The latest artist commissioned to paint the influential Soho wall is a man who has bragged about his predatory sexual behavior.
Os Gemeos
Posted inArt
Spilled Bananas, Split Blades, and Books with Bullets: Eclectic Offerings at Mana Miami
MIAMI — The Miami neighborhood of Wynwood smells like stale weed, paint fumes, and gentrification.
Posted inArt
Looking Around Miami Basel: Where Did All the Bodies Go?
MIAMI — There are many stories about the origins of art: ancient Greek historian Pliny suggested art was born when a Corinthian maiden traced the outline of her lover’s shadow on a wall, while an Asian legend tells of a young man who could not paint the Buddha because of his enlightened glow, and so was forced to paint his reflection in a pool of water. What these two stories share is the emphasis on the rendering of people as a foundational element of art. Fast-forward many millenia, when the story of high-priced contemporary art is vastly different from those origin stories, and walking through the latest incarnation of Art Basel Miami Beach, I was struck by the marginalization of the human form in the blue-chip work on display. What happened?
Posted inArt
10 Actually Fun Works to See at Art Basel Miami Beach
MIAMI — Entering into the cavernous mouth of an art fair, it’s pretty easy to know what to expect — some blue-chip art, some provocative booths, and a few rare modernist works sprinkled throughout the contemporary avalanche. Thankfully, there are usually a few pleasant surprises. Here are ten works I actually enjoyed seeing at Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) 2012.
Posted inOpinion
Boston Mural Proves to be “Rorschach Test for Idiots and Racists”
Last week, the Brazilian street art twins, Os Gemeos, unveiled their new mural on Boston’s Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway at Dewey Square and Fox Boston couldn’t resist suggesting the work portrayed some sort of controversial figure and like moths to a flame the xenophobes and anti-Muslim bigots came running.
Posted inArt
Attack of the Heads or Os Gêmeos in LA
LOS ANGELES — Perched atop the Prism Gallery is a giant, yellow face with slender eyelashes, narrow eyes and prominent nose. It competes for attention against the many billboards and vehicles along this stretch of Sunset Blvd. The squinty eyes and yellow complexion are outlandishly drawn, but the portraiture here, and many others in the gallery, are never callous or misleading. The Los Angeles gallery’s solo exhibition Miss You features paintings, embroidery and installation art by twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, or Os Gêmeos, whose fantastical imagery blends street-level portraiture and magical realism.
Posted inNews
Mix & Match: 13th C Castle Wants the Street Art to Stay
A Scottish Castle commissioned four Brazilian street artists to paint their walls and now they are fighting to have them stay that way.
Posted inArt
Everyone Wants to be First
There is apparently something about institutional street art shows that move museum folk towards declarations of their firstness. Street Art at the Tate Modern in 2008 was billed as “the first major public museum display of Street Art in London” while just last winter Hugh Davies, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, glowed that he was “really proud” to be “the first (American) museum to do an international street art show of this scale and scope.”
Art In The Streets, the latest and of course much buzzed exhibition opening at Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art is billed by MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch as — surprise surprise — “the first exhibition to position the work … from street culture in the context of contemporary art history.”
Posted inArt
New York Street Art: Alive & Kicking
2010 has begun with some fascinating street art, including works by Bansky, Shepard Fairey, Kid Acne, Ema, El Sol 25, TrustCorp …
Posted inArt
The Emergence of Real Pop Art: Jeffrey Deitch & Street Art
As the reality of Deitch’s appointment to MOCA sinks in, let’s take a step back and look at his role as a street art advocate. Was he the prophet for the scene or just one of many fans? And where could this all lead?
