week-end

Photographer Alex Prager debuts 'Week-End,' a photo exhibit which evokes a modern-day duality that rests on women: the pressure of being beautiful on the outside amidst a sense of uneasiness and loneliness on the inside.

Her primary inspiration is life in L.A. Shot in the neighborhood she grew up in and starring her L.A. friends, Prager disguises her subjects with enough hair and makeup that they resemble lifeless mannequins, representing the idea of a superficial, unfulfilled life in glitzy L.A.

Her photographs are on display at the Yancey Richardson Gallery in NY and at the M + B Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibit will run in New York and L.A. until February 20th.

Yancey Richardson Gallery
now through February 20th
Tuesday - Saturday, 10 AM - 6 PM
535 West 22nd Street 3rd floor
New York City

M+B Gallery
now through March 6th
Tuesday - Saturday, 10 AM - 6 PM
612 North Almont Drive
Los Angeles

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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

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