Drawn by an over-900 people attending Facebook events page and a plug on GAYLETTER two months ago, I wandered into the opening of 🙂 by FriendsWithYou at The Hole and left feeling a mixture of what Dr. Hunter S. Thompson described as “fear and loathing.” Now, a few days before the exhibition’s closing, I revisited 🙂 to see if my opinion of the art would change without the unseasonable near 100 degree heat, crowded gallery and drunkenness. It didn’t.
Takashi Murakami
Posted inArt
Tuesday Video: A Murakami For The Whole Family!
Pity the poor parents who want to introduce their tots to the work of a contemporary artist like Takashi Murakami. Sure, all those laughing daisies and dancing bears are adorable, but how do you explain to Junior on a Saturday afternoon trip to the museum why that lady’s breasts are so big, or why that blonde dude is twirling a lasso of white stuff that’s coming out of his … uh, never mind.
Posted inArt
Blurring Luxury and Art: Nadia Plesner vs Louis Vuitton
The story of Louis Vuitton’s recent legal action against 29-year-old Dutch artist Nadia Plesner is a curious one. Not only because Plesner had already been sued by Louis Vuitton in 2008, and not only because it was over her use of the same design, and it involved the same bit of imagery, a starved and platter-eyed young African boy, holding a chihuahua and the Audra bag, à la Paris Hilton, but because Plesner is using the same defense that failed her in 2008 and Louis Vuitton took the same action against her that it did three years ago: an ex parte court ruling against her. But let’s take a closer look.
Posted inNews
Murakami Asks People to Tweet Art in Support of Japan
On Sunday, Murakami issued a statement in the wake of the devastating Sendai earthquake in Japan asking people to show their support of Japan by tweeting original art with the hashtag, #newday_GEISAI.
Posted inOpinion
Five Awesome Artist Studios
Until an artist version of Cribs is invented, the best way we can get inside an artist’s life and work is to get inside their studios. Photographs of artists in their studios are kind of like snapshots of an artistic career, a whole body of work compressed into a single room. A working and living space tells a lot about the person that inhabits it, and the spare objects and trashed drafts tossed around the room communicate eloquently about artists’ inner lives. I’ve collected some cool studio shots that all communicate something inexpressible about the artists they shelter.
Posted inArt
9 Underappreciated New York Art Shows & Events of 2010
There’s the stuff everyone is applauding … yawn … but that’s boring, we want to point out some things that are under most people’s radar and why they deserve some notice. Here’s our list of the 9 Most Underappreciated Art Shows & Events in New York during 2010.
Posted inArt
Art Basel Miami in Pictures
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.
Posted inOpinion
Murakami Floats in Thanksgiving Parade, Dances in Flower Suit
Think contemporary art’s going mainstream? It doesn’t end with Louis Vuitton bags and album covers. Joining the cartoon figures and name-brand mascots at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade were superstar contemporary artist Takashi Murakami’s signature surreal characters, KaiKai and KiKi, two anime critters that share monikers with Murakami’s company. Below, check out a selection of photos from Murakami’s participation in the parade, which also featured the artist himself dancing on the float wearing a flower suit, another trademark.
Posted inArt
WTF is… Superflat?
You may have heard the term “Superflat” tossed around in relation to some paintings reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons on crack, or maybe a series of drawings that look familiar, but with an extra dash of foreign, outer-space weirdness. You’ve probably heard of “kawaii” culture or maybe even Kaikai-Kiki. And if you haven’t? Fear not, because we’re going to go through all this vocab together to marshal what exactly Superflat is.
