A detail from Jeff Gillette’s oil painting “Bandra Brown,” 2017. (Deborah Vankin / Los Angeles Times)
- I (Michael) interviewed Raúl de Nieves ahead of his upcoming talk at the Baltimore School for the Arts as part of the Contemporary’s CoHosts series tonight (free tickets still available). We talked about process, growing up Catholic, and the sculpture he spent seven years making. [City Paper]
- Anyone attempting to open a white box space in a drafty loft, take note: your perfect paint is here. Spanish paint manufacturer Graphenstone has created an eco-friendly paint by mixing lime with the synthetic “miracle substance” graphene. The result is an ultra-thin, durable lime wash which actually thermally insulates whatever walls you paint. So cool. [Dezeen]
- Nate Silver writes a short novel on the likelihood that President Trump will be impeached and removed from office early. The upshot—not super likely. “The easiest-to-imagine scenario for Trump being removed is if Republicans get clobbered in the midterms after two years of trying to defend Trump, the Republican agenda is in shambles, Democrats begin impeachment proceedings in early 2019, and just enough Republicans decide that Pence (or some fresh face with no ties to the Trump White House) gives them a better shot to avoid total annihilation in 2020.” [FiveThirtyEight]
- Jeff Gillette’s latest project at Gregorio Escalante Gallery in Los Angeles sounds terrible. The artist has painted Disney imagery around slums in India. He then documented his “interventions” and transformed them into 3-D photorealistic paintings. When can we stop using Disney as a cliché shorthand for all that is wrong with escapist capitalism? And haven’t we decided by now that ruin porn is problematic and exploitative? Viewers are also invited to trample on drawings on the floor that Gillette’s high school students created. Mixed in with the students’ work are some Gillette originals. You can buy pieces from this grab-bag of floor “trash art” for $5, a commentary on the art market because his paintings of slums cost a buttload of money. Get it? [Los Angeles Times]
- Speaking of awful clichés, last week I noted that no one should bother making Barbie art. But lo and behold, one of the Kylie Jenner just dropped $20,000 on some Barbie prints from artist and model Beau Dunn for her Barbie-themed bedroom. [Inquisitr]
- Peter Blum Gallery is moving back to Soho after being forced out of its uptown location on 57th street. (The gallery was located in Soho back in the early aughts.) [ARTnews]
- Developers are moving forward with plans to rezone the former Pfizer site in Williamsburg. The latest plans from The Rabsky Group propose over 1,100 apartments in eight clunky new buildings. The number of affordable units in the proposal has dropped, and it doesn’t look like they’re opting to preserve any of the old industrial buildings. The plans are hideous. The rezoning is still in the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) stage, and now is the time for neighbors to get involved. Here’s one suggestion: push for a compromise that preserves the industrial buildings for arts/light manufacturing use and allows the developers to build smaller-footprint towers at a higher FAR in exchange for more affordable units? [Curbed]
- I’m not sure how I feel about political figures being turned into action figures—I missed the days where politics was considered a boring field for nerdy policy wonks—but that’s where we’re at. Artist Mike Leavitt has created an Elizabeth Warren action figure you can support via Kickstarter in June. [lizwarrenactionfigure.com]
