September 1, 2010
Starting today through October 16th, 2010, the Society of Illustrators will exhibit “Blow Up” featuring Yuko Shimizu, Sam Weber, and Tomer Hanuka. Each artist comes from a distinct cultural background – Japan, Canada, and Israel, respectively. The show explores how their identities get “remixed” through meeting at an American crossroad.
Shimizu creates 3 new works specifically for the show (Blow Up No.0 and No.1 pictured above). She says, “I wanted to show my creative process. I normally create loose sketches first, blow up the sketch to the size I want to draw, cut the watercolor paper, very loosely trace the sketch onto the paper using light box, then spend long hours (sometimes days) drawing with a Japanese brush that is specifically designed to write sutra as part of Buddhist practice. I try to figure out the details of the images as I create to make the long drawing process interesting and refreshing.”
View more work from the show and find out how Yuko works
August 27, 2010
“Daydreaming with… James Lavelle” opens today at the Haunch of Venison gallery in London. James Lavelle of music group UNKLE curates work from music, art, film, fashion, and design to bring an experience that combines music with visual art. Lavelle reveals in an interview, “We want to break down the line between what people think and do traditionally in the art and music realms, there’s a diversity in the work, we want to take things out of their boxes.”
The original artist lineup includes James Lavelle, Warren du Preez & Nick Thornton Jones, Nathan Coley, Futura, Jonas Burgert, Polly Borland, Azzi Glasser, Ian Monroe, Alex Box, Boudicca, Ben Drury, 3D, Dan Glasser, Will Bankhead, Faile, Jamie Shovlin, Oswaldo Macia, Simon Birch, David Nicholson, and more. Kai and Sunny were invited to the be in the show in early August. Their addition came as no surprise as the duo previously collaborated with Unkle on album art for select tracks to Alexander McQueen’s A/W 2009 McQ collection.
Learn more about Kai and Sunny and the Pop Up Show
June 18, 2010
Dozens of agencies, magazines, and design firms were at Le Book Connections to meet and mingle with old and new clients alike in the historic Puck Building. Bernstein & Andriulli had two booths over the two-day event, displaying artist’s work on four computer screens. The best in photography, illustration, interactive, hair, make-up, and styling, and more scrolled through the interactive presentations. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog, read our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter, and friend us on Facebook!
View more photos from Le Book Connections
June 11, 2010
LACMA MUSE and ArtWalk 2010: The Los Angeles Arts & Music Festival come together to bring you Gary Baseman’s “Giggle and Pop!”. The show stars Baseman’s ChouChous and Tar Pit Girls whom will perform to choreography by Sarah Elgart and music by Carina Round. Attendees are invited to join in the dancing and festivities and some will receive limited-edition sashes with original art by Baseman. Three performances are scheduled Saturday, June 12th at 12pm, 1pm, and 3pm with vignettes in between each show.
“Giggle and Pop!” takes inspiration from Baseman’s paintings “I Melt in Your Presence” (2007), “Hide and Seek in the Forest of ChouChou” (2007), and “La Noche de la Fusíon” (2009). Evil demons dominate the forest of ChouChou where the Wild Girls reside. ChouChous save the Wild Girls by absorbing their negative energy, oozing love from their belly buttons. The Wild Girls are transformed into Tar Pit Girls at the LACMA event, positively altered from the love of the ChouChou.
View some inspirational sketches by Gary Baseman and check out the the ChouChous and Wild Girls
June 4, 2010
Kai & Sunny’s “Return to the Wild” show at Stolen Space Gallery opens today in London. As a follow-up to the “What A Wonderful World” show in 2009, “Return to the Wild” explores the feelings that nature can project from an emotional point of view that aims to hit the viewer on a visceral level.
Preconceived notions are challenged as Kai & Sunny ask “Should [seeing] birds in flight always give us an uplifting feeling? Does the sun always dance magically on the water?” The duo challenges the viewer to answer these questions with their intricate and geometric style.
View more work from Kai and Sunny’s show at Stolen Space
June 3, 2010
FriendsWithYou brings color and festivities to Toronto for the Wish Come True Festival in what will be their largest interactive installation to date. The Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity has commissioned FriendsWithYou to spread their universal message of magic, love, and friendship throughout the city. During June 10th – 20th, 2010 visitors can enjoy larger-than-life inflatable installations, a gallery show, several pop-up shops, community events, speaking engagements, and more. The highlight of the 10-day event is Rainbow City at Queen’s Park. The Luminato 2010’s festival Mascot Rainbow King leads a host of celestial characters in transforming Queen’s Park with larger-than-life dimensions of giant totems, bounce houses, and inflatable friends.
View the full list of Events
May 28, 2010
Artists and collectives took part in “Pick Me Up“, a contemporary graphic art fair at Somerset House organized by Claire Catterall. Peepshow Collective showed a selection of prints, artwork, books and objects that were all available for purchase. They also ran a print workshop using pre-made woodblocks designed by the Peepshow team for creating one-off relief prints. Pictured above is Andrew Rae’s “Ghost in the Machine” silkscreen.
HelloVon exhibited a variety of commercial and personal work, including some never before seen pieces. “Lion 01″ was featured in Fast Company’s “Pick Me Up: 8 British Rising Stars of Graphic Design.”
View more work by HelloVon and Peepshow Collective at Pick Me Up
April 30, 2010
Jeffrey Deitch closes Deitch Projects with Shepard Fairey’s solo exhibition “May Day.” The show opens on May 1st, 2010 and runs until May 29th, 2010. The title refers to the multiple meanings of May Day, known as a celebration of spring, International Worker’s Day, or a distress call used by pilots, police, and firefighters in emergencies. Fairey’s new work includes portraits of artists, musicians, and political activists that he admires.
Find out what else Shepard Fairey is up to in New York
February 24, 2010
“Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970-1980″ is showing now at the Cincinnati Art Museum, featuring artists such as William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Mitch Epstein, and Joel Meyerowitz. Starburst takes viewers on a journey through the explosion and development of color photography in America. Once considered less of an art form than black and white photography, the color photography in Starburst addresses the initial controversy surrounding color film and how pioneering artists turned it into high art. In case one can’t make it to the midwest, the work of Stephen Shore, Joel Meyerowitz, and William Egglestone will also be on view at the Edwynn Houk Gallery starting Thursday, February 25th.
Learn more about the shows
February 1, 2010
Erwin Olaf’s “Hotel, Dawn & Dusk” opened last Thursday night at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler in New York to an energetic reception. Patrons eagerly filled the expansive gallery space to view new photographs and videos by the Dutch artist. Olaf’s solo show debut in New York was “Rain and Hope,” followed by a succesful sophomore show “Grief.” “Dawn & Dusk” marks the mature succession of Olaf’s vision.
Olaf describes “Dusk” as “a dark comic strip.” In response to Dusk, Olaf shot “Dawn,” images inspired by by an encounter in Russia with pale-skinned people in characterless rooms. Dawn and Dusk are inverted mirrors of each other, one dark and one light, both enigmatic in their own right.
Also on view is “Hotel,” a body of work dealing with Olaf’s travels and the accompanying feelings of transience and anomie, the unsettled sense of passing through, and the boredom of being on one’s own.
View photos from the show and learn more about Erwin Olaf’s work
January 19, 2010
Mark Todd’s “Juggernaut” is a collection of new comic paintings and collage works on paper on view at Billy Shire Fine Arts. The show’s origin is Mark Todd’s early love of comic books and the fantasy world that accompanied them. More than just nostalgia, the pieces in “Juggernaut” are comic book reinventions full of wily energy. Collages and mixed-media pieces make use of found papers, xeroxes, cel vinyl, acrylic, spray paint, and various residue. The show is on view now until February 6th, 2010 – be sure to check it out!
More images from the Juggernaut
January 15, 2010
Curator Carol McCusker had a vision, put out a call for entry, and one thousand submissions flooded in from 200 artists. McCusker narrowed it down to forty five photographs that now form “New Directions 2010,” showing currently at Wall Space Gallery. Emily Nathan’s “Green Sea” epitomizes the premise of the “down and out” motif of the show.
“Down and out” refers to the point of view of looking down from a high vantage point and out to a vanishing horizon that Albert Boime called a “Magisterial Gaze.” Ms. McCusker hoped that “the photographs would show a variety of ways that ‘down’ and ‘out’ can be imaged; and the emotional liberation such points-of-view can have on our often confined and overly responsible psyches.”
Read what Emily Nathan had to say about Green Sea
December 3, 2009
Steuben Glass has made functional and fine art glass products for over 100 years in New York. Their involvement in the arts has lead them to collaborate with artists such as Isamu Noguchi, Miro, and Georgia O’Keefe. The Madison Avenue flagship store houses an expansive gallery that is now showing the work of Stephen Wilkes.
For five years, Wilkes photographed the hospital complex on Ellis Island where immigrants with questionable health and contagious diseases were kept. Some eventually joined their families across the Hudson River, while others perished before they could reach their new life.
Wilkes’ photographs are of abandoned rooms with peeling paint and empty hallways overtaken by plant growth. Since his time on the island, the hospital buildings have been renovated and the signs of the past have been removed. Visit the exhibit Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom to get an eye-opening look into what was once the gateway to America, captured in time.
Stephen Wilkes, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom
The Steuben Gallery
667 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10065
Showing now until January 4th, 2009
Robert Nachman, Creative Director of Steuben Glass, talks about the impact of Stephen Wilkes’ work, the importance of history, and more.
Read the interview
November 5, 2009
Hello Kitty celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Parent company Sanrio is not holding back when it comes to honoring the pink-bowed feline. At the center of numerous Hello Kitty events is the Three Apples exhibition at the Royal/T gallery in Los Angeles. Curated by Jamie Rivadeneira, owner of pop-culture shop JAPANLA, the show includes Hello-Kitty inspired work by over 80 artists such as Gary Baseman, FriendsWithYou, Ron English, Buff Monster, Camilla d’Errico, Luke Chueh, Deph, Yosuke Ueno, and more.
Learn about how Gary Baseman and FriendsWithYou feel about Hello Kitty.
November 2, 2009
38,000 visitors are expected at Paris Photo, “the world’s leading event for photography.” Photographers from 23 countries will be represented across 89 galleries. Among the 500 artists that are showing at Paris Photo, Julie Blackmon is among the 20 short-listed works exhibited during the fair for the BMW Paris Photo Prize. The theme of the exhibit is “When was the last time you experienced something for the first time?”. Julie Blackmon’s artist statement for her photograph “Baby Toss”:
“This photograph expressed the universal primary experience of becoming aware of your own body in a new way. When being released from trusted hands into the unknown, you are as left weightless, gleeful, fearful, and euphoric.”
Paris Photo runs from Novembr 19-22, 2009 at Carrousel Du Louvre.
