Announcement
51 articles, 2016-05-14 12:14 1 Remembering Martin Friedman (1925–2016) — Magazine — (1.03/2) Walker Art Center Martin Friedman, the director of the Walker Art Center from 1961 to 1990, passed away May 9, 2016, at age 90... 2016-05-14 07:06 15KB www.walkerart.org 2 united states pavilion presents 'the architectural imagination' at venice architecture biennale the exhibition showcases the exploration of four sites in detroit, michigan and the result sees 12 projects on display by 22 american architects. 2016-05-14 08:30 4KB www.designboom.com 3 Sonic Youth visits the Walker Before they headed to the Minnesota State Fair last night for a rain-soaked concert with the Magic Numbers and The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth stopped by for a tour of the Walker galleries with Perform... 2016-05-14 10:05 789Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 4 2016 American Package Design Awards Makers, sellers and marketers are challenged as never before to convey the message, promote the brand, close the deal. Think fragmented... 2016-05-13 21:21 1KB gdusa.com 5 Artists Installing: Lee Kit Hong Kong artist Lee Kit spent the past two-and-a-half weeks in the gallery working on his site-specific installation for his first solo museum exhibition in the US, Lee Kit: Hold your breath, dance... 2016-05-14 11:11 835Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 6 What is a Contemporary Collection? Thoughts on the Walker Moving Image Commissions and the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection The Walker Moving Image Commissions is an online series in which five artists responded to selections from the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection. Premiered in the Walker Cinema and released for a... 2016-05-14 06:20 1KB blogs.walkerart.org 7 soft blown glass meets hard metal plates for harry allen esque lighting series harry allen and esque studio have collaborated on the 'harry allen esque' lighting series presented at heller gallery during new york design week 2016. 2016-05-14 04:15 2KB www.designboom.com 8 Second Thoughts: Fred Sandback and the Virtual Line How does an exhibition accrete meaning, gain relevance, or shift shape over time? In the 2016-05-14 06:12 858Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 9 Affable Experimentation: Steve Lehman Octet at the Walker To spark discussion, the Walker invites Twin Cities artists and critics to write overnight reviews of our performances. The ongoing Re:View series shares a diverse array of independent voices and opi... 2016-05-14 06:12 935Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 10 nir meiri's angelic florence vases expel a heavenly aura nir meiri's 'florence' vases feature a tubular form with a shallow basin top which frames the bouquet of flowers contained within. 2016-05-14 01:30 1KB www.designboom.com 11 Naeem Khan Suits Up First Lady for State Dinner for Nordic Leaders Under a Northern Lights-inspired tent on the South Lawn of the White House, a fashionable crowd joined President Obama and the First Lady for a state dinner in honor of five Nordic countries. 2016-05-14 00:00 2KB wwd.com
12 Review: Julia Mapp’s ‘Luxury Rentals’ Asks What Is Precious The rising premium on real estate takes on a larger significance when space is considered as a condition essential to dance in Julia Mapp’s new work. 2016-05-14 00:00 3KB www.nytimes.com 13 What’s on TV Saturday Michael Moore dreams on, in “Where to Invade Next.” “The Stanford Prison Experiment” examines a psychological study. And Drake rules on “S. N. L.” 2016-05-14 00:00 3KB www.nytimes.com 14 El Museo del Barrio Spring Gala Toasts Ruben and Isabel Toledo, MAC Cosmetics The museum was also celebrating its upcoming exhibition featuring fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez. 2016-05-13 23:00 2KB wwd.com 15 swiss embassy in ivory coast by LOCALARCHITECTURE the swiss embassy in ivory coast designed by LOCALARCHITECTURE stands on a generous plot of land surrounded with tall trees. 2016-05-13 22:29 3KB www.designboom.com 16 Breaking Out at Cannes 2016: Ana de Armas Cuban actress Ana de Armas is set to break out in 2016, starting first with “Hands of Stone,” which premieres Monday at Cannes film festival. 2016-05-13 22:17 873Bytes wwd.com 17 Kate Hudson Wears Derek Lam to Operation Smile Gala The actress was honored with the organization’s Universal Smile Award on Thursday night. 2016-05-13 22:10 1KB wwd.com 18 Playboy Downplays Sex at NewFronts; Pivots to Lifestyle Coverage Playboy hosted its first NewFronts presentation Friday, giving it a chance to unveil its new branding and video offering for the year. 2016-05-13 22:09 4KB wwd.com 19 Qi Baishi Works to Feature in Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fine Chinese Paintings Sale May 30 Works by Qi Baishi are among those on offer at Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s latest “Fine Chinese Paintings Sale,” which features around 90 mostly fresh-to-market lots. 2016-05-13 22:05 1KB www.blouinartinfo.com 20 Bamboo Sculpture and Digital Art Meet at Puerta Roja Hong Kong’s Puerta Roja gallery's latest exhibition will feature a combination of abstract bamboo sculptures from Laurent Martin "Lo" and digital "fractal flowers" from Miguel Chevalier. 2016-05-13 21:27 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 21 Listening Mix: Devendra Banhart & Friends LISTENING MIX provides a musical preview for artists visiting the Walker. Combining their work with sounds from a variety of contextual sources, LISTENING MIX can be experienced before or after a pe... 2016-05-13 19:05 941Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 22 SFMOMA Throws the Modern Ball Tech titans — from Instagram cofounder Mike Krieger to Airbnb’s founder Brian Chesky — boogied on the dance floor at Thursday night’s gala. 2016-05-13 21:02 2KB wwd.com 23 Elle Unveils ‘Women in Tech’ Honorees in June Issue Elle highlighted eight influential women in technology, who are shaking up the industry. 2016-05-13 20:46 2KB wwd.com
24 War of the Independents, Champions, Island, Kennel Block Blues: This Week in Comics #17 In this week’s comic roundup, it’s all indies. 2016-05-13 20:40 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 25 Shredded Spy Agency Documents Become Readymade Art Conceptual artist Daniel Knorr artistically explores the legacy of East Germany’s spy agency, the Stasi. 2016-05-13 20:20 6KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 26 Keanan Duffty to Host Radio Show The show will be broadcast on Tuesday evenings. 2016-05-13 20:11 1KB wwd.com
27 Anish Kapoor Brings His Twisted Sculptures to Lisson Milan Anish Kapoor Brings His Twisted Sculptures to Lisson Milan 2016-05-13 19:46 1KB www.blouinartinfo.com 28 'New African Photography' at Red Hook Labs The exhibition underscores the increasing prominence of work from the continent. 2016-05-13 19:27 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 29 These Gorgeous Colored Pencil Drawings Will Make You Question Reality Sit back, relax, and enjoy Eric Green's dreamy illustrations of rooms in his house. 2016-05-13 19:25 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 30 max lamb’s crockery in black basalt is formed using the tools of a stone mason the designs all feature glazed interiors for functionality, with the exterior left raw, reflecting the modest surface texture of the plaster mould original. 2016-05-13 19:15 1KB www.designboom.com 31 London Marks Launch of Atea Ocenaie x Man Repeller Capsule Collection will launch at Boutique One in June. 2016-05-13 18:59 2KB wwd.com 32 A Live Sculpt-In Protests the V&A’s "No Sketching" Restriction Clay-equipped protesters take action against the Botticelli exhibit's strict policy. 2016-05-13 18:40 5KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 33 Welcome to the Class War: “Money Monster” and “High- Rise” Each film deals with class and violence, bringing them into the same orbit and illuminating how movies often have difficulty dealing with these subjects. 2016-05-13 17:48 5KB www.blouinartinfo.com 34 OTHR debuts 3D printed housewares by leading creatives during NY design week during new york design week 2016, OTHR debuts a brand of 3D printed objects for the home in collaboration with some of the world's leading designers. 2016-05-13 17:47 3KB www.designboom.com 35 The Incredible Story of 'Drawings from Inside State Hospital No. 3' In 1970, a hand-bound portfolio of nearly 300 drawings is found in a dumpster. It would take 41 years to identify the artist who drew them. 2016-05-13 17:20 12KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com
36 Kevin Beasley's Moment Is Yours | Studio Visits The artist uses found objects to make performative installations and sound sculptures. We visited his studio to learn about resins, tapes, and gas masks. 2016-05-13 17:00 10KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 37 L. A. Habitat: Kaari Upson Kaari Upson in her Koreatown studio. ©KATHERINE MCMAHON L. A. Habitat is a weekly series that visits with 16 artists in their workspaces around the city 2016-05-13 16:46 6KB www.artnews.com 38 Trump & Putin Share Kiss in Lithuanian Mural Lithuanian street artist Mindaugas Bonanu's new mural of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, locked in a sloppy kiss, is going viral. 2016-05-13 16:38 2KB news.artnet.com 39 moogfest 2016 music installations for moogfest 2016, installations include collaborations between mircosoft and grimes and a soundboard by designer yuri suzuki. 2016-05-13 16:30 2KB www.designboom.com 40 William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton Look at Housing in New York The artists are hosting a series of public events that investigate "luxury" and "affordable" housing in New York. 2016-05-13 16:28 3KB www.blouinartinfo.com 41 Friday the 13th Spooktacular | GIF Six-Pack Look for these GIFs in tomorrow's nightmares. 2016-05-13 16:10 1KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 42 The New Esopus Magazine Has Projects With Marilyn Minter, Mickalene Thomas, and Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Is Generally a Delight The cover of Esopus 23, with Jean Tinguely at the Museum of Modern Art in 1960. COURTESY ESOPUS Once a year, a truly beautiful thing occurs in the bookstores of 2016-05-13 16:02 4KB www.artnews.com 43 ‘Island States’ at Tops Gallery, Memphis Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday 2016-05-13 15:55 2KB www.artnews.com 44 Strange Bedfellows? James Rosenquist Shows at Donald Judd’s House in SoHo James Rosenquist held a strange place in Donald Judd's heart. 2016-05-13 15:37 4KB www.blouinartinfo.com 45 Inside the Warped Electronic Art Studio of Scott Kiernan The multidisciplinary artist talks about his analog and digital explorations of how words and images can be misread. 2016-05-13 15:30 7KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 46 Airbnb's "Stolen" Logo: Successful Design Isn't Always Original, and That's OK Designers hit back at Spencer Chen’s unoriginal "Nothing is original" tweet. 2016-05-13 13:50 5KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 47 Sexier Than City Buses: Allen Jones at Michael Werner Gallery, New York Through May 28 2016-05-13 13:28 3KB www.artnews.com
48 Warhol Museum Acquires Do It Yourself Work The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh announced the acquisition of a long-sought-after painting from the 1962 Do It Yourself series. 2016-05-13 12:44 2KB news.artnet.com 49 Meera Menezes Creates An Almost Complete Picture of The Artist We Didn’t Know Much About With Meera Menezes’ Book on Gaitonde, Finally Here’s An Almost Complete Picture of The Artist we Didn’t Know Much About 2016-05-13 12:25 6KB www.blouinartinfo.com 50 The Challenge of Explaining How to Edit Movies "Do or do not, there is no try," is as relevant to editing as lifting starships with space magic. 2016-05-13 12:20 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 51 A Modernist Cinema's Architecture Is Reworked into Filmic Collages Laurence Kavanagh's 'March' exhibition combines memories of movies with physical impressions of the cinema to create surreal collages. 2016-05-13 12:15 5KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com Articles
51 articles, 2016-05-14 12:14
1 Remembering Martin Friedman (1925–2016) — Magazine — Walker Art Center (1.03/2) Martin Friedman, the director of the Walker Art Center from 1961 to 1990, passed away May 9, 2016, at age 90. In commemoration of his pivotal role in shaping the Walker’s values, vision, and future, curator Joan Rothfuss shares her perspective on Friedman’s life and legacy. When I first met Martin Friedman, I didn’t realize that, in a sense, I already knew him. I had moved to Minnesota in 1974 to attend the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I’d come from Dayton, Ohio, which had no contemporary art museum, so the Walker was a revelation for me. On one of my first visits, I encountered Robert Irwin putting the finishing touches on a scrim and light installation. Out of practically nothing, it seemed, Irwin had made light feel palpable—a near magical feat that stopped me in my tracks. In 1978, I was dazzled by Noguchi’s Imaginary Landscapes , a gorgeous exhibition that introduced me to an artist whose practice ranged from studio sculpture, lamps, and tables to décor for dance and designs for urban parks and playgrounds. I spent some of my meager student dollars to buy a copy of the show’s catalogue, which is still on my shelf, now well thumbed. In 1979, I was in the audience for the world premiere of Trisha Brown’s Glacial Decoy , which was danced in front of a shifting photographic backdrop designed by Robert Rauschenberg. And in 1983, I splurged on tickets for the opening of Hockney Paints the Stage. I was by then out of college and working as a freelance theater set designer, and Hockney’s re-creations of his designs for the opera both enchanted and inspired me. It wasn’t until 1988, when Martin asked me during a job interview to talk about my favorite Walker moments, that I learned he had been behind them all. During his 31 years at the Walker, Martin, as most everyone called him, conjured memorable moments for hundreds of thousands of visitors. Under his leadership, the Walker presented the best in contemporary painting, sculpture, dance, music, film, and performance; brought dozens of artists to the region for commissions, residencies, lectures, and performances; and nurtured a generation of collectors and arts patrons who continue to vigorously support the Walker and other local arts institutions. Martin oversaw the construction of a new building and developed a beloved new public space, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It is, in fact, hard to overstate his contribution to the quality of cultural life in the Twin Cities, although he himself gave much of the credit to the traditions and aspirations of his audience. “In Minneapolis, the great mass of the public is tolerant and interested, and there is a layer, an informed intellectual layer, we could look to,” he said. “I came on the scene at a propitious time.” Martin Friedman arrived in Minneapolis in 1958 after being recruited by Walker director H. Harvard Arnason for a curatorial post. At the time, Martin was just finishing a fellowship at the Musée royal du Congo Belge (now the Musée royal de l’Afrique central) near Brussels. He had studied art history at UCLA and become deeply interested in what was then called primitive art; in Brussels, he immersed himself in the museum’s holdings of African art, later publishing several scholarly papers on objects in the collection. African sculpture, in particular, remained a lifelong passion. When I met him, he still had a large, rather intimidating Senufo mask from Ivory Coast on display in his office. But by the time Arnason called in 1958, Martin already knew that contemporary art was his true vocation. Although he had no curatorial experience when he arrived at the Walker, Martin distinguished himself immediately. His first major exhibition, School of Paris 1959: The Internationals (1959), presented new work by eight abstract painters based in Paris. This was followed by The Precisionist View in American Art (1960), which looked at homegrown painters who worked in pared-down, semi-abstract styles, including Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Charles Sheeler. The show earned high praise from the critic Hilton Kramer, who pronounced it an eye-opening reassessment that “significantly altered our perspective on American art between the two World Wars.” Martin was at work on his next big project, a survey of new art from Brazil, when Arnason announced that he was leaving the Walker for a post at the Guggenheim Museum. Martin was appointed his successor, and he became, at 36 years of age, one of the youngest museum directors in the country. One of his first priorities was to streamline the exhibition program by focusing on solo shows with living artists and group shows built around a strong thematic framework. During his first decade as director, the Walker mounted solo exhibitions devoted to dozens of contemporary painters, sculptors, photographers, and architects, including Charles Biederman, Marcel Breuer, Lucio Fontana, Adolph Gottlieb, Jerome Liebling, Matta, Katherine Nash, George Ortman, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Robert Rauschenberg, and Tony Smith. Group shows included London: The New Scene (1965), which featured David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Joe Tilson, and other young British artists; 14 Sculptors: The Industrial Edge (1969), a look at minimalist tendencies in recent sculpture; and Light/Motion/Space (1967), the first major show to present light and motion as artistic media, with works by Chryssa, Nam June Paik, Julio Le Parc, and Otto Piene. Martin continued the practice of putting the Walker’s exhibitions on the road, a strategy that both expanded their audiences and raised funds to offset the expense of mounting them. The scholarly catalogues produced for many of these exhibition are essential historical documents of the period, and they helped to establish Martin, who authored essays in several of them, as a rare type: a museum director who was also a first-rate curator and scholar. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Walker’s exhibitions became even more ambitious. Martin himself curated American Indian Art: Form and Tradition (1972), Naives and Visionaries (1974), and The River: Images of the Mississippi (1976). With his wife, Mickey , he organized Tokyo: Form and Spirit (1986), an enormous and rather quirky presentation of historical Japanese art objects and their contemporary descendants. There were solo shows featuring Jean Dubuffet, Claes Oldenburg, George Segal, Jan Dibbets, and Jasper Johns, and scholarly projects such as De Stijl: 1917–1931, Visions of Utopia (1982), on the Dutch art and design movement, and Marcel Broodthaers (1989), the first retrospective of the important Belgian conceptualist. For emerging artists, there was the exhibition series Viewpoints , which presented dozens of artists during its 18-year run, from 1977 to 1995. Martin’s curatorial eye was superlative, but he also was probably the best exhibition designer of any director or curator of his generation. His imaginative use of architecture, color, lighting, exhibition furniture, and multimedia made walking through his exhibitions like being transported to another world. Even when a touring exhibition came to the Walker, he made sure to put his stamp on the installation. (The staff called it “Martinizing.”) The spectacle of his exhibitions had a purpose beyond visual pleasure, however. He was passionate about making contemporary art accessible to everyone, even people who thought they didn’t know enough to understand it. “Contemporary art can be a thrilling experience,” he said. “You don’t need a course if you’re just not afraid.” He never pandered, but he was not averse to using extravagant installations to seduce those wary viewers, all in the name of sharing that thrill experience with everyone. Martin’s commitment to education extended to personally mentoring his staff. He was known for training young curators for a few years and then gently pushing them out of the nest, thus populating dozens of American museums with Walker alumni. (Another staff aphorism: “No one ever dies at the Walker.”) One of Martin’s pet initiatives was the Arts Museum Education Training Program, a curatorial/education internship program he started in 1973. That was the position he hired me for in 1988, when I was fresh out of grad school and as callow as I could be. We interns did some photocopying and filing, of course, but most of our time was spent on work that was far more substantive. We assisted some of the best curators in the business on complex exhibition projects, and along the way we did a lot of writing: gallery labels, calendar copy, press releases, and scripts for the introductory slide shows that contextualized each exhibition. Martin especially enjoyed helping his interns improve their writing skills. He often summoned me into the office common area, where I would stand next to him and watch as his red pencil flew over my text. “You’re not writing for Artforum ,” he would say, meaning that he had no use for the dense, theoretical writing that filled art journals and graduate school theses during the 1980s. He wanted texts that illuminated rather than obscured the art on view. I learned a lot during those editing sessions, and Martin’s own lucid prose became my personal gold standard for graceful, perceptive writing about art. Martin’s most lasting gift to this community might be the two brick-and-mortar projects he completed during his tenure. The first was a new museum building designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, which replaced the structure that had been the Walker’s home since it opened in 1927. Barnes’s building is an elegant, red brick tower containing a series of white- cube galleries inspired by the spacious loft studio spaces of the day. The building opened in 1971 and immediately garnered international acclaim. “Barnes’s building is no architect’s oppressive ego trip,” wrote the art historian and critic Barbara Rose. “It is rather a building designed on a human scale for people to move through at a leisurely pace and for artists to show works in without having to compete with the architecture… The Walker is one of the few new museums genuinely adequate to current needs.” To open the building, Martin commissioned 21 artists, including four from the Twin Cities, to respond to Barnes’s architectural design with new, site-specific works. The resulting exhibition, Works for New Spaces (1971), looks in retrospect like a bold, even intrepid signal that, from that point on, the Walker’s primary commitment would be to the art of the moment. As soon as the Barnes building opened, Martin began planning his next building project, a sculpture garden to be situated on 11 acres of undeveloped parkland across the street from the museum. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden , a collaborative project between the Walker and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, opened to the public in 1988 with 14 classic bronze artworks from the Walker’s collection and 11 newly commissioned works. It has since become one of the region’s top destinations for tourists and locals alike. They come to stroll its art-lined gravel walkways, watch outdoor performances and film screenings, play on artist-designed mini golf courses, or snap a self-portrait in front of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s beloved Spoonbridge and Cherry. The Garden is open, accessible, and free, the fulfillment of Martin’s goal to make the Walker a welcoming place in which to experience the art of our time. The Walker’s collection—deep, broad, and robustly interdisciplinary—was shaped in large part by Martin’s vision. Already by 1969, he was working toward a collection that was not merely a visual index of current art activity, but one built on deep holdings of pieces by major artists. Faced with a limited budget, he bought affordable artwork by living artists at the beginning of their careers and fostered relationships with many who are now well-represented in the collection, including Chuck Close, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg, George Segal, and Frank Stella. Long associations with performing artists such as Trisha Brown, Merce Cunningham, and Robert Wilson were built on commissions, a practice that turned the Walker into a laboratory for artists. In 2004, in the course of preparing a new handbook on the collection, I asked Martin about what I called the “risky” practice of commissioning art. “I never thought of it as a risk,” he told me. “It just seemed to me that giving artists opportunities to make new work was something the museum should do. I never knew how things were going to work out—I was just as curious as the next person, and it was an adventure for all of us.” Not surprisingly, artists adored Martin. Claes Oldenburg regards him as a collaborator who inspired with his enthusiasm and “complex vision.” Another longtime friend, Chuck Close, credits Martin with launching his career in 1969 with the purchase of Big Self- Portrait , and he thinks of the Walker as a rare kind of institution: an “artists’ museum” whose staff is deeply committed not only to art but also to the people who make it. Friedman left the Walker in 1990, but he did not retire from the art world. Almost immediately, he was hired by Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City to assist them with acquisitions for their new sculpture park. He also served as art advisor and curator for the art program at New York’s Madison Square Park. (He liked to joke that he had become the art world’s “yard man.”) In 1994, he curated Landscape as Metaphor: Visions of America in the Late 20th Century for the Denver Art Museum, and in 2000 he organized an outdoor exhibition, Joel Shapiro: Sculpture , for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Among his post-Walker publications is the book Close Reading: Chuck Close and the Artist Portrait (Abrams, 2005). He has been much honored for his lifelong dedication to the arts. The Walker’s Friedman Gallery was named in honor of both Martin and Mickey in 2005 by an anonymous couple who had made a major gift in support of the institution’s capital campaign at that time. In 1989, Martin was awarded the National Medal of Arts from President George H. W. Bush, and in 2012 the Madison Square Park Conservancy created a permanent, endowed curatorial post named in his honor. One of Martin’s former curators, Richard Koshalek, has called him a “shaman.” It’s a strong metaphor, and one Martin would not have liked, but I’m not sure it’s an overstatement of his powers. We all looked to him for leadership and stood in awe of his vision. He will be deeply missed. Joan Rothfuss is an independent writer and curator based in Minneapolis. From 1988 to 2006 she was a curator at the Walker Art Center, where she organized exhibitions on Joseph Beuys, Bruce Conner, Jasper Johns, and Fluxus, among others. Her many publications include the books Time Is Not Even, Space Is Not Empty: Eiko & Koma (Walker Art Center, 2011) and Topless Cellist: The Improbable Life of Charlotte Moorman (MIT, 2014). She holds a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MA from the University of Minnesota. All photos courtesy the Walker Art Center Archives 2016-05-14 07:06 By Joan
2 united states pavilion presents 'the architectural imagination' at venice architecture biennale for this year’s exhibition at the venice architecture biennale, the united states presents a pavilion ‘the architectural imagination’ curated by cynthia davidson and mónica ponce de león. the exhibition showcases the exploration of four sites in detroit, michigan and the result sees 12 projects on display by 22 american architects who have re-imagined the plots illustrated through diverse architectural models, drawings, collages, and videos. one of the 20 postcards chosen from the ‘my detroit’ contest jennifer garza-cuen, reno, NV / depot (michigan central station), 2012 at the same time the exhibit also includes 20 postcard views of detroit, which have been specially chosen from ‘my detroit’, a postcard photo contest that the curators held last autumn. the souvenir postcards, many featuring images by detroit photographers, each tell a short story about the city. center for fulfillment, knowledge, and innovation, 2016 model detail showing co-generation plant, corporate research centers, and movable university collaboration spaces image courtesy greg lynn FORM a vacant land divided into four sites were selected as the plots for the architects to bring together a forward-thinking and positive proposal. in the end, the curators chose 12 teams from 250 responses. three teams were assigned to each site where the architects met with community leaders and citizens to discuss each neighborhood’s aspirations before beginning their projects. promised land air, 2016 rendered aerial perspective of industrial studios with freight, housing, air-purification network, and a canadian consulate. image courtesy a(n) office the city of detroit is renowned for its innovation and inventive industries that included automotives, the free-span factory floor, and motown music. presently, the city is coping with dramatic population loss, desolate neighborhoods, abandoned buildings, and sharp racial divides. in addressing these problems, detroit has the potential to become a model for other postindustrial cities facing similar practical challenges: repurposing empty industrial buildings, mitigating the effects of global migration on the city, and reinventing previously industrial waterfronts and dormant infrastructure. the next port of call, 2016 oblique drawing of dock, port of entry, customs checkpoint, and waterfront entertainment venues image courtesy bairballiet a situation made from loose and overlapping social and architectural aggregates, 2016 sectional drawing through a new framework for the everyday life of the city image courtesy of MOS mexicantown: a liminal blur, 2016 model of interpretive layers of the mexicantown neighborhood image courtesy marshall brown projects the new zocalo, 2016 axonometric drawing showing band shell, theater, and cultural center, part of a new neighborhood hub image courtesy pita & bloom present future, new corktown, 2016 model of superblock using cross-laminated timber construction image courtesy of present future revolving detroit, 2016 longitudinal section of post office, undulating roof, and entwined ramp and staircase image courtesy of preston scott cohen inc. detroit rock city, 2016 model detail showing observation tower and conservatory, part of a larger vertical botanical garden image courtesy of stan allen architect detroit reassembly plant, 2016 perspective rendering showing megamasonry mountain, formed by a new aggregate made of recycled building materials and supported by the packard plant’s existing columns image courtesy of T+E+A+M a new federal project, 2016 model detail showing federal building, which deploys novel architectural forms image courtesy zago architecture 2016-05-14 08:30 Natasha Kwok
3 Sonic Youth visits the Walker At the concert they anounced they were heading to Mickey’s dinner in downtown SP so I guess the got the whole tour of hotspots. That photo is awesome. Their set was pretty good, but it seemed like most of the people came to the show to see the Flaming Lips. Despite that, they rocked out anyway. 2016-05-14 10:05 By
4 2016 American Package Design Awards Makers, sellers and marketers are challenged as never before to convey the message, promote the brand, close the deal. Think fragmented audiences, information overload, media clutter, global competition, economic dislocation, changing practices and preferences. Package design and related disciplines are increasingly the difference makers in advancing the brand and influencing the purchasing decision. The outstanding work showcased here – from 200 elite design firms, design departments and production companies – is testimony to this phenomenon. Our annual competition celebrates attractive graphics, of course, but more importantly the power of design to forge an emotional link with the buyer at the moment of truth. Beauty + Personal Care Health + Wellness Wine, Beer + Liquor Food + Beverages Electronics + Computers Music + Entertainment Home, Garden + Industrial Sports, Toys + Games Babies + Children Animals + Pets Fashion, Apparel + Accessories Luxury Packaging Sustainable Packaging Private Label Packaging P-O-P, Posters + Signs Hangtags, Labels + Shopping Bags Logos, Identity + Branding Students Click on the name of an individual firm to see their winning projects 2016-05-13 21:21 GDUSA Staff
5 Artists Installing: Lee Kit Hong Kong artist Lee Kit spent the past two-and-a-half weeks in the gallery working on his site-specific installation for his first solo museum exhibition in the US, Lee Kit: Hold your breath, dance slowly. The installation features new videos and paintings, as well as everyday objects sourced from Home Depot and IKEA: cabinets, lamps, rugs, chairs, […] 2016-05-14 11:11 By
6 What is a Contemporary Collection? Thoughts on the Walker Moving Image Commissions and the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection The Walker Moving Image Commissions is an online series in which five artists responded to selections from the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection. Premiered in the Walker Cinema and released for a limited run online, the Moving Image Commissions were initiated in May 2015 with premieres of work by Moyra Davey and James Richards that focused […] 2016-05-14 06:20 By
7 soft blown glass meets hard metal plates for harry allen esque lighting series for the second time, new york-based designer harry allen and portland-based glassmakers esque studio have collaborated on a collection of objects that juxtapose soft glass silhouettes against hard metal forms. presented at heller gallery from now until may 28, 2016, the ‘harry allen esque’ lighting series comprises water-jet cut metal plates, into which fluid glass shapes are hand blown. the highly experimental development process yields a collection of luminaries that lie at the intersection of design, craft, and art. ‘going into it, we really don’t know what to expect,’ allen describes. ‘it’s a learning process, but we have gotten good at identifying what is interesting and beautiful and doubling down on that.’ the resulting forms are physically shaped by the process of their making. grotesque forms are softened by a bright, sophisticated color palette and material application. ‘we are defining a new technique as well as a new aesthetic, so it can be stressful,’ andi kovel of esque studio says. ‘there is some loss along the way, but when we get in the groove its almost as if the pieces come to life by themselves. the end result often equals more than the sum of its parts.’ the exhibition coincides with new york design week 2016, with a special reception for the occasion held on may 13th, 2016 at heller gallery. fluid glass shapes are hand blown around the metal sheets a cool glow is emitted from the back of a luminaire the glass is shaped by the intersection of the metal plate 2016-05-14 04:15 Nina Azzarello
8 Second Thoughts: Fred Sandback and the Virtual Line How does an exhibition accrete meaning, gain relevance, or shift shape over time? In the “Second Thoughts” series, Walker curators reconsider earlier presentations of art, articulating new or refined conclusions. Here, Jordan Carter writes about how the discovery of a 1977 book of line drawings by American artist Fred Sandback (1943–2003) prompts new thinking about the artist’s sculptures made using yarn or elastic cord. […] 2016-05-14 06:12 By
9 Affable Experimentation: Steve Lehman Octet at the Walker To spark discussion, the Walker invites Twin Cities artists and critics to write overnight reviews of our performances. The ongoing Re:View series shares a diverse array of independent voices and opinions; it doesn’t reflect the views or opinions of the Walker or its curators. Today, Sam Segal shares his perspective on last Saturday’s performance by the […] 2016-05-14 06:12 By
10 nir meiri's angelic florence vases expel a heavenly aura nir meiri’s ‘florence’ vases feature a tubular form with a shallow basin top which frames the bouquet of flowers contained within. these angelic pieces are presented in various sizes and can be arranged in conjunction with the plants. they contain a copper structure, a smooth walnut or maple top and a glass pipe inserted within, which causes the subject inside to appear as if floating above. the circular rim creates a heavenly aura around the petals and leaves, expelling a sense of tranquility and sculptural perfection. these minimal objects can be assembled to make various compositions which adds a new complimentary layer to the art of flower arranging. the vases are presented in various sizes and can be arranged in conjunction with the plants the circular rim creates a heavenly aura around the petals and leaves the vase features a copper structure and wooden top made of maple or walnut these minimal objects can be assembled to make various compositions designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. 2016-05-14 01:30 Nir Meiri
11 Naeem Khan Suits Up First Lady for State Dinner for Nordic Leaders Before heading to the Northern Lights-inspired tent on the South Lawn for Friday’s state dinner, President Obama and the First Lady had a photo op with the leaders of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. Michelle Obama chose an off-the-shoulder blushed beige ballgown by Naeem Khan for what was the 12th such occasion of her husband’s administration. Friday night’s event drew a stylish crowd, thanks to Rick Owens , Michèle Lamy, Janelle Monáe, Miranda Kerr with Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel, Allison Williams with Ricky Van Veen, Tracee Ellis Ross, jewelry designer Kimberly McDonald, Connie Britton, Desiree Gruber and Kyle MacLachlan. (Kerr wore a Carolina Herrera floral embroidered nude gazaar gown.) David Letterman, Will Ferrell and Billy Eichner were expected to help keep the mood light. Glamour ’s Cindi Leive, People’s Sandra Sobieraj, The Aspen Institute’s Walter Isaacson, NBC’s Al Roker and ABC’s David Muir were some of the media types that made the cut. Chefs Marcus Samuelsson and Claus Meyer were supposed to be among the seated guests at the Scandinavian-inspired meal who would also catch a performance by Demi Lovato. Should anyone overindulge in the akvavit, they might have a word about hangover relief with CVS Health’s Larry Merlo. Khan is a real favorite of the First Family. FLOTUS wore a Khan dress in March in Havana for a state dinner with Cuban President Raúl Castro. And Khan was the designer whom Obama turned to for dresses for the First Daughters, when they attended another state dinner earlier that month for Canada President Justin Trudeua. FLOTUS also wore a Naeem Khan gown for her first state dinner in honor of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in November 2009. In a phone interview Friday night, Khan said the First Lady’s office had tipped him off earlier in the day that she would be wearing one of his gowns for the Nordic leaders state dinner. The designer said he and FLOTUS had been going back and forth about her preferences. He said he had been working on the finishing touches for the past few weeks. As for why he seems to have the magic touch with the First Lady, Khan said, “I don’t know if I should say I’m lucky or she just likes my style. I just feel super fortunate that she likes what I do.” The designer, meanwhile, had had a considerably more low-key dinner with his wife Ranjana in their Soho apartment. 2016-05-14 00:00 Rosemary Feitelberg
12 Review: Julia Mapp’s ‘Luxury Rentals’ Asks What Is Precious The phrase “luxury rentals” means different things to different people. If you have money, it probably rolls off the tongue. If you don’t — like many in the downtown dance world — it’s an unpleasant reminder of the struggle to make rent in a city that increasingly feels like a construction site for the wealthy. Where does that leave dancers and one of their greatest necessities, affordable space? In “ Luxury Rentals ” the choreographer Juliette Mapp’s new work, she explores New York City’s altered landscape through her personal stories that take place, mainly, in the Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Performed Thursday at Danspace Project, the work features the charismatic Ms. Mapp with Levi Gonzalez, Jimena Paz and Kayvon Pourazar as they show, with admittedly some struggle, that when it comes down to it, dance is one of life’s luxuries. “Luxury Rentals,” which unfolds a little like the story-based Moth Podcast ,with interruptions, does have its agonizing side: It’s overlong and compartmentalized, with dancing sections that have a tendency to diminish in power and talking sections that veer into a pedantic tone. According to a program note, the stories — which include a man telling Ms. Mapp he will kill her because “Allah says I can do this,” along with the witnessing of a young woman’s suicide on subway tracks — are true and recent. “I thought about context,” Ms. Mapp repeats over and over before adding, “The context of no context.” The turmoil of Ms. Mapp’s stories contrasts with the dancers’ actions: Sitting at a table, they read “Anna Karenina” — played out in the subway story — and Karl Ove Knausgaard’s “My Struggle.” They close their eyes and drift off, sometimes slipping to the floor or moving into the space to perform intimate dances in which they rest on one another or hop to the point of exhaustion. Some have a folk dance feel; Mr. Pourazar, in a solo, commands the stage with his twisted and twitchy bursts to Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below).” It’s true that Ms. Mapp consistently has great taste in music. But there is a recurring theme in Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky, ” which is played throughout the piece. (The first time Ms. Mapp performs a spinning, hip-thrusting solo to it). Each time, we are reminded that life is circular — “all ends with beginnings,” as the lyrics go — and that despite everything, she and her dancers aren’t ready to give up who they are. 2016-05-14 00:00 By
13 What’s on TV Saturday Michael Moore dreams of a happier place that might be anywhere but here in “Where to Invade Next.” An infamous psychological study is re- examined in “The Stanford Prison Experiment.” And Drake rules on “Saturday Night Live.” WHERE TO INVADE NEXT (2015) on Amazon and iTunes. Heaven on earth? To Michael Moore, that might be anywhere but the United States, as he travels across Italy, France, Slovenia, Germany, Norway and Iceland, with a side trip to Tunisia, and fantasizes about bringing their progressive programs back home. The implication: that financing America’s military is robbing the country of money that would be better devoted to humanitarian endeavors. “Watching it made me feel like a deprived child with his nose pressed against the glass of a magical toy store in a faraway land,” Stephen Holden wrote in The New York Times . “On one side is a happy, harmonious land of productive people. On the other is a world of misery, anxiety, war and greed.” And while “the film’s premise is only half serious and wildly exaggerated,” he added, “there is enough truth in it to make you squirm and consider what went wrong.” THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT (2015) 8 p.m. on Showtime. In a 1971 psychological study, a Stanford University professor, Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup), recruited students to play either guards or inmates in a make-believe prison. And — big surprise — he learned that people put in positions of authority sometimes abuse it, in startlingly cruel ways, like the young man who patterned his behavior after that of a particularly nasty character in “Cool Hand Luke.” “The experiment’s methodologies and meanings have been analyzed endlessly over the years, and the film doesn’t delve deeply into these interpretations and critiques,” Neil Genzlinger wrote in The Times about Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s film. “It doesn’t need to; this stark and riveting version of events speaks for itself.” PAN (2015) 8 p.m. on HBO. This film, a Peter Pan origin story, has a decent pedigree: The director is Joe Wright; Hugh Jackman plays Blackbeard; a spectral version of Amanda Seyfried is Mary, the mother of Peter (Levi Miller); and Rooney Mara is Tiger Lily. Alas, poor Peter. “The character’s pluck and mischief are nearly drowned in a bog of maudlin mommy love, and his vows of vengeance dampen the spirit of fun,” A. O. Scott wrote in The Times. OUTLANDER 9 p.m. on Starz. Claire uses her medical knowledge to stop a wine deal that could fill the prince’s war chest. Then she discovers that Jamie went back on his word. 30 FOR 30: BELIEVELAND 9:30 p.m. on ESPN. The director Andy Billman feels the pain of fans in Cleveland, the only major American city with three or more sports franchises to have failed to win a championship in the last half-century. 48 HOURS 10 p.m. on CBS. Janet Laut talks about the night in August 2009 when she shot her husband, the Olympic shot-putter Dave Laut, six times with his own gun. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 11:30 p.m. on NBC. It’s all about Drake. 2016-05-14 00:00 By
14 El Museo del Barrio Spring Gala Toasts Ruben and Isabel Toledo, MAC Cosmetics More Articles By “Buenas noches, amigos del museo.” Maria Eugenia Maury was greeting the dinner crowd at The Plaza Hotel on Thursday night, gathered in support of El Museo del Barrio. The spring gala, which was chaired by Maury, William A. Haseltine and Narciso Rodriguez, served as a celebration for the museum’s upcoming exhibition on the late fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez, and also honored MAC Cosmetics and Isabel and Ruben Toledo. The night raised more than $850,000 for the museum. A section of the art and design world made it out for the event, including Debi Mazar, Peter Marino, Pat Cleveland, Lady Liliana Cavendish, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim of Monse. Marino had ventured out in support of the Toledos, friends of his since 1986. “I would go anywhere to help them out, I’d trek across Alaska. They’re both so talented, such unusual people, really hardworking and funny — I’m a big fan,” he said. During dinner, Cleveland — one of “Antonio’s girls” — took the mic to introduce MAC creative director James Gager. In 2013, the brand released a capsule collection featuring Lopez’s illustrations. “In a way, Antonio brought MAC and art together,” Cleveland told the crowd. “MAC has a longstanding relationship with the Latin culture — Isabel and Ruben [Toledo] also collaborated with MAC not long ago.” Gager announced that the makeup company’s next Latin-inspired collaboration would be in celebration of the late singer Selena. “We’re a brand that takes a great deal of inspiration from a lot of different cultures, and we’re really proud to be inspired by the Latin community, which is artful and vibrant,” he said. Afterward, vogueing dance group House of Xtravaganza led the audience downstairs to the club — well, The Terrace Room — which had been decked in disco for the night, complete with disco music from Lopez’s private collection. 2016-05-13 23:00 Kristen Tauer
15 swiss embassy in ivory coast by LOCALARCHITECTURE until the summer of 2015, switzerland was represented in ivory coast, or côte d’ivoire, by an embassy located in the upper storey of an office tower. now, a new building designed by LOCALARCHITECTURE stands on a generous plot of land surrounded with tall trees. in 2013 the OFCL (swiss federal office for buildings and logistics) decided to acquire the former residence of the norwegian ambassador in abidjan’s cocody district, planning to renovate and extend the existing building in order to house the new swiss embassy. the design team set about converting the villa, which dated back to the 1960s, into a fully functioning workplace. the building stands on a generous plot of land surrounded with tall trees image © iwan baan the project’s major intervention involved extending the property on the street side with a concrete structure that houses the consular section where visas are handled. this addition extends the horizontal roof of the original villa, creating a new façade. the point of entry is raised above ground level and accessed via a broad, inviting stairway. the roof slab rests on concrete pillars, which are irregularly spaced and set at various angles. a sheltered interstitial gallery acts as a shaded waiting area and also protects the glazed façade from inclement weather. the project’s major intervention involved extending the property with a new concrete structure image © iwan baan according to the architects, the pillars of the new façade are intended to reflect switzerland’s economic and political strength, conveying a sense of discipline and security. meanwhile, the construction’s raw concrete pays homage to the country’s modernist architectural heritage. internally, an elongated reception hall contains a number of counters — four of which are set into the back wall. this aspect of the design evokes the exchanges between the two countries, juxtaposing strips of ivorian wood with mirrors reflecting the garden around the glazed counter desks. the point of entry is raised above ground level and accessed via a broad, inviting stairway image © iwan baan the pillars of the new façade are intended to reflect switzerland’s economic and political strength image © iwan baan the use of raw concrete pays homage to the country’s modernist architectural heritage image © iwan baan strips of ivorian wood are juxtaposed with mirrors reflecting the garden image © iwan baan the addition extends the horizontal roof of the original villa, creating a new façade image © iwan baan the pillars are designed to convey a sense of discipline and security image © iwan baan client: swiss confederation office fédéral des constructions et de la logistique (OFCL – swiss federal office for buildings and logistics) jodok brunner project architect: LOCALARCHITECTURE, lausanne, CH antoine robert-grandpierre manuel bieler laurent saurer diana brasil local architect: cabinet A. C. A., francis sossah, abidjan, CI consultants structural engineer: thomas jundt ingénieurs, carouge, CH thomas jundt electrical engineer: perrin & spaeth ingénieurs, renens, CH michel marville security engineer: scherler SA, ingénieurs conseils, geneve, CH nicolas tireford general contractor: de luca SA, bienne, CH fabio de luca chef de chantier: renéhäni photography: iwan baan 2016-05-13 22:29 Philip Stevens
16 16 Breaking Out at Cannes 2016: Ana de Armas In “Hands of Stone,” she plays Ramírez’s wife, Felicidad. “She is a very strong woman,” de Armas says. “Normally in other movies it’s ‘who do you play’ and when it’s, ‘I play the wife,’ you kind of picture that character as the woman who is behind the husband, in a second position, not adding too much to the story. But she is the one who carries everything. She is the one who wears the pants.” 2016-05-13 22:17 Leigh Nordstrom
17 Kate Hudson Wears Derek Lam to Operation Smile Gala Kate Hudson has long been praised for her bright smile, and now she has an award to prove it. On Thursday night, the actress — decked in a sequined Derek Lam dress with a very deep V- neck — was presented with the Universal Smile Award at Operation Smile’s spring gala. The dinner raised just under $1 million for the organization, which works to increase access to safe surgical cleft care for children worldwide. “An enormous thank you to Dr. William and Kathleen Magee for giving me the Universal Smile Award this year. An honor to be here tonight for Operation Smile,” the actress wrote alongside a photo she shared on Instagram. Hudson starred in “Mother’s Day,” currently out in theaters. Her next movie, “Deepwater Horizon,” will be released later this year. 2016-05-13 22:10 Kristen Tauer
18 Playboy Downplays Sex at NewFronts; Pivots to Lifestyle Coverage It was clear from the setting that Playboy is trying to strike a new chord with advertisers. The men’s magazine, which declared last fall that it would stop depicting naked women on its covers, held what Donald Trump would refer to as a “very classy” Digital NewFronts presentation on Friday at Skylight Modern in New York. Potential advertisers and journalists were treated to citrus cocktails with sprigs of rosemary and artisanal pretzels, miniature quiches, steak frites hors- d’oeuvres, kale and beet chips and various Mexican and Asian-inspired bites, among other things, before the presentation of its slate of videos began. The Playboy logo was prominently displayed in the low-lit room through light projection, as was the tagline: “We’re all ears,” as guests mingled and listened to music DJ’d by Chelsea Leyland. Playboy Enterprises chief executive officer Scott Flanders opened the presentation with remarks on the “new” Playboy, while teasing out that following the 30-minute presentation, the company’s Playmates would come out to greet guests. After all, they are “our best brand ambassadors,” he noted. The insinuation had the crowd thinking that Playboy may nod to its lascivious heritage with the arrival of semi-clad bunnies. Their appearance would surely rival, if not best, the entourage of Magic Mike Live strippers trotted out by Hearst during its NewFronts presentation last week. But the scantily clad days are gone at Playboy. Playmates merely donned satin baseball-style jackets with the word “Playmates” sewn on the back. To kick things off, Playboy showed a reel depicting its 63-year history as the original “bad boy” brand, going back to when Hugh Hefner founded the men’s glossy. Videos of women, cars, parties, Hefner as a young man, celebrities attesting to the brand’s power and images of in- book interviews with entertainers, politicians and business leaders flashed during the presentation. Waris Ahluwalia , the actor and House of Waris designer, came to the stage and introduced himself as the event’s host. He was there to provide detail on his new show for Playboy, which shared the same name as his accessories brand. Ahluwalia’s show takes the form of a dinner party with some of his buzzy friends, as they tackle questions about love, identity, relationships, career and what it means to be a man today. The first episode features “Orange is the New Black” star Natasha Lyonne, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, comedian Horatio Sanz and filmmaker Liz Goldwyn. Other shows include “Meccas,” a travel-inspired program that takes viewers to destinations that have influenced culture. The pilot episode was shot in Cuba and explores the country’s “rum haunts.” Another show, which surely takes inspiration from Vice, is dubbed “Journalista.” Hosted by 25-year-old correspondent Yoonj Kim, the documentary-style series explores the worlds of sex, drugs and alternative lifestyles. For instance, Kim reports on cannabis and cancer treatment, a topic Vice (and others) have explored in recent years. Playboy also highlighted its epicurean show “What the Food?” hosted by molecular gastronomist Wylie Dufresne and molecular mixologist Dave Arnold. The company said it would launch a political podcast on the “circus of the election.” While similar in spirit to Bloomberg’s “The Circus,” Playboy said its version will cover issues central to the presidential campaign, and not necessarily the inner workings of it. The magazine company will launch native content unit Playboy Studios, as well as a data-centric index called “The Play,” which gives insight to sex and relationships and what Millennials want when it comes to those topics. The company also unveiled a host of scripted comedies and shows on gaming and tech. “We made Playboy.com safe for work,” said chief digital officer Phillip Morelock. “In today’s world of marketing fatigue…Playboy breaks through.” Morelock and his coworker Cory Jones, chief content officer, noted that since its relaunch in the last year, Playboy has brought the age of its average audience down to 31 years old from 47. They also touted Playboy’s reach on Facebook, stretching to 75 million consumers with video views of 28 million, making Playboy the “biggest men’s brand in social media.” “Playboy is the brand that breaks through for male Millennials,” said Jones, who offered that in the “fragmented media market, authenticity really matters.” 2016-05-13 22:09 Alexandra Steigrad
19 Qi Baishi Works to Feature in Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fine Chinese Paintings Sale May 30 Related Venues Sotheby's Hong Kong Artists Qi Baishi Zhang Daqian Six works by Qi Baisji, mostly from his later period will be offered at Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s latest “Fine Chinese Paintings Sale,” scheduled for May 30, including “Prosperity and Longevity,” 1957, an ink-on-paper work he painted the year he died (estimate of $870,000-1.1 million( Overall, Sotheby’s will offer 90 mostly fresh-to-market lots, with an overall estimate of $5.1 million. The other Qi works for sale include some of his characteristically whimsical animals, such as in “Mandarin Ducks in Lotus Pond,” 1941 (estimate $450,000-645,000) and in “Myna by the Crab Apple Flowers” (estimate $77,000-103,000). Aso on offer at the May 30 auction will be six works from Zhang Daqian, including some of his mid-century ink paintings on gold cardboard; a hanging scroll from Jiang Zhaohe, “Old Man,” 1940, a example of the sympathetic portraits he is famous for, and carrying an estimate of $130,000-$195,000. According to C. K. Cheung, head of Chinese paintings at Sotheby’s, other sale highlights “include exceptional pieces by pioneering artists of the Lingnan School, as well as works by masters of the Shanghai School from the late 19th century to early 20th century, such as Zhao Zhiqian and Wu Changshuo.” 2016-05-13 22:05 Samuel Spencer
20 Bamboo Sculpture and Digital Art Meet at Puerta Roja Related Venues Puerta Roja Artists Miguel Chevalier Hong Kong’s Puerta Roja gallery is exploring the links between bamboo sculpture and digital art in its latest double exhibition featuring the works of Miguel Chevalier and Laurent Martin “Lo,” on display until June 30. In the exhibition titled “Intangible Space,” the gallery feature works of both artists that explore spaces, blurring the line between the real and artificial, the tangible and imagined. In French artist Lo’s work, this comes in the form of bamboo, which is shaped using living bamboo manipulated using fishing lines, weights, and a system of tensions before it is dried to form seemingly weightless wooden mobiles that “swing in the air, drawing curves of harmony like the gracious strokes of Chinese calligraphy,” according to a statement from the gallery. Although the works look like contemporary abstract sculptures, Lo uses traditional techniques to create them, which he learned from bamboo artisans in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. In contrast to the physical forces and traditional techniques used to shape Lo’s mobiles, Chevalier’s work is created entirely digitally, and uses cutting-edge technology. However, his works also incorporate the mechanics of the natural world, with the Mexican/French artist taking inspiration from plants and DNA structures to create what the artist calls “virtual seeds” that are programmed like real-life plants to grow, flower, reproduce, and eventually die as new plants endlessly take their place. In the exhibit, these “fractal flowers” can be seen as virtual projections, as well as 2D prints, and 3D prints/sculptures. 2016-05-13 21:27 Samuel Spencer
21 Listening Mix: Devendra Banhart & Friends LISTENING MIX provides a musical preview for artists visiting the Walker. Combining their work with sounds from a variety of contextual sources, LISTENING MIX can be experienced before or after a performance. For his two-evening event this weekend, Wind Grove Mind Alone, singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart has gathered a group of collaborators, contemporaries, mentors, and friends. It wasn’t so long […] 2016-05-13 19:05 By
22 SFMOMA Throws the Modern Ball Two thousand art collectors, philanthropists, artists and tech titans converged at SFMOMA Thursday night for The Modern Ball, a series of dinners, a supper club, dancing, art ogling and wild partying. It was also, for many, a first chance to see the Snohetta-designed museum, which opens to the public on Saturday. Sold out since last December, the gala was one of the biggest culture bashes ever held in San Francisco and certainly the grandest celebration ever presented by SFMOMA. Yvonne Force and Leo Villareal dashed in between touring city galleries and checking on Leo’s “Bay Lights,” the mesmerizing computer-generated LED artwork on the Bay Bridge that has become the region’s compulsive night-time viewing. “’Bay Lights’ was rocket-fuel for my career,” said Villareal, who is now creating LED art pieces in New Zealand, New York and Korea. Rachel Feinstein and John Currin marveled at the size of the new museum, larger than MoMA in New York. They had earlier visited the new Gagosian gallery, which opens next week in the shadow of SFMOMA.“The art scene in San Francisco is exploding,” said Feinstein, whose work is shown at Gagosian. “Everyone’s talking about it.” Top tech titans, many of them serious collectors, were out in force. Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang and his wife Akiko Yamazaki collect 15th-century Chinese calligraphy and contemporary Chinese artists, and Gaurav Garg of Wing Venture Capital and his wife Komal Shah collect Mark Bradford, whose painting was the ball’s auction highlight. Also grooving on the art were Marissa Mayer and Zachary Bogue (who prefer contemporary paintings), Trevor and Alexis Traina, Vanessa Getty, Airbnb’s founder Brian Chesky, Instagram cofounder Mike Krieger, Yves Behar with Sabrina Buell, and Anne Vyalitsyna. Later, at the Post-Modern Party, the crowd let loose with glitched-out vocals; soaring, visceral melodies and ear-bashing drums. 2016-05-13 21:02 Diane Dorrans
23 Elle Unveils ‘Women in Tech’ Honorees in June Issue Elle magazine is slated to release the third- annual Women in Tech list in its June issue, which hits newsstands nationwide Tuesday. The issue, which features Bella Hadid on the cover, honors eight women who are “making waves in the world’s most influential industry,” according to Elle . “The more time we spend out there [Silicon Valley], the more we understand who the power sources are,” said the magazine’s editor in chief Robbie Myers , who likened her growing insight into the tech community to a “learning robot.” In putting together the list, Myers said she tends to “shine a light” on female-focused businesses or leaders who “help women.” Elle also seeks to find the power brokers and influencers in the small community of women in tech, and give some real estate in the magazine to talk about their lives. That’s one reason why the list is culled to just eight standouts, Myers noted. This year, Elle led off its feature with Marcela Sapone, the 30-year-old cofounder and chief executive officer of Hello Alfred, a company that offers a subscription service that allows professionals to outsource household tasks such as grocery shopping and cleaning. Whitney Wolfe, founder and ceo of dating app Bumble, which allows female daters to make the first move, is also featured. Myers called out honoree Anjula Acharia-Bath, a partner of Trinity Ventures, as someone whose story she liked because it didn’t necessarily conform to the female-facing mold. While Acharia-Bath seeks out investments in female-led start-ups, she also looks to bridge the divide between tech and Hollywood as well as Hollywood and Bollywood in her work. Other honorees include Jen Fitzpatrick, vice president of Google Maps; Tracy Young, cofounder and ceo of PlanGrid; Leila Janah, founder and ceo of Sama Group; Del Harvey, head of trust and safety at Twitter, and April Underwood, vice president of product at Slack. Myers will host a dinner on Tuesday in San Francisco at Mourad to toast the eight honorees. 2016-05-13 20:46 Alexandra Steigrad
24 War of the Independents, Champions, Island, Kennel Block Blues: This Week in Comics #17 Panel from “Firebug,” from the anthology Island #7. Illustrated by Johnnie Christmas. Photo courtesy of Image Comics. This week’s comic roundup doesn’t feature anything from the “big two,” Marvel and DC. Plenty of interesting comics came out this week from both publishers (take a look at Marvel’s stunning Black Panther #2 and DC’s grim Swamp Thing #5), but the indie scene is stronger than ever. Between a classic reprint, a book about a dog and cat rebellion, a collection of short comics, and the comic that most epitomizes the wildness of the indie comic scene: War of the Independents. If readers are new to comics, or new to indie comics, the characters featured in War present a great place to start. Cover for Island #7. Illustrated by Matt Sheean. Photo courtesy of Image Comics. Island is a great entry point for newcomers to comics looking for something deeper than the classic capes and cowls of superhero comics. This anthology, which runs huge at around seventy pages (and costs a few bucks extra), features four stories of varying length and complexity. In this seventh issue of the anthology series by comic creator Brandon Graham, the story “Firebug: The Chained Goddess” stands out as exemplary, featuring warring factions and plenty of political (and mystical) intrigue. Cover for Kennel Block Blues #4. Illustrated by Daniel Bayliss. Photo courtesy of Boom Studios. This Kennel Block Blues is the fourth and final issue of the miniseries. Written by Ryan Ferrier and illustrated by Daniel Bayliss, the story takes place in a kennel, where dogs and cats are represented as humanoid figures trapped in a jail. The kennel masters are depicted as swirling, magical black ghost hands, and each dog and cat has a bit of their breed injected into their personality. This is the culminating issue, so if the premise sounds intriguing (and it is , and really well illustrated), it’s recommended readers go back to issue one and start up from the top. Cover for Champions #12. Illustrated by Chris Marrinan. Photo courtesy of Heroic Publishing. Originally released in 1988, Champions #12 is an outstanding example of how indie comics can get superheroics right. The Champions are a group of classic superheroes who battle classic foes, but their lives are messy. And not grim, tangled up, overdramatic-messy one reads in current comics, but messy in a “his feelings are hurt” and “we’re upset because our friend left the group” way that makes everything realistic, but doesn’t mire it down too heavily. Cover for War of the Independents #4. Illustrated by Don Simpson. Photo courtesy of Red Anvil Comics. This is one of the strangest comics to hit shelves in a long time. Starring a jam-packed who’s who of independent comic stars from the 1990s, War of the Independents follows characters from The Tick, Bone, Zippy, Usagi Yojimbo, and more as they attempt to help Cerebus get his helmet back. This is a hyperactive comic with tons of corny jokes, callbacks to old comics, and even a bit of ridiculous adventure (Too Much Coffee Man, for example, challenges rappers Public Enemy to a rap battle). This comic is a love letter to readers who grew up reading weird comics like Rat Bastard and Milk & Cheese. To check out these comics, visit your local comic book shop, or buy them digitally via Comixology . What were you reading this week? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram . Related: This Week in Comics #16 This Week in Comics #15 This Week in Comics #14 2016-05-13 20:40 Giaco Furino
25 25 Shredded Spy Agency Documents Become Readymade Art When the Berlin Wall fell, East Germany’s darkly efficient secret intelligence service, the Stasi (Ministerium für Staatssicherheitsdienst, or State Security Service), fell along with it. Modeled after the Soviet Union’s Ministry of State Security (MGB), the Stasi was staffed with 90,000 agents who generated around one billion bureaucratic reports while spying on fellow citizens. Even before the Berlin Wall fell, the Stasi were hard at work shredding what eventually amounted to 45 million documents (about 5% of the total secret cache) before activists occupied the Stasi headquarters and halted the destruction. Some of these documents— paper, microfilm and audio tape—were destroyed with a wet shredder, and combined with oil and water, resulting in cellulose lumps that look like stones. In the new exhibition The State of Mind , now on at the Berlin gallery Manière Noire , conceptual artist Daniel Knorr uses these “Leipzig stones” as artifacts. The other part of the exhibition is installed at The Stasi Museum Runde Ecke (“round corner”) in Leipzig, an “object” that Knorr exchanged for the document hunks—a model of the T-54 Soviet tank on a pedestal at the scale of 1:50. The Stasi stone display © Daniela Friebel “This process of destruction by the secret police itself formed cellulose clumps in whose colored mass of gray, pale blue and pink, only a few letters are recognizable,” Knorr tells The Creators Project. “On the cannon of the tank, hanging on a lace, there are preserved secret documents of original size. A manifesto is enclosed, written by two schoolgirls from Frankfurt (Oder) in 1968, to inform the East German population about the invasion of Prague by troops of the Warsaw Pact. The other documents are the files of the inquiry issued by the secret police.” Knorr’s The State of Mind has its origins in an invitation he received from his former NYU professor Antoni Muntadas, who visited Germany to accompany him to the Stasi Museum in Leipzig. “I discovered the cellulose chunks that were on display and I was overwhelmed by their look and history,” he recalls. “The director of the museum, explained that I could have some of the pieces if I wanted. Since that moment I started to think about an exchange with the museum. I didn’t intend to just take the destroyed files—I saw the strategy of getting the piece as part of the work or part of its materialization.” Stasi stone detail Knorr calls the documents “readymade.” So the only work that Knorr performed was the careful packing and unpacking of the chunks, and their eventual display. “I didn’t alter the files at all,” Knorr says. “In that case, the East German state was the ‘sculptor.’ The stones were hidden in the canalization in the courtyard of the Stasi house. They were found because once it rained they were plugging the canal pipes.” When visitors enter Manière Noire gallery, they encounter a pedestal covered with a transparent plexiglas top. Within this people can see about 19 pieces of stone displayed on a pile. The 1:50 scale metal model of the Soviet T-54 tank, on display at the Stasi museum in Leipzig Knorr explains that the stone’s various colors come from different file cards. The pink ones were issued by secret agents, while the blue ones were file cards about persons who were being tailed. A booklet describing the project is also on display in the gallery. There viewers can see also the piece installed in the Stasi museum in Leipzig. Knorr came across the 1:50 metal model of the T-54 Soviet tank on an eBay page, and purchased there. It is, as he explains, the tank that invaded Prague in 1968, destroying the Prague Spring, a period of political protest in Soviet satellite state Czechoslovakia. This piece’s location in the Stasi museum at Runde Ecke is significant, as all of the Stasi activities were directed from there. After the fall of the East Germany regime, Runde Ecke became a museum. The 1:50 scale metal model of the Soviet T-54 tank, on display at the Stasi museum in Leipzig. “The manifesto of the schoolgirls that is hanging on the gun of the tank, warns the population about the invasion of the troops,” Knorr says. “I was interested in making a kind of little memorial inside a historic exhibition, such as the Stasi museum.” For Knorr, it’s important that the work is read as a historical point in which the “Mind” of a state is deleted as a kind of bio-political short circuit of a surveillance practice. “Firstly, the intelligence was about observation and after the fall of the system, it’s about self- destruction,” Knorr says. “A kind of backslide into primitivism. I see the piece a priori for bio- politics of a system no matter if it’s a totalitarian or democratic system.” The Stasi logo “The potential of an exit into a Benjaminian lack of experience state is materialized as a creative element and metaphor of the piece,” he adds. “The Stasi Stone Documents point out, furthermore, the aspect of repetition of obscure political acts in history, and I hope it encourages us today to be more vigilant in dealings with government bodies.” The State of Mind runs at Manière Noire until May 31, 2016. Click here to see more of Daniel Knorr’s work, and here to check out his gallery Fonti in Naples. Related: Digging Up the Seedy Roots of the Surveillance Noir Little Sister's Watching, Too: Surveillance Art and the Ethics of Looking [Visual Dictionary] Michael Kerbow Defines Surveillance Art 2016-05-13 20:20 DJ Pangburn
26 Keanan Duffty to Host Radio Show Designer Keanan Duffty is now taking the plunge into radio. Duffty, who is also a musician, will host a new show, Rebel Rebel, on the South Street Seaport’s station Little Water Radio every Tuesday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. He will mix music and fashion on the show. Upcoming interview guests include Paper Magazine’s Mickey Boardman on May 24, Nick Graham on June 7 and America’s Next Top Model host Nigel Barker and Brother Vellies founder Aurora James later in June. Duffty was recruited for the show by New York radio personality Delphine Blue, who serves as programming director for Little Water Radio. The station broadcasts from a studio in the city’s Seaport District. The station features a range of live on-studio performances, comedy and talk shows and more. 2016-05-13 20:11 Jean E
27 27 Anish Kapoor Brings His Twisted Sculptures to Lisson Milan Related Venues Lisson Gallery Artists Anish Kapoor For his first exhibition with Lisson Gallery in Milan, Anish Kapoor has shifted the usual monumental dimension of his mirrored steel sculptures to a smaller scale, that seems tailor- made to suit the houses of Milanese collectors. The new series of works, shown together for the first time, is Kapoor’s twist on basic geometrical shapes. Ovals, triangles, W-shapes, L-shapes and crescent moons are rotated (up to 90 degrees) to become abstract objects, whose highly polished surfaces give the viewer a liquid feel. In total 13 artworks, measuring 30cm in height, are mounted on plinths inside the gallery, forming a small indoor sculpture park (quite difficult to navigate). A bigger piece, one meter high, is installed in the magnificent garden Lisson shares with Casa degli Atellani, where Leonardo da Vinci lived since 1498, while painting “The Last Supper.” Kapoor has often spoken about his interest in non-objects, concave and convex at the same time, that trick the eye and challenge perceptions. Although small, these new sculptures succeed in the enterprise, with their impossible shapes that look like they have been caught mid-spin. The highly polished surfaces give a liquid impression to the viewer. Some “secret” jewels - not included in the series nor in the catalogue - are shown in the basement of the gallery: two of Kapoor’s big round concave mirrors, one in copper and one in purple-blue. 2016-05-13 19:46 Mark Beech
28 'New African Photography' at Red Hook Labs Related Venues Red Hook Labs “Untitled” by Owise Abuzaid / Courtesy of Nataal and Red Hook Labs “ New African Photography ” opened at Red Hook Labs concurrently with the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Pioneer Works, underscoring the increasing prominence of work from the continent. (Both events follow on the heels of Africa’s turn as the 2016 Focus spotlight at the Armory Show in March). Spearheaded by London-based Nataal — a “new media brand celebrating global African fashion, arts, and culture,” in the words of co-founder Helen Jennings — “New African Photography,” on view through May 15, brings together images from six artists either based in or born on the continent. Nataal, which is the brainchild of actor and director Alassane Sy, ex-creative director of AnOther magazine Sara Hemming, and Jennings, former editorial director of Arise magazine, is at the moment primarily a photo-focused online platform; this venture in New York is their curatorial debut in a physical gallery space. While it would be profoundly reductive to underscore a shared vision between these creatives, Jennings does find that their photographs “are all engaging with creating new post-colonial identities, and redefining Africa’s future — [a] socially conscious mission shared by the wider creative communities in Africa.” Highlights of the exhibition include Johannesburg, South Africa-based Kristin-Lee Moolman 's chic, erotically charged portraits paired with sparse urban landscapes; Namsa Leuba 's carefully controlled, studio-shot images, which add a dash of absurdity to high fashion (like models posing with life-size animal statues while wearing plants on their heads); and Egyptian artist Owise Abuzaid 's intimate, smartphone-captured compositions from his “Yellow Shirt” series, which place the titular item of clothing against striking architectural backdrops. 2016-05-13 19:27 Scott Indrisek
29 These Gorgeous Colored Pencil Drawings Will Make You Question Reality Eric Green, Time Diptych - Bridge, 2016. Images courtesy the artist It's not impossible to master space and time, apparently. If you're artist Eric Green , all you need is some graphite and a nice set of colored pencils. Green's stunning Time Diptych and Mirrored Room series, on display at AMERINGER | McENERY | YOHE Gallery through May 21, distort the rooms in his house in a scrupilous interrigation of his own reality. The Time Diptychs are studies of single locations at different times. Side by side, they read like a "Spot the Differences" comic rendered in super-HD. All of Green's works at this show are built on a foundation of graphite grisaille, brought to life with layers of colored pencil, and adorned with an ethereal UV varnish. Light playfully dances across Green's drawings, creating a simultaneously dreamy and hyperrealistic effect. The differences between scenes can be as subtle as a shift in color palette, or as obvious as the complete rearrangements a room undergoes from day to night. His Mirrored Rooms are even more surreal. He paints a room twice on the same canvas, but one is rotated 180° to nearly mirror the other. They look like cracked mirrors that show slightly different worlds on each side, rendered with the same detailed unreality as his Time Diptychs. The most fascinating thing about the series is that it essentially depicts empty rooms in a normal-looking house. Green's complete inversion of the rules of reality help us focus on the little things that make up our own worlds, and question them. Eric Green, Time Diptych - Berkshire, 2016 Eric Green, Mirrored Room Two, 2016 Eric Green, Mirrored Room Four, 2016 Eric Green, Mirrored Room Three, 2016 Eric Green, Mirrored Room One, 2016 Eric Green's Time Diptychs and Mirrored Rooms will be at AMERINGER | McENERY | YOHE through May 21. See more of Green's work here. Related: Intricate Colored Pencil Works Explode with Texture Artist Depicts Black Female Nudes as Ancient Egyptian Goddesses Hot, We Walked in on Paint Tubes Having Sex 2016-05-13 19:25 Beckett Mufson
30 max lamb’s crockery in black basalt is formed using the tools of a stone mason max lamb’s crockery in black basalt is formed using the tools of a stone mason max lamb has extended his white ‘crockery’ fine bone collection for 1882 ltd with a range of tableware pieces rendered in a contrasting jet black palette of basalt. the range of bowls, plates, cups, salt and pepper shakers, vases and a carafe are each slip-cast from plaster models that have been carved by hand. using the tools of a stone mason, lamb chipped away at a solid block of plaster to create the unique forms, which retain the marks left by the implements, resulting in a rough surface reminiscent of rocks. the designs all feature glazed interiors for functionality, with the exterior left raw, reflecting the modest surface texture of the plaster mould original. the ‘crockery’ in black basalt is available exclusively at SCP. 2016-05-13 19:15 Shuhei Senda
31 London Marks Launch of Atea Ocenaie x Man Repeller Capsule Laura Myers, creative director of Atea Oceanie, hosted the dinner at her Belgravia home for the limited-edition capsule line that will launch in late June at the yet-to-open Boutique One in London’s Chelsea. Medine, who has previously collaborated with brands including Nina Ricci, Dannijo, Michael Kors and Stuart Weitzman, discovered Atea Oceanie in New York and was instantly hooked. “It’s the exact form of luxury basic that every woman needs,” she said. Myers had seen Medine styling the pieces on her Man Repeller blog, and was intrigued. “She was styling our pieces in a really inspired way that I would never have dreamed of doing – so I’ve enjoyed being daring and taking some risks,” said Myers of the collaboration. The duo declined to reveal specific details about the new line, other than the fact that Atea Oceanie x Man Repeller will debut for pre-fall at Boutique One from June 20. Medine is not stopping with Atea. Her debut footwear line – in collaboration with a yet-to-be- named e-commerce brand – will debut for fall. Guests including Paula Reed, Martha Ward, Katie Keight, Pippa Vosper, Alice Naylor-Leyland spilled onto the balcony as they drank Champagne and ate miniature bowls of lemon ricotta ravioli, goat’s cheese with fried courgette flowers and poached Scottish salmon. Also in attendance was the women’s wear designer Charlie May who revealed that she’s launching men’s wear for spring/summer 2017. “There was already a crossover,” she said, “my girlfriends always tell me their boyfriends wear my pieces too.” Jewelry designer Jordan Askill, arrived at the dinner fresh from Coachella where he’d been supporting his videographer brother Daniel who had created films to accompany Sia’s headline performance. He’s also at work on his new collection. “It’s based on another endangered species,” was all he would say. His latest outing focused on the panther and the Canadian flower Viola Canadensis. 2016-05-13 18:59 Stephanie Hirschmiller
32 A Live Sculpt-In Protests the V&A’s "No Sketching" Restriction Clay modelling in protest of the V&A’s no sketching policy within its Botticelli exhibit. Image: Leah Borromeo Artists and activists today occupied the Botticelli exhibit at the V&A , intervening the London museum’s recent decision to ban sketching in the temporary show. With "loan agreement policies" given as explanation for the restrictions on pencils and paper, approximately 20 opponents to the regulation sat throughout the exhibition space modelling clay, in what was an apparent loophole to the expulsion of any illustrative reproductions. “No photographs is one thing but finding out that I wouldn’t be able to sit here with a sketchbook was shocking,” says Rory Gallagher , an artist working with print and political themes, who was using an artist dummy to recreate one of the Botticelli-inspired paintings that The Creators Project was not allowed to take a photo of. Even this photo was a struggle to take. Image: Leah Borromeo Hoping for a positive change, alongside the recovery of creative and educational rights, the Sketch-in group was repeatedly told by a V&A staff member that the exhibit’s loan agreement was at request of the owners of certain pieces. A V&A press officer later told The Creators Project, “As has been the case for some time, there are sometimes specific conditions in loan agreements with lenders to temporary exhibitions, which mean we are not able to allow sketching in those exhibitions, but we work very hard to keep those to an absolute minimum.” Sketching is also not allowed in another V&A temporary exhibit that’s on now, Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear. Image: Leah Borromeo With a £15 price tag, Botticelli Reimagined presents the wide-ranging influences the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli had—and still has—in the realms of art, design and beyond. Works like Primavera and The Birth of Venus have become cultural icons, demonstrated through the exhibit 's Dolce and Gabbana dress, a Warhol piece, and other modern interpretations of the celebrated artist. Upon entering the exhibit, past the ‘sketching not permitted’ sign, a board reads, “Artists and designers have always been fascinated by the flowing papery and quality of movement in Botticelli’s graceful figures.” A statement that logically suggests a Botticelli is a good thing to sketch. “All of the images in here influence art students,” says Jeff Sawtell, a working artist who remembers taking students into the V&A for drawing classes in the 60s and 70s, a time when long sheets of canvas and charcoal could be used without issue. “You look through drawing.” Another artist works with an artist dummy and clay, inspired by Botticelli. Image: Leah Borromeo
The irony that an exhibit, which displays work that has borrowed artistic cues from one painter, does not allow sketchbook interpretations was not lost on the countless visitors who stopped to speak with the group of protestors. The V&A, however, was quick to point out that it does allow sketching in other short-term shows, such as the museum’s current Paul Strand exhibition, along with its “seven miles of permanent galleries.” But other institutions The Creators Project spoke to in London, like The Design Museum and The National Gallery , seem to have an open door policy—or no policy—when it comes to sketching. While loaned pieces and ticketed exhibitions likely help the V&A’s revenue stream, the educational benefits of sketching a piece of artwork seem irreplaceable, especially as museums like this one have longstanding relationships with art and design schools. Who should own art, becomes another issue. “The owners of these works are claiming that no one can claim copyright,” says artist Marco Godroy . “I don’t believe in copyright. The industry is trying to control profit over image distribution but with the internet, knowledge has become different. We have to adapt to that. We need to challenge different notions of copyright.” If Botticelli were alive today, most artists would agree, he’d be using Creative Commons licensing. Until then, #Bottishelfie will have to do. Botticelli Reimaged runs at the V&A through to July 3, 2016. If you want to see it—without sketchbook—find out more here. Learn about the Sketch-in by searching #bottishellfie, #vamSketchIn or going to this blog . Related: The Top 5 Most Outrageous Copyright Cases of All Time Who Owns the Monkey Selfie? A Lawyer Weighs In Anonymous Paintings Turn Copyrighted Works from the Google Art Project into 3D Abstractions 2016-05-13 18:40 Catherine Chapman
33 Welcome to the Class War: “Money Monster” and “High- Rise” “Money Monster” and “High-Rise,” both of which are in theaters on May 13, are completely different movies. The former is a star-studded vehicle, directed by Jodie Foster and starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, while the latter is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by J. G. Ballard. But the way each film deals with class and violence brings them into the same orbit and illuminates how movies often have difficulty dealing with these subjects. Ballard’s novel, first published in 1975, is a feverish race through a class war that erupts in the 40-floor high-rise building at the book’s center. It is deeply rooted in a specific time and place — it shortly predated the rise of Margaret Thatcher’s “every man for himself” ideology, and captured a growing fear that architecture and social alienation were connected, with the logical conclusion of social collapse. The film adaption of “High-Rise,” for the most part, sticks closely to the book. It begins just as the novel does, with the main character, Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddelston), preparing a dog to eat on his balcony, his clothes in tatters and surrounded by the remnants of chaos. We are then thrown back in time, to the moment Laing moves into the modern building. Director Ben Wheatley keeps the story in the same time period it was written, and drapes the film in retro-extravagance, from the drab interiors of the lower levels of the building to the plush elegance of the penthouse apartment, occupied by the building’s architect, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons). This choice to not modernize isn’t simply a bit of nostalgia — the end of the film ends with a recording of Thatcher, followed by the sounds of “Industrial Estate” by The Fall. If the connection wasn’t clear, this moment is a blunt reminder. But it’s also too little, too late. “High-Rise” is a film whose form can’t catch up to its content. As the residents of the different floors begin to wage war against one another, all codes of civility vanish. Laing moves through this world first as a passive observer than as a passive participant, all the while keeping a clinical distance that matches Ballard’s descriptions of the events in the novel. But the book’s mordant tone is never fully transferred to the film, and we’re left with a cut- and-paste job that is sometimes clever but mostly plodding. This is a failure of adaptation first and foremost, and may strengthen the case for some books to remain bound between covers — the transformation from literature to film is always a balancing act. “Money Monster,” on the other hand, has nowhere to lay the blame. A cheap story of a Jim Cramer-like television host named Lee Gates (George Clooney) who gets taken hostage live on the air by Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), a working-class father from the outer boroughs who lost all his money after following a faulty stock tip promoted on the show, the film is muddled in its critique of income inequality. In its attempt to dramatize how people’s lives are ruined by the mechanizations of finance, it pushes an “all men are equal” sentimentality while further promoting stereotypes of working-class citizens as bumbling idiots and the privileged as rational thinkers who, despite not thinking about the consequences of their actions, are actually good people. We just need to give them a chance. In both “High-Rise” and “Money Monster,” violence starts at the bottom — it’s the firecracker whose fuse was lit from the top. But “High-Rise” presents its violence not as a reaction to but as an absorption of the status quo. There is no moment that sparks violence, and what happens is irrelevant to the people of the apartment complex, devoid of motivation. The space has broken them down until all that is left are carnal desires, which lead them to hunt their prey. It’s a satirical critique of control and its natural consequences, a never-ending loop. Violence will always be met with more violence. “Money Monster” shows violence as a last resort, an unnatural disruption of order. Despite the television host’s culpability in what happened, and his initial inability to comprehend his guilt, he’s lucky enough to have a conscience sitting in the other room. Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), the producer of the show, is supposed to exist in some middle ground between the two people on the soundstage. From her control booth she takes control, literally speaking directly into the Lee’s earpiece and diffusing the situation through bringing them closer to an understanding. But there is no true understanding for Kyle. He has a gun and is ready to kill because he has nothing left. By the end of the film, Lee has come to develop sympathy for his captor, and attempts to bring the real bad guy down. In other words, he has learned his lesson, and the audience is meant to see him as less of the problem and more of a man caught up in the system. Kyle, however, must pay for his sins. He’s a victim of his own hubris for trying to retaliate against forces that refuse to allow him to move up in the world. But those in power simply feel bad, shake their heads, and promise to change. Everything is back to normal. 2016-05-13 17:48 Craig Hubert
34 OTHR debuts 3D printed housewares by leading creatives during NY design week OTHR debuts 3D printed housewares by leading creatives during NY design week (above) ‘birdhaus’ by claesson koivisto rune | available in matte black and gloss white 3D printed porcelain all images courtesy of othr during new york design week 2016, OTHR debuts a brand of 3D printed objects for the home in collaboration with some of the world’s leading designers. the line ranges from a birdhouse by claesson koivisto rune crafted from 3D printed porcelain, to a candleholder set by sebastian bergne made in black 3D printed steel. at its launch, OTHR presents 12 products, with an ever-expanding roster of internationally-recognized designers revealed on a bi-weekly basis. the new brand aims to evolve the use technological manufacturing from novelty to mainstream, by forming a retail platform for functional and decorative objects for the home. OTHR is founded by new york-based designers joe doucet, dean disimone, and evan clabots. its team of designers — both established and up-and-coming — include doucet and clabots themselves, along with fort standard, brad ascalon, sebastian bergne, claesson koivisto rune, jonah takagi, philippe malouin, todd bracher, everything elevated, michael sodeau, and paul loebach. ‘connection’ vessel by philippe malouin a deep vessel crafted in 3D printed steel available in a matte black finish ‘little o catchall’ by paul loebach a circular catchall available in matte black or gloss white 3D printed porcelain ‘time in’ serving plate & knife set by michael sodeau plate comes in matte black or gloss white 3D printed porcelain / knife is 3D printed polished silver or 18k plated gold ‘univers series’ office set by brad ascalon a modular system for the office made in matte black or gloss white 3D printed porcelain ‘EE juicer’ set by everything elevated graphic set of juicers in small, medium and large in gloss white 3D printed porcelain ‘double’ vessel by jonah takagi available in matte black or gloss white 3D printed porcelain ‘kyou’ sugar bowl, circular spoon & creamer by todd bracher sugar bowl, creamer and spoon crafted in matte black or gloss white 3D printed porcelain/ spoon 3D printed sterling silver or 18k plated gold ‘cru’ cake spatula & knife set by joe doucet cake set is crafted in 3D printed bronze, available as part of as set ‘ipseity’ wall hook (square set) by evan clabots set of three wall hooks crafted in 3D printed polished gold steel 2016-05-13 17:47 Nina Azzarello
35 35 The Incredible Story of 'Drawings from Inside State Hospital No. 3' The story of artist James Edward Deeds has at least three beginnings and no ending at all. This presents challenges to its telling, though the consensus seems to be that beginning at number two is the place to start. It features a 14-year-old boy fishing a tattered portfolio out of a Springfield, Missouri dumpster. The portfolio contains 283 hand-bound pages of illustrations. They depict pastoral scenes full of fascinating peculiarities, like improbably proportioned wildcats and peacocks, intricately rendered drawings of boats and trains, and in one illustration a full baseball team. But the most striking works are mesmerizing, endlessly repetitive portraits, nearly all preternaturally wide-eyed, and overwhelmingly depicting women in Edwardian dress with thick, dark, center-parted hair. The portfolio is unsigned, but printed on each page is: Missouri State Hospital No. 3. The boy who finds the illustrations at the dump doesn’t want to have his name attached to the works’ tale and its increasing fame. But he treasures them for 36 years, before finally introducing them to the world through an art market he’d hardly have been able to conceive of when he found them in 1970: eBay. From the Collection of John Foster Before we get to the art wheelers and dealers, the mysterious unknown artist, and the pages from a portfolio that was once literally consigned to the trash heap being exhibited and sold for $16,000 a pop, we should take a step back: The drawings are by James Edward Deeds, whose 1908 birth in the Panama Canal Zone is, of course, the story’s first beginning. Edward, as everyone called him, is the eldest of the five children of Ed and Clara Deeds, who later move their family back to Missouri. Edward is a sweet but socially awkward youth not cut out for farm life, according to his niece, Julie Deeds Phillips. Despite the images of rural idyll that so heavily pervade his drawings, Edward's is a more artistically inclined temperament. He loves going to the movies and listening to music. “He just wasn’t meant for farm work,” Deeds Phillips tells The Creators Project. “That wasn’t what gave him joy.” Edward is often at odds with his father, who the family describes as being a hard man. After an altercation in which Edward allegedly threatens his brother Clay with a hatchet, Ed Deeds sends his 25-year-old son to the Missouri School for the Feeble Minded. Clay’s daughter, Julie Deeds Phillips, believes that the gravity of the hatchet incident was exaggerated so that Edward would be put away. Edward, after all, is a prankster, and the threat could well have been joking. This is 1933, after all, and a male head of household could have members of his family committed under the flimsiest of pretexts. Clay isn't afraid of his brother, nor is his wife, Julie’s mother, Martaun Deeds. They pay him regular visits at the institutions in which he would spend the rest of his life. Silver. Smith. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press Edward spends less than two years at the School for the Feeble Minded before being transferred to Missouri State Hospital No. 3, where he would pass the next 40. He's diagnosed as learning disabled and schizophrenic, diagnoses his surviving nieces feel do not fit the man their family knew. (In 2011, Columbia University Professor Psychology Susan Scheftel posthumously diagnosed Deeds with an autism spectrum disorder, based on examination of his detailed and highly repetitive oeuvre.) The State Hospital was built in a fit of 19th century mental healthcare reform, but these better impulses have subsided by the time Deeds is a patient. The hospital, designed as a self-sufficient community where residents would reap the curative benefits of fresh air and honest labor, is overcrowded by more than 400 patients in 1930. It's fire unsafe, unsanitary, and understaffed. Patients are reportedly abused and even beaten, with one dying from such injuries during Deeds' tenure as a resident. Ectlectrc Pencil. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press But despite the horrors that surround him, it's here that Deeds draws the works in his famous portfolio. The works themselves seem hardly related to life at the State Hospital. The people he depicts are dressed in the style of the 1900s, a time he’d barely remember, and the images suggest nothing of confinement, loneliness, or abuse. Instead, they take place in a tender world of their own, full of gentle ladies, mannerly gentlemen, verdant nature, and friendly-looking animals. “A lot of this stuff is going to remain a mystery,” says Richard Goodman, author of the introduction to The Electric Pencil: Drawings from Inside State Hospital No. 3 , a new book that reprints the works in Deeds' manuscript. Deeds’ family knows that he draws, but don't discuss his art with him. “They didn't have conversations about, ‘Oh, Uncle Edward, why did you do this?’” says Goodman. The State Hospital where Deeds spent nearly all of his adult life has been leveled, leaving few clues of what his life there was like. Now. And. Herafter. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press Despite the halcyon world Deeds depicts, embedded in his drawings are hints as to what life at the hospital entailed. Three pieces contain the letters ECT, which, according to Brynnan K. Light-Lewis , who in 2012 wrote a thesis on Deeds’ life and work, may refer to electroconvulsive therapy. It’s also known as electric shock treatment. ECT is introduced to Nevada State Hospital No. 3 during Deeds’ time there, and is administered twice weekly to the average patient. When Clay’s family’s monthly visits to the hospital falls on the heels of one of Edward’s treatments, they find their brother and uncle disoriented and dazed. Deeds leaves us a heartbreaking hint to his medical care at the hospital in the form of a a portrait of a top-hatted man that’s captioned with the phrase “WHY DOCTOR.” “I think that [art] was a coping mechanism,” says Light-Lewis. “He created a personal world for himself—an escape.” Hello. Kid. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press Amongst the almost hypnotically repetitive portraits of large-eyed, dark haired men and women, a few are markedly different. One such drawing is captioned “CAMP CLARK,” and the sketch’s realism makes it singular. It’s a portrait of former Speaker of the House and 1912 presidential candidate James Beauchamp “Champ” Clark. Light-Lewis’ research indicates that the drawing was copied directly from a carte de visite photo of Clark. This piece is important not just for its own merits, but from what it tells us about the rest of Deeds’ work. It suggests that the other portraits sprouted from Deeds’ mind and memory, rather than from reference images, and proves that he could faithfully render representational portraits, but elected not to. As Deeds ages, arthritis curbs his drawing, and he gives his treasured portfolio to his mother, who passes it onto his brother, Clay. It finds its way to that Springfield dump after Clay’s family moves and accidentally leaves it in their attic, the contents of which Clay suggests the movers pick through and keep or discard as they liked. The Deeds are devastated by the disappearance of the beloved heirloom, the portfolio seemingly lost to them forever. Deer. Boy. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press But for years, the portfolio was just a few states away: in Texas, in the possession of the anonymous man who’d rescued it from the dump as a child. He posts the portfolio to eBay in 2006, and it's quickly acquired by a Lawrence, Kansas book dealer (who has also requested anonymity). “I came home for lunch one day during work and decided, on a whim, to check eBay, as I often did,” St. Louis-based artist, designer, and art collector John Foster tells The Creators Project. “Sitting there at my computer, eating a sandwich, I saw a listing showing several drawings and I knew immediately the drawings were special.” Foster sets off to meet the dealer in Lawrence that day, and he and his wife dip into their retirement savings to buy the portfolio for more than $10,000 cash, the most expensive purchase of his career as a collector. “Financially, I do not have the luxury of holding on to great art objects,” he writes. “I have found many great things in my life and I enjoy them for a while and if I get an offer that is right I don’t have a problem with selling it. I enjoy the discovery and the hunt. I knew that when I sold the portfolio the work would go places. I just had to let them go to the big city—New York.” The. Black. Snake. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press The big-city dealer that Foster sells the portfolio to is artist and collector Harris Diamant. Diamant dubs the anonymous artist “The Electric Pencil” after the caption of one drawing that he guesses might be a self-portrait, and hires a private detective to try and determine his identity. The detective hits a dead end, so in 2011 Diamant reaches out to the Springfield News-Leader, Springfield’s largest paper. They run images of works from the portfolio, and these pictures catch the eye of Julie Deeds Phillips. Deeds Phillips hasn’t had much access to the portfolio before the family loses it—it was too precious to be touched by little hands—but her mother, Martaun, mourns its loss and tells her children about Edward's drawings. “She talked about how he drew feathers really well,” Deeds Phillips says. One of the images the paper runs features a woman with feathers decorating her broad-brimmed hat. “So when I saw these feathers in this drawings, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, these are so elaborate. This must be Edward’s work.’" Miss. Snider. Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press The artist’s anonymity hadn't hampered the portfolio’s popularity. Before Deeds Phillips spots the drawings in her local newspaper and contacts Diamant, he had taken the works of “The Electric Pencil” to New York’s Outsider Art Fair , where they're signed for representation by the Hirschl and Adler Gallery. Finally, the increasingly well-known artist has a name. It's nearly 15 years too late for Deeds to know of his art world fame—he dies of a heart attack in a nursing home in 1987. But the discovery is nevertheless thrilling, both for fans of The Electric Pencil, who wanted to know more about the artist enigma, and the Deeds family, who never imagined that they might see the works in Edward’s portfolio again. It even contains a special gift—one of the dark-haired women Edward drew is accompanied by the caption “MISS MARTIN.” Despite the misspelled name, Deeds’ nieces recognize their late mother Martaun, who had been Edward’s sister-in-law. This is a tidy enough place to leave things, though the story of James Edward Deeds will never truly be settled. “In the end, there's going to be something elusive about this man,” says Richard Goodman. “And in a way that's kind of humbling that we don't know everything about him, as much as we would like to know his complete story, he's going to remain elusive.” All we can know for sure about Edward is what his works tell us: that despite the fact that he spent the majority of his life in cold and sometimes cruel institutions, he was able to create through his art a gentle world for himself. His was a world without violence or unkindness, one deeply rooted in nostalgia for a time he’d hardly remember. “We're not going to be ever able to understand everything about the pieces of art,” continues Goodman. “It will remain with him, and maybe that's not a bad thing.” Clay Deeds (left) visiting his brother, Edward Deeds. The family made the trip every few weeks, often picnicking on the grounds of the hospital. Credit: Courtesy of Julie Deeds Phillips & Tudie Deeds Williams The Electric Pencil: Drawings from Inside State Hospital No. 3 by James Edward Deeds Jr., Introduction by Richard Goodman and Foreword by Harris Diamant is published by The Princeton Architectural Press Related: Inside the Outsider Art Fair The Mystical Works of an Outsider Artist Who Doesn’t Actually Exist Artist Carves the Entire Alphabet into Pencil Lead 2016-05-13 17:20 Gabrielle Bruney
36 Kevin Beasley's Moment Is Yours | Studio Visits Photo by Charlie Rubin It’s clear artist Kevin Beasley puts a lot of thought into everything he does. Each incredibly-detailed artwork has a deep meaning and its own personal history. Although he is perhaps best-known combining sculpture and audio, Kevin works in a variety of mediums, including paint, sewing, and video art. In Astoria, Queens, industrial warehouses line the entire street where Beasley’s studio sits. It's large and white, with colorful and unfinished artworks placed carefully on the floor. He has a sewing table, an area to mix paint and resin, a corner office, and a separate, sound-proof room for creating audio work. Photo by Charlie Rubin Beasley explains that he's preparing for his next exhibit at the Renaissance Society in Chicago —most of the art had been picked up only the day before. Between The Ticks of the Watch involves five artists, presenting a platform “for considering doubt as both state of mind and pragmatic tool.” Additionally, Kevin’s latest body, Your Face is / is Not Enough , involves sculptures, gas masks, and megaphones, evoking images of recent conversations in the media on police brutality. Before earning his MFA at Yale in 2012, Beasley studied at College for Creative Studies in his Detroit hometown. Since then. he has been an artist in residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, attended the International Studio & Curatorial Program, and had his work exhibited at the Guggenheim and Whitney. Beyond residencies, his studios have always been in Queens. The artist invited me to sit in the yellow flower patterned “guest chair,” where we discussed how he worked as a crate shop technician before becoming an artist fulltime, and the importance his Astoria neighborhood. Photo by Charlie Rubin The Creators Project: What makes your creative space uniquely you? And how does it inspire your process? Kevin Beasley: I was asking this question of what the studio could be and maybe it’s not dependent on the actual physicality of the space, as much as it’s about the time or the designation of a space and that you can think about really tough questions and address some vulnerabilities in your own methodology. Then you get into what is that space capable of. Its physicality. Where the wall meets the floor, where the lighting is situated in the space. And then what type of materials you bring into the space. It’s about understanding it holistically, who else is around, who else shares the space with you, or shares a building, the neighborhood, the block. It’s hard to think about all of that but that’s the benefit of having a studio or designating a space you call a studio because all of these other questions can then be put into action. When it becomes very explicit you can look at the path of gentrification and how artists come into neighborhoods and find ways to use it and then it becomes marketable—that’s all a part of that consideration on context. It’s a particular one that deserves some attention. Photo by Charlie Rubin A major theme in your work appears to be discovering and observing your place and space in the world. I ended up generating a piece [at the Casey Kaplan Gallery] that focused on time. It consisted of a reel-to-reel player, a tape player, that would consist of over 5,000 cassette tapes spliced together. There are 50 reels and every tape reels has sound and music on it. And so, 52 of them are about a week [long], so the piece runs for the span of a year, that’s the loop. Each new reel is played at the beginning of the new weekm and at the end of the week, it ends, and then you play the next one the next week. So the focus is on presence and time in some way striking the value of what that moment is. This moment is your moment, this is when you made it and that’s important because you can’t re- experience that moment. My dad gave me a bunch of tapes and came in from Virginia to visit. My dad walks in and then stops and is like, “That’s my tape, that’s my Freddy Jackson tape.” And it was really surreal because there were like 5,000 cassettes and the chances of walking into the room and hearing your own tape, it got weird. The chances of that happening is spooky. But to me there was something important about leaving space for something to be generated in that time period. Photo by Charlie Rubin Is that a punching bag? It is a punching bag. I was like “I’m going to get in shape! " I got a punching bag, but at the same time I was doing a work for the Guggenheim and those two works for hanging. What was really difficult for me was hanging a sculpture. I think of sculpture in a bodily way. I think sculpture is defined by how we move around them thinking about mast and weight. So I think, we hang a body, it’s lynching. The relationship to that is difficult for me to deal with and that’s what the work was dealing with in some way. It was called Strange Fruit Part 1 and 2. And they’re audio works with microphone and speakers in them. One of them was on one side of the Guggenheim and the other on the opposite side and they were linked together by microphones. If you spoke in one it would come out the speaker of the other one. There is a conversation and an opportunity for people to engage with them. So the punching bag was kind of a way to see something very bodily in the studio. Your face is / is not enough, 2016 (detail) Photo: Tom Van Eynde Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York Do any current issues inspire or affect your work? I think a lot of what I’m doing is related to tracing aspects of history and my personal experience. I’m terrified right now, politics are crazy. We were in paralysis for so long when Chicago flipped over and shut down the Trump rally; that was a moment that the paralysis was over. The finger twitches and it’s like we still have agency, we still have the ability to do something. Which is very grassroots and direct. Very immediate, and what I’m more worried about if we make it through this without it becoming disastrous, then can we maintain this sort of rigor and questioning and move towards a much better society. Performance view, Kevin Beasley, Your face is / is not enough, 2016 in Between the Ticks of the Watch, Renaissance Society, Chicago, April 24. Photo: Tom Van Eynde. Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York How does your studio help your process? This space is new and it looked very different, I did a lot of renovation, things were taken down. The entry space used to be in the closet. One thing I’m learning from having so many different kinds of spaces and that kind of network and community of people I’m around, there is a desire to create space to have a conversation. If that can be contained and supported in the studio, that will just provide fruit for generating other possibilities. The other day I had people over and cooked on the grill and I wanted to share a work with them. The works are a part of a performance that’s happening at the Renaissance Society. They put the masks on and they activated them and for me it was helpful and really great to see. I was able to see that in a comfortable space. There still in progress—they’re not finished in that way, so the studio because conducive for a more conversational sharing of the work instead of exhibition when people are coming to see something finished. There isn’t that much destination in this space. I could pull a saw out and start cutting something then take the saw down. I could work with resin and mixing cups and I could be mixing up resin or foam or paint, I could do that. There’s a sewing table there when I need to alter the clothing or fabric then that’s where I’ll sew everything, work that process through. I don’t have the kitchen set up, so that’s where I have kitchen stuff, but I also like to draw there. If I’m saturating or putting wires together if I’m building or using a microphone, these are components, that stuff happens there. Your face is / is not enough, 2016 (detail) Photo: Tom Van Eynde Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York Tell us about Your Face is / is Not Enough (2016), one of your pieces that will be at your exhibit. They're gas masks. The gas masks have been something that have popped up in my work before—there is another work that I made; I used a gas mask as a performative component of the work. In this way I’ve seen a lot of images of gas masks over the last few years. We’ve seen a lot of them, but particularly with law enforcement and the kind of militarization we’ve seen with protests. And in some way, the use of that was a prompt for me to challenge that possibility of what the gas mask is capable of, who it’s for. I ended up making these really complicated masks. This is foam with glass beads on it. They each have a megaphone that corresponds to each one that you’re able to vocalize another possibility in how we see that the gas mask. It is some way arresting the power it holds as a visual marker of life, it’s like submission. As a protestor, when you see an official in a gas mask, it means some shit is about to go down. They know as law enforcement what their weapons are fully capable of and that’s when the gas mask is employed. That’s what these become in some ways. Your face is / is not enough, 2016 (detail) Photo: Tom Van Eynde Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York Kevin’s Beasley’s Your Face is / is Not Enough will be at the Renaissance Society in Chicago until June 25. Related: Mickalene Thomas Is Celebrating Our Skin | Studio Visit The Inflatable World of Tamar Ettun | Studio Visits Stop Playing in Rashaad Newsome’s Face | Studio Visits Dan Colen Exposes Himself | Studio Visits 2016-05-13 17:00 Nicole Cone
37 L. A. Habitat: Kaari Upson Kaari Upson in her Koreatown studio. ©KATHERINE MCMAHON L. A. Habitat is a weekly series that visits with 16 artists in their workspaces around the city. This week’s studio: Kaari Upson; Koreatown, Los Angeles. Last December, I visited Kaari Upson’s spacious studio, which is located on an unassuming block in Koreatown. At the time, the artist was hard at work preparing sculptures for an upcoming group show, “ Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947–2016 ,” which opened at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel in March. The studio space is situated between an office in the front and an outdoor area in the back, where recycled couches and sectionals are piled on top of each other. Upson has included domestic objects in her work for a while, most notably in “The Larry Project,” which she began in 2007. The ongoing series was inspired by her parents’ neighbor, whose house was decimated in a wildfire. Upson uses actual possessions she salvaged from the fire in her work, which explores the neighbor’s house and the objects it once contained. “That house, and re-creating the internal pockets inside the house, became a forefront,” she told me. “I was always very interested in the domestic.” Kaari Upson, Left Brace Erase, Back Brace Face , 2016, which appears in ‘Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947–2016’ at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel in Los Angeles. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HAUSER WIRTH & SCHIMMEL At the time, Upson was working on trashcan molds to be displayed in the Hauser show. “I’ll think about the architecture of the space and then think about how they can be formed, because they are endlessly mutable,” she said. “There can be two of them incorporated, leaning against themselves. Or I can make one, make it hard, and make the other one off of it, which would then push a new negative space into it.” Upson’s studio practice includes sculpture, painting, drawing, and video, though she told me that the different mediums all inform each other in some way. “These are sculptures, for example, but when I make them, they end up being quite painterly.” In addition to work that she’s actively creating, the studio houses many pieces that seem to be in a state of indefinite gestation. “I don’t throw anything out. Sometimes sculptures end up totally ordinary and I don’t know what to do with them. I keep a stack of the ones that become ordinary, and sometimes I’ll revisit one a year later and realize that I was seeing it wrong.”Upson received her B. F. A. from CalArts in 2007 and currently lives in Los Angeles, though she owns a place in New York as well. I asked her what it was like living on the West Coast now. “I’ve never seen so many people want to live here and not New York. But I don’t have much to say about L. A.’s new development,” she said. “There is one sad thing, though. I’m not part of the old generation romanticizing the old days, but there was nothing like working when nobody was looking. There used to be nobody in the studio. It would just be me making decisions. A lot of artists were in L. A. because no one was hovering over us. It was entirely different. Thank God I didn’t put myself out there, because people very quickly want to define you. I want to make work that confuses people.” Below, a look around Upson’s Koreatown studio. ALL PHOTOS: KATHERINE MCMAHON “You’ll see the kind of couches and the mattresses that I make everywhere on the streets of L. A.” “This is the beginning. We paint latex over it and it becomes a skin. The skin records every amount of detail down to the stitch.” A workspace in the studio. One of the Angelina Jolie masks that Upson has used in her videos. “Angelina Jolie as this very odd, symbolic, therapeutic object is becoming a conceptual part of a larger project,” she said. “She’s gone from wearing Billy Bob’s blood and making out with her brother—all of these taboo incidents that revolted people—to becoming a saintly figure. I’m also kind of obsessed with the transformation of her body and America’s obsession with her transformation.” Describing her in- process work, she admitted, “I don’t know what it is yet. I have to go down these weird roads to find out.” Upson calls these Angelina Jolie lip drawings “totally desirable and totally repulsive at the same time.” Upson in her studio. “I’m a big buyer of silicone,” she said, describing how the molds are created. “Each mold gets destroyed in the process of making. There’s no repeat, but I do recast objects a lot. I’ll endlessly cast until they’re falling apart. I’m interested in that. But the rerecording of the object is through the skin, and the skin deteriorates each time we record it.” Stills from a video project, which incorporates one of her original couch molds and her Angelina Jolie masks, among other pieces. Upson described the production as “very ritualistic.” “I had no idea what was going to happen,” she said. “I’m not sure if I’m going towards a place of knowing, but I don’t really care.” “When is a piece done? It’s a very painterly question,” she said. “It’s all about multiple marks, multiple gestures—no individual ‘genius’ marks. It’s done when the sculpture is done, and when the thing holding it up is done. Otherwise, the face of it is done in the first mark.” Upson described her sculpture-making process. “The first marks you make are on the surface, and as you build up the structure, you can’t really see the first marks you made anymore so you’re working blindly. At the very end, when you’re peeling it, you have no idea what you’re going to get. This process has to happen very quickly, and it needs to stay wet and moving, because if silicone dries it doesn’t adhere to itself. There’s a multiplicity of mark-making.” Recycled sectionals and couches. “You’ll find a lot of this kind of thing on the streets of L. A.” 2016-05-13 16:46 Katherine McMahon
38 Trump & Putin Share Kiss in Lithuanian Mural A new mural of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, locked in a sloppy kiss, is going viral. The painting is located on the side of a restaurant called Keule Ruke in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius. Mindaugas Bonanu, a Lithuanian street artist and graphic designer, is behind the project, reports the Baltic Times. He recently unveiled the work, titled, "Make Everything Great Again," with the help of the barbecue restaurant's owner, Dominykas Ceckauskas. "We saw similarities between the two heroes (Trump and Putin)," Ceckauskas said in a statement. He added: "They both have an ego that is too big and it is funny that they get along well. " Ceckauskas, of course, is taking his cue after the political figures' very public bromance. When prompted to comment on Putin during a FOX News interview last year, Trump described Russia's president as a "respected leader," adding that "he's tough and he's making [President Obama] look very bad. " Last December, the Russian president offered Trump a warm endorsement, stating in an impromptu video interview : "He's a very colorful person. Talented, without any doubt. " And while Putin did not comment on the Republican candidate's political credentials, he did praise Trump's desire to foster "more solid, deeper relations with Russia. " The portrait articulates a tender physical exchange reminiscent of Dmitri Vrubel's 1990 graffiti work, My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love. The world-renowned street art project in Berlin draws its inspiration from a photograph of communist leader Erich Honecker and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. As the Washington Post notes, this Putin-Trump scene is a nod to the fraternal kiss that served as a customary greeting among male socialist leaders. If anything, Lithuania's strained relations with neighboring Russia positions Bonanu's portrait as a clear indication that the Lithuanian population is following the US presidential election just as closely. Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-05-13 16:38 Rain Embuscado
39 moogfest 2016 music installations inviting moogfest 2016 installations blur lines between creators and audience all images courtesy of moogfest since 2004, moogfest has brought together artists, designers, engineers and future thinkers. the three day event in durham, north carolina presents music installation and performances throughout the city. for 2016 microsoft worked with KEXP to turn 4,000 square feet of empty office space into an interactive installation inviting the audience to physically go the music. using technology including ‘kinect’, participants can remix songs by musicians such as grimes, alt-J, floating points, olafur arnalds and samaris. both the visuals and the music will respond intuitively to visitor’s movements and interactions in the ever-evolving environment. as people move through the installation, they will continuously reshape and customize the music, blurring the line between creator and audience. moog music is also presents ‘the global synthesizer’ project by sound-art designer yuri suzuki. the interactive electronic musical instrument installation lets users synthesize environmental sounds from around the world. microsoft uses their ‘kinect’ sensors to detect the user’s movement utilizing an archive of atmospheric field recordings from diverse geographies, the presentation empowers users to create new sonic environments through the manipulation of a diverse collection of source materials. be sure to check it out all the installations around the city – moogfest 2016 starts may 19 to the 22. 2016-05-13 16:30 Piotr Boruslawski
40 William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton Look at Housing in New York Related Artists William Powhida Jennifer Dalton Just as New York City’s economy can be measured by the so-called “Pizza Principle” — wherein a slice consistently costs about the same as a subway ride — there’s a similar correlation between the art and housing markets, says economics writer Felix Salmon. “The price of a really nice big apartment on Park Avenue is always the same as the price of a really nice Rothko,” he said during a talk hosted earlier this week by artists William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton . It was a fitting analogy for the event, which was being held in a luxury Gramercy Park apartment as part of the artists’ month-long public art project on housing issues, “ MONTH2MONTH ,” co- organized with More Art. Powhida and Dalton began working together in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis and separately found their way to questions of housing in the years since: Powhida after being forced out of his Williamsburg studio in 2013, when the building sold for $60 million, and Dalton, who owns a home, after she began to wonder, “Who am I to have more, or be ‘worth more’ than anyone else?” as she said in a statement on the project’s website. The series of events are taking place across the city in a variety of both luxury and “affordable” homes, including Powhida’s own Bushwick apartment, which he and his wife rent for $1,750 per month. Through May 31, the public is invited to participate in events that range from the satirical — such as consciousness-raising karaoke with real-estate agents, a confessional session of “Gentrifiers Anonymous,” and a murder mystery about “the theft of a Brooklyn home by a faceless LLC” — to the more serious-minded, including a discussion with artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed about displacement, a “Dinner with Doormen,” and a conversation on the ethics of private property with Dalton and Powhida. The day after Salmon’s event, artist and blogger Sharon Butler invited guests over to her Bushwick basement apartment for the inaugural meeting of the “$50 Stock Club.” The impetus for the group was Butler’s own decision to invest in stocks after realizing that her three-year studio lease cost a total of $35,000. She thought to herself, “‘What if I take some money and invest in stocks and see after a three-year period’” if there might be another way to use that money. So she invested in Occidental Petroleum and, as of this week, her returns had fallen to - $127. But that didn’t stop her from trying again with a new batch of funds pooled by a small group of artists, writers, and other low-budget entrepreneurs. Butler instructed participants (including this writer) on how to use the no-fee stock site Merrill Edge — “take it with a grain of salt because they want you to be a part of this economy. They don’t want you to buy art,” she said. The group went on to consider possible investment categories, like water. “Water’s the next big thing,” said one participant, pointing to recent privatization efforts after the lead-poisoning crisis in Flint, Michigan. Others encouraged more politically-conscious alternatives. “Socially responsible mutual funds do not necessarily have lower returns,” said Dalton. The group will make its final decision in June and, next year, assess the portfolio’s gains or losses. In the meantime, all of MONTH2MONTH’S events are open to the public, but require an RSVP. 2016-05-13 16:28 Rachel Corbett
41 Friday the 13th Spooktacular | GIF Six-Pack GIPHY Today is Friday the 13th, a day when the most superstitious among us will avoid ladders, making eye contact with cats, and having dreams, at all costs. Everyone is just the slightest bit on edge—what if today really is unlucky?!?—which makes it the perfect day to ambush your friends with spooky GIFs. Here are our selections of original GIF art perfect for sending chills down spines and spreading the willies across entire email chains. From ABVH's on-point animation of a de-facialized Joker to Zolloc's creepy 3D babies, these GIFs are the perfect tools for driving anyone with an email address or Slack account to r/nosleep for the next 24 hours. ABVH Bill Domonkos Brandon Muir Colin Raff DAiN8) Zolloc See more spooky GIFs on GIPHY . Related: We Talked To The Animator Of SBTRKT's Spooky New Music Video This Homemade Simpsons Couch Gag Is a Nightmare Psychedelic Animation Imagines an Amnesiac's Nightmare 2016-05-13 16:10 Beckett Mufson
42 The New Esopus Magazine Has Projects With Marilyn Minter, Mickalene Thomas, and Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Is Generally a Delight The cover of Esopus 23, with Jean Tinguely at the Museum of Modern Art in 1960. COURTESY ESOPUS Once a year, a truly beautiful thing occurs in the bookstores of all 50 United States: new copies of Esopus magazine arrive. Esopus is a freewheeling treasure trove of a book, sumptuously designed and filled with often-elaborate projects by artists, writers, and others, as well as the results of deep dives into tantalizing archives. There are usually wild production experiments— pullouts, inserts, posters, and, always, a CD stuck at the end, compiling songs by artists tackling a given theme. Because it uses so many different types of paper, it also smells astoundingly good, and I sometimes just rustle its pages when first picking it up. “Mmm…the smell of fine, freshly printed paper,” I think. “What a thing!” In any sense, that moment has again arrived. Esopus 23 is officially out, and was officially christened at a launch party at the Museum of Modern Art this week. It includes dazzling work by Marilyn Minter, Mickalene Thomas, and Karl Ove Knausgaard, who has contributed a manifesto- like essay called “On the Value of Literature,” which is printed as a modest little pamphlet and included in a folder with the magazine. (He’ll do a very-sold-out event with Esopus next week at Bookcourt in Brooklyn.) “The whole point of the projects is to give the artists total freedom,” Esopus ’s founder and editor, Tod Lippy, told me recently. Thomas, for instance, has created a remarkable collage section that includes sliced-out and embossed pages that is as richly textured as her paintings, and Minter has offered up a shimmering series of pages with photographs of condensed liquid on glass, at least two seeming to involve a cut-off tongue. “Obviously there are logistical and financial constraints,” Lippy said, “but we have a very crafty printer in Canada who finds ingenious ways to get around things that would normally cost a lot.” A spread from Mickalene Thomas’s 2016 Together work for Esopus. COURTESY ESOPUS The magazine has a print run of 7,500—impressive for such an elaborate production, particularly one that relies on donations to make ends meet—and is widely distributed. Lippy said, “It’s very important to the mission that it be in every state and in Barnes & Noble and accessible to a wide audience.” A Barnes & Noble is actually where I first encountered it, as a kid, sometime in the early 2000s in New Jersey. (It began in 2003 as a biannual, but switched to annual publishing in 2014.) They also give away 500 copies of each issue to rural and inner-city libraries. (It’s also available to purchase online .) But back to the treats in this issue: Hampton Fancher, the idiosyncratic screenwriter of Blade Runner who is fresh off of writing the sequel, has penned two movie treatments based on local news stories that Esopus readers sent in that they thought might make interesting films. (He’ll do two events with the magazine at the Museum of the Moving Image this month—a screening of Blade Runner and another of his directorial debut, Minus Man .) A spread from the section devoted to MoMA’s sculpture garden. Each issue includes a section devoted to material from MoMA’s archives, working with its chief archivist, Michelle Elligott. “Every issue I go to MoMA, early in the production process, and she sits with me, and shows me like three or four folders or many more folders related to things she thinks might make good material for this series,” Lippy said. “It’s like my birthday. It’s incredible.” This time the focus is on MoMA’s storied garden, where Jean Tinguely showed a self- destructing machine in 1960, where Yayoi Kusama had a “nude-in” in 1969, and where, just last year, Pierre Huyghe showed his remarkable sculpture with a beehive head. These and other works are presented with an incredible photographs over a series of pages, and in the middle is a re-creation of the invitation card for a party celebrating MoMA’s inaugural Summergarden series in 1971. (Looking through Esopus is best done at a table, otherwise all of these surprises start falling out all over the place.) Knausgaard’s essay. After flipping through some recent issues, I told Lippy that I was pretty amazed he was able to pull off some of the printing work he does, but he made it sound like no big deal. He said, “There are always ways around seemingly daunting limitations, if you really think hard, basically.” 2016-05-13 16:02 Andrew Russeth
43 ‘Island States’ at Tops Gallery, Memphis Robbie McDonald, Strange Loop , 2016, extruded anodized aluminum baseball bats, powder-coated glass tubing, noble gases, 110-volt transformer, and electrical components. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday. Today’s show: “Island States” is on view at Tops Gallery in Memphis through Saturday, June 11. The group exhibition, curated by Corinne Jones, presents a range of recent sculptures by Jim Buchman, LaKela Brown, Josef Bull, Renee Delosh, Anne Eastman, Derek Fordjour, Corinne Jones, Brad Kahlhamer, Seth Kelly, Robbie McDonald, Terri Phillips, and Mariah Robertson. Installation view of “Island States,” 2016, at Tops Gallery. COURTESY TOPS GALLERY Anne Eastman, États , 2016, wood, monofilament, and acrylic double-sided mirror, installation view. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Robbie McDonald, Strange Loop , 2016, extruded anodized aluminum baseball bats, powder- coated glass tubing, noble gases, 110-volt transformer, and electrical components. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Josef Bull, Sustainable Earth (by Staples) , 2016, arctic mud, crystal clear resin, grass mat, plastic tissue dispenser, tissue box, ceramic water dispenser, LED grow lights, and wooden stand. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Derek Fordjour, Topdog , 2016, clay, coal, steel, and wood. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Brad Kahlhamer, Next Level Figure 12 , 2014, wood, wire, rope, feathers, cloth, bells, leather, acrylic, and spray paint. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY LaKela Brown, Ground Beneath My Feet , 2016, plaster, paper, and black glitter. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Mariah Robertson, 222 , 2012, C-print. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Renee Delosh, Tropical Staycation , 2016, plunger, cardboard, imitation plant, and acrylic paint. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Jim Buchman, Zoe , 2016, polyethylene and steel. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Corinne Jones, Res Nullius sundial II , 2016, paint on concrete, Huling Avenue, Memphis. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY Seth Kelly, Verticalandscape , 2000, aqua-resin, gesso, and watercolor. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND TOPS GALLERY 2016-05-13 15:55 The Editors
44 Strange Bedfellows? James Rosenquist Shows at Donald Judd’s House in SoHo Related Artists James Rosenquist Donald Judd Josef Albers Rainer Judd Photo: Sol Hashemi / Art © 2016 James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA, New York / Image © Judd Foundation The late artist Donald Judd wrote for the duration of his career, which spanned from the 1950s to the 1990s. His extensive literary oeuvre includes everything from dense personal philosophy to salty peer critiques. One example of Judd’s signature snarl is his review of Josef Albers’s 1964 show at Janis gallery. Judd wrote: “A large minority instead of a very large majority of these paintings are first rate. The small majority are somewhat pat, a little thin, too harmonic or slightly too loose and painterly. It would be interesting to speculate on just how good Albers is, but this show isn’t the best opportunity. Perhaps someone will sponsor a retrospective.” A pioneer of minimalism, it was only through writing that Judd directly engaged with his Pop counterparts like James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol. The former held a strange place in Judd’s heart, which one only discovers in his “Complete Writings 1959-1975.” A reprint issued by his foundation is due out next March. Flavin Judd, Donald’s son, calls attention to his father’s writing practice and its unexpected content by dedicating a show to Rosenquist at the Judd Foundation in New York, the artist’s former Spring Street home and studio. Working alongside Rosenquist’s studio, Flavin selected five representative pieces to fill the first floor of the SoHo space. A large, monochromatic billboard painting anchors the ensemble. Visible from the street, “Time Dust — Black Hole,” 1992, demonstrates Rosenquist’s skill for composition. Like cuts of film, his black and white images layer over one another to create something that resembles a fluent narrative. “It’s a funny choice, the black and white,” Flavin told ARTINFO on a recent visit. “I like the withholding of information.” On the remaining wall space, four images huddle together. These pieces require more time than the gargantuan gray scale. A bed by Donald Judd has been conveniently set up across the way, but perhaps too far to comfortably gaze at the paintings. The alternative is to grab one of several books placed on the nearby table. The selection, curated by Flavin’s sister, Rainer, provides a kind of Judd-on-Judd experience — a father’s library seen through a daughter’s eyes. Two iconic satires, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22,” made it into the rotating library, and they give one something to chew on, especially when dissecting Rosenquist’s dystopian carnival of Americana. Digging into “Complete Writings 1959-1975,” one finds that Judd speaks highly of Rosenquist’s genre defying technique: “There is never any possibility of Rosenquist’s paintings being mistaken for billboards, however, as Lichtenstein’s paintings are mistaken for comics. The conspicuous fragmentation of the various subjects is immediately recognizable as art.” Standing before the carefully painted surfaces, one sees why Judd favored Rosenquist to Warhol: attention to quality control, even when handling the purposefully banal. At the Judd Foundation, however, it’s hard to admire Rosenquist’s hand because the room feels a little crowded. The billboard painting could conceivably hold down the entire space by itself. The other pieces, while utterly enjoyable, look packed in. Flavin and Rainer clearly have yet to perfect the presentation, but they do a good job opening the conversation around their father’s legacy rather than closing it. The Rosenquist show is just one compelling moment in that dialogue. 2016-05-13 15:37 Kat Herriman
45 Inside the Warped Electronic Art Studio of Scott Kiernan Images courtesy the artist Tucked away in a Williamsburg studio, multimedia artist Scott Kiernan has for several years been creating an artistic corpus wherein words and found images—both still and moving —get funneled variously through analog or digital technologies, often back and forth between the two. The works find output in various media and tools—videotapes, algorithms, cassettes, cathode ray tubes, projectors, and printers, just to but name a few from Kiernan’s panoply of approaches. In addition to projects created under his own name, Kiernan operates E. S. P. TV alongside Victoria Keddie, a “nomadic TV studio” that, through various broadcasts collaborations, televises media art. Kiernan also recently directed a music video for Brooklyn duo Xeno & Oaklander’s track “Marble,” in which they “perform the labor of producing their own image” in a television studio. The studio, as Kiernan told NPR, is an image itself when made visible by the studio’s own lens. Late Metal (2015) from Scott Kiernan on Vimeo . What's apparent in visiting Kiernan’s studio, packed as it is with vintage audio, video, photography and print equipment, is that that are no set patterns. Kiernan regularly accumulates new tools to work with, allowing him to freely follow what is inarguably an electronic muse. The work usually begins with a concept that comes about by meditating on a found image, a turn of phrase or the way a word sounds, and so on. Kiernan then takes whatever media approach best suits the work. “Material things have a process of entropy and these immaterial things just change,” he adds, comparing physical objects, hardware and analogue media to computer software. “I work a lot of times with found images and other older things and kind of ping pong between them and try to play with that relationship.” Kiernan points to the recently finished book project titled Upland as emblematic of this ping- ponging approach between analogue and digital. Created in collaboration with Ethan Miller, it uses found image and headline pairings as they originally appeared in The Upland News (1969–72), a newspaper circular from the small Southern California town of Upland, with a hefty coupon section in the back, small-town stories, and the reportage to match. Upland Commercial from Scott Kiernan on Vimeo . With Upland , Kiernan and Miller sent the circular through an immaterial process before bringing it back into the material world again as a printed art book. The two did this by disfiguring and destroying The Upland News with Google’s Newspaper Project, which did the work for them with its compression algorithms and the physical speed of bulk-scanning fragile newsprint material. “It creates these visual collapses of foreground and background,” says Kiernan. “This paper stood out because of how odd and pointed the pairings were on their own when you removed them from the context of the news story.” “We assembled it by placing the captions in a list and forming a loose narrative of this place, Upland, as seen through this particular lens,” he adds. “The images then fell in line as they originally appear with the captions.” Monday Night Madness In another recent work, Late Metal , Kiernan creates something of a poem—in palindrome and anagram—for a time when he says consumer technology will have eroded speech. What is great about Late Metal is that it’s not only entrancing as poetry, but as sound and video art. Words appear on screen in an antiquated, analog way, with Kiernan giving them a sense of psychedelic motion, while electronic drones and other sounds percolate in the background. Kiernan did a lot of work on Late Metal at Signal Culture, an experimental video lab in Owego, New York. Kiernan compares it to the legendary, now-defunct Experimental Television Center, but insists it is very much its own thing. “When I first got in there, I saw the wobbulator, which bends a tube television’s images on an x-y- z axis through electronic impulses,” he says. “The first thing I thought was, well, I want to see text on there. And then since images can be doubled back on themselves or bent on these axes, they should be palindromic or anagrammatic.” CG CAT (2009) from Scott Kiernan on Vimeo . To input the words onto the wobbulator, Kiernan keyed them into a type generator. The visuals are a combination of found images Kiernan manipulated and ones he created live in his studio. To create the final product, Kiernan tweaked the wobbulator’s electronic impulses until he got what he wanted as far as depth and motion. But not all of Kiernan’s work is so notably analog. Back in 2009, he created the video CG CAT , in which he had a computer algorithm recite the letters of DNA strands (ACGT), then combined each with video of hands doing the American Sign Language symbol for each letter. Kiernan says that the computer didn’t actually recite the letters, but instead tried to read them phonetically as words, creating a “frantic double helix of sound, sign and human hands.” To listen to CG CAT is, in a very strange way, to trip out on sound. And, as Kiernan points out, the gestures and computerized voice start to seem vulgar—that is, once the viewer and listener begin to lose themselves in the multimedia experience. This byproduct of hidden meanings is a bit like the cut-up texts and audio recordings of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, who Kiernan considers critical influences. Entropic Door from Scott Kiernan on Vimeo . As one might imagine given the various modes of artistic output, Kiernan has several works in progress. One of them, inspired by Howard Rheingold’s Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology , will take Kiernan into the world of immersive reality. “True immersion seems like one thing where by its very nature would erase language,” Kiernan says. “The work I'm piecing together is a multi-channel video which pairs this with excerpts from early 1990s statements and treatises about ‘cyberspace.’ They claim an immateriality, denying the existence of bodies mostly for reasons of retaining control of information. The pairing of the two streams of text though is providing interesting juxtapositions.” Kiernan is also working on a series he calls, in a tongue in cheek fashion, “Action Paintings”— large inkjet prints on paintable, extruded vinyl wallpaper affixed to canvas. The wallpaper is a “paint splatter style” and the imagery printed on it is culled from found AP images of protesters being hit with water cannons. Click here to see more of Scott Kiernan’s work. Related: Lost Data, Neon Art, and Textiles Collide in an Electronic Art Exhibition 50 Years of Media Art Collide in 'Electronic Superhighway' Warhol Screen Tests: Even Better with Poetry 2016-05-13 15:30 DJ Pangburn
46 Airbnb's "Stolen" Logo: Successful Design Isn't Always Original, and That's OK Screenshots by Luis Carreño from trademarksandsymbols.com , via Originality has never been an ally to the 21st century, as music, movies, fashion and even art consistently come under fire as being nothing but recycled ideas. Spencer Chen, "startup personality" and marketing and business development VP for the Chinese online trading group Alibaba , thinks this is especially true in design, after he put out a tweet last month comparing the likenesses of modern company logos to those he found in a 1989 design book. Medium, Flipboard, Beats and Airbnb are among the business brands bearing similarities to illustrations in Yasaburo Kuwayama’s 1989 publication Trademarks & Symbols of the World: The Alphabet in Design , which is essentially a logo designer’s go-to dictionary. But what Chen’s pointed out about originality is certainly unoriginal. Resemblance between Airbnb’s 2014 logo and a symbol found in a decades old publication was ‘discovered’ in a Reddit post nearly a year ago and, interestingly enough, that logo was also criticized for being identical to the brand identity of software company Automation Anywhere. What Chen does bring up, though, is the role of design and the thought-processes behind making a logo, where designers will agree: nothing is original. “Logos can’t be too unique,” says Mike Hankin, product designer at London design company morrama . “Design is more of a science than an art. In the arts, you can constantly innovate and try out new things. Art, unlike design, doesn’t have a job to do.” Designers have clients who want to stand out and a logo’s role is to communicate a company’s values or a product’s intended purpose. Yet standing out too much in the saturated marketplace can result in something that’s disastrously uncomfortable or equally forgettable, like the design for the 2012 London Olympics , which was criticized for resembling a Nazi symbol. It's not like everyone loves Airbnb's logo , anyway. Hankin explains that logos tend to use commonly recognized design cues because customers believe that their favorite brands share the same values and beliefs. It's these logos that represent those values in drawings. “Think about a map pin icon,” he says. “Everyone uses it without any outrage or accusations of stealing. This is because it’s an instantly recognizable and understandable symbol so why wouldn’t we use it?” Hankin also says that logos can have a “trend cycle,” and in 2016, that means less is more. “That is inherently limiting,” he tells The Creators Project. “In logo design there are only so many lines that you can use in only so many positions before you cross from the safe minimal, flat and— dare I say— trendy design, into the tacky, bubble written, 3D effect rainbow world of the late 90s and early 00s design.” The minimalist logo design, where companies are recognized by mere shapes, is now seen across the board, such as Instagram ’s new logo, released on Wednesday of this week. Long before Kuwayama’s book, the stripped-back trend can be traced back to the 1960s and German industrial designer Dieter Rams, known for his work with product company Braun and his innovative approach to design. Apple, a company with one of the most successfully branded logo and products, has drawn a lot of its inspiration from the work of Rams. “It’s reasonable to assume that what was genuinely good design 50 years ago is still good design today,” says Hankin. When it comes to logo design, originality is no measure of success—but the ability to monopolize an industry with just a few lines definitely is. No matter how many aspects are borrowed, getting that logo formula right is much like a DJ sampling and justly requires its own unique creative thought process. “Artists’ ideas don’t exist yet,” says Hankin. “They build up and create to get to their new idea. For designers and miners, our ideas are already there all around us. We just have to chisel away until we find it and the better we are at mining the more polished we can get our idea. Maybe two designers just happened to find the same idea.” How do you weigh in on the latest design-troversy? Read Trademarks & Symbols of the World: The Alphabet in Design here , and let us know on Instagram or Twitter . Related: Election 2016: Here's Why Design Matters How Design Could Change the Refugee Crisis Why Building a Smart Design Portfolio Is Everything 2016-05-13 13:50 Catherine Chapman
47 Sexier Than City Buses: Allen Jones at Michael Werner Gallery, New York Allen Jones, Male Female Diptych , 1965, oil on canvas. HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON D. C. I n the 1960s, Allen Jones discovered that women garner more attention than do city buses, a revelation that would go on to define his entire career. One of the original British Pop artists, Jones first took London buses as his subject, painting them on variously shaped canvases. Upon moving to Manhattan, however, he became intrigued by fetishistic illustrations he saw of pinup girls from the 1940s and 1950s, and by the idea of creating overtly erotic objects of male desire. Jones’s current retrospective at Michael Werner Gallery captures his play on medium, featuring sculptures poised, tableaux-like, against a painted background scene and paintings that remain two-dimensional but for the breasts of the women depicted. The women—whether in 2- or 3-D—all have similar bodies: slim, with well-defined muscles and extremely perky breasts and bottoms. All are white. One painting, titled Ovation (2010), depicts a woman in a sheer blue dress, standing before an audience of sculpted male heads that stand out, lustfully, in a sea of fiery red and orange. But the back of the woman’s skirt is missing, allowing the viewer—although not the men in front of her—to glimpse her shapely limbs and blue thong, while the men in the audience see only an icy woman in blue. Allen Jones, Curious Woman , 1964–65, oil, plaster, and epoxy resin on wood. PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW YORK The works depict exclusively male fantasies—one shows an Adonis-like man lifting a naked woman on his shoulders in what appears to be an orgiastic waterfall scene. The women, who appear too confident in their sexual allure to care that they are being watched, are the ostensible subjects of the works. But the viewer, the voyeur, is not so much observing the women as he is looking at the men looking at the women. In one painting, Bra-La-La (1974), the only visible face is that of a reptilian man, who, in turn, is watching a woman undress through a window. One fiberglass sculpture, Cover Story (2015), comprises only the front half of a woman’s body, with straps attached to the back, as though intended to be worn. Another sculpture, Artisan I (1988), which is deconstructed in a vaguely Cubist style, depicts a man whose left half is obliquely twisted from the waist down, giving the impression of auto-fellatio. The works in the show are, in essence, about how sexual desire, like all desire, is engaged in a battle between who we are and how we like to see ourselves. The “we,” of course, represents only men. Absent from this retrospective are any works from Jones’s infamous “Human Furniture” series, which consists of sculptures of women folded and contorted into, well, human furniture. In the 1970s, Jones received a call from film director Stanley Kubrick, who had seen Jones’s “Human Furniture” series and thought the images perfect decoration for his upcoming project, the purposefully violent and misogynistic A Clockwork Orange. Because Kubrick offered him no more than a credit line, Jones refused. Kubrick, with the help of a set designer, ended up nearly replicating Jones’s work anyway. The pieces were appropriate for the movie, only because the figures of women functioned quite literally as props supporting a greater point about representations of violence themselves breeding violence. These works do little more than grant heterosexual men insight into their own psyches. As for women, the art merely reinforces the time-honored belief that they exist only for the benefit of men. 2016-05-13 13:28 Hannah Ghorashi
48 Warhol Museum Acquires Do It Yourself Work The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has announced the acquisition of a major new addition: Do It Yourself (Sailboat) from Warhol's "Do It Yourself" series. First exhibited at the Stable Gallery in 1962, the painting represents a key moment in Warhol's career, a reaction against the then-reigning style of Abstract Expressionism and a presentation of painting in the context of mass media, anticipating the Pop style that would make him a superstar. Do It Yourself (Sailboat) is one of a five-part series made in 1962, around the same time Warhol painted 32 Campbell's soup cans, and about two years before he moved into his first "Factory. " When he created the series, the artist was moving out of drawing and hand-painting, and just beginning to experiment with silkscreens and stencils. Based on the mass-produced model of instructional paint-by-numbers kits, the series also features a violin, land- and seascapes, and flowers. (The other works are located in European institutions, save for one in a private collection.) In a review of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art's 2002 "Warhol: A Retrospective," Irit Krygier wrote for artnet Magazine that the Do It Yourself series is "a revelation, and show Warhol's development into a fully formed Pop artist. " The museum's new acquisition is a sparse composition, with a deep blue sky and purple-accented clouds outlining the rest of the mostly- blank page, dotted with numbers signifying spaces left unpainted. For an artist who worked so often in large series, this small run is understandably desirable. The painting was acquired via a trade of various de-accessioned works with dealer Larry Gagosian, who, according to the New York Times , approached the museum, knowing that it had long sought one of the DIY paintings. Paint by numbers, a phenomenon noticed by Warhol early on in its grip on the public, has today been usurped by the popular, and controversial , trend of stress-relieving adult coloring books . Do It Yourself (Sailboat) will be on view at the Andy Warhol Museum beginning June 28, 2016. Follow artnet News on Facebook . 2016-05-13 12:44 Alyssa Buffenstein
49 Meera Menezes Creates An Almost Complete Picture of The Artist We Didn’t Know Much About Related Artists Vasudeo S Gaitonde Krishen Khanna Ram Kumar Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924-2001) was always a genius to his friends, peers, and true connoisseurs of art, right from the time he burst on the art scene as a professional. That was long before the international auction circuit re-discovered him in the last of couple of years, sending the prices of his canvases soaring to levels never achieved before by any Indian work of art, and making him the most valued Indian artist today. In the current re-appraisal of Gaitonde’s work, the retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, from October 2014 to February 2015, has been an important landmark. A catalogue and public programs around the exhibition, organized by Sandhini Poddar, Adjunct Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, added a wealth of information and knowledge on the artist, who passed away just before Indian art found its sweet spot on the market. Considering that Gaitonde spent the last phase of his life rather as a recluse due to various reasons, there isn’t enough information available on him in public domain, compared to say, on M. F. Husain, F. N. Souza, or S. H. Raza, for instance. There has always been, therefore, a rather gaping vacuum on Gaitonde that has prevented a complete image of the man and the artist from being constructed in popular imagination. While the Guggenheim publication did help initiate a construction of Gaitonde’s personality, there still remained space for a more comprehensive, more definitive account of the man, to know what he was like, to know where he came from, what informed his art, what made him a genius, what made him a dear friend, what he liked, what he didn’t, and so much more. Meera Menezes’ magnum opus, “Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude,” conceptualized by Jesal Thacker, seems like just the right key one needs to unlock the life of Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, an artist one needs to know enough about to have any understanding of the making and fruition of Modern Indian art. It’s a massive work with reams of research, never-before-seen photographs, and letters he exchanged with his friends; these create the visual imagery of the artist, his life and his work with a sensitivity that is an absolute-must in a project of this nature. While browsing through the humungous book, I had a feeling that this is exactly what I had been hoping to read and re-read to satisfy my thirst on Gaitonde’s life. Who was he? Why did a Bombay man shift to Delhi in the latter part of his life? Why do we know so little about him? Why was his art so different from what was being done in the fresh flush of Independence by newbie artists swelling with pride at the country’s freedom? What is it about his art that is so captivating, even if you don’t have the bandwidth to know that the earlier works were inspired by Paul Klee’s oeuvre and the latter, non-objective (as he called it) works by Zen Buddhism? Menezes book, has so far, answered all of these questions in my mind, and many more that is beyond the purview of this piece to dwell upon. The book also gave me a feel that it must have been a difficult work to put together. When I pose that question to Menezes later, she responds, “Absolutely, it was difficult. I had nothing but my interview with him in 1997 to begin with.” Menezes, a young journalist apparently with great foresight on art that was yet to be tested then, set out to do an interview with Gaitonde in late 1990s, purely on instinct. She had seen the artist’s work and had connected with it at some level. “I just knew it was exceptional. And knew that I wanted to interview him,” she recalls, adding with a laugh after a pause, “On hindsight, it was, perhaps, foresight!” Of course, she didn’t know then that nearly 20 years later, she would go on to do a book on him. “The book was in the works for some time, certainly before the Guggenheim show. It was difficult to bring all the pieces together as he himself is not around to corroborate anything,” shares Menezes. But she researched so much, and so well, that she felt bogged down by facts at a certain point. Going by the way text has been handled in the book, and spread evenly across sections, Menezes seems to have done justice to the creation of Gaitonde’s life; she has constructed a profound life of the artist whose art was equally rich and deep. The most fascinating thing about the book is that it begins with the beginning — with the roots of the Gaitonde family of Goa that moved to Mumbai, Bombay then, and the boy of the family who always knew he wanted to draw and paint. Menezes’ text starts floating like a narrative in a film as one flips through the pages that carry sepia pictures of the family’s ancestral home in Goa, to the cool corridors of Sir JJ School of Art — Gaitonde’s alma mater — evocatively patterned with sun beams. The pictures of the artist on field trips with classmates to various places in India show a young man with an unmissable swag — confidence certainly without arrogance — that is evident in the way he holds the cigarette between his fingers while pouring over a fellow student’s art work. Fast forward to the later years of his life, the images and tales of his days at his barsati in Nizamuddin East are endearing, and terribly moving is the story of how he was knocked down by a speeding motorist somewhere outside India International Centre in New Delhi that gave him a disability by tilting his neck at an uncomfortable angle for the rest of his life. “It was difficult to get detailed information on this accident as not much is there on record. For this, like for most other things, I turned to his friend Krishen Khanna to recount facts,” shares Menezes. Extremely heart-warming are the anecdotes of friendship that Gaitonde shared with Krishen Khanna , Ram Kumar , Arun Vadehra and a few others, people who always knew he was a genius, who stood by him and who also helped Menezes reconstruct the life of the man they knew as Gai. Quite a few of the letters that these friends wrote to each other have been reproduced, giving rare insights into the minds and hearts of these very famous men. The book, published by the Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation with the support of the Raza Foundation, will always remain integral to any story on Gaitonde worth telling. Follow@ARTINFOIndia 2016-05-13 12:25 Archana Khare
50 The Challenge of Explaining How to Edit Movies Screencap via A friend of mine once said a film has three writers: the screenwriter, the director, and the editor. He's primarily an editor, so he's definitely biased, but it rings true; it doesn't matter how well-shot a film is if it's cut carelessly. Film essayist and editor Tony Zhou, known for his highly engaging Every Frame a Painting series, put together a rather meta short called How Does an Editor Think and Feel? that analyzes what exactly goes down in an editing suite. It turns out, this is harder to explain than you might think. "Like a lot of editors, I cut based on instinct," Zhou says in the beginnng of the film. Nevertheless he tries, like many artists before him, to explain this instinct in layman's terms throughout the nine-minute video. And he largely succeeds! It's a compelling series of concepts, dissected scenes, and quotes from great editors that boils down to one thing: rhythm. "Editing is 70% about rhythm," says Walter Murch, legendary editor of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 war epic Apocalpyse Now. Zhou describes different types of rhythms, both obvious and subtle, but continues to cite emotions as the editor's true guide. "If you watch anything over and over again, you eventually feel the moment the shot wants you to cut," he says. Ultimately, rhythm is a vehicle for translating the emotions imagined by the screenwriter, elicited by the directors, and actualized by the actors into a cohesive story. It's hard to explain because it's not something that can be explained. It's like trying to explain painting, or flowers, or Zhou's example, dancing. It must be practiced, in person, by a body and a brain. Check out How Does an Editor Think and Feel? in full below . See more of Tony Zhou's videos on his YouTube channel . Related: Storytelling 101 from the Work of Looney Tunes Director Chuck Jones Why Buster Keaton's the OG of Physical Comedy Here's the Secret to the Coen Brothers' Masterful Dialogue 2016-05-13 12:20 Beckett Mufson
51 A Modernist Cinema's Architecture Is Reworked into Filmic Collages Laurence Kavanagh, 21.3.2016, 2016. Paper, black carbon, giclée print, 96 x 118 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary. Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May – 18 June 2016, marlboroughcontemporary.com. When you watch a film at the theater, it's not just the movie that can have an impact, but the building you watch it in, too. Multiplexes have their own junkspace vibe, but there was also a post-war boom of art deco and modernist style buildings that survive as art house cinemas. Artist Laurence Kavanagh 's latest exhibition March , currently on at Marlborough Contemporary in London, is an architectural, material, and filmic exploration of one such cinema: London's Curzon Mayfair, a Grade II-listed building built in the 1960s—it replaced the previously demolished original Curzon Mayfair built in 1934—which was designed in the modernist style by H. G. Hammond. "What fascinated me about this cinema is that the building was designed to be like a film as the various surfaces and facades shift, move and reflect as you pass through the building," Kavanagh tells The Creators Project. "An example would be the outside of the building has a façade made of black marble. This semi- reflective surface mirrors the movement of the surrounding city, in doing so inverting the usual way we experience cinema when we sit in a darkened auditorium to watch moving images. " Installation View, Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May - 18 June 2016, courtesy the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, London. For the show Kavanagh has created a series of collages using digital and manual techniques, which involved taking casts from various architectural details from the building and taking rubbings of various surfaces, like the marble, mirrors, and tiles. These were taken by hand using a single sheet of paper, Kavanagh refers to these traces as an "indexical link" to the cinema. "This paper is then used to form objects and images based on my memory of films shown at the cinema," Kavanagh explains. "Photographs of these paper forms are taken and passed into Photoshop, and then printed. The print is then reinserted back into the original single sheet of paper to make the final piece of artwork. " The resulting artworks are like visual, fragmentary memories of the building and its usage, combining both its function, the cinematic content, and the physical surroundings to create surreal impressions and subconsciousness reflections. "Recording the Curzon Mayfair cinema in this highly layered way results in a single still-framed artwork," notes Kavanagh. "Spending time looking at the artwork reveals these layers. As the pleats, folds and cuts emerge through this process of looking, the still image is animated. Once animated, the artwork opens up our relationship to materials and images found both in the city around us and within the screens we look into. " Laurence Kavanagh,17.3.2016, 2016. Paper, graphite, giclée print, 100 x 92.5 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, London. Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May – 18 June 2016, marlboroughcontemporary.com Laurence Kavanagh, 12.3.2016, 2016. Paper, black carbon, giclée print, 105.5 x 138.5 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, London. Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May – 18 June 2016, marlboroughcontemporary.com Laurence Kavanagh, Calendar (31.3.2016), 2016. Paper, black carbon, giclée print, 75.2 x 92.5 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, London. Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May – 18 June 2016, marlboroughcontemporary.com Laurence Kavanagh, 10.3.2016, 2016. Paper, graphite, giclée print, 105.5 x 137.5 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, London. Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May – 18 June 2016, marlboroughcontemporary.com Laurence Kavanagh, 03.3.2016, 2016. Paper, graphite, giclée print, 105.5 x 139 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, London. Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May – 18 June 2016, marlboroughcontemporary.com Laurence Kavanagh working at Curzon Mayfair , London, Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, London. Laurence Kavanagh, March, Marlborough Contemporary, 11 May – 18 June 2016, marlboroughcontemporary.com Laurence Kavanagh's March is on May 11 to June 18, 2016 at Marlborough Contemporary, 6 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BY. Click here to learn more. A Melancholy Tale About the Father of Cinema, Eadweard Muybridge That Time Dalí and Disney Made a Film... Tintype Photographs Yearn for the Analog Days | Not Dead Yet 2016-05-13 12:15 Kevin Holmes
Total 51 articles. Created at 2016-05-14 12:14