Sympathy for the art gallery

alecshao: Jorge Mendez Blake - El Castillo (The Castle), 2008

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:37:42 +0200

Jorge Mendez Blake - El Castillo (The Castle), 2008

are2: Comic book paintings First reaction; wow; brilliant. My...

Mon, 21 May 2012 15:09:08 +0200

Comic book paintings

First reaction; wow; brilliant. My mind races through Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, the classic Dutch Masters, Tauba Auerbach. The second thought is what a waste of time and talent. Then this is quickly brushed aside by the desire to take a look up close at those paintings and try to read the comic books. I think the artist captures the comic book thrill in art, to quickly go through, forward, racing excitedly through the pages to reach the climax. Yet these paintings direct attention to this element of passing time, in the flowing flipping pages, and speed and say stop; look at reality, light, space, depth. These are a sublimation of the excitement of reading super hero comic books; in their sedcutve realistic rendering, their glowing warm light, they excite, but there is no climax, no next page to go to, so you get to saviour the moment.

markmcevoy: FAIL I’m in a mood today

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:10:35 +0200

markmcevoy:

FAIL

I’m in a mood today

magnificentruin: Frankenliz I… wish I’d thought of...

Sun, 20 May 2012 22:54:16 +0200

magnificentruin:

Frankenliz

I… wish I’d thought of that. So good.

OMG WUT? (via coupland¯com - Douglas Coupland · the Museum of...

Sun, 20 May 2012 01:25:00 +0200

OMG WUT? (via coupland¯com - Douglas Coupland · the Museum of the Rapture)

"Art is about beauty. And if we forget about beauty we desecrate the foundations upon which Western art is based."

Sat, 19 May 2012 21:29:22 +0200

"Art is about beauty. And if we forget about beauty we desecrate the foundations upon which Western art is based."

hottiesofarthistory: Young Egon Schiele Check out that...

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:31:18 +0200

hottiesofarthistory:

Young Egon Schiele

Check out that smoulder.

phillipsdepury: ADAM MCEWEN | Untitled (Dead), 2003 | acrylic...

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:53:26 +0200

phillipsdepury:

ADAM MCEWEN | Untitled (Dead), 2003 | acrylic and aluminum paint on canvas

Sold for $164,500 at the Contemporary Art Day Sale, 11 May 2012, achieving an auction record for the artist.

I love LOVE it that phillipsdepury mentions the displayed price, although it is also quite dizzying and, well, nauseating.

hoardingwithcuratorialintent: installator: Nedko Solakov: ”A...

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:51:44 +0200

hoardingwithcuratorialintent:

installator:

Nedko Solakov: ”A Life (Black & White) involved two workers constantly repainting the walls of the exhibition space (one in black paint and one in white), for the entire duration of the exhibition.” (via)

This sounds like my own personal hell.

Artists are sadists

phillipsdepury: MAURIZIO CATTELAN | Daddy Daddy, 2008 |...

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:58:40 +0200

phillipsdepury:

MAURIZIO CATTELAN | Daddy Daddy, 2008 | polyurethane resin, steel, and industrial epoxy car paint with UV protection

Sold for $2,546,500 at the Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 10 May 2012, New York. [Video]

When I think of a sculpture, I always imagine it like that, far away, in some way already dead. It has always surprised me when people laugh at some of my art works: maybe in front of death laughter is a spontaneous reaction. (Maurizio Cattelan in “Killing Me Softly: A Conversation with Maurizio Cattelan,” interview with Giancarlo Politi et al, Flash Art (International edition) 37, no. 237, July-September 2004, p. 92).

Originally conceived for the acclaimed exhibition theanyspacewhatever, curated by Nancy Spector at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2008, Daddy Daddy, 2008, is a sculptural rendering of the beloved protagonist in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio. Cattelan’s rendering bears all of the characteristic marks of the classic Pinocchio from his eponymous Disney film. In its lustrous surface, vibrant hues, and rounded form, comprised of polyurethanic resin, steel, and industrial epoxy car paint, Daddy Daddy, 2008, is an exact replica of the Disney character. His face is plump and sweet, with sparkling blue eyes and a button nose, destined to grow should he tell a lie. As the viewer will remember, Pinocchio plays the hero by rescuing both his father and Jiminy from the ravenous whale, Monstro, but not without tragically drowning, eliciting the image from which Cattelan bases his original installation.

In 2011, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum rotunda was once again invaded and reinvented by Cattelan; in the exhibition Maurizio Cattelan: All, Daddy Daddy, 2008, was rigged from the ceiling of the museum in a retrospective of the artist’s oeuvre. All the works, secured and suspended with thick white ropes and metal armature, hovered midair in a massive chandelier of suspended animation. With a levitational twist, the en masse installation offered a profound meditation on mortality, the core of Cattelan’s practice. His renowned use of taxidermy, as seen in Love Saves Life, 1995, Novecento, 1997, and Tourists, 1997, presents a state of illusory life. Even more poignant than the stuffed animals are his examples of anthropomorphic installation; in Bidibidobidiboo, 1996, a squirrel has committed suicide with a miniature revolver in his sordid kitchen. Like Daddy Daddy, 2008, a loveable creature meets an untimely, yet darkly comic end. It is as if Death stalks these characters.

In the original installation of Daddy Daddy in 2008, Cattelan’s beloved hero lying at the base of the rotunda was perhaps ultimately foiled by the fear of his unauthentic existence. However, exhibited in All (re-enacted in the same space as theanyspacewhatever, 2008-2009), Cattelan proffers a new end to Pinocchio’s story. Instead of meeting a watery grave, Daddy Daddy, 2008, floats amidst the totality of the artist’s epic body of work, hovering between the throws of death and the promise of deliverance.

2headedsnake: domberger.de Walter Allner, Ohne Titel,...

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:07:46 +0200

2headedsnake:

domberger.de

Walter Allner, Ohne Titel, 1973

Walter Allner (1909 – 2006) noted designer, typographer and painter was trained at the Bauhaus under Josef Albers, Vasily Kandisky and Joost Schmidt.

artspotting: from Robert Filliou: From Political to Poetical...

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:58:58 +0200

artspotting:

from Robert Filliou: From Political to Poetical Economy, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1996 via Stopping Off Place

oxane: Pyramid by AjanProvocateur Taken from the top of the...

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:30:01 +0200

oxane:

Pyramid by AjanProvocateur

Taken from the top of the other pyramid where me and Victor had spent the night, with a WWII Voitlander camera in 1979
Victor was as fine a person as I ever knew

awesome

visual-poetry: “untitled” from the handwritten jokes series by...

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:00:21 +0200

visual-poetry:

“untitled” from the handwritten jokes series by richard prince

cavetocanvas: Joseph Beuys, I Like America and America Likes...

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:54:46 +0200

cavetocanvas:

Joseph Beuys, I Like America and America Likes Me, May 1974

A master of compelling performance pieces, Beuys flew to New York, picked up by an ambulance, and swathed in felt, was transported to a room in the Rene Block Gallery. The room was also occupied by a wild coyote, and for a period of 8 hours a day for the next three days, Beuys spent his time with the coyote in the small room, with little more than a felt blanket and a pile of straw. While in the room, the artist engaged in symbolist gestures, such as striking a triangle and tossing his gloves to the coyote. At the end of the three days, the coyote, who had become quite tolerant of Beuys, allowed a hug from the artist, who was transported back to the airport via ambulance. He never set foot on outside American soil nor saw anything of America other than the coyote and the inside of the gallery.

astridhermes: 12-5-2012 I love the many levels/ stripes/ shades...

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:05:43 +0200

astridhermes: 12-5-2012

I love the many levels/ stripes/ shades of white.

Tangentially related to the Ryman post earlier methinks.

hungryghoast: tphd: WILD DOGS STOLE MY MOM BUT LATER SHE SENT ME A LETTER FROM THE WILD DOG...

Sat, 12 May 2012 22:23:07 +0200

hungryghoast:

tphd:

WILD DOGS STOLE MY MOM

BUT LATER SHE SENT ME A LETTER

FROM THE WILD DOG KINGDOM

IT SAID “DEAR SON, IM A WILD DOG NOW.

I USED TO LOVE YOU, BUT NOW

IM TOO BUSY WITH WILD DOG THINGS FOR LOVE.

SEE YA, MOM.”

TS Eliot once said: “Of course dogs don’t seem to lend themselves to verse quite so well, collectively, as cats” … I dunnow what TPHD titles this one, but I think TPHD RIPS TS ELIOT OPEN WITH WILD DOGS works.

I am so into poetry lately

hydeordie: Robert Ryman, Archive, 1980 via...

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:16:52 +0200

hydeordie:

Robert Ryman, Archive, 1980

via cavetocanvas

Regarding this…I don’t like the “I could have done that” argument, I find it has very little merit in regard to the worth of a piece, besides this, here is what I have to say about Robert Ryman and in turn, a lot of minimalist artists out there, it’s not for everyone. And on that point, nothing is for everyone, not one piece of clothing, one game, one TV show, one movie, one type of flower, one color, one city, one haircut etc, etc. You don’t have to like everything, no one is twisting your arm about it.

I worked at a gallery that had a (IMO) brilliant Carl Andre opening and the crowd was split in thirds: 1/3 hated it and left immediately (very vocal), 1/3 hated the people who hated it (also vocal), and 1/3 enjoyed it without hating on anyone.

To me Robert Ryman was looking for ways to convey meanings using a different method of painting and used materials in a way that is often viewed as nontraditional. I find this piece to be meditative and his methods to be one of a purposeful and controlled chaos. It’s really beautiful to me.

I also find it interesting that people can get so violently angry against minimalist art in a way they don’t against even abstract expressionism, pop or whatever contemporary thing is happening at Peres Projects. I feel like it must be some resentment that builds to the piece not engaging or reflecting one’s disgusted or dissatisfied mental state when being confronted with it.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I was looking for a reason to reblog this here, because I think...

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:09:10 +0200

I was looking for a reason to reblog this here, because I think the headline is hilarious, and so I submit this as a title to this exhibition which changes its title daily. Seems pretty appropriate to me. If you haven’t check it out!

"I am a night painter, so when I come into the studio the next morning the delirium is over. I come..."

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:06:27 +0200

“I am a night painter, so when I come into the studio the next morning the delirium is over. I come into the studio very fearfully, I creep in to see what happened the night before. And the feeling is one of, “My God, did I do that?”.”

- Is Philip Guston saying here that he always paints drunk?