For a while now, people I come across here and there have cited Dan Bergeron, aka Fauxreel, as an example of a street art sell-out. Why? Because back in 2008 he partnered up with Vespa to post 324 seven-foot-tall Vespa Squareheads wheatpaste ads on the streets of Toronto and other Canadian cities as part of an ad campaign that combined his characteristic “photograffiti” style with a very commercial addition ― Vespa scooter handles. The works caused a backlash from people who thought he went too far. It is an approach to ad marketing that isn’t as original as it may seem and it even has its own name, murketing.
Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic. You can follow him at @hragv.
Posted inNews
Oldest Temple Found, State of Arts Funding, Detroit Police Terrorize Art Patrons
… winning design of new U.S. embassy in London announced … Vienna’s famed Secession hall is turning gallery space into a sex hall as part of an art project … the 2010 Whitney Biennial has opened and the reviews have started to roll in.
Posted inArt
Spencer Tunick, Terence Koh, Francesco Vezzoli…Does Lady Gaga Need An Art Teacher?
The age of celebrity art has dawned and no one is a better example of that high-end marriage between the haves and the haves than pop singer Lady Gaga. It has been a long time coming for the maven of the dancefloor, whose every move feels like a tribute to 1990s club kid culture. Yet, her recent collaborations with Francesco Vezzoli and Terence Koh raises the question, does she desperately need an art teacher?
Posted inOpinion
Guerrilla Girl Attempts to Stay Relevant By Talking Georgia O’Keeffe
The Guerilla Girls caused a big stir in the late 1980s and 90s but now a founding member of the once revolutionary group talks about the Georgia O’Keeffe show, which makes me wonder, “Are they still relevant?”
Posted inOpinion
Reviving the Stories of Art
The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones doesn’t have time for contemporary art history. In his latest post, “The trouble with art history? It’s boring,” he explains why: Perhaps art history is coming to its senses, and learning to tell stories that bring great art to life. If so, it is finally catching up with historians, paleontologists and […]
Posted inNews
Polaroid Goes to Auction, UN Building Reno, US Archives Joins The Commons
… new cargo regulations have some in the art world on edge … the New York Observer kisses up to the critic who ate any semblance of sanity … three newspapers are named the World’s Best Designed.
Posted inBooks
Reading Martha Cooper’s Tag Town & Going Postal
In the world of graffiti, Martha Cooper is a cult figure. She’s an old skool photog who, along with Henry Chalfant, documented the fast-changing world of New York graffiti and unintentionally helped make it sexy and digestible for public consumption. Her book Subway Art, co-authored with Chalfant, kickstarted the graff book genre that has ballooned (for better or worse) into a full-blown field that witnesses hundreds of books published a year.
Since the influence and impact of Subway Art is well-know, I chose to focus this review on two more recent works by the graff photography veteran which were published in that last few years, Tag Town: The Evolution of New York Graffiti Writing and Going Postal.
Posted inOpinion
Get Your William Powhida-Designed Howdy Koonsy T-Shirt Today!
Trickster and art star William Powhida is at it again and he has partnered with the Brooklyn Rail to produce a limited edition t-shirt, titled “Howdy Koonsy.” The t-shirt is available in an edition of 666 and you can be sure they will go fast!
Posted inNews
Brooklyn Housing Project Gets the Ax, Iran Cuts Ties with British Museum, Nelson-Atkins Gets Impressionist Stash
… a Manhattan gallery is being accused of selling a Basquiat without the owners permission … the 2009 New England Art Awards have been announced … the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland is getting a new building … Transport of London has banned posters for Massive Attack’s latest album because it resembles graffiti … a sanctioned mural on private property is threatened in LA.
Posted inOpinion
Modern Art History Poster
Being part of the art world means that many of our jokes fall flat or are incomprehensible to outsiders. That’s alright, this poster of traditional Western art history makes the art geeks among us chuckle, while it might just help the uninitiated get up to speed.
Posted inOpinion
Jerry Saltz Fires Back at Yau, “How Very Dickish”
The war of words between two major New York art critics escalated yesterday when Saltz used his very public Facebook wall to shoot back at Yau for the Brooklyn Rail art editor’s accusation of Saltz being a Koons apologist.
Posted inOpinion
Introducing Reactor
You may think that you know every meaning of the word reactor, but think again. We’re adding a new definition to the dictionary …