Beautiful Decay Daily News

Frank Gehry Says..... BE YOURSELF!

Starchitect Frank Gehry gives advice to aspiring artists, designers and architects about staying true to yourself and not following the current trends.

janice sloane... Interested In The Grotesque

Works dealing with the movement and stretching of flesh.

Jim Marshall, "Platinum Prints" @ Duncan Miller Gallery, July 24

Jim Marshall is one of the industry’s top rock n’ roll photographers who has captured truly iconographic images of legendary artists such as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin. His images undeniably form part of the collective visual image bank- many of his images reproduced time and time again until becoming subconscious signs-- whether the infamous image of Johnny Cash giving the middle finger at his San Quentin performance, or Hendrix setting his guitar on fire. His intuitive, intimate instances bely a certain rare and precious trust between sitter and photographer that trumps the cacophony of faux marketing fakes and promo shots. Let’s put it this way: Marshall was the only man backstage with a camera at the Beatles’ final concert. The LA premier of Platinum Prints will open this Thursday, July 24, from 7-10pm at the Duncan Miller Gallery. Visit the gallery's site for more details.

Video: Greg Kucia Interview

A short Interview with painter Greg Kucia about his painting process, the content of his work and showing at Art Basel, Miami.

Liz Craft

Hippie dreams and mystic fairy tale sculptures by California based Liz Craft.

New Anthology Article: Interview With Neil Powell

Artist Neil Powell recently opened the show, “Down By The Side Of The Road” at 222 Gallery on July 10th. The exhibition featured a selection of works on paper and sculptures. Powell’s work evokes a whimsical, yet graphic approach—appearing as indexical maps of personal narrative or scatological documentations. His illustrative worlds are littered with idiosyncratic characters, situations and translations. Neil Powell’s show will be up at 222 Gallery until August 1st. Click the link above to read an interview with the artist.

Chris Ofili, The Upper Room

Chris Ofili has to be one of the most intriguing and innovative painters to come out of London in the last 30 years. In this interview Ofili discusses " The Upper Room", an installation of 13 paintings of rhesus macaque monkeys in a specially-designed room.

Gilbert & George

A short yet interesting video about Gilbert & George. The Duo have a show currently up at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Link found on Daily Serving

Tim Fishlock Has Ideas

Tim Fishlock's fantastically funny and quirky design and illustration portfolio.

Lina Bertucci

Chicago photographer, Lina Bertucci's work at Rhona Hoffman Gallery.

Review: Weekend Warrior

On Saturday, July 12th, Beautiful/Decay magazine and Nathan Larramendy gallery celebrated the opening of “Weekend Warrior,” in Ojai, California. A number of the artists represented in the show were in attendance, along with a diverse cross-section of writers, designers, musicians and other creatives. Ojai showcased the brilliant weather and relaxing ambience that it is renowned for; though the opening was scheduled to end at 6pm, many stayed longer, enjoying the warm summer day and refreshments—which included specially catered vegetarian cuisine. The event on the whole was a success; Beautiful/Decay looks forward to curating similar events and exhibitions in the near future. For the full article, go to Anthology.

Emily Sall

Kansas City artist Emily Sall's drawings and vinyl wall pieces.

Interview: Herve Graumann

Herve Graumann constructs dizzying, modern day vanitas still lives from kitsch, throwaway souvenirs from our plastic culture. The works both valorize and disdain the role of the object in modern day culture. Like schools of fish joining together to create the impression of a much larger- and more powerful- entity, the multiplicity of Graumann’s constructions aggrandize and impress. They are at once thrones to commodity culture and disdainful commentary on the never ending supply of useless consumer goods. For the full article, go to Anthology.

Bijou's Madness

It's hard to tell weather Bijou's candy coated, neo-futuristic, surreal digital collages are shrines to ravers and hippies everywhere or a hilarious critique of the two drug induced subcultures. Either way they make for provocative images bursting at the seams with imagination and a obscene amounts of day-glow color.

Zhang Huan's Giant Giant Sculpture

Chinese artist Zhang Huan has once again created an impressive sculpture of massive proportions. Made out of Cowskin, Steel, Wood and Polystyrene Foam and measuring at 354 x 165 x 165 inches(900 x 420 x 420 cm), "Giant 1" looms over viewers. See more of Zhang Huan's impressive sculptures, performances, and photos by clicking the title link above.

100,000

In addition to syncing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon with The Wizard of Oz, its also possible to sync "Wish You Were Here" with your car's odometer and your iPhone. Per to the video's author: "watch in full screen with loud volume." Word.

Neil Powell @ 222 Gallery, Opening July 10 6-10pm

Neil Powell's organizations and documentations of evocative symbols read as graphic indexical presentations of the artist's personal narratives, stream of consciousness or location. The schematic blueprints lay out a playful, idiosyncratic topography. His show is opening tomorrow, July 10th at the 222 Gallery. Click on the link above to visit the site and learn more.

Minimal Low Tech

Ian Pedigo's low tech sculptures and collages.

VALERIE A MOLNAR

Valerie Molnar's knit sculptures, wall pieces, and installations. More examples of her work can be found on her blog by clicking the title link above.

Esther Stocker

Esther Stockers portfolio site featuring minimalist paintings, installations, wall works, and photography.

CHRISTOPHER DAVISON @ Jenny Jaskey Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Christopher Davison's mixed media paintings will be on view at Jenny Jaskey gallery from June 5 to July 31, 2008.

From Art To Life

Jacob Dahlgren's From Art To Life, mixes everyday canned food with minimal sculptural forms.

New Arist Profile: Ali Smith

Ali Smith’s current exhibition at the Mark Moore Gallery, “We Find Ways” showcases a stunning selection of paintings from emerging talent Ali Smith. Smith is an adept colorist, manipulating seductive combinations in the tradition of Matisse. Her expressive compositions include swaths of pure, beautifully mixed vibrant colors conversing with linear detail and architectural yet organic structures, that are at once playful yet precarious. Referencing the formalist ploys of abstract expressionism, her works attempt to give the historical trope new relevancy. To continue reading, go to Anthology.

Cerasoli Gallery Group Show

Cerasoli Gallery presents "Splash", a group show opening July 12th 2008. The exhibit features contemporary work in varied media by over twenty diverse, talented, emerging and established artists. The works on view in 'Splash' inspire and surprise while exploring a spectrum of ideas with a summer theme. Cerasoli Gallery is located at 8530-B Washington Blvd in Culver City. July 12th-August 2nd. Opening reception is Saturday, July 12, from 6pm – 9pm.

Emerging Meets Established at Marlborough Chelsea

Marlborough gallery has broken the mold of the predictable summer group show by exhibiting a two level group show that mixes Marlborough's established stable of artists with some of the most exciting emerging artists currently showing. On the ground floor of the Chelsea space are works by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Michael Anderson, L.C. Armstrong, Chakaia Booker, Steven Charles, Dale Chihuly, Vincent Desiderio, Thierry Despont, Jane Dicson, Feng Shuo, Kcho, Abraham Lacalle, Francisco Leiro, Michele Oka Doner, Tom Otterness, Aaron Parazette, Beverly Pepper, Bruce Robbins, Will Ryman, Hans Silvester, Clive Smith, Kenneth Snelson, Stephen Talasnik, Manolo Vald�s, Viswanadhan, Robert Weingarten. The younger generation of artists take over the second floor with works by Roberto Carlos Soto, Doug Fogelson, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Ayakoh Furukawa, Aaron Johnson, Craig Kucia, Adam Krueger, Vanessa Paschakarnis, Sergio Sanz, Clive Smith, Dario Villalba, Steven Walls, and Xie Lei. Although there is a striking difference between the two groups of work, there is a clear dialogue between old and new, established and emerging. The exhibition runs through September 5th.

Beautiful/Decay Presents: Weekend Warriors - Opening Saturday July 12th

Beautiful/Decay magazine and Nathan Larramendy gallery are pleased to announce “Weekend Warrior.” The artists selected for this exhibition represent a diverse cross-section of media and creative expressions—with an overarching theme of innovative aesthetics. The gallery is located in Ojai, California, a city most commonly known as a weekend getaway for the glamorous jetset. Beautiful/Decay and Nathan Larramendy continue with this theme, and shift the paradigm to invite Los Angeles’ artists and creative community for a retreat in one of the most unique locations that southern California has to offer. An afternoon reception will be hosted on July 12th from 3-6 pm; food, drinks and music will be provided. Tony de los Reyes incorporates literary thematics from Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby-Dick, as metaphors for the darkly obsessive, violent tendencies of the United States and its creation of allegories and histories to justify and heroicize self-destructive impulses. Ruby Osorio also deconstructs disguised mythologies; in particular, she examines representations of femininity and the odalisque within the history of art via delicate watercolors on paper. Robbie Conal presents searing political critique more overtly, in the tradition of social satirists such as Honore Daumier, by lampooning figures from popular culture. Steven Shein imagines maximalist geometric saturated synthetic “full void, empty volume” pieces, while Vanessa Chow’s visual feasts blend meditative hand crafted constructions with vibrant idiosyncratic imagery. Allison Miller creates self-referential abstract paintings that feature whimsical organic hand-drawn geometric line work; their ruler-less rendered imperfections lending charm and sincerity. In contrast, Robert Olsen creates representational works that isolate mundane images and occurrences to elevate and abstract their context, often referencing the solemnity of modernist masterworks. Olsen’s lusciously painted smooth surfaces are subtly humorous in their rarified, straight-face treatment of every day objects; transforming a graffiti ridden bus stop into a Dan Flaven-esque light box, or a 76 ball into a canonical Ed Ruscha style pop painting. Simmons and Burke turn their gaze to the rapidly expanding digital landscape, culling images from internet search engines to create dizzying, horror vacui creations that call to mind the monstrous multiplicity of Hieronymous Bosch. For more information about Ojai, including lodging information and other activities, click here. (PDF)