Terry Richardson and Pharrell Williams at OHWOW It Ain’t Fair 2012 photo by Aviva for Art Observed

On December 7th, 2012, at 743 Washington Avenue (on the Miami Beach side and not across the bay in the design district) OHWOW inaugurated the fifth and last edition of It Ain’t Fair (IAF), a venue for avant-garde art across all media. It began in 2008 in Miami, concurrent with the main fair, as another way to view work by emerging artists such as Tauba Auerbach, Ashley Bickerton, Cyprien Gaillard, Clayton Patterson and others.

Atmosphere at OHWOW It Aint Fair Miami 2012, all photos by E. Schwartzberg for ArtObserved unless otherwise noted

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Marilyn Minter and Massimiliano Gioni at the opening. All photos on site for Art Observed by Rachel Willis and Samuel Sveen.

Maurizio Cattelan, who recently swore off his career as an artist, has taken a large step into the business side of the art world. The famed artist has teamed up with longtime friend and project partner—and notable curator—Massimiliano Gioni for a new exhibition space, Family Business. Located in the front of the Anna Kustera Gallery in Chelsea, at 520 West 21^st Street, Family Business is a small non-profit venue geared towards both the making and showing of conceptually and aesthetically experimental art. The inaugural show, appropriately titled “The Virgin Show,” consists of a group of artists whose work has never been exhibited in New York before. There are a few exceptions to the rule however, with established artists like Laurel Nakadate and Mika Rottenberg showing some of their earliest works. The show was curated by Marilyn Minter who, in line with the theme of the show, has referred to herself as a “Virgin Curator.” To top off the theme, the band The Virgins played a short acoustic set, with visitors shuffled out to make room in the small space.

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Franco, Ryan McNamara, and Nakadate, Three Performances in Search of Tennessee (2011)

In a one-time only, Performa 11 new commission, James Franco and Laurel Nakadate presented Three Performances in Search of Tennessee at the Abrons Arts Center on November 13, 2011. A loose interpretation of Williams’ famed work, The Glass Menagerie, Franco and Nakadate acted as directors and judges for the series of performers that participated in the work. Both an experiment in performance and a tribute to the renowned playwright, the work was divided into three distinct sections.

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AO was on site Saturday, August 6th for the opening of James Franco‘s new project at Terence Koh‘s Asia Song Society. The exhibition features installations of three films: “Three’s Company: The Drama,”  a reconsideration of the popular television show (previously shown at Sundance), “Road Trip,” in which Franco reads excepts from Rob Lowe’s autobiography West Wing aloud as he visits notable land art sites in the United States, and “High/Low, Rob Lowe”installed on fifty monitors and showing footage recorded by the artist/actor/student, etc., moving throughout his daily life.  Despite the rain, the opening was well attended, with appearances by PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach, artist Laurel Nakadate and, of course, James Franco himself.

James Franco: High Low/Rob Lowe at ASS – Asia Song Society from Art Observed on Vimeo.

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Laurel Nakadate, January 16, 2010, all images via Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects

Laurel Nakadate investigates the concepts of feminism, portraiture and temporal documentation in her series of self-portraits, 365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears, on view at Leslie Tonkonow which has been extended to July 25.  As the title suggests, the series documents Nakadate before, during, and after crying through January 1st to December 31st, 2010. Both an archival work and, in many ways, a performance, the series comments on the legitimacy of archiving one’s private life for the purpose of public exposure.

Laurel Nakadate, June 14, 2010

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Laurel Nakadate, Exorcism in January (2009). Via New York Times

But, is she exploitative? This has been the defining question of Laurel Nakadate’s roughly decade long, hotly discussed career. Nakadate is primarily known for her infamous early videos in which she invited herself into the homes of the single, middle-aged men that approached her in public, bringing her video camera and a scenario that tested the limits of the new relationship. In one Nakadate plays dead while the men play ‘doctor’ and in another they pretend it’s her birthday, singing and eating cake. Some venture further—one sees Nakadate and the participant play a stripping game, the artist taking off articles of clothing one by one, matched by a man in his 50s, moles covering his back. Nakadate’s work in-variously produces the same chain of reactions from critics: first, is this a safe practice? How did the artist know she would remain safe? The threat of violence is a common concern for the artist, which some argue lessens the effect of her work. After viewing one of Nakadate’s videos for a few minutes, it becomes clear the men she works with are docile. Then, the second question is almost always: is she laughing at them?

Only the Lonely, Installation view. Via P.S. 1

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