Artist Shepard Fairey has turned himself in in Detroit over the arrest warrant for his vandalism in the city. He is accused of over $9,000 in damages to properties. “Can’t talk about anything,” Fairey said in a short comment following his arrest in Los Angeles last week. (more…)
Shepard Fairey’s warrant in Detroit resulted in the artist’s arrest at the Los Angeles International Airport this past Monday, where he was held overnight on charges of vandalism. The artist has since been released, and has not made a statement on the event. (more…)
An arrest warrant for Artist Shepard Fairey has been issued in the city of Detroit, alleging that the artist has caused over $9,000 in damages from various tags and murals he left in the city. Fairey’s public recognition “does not take away the fact that he is also a vandal,” says Police Sgt. Rebecca McKay. (more…)
Jeffrey Deitch is preparing to install an exhibition of street art in Coney Island this summer, including work by Mister Cartoon, Swoon, JR, Lee Quiñones, and Icy Signs, among others. I’ve always loved the energy that comes out of the New York vernacular,” Deitch says, “and I’ve dreamed of doing a show in Coney Island since I first started going there in the ’70s.” (more…)
Banksy recently traveled to the war-torn Gaza Strip, where the artist has created a new series of works, documented on his website. Pieces include an immense kitten drawn on the wall of a demolished building, and a crying figure inside the doorway of another leveled site, both documented in a video made during the artist’s time in Palestine. (more…)
This November 17th, HBO will premiere a documentary focusing on Banksy’s monthlog “residency” in New York City, titled Banksy Does New York. Taking footage uploaded by viewers experiencing the artist’s work firsthand, director Chris Moukarbel has cut together a full-length film, which he calls “a city holding a mirror back up to the artist.” (more…)
Artist Ryan McGinness’s public street sign commission for New York City has seen widespread enthusiasm in the past few days since its initial installation, with most of the first set of signs disappearing within hours. “When I caught one of the first few disappearing, I was mildly amused,” McGinness says. But when he realized the majority had gone missing, “It felt a little more aggressive. It made me just plain angry.” (more…)
An article in the New York Times explores the career of street artist and activist Caledonia Curry, also known as Swoon. With her installation “Submerged Motherlands” at the Brooklyn Museum this summer, Swoon became the first living street artist to be featured in a solo exhibition at the museum. In addition to showing her work in galleries and museums such as MoMA and MoMA PS1, Swoon has also spearheaded the creation of art centers and homes in New Orleans, Pennsylvania, and Haiti. Her unique blend of activism and art has led her friend and fellow artist JR to compare her to Ai Weiwei; the article quotes him as saying ““She has always managed to have some social impact with her work and at the same time stay an artist, not an activist”. (more…)
An article in the New York Times documents painter Martin Wong’s early contributions to the patronization and encouragement of New York Graffiti art, financially backing struggling artists and buying some of their works for his own personal collection. The story comes as the Museum of the City of New York prepares to open a show on the artist’s early collection of street art pieces. “He always thought those first pieces, in a fundamental way, were the legs of a major art movement,” artist Lee Quiñones said. (more…)
Concluding his October residency on the streets of New York, street artist Banksy has unveiled his last work, the donation of a painted canvas to the Housing Works thrift store in Gramercy Park. Titled The Banality of the Banality of Evil, the canvas features a man in a Nazi uniform viewing a classically rendered mountain vista, and is being auctioned off to benefit the Housing Works organization. So far, bids have already reached over $200,000. “Most New Yorkers have been watching pretty closely what he’s been doing for the past 30 days,” said Housing Works director of PR Rebecca Edmondson. “There has been controversy. But it’s great to end on such a high note by giving back to the New York community.” (more…)
The Village Voice has published a rare interview with Banksy, discussing the artist’s ongoing show of street art in New York City, and his views towards his craft. “There is absolutely no reason for doing this show at all. I know street art can feel increasingly like the marketing wing of an art career, so I wanted to make some art without the price tag attached. There’s no gallery show or book or film. It’s pointless. Which hopefully means something.” The artist says. (more…)
Street artist Banksy has announced a monthlong exhibition on the streets of New York City, beginning this week. In a message posted on the artist’s website, Banksy revealed that his show Better Out Than In, would be spread across the city, with each work accompanied by a toll free phone number viewers can call to hear witty descriptions of the work. The first piece has already appeared at 18 Allen Street downtown. “Hello, and welcome to Lower Manhattan,” the recorded message says. “Before you, you will see a ‘spray art’ by the artist Ban-sky (sp). Or maybe not; it’s probably been painted over by now.” (more…)
The Wooster Collective is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, and has welcomed a number of artists the site showcased in its early years to offer advice and lessons learned over the past decade. The most recent contribution comes from the Los Angeles-based Skullphone, who offers: “If you are too pure you will never fly, drive, or physically go anywhere.” (more…)
Street-artist JR spoke with Nowness Magazine this week, elaborating on his ongoing, collaborative street art project. The artist has been printing large-scale photographs for contributors around the world, and empowering them to paste these images in their communities. “It’s true art. That’s why people want to participate.” says photographer Matt Black. (more…)
The New York City Ballet has announced the inaugural year of Art Series, a collaborative program that commissions contemporary artists to create works inspired by the company’s repertoire. For its first year, NYCB has partnered with Brooklyn street-art collective FAILE, who will produce a series of limited-edition works for Art Series performances this spring. (more…)
‘May Day’, the final exhibition before Deitch Projects closes it’s doors, exhibits significant new works by Shepard Fairey executed in his familiar palette of reds, black, and white. The show opens in conjunction with four other mural works by Fairey; a mural covering an 80 foot wall surrounding the Ace Hotel, one on Houston and Bowery, one for the Cooper Square Hotel, and a mural for the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Both public and private murals, highlight Fairey’s play on constructed binaries–primarily between fine art and design, street art and galleries–as a means of stimulating curiosity about the surrounding visual culture.
Opening Night for May Day, Saturday May 1st at Deitch Projects
Jeanne-Claude and Christo via smh
Jeanne-Claude, the radical artist best known for the joint projects undertaken with her husband Christo – most notably the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the installation of 7,503 vinyl gates with bright orange panels in Central Park in 2005 – dies at the age of 74 in New York City [Guardian] a review of some of the couple’s monumental art here [Guardian]
Jeff Koons’ train installation via artculture
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) reconsiders plans for a Jeff Koons sculpture involving a replica of a 70-ft 1944 Baldwin locomotive to hang from a crane and estimated to cost $25 million [LATimes]
to stay apprised of the latest relevant news of the art world…
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Trailer for Marilyn Minter’s ‘Green Pink Caviar’ via The World’s Best Ever
Starting Wednesday, April 1st is ‘Chewing Color,’ a video installation curated by Marilyn Minter as the latest presentation of At 44 1/2, Creative Time’s collaboration with MTV. ‘Chewing Color’ comes after a series of videos by Gilbert & George, Malcom McLaren, and other artists, shown on MTV Studios’ gigantic high definition screen in the midst of Times Square, between 44th and 45th Streets. Films in the series include Minter’s ‘Green Pink Caviar,’ Patty Chang’s ‘Fan Dance,’ and Kate Gilmore’s ‘Star Bright, Star Might.’ ‘Chewing Color’ will be shown at the top of the hour, every hour during the month of April.
At 44 1/2 – Creative Time Presents Chewing Color [Creative Time]
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Marilyn Minter’s Green Pink Caviar [The World’s Best Ever]
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Chewing Color curated by Marilyn Minter [SLAMXHYPE]
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Marilyn Minter in Times Square [ThisHeartsonFire]
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Yoshitomo Nara installation view, via Marianne Boesky Gallery.
For Yoshitomo Nara’s fourth solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, the Japanese pop artist pairs new paintings and drawings with two large-scale sculptures. Created with his collaborative group YNG – formally known as “Yoshitomo Nara + graf – the two stylized pine tree abodes are made of reclaimed wood and recall the feeling of a woodman’s cottage or some surreal abode. The interiors are filled with sketches and doodles created in the artist’s hand, along with stuffed animals that match the playful, fairy-tale feeling of Nara’s work.
Marianne Boesky
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Yoshitomo Nara
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February 28 – March 28, 2009
RELATED LINKS
Exhibition Page [Marianne Boesky]
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Artist Now In Rogue Gallery [New York Post]
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Nara Arrested for Graffiti Before Boesky Opening [Art in America]
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Openings: Yoshitomo Nara in NYC [Arrested Motion]
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NYC///FIRST LOOK///YOSHITOMO NARA ROCKS MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY [Supertouch]
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On View: Yoshitomo Nara at Marianne Boesky [The Art Collectors]
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Yoshitomo Nara at Marianne Boesky [NYArtBeat]
Larry Gagosian via Askmen
An aggressive attempt to get the story behind Larry Gagosian, possibly the most influential yet enigmatic figure in the art world [NYTimes]
A Donald Judd installation in Marfa, TX via Drexel, University
On the stark, quirky, top art pilgrimage destination of Marfa, TX [Chicago Tribune]
Art is moving out of the hands corporations [FT]
After the Tate, New York on the Bowery, and a slum in Kenya, street artist JR appears in Cambodia [WoosterCollective via the World’s Best Ever]
Nick Cohen’s critique of Nicolas Bourriaud’s curated vision of a “globalised cultural state” at the Tate’s ‘Ultramodern’ [ObserverUK]
Initial work on Raven’s Row in London via RavensRow
Alex Sainsbury opens non-profit exhibition space Raven Row’s in London [FT]
Richard Prince via Interview
Richard Prince donates “one of the most valuable and distinctive modern libraries in private hands” [TimesUK]
The Museum of Modern Art has relaunched a decidedly more interactive website [FastCompany]
Bruce Nauman via National Gallery of Australia
Bruce Nauman will represent the United States [ArtDaily] and John Baldessari (and Yoko Ono) to be awarded the Golden Lions at the 53rd Venice Biennale this year [ArtInfo]
Charles Saatchi via the Times UK
Charles Saatchi grants a rare interview: “art is my only extravagance” and another interview from Turner Prize winning Film director Steve McQueen [TimesUK]
David Zwirner with Simon de Pury via the Swiss Institute
Maria Baibakova via the Guardian UK
On Maria Baibakova, young Russian heiress addition to the art world (not Daria “Dasha” Zhukova) [TheIndependent]
Will Gompertz on Joseph Beuys, his Duchampian influence and other noteworthy points such as the myth of the inception of his art at the hands of Tartars in the Crimean War [GuardianUK]
Pablo Picasso’s Boy Leading a Horse” (1905 to 1906) via the MoMA
Guggenheim and MoMA keep two works by Picasso after settlement with heirs alleging works were sold under Nazi duress [Bloomberg]
The austerity of Christie’s and Sotheby’s during leaner times in the art market [NYimes]
In related, how major London galleries are cutting staff and shuttering spaces [TheArtNewspaper]
Railcars and rooftops bear JR’s imagery in Kibera, Kenya via WoosterCollective
Street artist JR wheatpastes his art on 2,000 square meters of rooftops and railcars in a Kenyan slum [WoosterCollective]
On the practice of hypothecating fine art as collateral for loans [Financial Times]
Damien Hirst’s “Human skull in space” (oil on canvas), cover art for the 150th anniversary edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species – via the The GuardianUK
Damien Hirst does cover design for the 150 year anniversary of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species [GuardianUK]
The rise of Nicola Vassell, from gallerina to Director at Deitch Projects in New York [NYTimes]
The Colossus, historically attributed to Goya, via Reuters
Chief conservator of the Prado announces that their Colossus was probably created by Goya’s apprentice [Reuters]
The Dallas Museum of Art is in acquisition mode [Artdaily]
A profile of artist Walton Ford, creator of dramatic naturalist canvases [NewYorker via C-Monster]
Shepard Fairey via the NYTimes
Street art legend Shepard Fairey shadowed in action by the New York Times[NYTimes]
Art as an unexpected hedge amongst billionaires in uncertain times, and Sarah Thornton has more on this here [Forbes] [TelegraphUK]
Levi’s to launch limited edition jeans featuring Murakami’s flowers [Nylon]
Ex-wife of Jeff Koons/former porn star/Italian parliament member gets to keep her son [Bloomberg]
Flea market purchase revealed to be work by 17th-century Flemish master Pieter Brueghel the Younger [GuardianUK}
Art Market Blog offers another view to market conclusions drawn from last week’s Kate Moss, Banksy auction, previously covered by Art Observed here [Art Market Blog]
A guide to buying contemporary art[TimesOnline]
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Bansky mural at Howard St. and Broadway photo by ArtObserved
The large-scale Banksy piece on the corner of Howard St. and Broadway in Soho is the second entire-building-facade work found in downtown Manhattan this week (the first covered by ArtObserved here) and is also the second collaboration between Banksy and the professional advertisement firm, Colossal Media. The massive rat, filled with fast scrawling black-lines to appear as if done in crayon or marker, stands next to dripping red letters reading, “LET THEM EAT CRACK.”
Banksy Goes Legal: Rent Walls & Hires Painters[Supertouch]
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Banksy Reacts To Wall Street [TheWorlds Best Ever]
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A Could-Be Banksy Mural Appears on Soho Wall [NYTimes]
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Banksygate 2008: Natives Respond [Gothamist]
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Banksy Official Website
“Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio” by Lucio Fontana via Christie’s
Highest-valued sale Christie’s has yet to auction during Frieze Art week will be a Lucio Fontana egg-shaped canvas estimated at $21.8 million [Bloomberg]
LACMA announces $55 million gift directed toward new pavilion amongst other endeavors from POM Wonderful and Fiji water owners [ArtDaily]
Street artist Kaws, now at Emmanuel Perrotin in Miami (as covered by AO here), collaborates on shoes with Marc Jacobs [TheWorldsBestEver]
An interview with Catherine Opie, whose work can now be seen at the Guggenheim [Artforum]
Ukrainian (not Russian, as cited in linked article) steel oligarch Victor Pinchuk announces Director for his new Kiev museum and that he was in fact a major buyer at Hirst’s Sotheby’s auction [ArtInfo]
