I stumbled across this GIF today while looking for a Queens-centric image for our weekly events listings post, because the borough has out-paced all others for top-notch art offerings this week. Now it seems Queens might be out-pacing much of the metro region in the construction boom. This GIF is from architectural visualization team Zum-3d, and was commissioned by Rockrose Development to show what Long Island City will look like once all of the planned construction wraps up in the not-so-distant future. Basically, the neighborhood will have a skyline to rival most mid-sized cities.
6sqft has a complete rundown of the nearly 30 construction projects set to transform the area as well as other renderings. The page also has this explanation from the graphic artists:
Our part was to gather helicopter footage of the existing area, and fill in the blanks with all of the upcoming developments for the next six years. The idea is to tie all of the planned projects to a fluid timeline that captures the process from start to finish. Working on two separate views of the neighborhood, we capture the process from every angle. Real photography is blended with 3D rendering to create a complete picture that lets us glimpse into the future. Using existing architectural designs of planned projects, we created fully fleshed-out realizations, complete with realistic textures and lighting effects. The high level of detail is important, to give a realistic sense of the buildings once they are completed. The final result is a completely new urban landscape that must be seen to be believed.
That’s for sure. This is crazy. Expect your subway ride to get a lot more crowded.
A decade ago, if you said that Manhattanites would be regularly heading to Queens for their culture fix it’s unlikely most people would’ve believed you outside of Long Island City. But now the borough is increasingly our go-to destination for art events. From Marni Kotak’s artist talk at Microscope Gallery tonight (just on the Brooklyn side of the Ridgewood border) to the surrealist pop-up “DEBTBANK” at the Queens Museum on Sunday, everyone should be spending most of the week East of the East River.
Other Queens highlights include Lex Brown’s solo show and performance at Deli Gallery on Friday night and a three-day preview of a Meredith Monk performance at Queenslab in Ridgewood. Arguably the most fun to be had, though, will be the 2017 Flux-a-Thon benefit in Long Island City. That interactive parade will wind from Flux Factory to neighboring Plaxall Gallery for prizes and an hours-long dance party.
The following might sound like a backhanded compliment, but stick with me. Angela Bulloch’s gorgeous new sculptures, on view at Esther Schipper, are happily in sync with what we traditionally think of as summer fare: big, colorful, distracting and kid-friendly. All that’s missing is the popcorn.
- The Athens activist group Lgbtqi+ Refugees in Greece has stolen a Roger Bernat sculpture that was destined for a performance in Kassel as part of Documenta 14. They accuse the German arts festival of exploiting the refugee crisis on somewhat shaky grounds that I have a hard time following. Mostly, it seems like a publicity stunt. To that end, good job! It’s the most glamorous art heist photo we’ve seen in awhile. [Hyperallergic]
- Another art fair has left the Hamptons. Art Southhampton has cancelled its 2017 edition, following Art Hamptons’ February announcement that their fair was suspended. The organizers (who also own Art Miami) cite market conditions and pressure to focus on other art fairs. Good. The world does not need multiple art fairs every month. [The New York Times]
- Evidence to support that opinion would include cringe-inducing headlines such as this: “Puerto Rico’s New MECA Art Fair Opens in a Debt-Ridden Island Paradise”. [ARTnews]
- The Johannesburg Art Gallery, one of Africa’s premier art institutions, is facing a crisis. The local government has finally earmarked funds to repair the historic structure (suffering from leaks due to someone literally stealing part of the roof and general lack of maintenance) but it sounds like the Gallery has larger problems. What’s the identity or audience of a colonial-era institution in a context of white flight and an increasingly migrant-based population? [Seattle Times]
- Ian Schrager (of Studio 54 and design-minded hotel fame) thinks One World Trade Center is “a missed opportunity”. With the politics involved, it’s hard to imagine how any truly inspired architecture could’ve happened at the site. Luckily for him, his own view of the tower has been blocked by a much better skyscraper from Herzog & de Meuron. [Dezeen]
- Residents of Trump Palace, an Upper East Side condo building, are starting a petition to rename the building. Basically, no one wants to buy their units and they’re depreciating in value due to associations with the president. Residents of several other Trump-branded properties have already gotten his name scrubbed. [Curbed]
- This interview with Markus Lüpertz is a good read. The painter talks about Germany’s postwar art scene, his colorful personal life, and the role of an artist in society. His perspective about the politics of artmaking is interesting, even if we don’t 100% agree. Lüpertz argues that artists have no political or social responsibilities, and that good art makes the world an inherently more peaceful and compassionate place. [artnet News]
- Can we stop putting Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher in the same category of comedian jokes gone wrong. Maher told a racist joke and was rightly criticized for it. Griffin posed for a photo and was harassed online relentlessly by the right wing media (and some from the left.) [Hollywood Reporter]
- Here’s a juicy local news bit. Mark Lyons, a parking director in Sarasota, may have steered a $100,000 public art commission to his son-in-law, artist Mark Krucke. Now the city is considering cancelling the public art program in general to avoid a lawsuit. According to the news report, the Public Art Committee had no knowledge of Krucke’s relationship to the parking director and awarded the project to the artist on its merits. However, when the committee became deadlocked over a decision between two candidates, Lyons told the committee that the proposal of Krucke’s competitor was too logistically challenging without revealing his relationship to Krucke. He thus tipped the jury. [Herald Tribune]
- The Bronx is getting more affordable housing. Sav Enterprises filed plans to construct a 15 story building with 319 units of affordable housing at 1932 Bryant Avenue in West Farms. This prime real estate is just across from the Cross Bronx Expressway. [The Real Deal]
- I think everyone might need to see Wonder Woman. It’s supposed to be good, and given the amount of art inspired by the character, certainly relevant to the art world. [The New York Times]
Back in 2015 GIF IT Up held a contest that invited people to use openly licensed and public domain material from the DPLA, DigitalNZ, Trove and Europeana to make animated GIFs. As with any public call, the results were mixed but this one by Maarten Brinkerink from Rotterdam stood out to us, namely because it didn’t make any sense. What was this man doing with a telephone, Google, and a Vermeer?
It turns out the reason it doesn’t make that much sense is because the impetus wasn’t more complicated than combining historical news reel footage with works of art. Brinkerink’s statement:
As an open content and data enthusiast I find GIFs to be a light-weight way to contribute to creative reuse of our shared cultural heritage myself. The first GIF I’ve created is called The Great Gulp and is a mashup of historical newsreel footage and a famous Japanese print. The second is called ‘The Problem of the Yellow Milkmaid’, referencing a paper on the subject of open data. I’ve tried to play with the idea of GLAMs and their relevance online. It again mashes up historical newsreel footage with a famous artwork. Disclaimer: In my day job I’m working at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. I’ve reused newsreels from our open media platform Open Images.
So there you have it. Not too much too these GIFs (we’ve posted The Great Gulp below), but that’s okay. Beer chugging on the water is still a fine way to head into the weekend. 
Alicia Gibson’s paintings are messy in the best sense of the word. Aesthetically, their sloppy paint, muddy colors and worked over surfaces look as if Gibson deposited all her thoughts on a given subject one canvas. Emotionally, they pack the same unvarnished punch. Her paintings overflow with acerbic humor, saccharine sweetness, and an aggressive punk rock ethos that’s impossible to forget.
Now, as the inaugural show at Real Estate Gallery, a new gallery in Greenpoint, started by Lisa Cooley, Jeremy Willis, and Kenan Gunduz, this work is on view.
I sat down with Gibson and discussed her involvement in the feminist girl gang “Ladies in Heels”, the necessity for faux history in her art, and why “Jeff Koons Sucks”.
In my last post, I outlined the basics of a personal finance plan. That article is the “what to do” where I answer questions about insurance, debt management, savings and investments. If you haven’t read it I suggest spending a bit of time with the post because it provides the foundation for getting your proverbial ducks in a row. This week, I’d like to get into the “how to do it” part. This part is about the mindset to get yourself on track. There are a lot of general principles for good financial health but what I outline below are the most time-tested. Since what I’m talking about this week is more about attitude, this is the part where you make adjustments and decide for yourself what works best for you.
- I (Michael) don’t think I have ever been as emotionally invested in a piece of pop culture in my adult life as I have been watching the Netflix original Sense8. The show, from the Wachowskis, felt like the first site-specific artwork for the era of streaming—like watching eight addicting films from different genres at the same time in different tabs. It’s pretty heartbreaking that Netflix has inexplicably cancelled the show after two very well received seasons. In a real-world sociopolitical context increasingly defined by nationalism and bitter identity politics, a narrative that is essentially an epic morality play about global empathy—and individuals skill sharing to face repression in their respective societies—felt urgent beyond binge-worthiness. [the Internet: #RenewSense8 #SaveSense8 ]
- Cara Ober stops by Glasstress, where international art stars collaborate with Venetian glassmakers. (Think Paul McCarthy glass buttplugs and an Ai Weiwei figure giving the middle finger). [BmoreArt]
- Central St Martins grad student Camila Gonzalez Corea has been transforming images of topless women into emoji collages to protest Instagram’s censorship of female nipples. According to Instagram, it’s fine to show nipples if they belong to men. The Nipple Act bypasses this problem by replacing pixels with icons. [Metro]
- 68 Mayors are resisting Trump’s withdraw from the Paris climate accord and have pledged to uphold the agreements. New York is among them, and lit landmarks in green lights to show support for the international initiative. Michael Bloomberg, New York’s former mayor is co-ordinating the effort, and is negotiating with the United Nations to have its submission accepted alongside contributions to the deal by other nations. Bloomberg Philanthropies is offering to donate 14 million to help fund the deal’s budget. [Curbed]
- Construction has started on “Ruby City”, a glittery red art museum David Adjaye has designed for the Linda Pace Foundation in San Antonio. For a building that is literally covered in glitter and painted bright red, it’s oddly understated. [Dezeen]
- Another Renzo Piano museum that resembles a pharmaceutical giant’s depot has opened, this time in Harlem. Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery, nestled inside Piano’s Lenfest Center for the Arts, launches their inaugural show, “Uptown”, which is a triennial that includes well known artists such as Sanford Biggers, Nari Ward and Julie Mehretu along with emerging talent like John Pinderhughes and Alicia Grullón. Critic Jason Farago says it’s a pretty good show, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot to say about it. The most interest nugget in the review isn’t about the art but the fact that the Gallery partnered with other local museums to produce the show—a peace offering of sorts due to the gentrifying forces the University’s expansion brings. [The New York Times]
- Sarah Cascone interviews Emma Sulkowicz about her strange S&M performance “The Ship Is Sinking” at the Whitney. Inspired by politics, Bertolt Brecht, beauty pageants, and figureheads on shipwrecks (among other references) it basically comprised a man dressed as “Mr Whitney” tying her to a piece of wood and torturing her. I have read the interview and I’m still not sure I (Michael) “get it”. [artnet News]
- Ai Weiwei is posing as Alan Kurdi, the drowned Syrian refugee toddler, for a second time. Because it wasn’t a bad enough idea the first time around. In this picture he’s lying face down on his porcelain sunflower seeds—apparently it is a response to Donald Trump’s visit to the Israel Museum last week. The museum covered some of his works when the president visited—which it is now claiming it did because they were not fully installed. Whatever the case, can Ai Weiwei just let this toddler rest in peace already? [The Art Newspaper]
- Here’s an interview with DoLab, the lighting team/curators who do the visuals for festivals such as Coachella. Their work sounds like a logistics minefield. [Variety]
- “My Neighbor Totoro” will get its own theme park in Japan come 2020. [The Creator’s Project]
Faith Holland
In honor of the GIF’s 30th anniversary, GIPHY is launching a physical show featuring the work of 30 GIF artists called Time_Frame. 151 artworks and installations from well-known artists such as Lorna Mills, Faith Holland, Carla Gannis, Jelly Gummies, and Robert Beatty will be on view at Wallplay Gallery June 15–22.
As far as exhibitions go, a week is a pretty short time frame. But it looks like there will be as more panel panels, presentations, screenings, artist performances, and workshops during that time than you can shake a stick at, so that’s a positive. We have some concerns about the theme, though, as there’s barely one to speak of. The exhibition text promises to “showcase artists working in and pushing the boundaries of digital art”—so basically it’s a group of artists whose work the curators like.
To be fair, though, the artist list probably isn’t that different than one we’d assemble ourselves. It includes some of the most talented artists working in the field, and has been assembled by GIPHY Arts, Wallplay, Rhizome and Transfer”.
So, even without a theme, we’re excited to look at the show. A few samples of what’s in store below.
Anthony Antonellis
Carla Gannis
Lorna Mills
Is a picture worth ten million words? That’s the question we’re faced with when considering the out-of-proportion reaction to a recent photo of Kathy Griffin holding the decapitated head of President Donald Trump. Enough commentary has poured across social, mainstream, and fringe media to fill a small library. But conspicuously absent from the discussion has been mention of Tyler Shields, the photographer who should be at the center of the authorship conversation, not the comedienne. For example, The New York Times published two reports on the subject, neither mentioning Shields by name, and one omitting any reference to a collaborator whatsoever. Would the discussion be different if the image were considered as an artist’s work rather than a celebrity publicity stunt?
