Artist Grayson Perry has unveiled a newly designed handbag tote, molded into the shape of a human scrotum. A collaboration with leather craftsman Andy Bates, the artist has only had one made, and has used it frequently in appearances as his drag alter-ego, Clare. “I received enormous interest in the “Scrotal Sac” from around the world but have mysteriously declined to make a second,” said Bates. (more…)
Artist Raymond Pettibon is interviewed in The Guardian this week, and discusses his recent work, his stance against the US government, and his thoughts on his logo design for Black Flag being one of the most tattooed images of all time. “I don’t know which is worse sometimes… I’ve never encouraged anyone to get one. I don’t know how those things work. Some things become iconic for whatever reason and people have the logo on their arms, or wherever, but a lot of them don’t even know their music.” (more…)
The newest issue of W Magazine is out, featuring a cover shot of actor George Clooney dressed by artist Yayoi Kusama. Dressed in Kusama’s signature polka dots, Clooney is also profiled in the issue, promoting his film The Monuments Men, about a group of American G.I.s stealing masterpiece artworks back from the Nazis. “Art takes different forms,” Clooney says in the interview. “But it represents something that is basic in all of us—our history.” (more…)
Forbes Magazine profiles Guilty, the gargantuan yacht of Dakis Joannou which was commissioned as a collaboration between Jeff Koons and yacht designer Ivana Porfiri. Inspired by the World War I technique of Razzle-Dazzle camouflage painting, the boat is hand-painted, and features a portrait of Iggy Pop on the roof. “The process was extremely complex,” Joannou says. “Ivana sent the design to Jeff, and he did some 3-D designing in his studio. I did not interfere at all.” (more…)
The long-anticipated collaboration between Damien Hirst and British design house Alexander McQueen has finally been revealed, featuring a number of variations on the designer’s iconic skull scarves. The collection consists of 30 scarf designs, utilizing designs and concepts from Hirst’s celebrated Entomology series. (more…)
Part of its ongoing artist collaboration series, sneaker company Reebok has announced a series of shoes featuring the art of painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. Screenprinted and embroidered across the upper segments of the shoes, the line features a series of pieces by the artist, and is now available. (more…)
Robert Indiana, Red Gold Alphabet, (2011), via Woodward Gallery
On view at Woodward Gallery in New York is American pop artist Robert Indiana’s most recent series on paper and canvas entitled “A – Z,” serving as a fitting accompaniment to the artist’s current show at The Whitney Museum. Born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana in 1928, Robert Indiana is best known for his iconic LOVE series. He has also created similar works in the same style with short words such as EAT, HUG, and more recently, HOPE, from which all proceeds were donated to Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. (more…)
The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York has received another $5 million allocation from the city to add to its fundraising target of $79 million for new renovations. The project will expand the building and its surrounding gardens. “The renovation will make design accessible to museumgoers with expanded gallery space, the restoration and preservation of historic rooms, innovative landscape design,” says cultural affairs commissioner Kate D. Levin. (more…)
Damien Hirst has unveiled his latest project, a children’s ABC’s book featuring a letter for letter survey of own work, and a different, corresponding font. The artist spoke with The Guardian this week, discussing the book, his inspirations as a young artist, and his thoughts on “painting like a child.” “The childlike quality of some of Picasso’s drawings is precisely what makes them so masterful and extraordinary; the ability to express complete visions, feelings and portraits through a continuous line.” (more…)
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has released a series of specially designed skateboard decks for The Sk8room. Featuring shots of some of the artist’s work (including his iconic sunflower seeds work), overlaid with text from the artist. The set of three decks follows in the wake of other Sk8room Collaborations with Damien Hirst and Banksy. (more…)
The Serpentine Sackler, via The Guardian
The newly completed redesign of the Serpentine Sackler Gallery is set to open this Sunday in London’s Kensington Gardens neighborhood, featuring a sloping new design extension by architect Zaha Hadid, which complements a freshly renovated gunpowder store initially constructed in 1805.
The Serpentine Sackler, via The Guardian (more…)
Chris Johanson, Being in My Life (2013), Courtesy of MOCA Pacific Design Center
In keeping with Los Angeles-based artist Chris Johanson’s aim to create “peaceful” art, Within The River of Time is my Mind presents a serene body of new painting, sculpture, and found wood, site-specific installation at is on display at MOCA‘s Pacific Design Center through October 13th. The solo exhibition, organized by art critic and guest curator Andrew Berardini, corresponds with the release of Chris Johanson, the most recent monograph in Phaidon’s celebrated Contemporary Artist series. (more…)
Part of the 2013 London Design Festival, Alex de Rijke of dRMM Architects and Dean of Architecture at the Royal College of Art has created a complex, interlocking staircase installation on the grounds in front of the Tate Modern. Endless Stair will open on Friday, and is open to the public during the day. It closes on October 10th. (more…)
Fashion designer Jeremy Scott has unveiled a new series of prints for his Spring and Summer 2014 line, featuring collaborative artworks made with Kenny Scharf. Featuring Scharf’s signature cartoon imagery, the pieces are part of a series called “Teenagers from Mars.” “Jeremy is the first person that I ever let take my art and do whatever he wants. I wasn’t nervous about it not being the greatest most fun thing and I wasn’t let down for one second.” Says Scharf. (more…)
Urban fashion company Supreme has just unveiled its Fall lookbook, which has partnered with the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat to include a number of graphics and images from the paintings of late artist. In one photo, a model sports a red denim jacket, with Basquiat’s famous Cassius Clay figure. Other pieces feature Basquiat’s signature textual juxtapositions and images. (more…)
Barry Bergdoll, MoMA’s Architectural Curator for the past six years, has announced that he will be leaving the position to return to Columbia University as chair of the Art History Department. “The university has now requested that I return to teach full time,” Mr. Bergdoll said in a letter to journalists. “It is for me a great honor that I feel also recognizes the scholarly work that I have continued to pursue most recently in exhibitions and publications here at MoMA.” (more…)
In celebration of its first broadcast of a national televised awards show from Brooklyn, MTV has recruited artist KAWS to redesign the Video Music Awards statue for its August 25th broadcast from the Barclays Center. The one off design translates the iconic image of Buzz Aldrin planting a flag on the moon (affectionately referred to as “The Moonman”), replacing Aldrin with the artist’s “Companion” character. “The connection to Brooklyn, it felt like it was the perfect time to reinvent an iconic image,” said MTV President Stephen Friedman. “Consistent with our DNA of creative reinvention and constant reinvention, this felt like a perfect marriage.” (more…)
The winning design has been announced for the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, an inverted “T” by Pritzker Prize winners Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Featuring 183,000 square feet of exhibition space, the design will be more than twice the size of the Tate Modern, and will stand as the centerpiece of the expanding cultural district in the West Kowloon area of the city.
Jeff Koons has partnered with Champagne makers Dom Pérignon to release an extremely limited edition packaging design or the company’s 2003 Rosé. Made in stainless steel, the design is a miniature of Koons’ Balloon Venus, and is available for the price of $20,000 a bottle. “I’m very proud of the ‘Balloon Venus,’” says Koons. “It’s a work that I enjoy and I think really represents my oeuvre of work. ‘Balloon Venus’ represents the continuation of life’s energy. A great vintage also represents the vintages that will come, and so it’s about the continuation of something. It’s a continued creative process.” (more…)
Fashion designer L’Wren Scott has announced the completion of her fall line, inspired by painter Gustav Klimt. Speaking at a press conference last week, Scott discussed the artist’s inspiration on her work, and the inspiration he took from the fashion and culture of his era. “He was very avant garde and scandalous, in more ways than the children.” Ms. Scott said. “It was a movement coming from something very strict to loosening up, but as you see, Klimt was a man who missed the waistline. He painted it in everyone of his portraits. He wanted to see the female form.” (more…)
Sou Fujimoto’s Serpentine Pavilion, via The Serpentine
The Serpentine Gallery’s annual summer pavilion opened late last week in London’s Hyde Park, with a presentation by designer Sou Fujimoto and Serpentine Directors Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Fujimoto, Peyton-Jones, and Obrist, via Bloomberg (more…)
Artist Elizabeth Peyton and designer Dries Van Noten recently sat down with the Financial Times’s Style section to talk about their ongoing friendship, their mutual respect for each other’s work, and Peyton’s portraiture of Van Noten. “The faces people make when they are photographed, and the face they have when you draw them are very different. It’s a very special thing to share with someone, because it’s time spent together that is not about eating or the usual social things.” Peyton says. (more…)
Prior to his death in February, American artist Richard Artschwager designed four elevators for the Whitney Museum’s new museum space in Chelsea, currently under construction. The four designs, titled Six in Four, are designed around the reoccurring motifs of doors, windows, tables, baskets, mirrors and rugs that appear in Artschwager’s work. “The idea was to have something that immediately gives you a sense of place, an identity, so that this isn’t just another generic museum,” Whitney Director Adam D. Weinberg said. (more…)
The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, London has been awarded the UK’s prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year, entitling it to a £100,000 prize. The award comes after an ambitious renovation and restoration project, which put £3 million into upgrades and new curatorial standards to make the museum a jewel of the city’s already burgeoning cultural offering. Says Art Fund Director Stephen Deuchar: “The collections are not only important but they are very beautifully presented, in terms of the physical fabric of the showcases and also the interpretation – the labels are erudite and accessible. There is a great curatorial coherence to the collections and that comes across in every square foot of the museum.” (more…)
