My journey took me from midtown Manhattan to the steel mills surrounding Pittsburgh, then the museums in our nation’s capital, down the Appalachian mountains to the bayous of the Gulf Coast and brass bands of New Orleans, up to the soaring towers of Chicago, the urban ruins of Detroit, the vineyards of southern Ontario, across the Great Plains into the high mesas of northern New Mexico, the art murals of Albuquerque, and finally into the palm deserts of Los Angeles.
We are living in our own reality shows. Those of us who are spending more and more time on social media, or on blogs, regularly updating our “friends” about our daily activities know the feeling. And, since these new media companies are owned and controlled by corporations, these reality shows of ours are ultimately as problematic as any on the Bravo TV network.
I sit down with my laptop in a quiet, central Brooklyn café, not far from Prospect Park on a slightly overcast day in August to interview the mysterious Parisian street artist Princess Hijab. I order a San Pellegrino with lime; she abstains from any snacks or beverages. Despite the time difference from France, she’s alert and ready to engage with me. I go into the interview knowing how she guards her anonymity, and the concrete details of her identity remain elusive — this is an email interview after all.
Nate Hill is at a crossroads. After a series of performances steeped in childhood imagery, he’s ready for something new. For an artist his age it’s amazing that he’s already become the subject of posts on Gawker, Time Out NY and other mainstream blogs, an article filled with anger in the Daily News, and never mind the general snarkiness of online citizens (he accused me of being one of those). Yet, Hill feels that Mr. Dropout, his new performance, is about turning a page. Starting a few weeks ago, Hill has been walking the length of Manhattan via Broadway wearing all white, including a gauze veil tucked into a white balaclava.
It’s summer in New York and the focus of the city’s art fans shifts to museums as many stage large tourist-friendly shows and turn up the air conditioning during the sweltering months. Visiting the museums I encounter people — often tourists — who discuss art with refreshingly unfiltered opinions about what they are seeing. On a recent trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I overheard some very interesting commentary from the museum goers; commentary that sparked confusion, insight, and humor … and I decided to write it down.
On July 8, I covered the opening of the T Minus 20 exhibit at Christopher Henry Gallery, which hosted a huge group of artsy folks, veteran New Yorkers, and hipsters, who all showed up to support of an array of designers show off their their t-shirt, bag, accessory creations.
Among those included in the show were Christopher Lee Sauvé, Scooter LaForge, Olek, Brian Kenny, Inbred Hybrid Collective, Gio Black Peter, Marcos Chin, Fernanda Cohen, Christopher Makos, Nick Hooker, SUPERM (Slava Mogutin + Brian Kenny), Desi Santiago, Julia Oldham, Christian Weber, J. G. Zimmerman and more.
All young artists are encouraged to publish their work on a self-named artist website (YourName.com) which puts them in the same arena with art-world big leagues like Olafur Eliasson, Jaqueline Humphries, and Wolfgang Tillmans. The issue of self-branding, self-publication and self-advertising come to the forefront when artist websites as a medium of presentation are critically analyzed.
Curator Joann Kim doesn’t want you to think of Mao Zedong, Hello Kitty, bukake or Panda bears when you think contemporary Asian art, and she’s offering an alternative at Arario Gallery’s New York branch titled, “Irrelevant: Local Emerging Asian Artists Who Don’t Make Work About Being Asian.” She tells us why.
Now that Jerry Saltz has proven himself — yet again — to be an attention whore with his stint on Work of Art, I’m starting to like him more … yes, I love a car crash. And just when we were all jonesing for another fix of “What is crazy uncle Jerry up to?” Artist Jennifer Dalton is opening a show today at the Flag Art Foundation called “Making Sense,” which (among other things) is an “ … attempt to make sense of … New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz’s incredibly popular Facebook page.” Let the games begin …
Xylo is a street artist who has just started mounting fake iPhones to the walls of London. They’re designed to raise awareness about the electronic worker suicides in China and some of the social injustices feeding our electronic obsession.
Get the blog sent to your Inbox
Hyperallergic LABS
Lyra: I didn’t expect to love the Baldessari (now on view at LACMA) but it’s definitely worth seeing. I’d never seen a...
Stephanie Gokhman: Love these recommendations! Makes me want to stop working and start watching Fallen Angels immediately!
Jeremy Sapienza: Oh I just have a thing for old buildings. I like them saved if at all possible or useful, but I know you can’t...
An Xiao: This is a great list, Dylan! Adding to my Netflix queue.
Jeffrey: Haha, excellent! Weekend plans: set. Plus, the vodka might get me through the “scenario where he is playing himself...
About
Advertise
Contact
Newsletter
Podcast
Feed
|
Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
Subscribe to our 
Subscribe to our 
Follow us on 
Follow us on 
