dirty pretty things

Directed by Tyrone and Jamie Wood (sons of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood), Scream Gallery has carved a unique niche for itself within the contemporary art world, bringing to light the more hidden talents of some of the biggest names in music and pop culture.

Opening Thursday February 4th, Scream is featuring the new series by Warholite artist, photographer, and music video director Russell Young. The collection focuses largely on Marilyn Monroe and Kurt Cobain, two of the most influential figures of pop culture who share similarly tragic, yet brilliant, legacies. In this new set of haunting paintings and screen prints, Young utilizes his signature technique of infusing his pigments with 'diamond dust,' adding "a magical glittering effect that imbues the images with an ethereal quality."

Dirty Pretty Things
February 4-March 13
Tue-Fri, 10:00-18:00; Sat, 11:00-17:00

Scream
34 Bruton Street
W1J 6QX London
Tube: Jubilee, Victoria, & Picadilly at Green Park
http://www.screamlondon.com/



Kurt Cobain "I will let you down, I will make you hurt" white+suicide pink
2009
acrylic paint, enamel and diamond dust on linen
62 x 48 in



Marilyn Crying
2009
acrylic paint, enamel and diamond dust on linen
62 x 48 in



Mick Jagger "Reggie Kray, do you know my name"
2008
acrylic and enamel screen print on linen
62 x 48 in



Lou Reed "Shooting Star"
2008
acrylic and enamel screen print on linen
62 x 48in



Patty Hearst
2008
enamel and diamond dust screen print on linen
62 x 48in



Iggy Pop "Search and Destroy"
2008
acrylic and enamel screen print on linen
62 x 48in

rosson crow

It’s hard not to be nostalgic for when 315 Bowery was the home of underground rock and not upscale menswear. Now the neighborhood that used to house the monumental CBGB’s is home to John Varvatos, Blue and Cream, and a Daniel Boulud restaurant. The Bowery has lost some of its dangerous edge, but there is delicate irony in the small way it is preserved; its fashion. The skinny black jeans and leather jackets that used to be seen as red flags of the misfits of society are now mass produced and sold in the windows of stores like Blue and Cream and John Varvatos.

‘Bowery Boys,’ an exhibition of paintings by Rosson Crow, explores the way that culture and art have been influenced by these groundbreaking ‘bad boys’ of days past. One painting pairs trendy nightclub Boom Boom Room with a gritty sex club of old NYC, Plato’s Retreat. The juxtaposition is off-putting, but in the same way that the old Bowery and the new Bowery would look if they were superimposed into one singular picture. Rosson, interested in the manifestation of masculinity, focuses on the iconic and alluring ‘bad boys’ – those who were written off as dangers to society and yet were still celebrated by their cult followings and who are remembered even today. Rosson’s paintings explore the lawless and exciting NYC that was thoroughly laced with rebellion. By paying homage to those who paved an unthinkable way, Rosson’s exhibit provides inspiration for current artists and a fascinating look back into our city’s often-misremembered punk culture.

Rosson Crow
Bowery Boys
March 04 — March 27, 2010
Deitch Projects
18 Wooster Street, New York


Crow's previous work:










Rosson Crow, in the flesh

Hausu

Today is the last chance to see Hausu at the IFC Center in NYC. Don't worry if you miss it, Criterion Collection has picked it up for a remastered DVD release in the fall.

Tuesday January 26th
1:15 5:35 7:10 10:15pm
IFC Center
323 Avenue of the Americas
New York City
(212) 924-7771






How to describe Nobuhiko Obayahshi's indescribable 1977 movie "House"? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of "Scooby Doo" as directed by Dario Argento? Any of the above will do for more »this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt's creaky country home, only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos, and a demonic housecat. Too absurd to be genuinely terrifying, yet too nightmarish to be merely comic, "House" seems like it was beamed to Earth from another planet. Or perhaps the mind of a child: the director fashioned the script after the eccentric musings of his eleven-year-old daughter, then employed all the tricks in his analog arsenal (mattes, animation, and collage) to make them a visually astonishing, raucous reality. Never before released in the United States, and a bona fide cult classic in the making, "House" is one of the most exciting genre discoveries in years. ~via ifc

east side stories

Kicken Berlin starts off its 2010 program with a look at the past, presenting a series of photographs under the title “East Side Stories: German Photographs 1950s-1980s.” Sourcing images from a selection of photographers who were prolific during the time of the GDR (many of whom are now represented by Ostkreuz), this exhibition presents a more personal glimpse at a past life, with each photographer lending a more personal, humanistic touch to the images, steering away from an idealistic representation of society that was more commonly accepted under GDR rule.

Among the photographers on show are Ursula Arnold, Sibylle Bergemann, Arno Fischer, Ute und Werner Mahler, Roger Melis, Helga Paris, Evelyn Richter and Gundula Schulze Eldowy.

A separate exhibition space highlights the work of noted ‘50s fashion photographer F.C. Grundlach.

Now through April 17th, 2010
Tue-Sat, 2-6 pm

Kicken Berlin
Linienstr. 155, 10115 Berlin
www.kicken-gallery.com

pictures and words

Paste Up
Barbara Kruger

“An artist who works with pictures and words”



Untitled (We decorate your life), Collage, 7 x 7 inches



Last chance to check out collage artist Barbara Kruger’s early work at Sprüth Magers London, closing January 23. After holding graphic designer and art director positions at publications like Mademoiselle and Aperture, Kruger siezed the simple imagery and texts of advertising for her own paste ups. Ironic slogans, invented or clipped directly from the media, in Futura font stand out boldly and turn close shots of faces and objects into incisive critiques of authority, capitalism, consumerism and social identity. Kruger’s paste ups seem part of our daily imagery: DIY flyers, notebooks, book and DVD covers, post cards all resemble Kruger’s art, but her paste ups use the communicability of this style to its fullest potential. Her early small-scale, monochrome pieces, infused with poignant and political messages are on view now.


http://spruethmagers.net/home/




Untitled (You are a very special person), Collage (color), 5.4 x 7.5 inches




Untitled (Are we having fun yet?), Collage (color), 8.3 x 5.7 inches

pete does kate

Kate Moss by Peter Doherty at Scream Gallery in London running through January 19.

www.screamlondon.com

holidays blow pop up shop

james whale at film forum

For those who are greater fans of a big fright than of Christmas carols, the New York Film Forum is presenting some of James Whale´s most acclaimed movies. Whale, director and pioneer of the horror genre, brought to life some of the most memorable Hollywood movies of all time. He introduced the legendary Frankenstein character to cinema audiences and was one of the first directors in Hollywood to ever use a highly mobile camera.

Apart from his horror hits, Whale also experimented with other movie genres - some of his most famous non-horror films, Waterloo Bridge (1931), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) and the musical Show Boat (1936), will also be screened this coming week.

Screening Schedule

girl gaze

vintage photo via the Best Coast myspace page

In the past we've featured a number of emerging bands whose myspaces would list any combination of "garage, lo-fi, surf, tropical, punk," or "shoegaze" as their genre trifecta, from Vivian Girls and Real Estate (east coast!) to the Intelligence and Abe Vigoda (west coast!). Within this scene and its amalgamation of genres, however, there is undoubtedly a difference to the sound when accompanied by the female voice--enter a slew of female-fronted or all-girl bands from California (Best Coast, Grass Widow, Brilliant Colors, the Light Rays, Pearl Harbor, Dum Dum Girls), New York (the V-Girls, Weed Hounds, Talk Normal), the UK (Pens, Wetdog) and even Sweden (Liechtenstein). On November 5th, Vivian Girls asked on Twitter, "Should we call our scene girl gaze or shit girls?" Though we don't recommend googling the term (nsfw), the first one seems likelier to catch on.

Of these 'girl groups' Best Coast has made a pretty big, melodic splash. Comprising one Bethany Cosentino (ex-Pocahaunted singer-strummer) and her former babysitter and guitarist Bobb Bruno, Best Coast has released some catchy 7-inches in 2009 for jams like "Sun Was High (So Was I)," "Something in the Way" and recently "When I'm with You" (on Black Iris) that ring truer to the sass and adventure in 60s Girl Group pop songs than the band's more shoe-gazy counterparts. That Bethany's drawn-out croons of longing can muster such melodic prowess is no accident--coming from a musical family, as a teen she sang back-up on the Ellen DeGeneres show and turned down a career in major-label pop.

Check out "When I'm With You" mashed up with a scene from Les Demoiselles de Rochefort below:





With a little less Beach Boys harmonics, and a little more Sleater-Kinney call-and-answer layers comes San Francisco's Grass Widow. The trio's syncopated vocals and music fit together with so much punch and precision. With awesome 12-Inches out on indie labels Make A Mess and Captured Tracks, look forward to more from these girls in the future or catch them on tour on the west coast this winter.

http://www.myspace.com/grasswidowmusic

olivier zahm's first art show

Can anyone resist Olivier Zahm? He’s the man whose magazine, Purple, is responsible for that girl-on-girl shoot – the one with Abbey-Lee-on-Eniko-on-Freja-on-Magdelana. Zahm excels in decorating the pages of Purple with what is almost like practiced voyeurism and his ability to make blatant nudity sensual instead of tacky. And though the undeniably carnal editor-in-chief has never met a topless woman he didn’t photograph (or take home), his editorials never lose that air of elegance or mystery that Zahm himself seems to exude in that unmistakably French way.

On to conquer even more than he already has – if you’re not familiar, he is already a renowned art critic, curator, and of course founder and editor of Purple – Zahm is presenting his first solo show in the Lower East Side in Manhattan tonight, December 1st, at NYC’s Half Gallery. It will be on display through January 2nd, so plan the rest of your month accordingly to fit in a visit. We can’t wait to see if Zahm will employ the same nude-loving concepts that Purple is famous for or if he will go in a different direction – whether more demure or even more outrageous.

purple DIARY

Half Gallery
December 1 - January 2, 2010
Opening reception: Tuesday, December 1, 6-8 PM
208 Forsyth Street
New York

theo adams: cry out

“in the spotlight, your tears glow like glitter”

Theo Adams, a wunderkind director, performer, and visionary, has created a ground-breaking new kind of theatrical production with his Theo Adams Company. Their ambitious project combines queer cabaret, classical music, power ballads, and expressionist dance that promises to be a mesmerizing, mind-blowing experience. In a time when it seems like everything has been done over and over again, it’s refreshing to find someone who can think and create in such radically different terms.

The world premiere of ‘Cry Out’ will be Monday, November 30th in Tokyo, and it will be performed around the world throughout 2010. In each different city, they plan to collaborate with local performing artists to craft an inimitable presentation every time.

http://theoisamazing.blogspot.com

art barter

Sunday is the last day of Art Barter London, an exhibition curated by Lauren Jones and Alix Janta, in hopes to deconstruct the hype, pretence and terrifying prices often associated with big art names, and which can often taint the appreciation of the art itself. At this show, money is useless. Buyers have to barter for art – making offers of whatever they want, based purely on the works’ aesthetic value, as buyers will have no idea who created each piece until after the show ends and their offers are in.

Artists selling their art through this bartering system include well-known names such as Tracey Emin, Gavin Turk, Mat Collishaw, Gary Hume, Abigail Lane, Polly Morgan, Boo Saville, Abigail Fallis and Paul Fryer.

Barter Fair on Sunday will feature young designers, ceramists, and jewelry designers. Barter on site -- bring items to exchange!

Art Barter London
The Rag Factory
16-18 Heneage Street
London

camille vivier

Jenny Hanivers look like devils, angels and dragons and may have started the legends of Mermaids.





Fashion photographer Camille Vivier’s work lays out a curious narrative of different women in stark scenes like the editorial sets she’s shot for Purple and Dazed and Confused. Set to heady rock music, it almost reminds us of the Virgin Suicides. The girls encounter the abrasions of Mother Nature and in the end are defined in sailor terminology.

See more work from Vivier at her website, and look out for her upcoming commercial for Maison Martin Margiela’s 2010 fragrance.

little dragon

Little Dragon’s songs are not what comes to mind when you think of Swedish electronic music—the Gothenburg quartet’s bass and percussion sound more like smooth jazz at times than say, The Knife, but record scratches and samples remind us we are dealing with some modern electronic masters, soaked in low-key cool. (They have collaborated with fellow Swedes and electro-jazz duo Koop, after all).

These high school friends turned electro-band are touring North America this month before heading back to Europe in early December. Catch them in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge tomorrow night, Saturday November 21, 2009.

http://www.myspace.com/yourlittledragon

allison schulnik

Allison Schulnik is one of those artists who sees the world through a different set of lenses, and knows how to channel it effectively so we can all get in on the experience. She has a knack for bringing out the grittier and lesser-known side to everyday objects. In her series of paintings, she creates many images of clowns using a gruesome and fantastical vision that is reminiscent of Francis Bacon. Schulnik takes ceramic cat figurines – usually reserved for crazy ladies' mantelpieces – and drips them in glitter and gloom until it looks like they’ve been out raving all night.

http://www.allisonschulnik.com







"Hobo Clown" directed by Allison Schulnik, 2008



Grizzly Bear, "Ready, Able" directed by Allison Schulnik, 2009

...and in the end we are just dust n bones

She loved him yesterday
Yesterday's over
I said okay
That's all right
Time moves on
That's the way

~guns and roses






see the dust n bones dress in black or gray marl

these are the days

It’s no secret that punk rock is largely misunderstood in modern times. Everyone seems to focus on the moshing, the thrashing, the substance abuse, and they miss what it was that really used to hold punk rock together: the idea of close, familial bonds. Whether it was between the band members themselves or between the fans, or in the community as a whole, the punk scene is really close-knit and more caring than their gravity-defying hairstyles let on.

Matt Stokes, a British artist inspired by punk rock subcultures, capitalized on this untapped idea in his film installation, 'These Are the Days.' Though on a national scale punk rock has largely ceased to exist in its rawest form, the true anti-establishment music still thrives in local scenes.

Stokes bases his project on the music scene in Austin, Texas, and the relationship between old and new punk communities. His project consists of two films: the first focuses on event footage from a show, enabling the viewer to see both the band performing and the way the audience responds to that performance, and in the second film, he closes in on the band members’ reaction to the audience’s response. Stokes’ focal point is the relationship between performance and reaction – between band member and audience member. His execution of this idea is flawless in many ways, one of them being that the response of a crowd is all that many punk bands are playing for, which is such a refreshing and radically different goal than many of today’s bands, whose intentions are largely profit or fame. Stokes’ inspiring installation really proves that the glory days for music are not over; under the radar, the camaraderie of music still exists.

Matt Stokes: these are the days
Now thru December 19, 2009
ZieherSmith
516 West 20th Street
New York City
Tues-Sat, 10am-6pm

kleid im kontext

Natalia Solo-Matine, Genève


Kleid im Kontext, meaning Clothing in Context, is a newly opened exhibit that explores just that. It examines the evolution of clothes in our society compared to our lifestyles, habits, bodies, and needs. Through scenic installations and film sequences that interact and contrast with the garments, fashion is dissected in its many forms, from everyday-wear to the artistic expressions of conceptual design. Kleid im Context is ultimately showcasing fashion as changeable and changing. Thus, the 30 Swiss designers who have created pieces for the exhibit have designed a welcome collection of garments that transcend seasonal rhythms and conventional rules. There are many events and tours guided by the curators and designers of the exhibit throughout the exhibit's run. For a full schedule, see the Gewerbemuseum site.

Kleid im Kontext
November 1, 2009 - May 2, 2010
Gewerbemuseum Winterthur
Kirchplatz 14
CH-8400 Winterthur
Switzerland


Tran Hin Phu, Zürich



Natalia Solo-Matine, Genève

sculpture garden

Sachiko Kodama's Sculpture Garden is an example of how scientific investigation can expand the expressive vocabulary of today’s artists. Kodama works with Ferrofluids, which are liquids that, due to their metallic content, hold magnetic properties and respond to magnetic fields by vibrating and changing shape. By means of computer systems, the artist controls the strength of these magnetic fields in order to control the liquid’s response with precision.

The exhibit opens today at Barcelona's ArtFutura, a festival that documents the role of technology in society, culture, and art.

Sachiko Kodama, 'Sculpture Garden'
October 29th-November 15th, 2009
Arts Santa Mònica
Rambla Santa Mónica, 7
Barcelona
Free Admission

czech it

Don't miss Czech films currently playing at the Film Society of the Lincoln Center, as part of the film festival titled The Ironic Curtain: Czech Cinema since the Velvet Revolution. Classics like Ecstasy (1933) and new films from fresh directors like Petr Zelenka will be screened, with discussion with the filmmakers themselves, actors and other guests including the Czech Ambassador to the UN.

See the Schedule


Ecstasy, Gustav Machatý, 1933


Daisies, Vĕra Chytilová, 1966


The Karamazovs, Petr Zelenka, 2008

lusting over luxirare

What more is there than killer clothes and fine cuisine? Luxirare’s weekly webzine beautifully incorporates the two with her incredible photography and immense attention to detail. Not to mention the rarity of finding fashionistas who don’t shun food, she actually makes most of the pieces she wears, and does all the photography herself. Each post begins with a simple concept, but the way she transforms these ideas into complex visions of aesthetic flawlessness is amazing. In her latest food post, she presents a recipe for a yogurt parfait – but hers includes step-by-step instructions on how to make caviar out of your favorite juice or liquor. Her latest fashion post is an outfit shot of her new shoes – hard-to-find Chanel heels with lightbulbs built in. Are you hooked yet?

http://luxirare.com/

vintage sydney

This Friday comes an event that promises to make your pre-modern era heart flinch; The Sydney Vintage Clothing, Jewelery and Textiles Show returns to Sydney with over 60 vendors showcasing clothing, jewelry, textiles and other collectibles.

Token clothes of each decade since the start of the 20th century will be part of the exhibitions. Whatever your decade of choice, you can pair it off with vintage jewelry and handbags sure to be one of a kind. And if you're looking to go all out on vintage décor, don´t miss the exhibitors of linens and fabrics and other rare collectibles.

A prize for the best vintage dressed will be awarded on Friday for a $100 gift card that can be used with any exhibitor at the show. On Saturday and Sunday at 11 am The Lindy Charm School for Girls will revive the craze for red lipstick and wavy hair in a demonstration of Vintage Makeup and Hairstyle Techniques of the 1920´s. Check the program for other entertainment including live music and swing dancing.

See the list of exhibitors

Tickets available at the door:
One Day Adult: $12
Two Day Adult: $20

Canterbury Park Function Centre
Canterbury Racecourse
King Street, Sydney
AUSTRALIA

Friday 16th 5.30pm - 9pm
Saturday 17th 9.30am - 4.30pm
Sunday 18th 9.30am - 4.30pm

Free Shuttle Bus will be running from Strathfield and Canterbury Train Stations.

bruno levy update

IDLM-featured gallery artist, Bruno Levy, has released two new videos! Levy has been recognized as a pioneer in video multimedia. His video, Sialogogue, won in the Best Short Film/Video category at the 2009 New York Photo Awards.

This first video, The Landing, was developed by SWEATSHOPPE, a multimedia performance collaboration between Bruno Levy and Blake Shaw. In an effort to establish new platforms for public art and performance, the multimedia duo has developed a new interactive technology that enables them to explore the relationship between video, mark making and architecture. Dubbed "video painting," this technology allows them to essentially "paint" video onto any surface. Shooting in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, the duo spent documenting their work in urban settings to create The Landing...the first in a series of episodes that showcases their work as artists, technologists and performers.

And in a cosmic alignment, Levy's video features two very special masks by current IDLM-featured artist Shin Murayama.





This second video is a stop-motion narrative synched to 'Deboutonner' by Modeselektor. The presentation is the result of thousands of photographs taken over the course of a week using flashlights and long-exposures by Levy in Patan, Nepal.





To learn more about Bruno Levy, visit his site.

Go to the IDLM Gallery to see features on Bruno Levy and Shin Murayama, including one-of-a-kind pieces made by the artists exclusively for I Dont Like Mondays and available for purchase.

part time punks

2nd Annual Part Time Punks Festival

LA-based Rough Trade and Factory Records fans are in for a treat. This weekend, the Part Time Punks Festival is taking over, and it's bringing along post-punk legends and newbies inspired by it alike! PTP pulled out all the stops and put together an AMAZING line-up, including:

The Raincoats

This will mark the first-ever L.A. appearance of THE RAINCOATS. Formed in 1977, The Raincoats were the world's second all-girl punk band. Only, by the time Rough Trade released their debut album in 1979, they weren't making punk music any more, but post-punk, and more akin to The Velvet Underground's first LP or the records it shared the racks with: The Slits' "Cut," Young Marble Giants "Colossal Youth" and The Cure's first LP. The only reason the band remains lesser known is that their three albums remained out of print for more than a decade before Kurt Cobain tracked them down during a pilgrimage to London in the early 90s. Cobain was also responsible for "convincing" his label, Geffen, to reissue The Raincoats three albums in 1993 (co-writing the liner notes with Kim Gordon), which paved the way for the Riot Grrrl movement. It seems only fitting, then, that Kill Rock Stars will be reissuing the first Raincoats LP the week before the Fest.

"If it weren't for the luxury of putting on that scratchy copy of The Raincoats' first record, I would have had very few moments of peace."
-- Kurt Cobain

Don't be Mean




Section 25

The Part Time Punks Festival will also mark the first L.A.. appearance of Factory Records' own SECTION 25 since 1982. Dismissed by many journalists in the post-punk era as clones of their labelmates, Joy Division, the band has since been recognized in the highest echelon of Post-Punk innovation, alongside Public Image Limited, Wire and...well...Joy Division, for fusing punk with psychedelia and the surging motorik rhythms of Krautrock bands like Can, Faust and Neu. This credit is certainly largely due to James Nice, whose LTM label has re-issued the band's entire back catalogue (along with most of the rest of the Factory Records back catalogue) as well as their last two albums, "Nature and Degree" (2009) and "Part Primitiv" (2007) - both of which were released to universal critical acclaim.

Looking from a Hilltop




Gang of Four

Gang of Four need no introduction. Though perhaps their involvement in the Fest does... Last year, just before the Part Time Punks Festival, the band's drummer Hugo Burnham sent Part Time Punks' founder/booker/DJ/artmaker Michael Stock an email, raving about the Festival line-up and how he wished he could be there. Michael suggested that perhaps next time, he could be. And now, eleven months later, he will be-along with bassist, Dave Allen - as well as behind the decks, marking Gang of Four's West Coast DJ-debut.

Cadillac



Part Time Punks Festival
Sunday October 11, 2009
2:00 PM – 2:00 AM
$25

The Echo & The Echoplex (2 conjoined venues)
Echo Park
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 413-8200

Get your advance tickets here!

The weekend's festivities kick off Saturday October 10th, on the rooftop of The Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles with the Part Time Punks Poolside Pre-Party from 2 - 8pm.

Vinyl will be spun all afternoon from...

GANG OF FOUR (Hugo Burnham & Dave Allen)
THE GERMS (Don Bolles)
LTM RECORDINGS (James Nice)
ACUTE RECORDS (Dan Selzer)
PUNKY REGGAE PARTY (Boss Harmony aka David Orlando)
and of course
PART TIME PUNKS (Michael Stock)

Also, a number of the bands performing at the Festival will be doing record signings on Saturday, including members of...

THE RAINCOATS
SECTION 25
GANG OF FOUR
THE SLITS
THE JAZZ BUTCHER
SAVAGE REPUBLIC

The Saturday Pool Party event is FREE and open to all.

Part Time Punk Festival Kick-Off Party
Saturday October 10, 2009
2:00 to 8:00 PM
FREE

The Standard Hotel
550 S Flower St
Los Angeles, CA 90071-2501
(213) 892-8080






and in NYC...
The Raincoats, Viv Albertine, Soft Power, & Marnie Stern will be performing this Friday at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn as a part of the Royal Flush Festival.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Doors 8 p.m. / Show 9 p.m.
$22 advance / $25 day of show
18 + w/ ID. Minors under 18 must be accompanied by an adult

Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue

Brooklyn
347-529-6696

Get your advance tickets here

midnight at the ifc

“This is a really volcanic ensemble you're wearing, it's really marvelous!”
~Duckie to Andie

If you were in denial that the eighties are back, it’s probably time to acknowledge that it is a decade that will never die – yes, shoulder pads and off the shoulder sweatshirts are that irresistible – and you may as well get on board. And what better way to celebrate eternal eighties revival than a night spent watching one of its most iconic movies?

IFC will be screening “Pretty in Pink” in its newest 35mm print this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at 12:05 AM each night. Hey, at the very least, it beats Jennifer’s Body.

http://www.ifccenter.com/films/pretty-in-pink/

IFC
323 Sixth Avenue
New York, NY, 10014
212-924-7771

vitalic

Vitalic, aka Dijonaise electronica artist Pascal Arbez responsible for underground club anthems like “La Rock 01,” is touring through the UK and Western Europe this fall, spreading the blips and beats of his just-dropped sophomore album Flashmob, available today in the US via 101 Distribution.

Upbeat and dark, Vitalic’s music is everything that is a good night out. He dabbles in afrobeat without relying on the trend too much, guaranteeing sultry, sweeping club music that stays true to classic techno and electronica, as in “Poison Lips.” Some songs on the new album are lifted with vocal melodies that sound like digitized Donna Summer tracks, adding disco to the mix, always supported by dark synths and a fluctuating catalogue of percussive beeps. It’s refreshing, vitalizing if you will, and seems to re-animate the electronic genre.

Vitalic's MySpace

veilhan versailles

Last year, Jeff Koon's 'Balloon Dog' hung out in the Salon d'Hercule. This year, 'The Large Carriage' by Xavier Veilhan stands in the Court of Honor. Veilhan's trademark is his representation of mechanical objects and animals. The French artist's nine piece exhibition focuses “on the relationships between scale, equilibrium, and observation points” and is inspired by the space and history of Versailles.



This exhibition is a part of a project begun last year; Versailles has committed to showcasing “outstanding artists of our time” by inviting one artist per year to use the former home of France's royalty as an exhibition space.

Now until December 13, 2009
Veilhan Versailles

Some of Veilhan's past work:






See more of Veilhan's work at www.veilhan.net

extras

The mountains of extras in films are fascinating. How do movie crews fill streets, restaurants, auditoriums, with all of these hopeful, eager faces who know they’ll be nothing more than a dot on the screen? When an interesting or particularly bleak face is caught in the background, is she is excited to be featured at all in a film, or is she miserable because she isn’t the star?

We already know far too much about most actors headlining a film, from their Friday night party spots to their romantic flings. The extras do have one shining benefit over the leading actors: they are the ones with the mystery, they are the enigmas.

Miranda July and Roe Ethridge apparently had the same train of thought when they created their most recent photo project. In a celebration of those meant to be left in the background, she drags extras out of your peripheral vision and forces you to notice them.

July takes it upon herself to dress up as one extra from each movie’s scene. This is a tribute to the extra’s ubiquitous anonymity. If July had dressed up as Olivia Newton-John, the difference would be painfully obvious and perhaps a little too comical. But disguised as the whooping girl in the background? We’ll buy it.

shred

You wasted my time you wasted my time
Said behead said say correct shred project "A" confine lay on pain
I laid yr pain lay on pain got a thing for wasting my time wasting my time...

~Le Tigre





view the Shreddy Tee in Black or Grey in the store

girls in europe

Talk about art imitating life...or is it life imitating art? Indie-pop band Girls proves that, although musical talent is usually innate, an interesting life that provides inspiration is always a plus when it comes to making good music. The group´s lead singer, Christopher Owens, knows a thing or two about eccentric life experiences. His musical ear developed at a young age, for reasons that you don´t usually expect from a musician. As part of Children of God, a religious cult, Owens was forced to go out onto the streets to sing for money. As if begging wasn´t enough, Owens had to see his younger brother pass away because the cult did not permit any medical assistance. He then watched his mother go from caring housewife to prostitute, as ordered by the cult. He finally ran away from Children of God and after a short involvement in the punk scene in Texas he moved to San Francisco where his music career officially took off. In California he met Chet “JR” White and Garret Godard, Girls´ other members, with whom he recorded their 2009 debut album, titled 'Album'. Most of Album´s songs are about girls and nasty breakups, however it´s Owens´ treacherous past which seems to be immortalized through the sometimes dark lyrics.

Catch Girls' show in Madrid this weekend on Sunday October 4th at MobyDick. Girls will continue on to perform in Paris on October 6th at Point Ephemere. See their full tour dates at the band's MySpace page.

not just for halloween anymore…

Check out the latest issue of Vogue Homme Japan, Volume 3, to catch the creations of our featured gallery artist, Shin Murayama. Murayama’s masks are transforming in the most titillating way. Without covering the entirety of the face, and always leaving the eyes on display, Murayama’s masks rearrange facial structures and expressions while still leaving the wearer recognizable.





Two of Murayama’s masks are featured in Vogue Homme Japan, one which will be sold in the IDLM Gallery. The branch mask is featured in ‘Bondage Warriors,’ shot by Steven Klein and styled by Nicola Formichetti.





The smiling tooth mask, shot by Jeremy Kost and styled by Shun Watanabe, will be for sale in the IDLM Gallery.

Oscar Wilde once said, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” Maybe the best way to uncover someone is to recreate half of their face. Kost’s polaroid shots are exploitative of the realness aspect of the masks. His face may be covered, but don’t his eyes still pierce right through you?

specials

Deciding between the Met and La Esquina? Decisions no more, since artists Lisa Sigal and Paul Ramirez Jones have created an unlikely but winning combination of art and free tacos in their new collaboration Specials.

In a collaboration that makes you wonder why hasn’t anyone done this sooner, they’ve created a new exhibit called Specials that combines free food with art gallery.
Their mobile art exhibit is a two-sided 10 x 4 foot wall. One side displays the work of various artists, while the other side serves complimentary homemade tacos. Each time this exhibit is presented, they change the artists and the type of tacos, as an homage to the idea of ‘daily specials.’ Their mission statement is to “evolve following a desire to go beyond tired dichotomies of inside/outside, art audience/non art audience, viewer versus participant. It is not This or That; it is This and That.” This Thursday, the tacos will be squash, mushroom and homemade hot sauce, and the artists will be those who participated in the 1993 Whitney Biennial. See you there!

Thursday October 1, 4:00 - 8:00 PM
On the High Line in the 14th Street Passage (between 13th and 14th Streets)

pleet tv

Check out this public-access style clip by Samantha Pleet and We Make It Good; it's a video lookbook for Pleet's Fall collection, featuring music by Chairlift and appearances by model Coco Young, artist Dan Estabrook, photographer Jacqueline Di Milia, friends Carlen Altman and Peggy Wang (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), Heather d'Angelo (Au Revoir Simone), and others, if you can catch them. Between the tap-dancing, champagne and off-kilter antics, look out for pieces from Pleet's new line available now in the I Dont Like Mondays Store!

this or that, but also this and that

Tauba Auerbach’s new show at the Deitch deals with being here versus being there, as well as being here and there at once. Confused? Exactly. Here And Now/And Nowhere, opening September 3, sets up several of life’s basic dichotomies to explore through art— and then decimates any notion of established order by also exploring the gray areas between them. It is no wonder then that one of these dichotomies is the opposition of order and randomness or that the exhibit will then explore the ‘unpredictable order of chaos’ as well.

Other themes throughout the show include the past and the present, a past three-dimensional state and a present two-dimensional state (treated in Auerbach’s Fold Paintings on raw, “incrementally sized” canvases), liminality (“the intermediate state” between the second and third dimensions), and the number two.

Here And Now/And Nowhere will feature a continuation of some of Auerbach’s pieces from the New Museum’s Younger Than Jesus exhibit, including her Crumple Paintings, which use large Ben Day dots to create the illusion of a crumpled surface, and enigmatic Static Photographs, which focus more on the emergence of form than pattern this time around, addressing “what makes something ‘something’.”

Auerbach will also debut two large sculpture projects that exemplify the ubiquitous interdependence of the exhibit’s many conflicts. The first, a giant black orb, will hang half inside and half outside the gallery, mirroring the movements of a twin light source inside the gallery to represent two particles that were separated but still behave identically. Central to the exhibit is a curious musical instrument called the Auerglass, created with the help of Auerbach’s friend Cameron Mesirow, from the band Glasser. The four-octave organ requires two players to pump simultaneously in order to work, and Auerbach and Mesirow will perform songs composed specially for the instrument, wearing shifting costumes designed by Ida Falck Øien, on opening night, before the Glasser performance on September 11 at 8 PM, and Tuesday through Saturday at 5pm until October 17.



"A" Ink on paper, 50" x 38" (2005)




Comme des Garçons ad design (2008)




"Subtraction (Startling)," Ink and pencil on paper, 27" x 27" (2007)


Tauba Auerbach
Here And Now/And Nowhere
September 3 - October 17, 2009
Deitch Projects
18 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10013
Tuesday - Saturday, 12PM - 6PM

mayyors

Mayyors, Megan's LOLZ 7" (Mt. St. Mtn. 2008)

Mayyors are a violent noise punk four-piece from Sacramento, CA who are so loud that singer John Pritchard wears protective headphones at performances and so delinquent that they do not have a Myspace page. Their label, Mt. St. Mtn. only just begrudgingly took the social networking plunge and their profile is private. Despite efforts to keep a low profile, reviews of Mayyors’ squalid, sweaty shows, namely at SXSW 2009, have graced the farthest reaches of the blogosphere and their latest EP lives up to the buzz. The Deads 12”, already out of print from elusive ‘no-represses’ Mt. St. Mtn., wields a four-song spiral of unhinged guitar and thundering bass and drums battling Pritchard’s psychotic vocals. Each track takes off like a fighter jet and proceeds recklessly, saturated in effects pedals and feedback.

Besides Pritchard shouting what seem like undecipherable commands on the mic, the band is Mark Kaiser on bass, Julian Elorduy beating skins and Chris Woodhouse, who has produced music for Thee Oh Sees and engineered Mayyors’ first record, on guitar. If you missed them on the first night of the SMMR BMMR Fest in Portland, OR on this week, catch them at Web of Sound in San Fransisco this Friday, August 28 at the Hemlock Tavern with Wounded Lion, Lamps and Christmas Island.

Web of Sound
Friday, August 28, 2009
9 PM - $7
Hemlock Tavern
1131 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA 94109



Mayyors, Deads 12" (Mt. St. Mtn. 2009)

Stream: "Clicks" MP3
Stream: "The Crawl" MP3

Mayyors on Last.fm
Mt. St. Mtn.

festival la route du rock

Afternoon on the beach, evening at Palais du Grand Large’s casino stage and the rest of the night in an 18th Century castle—this is the itinerary La Route du Rock, the three-day music festival in Saint-Malo, France this weekend, has in store for concert-goers. It definitely beats camping out in Tennesee humidity. Headlining are legendary names like My Bloody Valentine, Tortoise and Peaches, supported by bands responsible for some of the big new releases of the past year, including Deerhunter, Crystal Stilts, the Horrors, St Vincent, Camera Obscura, the Papercuts, Telepathe, Grizzly Bear, Mark Kozelek and more.

Saint-Malo, located on the Brittany region’s Emerald Coast is accessible from England by ferry with possible discounts for festival-goers. 27 bands will play in three locations:

Le Fort de Saint-Père (showcasing the bulk of the bands each night)
Le Palais Sony Ericsson (aka Le Palais de Grand Large, a casino with a few bands each evening on a reputedly intimate stage)
La Plage Bon Secours (meaning ‘the Beach of Good Help.’ Only one opener each afternoon)


SCHEDULE

Friday, August 14, 2009

Le Fort de Saint-Père

The Horrors, A Place To Bury Strangers, My Bloody Valentine, Tortoise, Deerhunter, and Crystal Stilts

Le Palais Sony Ericsson

Marissa Nadler and Mark Kozelek


La Plage Bon Secours

The Delano Orchestra


Saturday, August 15, 2009

Le Fort de Saint-Père

Four Tet, Peaches with Sweet Machine, The Kills, Camera Obscura, St. Vincent, and Papercuts

Le Palais Sony Ericsson

Forest Fire and The Present


La Plage Bon Secours

The Patriotic Sunday


Sunday, August 16, 2009

Le Fort de Saint-Père

Autokratz, Simian Mobile Disco, Grizzly Bear, Dominique A, Andrew Bird, and Bill Callahan


Le Palais Sony Ericsson

Gang Gang Dance and Telepathe


La Plage Bon Secours

That Summer

spectacular scenes from inside the earth

Ryan McGinley has spent the last four summers traveling the United States with friends, keeping a travel log in photographs that have been exhibited in Europe and New York. This time, the outdoor snapshots are gone and McGinley has pulled his clan underground on treacherous shoots in the cold, dim caves of North America. Inspired by The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Journey to the Center of the Earth and illustrations in children’s books and biblical stories, McGinley rejected commercial caves and plunged into America’s vast ‘Wild Caves,’ some of them previously undocumented, to shoot stunning photographs in vivid color, where the rock formations are as prominent as the nude subjects. Twenty-four color photographs from the excursions will be exhibited in Moonmilk, his forthcoming solo show at the Alison Jacques Gallery in London, which will also be his first solo show in the UK. The title refers to the mineral deposits on the cavern walls, once believed to have been formed by light from celestial bodies, penetrating the earth to create underground skies on the rock face.





“There is something prehistoric about a cave that makes one feel comfort and impending doom all in one breath,” McGinley said of his latest ‘journey.’ McGinley took risks not only with his camera to produce brilliant photos in the caves’ limited lighting, but also ran into physical danger, as the 8 hour shoots took place on clay-slick, uneven surfaces and fallen rubble sometimes high above the cavern’s floor. As an added challenge, some of the usually dusty, 50-degree chambers are so cold they contain ice year round, yet the photographer’s human subjects remained nude for the pictures.





At age 24, in 2003 Ryan McGinley made a name for himself as the youngest artist to have a solo show at the Whitney and, after other innumerable accolades, at 31 he has already been called the greatest photographer of his generation. This show is truly a testament to McGinley’s talent and innovation as an artist behind the lens and the September 10 opening will coincide with the release of a book of his latest photographs.


Ryan McGinley – Moonmilk
Opens privately September 10, 2009 6 to 8 PM
Open to the public September 11 to October 8
Alison Jacques Gallery
16-18 Berners St
London, W1T 3LN

the hills have starry eyes

Heidi Pratt and Lauren Conrad, 2009.

Karin Bubas has proven she has an eye for moody scenery in her single-subject landscape photography, but for her solo exhibition in her hometown of Vancouver, Bubas encountered her most emotionally volatile landscape yet: MTV reality show The Hills. Bubas has put down the camera and picked up the soft chalk pastels to draw realistic, emotive depictions of the show’s stars, on view in With Friends Like These… until September 13. Bubas’ portraits seem to have smeared Vaseline on the lens of the high definition reality surveillance cameras, capturing moments of trivial TV drama in satirical soap opera lighting as schmaltzy as the cover of a young adult novel. To exaggerate their already histrionic expressions Bubas simply placed each character on a simplified beige background, combining Toulouse-Lautrec aesthetics with Andy Warhol iconography.



Justin Bobby and Spencer Pratt, chalk pastel, 2009.


Whitney Port and Audrina Patridge, chalk pastel, 2009.

Primarily a photographer, much of Karin Bubas's past work has focused on every day life, often with sprawling rural vistas, faceless women and scenes of interior architecture as her subjects.


"Monarch" from Studies in Landscape and Wardrobe. 40" x 114", Digital C-Print, 2008.


"Pink Dress and Cherry Blossoms" from Studies in Landscape and Wardrobe. 60" x 60" digital C-print, 2006.

The 33-year-old Vancouver artist is known to play with themes of voyeurism, nostalgia and the grandeur of nature and has exhibited her work at numerous galleries in Canada. This is not her first series of celebrity caricatures.


"Krystle Carrington (in fur)", from the Dynasty series. Watercolor on paper, 2007.


Karin Bubas
With Friends Like These…
Charles H. Scott Gallery
Emily Carr University
Granville Island
1399 Johnston Street
Vancouver BC V6H 3R9

On view until September 13
Monday to Friday 12pm to 5pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm

little people left in the world to fend for themselves

Slinkachu, Crappy Christmas, Old Street Area in London, 2008.

British artist Slinkachu has been placing miniature train set figurines in public places since 2006, witty street installations that evolved instantly into an ongoing photography project. The thirty year old artist finds his characters from model shops, paints them and sometimes alters them with modeling clay before placing them in action with found objects and props from eBay. He had solo exhibitions at the Cosh Gallery in London last summer and most recently at the Andipa Gallery in a show called Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow? that was accompanied by life-size blow ups of his work on billboards around London. The installations find Slinkachu’s little people in ironic, tragic and funny situations that emphasize their tiny size and make them seem more pathetic and helpless. As the artist intended, they embody the loneliness and disillusionment that characterize city life. An old woman walks home, arms crossed to keep warm, dwarfed by a giant bag of potato chips next to her; a lady of the night propositions a miniature super hero from the entrance to her house of ill repute--the mouth of a drainage pipe.


Slinkachu, The Lair, Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow? 2009.

Slinkachu’s gallery shows presented magnified photographs of the many scenes he has set up on the streets of London and left for passers-by to ponder or overlook, as well as new little sculptures on the floor and in corners of the gallery. He also published a book of his photographed street installations called Little People in the City this June.


Slinkachu, Pigeon Carnage, Ground Zero Solo Show, 2008.



http://little-people.blogspot.com/
http://slinkachu.com/

Creepy Teepee Festival

As the 2009 GASK Art Fest's musical counterpart, the Creepy Teepee Festival is about to start in Kuntá Hora, about 45 miles east of Prague. Put on by the DIY Czech art collective, A.M. 180, the six-day concert series features thirty bands, mixing local Czech, Austrian and Slovakian acts with a dozen names from North America, plus New Zealand, Portugal and Sweden. The bands will play on a stage in the courtyard of a Jesuit student dormitory, at the GASK Gallery. Celebrating artistic independence and progressive culture, the GASK Art Festival starts this weekend before the concert series and will hold free film screenings, art workshops and other events during the day and after parties every night at Klub Ceská at 11 PM.


day 1: Aug 4 2009
DENT MAY & HIS MANIFICENT UKULELE (US)
THE STRANGE BOYS, (US)
PAVILON M2, (CZ)
THE ILLS, (SK)
KAZETY (CZ)
Afterparty features Isobutane and Teapot.

day 2: Aug 5 2009
CALHAU! (PT)
LIKE SHE (CZ),
A THOUSAND FUEGOS (AT)
I LOVE 69 POPGEJU, (CZ)
ILSEBILL, (AT)
MON INSOMNIE (CZ)
Afterparty features AM 180 and Fettkakao DJs and Bohemian Like You.

day 3: Aug 6 2009
FUCKED UP, (CA)
FINAL FANTASY, (CA)
HEALTH, (US)
CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE, (US)
TABLE (CZ)
Afterparty hosted by VICE Magazine.

day 4: Aug 7 2009
ONEIDA, (US)
CRYSTAL STILTS, (US)
CLIMATIZADO, (CZ)
KODET (CZ)
Afterparty features Marcus Nyke of Swedish group Tar...Feathers.


day 5: Aug 8 2009
BILL CALLAHAN, (US)
LUCKY DRAGONS, (US)
KARL BLAU, (US)
DISASTERADIO, (NZ)
DNÉ (CZ)
Afterparty hosted by Creepy Teepee, featuring Mahjongg.

day 6: Aug 9 2009
HANDSOME FURS (CA),
C (CZ)


Creepy Teepee Festival
August 4th - 9th, 2009
4 - 10 PM Tuesday - Saturday, 2 - 4 PM Sunday.
GASK Gallery / The Central Bohemian Gallery
Barborská 53/24
Kuntá Hora, Czech
Admission to each show: 200 Czech Koruna

http://www.am180.org/
http://gaskfest.cz/en
www.myspace.com/creepyteepee

when nature and normality run out of control

Untitled (white), 2007

Owen Schmit only claims responsibility for his initial actions with his paintings and electroluminescent wire sculptures; eventually he loses control over his artwork and the pieces create themselves. He likens his creative process to humankind’s “interferences” with nature—every human action leaves a permanent mark on the earth but the planet evolves and reacts organically, forming its own consequences. Likewise, Schmit shapes his electroluminescent wires into sculptures, but attributes the light they cast on their environments and the overall visual effect to the materials themselves. These ‘consequences’ also serve as his inspiration. Abnormalities created by artificial constructions and pollution appear otherworldly to Schmit and render damage and beautification to indistinguishable processes.


Untitled (pink), 2007

With the electroluminescent wire sculptures, their alien neon glow a pillar of artificiality, Schmit aims to “stage an extraordinary, transcendental experience of a space ordinarily expected to appear 'normal’.” The pieces depend on their surroundings both literally, as the room’s walls and beams support them, and artistically, as they are crucial to their final appearance. “The ultimate form of each installation answers only to its location, and never repeats another's appearance or presence,” Schmit has explained. “The outcome is somewhat unpredictable.”

Schmit was born in 1984. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

www.owenschmit.com


Untitled (Blue), 2009


Owen Schmit: Footprints On Air (Painting and Sculpture)
August 1 - September 8, 2009
Frank Pictures Gallery / Bergamot Station Gallery A-5
2525 Michigan Avenue
Santa Monica California 90404

Opening Reception: Sunday, August 2nd, 6:30-9:30 PM
Tuesday-Saturday: 11:30 am - 6:30 pm

performative bodies and utopian architectures

Hans Hollein, Erotische Architektur. Drawing/Watercolor. 1969.

Last chance to see Mind Expanders at the Museum Moderner Kunst in Vienna! Always committed to the conversation between contemporary art and its history, this exhibit breaks the grandparents of performance art out of the vault to show how the relationship between art and space has evolved. Until August 30, MUMOK is exhibiting works dealing with the boundaries between performance, visual art and architecture in the 1960s and 70s, when artists first began to cross them. The ‘happenings’ of American artists Claes Oldenburg, Carolee Schneemann and Serbian-born Marina Abramovic, all featured, were neo-dada precursors to performance art that truly installs the human form in art’s spatial landscape. The exhibit's artists and architects then stretched the human creative impulse past art into the design of physical environments, to project their own visions of utopia into architecture. This exchange between art and space will expand your mind through the exploration of four main themes: “Space and History,” “Space and Art,” “Space, Color and Light,” and “Space, the Public and the Private.” Pieces focus on the human body but also the individual in the face of social bodies, interacting with the world.



Marina Abramovic, Performance The Lips of Thomas, 1976

The self-described grandmother of performance art, Marina Abramovic often bridges the gap between herself and the audience and her interest in the possibilities of the mind embodies the exhibit. In one of her taxing and more gruesome performances, The Lips of Thomas, Abramovic carved a star on her stomach before a fit of self-flagellation and then laid on an ice cross below a space heater that exacerbated her bleeding. Clearly alluding to punitive religious practices, she uses the body as a medium to bridge individual and societal anxiety.



Carolee Schneemann, Eye Body, 1963

MIND EXPANDERS
Museum Moderner Kunst
The exhibit will close August 30, 2009
Museumsplatz 1 1070 Neubau, Vienna, Austria
Daily: 10.00 a.m.­–18.00 clock
Thu: 10.00 a.m.­–21.00 clock

chaotic colors from brazil

Born in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, when Carlos Dias (aka "ASA") was fifteen he moved to the latin country’s biggest city, São Paulo, where he became one of the 1990s artists (like Herbert Baglione and Vitché) to put the metropolis on the map in the art world for graffiti and skateboard art. Still a member of two bands, Polar rock and Caxabaxa, he began by making concert posters for São Paulo’s underground music scene, and then handmade stickers (or adesivos). His childish imagery gained popularity in Brazil, and soon France and the UK, but it was jail time in 2002 that served as an impetus for his artistic growth. This “deep and needed rebirth” brought on an expressive, dark series of paintings, but his work has since regained its childish flair in bright colored drawings, large paintings and installations.






ASA’s art has always been a form of personal expression. Self-taught, rejected from art classes, ASA funneled his rage into painting and coloring whatever he could find, and he will still work with whatever he can get his hands on— acrylic paint, markers, crayons, or spray-paint. Often the subjects are detailed, single iconographic monsters or large collage-like scenes of thickly doodled characters.

Skating, swimming and biking have also always been a part of ASA’s life in Brazil, but one of his biggest influences (besides caffeine—the artist has said, “espresso is the best partner when it comes to producing in large scale”) is music. In Juxtapoz Magazine he named his top 5 albums as Johnny Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, anything by the Descendents, Teixeihinha and Mary Terezinha’s Desafio das Perguntas e Respostas, Jorge Ben’s O Bidú Ou Silêncio No Brooklyn, and Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys.

Still a big name in Sáo Paulo’s galleries, he now lives by the beach in Florianópolis with his wife, who makes Veraneyo bikinis. Check out his flickr account for more pictures of his work.

lo-fi showcase at bowery

Lo-fi showcase not to miss...Wavves, Woods, Popo, and Real Estate are not on tour together, but will unite for one special night in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom, July 15 at 7 PM.


Popo



Popo are a trio of brothers from Philadelphia who sing, shout and mumble their way through weird, fuzzy songs about alienation and violent fantasies. In the past they have released a self-titled album from Buddyhead Records, and claimed to be a post-hip hop band who went by the names Pops Ghostly, Fullscreen, Blue Bishi and Hamstar. After evidently losing one band member, Hassan, Zeb and Shoaib Malik recently signed to Diplo’s budding label, Mad Decent and released a 7” for “Kill Tonight,” a catchy lo-fi anthem of frustration and destruction that has brought comparisons to the show’s headliner, Wavves and opening slots for Philly’s Spank Rock. Heavy bass and drums keep the song and its b-side, “Feel Good Song of the Year” dark and foreboding. Check out their interview with the whole Mad Decent family in this month’s Fader, and Popo’s archives of live performances here


Real Estate



Real Estate are a band that no one seems to know about, but at the same time, everyone is talking about. This summer they’ve showed up all over the New York City club circuit, turning heads at the fourth of July Woodsist/Captured tracks festival, and opening for Titus Andronicus at the Whitney plus lining up several other shows in July. Perhaps that’s because their music is the perfect soundtrack to summer—soothing and layered like so many tides crashing in on a beach. They have several 7” out whose songs about chilling out, drinking and swimming are featured on Real Estate's MySpace.


Woods



Jeremy Earl’s falsetto crooning helps to neutralize and in a sense calm down the wacky distorted guitar licks and jangly psych-folk silliness of Woods’ latest Songs of Shame (Shrimper/Woodsist). The album is primarily a collaboration between Earl and his Menenguar bandmate Jarvis Taveniere, who brings more country to the table from his work with Wooden Wand. Lo-fi and hazy nonetheless, Woods’ music is warmer and more rustic than many of their Brooklyn peers. Their ‘songs of shame’ range from melancholic to melodic, but are always full of soul. This show is an early stop on their tour with Swedish folk-rockers Dungen and Philadelphia’s Kurt Vile.


Wavves



Nathan Williams, who goes by the musical moniker Wavves, is a character. This spring the eccentric San Diego-based musician/party animal suffered a breakdown in Barcelona that spurred the cancellation of the rest of their tour in support of Williams’ (sort of) eponymous sophomore album, Wavvves (Fat Possum). Personal problems aside, it’s a great piece of music; a frenetic collection of hazy noise-pop tunes with possibly the most intensely fuzzy lo-fi production out there. This show marks their return to the stage before they play the Pitchfork Festival on Saturday.




Wednesday, July 15, 2009 @ 7 PM
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St
New York City NY 10002
(212) 533-2111
18+ $13/$15

dan graham & indie music take over the whitney

Dan Graham performing "Performer/Audience/Mirror" at P.S.1 Institute for Contemporary Art, Long Island City, NY, 1977, photo courtesy of Whitney Museum of American Art


A critic and theorist, Dan Graham has become a central figure in contemporary art. “Dan Graham: Beyond” charts where Graham started, with conceptual ‘zines and photography to his later pavilion installations that question the public versus the private, while blurring the boundaries between sculpture and architecture, complete with his signature two-way mirrors. Graham worked with every medium imaginable, from writing to performance art, often infused with scientific and philosophical perspectives. He pioneered video and film installation and musical collaboration as well, and has worked with Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca and Japanther.



Dan Graham, still from "Rock My Religion", 1982-84, single-channel video, 55:27 min., black and white and color, sound, image courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York



Dan Graham, "Figurative", 1965, printed matter, collection Herbert, Gent, Belgium


Dan Graham: Beyond
Exhibiting now until October 11, 2009
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021
General Information: (212) 570-3600

Hours
Wednesday–Thursday: 11 am–6 pm
Friday: 1–9 pm (6–9 pm pay-what-you-wish admission)
Saturday–Sunday: 11 am–6 pm
Monday & Tuesday: Closed

Admission
Adults: $15
Senior citizens (62 and over): $10
Students with valid ID: $10
Members, NYC public school students with valid student ID, and children under 12: Free



In conjunction with their retrospective on Dan Graham, the Whitney has booked some of the best new bands in the world of independent music to perform every Friday in July.

The concerts are part of the exhibit and start at 7 PM. That means they’re essentially FREE if you get there after 6 PM (admission to the Whitney is “pay as you wish” from 6 to close on Fridays), but there are no reservations and space is first-come, first-served.

Live performances every Friday include:
July 10: Titus Andronicus / Real Estate
July 17: Abe Vigoda / Grooms
July 24: Woods / Yellow Fever
July 31: Vivian Girls / These Are Powers



Titus Andronicus



Glen Rock, NJ’s Titus Andronicus are almost as discipline-defiant as Graham.
Their debut album, the 2008 indie favorite The Airing of Grievances (re-released this year in the U.S. on XL Recordings) brims with literary and artistic allusions (to Hunter S. Thompson, Albert Camus, and Shakespeare before you even get to their lyrics), all while being an innovative work of wailing and ethereal punk.



Real Estate



Also from New Jersey, Real Estate make drowsy psych pop songs with contemplative riffs, surf rock slides and titles like “Pool Swimmers,” “Beach Comber,” “Black Lake” and “Let’s Rock the Beach.” In “Suburban Beverages” (mp3 available here) their voices chant the song’s only words, “Budweiser, Sprite, do you feel alright?” in echoing harmonies. Their 7-inches from Woodsist and Underwater Peoples could make a lazy summer day on the Jersey shore out of any time of year.



Abe Vigoda



L.A. punx Abe Vigoda’s thrash and no wave roots don’t keep them from generating the sort of tropical ambience popularized by this same showcase of bands, with layered guitars and lo fi production. But, jagged, percussive guitar parts add to the noise on their 2008 album, Skeleton and less tropical 2009 EP, Reviver. Singer Michael Vidal shouts in frantic rhythms, always receiving a high boost of energy from ex-drummer Gerardo Guererro (since traded for a Dane Chadwick).



Grooms (formerly Muggabears)



The male-female vocals of Grooms immediately switch on a Kim Gordon/Thurston Moore-shaped light bulb. Layer them over the sonorous electric guitar picking and spacey feedback on the Brooklyn band’s forthcoming LP Rejoicer (Death By Audio) and you have a revival of Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth, and when is that ever a bad thing?



Woods



Psychedelic folk rock with the tie-dye to prove it. Their quirky, layered vocals and warm, distorted guitar solos are refreshing like no other self-described jam band could be, possibly since they keep the jams dirty with tons of feedback. Singer Jeremy Earl also heads Brooklyn label Woodsist that put out the band’s album Songs of Shame.



Yellow Fever



Yellow Fever is Jennifer Moore from Voxtrot, Luis Martinez and drummer Adam Jones, a minimalist art pop outfit from Austin, TX. Moore’s voice is clear, straightforward and lovely, following or floating above the simple beats and strumming on their Culver City and Cats and Rats EPs (Hugpatch, MP3s here). This is one of five shows they’re playing in New York this month.



Vivian Girls



This surf-punk Brooklyn trio with ghostly, three-part female harmonies awash in Shangri-las and Beach Boys nostalgia writes songs that are equal parts dreamy and gritty. Their lo-fi, shoegazey records from In the Red and Woodsist have created a resounding buzz in music media that will send them to Japan and Australia this fall after they finish their US tour.



These Are Powers



These Are Powers bring tough electronic beats based on a Brooklyn-Chicago connection between members Pat Noecker, Bill Salas and Anna Barie, whose sultry vocals teeter between singing and rapping à la grime superstar M.I.A. Always fun live, tracks on All Aboard Future (Dead Oceans) are dark and debauching with bright guitar hooks and samples to light the way.

neckface: return to the womb

Return to the Womb is the latest exhibit in Copenhagen from American artist Neckface. In a way it's like a trip through Dante’s Inferno - Neckface, who previously released a book of his drawings called Satan's Bride!, leads us through a sideshow of his odd, spiny characters.

Neckface gained notoriety as a street artist in high school in Stockdon and Lodi, California, before making his mark in New York while attending SVA. He has since returned to California, exhibiting his work globally, expanding his work from drawings and snide self-deprecating mantras (Neckface is ugly!) to 3-D installations of fetus trees.

His style is childish, as if his angular, deliberately ugly pastel figures sprang from the psyche of some disturbed child horror archetype. Return to the Womb permits access to Neckface’s demented kingdom of skateboard culture iconography, splayed with scenes of graphic violence, colorful funny looking critters, and a deeper exploration of the artist’s fetal imagery.

V1 Gallery
Flaesketorvet 69-71
1711 Copenhagen V, Denmark
www.v1gallery.com 


NOW to July 25
Open Wednesday-Friday 12:00-18:00, Saturday 12:00-16:00

asian films are go!!!!!!!!

Samurai Princess, Dir. Kengo Kaji


That genre-defying showcase of comedy, fantasy and unrelenting gore the New York Asian Film Festival is well under way. Started by NY film collective Subway Cinema in 2002, it quickly gained a reputation as the most exciting festival in the city, introducing audiences to mutant penis guns and paksploitation slasher films. The first NYAFF was responsible for breaking Hong Kong directors Johnnie To and Tsui Hark to the American public and sparking a western interest in eastern film powerhouses, but today’s distributors see Asian Cinema as a gamble and events like NYAFF are the only places you can see the latest crop of new, talented pan-Asian directors’ experimentations. This year is the biggest NYAFF yet, screening 56 of Asia’s strangest, cleverest and most entertaining films at the IFC Center at 323 Sixth Avenue and the Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, with 16 guest appearances.

FILMS

SHOWTIMES

June 19 - July 5

banksy vs bristol

In homage to his hometown, Banksy has taken over Bristol City Museum for the summer. The anonymous guerilla artist’s work has been exhibited in New York and LA but as he said in a statement, “This is the first show I've ever done where taxpayers' money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off.” His subversive political street art has shown up all over the world, from Disneyland to the West Bank, most frequently in Bristol and East London, depicting the police, celebrities, and symbols of commercialism and authority in compromising positions.

The exhibit’s construction, like the artist’s identity, was veiled in secrecy: only four staff members were in the know. The museum was closed under the guise of routine maintenance while over 100 new and old pieces by Banksy invaded the entire Edwardian museum, sometimes placing Banksy’s updated versions of old masters—defaced portraits and tagged landscapes—alongside original paintings in their galleries. In addition to these and his token poignant stencil graffiti, the exhibit features many sculpture pieces, taking those installed at his Cans Festival this May to the next level. The main room houses an installation with lifelike mechanical animals performing ironic human feats, which makes a statement on animal rights by warping their roles as pets, entertainment, and food. A rabbit applies make up before a vanity, a gloomy and decrepit Tweety Bird mopes on his perch, a hen watches over its chicken nuggets hatchlings, a monkey paints a landscape, and hot dogs and sausages while away the time in their sand-floored cages.

With all its witty fanfare the free exhibit creates a veritable wonderland of rebellion. Check out Banksy setting it up here:



and a tour of the exhibit here:



Banksy vs Bristol City Museum
Queens Road, Bristol
June 13 to August 31
Open daily, 10 am to 5 pm
FREE

weekend in music

The Intelligence
AMSTERDAM / HARLEM / TOURS



The Intelligence, Lars Finberg’s thrash/pop brainchild, have put forth experimental lo-fi post-punk since 1999, with ever-increasing irony. In Deuteronomy (2007, In the Red) Finberg sneers, “Going out with you is like going out with a cop,” and on this year’s Fake Surfers, lyrical material oscillates between dissatisfaction and complacency with life’s many cop-outs. Thursday, June 11 they will play Paradiso in Amsterdam before heading west to Patronaat Harlem in the Netherlands on June 12 and hitting Tours, France on June 13. Check out their myspace to hear a lot of songs off their breezy yet energetic new album: www.myspace.com/theworldisadrag.



Vivan Girls
LONDON



Along with label mates the Intelligence and NYC shoegazers Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls are at the helm of this grungy surf explosion dominating the independent music world. Their Beach Boys-inspired harmonies range from haunting incantations to soothing but questionably condescending suggestions (“It’s alright just leave the light on/I will never ask you why”). But lullabies Vivian Girls write not — the Brooklyn trio rest on their punk ethos and thrashing, simple drumbeats. In the last year Vivian Girls have put out a wealth of 7”s, a self-titled album, and anticipate the release of their second LP, Everything Goes Wrong from In The Red Recordings in September 2009. They finish their European tour in London Friday, June 12 at the Lexington with Male Bonding and all-girl punks Wet Dog, followed by White Light club at 11 PM, with DJs “bringing you whatever music we fancy from Jesus.”

Vivian Girls with Male Bonding and Wet Dog
Friday, June 12, 2009, 8 PM; 8 euros advance
The Lexington, Music Venue and Whiskey Lounge
96-98 Pentonville Rd, London N1 9JB
www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc



Camera Obscura
LOS ANGELES / MEXICO CITY



Scottish dream-pop quintet Camera Obscura’s latest release My Maudlin Career is their most critically acclaimed album to date. It’s as though the sugary harmonies they’ve developed on Underachievers Please Try Harder, and thickened with brass sections in Let’s Get Out Of This Country have finally caramelized just in time for this shoegazey craze in the music world. Their melodramatic orchestral climaxes soar and shine through the mingling, lo-fi waves of softer, mellow tones. The video for their exhilarating single “French Navy” sees a couple travel through London, Paris and Rome, but Camera Obscura will be touring in North America this weekend. Catch them in L.A. June 11th at the Henry Fonda Theater supported by Tracyann Campbell’s favorite new band, Agent Ribbons, or solo on Saturday, June 13 in Mexico City at El Lunario.

www.myspace.com/cameraobscuraband


Other bands also touring:

Women are playing June 11th in ROUEN.

Asobi Seksu and Cymbals Eat Guitars in BROOKLYN June 13th.

Frightened Rabbit at RockNess in DORES June 13th.

Sunset Rubdown in BROOKLYN June 12th, PHILADELPHIA the 13th and D.C. the 14th.

“a sweet cocktail of blood, bubble gum and motor oil”

Fast and Curious, 2009; motorcycle covered in motor oil, integrated smoke machine, vanilla smoke; variable size

Envoy Enterprises is making art dangerous again. Gallery owner Jimi Dames started taking advantage of New York’s insomnia in February 2009 by putting on 24-hour exhibitions featuring young and unknown artists. The latest installation Oil Now features French artist Théo Mercier in collaboration with his Parisian studio-mate Colin Johnco, an electronic recording artist and record label head.

The installation strikes up a loud conversation on American culture. In rapport with rock icons like Slayer and Pink Floyd, Mercier’s found object pieces present poignant juxtapositions that expose the contradictory nature of life and death, music, and American consumerism. When Mercier describes the collection as a “smiling fist, a sweet cocktail of blood, bubble gum and motor oil,” he’s not just speaking figuratively—that bike is covered in motor oil. The exhibition includes found objects, original photographs, computer generated images, drawings, paintings and subversive text, but the wide variety of media cannot hide Mercier’s fondness of using human hair, as in “Black Pop/Musical Pope” and Oil Now’s “The Fast and the Curious.” Mercier recycles the ordinary, from the wavy locks flowing off his pieces to the grid of flea-market finds that comprise his nod to Pink Floyd's “The Wall.”


Deader Than Punk, 2009; embroidered wood carpet with patches, pins; 70x92"

Opening Thursday, June 4th
Envoy Enterprises
131 Chrystie Street
6 to 8 pm, with an after party downstairs at 8.

Oil Now will be on display June 4 to July 12.

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POP UP ART

Friday night promises one of Envoy Enterprises’ 24-hour specialties. Martynka Wawrzyniak’s “Kids” will debut a series of pouty and emotionally complex child portraits where certainly no subject was coerced to say ‘cheese.’

five online mags you should be reading

Vanity Teen

We love a magazine that asks insightful questions like “Who would you rather dress, Barbie or Betty Boop?” (For the record, designer Roberto Piqueras would rather dress Barbie – she’s “chameleonic.”) In the last issue, editor Victor Soria conducts an exclusive interview with Brian Lichtenberg, who tells us that his unspeakable fear is Uggs. Us, too. The editors range from the ages of 15 and 30, and say their goal for the magazine is to mix sex with photography and art. Take a look at the range of incredible photography. From the endearingly innocent “Rose from the East” by Marley Kate to the unapologetically sexy “A Thing for Me” by Ryan Aylsworth, their hundred-plus page free magazine is jam-packed with talent, whether it be from the interviewees, the editors, the models, or the photographers.







www.vanityteen.com

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Prim Magazine

Prim is a bimonthly publication which prides itself on featuring the best up-and-coming talent in fashion, art, and music. New York teen Kristin Ferrandino, who at the time was only fourteen, founded Prim about a year ago. Their latest issue has a few music features on talents like Lissy Trullie and Snowden, but the real focus is on the fashion. A section on the top 10 runway trends gives plenty to gawk at, but the real treasures are the many breathtaking editorials. We love how the eye-catching fashions are keenly accessorized with only the most eccentric make-up. The April/May issue is online now, and the next issue comes out June 1st.







www.primmagazine.com

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I Love Fake

The spring issue of I Love Fake is entitled “Hardcore,” and the features don’t disappoint. I Love Fake describes itself as a digital art and fashion magazine, and its amazing editorials turn fashion into art. In editorials titled “He Sold His Soul to Punk,” and “Black Leather,” ripped tights, middle fingers, and models’ snarls dominate the pages of meticulously badass styling. The latest issue also includes interviews with photographer Eric Guillemain, model/designer Danny Deluxe, and artist JeremyVille.







www.ilovefakemagazine.com

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Kingdom Magazine Check out Kingdom (cover picture courtesy of IDLM) for Daniel Vasquez’s Spanish e-zine. Kingdom’s variety of intriguing features is bound to keep your attention. There are interviews with Alessandro Baricco, an Italian writer, director and performer, as well as bands Green Day and Star Sailor. Fashion editorials boast a variety of colorful springtime outfits to consider, and a feature on Malaysian homes reads like an episode of Cribs in Kuala Lampur; we want to move in already.



www.kimag.net

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Vinyl Riot Magazine

Vinyl Riot is a magazine that is truly “for the people” – they encourage submissions from anyone who fits their requirements of ‘cool kicks and a sweet hair do,’ as well as liking ‘choco-tea, vinyl bras and Polaroid pictures.’ As the editor asserts in his opening letter, this is “a magazine anyone in the world with an Internet connection to contribute to. A magazine for the dreamers, the mainstream-haters, the fashion freak and the art geek.” We’ve never heard a more endearing opening sentiment. The second issue, titled “The Eternal Youth Issue,” will be released on June 1st. The first issue, entitled “The Virgin Issue,” is online, and also available as a printed copy. The Virgin Issue features an interview of the editor of Prim, Kristin Ferrandino, as well as designer Seth Pratt and blogger Maja Casablancas. There’s a section devoted to a 15-year-old’s submission of photograph mastery, a couple fashion editorials, and it ends with a few goodie DIYs: studding jeans and acid-washing t-shirts. Not exactly reinventing the wheel, but you gotta love DIYs that don’t involve sewing machines. Check back on June 1st for the second issue, and get your submissions ready for the third!





www.vinylriotmagazine.com

evan gruzis

New York artist Evan Gruzis is known for his mastery of creating deceptively photo-like ink paintings. In his first solo exhibition at The Journal Gallery, he steps away from his previously used stark silhouettes and graphic contrasts to present “A Touch of Grey,” which was inspired by his recent trip to Florida. He manages to stay far away from the usual stereotypes, and focuses on the side of Florida that is rarely seen. The result is a strikingly tragic view of the Sunshine State. Drawing inspiration from the kitschy images sold to tourists and the landscape of the state itself, Gruzis explores many aspects of Florida, from foreclosed homes to sunsets. The exhibit opens on May 8th at 6 PM, and will be at the Journal Gallery until June 8th.

The Journal Gallery
168 N. 1st Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211


Opening: May 8th 6:00 – 9:00 PM
May 8th – June 8th
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday from 12 – 6 PM

green pink caviar

“A delicate balance between beauty and disgust.”

Something to convince tourists they just don’t “get” New York… Marilyn Minter has taken out an aggressive advertisement for her new exhibition in the form of MTV’s HD billboard in Times Square at 44th Street. “Chewing Color” is an oddly captivating eight-minute video of a model’s mouth lapping up oozing substances. The extremely close shots give the viewer a slightly disconcerting view of every taste bud of hers licking up goo-like candy. Something about it makes us feel as if we’re watching something taboo, but we can’t tear our eyes away! Imagine the feeling on a 44-foot billboard.

Minter shot the scenes in between takes of a MAC make-up shoot. A five-minute version of the film will be on display in Times Square until April 30th, and a 60-second trailer will be screened before midnight shows at the Sunshine Cinema. For times of the showings in Times Square, click here.

“Chewing Color” is an advertisement for her latest exhibit, Green Pink Caviar. Green Pink Caviar is Minter’s continuing exploration of glamour and its dark underbelly, focusing on the thin line between desirable beauty and robust revulsion. Whether or not you find her work appealing or grotesque, it definitely evokes a strong reaction.

“I don’t want to sound disingenuous, but to me it’s not sexy—it’s gorgeous. It’s about hunger and insatiability, a trailer without a movie behind it, an ad only for itself.” – Marilyn Minter

Her exhibit at Salon 94 will be her second solo exhibition there, and is made up of photorealistic paintings and painterly photographs. The exhibition will run from April 28 to June 13.

Salon 94
12 East 94th Street
New York, NY 10128
646-672-9212
www.salon94.com

barnumville

Matt Hoyle brings beauty and class to freakshows with “Barnumville.” Inspired by the town of Gibsonton, Florida, where vacationing circus folk used to frequent, Hoyle imagines his show to be about a town occupied by sideshow performers in the 1940’s. Notably absent are the bold, bright colors we usually associate with the circus. The oddities of each portrait are captured so gracefully in black and white that they evoke a cinematic feeling, allowing the power and essence of each character to show through.

"The project actually came about and still has the intention of creating 14 cinematic format scenes. I am in the process of creating those scenes in CGI, which is very similar to the process in motion picture CGI movies. These fourteen scenes will depict Barnumville as a realistic 1940’s Florida town inhabited by sideshow performers. These black and white portraits were initially just a recording. I didn’t know they would have such an impact. But the features on each of their faces told so much that I had to create a separate series." – Matt Hoyle












Check out more of the work here: http://www.jkand.com/public/matt-hoyle/barnumville/barnumvillians021a.jpg

http://www.matthoyle.com/

gwon osang

“A new method of playing with illusion and reality” – Gwon Osang

Gwon Osang has created his own form of art, and it’s amazing: the photographic sculpture. An unparalleled arist from Korea, Gwon is a graduate of Hongik University’s sculpture department. His artwork looks as if it might be ceramic statues, but when you get closer you see it’s made up entirely of photographs. Gwon takes hundreds of meticulous photographs of one model and then layers them over a mannequin. By strategically distorting what is real, he plays with the idea of truth.


In his “Deodorant Type” exhibition, Gwon featured 14 life-size sculptures using thousands of photographic images.













In his newest exhibition, “The Sculpture,” he creates a supercar out of bronze.







Gwon talks about ideas for his next work:

“The next concept I have in mind is art that can neither be owned nor collected. At the same time, I realize that even if I make such an endeavor, the galleries will probably find a way to turn them into a saleable item. A pertinent example would be the sand mandala drawn by Tibetan monks. 

Buddhist monks in their self-discipline spend weeks creating sand mandala after which they sweep it away into the river to signify that life is transient. However, if you visit Buddhist museums you'll find such mandalas glued to a canvas for display. So I'm guessing that my next work will probably be made into a form that can be owned. The Flat also embodies a similar concept, the transience of excess, if you can call it that. 

In The Sculpture I also painted things that are heavy to make them look lighter. To me, this society is futile and temporal. There are always two sides of the coin to everything, and everything is cyclical. My view of life is pretty much based on this belief.”

And his “rules for working”:

“The most important rule is to include various codes that can be interpreted in multiple ways. I don’t believe in having my messages delivered accurately. I’m just giving the audience a number of signs for them to find their way to the destination. This may seem callous but I think it is actually the nicest answer to the audience. 

After seeing a film, some moviegoers would often say the film was too difficult to understand. I think it is impossible to see a visual image and think of it as being too complex. All you have to do is just look at what is passing before your eyes. The audience has only to see it and interpret it based on their own life experiences. 

I think there is a range of communication that can be achieved through contemporary art. People at times daydream when they are really busy. I believe that communicating that daydream is a key function of contemporary art. I sometimes think to myself that an artist is somebody who sits at a quite cafe and enjoys himself in place of other people who are too busy to do so. In fact, I personally think that artists should have greater leisure to produce better work. When an artist is too preoccupied, the works will often suffocate.”

www.osang.net

sex cells

Looking for your fifteen minutes of fame? Got any dirty pictures on your phone? You could be in Bushwick art space 3rd Ward’s upcoming show, “Sex Cells.” By accepting erotic cell phone texts, videos, and photos, “Sex Cells” aspires to highlight the transformation of the cell phone from an enabler of everyday conversation into a device for furthering our sex lives. The tamest submission so far seems to be a picture of the crotch of a man’s jeans, called “The Bulge,” and the rest defy normal social boundaries. To be a part of the lascivious fun, go to www.3rdward.com/sexcells; the most intriguing submission will be awarded $500. As 3rd Ward says, “It’s time to show sloppy celebrities and indiscreet politicians how it’s done.” The show opens on June 12.

designer q&a: stolen girlfriends club

Stolen Girlfriends Club is a pop culture label built on vision and creativity. Their innovative ideas are based on the influences of fashion, art and music. Youthfulness, irreverence and a tongue-in-chic attitude are the driving forces behind the New-Zealand made brand. This attitude has earned the Club a celebrity following that includes Juliette Lewis, Kate Bosworth, Daisy Lowe, & The Cobra Snake alongside cool kids everywhere.

Co-founders and directors Marc Moore, Luke Harwood and Dan Gosling want people to interpret Stolen Girlfriends Club in their own way. "It’s a way of life – the brand represents a lifestyle we live and share with our friends”. All three come from a background in the commercial surf industry – Marc and Luke are both ex pro surfers – and all have worked with international fashion forward brands. In time the boys outgrew their boardies (surf shorts), each taking their attributes in creative marketing, distribution, and business knowledge to form Stolen Girlfriends Club in 2005.

IDLM - Skeletor or Hordak?
Marc Moore - Skeletor, mainly because I don't even remember Hordak so he mustn't be that memorable.

When and how did you become interested in fashion?
About 4 years ago. I grew up in this tiny seaside surf town called raglan. I decided to move up to the city for work. And from then on I got really inspired. There was so much going on, all these different people with their own forms of style and expression. I got pretty hooked!! I started experimenting with art and that soon turned in to fashion. Making clothes that me and my friends wanted to wear. 4 years on and it is now more than a hobby - but we still have a lot of fun!

Where did the name "Stolen Girlfriends Club" come from?
It came from my first art show. Stolen Girlfriends Club was the theme and title of that exhibition. It sold out on the opening night which was amazing! Everyone seemed to love the name so we thought it was the obvious choice for our brands name.

How do you sleep @ night?
Well mostly, I sleep well. Except when it's coming up to range release. I get pretty stressed out with new collections. It always seems like your running out of time - there's such an urgency to it!! Once the collection is complete I sleep much better!! We are about 2 weeks from finishing our next collection so I'm a walking zombie at the moment.

What famous designers have influenced you, and how?
Hedi Slimane influenced us early on. Mainly because we felt we could relate to what he was doing. He wasn't just a fashion designer. He was heavily into music, art, his photography. We also loved the aesthetic and detailing of his work. So polished and refined, yet had this gritty rock & roll feel that was very wearable and timeless.

What’s the most played song on your iPod?
At the moment it would be 'Now Wow' by The Kills.

How would you describe your personal style?
Hmm that's a hard one. I kinda change depending on my mood/feeling. A little bit rock & roll, a little bit nerdy/preppy, and a touch fruity.

What brands or designers are currently on your radar?
Christophe Decarin at Balmain, Ricardo Tisci at Givenchy, Stefano Pilati at Yves Saint Laurent, and Alber Elbaz at Lanvin - all seriously nuts!

Describe the Pretty Vacant collection in a Haiku.
The rebellious
grunge punk sensibility
ripped plaid leopard lace

Outside of fashion what inspires you?
Music. Escapism. Romance.

What's your favorite childhood movie?
E.T. I cried like a mofo.

In your eyes what makes a good collection?
Beautiful fabrics, good shapes, wearability, clever detailing, a clear concept that runs right throughout, with a bold identity.


View the Stolen Girlfriends Club collection in the store.

Visit the Stolen Girlfriends Club Website.

warhol does the grand palais

“All my portraits have to be the same size, so they’ll all fit together and make one big painting called Portraits of Society. That’s a good idea, isn’t it? Maybe the Metropolitan Museum would want it someday.”


Warhol, credited with single-handedly reinventing the portrait, once spoke of his dream to have all of them combined in one spectacular piece of art; although his dream could not be recreated exactly as he wished, the exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris is the closest anyone has ever come. In “Warhol’s Wide World,” which is on display starting this week until the middle of July, 140 of Warhol’s portraits were put on display, some of them emerging for the first time from private collections. Warhol created about 1,000 portraits during his career, either of persons of interest such as Marilyn Monroe and Mao Zedong, or those who commissioned him for $25,000 a piece.

Absent from this showcase will be the portrait of Yves Saint Laurent, who was previously placed in the “Glamour” section near other designers like Armani and intended to be a focal point of the exhibition. However, his former partner Pierre Berge found this placement catastrophic. In a letter to the Le Monde, Berge explained, “To show the portraits of Yves Saint Lauren with personalities from the fashion world, even if some of them have talent, was unthinkable… To put Saint Laurent in the ‘glamour’ section would be to show disrespect for his oeuvre and to mix him up with the ‘beautiful people.'"


For visiting information check out the Grand Palais.

tara donovan

Tara Donovan is an artist with enough talent and creativity to make plastic straws seem interesting. Her specialty is taking many copies of an everyday object and transforming them into something phenomenal. Enter her world and, in “Colony,” chunks of pencils transform into, depending on how far away you stand, either an array of skyscrapers or an infectious fungus spreading over the floor. In a 2003 installation called “Haze,” Donovan used over two million plastic straws on a 40-foot gallery wall to create an aesthetic effect both cloudlike and ephemeral. She has used Elmer’s Glue, Styrofoam cups, paper plates, and toothpicks in astronomic quantities create the last thing you ever thought you’d see from disposable kitchenware. Donovan, who says she thinks “in terms of infinity,” is refreshingly unique in her courageous and innovative ability to create large-scale marvels out of the commonplace.

Untitled, 2003
Styrofoam Cups, Hot Glue
6'(H) x 20'(W) x 19' 2"(D)
Ace Gallery New York

Artist’s Statement:
“My investigations into the properties of different media each address a specific trait that is unique to a given mass-produced material. By experimenting with the more phenomenological aspects of a material, my process develops through a kind of dialogue that leads to a specific repetitive action (e.g. stacking, bundling, heaping, etc.) that builds the work. The breadth and diversity of the consumer landscape has expanded to such a degree that the supply of materials that can be adapted to an artistic context seems limitless. The idea that art can be manufactured or that it can radically complicate the standard notions of value attached to mass-produced objects is no longer a point of serious contention in contemporary debates. I think the new fertile territory, for myself at least, encompasses a range of practices that capitalize on the iconic identities of commercial and industrial materials by pressing them further into the realm of abstract seduction. I prefer the phras e "site-responsive" to describe the affiliation of my works to the spaces they inhabit. While this term makes a convenient allusion to the chameleonic visuals I prefer to exploit, it also suggests a dependence on the architectural particulars and lighting conditions of a given space that environmentally impact the growth of my work in terms of scale, direction, and orientation. This reliance on spatial conditions is primarily responsible for forming the understanding of my works as "fields" of visual activity, which have been compared to everything from landscapes to biomorphic forms and even cellular structures.”

Untitled, 2003 (Detail)
Styrofoam Cups, Hot Glue
6'(H) x 20'(W) x 19' 2"(D)
Ace Gallery New York

what's your favorite scary movie...?

“Let the Right One In” has just been released on DVD! The Swedish film is equal parts teenage romance and vampire gore. It tells the story of a bullied twelve-year old, Oskar, and his budding friendship with Eli, his oddly pale neighbor who only comes out at night. Oskar soon discovers that Eli is a vampire, but not before he has grown too entranced with her to tear himself away. Check it out!

oscar wilde

“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” From this quote comes the name for Company of Thieve’s latest album Ordinary Riches, and from the author comes the song title for their newest music video: Oscar Wilde. Company of Thieves, a Chicago-based band, is comprised of lead singer Genevieve Schatz, guitarist Marc Walloch, and drummer Mike Ortiz. In the music video for “Oscar Wilde,” Genevieve takes on the quirky task of embodying Max Fischer, the precocious and extremely involved teenager from “Rushmore.” With gawky glasses and a schoolboy tie and blazer, she channels Max Fischer in a montage of his various extracurricular activities: JV basketball manager, yellow belt in the kung fu club, and choirmaster of the second chorale, to name a few. Genevieve’s androgynous transformation competes with her compelling vocals for attention, so be prepared to watch it a few times to catch the full effect of both.

sexual revolution

Harri Peccinotti, who served as art director for Nova, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and Vogue before he quit to become a photographer, is known for leading the movement in non-traditional pin-up images and introducing black women into fashion photography. Harry Peccinotti’s new book Sexual Revolution suggests female seduction in its most primal form; close-up images of a cigarette wrapped between full red lips, the beads of perspiration on a sunbathing woman, and images of models nibbling on candy dominate the 228 pages, which was compiled of over forty years of his work from fashion magazines, book jackets, and his 1968 and 1969 contributions to the famous Pirelli calendar. Available at artbook.com.

lissy trullie

Performing TONITE! Lissy Trullie, whose hipster credentials read like a list of places to be seen: she’s DJed at Beatrice Inn, performed at Bungalow 8, and graced the stage at the Mercury Lounge.



Thursday, March 12th at 8:00 PM
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey Street
Lissy Trullie (opening for The Soundtrack of Our Lives)
$15 cover

designer q&a: kenzo minami

Kenzo Minami, originally from Hyogo, Japan, graduated from Parsons School of Design with a BFA in Product Design after majoring in Western Philosophy in Japan. Before he established himself as an artist / designer, he started his career as a set designer for TV broadcast networks, working with MTV, the Sci-Fi Channel and others. This lead to shooting his own shorts and TV spots, and working in broadcast as an art director, director, and motion graphic designer for 7 years.

When and how did you become interested in illustration and visual art?
When I was very little, at my father's die-cast metal factory, because there was nothing else to do. I also think that the fact that I grew up surrounded by metal parts my father's factory was producing, which was essentially a bunch of abstract shapes since they are different parts for larger whole of machinery or products, did have a huge influence and impact on me getting interested in and become visual person - considering that I grew up watching those different shapes and imagined how they all fit and function after they are packaged and shipped. Combined with the fact that my parents didn't really give me any pre-made toys, except Lego Blocks (this is Lego before they had too many pre-made, pre-molded specific shapes) and plastic models to build, I was bound to become someone who automatically start building things out of different parts in different shapes and colours.

What’s the most played song on your iPod?
Even though what I listen to is all over the place in genre, the most played song always come back to be one of the songs by Bob Dylan. At the moment, They are "Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and "One of Us Must Know", for some reasons.

How would you describe your personal style?
Old Fashioned, in a darker hue.

Describe your spring collection.
After the end, before the beginning.

Outside of art and fashion what inspires you?
Words.

What’s your favorite childhood movie?
Ghostbusters.

Must art have a relationship with fashion?
Within my understanding of definition of fashion, I think that it is bound to have some level of relationship.


View the Kenzo Minami collection in the store.

Visit the Kenzo Minami Website.

white prism

There's a white prism with phony jism
and the soulful convicts forever interred
lose the smile across their faces
The smile that registered hopes or dreams
has proven just a waste
And I'm the indentured servant
forever in his place

~Lou Reed






View the White Prism Tee in the store.
models: Dean & Maria @ Trump

designer q&a: maurie and eve

Maurie and Eve is the Australian brand from Kelly Davies, Scott Davies and Maya Clemmensen. Kel and Scott are brother and sister, Scott and Maya are partners while Kel and Maya are best friends. Kel began a few years back sewing singlets and selling to a few boutiques around the country. And in 2006 Scott and Maya came on board, designing and helping run the business.

The brand is named after Kel and Scott's grandparents. Maurice and Evelyn Williams passed away in 2001, their deaths caused by a tragic car accident. Eve was a model in the 40s and her old Singer Sewing machine was left to Kel. Inspired by this, Kel began making singlets for friends and family and before she knew it was selling to boutiques across Australia and around the world.

Kel was sweet enough to share with us some insight on her life and the new spring collection.

Kelly Taylor or Brenda Walsh?
Brenda all the way… You've got to keep things interesting!

When and how did you become interested in fashion
I think it's fair to say that all girls love dressing up, Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan was definitely an opener to a little girl! It's interesting to see how different people interpret fashion, the way they put themselves together… Girls dress for other girls, everyone wants to look the best, and with that kind of market, who could resist giving it a go!!

How would you describe your personal style?
I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but I'm pretty over the top… more more more of everything…. A fist full of rings, oversized handbags, high high high heels, scarves, big hair, the whole bit!!

What brands or designers are currently on your radar?
Alexander Wang is definitely on our radar at the moment, we love his relaxed tailoring, while still having that hard edge. We're all about mixing styles and seeing how far we can push it… Jeremy Scott is another, he's just crazy and it just works!

Do you sing in the shower and what song?
No… and I've never actually come across a person that does!!

What is the inspiration behind your Spring collection?
The Spring Collection we were in a real Woodstock haze… tie dyes, flowy dresses, bleached ripped denim, midriffs… it's all about the 70's.

What's the most played song on your iPod?
It changes pretty often, but at the moment I have Send Him Back – The Pointer Sisters Pilooski edit on repeat!

What's your favorite childhood movie?
The Labyrinth… I don't know how as I child I could watch that movie and not have nightmares… It scares the hell out of me now!! David Bowie in tights…. I don't know about that!!!

In your eyes what makes a good collection?
We always try to make sure there are enough elements to each collection… make sure we cover all bases with colours, prints, short, long, day, night. We always have 3 or 4 different stories running through each range and tie them together with colours or fabrics. And it has to be easy to wear…

What do you enjoy most about being a fashion designer and having your own label?
Working for ourselves is such a luxury, everyone wants to be their own boss! But its so cool to be able to make EXACTLY what you want to wear, and it's even better when people want to wear it too! We also get to travel a lot; and the 3 of us are so lucky we get to do it all together!

View the Maurie and Eve collection in the store.

Visit the Maurie and Eve Website.

Friend Maurie and Eve on MySpace.

new bruno levy videos

Two amazing music videos just premiered earlier this week, both directed by IDLM Gallery artist Bruno Levy. Bruno has created two unique videos to match tracks from NYC bands The Walkmen and World's End.

Starring IDLM teamster Rila Fukushima, the World's End music video is a nightmarish brew of tentacles and ink. You can see some stills we posted earlier from the video here.







Bruno's video for NYC hipster-kings The Walkmen was shot entirely in Nepal, where Bruno has been living until his recent return to Manhattan. Bruno was kind enough to answer a few questions we had for him, detailing his experience shooting the video.

Where did you shoot the video?
This video was shot in a town called Kagbeni in Mustang, Nepal.

How long did it take to shoot?
The whole process from going up and down the mountain was 10 days, I shot that whole time, time lapses of mountains and the sky, plus the whole journey up which I never used in the final edit of the video. The actually shooting with the kids took about 2 days.

How did you decide on the story for this video?
The story came up when I was walking up the mountain, I knew I wanted to do something with kids, and about village life, about a different life that most people that might view this video get to experience, but then as I was going through different scenarios with my Nepalese friend, he just said happiness. Lets shoot something on happiness. So I decided to strip all plot ideas, to go up find the kid, shoot and see what happens.

Where did you find those kids with the smooth moves?
Lal Devi, the main girl, when I saw her I knew she had that something that makes her stand out, a kind of cross between a child, a boy and a beautiful girl, the swagger, the attitude, something, and I knew I wanted to base the whole thing around her.

The kids, they were so excited to see some one shoot a video and asked they could be in it, worked out perfect.

You shoot all of your videos in stopmotion. Why this format?
Honestly, I couldn't afford a video camera to get this film-like quality. It is restricting but I wanted to work within the boundaries of a certain medium and see what I could come up with. It's easy to become distracted with so many new cameras, formats, technology, tricks, I get confused. My friend used to always say, keep it simple stupid, I always remember that when I'm working.

What did you find the most grueling in the entire process?
Trying to get the videos out into a market, trying to get more good artists to work with, sharing visions.

The most rewarding?
Sharing this beautiful place that I love with other people.

Who's your favorite music video artist?
I've been living in the middle of nowhere for too long, it used to take 30 minutes to one hour to download a 4 minute video in Nepal, granted there was power, I'm just catching up, but there is soo much good stuff out there, and equally too much crap.


View Bruno Levy's Gallery collection in the store.

Visit Bruno's website.

designer q&a: priestess nyc

Cody Ross is the ballsy brains and talent behind the cult label Priestess NYC. The quirky womenswear label has become an overnight sensation since its launch in late 2007. Cody's unique creations have been worn by celebrities and models, donned by everyone from Bjork to Juliette Lewis.

Cody grew up in Dallas, Texas, and went on to earn a BSc from the London School of Economics as well as credentials in Pattern-Construction+Design from London's Central Saint Martins.

After working as a financial analyst in China for several years, he returned to the states and launched Priestess NYC. Cody currently designs and manages his line out of his West Village townhouse-cum-atelier in NYC.


What famous designers have influenced you, and how?
1. Bernhard Willhelm. For his ingenious pop references, his use of toys and video games to trash and freaky-minimalism, he has a swashbuckling approach to design, hands-down.
2. Jeremy Scott. He is King of exaggeration and visual-razzmatazz. I love his satirical and tong-and-cheek approach, especially his new stuff.
3. Rick Owens. For his subversive, sartorial style that is raw and refined, haunted and haute. I know he’s a super-star but he seems to always operate on the fringe. His goth-androgyny is weird and cool.
4. Walter Van Beirendonck. For his audacious shock-and-awe, fetish-fantasies, kaleidoscopic color-ways, crazy materials and total rejection of mainstream stuff. He’s the maverick risk-taker -- and always has been.
5. Marjan Pejoski/KTZ. Because he’s the master of unisex and conveys happy-absurdity in all his stuff.

Describe your Spring Collection in a Haiku:
Goth-glam punk girl stuff
Colorful kitschy soft screams
Silky-smooth yummy

What brands or designers are currently on your radar?
Georgy Baratashvili. . . Henrik Vibskov. . . Marjan Pejoski . . .Comme des Garcons . . .

If you were a letter of the alphabet, which would best describe you and why?
“Z” . . .because it’s the last one . .and ‘the best stuff comes at the end of the sequence.’

Outside of fashion what inspires you?
Mathematics. . .Japanese toys, David LaChapelle’s photography. . . I’m interested in finance and economic history. . .and all things kitsch.

In your eyes what makes a good collection?
A broad range of selection . . . ability to ‘transcend demographics’ . . .versatility.

E.T. or ALF?
Both are cool!

What do you enjoy most about being a fashion designer and having your own label?
Creative freedom.

What's your favorite piece of clothing you own?
Biker Jacket in silver-metallic finish.

What advice would you give to a designer just starting out?
Don’t spend beyond your means.

View the Priestess collection in the store.

Read Cody's blog.

Visit the Priestess NYC Website.

Friend Priestess NYC on MySpace.

Friend Cody on Facebook.

sneak peek spring (part two)

Here's a few more peeks of new designers and their Spring 09 collections, arriving soon!



T by Alexander Wang
The new diffusion line from CFDA winner Alexander Wang feature just about the comfiest tees, tanks, and T-shirt dresses we’ve seen yet. Armholes are lowered, necklines are stretched, all cut in the designers fetchingly enervated style with colors like white, gray, charcoal, black and chartreuse. As the designer describes, “'It’s like sleeping in a T-shirt and then wearing it the next day.” All pieces are under $100.




5Preview
Swedish/Italian designers Emeli and Diego have screened iconic tongue-in-cheek prints onto unisex tees and tanks.




Anzevino and Florence
Using silk and twill blends, L.A. based designers Richard Florence and William Anzevino have created a sophisticated yet edgy collection of womenswear, menswear, and unisexwear.




Something and Something Else
The new collection "Spirit World" from Melbourne-bred designer Natalie Wood is downtown-cool with a feminine touch.



Sign up for our email newsletter to be notified when collections arrive.

sneak peek spring (part one)

Spring is just around the corner and the new pieces arriving soon are so stunning, they've got us delirious and down-right obsessed. Here's a tiny taste of things to come:



Stolen Girlfriends Club
The New Zealand music/art group have created a dark and brooding collection of sultry pieces for men and women, featuring subtle lace finishes and ox-blood plaid.




Kenzo Minami
Japanese visual artist Kenzo Minami has created another sleek collection of bold geometric graphics for his super soft unisex tees for Spring. As usual the tee shirts are enzyme washed to give them that vintage worn-in feel, and the detail and color variety in the silk-screened graphics are phenomenal.




Scout
The L.A. store’s spring collection of contemporary womenswear is a street-chic ensemble of baggy tee dresses, leaf print leggings and the occasional hunting and trapping motif.




Brian Lichtenberg
The new collection by celebrity-darling Brian Lichtenberg is a fiery hot blaze of lace and sequins. Welcome to the future.




Ground-Zero
The Chu brothers have returned with a whimsical collection of high-end unisex "pajama-wear as outer-wear." Their Spring 09 collection titled “Lazy, naughty n Sleepy” features cheeky and subversive graphics involving...Care Bears!




Sharon Brunsher
The Israeli fashion designer and Tel Aviv Design Institute graduate has formed a beautiful and well crafted set of hand-dyed dresses and feminine tops.




Maurie and Eve
Young Aussie designers Kelly Davies and Maya Clemmenson have smartly fused beachwear and evening wear into a debonair collection brimming with free and easy femininity.


Stay tuned for more featurettes on upcoming collections...

rock on mars

Stephen Sprouse
Rock on Mars

January 09, 2009 — February 28, 2009
18 Wooster Street, New York

Rock on Mars, a retrospective exhibition of the work of Stephen Sprouse, will transform Deitch Projects’s 18 Wooster Street gallery into a realization of Sprouse’s rock and roll futuristic vision.

Stephen Sprouse (1953-2004) was one of the most influential fashion designers of his time and a key figure in the dynamic mix of punk rock, wild style graffiti, and street influenced fashion that characterized the downtown New York community in the early 1980s. He was one of the first to build on the influence of Andy Warhol to create a fusion of art, music and fashion. He continued on a course that disavowed any division among these fields throughout his career.

The exhibition will introduce Sprouse’s extraordinary pop-influenced paintings to the larger art audience. His paintings of iconic rock and roll imagery including stacks of loudspeakers, Sid Vicious with his pants down, and an Iggy Pop crucifixion, have rarely been seen. The show will also include a selection of the video works made to accompany his runway shows, examples of his fabric and furniture design for Knoll, and fifty of his most influential fashion looks.

In conjunction with the exhibition project, Marc Jacobs has created a new collection for Louis Vuitton, inspired by Sprouse’s famous collaboration with Louis Vuitton in 2001, which featured the classic monogram bag scrawled with Stephen Sprouse graffiti. The new limited edition Stephen Sprouse – Louis Vuitton collection will be available in Louis Vuitton stores worldwide from January 9, 2009, the opening date of the exhibition. -via Dietch Projects



Stephen Sprouse, TV Sketch


Stephen Sprouse, Self-Portrait, Early Years


Stephen Sprouse, Debbie Harry Cut Out Dress Polaroid

an uncertain nature

For everyone who missed her first solo show, Alison Brady is showing again in NY starting this Thursday. The young SVA graduate reminds us a bit of Guy Bourdin, but she's got a quirkier, meaner streak we find amusing. Unlike Bourdin who kept everything a bit more "fashiony" and upbeat, Brady's photographic work focuses more on pain and death, ranging from sexy-scary to nasty and disturbing. Definitely not for everyone, but worth checking out if you're feeling jaded.



Alison Brady
An Uncertain Nature

Opening Reception
January 8th from 6-8 pm

Massimo Audiello
526 West 26th St No 519
New York NY 10001

Show runs until February 8, 2009



Artist's Statement: My work is a series of color photographs that work to stimulate unconscious emotions, desires, and sexual compulsions, all unified within a dynamic that vacillates between the real and the fantasized. I explore issues related to madness and alienation as they exist in contemporary culture, concentrating on expressions of neurosis, on feelings of anxiety, displacement, and loss of identity.

These emotions are depicted in terms of visual conflict through my imagery, and manifested in terms of grotesque exaggeration. While investigating issues related to the unconscious, elements such as eroticism, twisted humor, and horror come across. I strive to create dichotomies between the sensual and the horrific, the beautiful and the destructive; the result, I hope, is a body of work comprised of deeply emotional and disturbing depictions of the unknown, staged imagery that functions on a metaphorical level, and inanimate objects and settings serving to illustrate the inner workings of the unconscious.

Nearly everyone has experienced some sort of traumatic disconnect in their lives, whether it is a severance within the body/self or a break from family or friends. Much hysteria is rooted in such traumatic experience, one that cannot be integrated into a person’s understanding of the world. Freud, in “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” states, “Often times we tend to repeat a traumatic event over and over even until it becomes pleasurable.” This repetition contradicts our instinct to seek pleasure but, regardless, our mind has a tendency to repeat traumatic events in order to deal with them, as a way of mastering them. This repetition can take the form of dreams, storytelling, or even hallucination; my images allude to the cryptic mental re-scrambling through which our traumatic events resurface. When I conceive my images the questions I ask myself are: What is the state of normality? How can that normality be subverted, perverted, or generally transformed? When does this overcome the real and become psychotic?

My work attempts to play on these feelings of instability. The subjects that I use - some friends, some strangers - are placed into often awkward, bizarre set pieces, and coerced into visually compelling poses. Various websites (craigslist, etc.) became a way of enlisting others into my shoots. I use the photography medium as way of documenting the experience of these performance pieces. An example of this would be smearing chocolate syrup all over a stranger’s legs and asking him to climb into a dryer, they might be completely covered with glitter or have their head stuffed in an uncomfortable place

bah-humbug!

Here's a few of our favorite scenes from some of the classic "anti-Christmas" movies we love...

Gremlins (1984)


Black Christmas (1974)


Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)


Christmas Evil (1980)


He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special (1985)


Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)


Edward Scissorhands (1990)


Invasion USA (1985)




plus our X-mas playlist...

and check out this hilarious X-mas video by the naughty nasty girls from Avenue D (NSFW, watch out!)

alexander calder jewelry

Alexander Calder's jewelry collection is at the Met! This is the first time the collection will receive it's own extensive exhibit. The American born artist was more famously known for his many mobiles and paintings, frequently using a sunset orange color (below) that became known as "Calder Red." My personal fave of his creations is the mercury fountain (bottom pic) he created in 1937, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the World Exhibition in Paris.

Calder Jewelry
December 9, 2008–March 1, 2009
The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Gallery,
Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, Modern Art, 1st floor

the music of sex

We're willing to wager our rent money that Malcolm McLaren is not shy about the birds and the bees. He changed the name of his 1970's London shop (opened with his partner Vivienne Westwood) to SEX, he named the band he managed the Sex Pistols, and now his recent feature-length film is all about (surprise, surprise) . . . sex!

Ok, ok there's more to it than that. As advertised by the Royal Academy of Arts, "A multimedia work, Malcolm McLaren's Musical Paintings (Shallow 1-21) is a series of original musical “cut-ups” composed by McLaren set to appropriated film and music clips selected and edited by McLaren. The films have been sliced, repeated, both slowed down and in real time. The result is hypnotic, layered and provocative."

The film is showing Tuesday Dec. 9th through Monday Jan 12th at the Royal Academy of Art in Burlington Gardens. Visit the Royal Academy of Art's website for tickets, showtimes, and to see a clip from the film.

the noose of innocence

It came my way on a lonesome day
The long black scarf took my possession
Valentino's own, passed down from the throne
With powers to use with discretion
~Belle & Sebastian





View The Scarf in the store

happy birthday buffalo bill!

paint it black

Our first big sale! Friday November 28 thru Sunday November 30, take an additional 30% off of your entire order. Offer is good for already marked down items, giving you savings of up to 80% off the original retail price! Just drop your desired items into your shopping cart and upon checkout enter the discount code: PAINTITBLACK

Please note, discount does not apply to shipping or the Bruno Levy Gallery items.

designer profile: DEER DANA

Dana Veraldi, is the ink genius behind Deer Dana. Just recently having moved to New York, her unique artwork, photography and wicked style has quickly attracted attention. Her line of illustrated t-shirts feature tongue-in-cheek and obscurely cool prints. These unisex tees celebrate everyone from her ubiquitously downtown cohorts to the idols and tastemakers not yet part of Veraldi's everexpanding circle of "It"-kid friends and admirers, but soon sure to be.

Dana was kind enough to divulge to us a bit on her artistic endeavors and her life in NYC.

How did DEER DANA begin?
I created my website years ago as a showcase for my photography. I used to live in a big artist warehouse in Baltimore and I started screen-printing shirts in my loft while in college. I then decided to put the shirts up on my website as well. It just made sense to call my line Deer Dana.

You graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007. What brought you to New York?
The people and the treasures.

DEER DANA has developed a cult following practically overnight. What is your reaction when you see people wearing your shirts?
It's very flattering and funny.

You assist some of the top stylists in New York, you are a photographer, and you run DEER DANA. Which do you find the most rewarding?
My days and weeks are always different which I love. I was never keen on having a proper 9-5 job. I am lucky to be doing what I am doing. I have met so many great friends here in New York. I learn something interesting from each thing I do.

How do you choose who to feature in your designs?
I make drawings that become shirts of people I admire. They are all important people to me - whether they are close friends or people I find interesting and inspirational.

How would you describe your personal style?
I just wear what I like.

What brands or designers are currently on your radar?
I really like Ralph Lauren, Woolrich, Bess, Stubbs and Wootton, Iosselliani

Outside of fashion, what inspires you?
Suri Cruise

Who's next to be featured on a DEER DANA tee?
Right now I am working on my two Oliviers - Olivier Zahm and Olivier Theyskens.

View the Deer Dana collection in the store.

View the Deer Dana blog.

grace returns

New album from art/disco/fashion diva Grace Jones was released today in the U.S., her first album in over 19 years. The album features an all-star production team led by Ivor Guest, including Brian Eno, Tricky, and Sly & Robbie.

And if you missed the music video released in June for her single "Corporate Cannibal", check it out below...

Grace Jones - "Corporate Cannibal" - Directed by Nick Hooker

fine art november

PARIS

Rupert Shrive | Something to Declare

November 07 — December 20, 2008
Galerie Orel Art
40 rue Quincampoix, Paris


Rupert Shrive. We have all the time in the world, 2008, acrylic and varnish on kraft paper, ostrich egg, 22 x 23 x 16 cm.

Presenting a series of 20 recent works, based primarily on his technique of creation and destruction, here Rupert Shrive explores the third part of the cycle: the renaissance. If the theme of the resurrection is at the core of his work, the new pieces, like the chrysalises represented, discover their independence and with it a new identity.

By combining unexpected materials like eggs and nautilus shells, with compacted portraits reverse -painted on transparent acrylic (a complicated process of recording the final details first), as well as his heavily varnished, screwed up paintings on kraft paper; Shrive deploys an unusual formal lexicon in destroying his own work, a kind of 'post-painting', as a dramatic metaphor for the quandaries and uncertainties besetting the act of creation itself.

The paintings are crumpled and ripped, the art dangerously manipulated in a high-risk search for a fresh and vital visual language, a reinvention of the tradition of figurative painting. By subjecting his work to this destructive process, Shrive challenges comfortable notions of the value of art and the vanity of artists. Turning his paintings from bi-dimensional to tri-dimensional media, he effects an alchemy, converting painting into sculpture.

Shrive's work mirrors Cubism to some extent in breaking down a single viewpoint into different perspectives as opposed to bringing different viewpoints together as one, accentuated all the more by his use of broken shells revealing the struggling image as it ecloses from the chrysalis, presenting metamorphosis as a simile for the conception and realisation of an idea.

Shown here for the first time, Shrive reveals in these most recent works; the paradoxes and developments of his unique procedure. -Orel Gallery

http://www.orelart.com/

__________________________________________________________________

NEW YORK

Elizabeth Neel | Make No Bones

November 06 — December 06, 2008
Dietch Projects
76 Grand Street, New York


Elizabeth Neel, The Losers, Oil on Canvas, 75 x 82 inches

"When I was three years old, a fox raided the chicken coop on my parent’s farm. The site of the massacre was strewn with evidence of its swift violence. One particular bird had only been partially consumed – almost perfectly bisected in such a way that it’s entire reproductive system was revealed. I could see a series of stages beginning with a yolk and ending with a perfect, shelled egg within that body – fixed at the moment of death in pristine order. This visual experience represented a turning point in my relationship to the world. I now see it as my first clear instantiation that life, and nature underneath it, is a baroque, mysterious thing that hangs precariously on a framework of elegant reason." - Elizabeth Neel

http://www.deitch.com/

__________________________________________________________________

NEW YORK

Ari Marcopoulis | Fear God

November 06 — December 19, 2008
The Project
37 W 57th Street, 3rd Floor, New York


Ari Marcopoulos, Left Coast, 2008, Photocopied photograph, 53 × 36 inches.

Selected from Ari Marcopoulos' vast and continuously expanding body of work, these images demonstrate how markings on the body—scars, bruises, and tattoos—often have broader significance as encoded signs of social affiliation and status within insular communities. Similarly, graffiti in the urban landscape functions as a distinctly expressive residue of life which adorns otherwise banal architectural environments in an attempt to articulate public dissent from the status quo. Fear God not only reveals Marcopoulos' continued interest in documenting underground youth and street cultures, but also his perceptiveness in photographing them—originally seen in his early photographs of burgeoning hip hop and skateboarding scenes. -The Project

http://www.elproyecto.com/

__________________________________________________________________

TOKYO

I LOVE ART

Open on 10/13, 11/3, 11/24, 12/12 (2008)
Watari-um
3-7-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo


Andy Warhol, America.

This is an exhibition of 108 works focusing mostly on previously unexhibited pieces, such as a 1988 work by Julian Schnabel (America, 1951-), who has in recent years won much attention for his work as a film director, drawings by John Cage (America, 1912-1992), and works by leading Japanese contemporary copperplate printmaking artist Tetsuro Komai (Japan, 1920-1976). Keith Haring's wall murals, which have covered signboards for more than 10 years now, will also be on display.

In addition to these works, encounters with the artists will share with visitors the creative process and various hitherto unknown anecdotes behind the art - the "collection stories". -Tokyo Art Beat

http://www.watarium.co.jp/exhibition/0702_taut_en.html

we're the dreamers

Honey Bunny
My baby girl friend
Sweetheart
My sugar girl friend
Where are you
Eyes of blue dear
You are my
My everyday girl
And everyday, everyday
I think of your smile
~Vincent Gallo






View the Bunnies Tee in the store.
model: Paul @ Trump

designer profile: Ground-Zero

Ground Zero was established by brothers Eri and Philip Chu. The brothers started fashion design in high school by remaking their own vintage clothing. Eri graduated from the Design School with a major in graphic design and went on to work for a classic tailor shop. Philip chose a degree in fashion management at Middlesex University in London. The brothers then teamed up to take the fashion world heads on with Ground-Zero. They continue to find inspiration in the street fashion of London, their home-base.

Philip kindly answered a few questions we posed him about the collection.

How did you get into fashion design?
There was a time when my brother and I were doing absolutely nothing in our lives so we decided to do something that interested us, just for the hell of it. We made music, art work and t-shirt prints...Ground-Zero was just one of those projects. As time went by, I came to realize that I was really interested in fashion design so I went to the university for a course.

What does the Fall 2008 collection represent?
The Obsession. We just put it in an exaggerated and funny way, drug-taking and all.

Why did you name your company Ground-Zero, what does it mean to you?
We feel that 'ground' and 'zero' are the start of everything.

How has London street culture influenced your collections?
Nothing that you can see, but the charisma of the collections.

Outside of fashion, what inspires you?
Everything but nothing. Some things I can't really tell but they are in my body.

What brands are currently on your radar?
Jose Castro, Junn. J, and JC de Castelbajac

In your eyes what makes a good collection?
Surprise, out of the ordinary.

What kind of person do you imagine wearing your clothing?
We never think of that. We just do what we want to do, never really doing something for someone randomly.

view the Men's Collection at I Dont Like Mondays

view the Women's Collection at I Dont Like Mondays


visit Ground-Zero at www.ground-zero.co.uk

pass some ammunition

Let my hair grow,
Find some old clothes,
Let the world know
That my glory days were plaid.
~Chicago









View the Courtney Dress in the store.
model: Courtney @ Trump

designer profile: Purlieu

Purlieu was formed in response to the summer Sky Ferren and Wynnie Crews went mad. Their first collaboration was an exhibition titled Get Happy and Mothers, an installation where children and rabbits played freely with pretty thugs and happy gangsters. They shared a common interest in illustration and all things made by peoples’ hands. Soon after meeting, they were living in Los Angeles on facing couches in a friend’s apartment. In L.A., they visited the garment district every day and developed their product.

I had the pleasure of asking Wynnie a few questions about her line, the idea behind her fall collection, and her inspirations.

How did you get into fashion design?
I was in high school. My mom had a sewing machine, and I started altering my clothes to make them fit better- I shopped mostly at thrift stores, and this gave me the freedom to buy just about anything I liked, regardless of the size, and customize it. But I knew nothing of the real "rag business" until Sky and I moved to LA and saw it first hand. That's when Purlieu was born.

What does the Fall 2008 collection, titled 'Native American,' represent?
Native American is about Americana, and the culture of the modern-day Native American (i.e. anyone who calls him/herself an American).

Why did you choose the name Purlieu?
To us, the name is about the idea of a haunt or a special place that a person frequents- possibly a remote or secluded place where you would go to be alone.

How would you define your personal style?
Experimental, intuitive

Outside of fashion, what inspires you?
Nature & American culture

You develop and produce everything personally, from the patterns to the screen printing. What process do you find the most challenging?
Patternmaking - It can take a lot of trial and error to perfect an idea.

In your eyes what makes a good collection?
Quality vs. quantity, cohesiveness, freshness.

What kind of person do you imagine wearing your clothing?
Girls ages 16-30 - Intelligent, fashion forward, with a sense of humor.

visit Purlieu at www.purlieu.net

rila turns evil

Our very own Rila just shot a music video for Deantoni Parks, the amazing drummer from Astroid Power-up! Check out the pics of her below from the nightmare sequence.

the ghost of grunge

Every fall, grunge seems to be a recurring theme. However this season, it's stronger than ever. We saw it earlier this year on the runway from the Alexander Wang and Erin Wasson collab and now we're seeing it take over the streets. So throw on that old flannel, panda eye makeup, cherry lipstick, barrettes and combat boots. And here's a bit of styling inspiration - we've been dying for a reason to post some of these awesome videos!

Babes in Toyland - Bruise Violet



L7 - Pretend We're Dead



Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit



Hole - Violet



Check out the Courtney dress, inspired by Courtney Love.


Courtney Love & bandmates



Angela and Jordan Catalano - M.S.C.L.

all his friends were simple prophets

Smiley, where have you been?
Smiley, it's such a sin to say
You'll dream your life away

~Smashing Pumpkins

View the Smiley Tux Tee in the store.

diamond princess

That candy paint shinin, 5th wheel reclinin
Rollin on 4s grippin wood with the diamonds
Yella and white in my mouf, got em blindin
If you lookin fo Thugga, I'll tell you where to find him

~DJ Khaled





View the Candy Paint Dress in the store.
model: Zuzka @ Trump

we all fall for Paul

Our friend Paul just got her hair cut for SS09 shows, inspired by Elvira Hancock from Scarface. Stay tuned for Paul's line of knit scarves exclusive to I Dont Like Mondays.

BEFORE


HAIRCUT BY ANDRE GUNN


AFTER



Hair Inspiration: ELVIRA HANCOCK from Scarface.




Want a celluloid inspired haircut? Check these out.

happy birthday!

I have endured much to reach this place in time
Yet I have not been sick, nor mad,
Nor ruined in a wreck.
And yet I feel I have.
There is a thing in me, the walls of cells are thin,
My veins are glass, my heart the merest whim
Of beat and pause and beat,
Deaths in the street are mine. I would not have it so.
I know much more than I would want to know.
The breakfast headlines tell me of a war,
I know they die out there; put down my spoon.
Men land on the moon tonight, I know their joy,
The boy in me goes with them as they tread
Far overhead on dust world beyond reach
They teach my tired blood to love again.
There's rain in downtown Peru tonight,
I wash my face in it. In Indo China, one more massacre,
I run a race in it and lose.
You see?
I cannot choose to be or not to be.

from I Have Endured Much to Reach This Place by Ray Bradbury

fujiya & miyagi : knickerbocker

I saw the ghost of Lena Zavaroni!!!

kap bambino : america nights

america nights tour has begun!!

15 Aug 2008 8:00 P	RUFF CLUB	NEW YORK
16 Aug 2008 8:00 P	http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.showDetails&Band_Show_ID=36343846&friendid=22282611	NEW YORK
16 Aug 2008 8:00 P	ASTERISK GALLERY ? TBC	BROOKLYN NEW YORK
5 Sep 2008 8:00 P	JAZZGA FESTIVAL	LODZ
11 Sep 2008 8:00 P	FESTIVAL VIRI	EINDHOVEN
17 Sep 2008 8:00 P	CLUB ANTICS	DUBLIN
25 Sep 2008 8:00 P	http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.showDetails&Band_Show_ID=28396085&friendid=22282611	PARIS
9 Oct 2008 8:00 P	PHONO FESTIVAL	ODENSE
24 Oct 2008 8:00 P	Festival	BORDEAUX/PESSAC
1 Nov 2008 8:00 P	info soon!	ATHENS

meoow

Hello new favorite magazine. As was rumored, it's official - Interview has completely revamped their look. We got a taste of it in the August issue but they've really upped the ante for September. Just check out how amazing this cover is. We're so giddy in anticipation to see what they do next issue.


NEW September Issue w/ Kate Moss




And therefore I can't resist...

A.S.S. Gallery TONIGHT!

Opening Reception TONIGHT!

Saturday, August 9th, 6 to 9PM @ Asia Song Society / 45 Canal Street

Curated by Anat Ebgi, Terence Koh, and Jenny Schlenzka

Contributing Artists are Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, Yoko Ono, Basquiat, Douglas Gordon, Marina Abramovich, and IDLM's very own Dean Rodgers!

Stop on by and say hello.


I want a little sugar in my bowl
I want a little sweetness down in my soul
I could stand some lovin’ oh so bad
I feel so funny and I feel so sad

I want a little steam on my clothes
Maybe I can fix things up so they’ll go
Whatsa matter Daddy Come on, save my soul
I need some sugar in my bowl
I ain’t foolin’
I want some sugar in my bowl

You been acting different I’ve been told
Soothe me
I want some sugar in my bowl
I want some steam on my clothes
Maybe I can fix things up so they’ll go
Whatsa matter Daddy
Come on save my soul
I want some sugar in my bowl
I ain’t foolin’
I want some - yeah - in my bowl.

– Nina Simone

Aren't you gonna take your skates off?.......I never take my skates off.

Gotham Girls Roller Derby this FRIDAY! GGRD and metromix.com will be co-hosting a Garden Party this Friday, August 8th in Williamsburg.

Time: 7-11pm

Location: Hope Lounge - 10 Hope Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Featuring: DJ Lode & Special Guests, drink specials from Coney Island Lager, food compliments of Chipotle, photo booth by metromix.com, raffle to win an iPod Shuffle.

Cost: $10 admission

RSVP to NY@METROMIX.COM

metal mania

Tonight is the Metal Magazine Launch Party! If you love Purple Mag (like we do) then you'll love Metal.

thoughts of you

I'm imagining your frame
every angle
and every plane
I'm imagining your laugh again
and the way you say my name

~Ani DiFranco


View the Angle Tank in the store.
model: Courtney @ Trump

vice vice baby

If you're looking for something to do this stormy Saturday in New York, go check out the 2008 Vice Photo Show. The show features photographic works from Jonathan Black, Rennie Ellis, Roe Ethridge, Naomi Fisher, Dana Goldstein, Jerry Hsu, Richard Kern, Maggie Lee, David Markey & Jordan Schwartz, Jens Mollenvanger, Patrick O’Dell, Aaron Rose, Chris Shonting, Luke Stephenson, Nick Zinner & Aliya Naumoff, and Riddles, a special section curated by Tim Barber.

The 2008 Vice Photo Show, August 1 - August 31
Vice Gallery
99 N 10th St, between Berry and Wythe

Hours: Tue-Fri 3-7pm, Sat 12-6pm (Closed Sundays and Mondays)

be my girl

Big black boots,
Long brown hair,
Ah shes so sweet,
With her get back stare.

~Jet


View the Drip Dress in the store.
model: Maria @ Trump