Opening this Saturday nite, January 10th is the debut of tag team street art duo & vandal squad most wanted list members PORK & SPAM’s “Monsterheaven” exhibition at Supertouch’s official NYC enclave FUSE GALLERY. Peep the details, and don’t be late:
“Contradicting the dark cavernous environment in which Fuse Gallery sits, Monsterheaven, a site-specific installation, serves as a ‘heavenly niche.’ Using satire to explore the tension between beauty and horror, a maze of plywood clouds hangs from the ceiling with seemingly evil yet playful creatures interspersed. Creating a sensation of looking down from the heavens, many small stencil and collage works hang below eye level on the wall while other three dimensional works and video scatter the floor. A harp plays in the corner while an ambient mix of divine chanting and growls is overheard throughout. PORK and SPAM rob horror of its power through humor, finding the sublime median between darkness and levity, blending the beautiful and the banal in this dark depiction of life’s comedy.” HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Undoubtedly, a legion of young hipsters, streetwear fashionistas, and luxury goods junkies would be left scratching their heads in bewilderment if pressed to elaborate on the legacy of STEPHEN SPROUSE. Luckily, the legendary downtown art shrine known as DEITCH PROJECTS, in collaboration with Parisian luxury brand LOUIS VUITTON has provided an immersive introduction to the late artist’s indelible legacy in the form of their epic “Rock on Mars” retrospective exhibition that opened its doors to a cadre of NYC’s illuminati last nite. A pioneering designer who cut his teeth in the fertile late ’70s & early ’80s downtown scene (his earliest client was downstairs neighbor Debbie Harry), Sprouse daringly infused day-glo graphic elements of crucial counterculture scenes like graffiti, punk, and hippies into an array of groundbreaking and always rock-centric fashion statements over the course of his roughly 20 year career. Forever plagued by soaring highs and crushing financial lows, the designer was rescued from the brink of obscurity by Marc Jacobs when the designer tapped him to create a new line of instantly sold-out designs for Louis Vuitton in 2001, effectively revitalizing his name in the process. Unfortunately, lung cancer would claim the Sprouse’s life in 2004 exactly at the precipice of a major comeback that would never be. Funded by Louis Vuitton as a grand homage to the oft-underappreciated visionary, the Deitch exhibition collected previously unshown fine artworks originally created by Sprouse for an unrealized show called “Rock on Mars,” with vintage fashion drawings and iconic clothing designs to provide the most comprehensive overview of the artist’s prodigious oeuvre ever assembled. Opening to the public this weekend, the show is the first must-see event of the New Year, shining a much-needed light on an otherwise gloomy art scene still coping with the “morning after” of 2008’s crippling economic collapse. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

On the heels of the epic celebration of the life of designer & artist STEPHEN SPROUSE that is “Rock on Mars” at NYC’s DEITCH PROJECTS, a barrage of new product is hitting the shelves commemorating the pioneering punk fashionista. Most crucial of these releases are two new retrospective books: The “Le Book” is a three-volume edition featuring rare snapshots and sketches (available in March), while the crucial “Stephen Sprouse” (Rizzoli Press) chronicles the artist’s life and creative career in exquisite detail with enough ’80s day-glo ink to burn your retinas out (available in February). Of course, a special-edition Sprouse graffiti covered edition is available exclusively at Louis Vuitton stores for a limited time. Which brings us to the high end of Sprouse’s product explosion in the form of a revamped collection of Sprouse designs for the Parisian luxury goods brand that single-handedly revitalized Sprouse’s career back in 2001 when LV designer Marc Jacobs tapped him to create a signature graffiti patter overprint that would prove to be a marketing coup for the company. Rolling out a host of Sprouse pieces, from classic Speedy bags to ballerina flats in new day-glo colorways (”You’re either going to love it or hate it. I’m fine with either reaction,” says Jacobs) LV presents a second installment of a must-have collection at an unfortunately precarious economic moment. Says Daniel Lalonde, president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America of the seemingly risky move: “I think we’ll be lucky if we have any stock left in the next month and a half.” The most pricey and coveted of LV’s offerings is a Stephen Sprouse graffiti skateboard housed a hard case LV monogram skateboard trunk in an edition of three at $8,250 each. Fittingly, the economic blow is softened by news that all proceeds will benefit Free Arts NYC, which provides underserved children throughout New York City with special arts programs. Vuitton is also making an undisclosed donation to the Sprouse Estate, as well as the Stephen Sprouse Memorial Scholarship Fund at the National Academy for Design. Meanwhile, crack open that LV wallet and HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, to take a killer funky 1970s kids show like the iconic ELECTRIC COMPANY and remake it as a pseudo R&B’d-out crap fest is quite the downer for a generation of ’70s kids with vivid memory banks. For those born after 1980, the show was like a Superfly version of Sesame Street starring Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman, among others, that implanted the sticky mojo of the era into the minds of impressionable young viewers in an epic & indelible way. Peep the difference:

THE ORIGINAL:



THE SHOCK OF THE NEW:

One of the Southland’s finest shows of the New Year is actually one that opened very quietly on the cusp of last year’s holiday season and probably got lost in the shuffle along the way. Simply put, YOSHITOMO NARA’s eponymous show of new paintings, drawings, and large scale sculpture at Culver City’s venerable BLUM & POE GALLERY is an incredible collection that locals should run, not walk, to see. Nestled among the artist’s trademark renderings of Keane-eyed boys and girls in a variety of media sits a full-scale prairie-style wild west wagon filled to the brim with drawings, canned food, and vintage tchotchkes as a centerpiece, succinctly exemplifying Nara’s fascination the West and all that it represents. Make no mistake; the show is a knockout on all fronts with Nara operating at the top of his game in all media, especially in a series of black & white drawings that exhibit some of his finest linework to date. A closing date of February 7th comes as a godsend indeed for his legion of fans who have yet to make the pilgrimage. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

KAWS hits the big time with Kanye in Times Square… 

It seems KAWS has finally hit the big time with his artwork for the special edition packaging of KANYE WEST’s new “808s & Heartbreak” album hitting Times Square this week. Based on a painting featured in KAWS’ recent NY show at GERING & LOPEZ GALLERY, the cover is available for a limited time on physical copies of the CD at select retailers.

Kanye’s special edition “808s & Heartbreak” cover…

KAWS’ original painting as shown at Gering & Lopez Gallery in November 2008…

Having opened its doors very quietly amidst the holiday meltdown that was December 2008, Supertouch buddy JEFF SOTO’s incredible “Turning in Circles” installation at the ultra-progressive RIVERSIDE ART MUSEUM should be considered a must-see show by SoCal locals with gas to burn (now that its only 2 bucks a gallon). Featuring an impressive body of new paintings with the focal point being a massive multi-dimensional face mask unlike anything Soto has created before, the show’s imagery focuses on the perilous state of the world as embodied by the wasted landscape of Southern California that permeates the majority of the Riverside-based artist’s visions. Simply put, it’s the finest work Soto has produced to date and easily one of the best Southland art shows in recent memory. Best of all, the work is all available for sale through BLK/MRKT GALLERY in Culver City at very affordable prices. Remember, 2009 is about buying young art, step to the plate, people. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Today the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY at the SMITHSONIAN announced it has officially acquired SHEPARD FAIREY’s large-scale fine art portrait of President Elect BARACK OBAMA as part of its permanent collection. Shepard’s massive mixed media image based on the artist’s ubiquitous campaign iconography was created for display at 2008’s DNC and the institution’s acquisition of the work makes it the first official portrait of the president-to-be, an incredibly historical moment in the realm of underground art. In an announcement today, National Portrait Gallery director Martin E. Sullivan declared that the Obama portrait was “an emblem of a significant election, as well as a new presidency.” Fittingly, the artwork is slated to go on display on January 20th, Inauguration Day. Speaking of Inauguration Day, Fairey was personally tapped by Obama to create a new poster commemorating the forthcoming occasion which officially released for sale today HERE. We’re not sure if buying an Obama poster officially counts as “economic stimulus” but it’s probably a good way to start.

Shepard’s Obama portrait on display at the DNC in 2008…

The First Artist-to-be with wifie Amanda and the Big O…