Animal New York has been documenting the steady stream of defacement that artist Shepard Fairey’s May Day exhibition mural on Houston Avenue has been subject to. First it was targeted by a graffiti writer, then holes, and now a clever “Target” logo.
News
Whack-a-Warhol at the Brooklyn Museum, “Long Live the Art-ocrats!”
If the image of the Warhol piñata at the Brooklyn Museum didn’t freak you out enough, the videos of everyone from Jennifer Rubell to Jerry Saltz taking a whack at the thing (and right in the mouth no less) will surely disturb you to no end. If the art world ever needed a good therapist then now is the time, I mean even if it’s just to deal with members of the art-ocracy “bashing a gay guy” thing as a form of dessert!
Guitar Boy To Reunite in LA for Lawrence Weschler’s “Wonder Cabinet”
In the late 1990s, the folk punk duo Guitar Boy was playing small music venues in Los Angeles and building a fan base. Unfortunately, the group consisting of Nancy Agabian and Ann Perich slowly faded away. This Saturday, they will reunite to perform as part of the Wonder Cabinet showcase at Occidental College, a day-long event curated by Lawrence Weschler. Guitar Boy may be an unknown band nowadays but I couldn’t resist posting their still relevant song about Getty Center … ENJOY!
Do Chelsea Galleries Maintain Collector Blacklists?
Up until now most of the discontent being expressed in the art world has emanated from artists who were the first to feel the impact of the recession and critics who see the art world and the art market being conflated as being a bad thing … but now collectors and galleries are starting to vent.
Hitler’s Failed Art Portfolio Goes to Auction
We’ve all heard about Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s stint a failed artist but now we get to judge for ourselves as the portfolio he submitted to the Vienna Academy of Art is going to auction.
“All Your Tweet Are Belong to Us” — @librarycongress
First MoMA acquires “@” and now the Library of Congress (aka @librarycongress) is acquiring every tweet since March 2006. It’s always great to see institutions look past the monetary value of things and elevate the bonds we all share. So, next time someone luddite asks you “Who do you think is interested in what you had for breakfast?” You can confidently respond, “The Library of Congress, asshole!”
Graphic Design Insanity Over Nuclear Summit Logo
In what can only be described as a case of visual illiteracy, Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times is dissecting the claim by some people on the wacky right that the logo of the recent Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC, is coded with Islamic imagery. No, you didn’t read that wrong.
Join Our Social Media Art Roundtable on Facebook
Just as social media have quickly gone mainstream, we’re starting to see social media art received more attention from the mainstream art world. I’m currently writing a survey of social media art’s (brief!) history for Hyperallergic and as part of my research, I’ve invited a number of contemporary social media artists to a roundtable discussion on Hyperallergic’s Facebook page.
New Banksy Stencils Surface in LA [UPDATED]
This week, Banky’s new film Exit Through the Gift Shop will hit theaters in North America. For complete listings, visit Wooster Collective, which seems to be the official PR agency for all things Banksy. The movie premiere’s today in Los Angeles, so it’s no coincidence that these images hit the intertubes this past week to turn up the hype around his film.
New 9/11 Museum Renderings Released
Last fall, the designs of the new 9/11 Museum were released and now the renderings of the exhibition design have been made public. I will reserve comment on the museum and the displays until it opens but I have to say that I practically forgot this project was still in the works. — via Curbed
Help Camp Pocket Utopia Raise $25K For Kids & Artists
Bushwick’s Nortre Maar and Austin Thomas of Pocket Utopia are teaming up this summer to create “Camp Pocket Utopia” for community children & artists.
They’ve been given the chance to raise $25,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project and need your support (and vote) to win funding for the project.
Art Professor Under Fire For Artistic Protests
Ricardo Dominguez, a visual arts professor at the University of California, San Diego, is under fire for electronic civil disobedience work. Today, the San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that Dominguez is really feeling the heat from his university, auditors, and the police over a virtual sit-in he staged last month on the website for the president of the University of California system.