BRUSSELS — After three years of fund-raising and renovations, the founders of a contemporary art museum housed in a converted brewery in the Molenbeek district here were eagerly anticipating their grand opening on March 23.
‘In Brussels, Art Museum Brings Hope to Muslim Neighborhood of Molenbeek’
The New York Times | May 31, 2016 | Doreen Carvajal
For the eighth year in a row, Vivid Sydney has bathed the Australian city with a spectacular display of lights. Combining illumination, music, and ideas, it brings Sydney alive with large-scale installations and projections across cultural centers like the Sydney Opera House, Taronga Zoo, and Royal Botanic Garden.
“Vivid Sydney” Cloaks the Australian City in a Spectacular Display of Vibrant Lights
My Modern Met | May 31, 2016 | By Sara Barnes
Marginalized at first, street art and graffiti first appeared on American subways in the 1970s before reaching Europe in 1980s alongside hip hop music.
‘WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF STREET ART ON REAL ESTATE PRICES?’
Widewalls | May 30, 2016 | Elena Martinique
for more than ten years, artist JR has chosen the public space to showcase his monumental photographic collages and creative urban interventions.
‘JR completes monumental anamorphic artwork on the louvre’s glass pyramid’
Designboom | May 24, 2016
If you’re in the market for a swanky new penthouse in New York City, then you may want to check out the building on 520 West 28th Street. The nearly 7.000-square-foot apartment, which stands as the crown jewel of Zaha Hadid‘s first residential project in New York, is up for grabs—if you have $50 million to spare.
‘Zaha Hadid’s Only NYC Penthouse Hits Market for $50 Million’
Artnet | May 24, 2016 | Rain Embuscado
A new survey from wealth management firm US Trust points to a deep generational divide between how younger and older art collectors think about their holdings. Among other findings, the “Insights on Wealth and Worth” study suggests that rich millennials might be in for a surprise about the future value of their collections.
‘Study Says Millennial Collectors Have Faulty Grasp of Art’s Value’
Artiste | May 23, 2016 | Brian Boucher
The 67-year-old artist Isa Genzken, who works and lives in Berlin, has spoken openly about her alcoholism in a candid interview with the Sunday edition of the German daily Der Tagesspiegel, claiming she had started drinking after the difficult divorce from artist Gerhard Richter.
“I begun to drink and drink—and behave very inappropriately—because of this disaster with my [ex] husband,” she told the paper.
‘Isa Genzken Says She Became an Alcoholic After Her Divorce From Gerhard Richter’
Artnet | May 23, 2016 | Hili Perlson
At the end of every year, we do a “Best of *inset year here*” series, where we count down the Top 10 most popular photos in every single category on 500px. From Urban Exploration to Nature; from Underwater to Food; from Performing Arts to the City and Architecture category. These are some of the community’s favorite posts, raising the bar as they point out the best of the best (or at the least most popular…) images shared on 500px from the past year. But why wait for December to check in with the categories? Let’s see how the community is doing now that we’re a few months into 2016 and really rolling.
‘Top 20 Black and White Photos on 500px So Far This Year’
500pix | May 22, 2016
In her series Girls, Beijing-based photographer Luo Yang reveals a side to contemporary China that is rarely seen in the West. Her portraits depict an emerging generation of women who defy traditional stereotypes. Instead of being simply shy and reserved as one might expect, these Chinese women are also bold, self-aware and painfully cool.
‘Girls: Luo Yang’s insightful portraits reveal a new generation of Chinese women’
Creative Boom | May 22, 2016
The art of handling a paintbrush and managing that real life and and the result are as alike as two peas in a pod seems to be the strong point of the American painter Richard Estes. Living in the Big Apple since many years, his working method first consists in taking a picture of an urban scene before reproducing it on his canvas. A resemblance that is both misleading and impressive.
‘Great Photorealistic Paintings of NYC’
Fubiz | May 21, 2016
Regardless of the graphic form it took, in ancient times writing was considered a dominant symbol of supernatural power and divinity. In the Islamic tradition, the development of point to the line, of light to movement and of the Aleph (the first letter of the Arabic alphabet) to the rest of the letters, symbolizes the story of creation itself. The importance of the Arabic calligraphy, not only used for the writing of the sacred texts, but also as a point from which many artists take their inspiration from, is seen to influence many urban and street art, graphic and design work, and is visible as a reference in many of the contemporary artworks today.
‘WHERE IS ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY IN CONTEMPORARY ART?’
Widewalls | May 21, 2016
Born in Japan, Yayoi Kusama, 87, studied painting in Kyoto before moving to New York in 1957. She has staged polka-dot orgies and naked anti-tax protests; her work spans painting, drawing, sculpture and performance, as well as literature, fashion and product design. Her latest paintings, pumpkin sculptures and mirror rooms are showing at the Victoria Miro gallery in London from 25 May. Since 1977, she has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric hospital in Japan.
‘Yayoi Kusama: ‘A letter from Georgia O’Keeffe gave me the courage to leave home’’
The Guardian | May 21, 2016 | Rosanna Greenstreet
Jeff Koons, known mostly for his colorful, giant chrome balloon animals, is to the art world what Michael Bay is to movies. In other words, he’s a genius.
Please save your energy and do not beef with me about this. I heard all the arguments against him in art school, where Koons is largely despised by students as some kind of art supervillain: that he’s too commercial and kitchey; that he sells shiney baubles to collectors with too much money and not enough sense. If you want an entertaining crash course in the contempt for Koons, I recommend Jerry Saltz’s 2014 review of Koons’ retrospective at the Whitney, where he calls him “the most reviled artist alive,” among other things.
‘A Critique of Jeff Koons’ Nexus 6P Case’
Motherboard | May 21, 2016
Members of a Virginia arts commission are calling a pair of Mark Ryden paintings blasphemous and threatening to slash funding for the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) for including them in a forthcoming show. The offending works are the pop-surrealist artist’s “Fountain” (2003) and “Rosie’s Tea Party” (2005), which both show young, doll-like girls in unsettling scenes: In the former, a figure cradles her own head as blood springs from her neck; in the latter, a girl is surrounded by an assortment of meats and slicing a hunk of ham inscribed with the papal encyclical “Mystici corporis Christi.” The paintings go on view starting this weekend as part of Turn the Page: The First Ten Years of Hi-Fructose, a retrospective celebrating the artworks that have appeared in the pages of the San Francisco–based contemporary art magazine. Besides Ryden, artists showcased include Kehinde Wiley, Olek, and Shepard Fairey.
‘Virginia Arts Commissioners Threaten to Defund Museum Over “Anti-Christian” Paintings’
Hyper Allergic | May 20, 2016 | Claire Voon
Antony Micallef, whose latest exhibition runs through June 30 at Pearl Lam Galleries Hong Kong, first came into prominence after winning second place at the 2000 BP Portrait Award. Since then, his work has become highly collectible, appearing in exhibitions in many of London’s most famous museums and in the collections of celebrities including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (as the PR person who told us this puts it, “this is not particularly relevant but nonetheless juicy”). On top of this, GQ Magazine called him the man who “will change the face of modern portraiture.”
“Antony Micallef: Raw Intent” runs through June 30 at Pearl Lam Galleries Hong Kong
‘Interview: Antony Micallef on his ‘Raw Intent’’
May 20, 2016 | Blouin Art Info | Samuel Spencer
Photographer and graphic designer Paolo Pettigiani recently took a stroll through New York’s Central Park armed with an infrared lens and took a number of fantastic shots that show the iconic park in a whole new light. The usual green grass and trees are transformed into a bright cotton candy pink which vividly contrasts with the aquamarine sky. The 24-year-old photographer moved to New York from Turin, Italy only two weeks ago and has been busy documenting his views of the city on Instagram. (via Behance, This Isn’t Happiness)
‘NYC’s Central Park Photographed in Infrared by Paolo Pettigiani’
Colossal | May 20, 2016 | Christopher Jobson
Need something to brighten up your office? But a few colourful pictures just won’t make the impact you want? Check out this insane installation by New York City design studio, Soft Lab, created for Behance’s new offices in the Big Apple.
With the workspace spread out over two floors, Soft Lab was tasked with creating something that would connect the levels via the central staircase. Which is why the stairs became the ideal site to produce an installation that extends to both floors and can be seen from anywhere in the office.
‘Stain glass art installation that hangs through two floors of Behance’s new NYC offices’
Creative Boom | May 19, 2016
Turner prize-winning artist Grayson Perry’s voyage into masculinity has led him to create a 68cm tall glazed ceramic phallus in the image of the City of London’s bankers.
“There’s no disputing what it is,” Perry said. “It’s a big cock.”
The artwork was temporarily exhibited in The Shard as part of his Channel 4 series Grayson Perry: All Man, which explores contemporary masculinity and concludes on 19 May with an episode focusing on the City’s financial sector. The phallic vase features banknotes and photos of chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne’s face.
‘Grayson Perry creates giant ceramic penis inspired by City of London bankers’
Independent | May 19, 2016
There’s a new breed of excitement, often hidden behind a dense smothering of faux-cynicism, pulsing through the veins of the world’s creative industries right now. As virtual reality becomes less virtual and more reality it’s becoming increasingly apparent that artists, photographers, filmmakers, designers and architects are about to pounce. With endless possible applications and limitless creative potential, those who thrive on the extraction of oneself from the “real” world are ready to harness new technology and take their audience to places previously only accessible within the artist’s mind.
‘A two-hour, virtual reality-enhanced walk through London that challenges you to reconsider space and time’
Independent | May 19, 2016 | Milly Burroughs
a solo exhibit of new and significant early works by british artist antony gormley is on view at new york’s sean kelly gallery from now until june 18, 2016.
‘antony gormley constructs human body grids at sean kelly gallery, new york’
Designboom | May 19, 2016
Though the Parisian artist JR’s work can be viewed as an update of the French Humanist tradition, his projects are multiplied by audience interaction, particularly on social media.
As he told us last year, this form of social interaction is, ultimately, the greater work. So, while his Louvre exhibition opens next Wednesday, 25 May, it has in a sense, already begun as Instagram is currently alive with shots of the show’s central work, his adaptation of the Louvre Pyramid. JR work being pasted up at the Louvre.
‘Watch JR disappear the Louvre’s pyramid’
Phaidon | May 18, 2016
As part of Bazaar.com’s #NudeWeek, we look at the political power of nudity in art.
At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July, 100 naked women will stand facing the Quicken Loans Arena holding large, round mirrors. They’ll be part of artist Spencer Tunick’s latest large-scale art installation: “Everything She Says Means Everything.”
The New York-based artist has been planning this project since 2013—back when Donald Trump was little more than a hyper-rich businessman and reality-TV personality.
“I could never have imagined there would be such a heightened attention to the male-versus-female dynamic of this Cleveland juggernaut of a convention,” Tunick says. “But I feel like doing this will sort of calms the senses. It brings it back to the body and to purity.”
Recently, Donald Trump was mentioned in a single TV news segment 17 times. For those battling Trump fatigue, it is hard to understand the continuing fascination. Thus, I nearly jumped for joy upon seeing Ass Clown by Scott Scheidly, a meticulously rendered pink and purple painting of Trump in full clown makeup.
‘Punk Portraits Prove Political Leaders Look Better in Pink’
The Creators Project | May 18, 2016 | Kara Weisenstein
Located in a busy shopping center in Prague, this twisting and reflective sculpture depicting the head of writer Franz Kafka is the latest kinetic artwork by controversial Czech artist David Cerny. Installed in 2014, the enormous mirrored bust is comprised of 42 independently driven layers of stainless steel and weighs in at some 45 tons. The piece brilliantly reveals Kafka’s tortured personality and unrelenting self doubt that plagued him his entire life. The layering of objects is a common motif for Cerny who built a similar rotating head that also functions as a fountain titled Metalmorphosis. (thnx, Chelsea & Diana!)
‘A Rotating 42-Layer Sculpture of Franz Kafka’s Head by David Cerny’
Colossal | May 18, 2016 | Christopher Jobson
A high-tech robot is spinning an insect-inspired installation in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s courtyard. The Elytra Filament Pavilion is a canopy of 40 tree-like hexagons made from transparent glass fibers and black carbon fibers woven by an industrual robotic arm. Inspired by the wings of the elytra beetle, a team from the University of Stuttgart developed a process for weaving fibers around a metal frame and curing them to get ultralight structures. Each piece in the 650 sq. ft. installation weighs just under 100 pounds.
‘Robots Weave a Carbon Fiber Forest in London’
The Creators Project | May 18, 2016 | Beckett Mufson
Few people know that Hollywood actor and comedian Steve Martin is a serious art collector. He’s a regular visitor of galleries and the international fair circuit, and developed a penchant for collecting early in his life.
By his own admission, the actor is an obsessive collector who bought his first painting—by the 19th century American artist James Gale Tyler—at the tender age of 21.
‘Take a Peek Inside Steve Martin’s Art Collection’
Artiste | May 17, 2016 | Henri Neuendorf
Tate Modern has announced that the new building of Tate Modern designed by Herzog & de Meuron will officially be opened on 17 June 2016. In the new Tate Modern building, Tate will display a greater variety of artworks and show more artists from around the world, presenting an increasingly international view of modern and contemporary art.
‘NEW BUILDING OF TATE MODERN WILL BE OPENED ON 17 JUNE 2016 DESIGNED BY HERZOG& DE MEURON’
World Architecture | May 16, 2016
One of Sotheby’s top dealmakers, Cheyenne Westphal, has been appointed the chairman of Phillips. Westphal, who left her position as worldwide head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s last month, is due to start at Phillips in 2017. Ed Dolman, the auction house’s chief executive and chairman, will relinquish the latter title when Westphal arrives.
‘Cheyenne Westphal to take up new role as chairman of Phillips’
The Art Newspaper | May 16, 2016
In 2002, Canadian photographer Christopher Herwig went on a series of bike trips that took him 12 years and across 30,000 kilometers of the former Soviet Union. Too often, when talking about this part of the world, we look to political cornerstones as reference points. The Cold War, the Red Scare, the Iron Curtain, the Thaw… Sometimes, it feels like the most creative thing about the USSR was the Western media’s jargon-filled rhetoric.
But we often forget… Where there is political tension, reactions from the creative community are never too far behind. In this case, it just took a photographer’s eye to connect the dots.
‘Soviet Bus Stops Brought Creativity to Remote Landscapes’
Vantage | May 16, 2016 | Karine Vann
A group of British pranksters is facing jail time for staging a fake art robbery in the National Portrait Gallery last July, proving the consequences of going to pointless lengths to attain internet virality. While previously thought to be a strange protest against museum sponsor BP, the event was, it turns out, simply a senseless stunt by members of Trollstation, a YouTube channel that posts videos of disruptive public antics.
‘YouTube Pranksters Sentenced to Jail for Faking Art Heists at Museums’
Hyper Allergic | May 16, 2016 | Claire Voon
Dutch photographer Hellen van Meene is one of the leading Dutch photographers of her generation. During the first part of the 1990s, her work involved intriguing portraits of adolescent girls and women taken in their hometown, her square format photographs stand out for their outstanding lighting, their painstaking, elegant compositions, and their palpable psychological tension.
Van Meene’s natural affinity with the world of puberty, combined with the intimate connection she achieves with her models, means that her powerful portraits leave a deep impression.
Her book ‘The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits’ brings together over 250 images, and is the most complete survey of Hellen van Meene’s photography. Buy on Amazon for $56
‘The Mysterious Portraits of Hellen van Meene’
Trendland | May 16, 2016 | CYRIL FOIRET
New York’s barometric spring auctions took place last week, with $1.1 billion in art selling over five days. Records were set for a number of artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat ($57.3 million* for Untitled, 1982), Maurizio Cattelan ($17.2 million for the kneeling Hitler statue Him, 2001), Agnes Martin ($10.7 million for Orange Grove, 1965), and Frida Kahlo ($8 million for Dos desnudos en el bosque (La tierra misma), 1939).
‘5 Things We Know about the Art Market after New York’s Spring Auctions’
ARTSY | May 16, 2016 | ALEXANDER FORBES AND ISAAC KAPLAN
Works from one of the world’s most prestigious collections of modern art, assembled under the former shah of Iran, will go on show in Berlin late this year, German cultural officials announced Thursday.
The collection, reputed to be the greatest lineup of modern masterpieces outside of Europe and the United States, includes major works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Francis Bacon.
‘Picasso, Warhol, Pollock: Shah of Iran’s art collection to go on show in Berlin’
Ashram Online | May 15, 2016
In 2014, Jehan Chu acquired an artwork by Vietnamese-born Danish artist Danh Vo via an internet platform based in the United States. It was the biggest online art purchase the art adviser had made since he began shopping for art online in 2011.
“They simply had the work I wanted when I wanted it,” Chu, director of Vermillion Art Collections, explains.
While he declines to reveal the details of the work by Vo, he says he has been acquiring a diverse range of artworks online – including “obscure” works by American artist Petra Cortright, a key figure of the recent “post-internet” art movement.
‘Click and collect: how the digital age is changing the global art market’
South China Morning Post | May 14, 2016 | Vivienne Chow
A Japanese billionaire and art collector has spent $98m (£68m) in a shopping spree at two auctions of contemporary art in New York.
Yusaku Maezawa, who made his money in online retailing, bought seven artworks in total at Christies and Sothebys.
His most expensive purchase was for a large piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat for $57.3m, a record for the US artist.
Sales to other buyers included a 1968 work by Cy Twombly, which sold at Sotheby’s for $36.6m.
‘Japanese art enthusiast Yusaku Maezawa in $98m art spree’
BBC | May 12, 2016
Over the last five years, Paddle8 has sought to shake up the world of online art auctions. In Europe, and for almost the same amount of time, Auctionata has tried to do the same in its own way.
Now the two online auction houses are planning to join forces.
Auctionata and Paddle8 are expected to announce on Thursday that they will merge, seeking to create a bigger specialist in selling art online with a broader international reach.
‘2 Online Art Auctioneers to Merge and Go Global’
NY Times | May 12, 2016 | MICHAEL J. de la MERCED
Undoubtedly one of the highlights at the queens museum is ‘the panorama of the city of new york’ — a vast 9,335 square foot architectural model of all five boroughs built to a scale of 1:1200, where one inch equals 100 feet.
‘Spencer lowell frames views of new york from a 1:1200 architectural scale model’
Designboom | May 10, 2016 | Nina Azzarello
The New Museum — one of the smallest and in many ways still the scrappiest sibling in the bursting family of contemporary art museums in New York City — will expand into the building it owns next door to its Bowery home, doubling its space as it prepares for its 40th birthday next year.
‘New Museum Plans Expansion After Raising $43 Million’
NY Times | May 10, 2016 | Randy Kennedy
Montblanc‘s patron of art edition 2016 pays tribute to the outstanding legacy of one of the most influential art collectors and exhibitors of 20th century art, peggy guggenheim, who dedicated most of her life to protecting the art of her time by discovering and nurturing new talent; while building an important collection of works housed today in a venice museum that still carries her name.
‘Montblanc patron of art edition honors peggy guggenheim with a fountain pen’
Designboom | May 9, 2016 | Nina Azzarello
Beneath the immense glass dome of the more than 13,000 square meter nave of paris’ grand palais, franco-chinese artist huang yong ping has formed an immense immersive installation formonumenta — now in its 7th edition.
‘Huang yong ping snakes 250 meter skeletal serpent through paris’ grand palais’
Designboom | May 9, 2016 | Nina Azzarello
While the sun didn’t shine for the Dia:Beacon Spring Benefit, the V.I.P. crowd still decided to abandon the crush of Frieze week in favor of greener pastures—literally: the pastoral hillsides of the Hudson Valley.
The annual brunch held in the pilgrimage-worthy art collection attracted blue-chip artists like Brice Marden and Laurie Simmons as well as distinguished trustees Christopher Bass and Sandy Brant. Stilettos got caught in the greenery-covered walkway but that was all a part of the fun.
‘Escape From New York: The Art Crowd Fêtes the Dia Foundation in the Hudson Valley’
The Observer | May 9, 2016 | Kat Herriman
A controversial wax sculpture of the Nazi tyrant in the praying position has sold at a New York auction for a bundle. But the artist who created ‘the image of terrible pain’ admitted he wanted to see it destroyed. Dressed in a grey woolen suit, the sculpture shows a kneeling Adolf Hitler clasping his hands and looking up. The striking image, called Him, is the work of Maurizio Cattelan who finished the piece in 2001 and has sold it for a jaw-dropping $17.2m (£12m), a record for the Italian artist.
‘Kneeling Hitler statue sells for £12million at auction’
Metro | May 9, 2016 | Simon Robb
From his earliest days as a publisher at the turn of the 19th century, Condé Nast was an astute talent scout, quick to grasp the possibilities presented by photography at the forefront of the avantgarde. He launched the careers of top photographers like Franca Sozzanieager who was eager to capture the best of haute couture. He employed editors and art directors like Diana Vreeland and Alexander Liberman who made the Condé Nast studios in New York, Paris and London laboratories of creativity. And quickly, the pages of his magazines—predominantly his flagship, Vogue, and later Vanity Fair and Glamour—became a major force not only in fashion magazines but in the evolution of visual culture.
‘Explore a Century of Fashion Photography at Condé Nast’
TIME | May 9, 2016 | Rachel Lowry
On Monday, Japanese artists made major gains in freedom of expression when an artist who prominently features vaginas in her work was found not guilty of obscenity (though she still had to pay a fine).
42-year-old artist Megumi Igarashi’s case successfully challenged how Japanese law limits artistic freedom — and highlights the gendered lens through which Japanese officials often evaluate art considered to be “decent” for public consumption. But Igarashi’s fight to justify her vagina-inspired work isn’t over yet.
‘Meet The Woman Whose Vagina Art Is Still Considered Obscene In Japan’
All That Is Interesting | May 9, 2016 | Elisabeth Sherman
Sometimes, accidents end up creating the most beautiful masterpieces — just ask Aja Kusick.
After posting one of her paintings online — an image of the Eiffel Tower in the thick, impasto style of a Van Gogh — an education blog soon posted it on their site and mistakenly attributed it to him. Kusick decided to have a little fun with the whole misunderstanding and took the idea to the extreme.
‘These gorgeous paintings combine pop culture icons with Van Gogh’s most iconic works’
Bussiness insider | May 9, 2016 | Tim Mulkerin
Red Hook Labs is following British photographer Jamie Hawkesworth’s first-ever solo exhibition with an exciting new group show spotlighting six contemporary photographers from Africa and the African diaspora.
Created in partnership with African creative platform Nataal, New African Photography brings together established and emerging photographers to examine the diverse continent and its dynamic array of cultures. “The exhibition explores multiple themes that challenge accepted notions of belonging and identity; the everyday and the fantastical; the past and the future; the public and the private,” reads the exhibition’s release.
‘Meet the photographers exploring contemporary african identity’
i-d | May 9, 2016 | Emily Manning
After his grandfather killed himself, Sean Scully and his family left Ireland for north London. “He was going to be shot for desertion,” says Scully. “So he hung himself, so they couldn’t shoot him.” Later, his father would go to prison on the same charge. “We lived in extreme, extreme, poverty,” the abstract painter says. “I don’t know why anyone said I came from a working class background—I didn’t. I had a tremendously difficult and stressful relationship with my parents. I wet the bed until I was twenty. I only stopped when I got married. I needed a wife to straighten me out.”
‘Talking to Artist Sean Scully About Addiction, Death, and Ai Wei Wei’
Vice | May 9, 2016 | Jenny Stevens
LONDON
Jeff Koons: Now l Newport Street Gallery
Having opened his Newport Street Gallery with work by the respected by relatively unknown John Hoyland, Damien Hirst is following up with a real biggie – Jeff Koons. It makes perfect sense. With his vacuum cleaners and basketballs suspended in glass tanks, Koons has been a huge influence on Hirst, who first saw the work of the American artist in Charles Saatchi’s ‘New York Art Now’ show during his second year at Goldsmiths college in 1987. They’re both no stranger to controversy and debate. Hirst has been collecting Koons’s work for just the past 12 years, but he’s amassed a sizeable haul of paintings, sculptures and works on paper, 30 of which will be on show. included are Koons’s seminal early works as well as examples from the series ‘Inflatables’, ‘Luxury and Degradation’, ‘Hulk Elvis’, ‘Popeye’, and his sexually explicit ‘Made in Heaven’.
Newport St London SE11 6AJ | May 18 2016 – October 16 | http://www.newportstreetgallery.com/
Strange and Familiar: Britain as Revealed by International Photographers l Barbican Centre
Kristian Fewings | Getty Images
This is an exhibition for anyone who has ever queued for a bus, stared longingly into a cake shop window, blown bubbles just for the fun of it, picknicked in the car in the rain, been in love, worn a hat, walked down a high street… If you don’t recognise yourself in that list, or in the photographs in this show, then I’m calling you out, you droid. Selecting 23 photographers from overseas who have come to these shores armed with rampant curiosity and a killer eye for a great shot, ace photographer Martin Parr has put together one of the most involving and moving exhibitions of the year. It’s chock full of photography legends – ‘eye of the century’ Henri Cartier-Bresson, the staggeringly compassionate Robert Frank – and charts the rise of the medium from the 1930s to now.
Silk St London EC2Y 8DS | Until June 19 | http://www.barbican.org.uk/
R Crumb: Art and Beauty l David Swirner Gallery
Crumb 2002
Robert Crumb is the world’s most famous underground cartoonist. So much so that the 72-year-old doesn’t really count as ‘underground’ any more, having long ago left the countercultural ‘comix’ scene and moved into the realm of art galleries. Along the way, his subject matter has expanded too, from his original, acid-fried strips of the 1960s, through documentary forays into the lives of obscure blues musicians and Kafka, to his recent magisterial, comic-book version of the Book of Genesis.
24 Grafton St London W1S 4EZ | Until June 2 | http://www.davidzwirner.com/
Abstracting from Nature l Connaught Brown
Hans Hartung T | 1971
This summer Connaught Brown will exhibit some of the most famous European abstract artists of the 20th century that worked directly from nature. Amidst growing tensions in Europe and the approaching referendum, this return to post-war abstraction is particularly significant. As Britain decides its fate on the world stage, this vital exhibition will examine those artists that responded to the parallel crisis of the Second World War with a new lyrical abstraction.
2 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4HD | May 6 – June 3 | http://www.connaughtbrown.co.uk/
Zabludowicz Collection l Emotional Supply Chains
Korakrit Arunanondchai | Painting with history in a room filled with people with funny names 3 | 2015 | © Carlos/Ishikawa London
This group show brings together a group of contemporary artists who explore how our identities are constructed in the age of the information superhighway.
Of the many incredible things the internet has given us – cat memes, transcontinental instantaneous video communication, limitless porn – maybe the most revolutionary is the ability to redefine ourselves. Between Facebook, Twitter, online gaming and countless other websites, you can basically be whatever the hell you want to be. It doesn’t matter who you are in real life – online, you can be anything.
176 Prince of Wales Rd, London NW5 3PT | 24 March – 17 July | http://www.zabludowiczcollection.com/
NEW YORK
PEOPLE WHO CAME TO MY HOUSE: Portraits by Syracuse Area Photographers | Artrage Gallery
Curated by Ben Altman and Syracuse photographer Bob Gates, “The people who came to our house” challenges us to think about how dependent society is on each and every individual in it for our personal comfort and necessities of our daily lives. The exhibition and documentary also introduces us to the personal lives of Altman and Gates.
505 Hawley Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13203 | April 9 – May 21 | http://artragegallery.org
Bob Erickson: North | The Henry M. Kashiwa Eco Gallery
Bob Erickson | 2016 | ©viewarts
After spending two months in rural Ireland, immersed in an environment that is harsh, beautiful, exhilarating and mystical all at once, Bob Erickson now presents his collection. A mix of prints, paintings and drawings, these works depicts the climate of northern UK in a way that will move your soul.
Old Forge, NY 13420 | April 23 – June 1 | https://www.viewarts.org
Roy DeCarava | Anders Walhstedt Fine Art
Roy DeCarava | Kids-God Bless | 1960 | ©artnet
DeCarava’s New York 19 photographic series was used in a CBS television special broadcast on Sunday, November 20th, 1960. Entitled Belafonte: New York 19, the musical special was a celebration of Postal Code 19, the city’s midtown melting pot of diversity, culture and the arts. These iconic pictures are now featured in his latest exhibition at Anders Wahlstedt Fine Arts.
40 E 63 Street, 3rd Floor, NY 10065 | March 31st – May 14th | http://www.wahlstedtart.com
Betty Tompkins: Women Words, Phrases and Stories | The Flag Art Foundation
Betty Tompkins’s hall of catcalls—little text paintings flooded with denigrating terms for women—might inspire one to drive a knife into this “crisis of heterosexual masculinity” everyone keeps talking about, Sister Serpents–style.
545 West 25th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10001 | January 20 – May 14 | http://flagartfoundation.org
Paul Cadmus, Joan E. Biren, Jimmy Desana, Marion Pinto, Amos Badertscher The 1970s: The Blossoming of a Queer Enlightenment | Leslie – Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art
This exhibition pulls us into that numinous, dangerous decade for queers, shortly after Sylvia Rivera threw the first brick at Stonewall and right before GRID—now commonly referred to as AIDS—decimated legions. Organized by Leslie–Lohman’s staff, the show brings together a wide range of works from the likes of Paul Cadmus, Cathy Cade, Jimmy DeSana, Tee Corinne, Diana Davies, and Robert Mapplethorpe, among others. Witness a generation’s charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent while, in the words of Harry Hay, “throw[ing] off the ugly green frog skin of hetero-imitation.”
26 Wooster St, New York, NY 10013 | April 8 – June 26 | https://www.leslielohman.org/
Street and portrait photographer Estevan Oriol has photographed every aspect of Los Angeles from superstars to gang members.
Nearly 20 years later, Oriol’s extensive portfolio juxtaposes the glamorous and gritty planes of LA culture, featuring portraits of famous athletes, artists, celebrities and musicians as well as Latino, urban, gang, and tattoo counterculture lifestyles. He has photographed Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dennis Hopper, Marissa Miller, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Floyd Mayweather, and Lance Armstrong amongst others.
‘The Ansel Adams of Los Angeles: Estevan Oriol’
ISO1200 | May 8, 2016
Magdalena del Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, best known as Frida Kahlo, painter recognized all over the world for her self-portraits which testify of the fragility and the difficulty of her condition, became an icon due to her artistic originality. Her artworks are the assertion of a strong Mexican identity, cultural elements of which are clearly recognizable in her paintings. She died at the age of 47, by writing in her journal : ” I hope that the exit will be joyful… and I hope to never come back”. Here is a selection of rare pictures which immortalize the artist and pay tribute to her beauty.
‘Frida Kahlo in 45 Vintage Photos’
Fubiz | May 8, 2016
At first glance, Wassily Kandinsky’s artwork might confuse you – how can all of those disparate paintings have come from one artist? Born in Odessa, he experienced both the October Revolution in Russia and then the rise of the Nazis in Germany before moving to Paris to live out the rest of his life. Along with he himself, his artwork went through amazing changes – and the ten paintings below are a great way to see that.
’10 Artworks By Kandinsky You Should Know’
The Culture Trip | May 7, 2016 | By Lani Seelinger
This exceptional 14th-century castle and former fortress boasts picturesque formal gardens and an idyllic location in the hills of Uzès, France, but those features aren’t the main draw. It’s the five frescoes on its walls, designed and installed by Pablo Picasso himself, that make this property next-level spectacular. A friend of the estate’s former owner, British art-historian and art-collector Douglas Cooper, Picasso visited the chateau in 1962 and engraved five of his drawings on the loggia walls over the course of that year. Several parts of the property are now classified as historic monuments.
‘Pablo Picasso Left Some Incredible Art at This $10.3 Million French Chateau’
Architectural Digest | May 6, 2016 | Jennifer Tzeses
Inside the monastery church grimma — a 580-year-old structure near leipzig, germany — berlin-based studio BORGMAN | LENK has suspended an enormous ‘stone’ from the building’s historic ceiling
‘BORGMAN | LENK suspends behemoth ‘boulder’ within a monastery near leipzig’
Designboom | May 6, 2016 | Nina Azzarello
Can street art increase the value of your home? The anecdotal answer, based on many English properties selling for up to double their regular prices thanks to the Banksy murals painted on them, is yes. But now a study has been done to determine what, if any, effect street art—and art in general—has on the property values of entire neighborhoods.
‘How Street Art Raises Neighborhood Housing Prices’
co.exist | May 6, 2016 | Charlie Sorrel
Taking a brief pause on their spring migration, a group of the rarest global highfliers alighted briefly last Wednesday on humble Randalls Island, where — not far from a homeless shelter, a State Police station, a fire academy and a psychiatric hospital — the contemporary art fair Frieze New York has thrown up its big top.
‘At Frieze Art Fair, the Well-to-Do Meet the Truly Wealthy’
NY Times | May 6, 2016 | GUY TREBAY
Things happen fast in the tech industry. Over the last few years, Silicon Valley exploded from a relatively niche movement to the paradigm-shifting phenomenon it is today, with companies like Airbnb and Uber growing into global powerhouses. Many in the art world expected the burgeoning wealth in the area would quickly lead to extensive art collecting. While it’s taken longer than expected, fine art is expanding into the Valley’s culture.
‘Techies: The New Breed of Art Collector’
The Huffington Post | May 5, 2016 | Stephen Tanenbaum
One Londoner could win the chance to have contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama transform their Airbnb into an immersive, livable work of art. In a collaboration with the Tate Modern, the project invites London-based Airbnb hosts to apply for one room in their listing to be customised by one of Japan’s most renowned artists.
‘Let Yayoi Kusama turn your bedroom into an immersive work of art’
It’s Nice That | May 5, 2016 | Jenny Brewer
Joe McMillan, head of real estate and development firm DDG — whose 345Meatpacking construction site was famously cloaked in a black-and-yellow-dotted scrim by Japanese pop artist Yayoi Kusama in 2012 — keeps a chunk of that “Yellow Trees” wrap in the receiving room of his 14,000-square-foot Tribeca office.
‘You won’t believe the famous art hanging in these guys’ offices’
New York Post | May 5, 2016 | Heidi Mitchell
“I was born and bred on the weird side of the road,” says Parker Day, LA based photographer. Known for her saturated, hyperreal 35mm portraits, it might seem surprising that Day has only been shooting seriously for just over a year and a half. However, somewhere between being given disposable cameras to play with as a kid and becoming an “arrogant prick” at art school, Day found herself losing interest in photography as a medium. After picking up a camera again and reigniting her interest in shooting film, the photographer has found herself building a solid reputation shooting the weirdest and wildest characters of LA’s art scene.
‘Hyperreal photos of LA’s weirdest and wildest characters’
Dazed | May 4, 2016 | Ione Gamble
AMSTERDAM — The Van Gogh Museum here has started a program to offer its professional services to private collectors, corporations and other institutions. It says the move could create a new revenue stream as a hedge against declining government financing and global events like terror attacks that could have an effect on visitor numbers.
‘Van Gogh Museum Wants to Share Its Expertise, for a Price’
The New York Times | May 4, 2016 | Nina Siegal
Perhaps closer to 6 p.m. the sculpture had retained some semblance of nobility, but two hours later — after a mob of Tecate-swilling artist-manqués had put their grubby hands all over it — things were decidedly less pretty. The occasion was a small solo show by Urs Fischer at the L.E.S. gallery JTT, a departure for the Gagosian-represented artist who has previously shown a fondness for oddball downtown one-offs.
‘Urs Fischer Wants You To Touch Him on The Lower East Side’
Blouin Artinfo | May 2, 2016
German photographer J. flynn newton attempts to visualize the subject matter of his dreams in ‘drOWNing SKY’.
‘J. flynn newton creates dream-derived landscapes in drOWNing SKY’
Designboom | May 2, 2016 | Nick Brink
Sam Orlando Miller | Sguardo Cubetti 6 | 2016 | Enquire Shades of Obsidian Grey Mirror, Paint on Panel
Gallery Fumi presents Sam Orlando Miller’s Tra l’Occhio e l’Ombra. For his first solo show Miller presents a series of new works ‘about that moment between the visible and the invisible, inside and outside, reality an illusion’.
Sam Miller is a sculptor and painter based in both London and Le Marche and fascinated by intriguing and uncommon forms. Each piece takes on a life of its own, a result of Sam’s fundamental approach to his work is to make everything entirely with his own hands.
16 Hoxton Square, N1 6NT London | 29 April – 30 June | www.galleryfumi.com
Mona Hatoum | Cellules (detail) | 2012 | Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Chantal Crousel
Mona Hatoum focuses on ideas of conflict and confrontation, whether it is collective distress felt in war-torn societies or individual traumas inflicted on human bodies. In her first major solo show in London, Tate Modern presents both performance and moving-image works from the 1980s, as well as the installations of commonplace objects in which she has tended to specialise since.
Bankside, SE1 9TG London | 4 May – 24 August | www.tate.org.uk
Tony Romano | Night Thoughts | 2016
Beers welcomes Tony Romano to London for his first UK solo exhibition, Night Thoughts. Here, the young Canadian artist has created a body of work that includes his recognisable wood-and-steel sculptures, alongside hand-printed and hand-tinted photographs as well as a small series of drawings. Drawing on a range of sources from philosophy to linguistics to pop culture, Tony Romano’s work experiments with codes as living cultural forms. The artist’s sculptural pieces are playful renditions of Modernist sculpture, working within a family tradition of carpentry and ironmongery to combine references to history and pop-culture that feel simultaneously timeless and cutting-edge.
91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL London | 29 April – 28 May | www.beerslondon.com
Transfiguration features renowned international contemporary circus artists and dancers, disclosing their unique physicality and exploring the spirit of the performer. Like a mask, layers of body paint and powder disguise the identity of the subject, and release something animalistic from within. In the final images a sculpted, abstract, less human figure emerges.
1 Baldwin Street, EC1V 9NU London | 29 April – 29 May | www.trumanbrewery.com
Matthew McCaslin | Electric Banana
For more than thirty years, Mathew McCaslin has been travelling and creating site-specific art. His work is exciting and often unsettling. He paints landscapes, both physically and metaphorically with electricity. He uses electricity in its rawest form, as a source of light. His light pieces dig deep into our emotions and they create endless environments. His calm, beautiful and thoughtful sculptures are unsettling and almost alien. They draw us into a world of infinite possibility far beyond what we know and are comfortable with.
6D Sheep Lane, E8 4QS London | 25 March – 14 May | www.newartprojects.com
Unknown | 2015 | ©the guardian
The art fair that offers a wide range of art, from innovative works from elite galleries around the world, to hands-on DIY projects. Take your chance to be inspired by the works and have some arty interaction. Some of last year’s highlights were row boats made out of salvaged materials and massage chairs on giant paintings. Surprises are just around the corner.
Randalls Island Park | May 5 – 8 | www.frieze.com
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller | The Marionette Maker | mixed media |2014
The world of marionettes, seen through a vintage camping trailer. This exhibition by Janet Cardiff and George Bures allows you to step in to their realm where marionettes inhibit the world (presented by the camping van). Inside this so called world, visitors see a marionette maker being a marionette itself. So meta.
531 West 24th Street, 10011 New York | April 16 – June 11 | www.luhringaugustine.com
Unknown | ©timeoutNY
A night full of adventure, excitement and bewilderment. Be warned, this night might not be for those who believe that Illuminati truly exists or for the faint hearted. Discover the stories behind folk art and items once used in spiritual rituals. Prepare for a mystical, or should I say spooky night.
2 Lincoln Square, 10023 New York | May 4 | folkartmuseum.org
Edgar Degas | Dancer on stage with a Bouquet | Pastel over monotype on laid paper | 1834 – 1917 | ©MoMA
For the first time in appoximately fifty years The Museum of Modern Arts will have an exhibition of rarely seen and extraordinary monotypes from Edgar Degas. Around 120 monotypes accompanied by about 60 related works will be featured and only to be seen in this exhibition at MoMA.
11 West 53 Street (btwn 5th and 6th Aves), 10019 New York | March 26 – July 24 | www.moma.org
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein | Sea Fringe (n°882) | Oil on board| 1960
Featuring the diverse range of art works Von Bruenchenhein created during his lifetime, this exhibition is like no other. From large-scale concrete masks and chicken bone constructions to visionary paintings and photographic portraits of his wife, these creations are being displayed for the public since becoming the exclusive representative of his estate.
212 Bowery, 10012 New York | March 24 – May 8 | edlingallery.com
Wth a focus on the contrast between north and south american urban landscapes, víctor enrichhas ‘relocated’ new york’s guggenheim museum to bogotá.
‘Víctor enrich ‘relocates’ new york’s guggenheim museum to bogotá’
Designboom | April 29, 2016 | Nina Azzarello
We posted about Zsolt Hlinka work before on a series of images titled Urban Symmetry but he seems to be always producing incredible work. This time we want to share his latest project titled 100 YEAR OLD HOUSES. It’s series of compositions that play with perspective, which is my favorite as you might know. Anyway, check out after the break and you will understand why it deserves to be featured here.
‘100 Year Old Houses’
Abduzeedo | April 27, 2016
During the second round of Tuesday evening’s Jeopardy! episode, Alex Trebek announced a familiar category for the contemporary art world: The Broad. Since opening in downtown Los Angeles in late September, The Broad (pronounced like “road”) has had Angelenos and visitors to the city queuing around the block of its Diller Scofidio & Renfro-designed home. The museum holds the acclaimed contemporary art collection of Eli and Edythe Broad, including some of the most iconic and superlative artworks and installations by contemporary artists—from Robert Therrien’s looming table and chairs, to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Room, to Jeff Koons’s balloons.
‘Would You Win Jeopardy’s Art-World Lightning Round?’
Artsy | April 27, 2016
In the Gorges du Dades there are some breathtaking bends between walls of rock. Capturing everything from the eruption of a volcano on Réunion Island, a quiet family moment in China, and the winding path of a road in Morocco, the entrants for the 2016 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest are sure to get travellers dreaming of their next trip.
‘National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest’
Lonely Planet | April 27, 2016 | Alex Butler
Randall Wright’s documentary Hockney offers a deeply personal portrait of the British artist. And yet, viewers may see less of David Hockney in action than they would expect. The focus, instead, is on the all-encompassing creative passions of one man, on both his personal struggles and triumphs. Wright has made a film that is perfect for Hockney’s existing fans, but does not serve as a much-needed primer on the artist. In this way, the filmmakers seem unconcerned with establishing Hockney’s career trajectory or exploring his place within the art historical canon.
‘Documentary Shows David Hockney’s Rage Against the Art Machine’
Artnet | April 27, 2016 | Sarah Cascone
On May 3, Lisson Gallery New York will open beneath the High Line between 23rd and 24th Street. Designed by studioMDA and Studio Christian Wassmann, the 8,500 square foot space is split between a gallery, offices, viewing rooms, and storage. Although the main gallery is directly under the High Line – the steel columns in the photos are actually supports for the elevated railway – it will receive ample sun from dramatically angled skylights along the space’s edge, which also aid to extend the walls vertically. The gallery’s polished concrete floors, white walls, and natural light are typical of today’s contemporary art spaces, but also maintain the aesthetic of Lisson’s other galleries. The public will access the space via 24th Street, while the 23rd Street entrance will be reserved for staff purposes and private functions.
‘Lisson Gallery New York by studioMDA and Studio Christian Wassmann Opening Soon Beneath the High Line’
Arch Daily | April 27, 2016 | Vladimir Gintoff
Sanja Marusic is a young photographer whose pictures are shot throughout the world, over the countries she visits, and she extracted the landscapes and the most personal possible upgrades. She manages to create a 60’s and 70’s atmosphere, retro-futuristic or psychedelic with models that interact in landscapes with bright and cool colors, objects such as mirrors and fabrics, making the all very enigmatic.
‘Inspiring Photography Series by Sanja Marusic’
Fubiz | April 27, 2016
Columbia College’s new street art festival, Wabash Arts Corridor Big Walls, is set to drastically change the look and feel of the South Loop. The initiative takes place May 1–13, when 18 artists from around the world and in Chicago will transform the Wabash Arts Corridor with huge murals. Once completed, the area will have one of the densest concentrations of public art in the U.S., according to a press release.
‘Chicago’s getting over 40,000 square feet of new street art in May’
Time Out | April 27, 2016 | Nick Kotecki