Art Archives

Art

Rawson Projects Takes Root on Bedford Avenue

by Hrag Vartanian December 2, 2010December 8, 2010

On November 11, a small gallery opened its doors on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg and caused a ripple of excitement in local art circles. Not only was this one of the first galleries to open on Bedford for ages but many people are taking it as hopeful sign that some energy was returning to a neighborhood that used to be a central part of New York’s art world dialogue.

Named Rawson Projects, the small gallery consists of Christopher Rawson, Julian Calero, and James Morrill. Their first exhibition, Fingers in the Sun, features the work of local painter Sam Martineau and it is a smart show filled with works that are nuanced and almost impossible to capture in photographs.

Art

Art Basel Miami in Pictures

by Hrag Vartanian December 2, 2010December 6, 2010

There’s no point in giving you a “review” of the mothership of art fairs in Miami, Art Basel Miami Beach, so I thought a photo essay with some observations were more appropriate.

I admit that I got a little bored after three hours of wandering around. I found myself seeing the same thing and getting the same numbness I get during marathon holiday shopping trips or walks through ancient souks … there’s only so much merchandise you can see in one stop.

It was still refreshing to see some galleries display the prices of their wares freely, and examples of excellent abstraction by names mostly absent from the art history survey books, but I was most shocked to discover what must be the most awful Basquiat I have even seen in my life.

Art

Marc Horowitz Crowdsources Life/Art From Strangers

by AX Mina December 1, 2010December 4, 2010

On November 1, one of People Magazine‘s Top 50 Hottest Bachelors, conceptual artist and Internet start Marc Horowitz, took a line from Subservient Chicken and let the Internet tell him what to do. He agreed to bound by these decisions, no matter how absurd, and to broadcast the results online for the wider world to see.

For the entire month, with the backing of the New York-based public art organization Creative Time, Marc has been crowdsourcing his life. Everything from what he should wear to how he should celebrate Thanksgiving becomes open to the masses. The piece continues in the tradition of Marc’s extensive body of enormously popular Internet-based works, from “Talkshow 247,” where he broadcast his life continuously for three months, and the “Google Maps Roadtrip,” a journey across the country using only Google Streetview.

Art

Miami’s Seven Art Fair Goes Indie

by Hrag Vartanian December 1, 2010December 3, 2010

The buzz before Miami was that Seven Art Fair was going to be one to watch and that is certainly the case.

This indie fair of seven galleries with solid programs — and some art stars among them — have created a wonderful little side fair that has a well-organized area for video works (which is both inviting and well spaced), a space for the #Rank event (which we’ve mentioned before), rooms for work by various artists to talk to one another (some better than others), but most importantly an attempt to collide gallery stables to see what they could come up with together (most notably on one wall covered salon style with pieces from the whole constellation of “Seven” artists).

Did all the artists fit perfectly together? No, but this is an art fair and not a curated exhibition. It was good to see some galleries try something that felt interesting and less commercial than the run-of-the-mill art fairs.

Art

12 Holiday Picks From MoMA’s Design Store

by Kyle Chayka November 30, 2010December 3, 2010

If you weren’t paranoid about the holidays before Thanksgiving, now they’re really coming up. Hanukkah and Christmas and everything else are JUST around the corner in December, and then New Years! OMG! So what are you picking up your loved ones this year? Being artsy as you all are, you probably want to support our city’s fine artists and institutions.

To discover some cool art-related presents, I visited the Museum of Modern Art’s gift shop and design store in search of desirable objects. Here’s what I came up with.

Art

Abstraction Dominates at MoMA’s “On Line”

by Kyle Chayka November 29, 2010

The Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century purports to display “the radical transformation of the medium of drawing throughout the twentieth century,” but what the genre retrospective really does is to narrow the definition of “drawing” considerably, limiting works not by medium but by execution: almost every work in the show is non-objective. This festival of the abstract is visually impressive but conceptually lacking. Shouldn’t any century-long survey of drawing include some less academically austere work?

Art

The Alternative Holiday Gift Guide

by Hrag Vartanian November 26, 2010December 3, 2010

You know you’re going to spend money this holiday season even if it’s only a gift or two for friends, family or that special someone. So, why not spending money in a way that supports emerging galleries, craftspeople, artists, charities, or quality small businesses that are trying to do something different.

Here is our short guide to some ideas for creative and affordable gifts.

Art

Remixing Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving

by Hrag Vartanian November 25, 2010November 25, 2010

Even if illustrator-cum-post-modern-artist Norman Rockwell initially titled his iconic work about Thanksgiving, “Freedom From Want“ and never mind that it was published in March 1943, the painting has come to exemplify the picture-perfect American Thanksgiving according to the dominant narrative of American culture.

Many of the individuals in Rockwell’s scene were real-life Vermonters who lived in Rockwell’s town, but what’s more inspiring about this work is the mocking, funny, sweet, and corny parodies it has inspired — many of which I have collected for you.

Art

This Sat, #TheSocialGraph Closing Bash & Sound of Art Listening Party!

by Hrag Vartanian November 24, 2010November 28, 2010

This Saturday, November 27, we’re wrapping up the exhibition portion of #TheSocialGraph with a listening party for Paddy Johnson’s “Sound of Art” vinyl. The festivities will take place 6-9pm.

Yes, you may have been to the Sound of Art launch party, bought the t-shirts, even won the Candyass football (oh wait, that was just me, nevermind) but did anyone actually listen to the damn thing? Well, we’re going to change all that this Saturday night! BONUS: party starts at 6pm and Man Bartlett’s “#24hKith” (2010) performance ends at 7pm, so you’ll get to watch the conclusion of one of his signature 24h performances with fellow art lovers before enjoying the beats.

Art

Covering Times Square’s Ads With Art, Impossible?

by Kyle Chayka November 23, 2010November 23, 2010

Over the years, various artists including Maya Lin, Marina Abramovic and Keith Haring have presented artwork in Times Square, often on one of the large video screens that dot the space. But why not turn every advertisement in Times Square into art? Justus Bruns, an enterprising Dutch guy, started a project that has gradually snowballed into something like a viral movement. His goal? To turn Times Square into Art Square (so goes the name of the project, TS2AS), and cover up all the visual noise in New York City’s most famous public space with works of contemporary art. It’s certainly a tall order, but with the momentum Justus and his team have already pulled together on an international level, there’s a better chance than ever before. I interviewed the young art impresario to get his thoughts on the future of TS2AS.