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Paddy Johnson and Henry Kaye
by Paddy Johnson and Henry Kaye on July 11, 2014
- Christian Viveros-Faune gives Tom Friedman at Lurhing Augustine in Bushwick a glowing review. He explains that he was initially dismissive, but now he realizes that Tom Friedman was pointing out the small print in what we should see. “It’s not often that a top-notch artist tries to pass off a series of brilliantly executed, insanely exacting, mind-and-eye-bending sculptures as a show of run-of-the-mill canvases done in house paint.” CVF writes of Friedman’s styrofoam-carved masterpiece knock-offs and other illusory works. Kudos to CVF for making these paintings seem like some kind of feat but I’m ready for us all to quit being awed by the magic of reproduction. We’re talking about Van Gogh replicas in pantone flavor. [Artnet News]
- An incredible piece written by novelist and former professional athlete Benjamin Markovits about interviewing basketball star LeBron James in Barcelona and the crazy Nike PR reps who followed him. [Deadspin]
- London based artist Catherine Yass is throwing a piano off of a high rise. This is all in the name of exploring how “sound works,” but really, it’s always fun to test how gravity works on large objects. Locals are not as fond of the idea, however. [Time Out London]
- ARTINFO’s Instagrams of the Art World feature is pretty good this week. Faves include a pic of New Museum curators Gary Carrion-Murayari and Massimiliano Gioni wearing and doing exactly the same thing and a shot of Guggenheim’s digital marketing manager JiaJia Fei (vajiajia) jumping on a Daniel Buren sculpture at Storm King. [In the Air]
- The Theo Westenberger Estate has opened their summer photo contest. The theme of this contest is feminist vision, revision and revolution. $5000 to winner. Extra points if you like them on Facebook. [Theo Westenberger Estate]
- The ISIS has posted videos to Youtube and images to Twitter of members destroying landmarks, historical sites, and works of mostly Shia religious art. [Artnet]
- Ben Austen for The New York Times Magazine on Detroit: “Property costs have dropped to the point that barriers to ownership — to a sort of mogulhood, even — are absurdly low.” [The New York Times Magazine]
- The annual Artnews list of 200 big deal collectors is up. Who’s been added to this list? Who’s been dropped? Ah, who are we kidding; no one’s going to parse this list. [Artnews]
- Zack “Danger” Brown has raised $46,000 in his kickstarter campaign to eat a bowl of potato salad, surpassing his initial goal of $10. Currently there are 5705 backers, 359 of which are “Platinum level,” wherein members are invited to Brown’s house to watch him make and then eat the salad. One platinum level donor told Huffington Post “This [is] the Woodstock of our generation.” [The Huffington Post]
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by Paddy Johnson and Henry Kaye on July 10, 2014
- 80% of French museums have no idea what is or isn’t in their collections. So if you find yourself around the Louvre, borrow a painting or two. Nobody will notice. [Artnet]
- A painting of a woman was removed from the Society of Women Artists’ exhibition in London because some of her pubic hair was showing. Seeing as this is SWA’s 153rd annual exhibition, you’d think they’d be over it by now. [The Telegraph]
- Detroit probably won’t sell their museum’s collection to pay off their debts, but this might give them incentive. A new appraisal of the collection shows that works could be worth up to $2.7 billion to $4.6 billion, which is sell-your-soul-to-the-devil money. [The New York Times]
- From the same man who brought you inflatable flailing tube man jesus, a.k.a Scorpion Dagger, here’s a cat wearing google glass. [Hyperallergic]
- Andy Freeberg ruminates on the troupe of the “gallerina” and how it is that the belittlement of women has become common practice in the art world. [Frieze]
- An interview with artist Charlie White, about his new triannual Journal, THE ENEMY. On the art scene as defined by Brad Phillips as “art world industrial complex” White explains: It’s certainly not a scene anymore, and it’s hardly on the margins, so it’s an industry, right? my take is that it [the term] seems pretty on-point when you look at the art world’s 140+ fairs, multi-billion dollars in transactions, and imperial gallery systems that have spread across the globe much like a franchise or multi-national might. [Hyperallergic, THE ENEMY]
- Residency Unlimited FUNraiser takes place this year Sunday July 20th 5-8 pm. This year, they’re offering a chance to win a 5 week artist’s residency at Sa Sa Projects in Phnom Penh all expenses covered. DO NOT MISS THIS. [Residency Unlimited]
- A two part series by media collector, product strategist and Vermeer lover, Rex Sorgatz. The first identifies all the Vermeers in the world, including a few fakes and who wants to own them. The second explores the reproduction of one Vermeer and includes an interview with a writer at a Chinese Paint Mill. Basically, these are stories designed for Greg Allen. [The Medium: Part 1, Part 2]
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by Paddy Johnson and Henry Kaye on June 24, 2014
The Jo-Mar warehouse was issued a stop-work order for violating building, electrical, plumbing, and zoning codes. As a result of these issues, Shift Capital did not have a certificate of occupancy, which made any occupancy illegal.
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by Paddy Johnson and Henry Kaye on June 24, 2014
Kim Jong Un added to the list of people angry with James Franco.
- An angry janitor or group of janitors slashed dozens of student paintings at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Why? To give the students a dose of discipline about keeping the halls clean. [Artnet]
- Prolific art collector Bernard Arnault announced plans to launch the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation in October, which will give out three days of free admission. Meanwhile, he spent €100m to construct the Frank Gehry design, which he can just do, because he’s the richest man in France. [The Art Newspaper]
- The Rent Guidelines Board backed a proposal for a one percent increase on one year leases in rent stabilized buildings. That’s the lowest increase in its 45 year history, but still more than Mayor de Blasio had hoped for. He had been gunning for 0. [Capital]
- Union Square Cafe is the latest in a series of restaurant closings. They had occupied the same space for nearly 30 years. Marco Canora, the owner of Hearth, one of the first restaurants to bring artisanal cooking to the Lower East Side, has also been hit with 65 percent rent increase. He says he might need to change his whole business model. Anyway, we’ve seen lots of talk about this story over the Internets, and while we wish that the same fear was generated every time an artist lost their studio space, perhaps the loss of restaurants with impart some sense of urgency amongst the people of New York. Market-rate buildings disproportionately favor landlords, and that has to change. [The New York Times]
- In other news, the internet is really excited about this American studying abroad in Germany who got stuck in a 32-ton vagina sculpture. Here are some confusing images to prove it. Thanks for representing us well abroad, students. [The Huffington Post]
- Kenny Schachter files a diary of his travels through Europe for Art Basel at Gallerist. It’s basically vaguely self-obsessed work porn but if that’s your thing, definitely read it. [Gallerist]
- This tool invites users to change the background on this Homer Simpson cartoon, so that he can back into it. The end result is a GIF. [Homer Back Into Things]
- Queen Elizabeth II looks like she doesn’t want to sit in this throne made of swords, and we can’t blame her. [Huffington Post United Kingdom]
- A Monet painting that failed to sell at Sotheby’s four years ago was auctioned off yesterday for $54 million. Times are changing. Or maybe it was just priced too high four years ago. [Bloomberg]
- Kim Jung Un isn’t happy with James Franco nor Seth Rogan. Seeing as they’re starring in a movie in which they assassinate him, this story seems more logical than the headline would have you believe. Still, Kim Jung Un will see the movie, because it’s always fun to be in a movie, even one wherein you die. [Vulture]
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