William Powhida’s latest drawing, “A Subjective Classification of Things,” is his latest screed against the sameness in an industry that prides itself on being different.
William Powhida
Posted inArt
Bushwick Artists Ponder Ways to Fight Gentrification
“I’m getting tired of watching my friends leave because they can’t afford to be here. I’m getting tired of contemplating moving because I can’t afford to be here.” Thus spoke Paddy Johnson, editor-in-chief of Art F City, in her opening remarks at a meeting in Bushwick on Thursday night. The event was held at Starr Space, the studio and occasional event space owned by artist Jules de Balincourt, and hosted by him, Johnson, and artists William Powhida and Lynn Sullivan. Mobilizing Bushwick, as it was called, or #stayinbushwick, as it’s been hashtagged, was an open, town-hall-style meeting to brainstorm ideas for, well, staying in Bushwick.
Posted inArt
The Bermuda Triangle of Art
This may sound like the world’s most overwrought art gag. And, certainly, there is no small irony in critiquing the creative numbness of the art market with pieces that will be sold on that very same market. But William Powhida’s artistic spoofs are so spot on, and his critiques so incisive, it’s hard not to get sucked in by the whole exercise.
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Old Favorites and New Surprises at Moving Image
There’s a problem inherent in the basic premise of a video-art fair. On the one hand, it’s refreshing to see artwork at a fair in different media than painting, works on paper, and the occasional sculpture, which are the usual standbys at fairs because they’re easier for a quick sell. On the other, the format doesn’t really suit video art, because fairs are not designed for extended looking. While it feels like an increasingly glaring omission these days to not see more multimedia work at fairs, there’s also reason why that’s the case.
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Pie in the Sky When You Die: Art, Money and Myth
Once it seemed to matter — the high end, I mean. Art and money, when you put the two words together, would invariably lead to HirstMurakamiKoons unless they were referencing KoonsMurakamiHirst. And the crazy gushes of cash that went their way, and the way they flaunted it, became prime rib for glossy magazines and academic panels alike. But that was so 2007.
Posted inOpinion
Spotty Comments of the Day: Hirst-a-palooza
We’ve collected some of the most interesting comments we’ve received on the Hirst spot paintings. Almost everyone hates them but the reasons are always different.
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The Top 10 Art World Figures I’d Like to F***
SAN FRANCISCO — With all this extra time to daydream about the perfect relationship, I’ve composed a list of the top 10 art world figures I’d like to do the nasty with. Some are expected, some are not. Some are for social climbing purposes, some are not. But really, all are for love.
Posted inOpinion
Your Weekly Art Rx
Here at Hyperallergic we are allergic to a lot — dust, nuts, cats, insipid art criticism, bad art shows, people who suck. Enter our weekly remedy: a list of exhibitions and events that will serve as your weekly dose of art medicine. Here is this week’s prescription …
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POWHIDA Is a VIP Douchebag
The point of last night’s Marlborough Gallery show, POWHIDA, is probably that there are too many douchebags in the world, especially the art world. The character named Powhida, entered a Chelsea street-level Chelsea gallery and acted the part of a blue-chip contemporary artist.
Posted inOpinion
Artist Wants to Hear About Everyone You’ve Never Met
Artist William Powhida has taken to Twitter for his latest project, “Everyone We’ve Never Met (from memory and imagination),” and he explains, “In another effort to broaden the project and to make the ideas of ‘Everyone’ mean more than Sheboygan and vacationers from Chicago in a way that I can still incorporate over the next two weeks, I am going to introduce it to Twitter and use this social media platform to ask people to share their memories through the drawings of others … “
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Dispatch from Sheboygan: Week Two
Sheboygan, Wisconsin — Today marks the second week of my residency here in Sheboygan, a place which remains elusive to me. I have become familiar with the stretches of road between my cabin, the Arts Center and the Piggly Wiggly Supermarket on a highway named Business 28. I like going to the “Pig,” as the locals call it, to buy coffee and admire the vast selection of frozen pizzas they sell. The freezers filled with pizzas alone would choke a bodega. I admit, I bought one and ate it while watching the Matrix on the small TV/VCR combo here.
Posted inArt
Dispatch From Sheboygan: On Memory
This morning I stood frozen in private terror facing a room full of smiling senior citizens with various stages of memory loss, feeling ill-prepared to ask them to draw someone who they had never actually met. That is the conceit of my memory-based drawing project, here on the sunny shores of Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee: to get as many people as I can to draw a person or character relying only on their memories and imagination.
