Greek statues had small penises. Defined abdominals? Sure. Shapely pectorals? Definitely. But impressively proportioned junk? No.
‘The Real Reason Why Greek Statues Have Such Small Penises’
Esquire | August 5, 2016 | Sarah Rense
Tina Gorjanc, a student at London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, has been garnering attention for her quest to create an accessory line made with the skin of late designer Alexander McQueen.
‘Design Student To Make Bag with Alexander McQueen’s Skin’
Artnet | Rain Embuscado | July 21, 2016
What form would the human body have to take to better survive car crashes?
‘Meet Graham, Artist’s Vision of Human Evolved for Car Crashes’
Artnet | Brian Boucher | July 21, 2016
After 130 years shrouded in mystery, the recipient of Van Gogh’s ear has been revealed.
‘Woman Gifted With Van Gogh’s Ear Identified 128 Years Later’
Artnet | Henri Neuendorf | July 20, 2016
On Saturday morning, the streets of Hull were taken over by a dazzling crowd of 3,200 naked people covered head-to-toe in blue paint in what has been hailed as the UK’s largest ever art installation.
‘3,200 naked volunteers turn the streets of Hull blue in Spencer Tunick’s ‘Sea of Hull’ installation’
Independent | July 9, 2016 | Harry Cockburn
The best word to describe Noel’le Longhaul’s tattoos is “primeval.” Even when freshly inked and uploaded onto her Instagram, they look like illustrations from an ancient grimoire or a book of disappeared folk tales, passed through the generations and probably bound in human skin.
‘Inside the mysterious world of witch tattoo art’
Dazed | July 5, 2016 | Evelyn Wang
Inside Erin M. Riley’s studio.
‘Sex and Tapestry-Filled Brooklyn Studio’
Wmagazine | July 5, 2016 | Stephanie Eckardt
With the Republican National Convention only a few weeks off, Spencer Tunick is busier than usual. The world’s foremost photographer of large scale nude works, he’s organizing a shoot that’s likely to get lots of attention from the media, and the hordes of celebrants, protestors and provocateurs expected to gather in Cleveland in mid July to name the Republican presidential candidate.
‘ARTIST SPENCER TUNICK PLANS TO FIGHT TRUMP WITH NAKED WOMEN’
PAPER | David Hershkovits | June 30, 2016
Paper vaginas are helping to raise awareness of female genital mutilation (FGM) by empowering women to be proud of their bodies.
‘No More Cutting: The art project making paper vaginas in a bid to stop female genital mutilation’
Independent | Jess Denham | June 29, 2016
After more than piquing our interest in historical Japanese erotica, we’re taking a second, more intimate look at the history and influences behind these unique, beautiful, and evocative prints (called shunga, or “images of spring”) and the hedonistic ukiyo-e (meaning “Floating World”) they depict.
‘Why Does Japan Have Such Great Art Porn? A Short & Steamy History of Japanese Erotica’
Artspace | JUNE 29, 2016
In the past, tattoos have been associated with the rebellion and criminal activities. But today, it is not the case. With the emergence of famous tattoo artists, we can see that the art of tattooing has become strikingly more accepted in the world, and no longer associated with criminal groups and prisoners.
‘WHO ARE THE MOST FAMOUS TATTOO ARTISTS WE LOVE?’
Widewalls | June 12, 2016 | Ana Moriarty
If imitation is the best form of flattery, then Frida Kahlo would probably feel very flattered by these tattoos.
’31 Frida Kahlo-Inspired Tattoos That’ll Make You Want To Get Inked’
The Huffington Post | June 7, 2016 | Carolina Moreno
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
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.”
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
Laolu Senbanjo’s artwork in Beyoncé’s visual album,”Lemonade,” has conjured up a media storm that’s been rumbling along since it dropped on HBO last Saturday evening. In the past few days alone, Vogue called the Brooklyn-based artist their “new Instagram obsession,” and ABC News held a nationally syndicated interview.
‘Artist and Beyoncé Collaborator Laolu Senbanjo Is an Overnight Media Sensation’
Artnet | April 27, 2016 | Rain Embuscado
One Australian performance group is asking a provocative question: What better way to connect to the earth than through sex?
Pony Express, a collective of four artists, will perform at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, between May 6-16, at the Next Wave Festival. The show, entitled Ecosexual Bathhouse, is meant to be a “complete sensory environment” according to the group’s fundraising page.
‘Why these artists are having sex with the earth’
Mashable | April 27, 2016 | Chelsea Frisbie
Nikola Tamindzic, a New York-based photographer is someone who delivers raw and seemingly unplanned photographs. He manages to capture the essence of the person he shoots, the vibe of the city he depicts, the hectic feeling of the environment, and the strong statements that lie behind his works.
‘FUCKING NEW YORK WITH NIKOLA TAMINDZIC’
Widewalls | March 29, 2016 | Ana Moriarty
Photographer Amanda Charchian offers us nude portraits full of surrealism by creating all kind of game of lights and colors. Her models appear like wood nymphes evolving surrounded by nature. The artist is full of imagination and explores all the particularities landscapes have to offer to create poetic interaction with the body of her venus. The book titled Pheromone Hotbox celebrates her work in a beautiful way.
‘Nude Portraits Series by Amanda Charchian’
Fubiz | March 22, 2016
If you can look at the world around you and see vaginas everywhere, then some (I) might say you’re a lucky person. If you look around and don’t see vaginas everywhere, then there’s an Instagram feed to help you out. @Look_At_This_Pussy is the brainchild of Los Angeles 20-somethings Eva Sealove and Chelsea Jones.
‘This Instagram account sees vaginas everywhere’
Dazed | March 9, 2016 | Ashleigh Kane
LONDON
ARTROOMS 2016: 70 Rooms | 4 Days | 1 Unmissable Event.
ARTROOMS is an international contemporary art fair with a difference – it takes place in a hotel, with 70 of its rooms converted into exhibition spaces for art galleries and independent artists. An innovative concept that uses the unique setting of luxury hotel rooms to create an intimate and involved art viewing experience, as well as the chance to meet and discuss work with emerging contemporary artists.
ARTCUBE’s co-founder David Reymondet will be taking part in a panel discussion, New Business Initiatives – The Shift To An Artist-Centric Model Online and Offline, at this year’s ARTROOMS, alongside Jonas Almgren (CEO Artfinder), Cristina Cellini Antonini (Founder & Co-Director ARTROOMS), and Guy Portelli (Artist Funded Via Dragon’s Den). This will be ARTROOMS’s first session and will take place on Saturday 23rd January at 11am.
Where: Meliá White House, Albany Street, London, NW1 3UP
When: 23 – 25 January
Website: www.art-rooms.org
Opening This Week:
Use / User / Used | Zabludowicz Collection
‘The one thing we share—exhaustion—makes us an inoperative community, an exhausted community, or a community of the exhausted.’ – Jan Verwoert
Use/User/Used at the Zabludowicz Collection is an exhibition that looks at the societal pressures of continuously performing in a 24/7 working culture. Presenting works in a variety of media, including live performance and dance, the exhibition reflects on what it means to be exhausted, as a physical body, as a mental state, and as a material resource.
Use/User/Used presents works from the Zabludowicz Collection including Nick Darmstaedter, Nicolas Deshayes, Alex Dordoy, Matias Faldbakken, Lizzie Fitch, Yngve Holen, Josh Kline, Nikki S. Lee, Rachel Maclean, Kris Martin, Tobias Madison, Seth Price, Lucy Tomlins, Kirstine Roepstorff, Jack Strange, Artie Vierkant, and Gary Webb. As well as newly commissioned live works by Lea Collet and Marios Stamatis, Filippo Marzocchi, and Laura Yuile.
Where: 176 Prince of Wales Rd, London, NW5 3PT
When: Opening 22 January – 21 February
Website: www.zabludowiczcollection.com
WOMEN: New Portraits by Annie Leibovitz |
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
A pop-up exhibition of new works by renowned American photographer Annie Leibovitz is preparing for an around-the-world tour, which is starting its journey in London this January at the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station. WOMEN: New Portraits by Annie Leibovitz is a continuation of an on going project, which started over 15 years ago as a collaboration between the photographer and Susan Sontag. Leibovitz’s world tour premieres new photographs, commissioned by UBS, of Amy Schumer, Caityln Jenner and Venus and Serena Williams, as well as a number of other portraits of notable female figures, displayed alongside pieces from the initial 1999 iteration, including portraits of Cindy Sherman, Louise Bourgeois, Yoko Ono, Agnes Martin and Patti Smith.
Where: Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, Wapping Wall, London, E1W 3SG
When: Until February 7
Website: www.ubs.com
Closing Soon:
Anne de Vries: SUBMISSION | Cell Project Space
The Cell Project Space introduces SUBMISSION, an exhibition of works by Berlin-based, Dutch artist Anne de Vries. For this project de Vries looks at mass audiences and a ‘now’ generation of online users. His work is intended to give meaning, form and purpose to a hyper-connected world, an information-saturated culture, and explore how humans respond to technology as an attempt to go beyond the limitations of the mind.
Where: 258 Cambridge Heath Rd, London, E2 9DA
When: Until 24 January
Website: www.cellprojects.org
Check Your Pockets! | cueB Gallery
Check Your Pockets!, an exhibition based at the cueB Gallery in South-East London, brings together painted works by 7 artists who all working within the same studio in the area. Although all of their practices are rooted in painting, the exhibition explores the contrast of the work produced within the same space, and how the group of artists inform or overlap each other within it.
Check Your Pockets! is a group exhibition by Ben Jamie, Jessie Makinson, Katie Brookes, Melanie Scott, Paige Perkins, Scott McCracken and Tim Ralston.
Where: 325 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2QZ
When: Until 21 February
Website: www.cuebgallery.com
NEW YORK
Medium of Desire: An International Anthology of Photography and Video | Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art
Looking at major themes such as human beauty, desire, Eros, and sexuality, photography based exhibition, Medium of Desire, explores cultural differences – whether defined by national borders, sexual orientation, or gender identification – and how they can be simultaneously different yet familiar. Looking at the theme of “desire,” this exhibition draws together the work of fourteen contemporary artists from China, Japan, Greece, Russia, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and the U.S., as expressed through the medium of video and photography.
Curator Peter Weiermair commented, “in looking at these works we see the expression of desire between those depicted in the images. Then, in other works we see the desire between the artists and their subjects. In many instances, as we witness this desire, it evokes our own feelings, regardless of our individual perspective.”
Medium of Desire brings together works by Anthony Gayton, Greg Gorman, Sasha Kargaltsev, Tomoko Kikuchi, Rolf Koppel/Will Light Johnson, Joseph Maida, Matthew Morrocco, Catherine Opie, Ohm Phanphiroj, Hang Ren, Paolo Ravalico Scerro, Daniel Schmude and Dimitis Yeros.
Where: 26 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10013
When: Until March 16
Website: www.leslielohman.org
Ending this Week:
Deborah Kass. No Kidding. | Paul Kasmin Gallery
The Paul Kasmin Gallery presents Deborah Kass: No kidding, an exhibition of new mixed media paintings. Using primarily black and blue backdrops, Kass has decided to incorporate neon lighting into her practice and in doing so limiting her palette to spell out popular cultural references. This most recent body of work sets a darker tone as the artist reflects on contemporary issues through citational modernism.
Where: 515 W. 27th Street, NY 10001
When: Until January 23
Website: www.paulkasmingallery.com
Just Opened:
Heliotrope | Odetta
In Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce the heliotrope is a key motif – symbolising resurrection, rebirth, revolution and enlightenment. Heliotrope at Odessa brings together four artists – Lisa DiLillo, Eva Mueller, Mary Temple and Jo Yarrington – to address the variety of meanings this metaphor inspires.
Where: 229 Cook St, Brooklyn, NY 11206, United States
When: Until March 6
Website: www.odettagallery.com
Flatlands | Whitney Museum of American Art
Bringing together paintings by Nina Chanel Abney, Mathew Cerletty, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Caitlin Keogh and Orion Martin, Flatlands highlights the work of five emerging artists and their engagement with representation. The exhibition invites the viewer to reflect upon contemporary life through varied compositions based upon reality and which incorporate object, body and place as their major themes.
Flatlands has been organised by assistant curators Laura Phipps and Elisabeth Sherman.
Where: 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014
When: Until April 17
Website: www.whitney.org
Pearlstein Today and Pearlstein | Warhol | Cantor: from Carnegie Tech to New York | Betty Cuningham Gallery
The Betty Cuningham Gallery presents Pearlstein Today and Pearlstein | Warhol | Cantor: from Carnegie Tech to New York, an exhibition of recent paintings by Philip Pearlstein coupled with an exhibition of his Carnegie Tech years with Andy Warhol and Dorothy Cantor. The earlier works of the three artists are a précis of last summer’s exhibition organized by the Andy Warhol Museum, Pearlstein/Warhol/Cantor: from Pittsburgh to New York.
Where: 15 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002
When: Until February 13
Website: www.bettycuninghamgallery.com
Admittedly, the first thing we thought of seeing the Human Canvas series by Art Wolfe, at the Rotella Gallery, was the music video for ‘Somebody I Used To Know’ by Gotye – but once we got past that, we began to appreciate the distinct graphics and purity of the images.
The Human Canvas series does seem out-of-place considering Wolfe’s background as a wildlife, landscape and culture photographer. However, take note of the tribal-like patterns and you can instantly connect Wolfe’s previous experience with this highly stylised project.
There is a strong aesthetic to the images. Wolfe’s palette is strictly crisp white and blackest black. He uses defined dots and lines, which are applied to the human literally as if it is canvas. The marks and the monochrome gives the photographs a touch of minimalism; we are being immersed in what we see, not what it represents.
Theatrics over erotic – in remote cultures, nudity is the norm and in the Human Canvas, the fact the models are nude is almost irrelevant. We are not focusing on the body as sexual matter; instead, bodies are compositional tools, like building blocks or brush strokes on a painting. In this way, the images possess a physicality and rawness. We see the human form for all its beauty, its curves and contours, despite the camouflage.
Clay Study was our particular favourite because of its inviting texture – we just wanted to pick at the cracking clay peeling from the skin. Nonetheless, there is a kind of flatness, as the body merges and obscures into the patterned background; painting and human become one. Then sometimes, we cannot even notice the human at all.
Check out this link to watch how the process of creating the Human Canvas series and Art Wolfe taking about the project.
Baranga creates perverted crockery that are delightful fun and yet disturbing. Human features are fused with conventionally civilised tableware; porcelain plates with gaping mouths and teacups with fingers appear to be crawling away. The play between the passive object and something that is alive generates a feeling of anarchy, as if the teacup is over being used and abused, instead now it is in a state of rebellion.