 100 trees to record the sound of snow falling for her piece "Snow Shot From 100 Trees". Her work will be presented in the upcoming Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009. posted on 11/04/08 by beryl
The "It's about time" Sundial was on display at the Socrates Sculpture Park from September 2006 through March 2007. Embedded in the ground were thirteen plaques that highlight important commodity and power related moments in African American history beginning with the first arrival of slaves in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 and ending with the 2003 release of 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin" Album. Throughout the day a shadow would be casted on each plaque. Just before noon was "1963, I have a dream". High noon was "1968, The Black Power Movement" etc. Unfortunately the plaques were removed due to damage before this image was made.
This piece was commissioned by the Socrates Sculpture Park. posted on 11/11/08 by Fei
Any gal (or fellow) who, like Chrissie, enjoys train journeys, 70s posters, and would one day like to live by the sea can appreciate Chrissie's work on several levels. Her use of bright colors and illustrative ornamentations such as thin detailed strands of hair add a feminine touch and are beautifully executed. She's fun because she uses slab-serifs. Here is her blog. posted on 11/04/08 by beryl
One of my favorite (if not the best, in my opinion) online video/TV-ish websites recently interviewed John Trippe, founder of Fecal Face. Apparently they just started a Fecal Face gallery that showcases a nice selection of emerging artists. Check out VIMBY for other art, fashion music videos- the nice thing is they present a good selection of up and coming talents rather than just the same old features. posted on 11/10/08 by Sasha
So, two of my favorite, favorite people I have met virtually by way of their most excellent creative blogs, Erin of Design for Mankind and Jeff of BOOOOOOOM! have teamed up to create a really cute project. In the line of positivity, hope, and "Yes We Can"-ish sentiments of late, they have created a project called "Free Encouragement," where readers submit in words of praise & encouragement to the email address encouragement@booooooom.com.. The results will be displayed in a simple, anonymous gallery (appearing like the image below.)
Two amazing creative talents and another great creative project! Click the link above to get further instructions and join in the fun.
For the times they are a-changin.....(well, prop 8 passed which is disappointing, so you will probably need the extra positive thought.)
"In small, intensely colored, vigorously worked paintings, grotesque heads float above landscapes or sit on shoulders cloaked in bright tweed. Genders are routinely mixed, and noses often go missing..."
-from the NY Times Art Review 2005 posted on 11/08/08 by Fei
"Shit! I Forgot the Ipod!" (top photo) is not only something I say as I've descended all the stairs of my apartment, unlocked the garage door, unlocked and started my car, but it's the name of an "electromagnetic environment" installation that U.K.'s brill Troika created using electronic appliances, phone chargers, dvd players, and so on. The objects are assembled in an order that creates audible fun for the electroprobes to pick up and transmit into the user's headphones.
Consequently; they also created "Magnetic Guangzhou" (bottom 2 photos) which re-created the same type of environment but with objects 'Made in China', that the creators picked up from markets in Guangzhou.
Troika also created really sexy electroluminescent type for the British Airways Terminal 5 in London. (Sad I missed that when I was around there.) posted on 11/07/08 by beryl
So the title of this you tube video is "Video about pathetic metal dudes who make cardboard guitars." This really should be enough to make you want to watch it. OK- so I am on this artwork thats kinda metal bent, I'll admit- but this dude has made close to half a dozen cardboard guitars (including one "inventerted flying V that was a total flop") for his headbanging performances. Apparently in the underground British metal scene, kids make fake ones to play along with their riffing heroes. Call it what you will, but performer/audience communication and art imitating life imitating metal...whatever. Its pretty amazing.
I'm starting a series of blogs featuring artists who use either Livejournal or Flickr as main sources of hosting their work. There's some really impromptu about these sites that allow users to impulsively post random tidbits that wouldn't usually make it on a portfolio or whatever. There will be examples that don't fall into this category and it could be a phase but I'm really into half-formed thoughts at the moment.
If you dabble in any of these two cyber-facilities and you'd like to be on the blog, email me!
So, 2nd up (out4izza probably was the first) is Kari Altmann / BLACKMOTH. From what I gather, I think she does music videos and installations mostly revolving around the aesthetics of smashed discs (crystals?). She's also the curator of Flickr groups NETMARES and NETDREAMS.
Simon Davenport says he hates mundane, and I can tell when I see the fog machine and nudity. He works in Norwich doing performance art, film, sculpture, and rap-art, where he raps about the Berlin wall, kinda' naked. His website doesn't have any info at the moment. But here's an article. posted on 11/04/08 by beryl
Bruno Novelli's last collection of illustrations entitled "Meta" are a colorful jungle of something new and supernatural. In my humble opinion, this young Brazillian's work is what Kafka's Metamorphosis would be in visual terms (but definitely less depressing) which is why it holds a high place on my list of AWESOME. Apparently, he's interested the unity of beings and nature, and who can hate on that? His larger pieces, which you can view on his website, are severely detailed. Now I want a pet chimp to dress up in a fusion of Samurai and Native American attire... but that just sounds like a bad and cruel science experiment, so I'll let Novelli's work inspire us instead. (Oh, and I love the intro to the website.) posted on 11/06/08 by beryl
I know we don't usually post fashion stuff on the blog, but look at it! I couldn't resist- especially the guy in the red suit holding the pink ballon... posted on 11/06/08 by Fei
Posters by Burlesque Design above (that are all sold out by the way, apparently). There's also a ton of art and design blogs dedicated just to Obama-art. Some quite good, some not so much. Though it's interesting to see how many different things people can make just with a couple of his photographs and quotes from his speeches. maybe when we look back in time, this itself will have become an art movement. Obama-ism? posted on 11/05/08 by Fei
I'm a little overwhelmed. I must say, though my night of "hardcore" celebration consisted of making a Trader Joe's frozen pizza and crackin' a Budweiser ('cause this is America dangit!)..then falling asleep on the couch (alone), I really am excited about the prospects of Obama's presidency. On NPR this morning, they were saying it was a battle, in some ways, between past and future, old world/new world...and you know artists love dialectical oppositions and the unknown, so perhaps that explains my affinity.
Anyways, where was I? Elizabeth Peyton's image above of Michelle and daughter rang so true in so many different ways. Peyton, in her softly impressionistic way, once again manages to tap into some essential expression and senitment. The New Museum unveiled this portrait today on the 4th floor as a new component of the exhibition Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton, the first time this newly created painting is on public view.
(Image courtesy of: Gavin Brown’s enterprise) posted on 11/05/08 by Sasha
Thank goodness Peter Crnokrak had a quarter-life crisis and left the sciences to pursue graphic design. His informational poster on covers of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" made me giggle like a liberal-arts-school-girl. His vector illustrations are also as alluring, amplified like microscopic close-ups. posted on 11/04/08 by beryl
This is old (1994), but isn't it funny how we would practically still be voting or not voting for the same exact things now? Look out for mine, I submitted "dust", with 1 vote of no, casting it to a -1 position. posted on 11/04/08 by Fei
With gross misconceptions running rampant these days (see first video), life is looking more and more like a Borat movie. Artist Wafa Bilaal poetically reflects on the current political state and discusses his piece, "Domestic Tension" which encouraged users to remotely (via the internet) "shoot an Iraqi" (himself) resulting in over 60,000 people participating and clogging his site with hits. Art and politics, art and politics....
Eric Yahnker creates works that are too clever for their own good. He welcomes all sectors of popular culture, personal narrative, religion, icon and beyond into his studio as "fair game" for his visual fodder. At times, the works playfully traverse into taboo subjects and ideologies, like a naughty child sticking their finger into the socket or cookie jar, at once turning them on their head once again to reveal their inherent paradoxes and inconsistencies.
To read the full review, go to Anthology posted on 11/04/08 by Sasha Lee
So, Fei declared an office wide political art sanction on all of the blog posts today. In honor of this, I'm presenting Rachel Mason's artwork...a sculpture of her making out with Prez Bush. Ha. Go Vote and stuff!!
Also...here's a video of her posing as Carlos II, the last Hapsburg King of Spain.
Like British accents aren't cool enough, multi-faceted fine artist and illustrator Luke Drozd's body of work is inspirational. Personally, I love lo-fi gig posters as much as I love 90's grunge so perhaps my opinion is biased. posted on 11/06/08 by beryl
This Goldbergian machine was actualized by the joining of twenty compartmentalized units, each functioning on their own, but each able to "pass on" the vote with either physical or electronic mechanisms. Two fictitious political parties were created with names Dreamers of Decadence, and Redesigning Humans, actually represented by the same actor in both photos that were just manipulated to fit certain political visuals.
And today, as it says on the coin slot panel, "I hope it works". posted on 11/04/08 by Fei
Damien Correll is a designer based in Brooklyn, NY. And this is his zine of rejected goods he didn't get to use elsewhere. He does some beautiful work and yes, I am a sucker for quadtones and newsprint.
Herzog frequently uses imagery of books and libraries as a visual theme throughout her work. Often juxtaposing bright colors with black and white, she fuses a sense of the past with the present. Including iconic images in contemporary scenes sets a mood of reinterpreting those icons in a playful yet contemplative way. Her compositions express a tension and disorder within the narrative, whether it’s children destroying a library, or a woman trying to get free of a statue that’s holding her. Despite the action in the scenes, there is always a sense of removal and distance, as though there is a current reflection taking place within the work. These paintings express a subtle disturbance that is jarring against the bright colors and first glance simplicity. The narratives present a dialectic of two states, action and inaction or reflection, working through each other while revealing a deeper narrative within the psyche. Herzog’s work is currently on display at Circus Gallery in Los Angeles. This solo exhibit is titled “Librariana.”
In Fischli and Weiss' first film together, a rat and a bear are out to make a lot of money in the Los Angeles art world. So when they find a corpse in a gallery, hoping it will be the means to enter the worlds of culture, action and finance, they take it with them. However the desired effect is not forthcoming and they become involved in questions and observations on the subject of art and crime. The rat tries to solve the case himself; to him there is no distinction between artist and detective. After a narrow escape from a murder attempt, the two animals join forces once again and, now sadder and wiser, they resolve to improve - something that appears to be far from easy. But at the depths of despair they discover a system of order in the chaos of the world. And from here, they proceed into undreamed-of insights, and flights of fancy.
Also check out The Way Things Go...a mind-blowing chain reaction of physical and chemical interactions and precisely crafted chaos. posted on 11/03/08 by Fei
OK, so I know the song is Electric Funeral, and I also realized that Fei posted this work earlier...but I'm on a Sabbath kick and the jaguar comin' atcha out of the picture plane is too amazing not to post again. posted on 11/04/08 by Sasha Lee
Not exactly who these people are but I can't get enough of their hacky pixelated collaged gifs...also, if you have a Livejournal, you should definitely friend them, I did! Yes, I love blogging. posted on 11/03/08 by Fei
