Posts Tagged ‘art’

LA///OPENINGS///”NEW WORKS BY ALBERT REYES & ANDREAS GUERRERO” AT SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS

February 8th, 2010

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Shepard Fairey took a break from the turntables to hang with Weezer’s Brian Bell, while beauty echoed beauty elsewhere in the gallery…

SHEPARD FAIREY’s Echo Park hotspot, SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS played host to the opening of a show of new works by comrades-in-arms ANDREAS GUERRERO and ALBERT REYES on Saturday nite, proving to be the undisputed bright spot of an otherwise gloomy weekend in the Southland. Showcasing his typical demented teenage Hessian detention room drawing style, Reyes produced an unfailingly funny array of new offerings and prints featuring subjects as diverse as Obama, Ghandi, Woody Allen, and Iron Maiden muse Eddie. Guerrero, conversely, consturcted much of his skull-centric imagery from layers of collaged currency which appeared to be angular homages to Damien Hirst’s Calavera spin paintings. Above all, the show proved that Subliminal’s dedication to presenting good emerging art at great prices will make it one of the last galleries standing when this bleak economic crisis finally runs its long, dark, demonic course. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

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POSTED BY J O'Shea/Editor

NYC///MUST SEE: KEITH HARING’S 1985 MURAL FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY CARE CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO

February 8th, 2010

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By now everyone’s aware of the impending closing of SoHo’s legendary DEITCH PROJECTS on June 1st when JEFFREY DEITCH assumes the helm as Director of MOCA in LA. That doesn’t mean the gallery will be slacking in the meantime. Currently on display at the massive Wooster Street location until February 16th is KEITH HARING’s  70-foot-long mural painted in 1985 for the gym of the South of Market Childcare Center (SOMACC), a non-profit childcare center that serves pre-school children from the SOMA neighborhood in San Francisco. The mural is one of 16 public works painted at hospitals and children’s centers around the world during the artist’s lifetime. Painted in one day, the mural incorporates cartoon characters and animals inspired by the artist’s childhood drawings. When SOMACC lost its lease and moved to a new location in September 2006, the mural was dismantled and is now on view for the first time outside of San Francisco.

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ORIGINAL SF MURAL INSTALLATION SHOTS:
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POSTED BY J O'Shea/Editor

LA///THE WEEKEND ART BEAT

February 6th, 2010

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Our friends at SOUR HARVEST have provided this weekend’s lineup of must-see shows in the Southland:

Sat, Feb. 6th 8-11PM
Merry Karnowsky Gallery
170 South La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles / 323.933.4408
‘She Wolves’ featuring new works from Miss Van + ‘Strange Fruit’ featuring new works from Victor Castillo
(On view through March 6th)
www.mkgallery.com

Sat, Feb. 6th 8-11PM
Subliminal Projects
1331 W. Sunset Blvd in the EchoPark region of Los Angeles
New works from Albert Reyes & Andres Guerrero at Shepard Fairey’s personal gallery
(On view through March 6th)
www.subliminalprojects.com

Sat, Feb. 6th 6-10PM
Copro Gallery
2525 Michigan Ave, Space T5 in Bergamot Station in Santa Monica
Closing reception for ‘Desensitized’ featuring new works from Brian Viveros and Dan Quintana with a live performance from The Billy Bones
www.coprogallery.com

Sat, Feb. 6th 7-11PM (with a special Zombie walk at 6:20PM)
Gallery Nucleus
210 E. Main St., Alhambra / 626.458.7482
‘Zombies In Love’ group show featuring works from Yoko d’Holbachie, Junko Mizuno, Jonathan Wayshak, Scott C., Mindy Lee, Kevin Dart, Ippei Gyoubu, Edith Abeyata, Anna Chambers, and many more + tons of Zombie goodness going off throughout the evening including a Zombie walk near the gallery before the event kicks off, signings, contests, and more – check their site for full details and lineup
(On view through Feb. 22nd)
www.gallerynucleus.com

Sat, Feb. 6th 8PM-12:30AM ($8 at the door)
Hive Gallery
729 S. Spring St in downtown Los Angeles
Monthly group show with featured artists Eric Vasquez, Michael Pukac, Andrea Shear, Jessica Ward and Mikolaj Wyszynski with performances from live acts and resident DJs and more
www.thehivegallery.com

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POSTED BY J O'Shea/Editor

TOYBOX///THE TERRY RICHARDSON TOY HAS ARRIVED

February 5th, 2010

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Usually Terry keeps the camera pointed the other way…

Yes, we at Supertouch are known to grind on and on about how dead-in-the-ground the vinyl toy world is these days, but every once in a while a toy comes along that restores our faith in the medium. Today, that toy is the TERRY RICHARDSON figure by upstart toymakers UNCLE YORK for Parisian culture boutique COLETTE (we woulda bought a Terry x Michael Lau toy ages ago but they never got made). Available in red or blue trademark flannel, the must-have piece don’t come cheap at $200 USD, but it sure beats the other junk on the shelves…

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The Big O gives his seal of approval…

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POSTED BY J O'Shea/Editor

AFGHANISTAN///AUSTRALIAN VIDEO ARTIST SHAUN GLADWELL BECOMES A WAR ARTIST ON THE FRONT LINES

February 4th, 2010

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Shaun Gladwell gets a firsthand lesson in the art of war…

Australian experimental film director and Supertouch buddy SHAUN GLADWELL has just returned from a tour in Afghanistan as an official “War Artist” drawing inspiration for a new body of work from the action on the front lines. Of particular interest to Gladwell were the experiences of the individual fighters, whose emotional states informed his experience: “I wasn’t interested in photographing sensitive material, in terms of the technology or weapons,” he informed THE ART NEWSPAPER. “My interest was really the experience of the soldier as a thinking and feeling subject. I’m interested in how bodies move through space and the capacity of bodies to perform in certain situations. Particularly how it relates to landscape. These are issues I’m always interested in. That informed the way I was dealing with that experience in Afghanistan. But I didn’t try and direct anything.”

SHAUN GLADWELL ON LIFE IN AFGHANISTAN
The Australian artist’s three-week sojourn with troops will form basis of new work

By Elizabeth Fortescue | The Art Newspaper

SYDNEY. Shaun Gladwell, the Australian multimedia artist who represented his country at the 2009 Venice Biennale, and who has just returned from being an official war artist in Afghan istan, told The Art Newspaper that his experiences were “inspirational” and will inform his next body of work.

Gladwell was speaking on his return from Oruzgan province, where he lived and worked for three weeks alongside Aus tralian soldiers in October 2009. He says he will spend the next six months in his Sydney studio, working to “digest” his experiences while in the field. “I’m cherishing [the trip], and starting to analyse what’s taken place at this particular time,” he said.

Before settling back into his studio to work with the raw photo graphs and moving images he shot in Afghanistan, Gladwell returned to Venice to pack up his Biennale work—a video series titled MADDESTMAXIMVS—Planet & Stars Sequence, 2009, set partly in the Australian outback. Gladwell said it had been a long-held ambition to undertake a tour of duty with Australian fighting forces, stemming from the stories his father had told him about being a soldier in the Vietnam War. Click HERE to continue reading…

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DAMIEN HIRST MARKS THE “END OF AN ERA” AT GAGOSIAN NYC

February 4th, 2010

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ST buddies Damien, Hacula, Terry Richardson, and our beloved John Waters at the fete. Flix by AA

Our friends at ART IN AMERICA covered the scene well at the opening of DAMIEN HIRST’s “End of an Era” show (so named because supposedly it’s the last time his formaldahyde pieces will be shown) at GAGOSIAN’s Madison Ave. gallery, but the NEW YORK OBSERVER did a good job summing up the show quite nicely:

IS THIS THE END OF A DAMIEN HIRST ERA?
By Alex Taylor | New York Observer  Feb 2, 2010

It’s time we had a talk about Damien Hirst. I know, I know. Mr. Hirst, who was born in 1965 and came to prominence in the London art scene of the late 1980s as the first among equal of the Young British Artists, has for so long been ascending to the kind of fame perversely reserved for artists of maximum visibility and a minimum of formal skills that the mere mention of his name may prompt a fatigued groan even among the most detached museum-goer. That guy? Again? So what’d he do now? Mr. Hirst has been such a big player in art during the last decade and a half—everything from its calculated affronts and controversies to its biennial boom to the explosion in cost-and-scale: in short, the very market mechanism itself. If you are one of those people who don’t particularly like contemporary art or disagreed with the Met’s decision to display Mr. Hirst’s dead shark for three years, you probably think Mr. Hirst has a lot to answer for. This thought was occasioned by Hirst’s current show at the uptown Gagosian Gallery, which runs until March 6. “End of an Era,” its called. And the title feels just about right. Click HERE to continue reading…

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NEWS///SHEPARD FAIREY TO RELEASE HAITI CHARITY POSTER

February 4th, 2010

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ST buddy SHEPARD FAIREY has teamed up with his STUDIO NUMBER ONE (creaters of the “Hope For Haiti” CD cover) designers CLEON PETERSON and CASEY RYDER to create a new poster for HAITI relief based on a photo by TAO RUSPOLI. The $50 signed and numbered edition goes on sale at an unannounced time on Friday, February 5th at Obeygiant.com, with all proceeds from the sales going to ARTISTS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE:

“Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), established in early 2009, is a fundraising effort founded by Paul Haggis and friends that encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty and enfranchisement in communities around the world. Over the past year, APJ has directed its efforts to raising enough funds to fully sponsor three schools in Haiti in support of the initiatives of Father Rick Frechette and his team. These schools aren’t just a place to learn but provide for a hot meal, clean water and a chance at the future to children who desperately need it. Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, APJ has focused its efforts on raising much needed dollars for emergency aid in the ravaged country that is only a few hours from our shores.”
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KEHINDE WILEY UNVEILS HIS “AFRICAN UNITY” PUMA COLLABORATION FOR WORLD CUP 2010

February 3rd, 2010

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Kehinde celebrates the glory of African football without breaking a sweat…

Gearing up for the massive global throwdown that is WORLD CUP, fashion sportswear brand PUMA has teamed up with KEHINDE WILEY in a poignant celebration of African football. The company sponsors a total of 12 African teams, four of which have qualified for the World Cup being held this year in South Africa. Wiley created portraits of three Puma-sponsored football stars; Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboué of Ivory Coast with each player wearing their national team kits.

A fourth “Unity” Portrait was painted with all three players together, symbolizing the united countries of Africa. The players’ pose was inspired by a pendant Wiley discovered while touring the Continent. In the “Unity” Portrait, the players are wearing the Puma Unity Kit, a limited edition uniform designed to be a third kit shared by all African teams, symbolizing greater African unity. The brown pigment in the kit is a customized Pantone created by mixing actual soil samples from four different African nations—Ghana, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire and Mozambique. The brown to blue color gradient represents the soil to the sky progression. In each portrait, Wiley captures the essence of each player using the rich heritage, customs and people of Africa as inspiration.

The individual portraits, measuring 5 feet by 6 feet and the “Unity” portrait measuring 9 feet by 12 feet, were unveiled in Berlin on January, 20 2010. The portraits will then travel as an exhibition beginning in February to Paris, London, New York, Beijing and Milan, ending in South Africa in June for the World Cup.

Born in Los Angeles to an African American mother and a Nigerian father, Wiley describes his relationship with Africa as “one of searching and longing.” Kehinde, which means “second born of twins” in Yoruba, grew up without knowing his father and curiosity led him to Nigeria at the age of 20 to retrace his roots. Upon meeting his father, Wiley completed a series of portraits of him, and later, in 2007, returned to Africa to compile a body of work entitled “The World Stage: Africa Lagos-Dakar,” which was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Kehinde’s distinctive patterns (taken from local African sources) will appear in Puma’s Spring/Summer 2010 Africa lifestyle collection of apparel, footwear and accessories. The Seven graphic patterns from Wiley’s existing work are integrated throughout the bright, bold, color-blocking patterns of the collection, including a limited edition Kehinde Wiley football boot. HAVE A LOOK:

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ITALY///NEWS///LANCE ARMSTRONG PUTS HIS CUSTOM SHEPARD FAIREY “DAILY DRIVER” TREK ART BIKE TO WORK IN THE GIRO D’ ITALIA

May 11th, 2009

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Supertouch buddy LANCE ARMSTRONG has added his custom SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK Madone cycle into rotation as he rides in the 100th edition of the legendary GIRO D’ITALIA race in support of teammate LEVI LEIPHEIMER. With a matching Shepard Fairey-designed brain bucket to boot, Lance is sporting a coordinated ensemble that even Bruno would give an enthusiastic “Ach ja.”

*Watch live feed of the Giro daily HERE

ITALY///GIRO’S NEW SHEPARD FAIREY HELMET FOR LANCE ARMSTRONG’S RUN IN THE GIRO D’ITALIA

May 6th, 2009

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As if LANCE ARMSTRONG’s Supertouch-curated custom SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK MADONE road cycle wasn’t enough to snap necks at this month’s GIRO D’ITALIA race, helmet company GIRO has just created a matching lid to up the ante. Incorporating swaths of graphics from Shep’s race bike the helmet might just see the light of day on store shelves as an incredibly limited-edition run with proceeds from sales going to benefit LIVESTRONG. Keep an eye on ST for more updates in the coming week, including the chance to win one of the coveted brain buckets…

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Where your brain could end up without one of these lids…

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Features

MOCA’S “COLLECTION: THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS” PROVES THE MUSEUM SHOULD BE AROUND FOR 30 MORE

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Despite MOCA’s financial woes of late and near collapse last year amid the chaos of the economic holocaust, the veritable Southland institution seems on to a bright future now, having secured ST buddy JEFFREY DEITCH as its new director (starting June 1) and financial security (for the moment). If ever there was a time to celebrate, it is now. HAVE A LOOK:

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FEATURE///IN THE STUDIO WITH SHEPARD FAIREY AS HE PREPARES FOR DEITCH GALLERY’S CLOSING SHOW

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By now it’s no secret that JEFFREY DEITCH is closing shop in downtown NYC to head West for the sunnier confines of the MoCA Director’s office, starting June 1st. That leaves SHEPARD FAIREY’s upcoming portrait show as the farewell exhibition at one of the city’s most legendary and influential commercial art institutions in the city’s history.

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UKRAINE///FIRST LOOK: DAMIEN HIRST’S “REQUIEM” CAREER RETROSPECTIVE AT THE PINCHUK ART CENTER

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Last weekend saw the DAMIEN HIRST’s first grand spectacle of 2009 when his daunting career retrospective “Requiem” opened at the PINCHUK ART CENTER in the unlikely city of Kiev, Ukraine. Not exactly known as an epicenter of fine art (unless you count the Ukrainian girls, that is), resident steel billionaire and obsessed Hirst collector VICTOR PINCHUK aims to change that by launching the epic visual spectacle that includes over 100 works (a vast amount of which came from Pinchuk’s private collection) by the British artist from 1998 – 2008 in his own privately funded art palace that holds the title as the largest private museum in the former Soviet Union. The fact that this grandiose show of power comes at a time when…

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NEWS///RIP///IN LOVING MEMORY OF PHOTOGRAPHER SHAWN MORTENSEN 1966—2009

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It is truly with a heavy heart that we must break the news that one of Supertouch’s dear friends, photographer SHAWN MORTENSEN, passed away last nite. A kinetic force of optimism and seemingly limitless positive energy, Shawn’s hearty career as a photojournalist and artist took him around the world several times over, unselfishly spreading his endless supply of good vibes as he went. Particularly renowned for his portraits of musicians, artists, and entertainers, Shawn photographed a stunning array of pop culture demigods in his 20+ year career including…

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BEVERLY HILLS///JOHN WATERS BRINGS “REAR PROJECTION” TO HOLLYWOOD

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As a director of some of the most acclaimed highbrow B-movies of all time, Supertouch amigo JOHN WATERS needs no further introduction. Quietly working the night shift as a fine artist for years now, the Baltimore-bound obsessive’s hard work has finally landed him a spot in the most hallowed hall of the modern art world, namely, the GAGOSIAN GALLERY, where the artist’s solo “Rear Projection” show opened to a throng of Hollywood players, weirdos, fanboys and girls, and well-wishing lookie-loos on Saturday nite. Comprised largely of C-prints of photos Waters has taken of TV screens bearing his favorite stills from movies of all kinds, the works pulse with the raw humor and dry wit that is Waters’ hallmark…

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