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Molly Rhinestones

We Went To SPRING/BREAK: Who Let the Dogs Out?

The curator-centric fair fair SPRING/BREAK is back. This time, they’ve moved to a Times Square office building with the theme “Black Mirror.”
That translates to plenty of identity-centric work. Molly Rhinestones and Harrison Curley went to check it out:

Harrison: This booth is an immersion to your favorite dreamgirl room from your favorite princess fantasy…

Molly: There is always a booth I walk in and think “I have a crush on this artist” and Ben Sisto’s was it this year…

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Wednesday Links: “Mapplethorped” is Now a Verb, and Female Jesus is Back

by Michael Anthony Farley on October 5, 2016

Edwina Sandys, “Christa,” photo by Hiroko Masuike, The New York Times.

Applications for the Knight Cities Challenge open next week. If you have a project to make your block, neighborhood, or city a better place, apply for some serious Knight Foundation funding. [Knight Cities]

“I have no beef with hip painting, but that kind of art does not need my help. I would rather champion art and artists whose voices are less mainstream and obvious. The best art represents belief systems; humanist values that people have been addressing and debating for centuries.” In an artnet profile, Cristin Tierney discusses her transition from art advisor to gallerist, weathering ups and downs of the market, art fairs, and more. She relies less on retail sales—her brick-and-mortar space in Chelsea might show unsalable installations or video—and more on expert knowledge of the secondary market and relationships with collectors. [artnet News]

This video from Nowness documents the final house architect Luis Barragán came out of retirement to design. The Mexico City residence has been faithfully maintained and loved by the owners since the 1970s. It’s so, so beautiful. [Curbed]

In other “house envy” news, Dr. Jean-Laurent Casanova commissioned a rooftop garden in Chelsea inspired by the French Alps. [New York Magazine]

AFC’s friend and occasional contributor Molly (Rhinestones) Ryan is taking artist Lucia Del Sanchez to task on social media, alleging artist Harrison Curley‘s queer imagery was “Mapplethroped” out of a show at Chinatown Soup on account of his work being “too shocking.” [Facebook] UPDATE: A reader has informed us that Del Sanchez was not the curator of the exhibition, and that the exhibition in question was organized by Emily Sussman. If anyone wants to explain this confusing conflict, please feel free to do so in the comments.

Total Proof: The Gala Committee, 1995-1997 is on view at Red Bull Studios through November. The exhibition comprises the subversive artwork that made its way onto the set of campy 1990s television show Melrose Place. This looks so, so good. [The Daily Beast]

In 1984, Edwina Sandys displayed “Crista” in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. The sculpture depicts Jesus as a topless woman being crucified. In the 1980s, this led to a maelstrom of hate mail and complaints, so when she was forced to remove the piece, she strapped it to the roof of a red sports car and drove off. Now, she’s been invited to display “Christa” again, and it’s likely not going to be nearly as controversial. [The New York Times]

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We Went to Baltimore Part 1: Current & Open Space

by Michael Anthony Farley and Molly Rhinestones on July 12, 2016

Artscape, Baltimore’s annual, gigantic public art festival, and the Artist-Run Art Fair launch this week. We visited a few local galleries ahead of time to scope out what’s on view across town from the main festivities. We saw too much art to fit into one post, but we’ll start off with solo projects from Jonathan Latiano, Jon Duff, and Jihyun Hong.

Molly: I want to preface this by saying I have a “cheeto as medium” art fetish to a fault…

Michael: This installation is so calmingly sparse I wanted to live in it. It’s also such a puzzling assortment of objects that everyone had a great time speculating what it was all about. Even a seemingly-inebriated couple who happened to be walking by the gallery had their take…

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Wednesday Links: But Some People Do Care

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on May 18, 2016

Some view Peregrine Honig’s restroom signs as insensitive.

Former Work of Art contestant Peregrine Honig’s “We Don’t Care” restroom signs—created in response to North Carolina’s discriminatory transgender bathroom laws—are sparking some heated social media debate that for once doesn’t involve the right wing. Some view the $150 signs as exploitative and dismissive, while others (mostly cisgendered people) support the artist. It’s spread to multiple threads, but in this one we get to watch AFC friend Molly Rhinestones and Jerry Saltz on opposite sides of the debate. [Facebook]

As the cost of riding the MTA continues to rise, fare evasion on the subway is now the number one cause for arrests in NYC, disproportionately affecting low income people of color. All those arrests cost the city $51 million annually. But it would only cost the city $40.5 million to offer those same 29,000 riders free metrocards instead of arrest records and a night in jail. Activists are trying to call attention to this absurd policy by giving out free metrocard swipes in low-income neighborhoods. [Elite Daily]

Hate read: this piece equates the late Tony Goldman’s art-branded gentrifications schemes with social practice and community arts. Like, not as a criticism of community arts’ vaguely colonial undertones, but as an endorsement of art as a tool for developers. Seriously? [The Huffington Post]

Related: a household now needs to earn $158,000 annually to rent a two-bedroom in New York City, according to HUD metrics. This is so unacceptable. [Curbed]

Who is Yusaku Maezawa, the handsome billionaire from Chiba who pretty much single-handedly rescued the market with almost $100 million in contemporary art purchases last week? He’s a fashion mogul, former musician, and philanthropist with a foundation in Tokyo and a guest house for artists in London. Dear Mr. Maezawa, please bring us to Japan to see your collection, love AFC. [Observer]

This is adorable. Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commissioner Ben Loyola is offended by the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art showing Mark Ryden, who uses Catholic imagery in subversive-cheesy ways, and “paintings of nude portraits in all positions.” He’s upset taxpayer money is funding this. Ben, if you need a theme for a party to raise awareness about your concerns, I suggest the 1980s. [WAVY]

Unsurprisingly, more powerful figures from the art world have been named in the Panama Papers. The latest are gallerist Dominique Lévy and Miami mega-collector Ella Fontanals-Cisneros. If you really need to stash assets in a non-taxable form, can’t you just buy more art for your personal museum? [artnet News]

Your animal video of the day: Panda & basket. Cleaning up leaves is a much harder job than it looks when there is a panda involved. [YouTube]

Hip-hop artist The Game commissioned a $65,000 portrait of Prince from street artist Madsteez. I want to see this on the hood of a car. [Complex]

Ben Davis thoughtfully reflects on Jordan Wolfson’s installation at David Zwirner, which focuses a human-like robot being tortured. Davis concludes that Wolfson has a violent need to command the attention of the viewer. [artnet News]

The Handicraft Building in Minneapolis, which was erected in 1907 to house women artists and craftspeople, is being partially demolished and renovated into luxury apartments. This is terrible. Dozens of artists will be displaced, in addition to artist-run galleries. This follows a pattern in downtown Minneapolis, in which small-scaled historic structures are being demolished to make way for larger developments. [City Pages]

In other real estate news, artist-run space Essex Flowers is relocating to Chinatown, where they’ll have a bigger space. [ARTnews]

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We Went to The Armory Show: HOW TO SPEND IT

by Michael Anthony Farley and Molly Rhinestones on March 4, 2016

Michael: Every time I go to a fair I’ve been told is going to suck, I’m pleasantly surprised by the first few works I see and actually like that are somewhat engaging. Then, usually within an hour of arrival, fair fatigue sets in and I want anything to shatter the stifling boredom.
Molly: I’m honestly devastated I didn’t know that the “YOUR MOM” balloons were free for me to take.

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This Week’s Must See Art Events: We’re Throwing a Post-Apocalyptic Dance Party

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on October 19, 2015

Tuesday night, we’re throwing a revolutionary dance party at Brooklyn’s Lovegun to celebrate our Fall Fundraiser. The world is a pretty dystopian place—and we need you to join the resistance. We’ll be collecting donations at the door; offering fabulous raffle prizes; and enjoying performances, DJ sets, and more post-apocalypstick than you can possibly scrub off your collar from Trey La Trash, Molly Rhinestones, Orlando Estrada and Ellen Degenerate.

But enough about us—if you survive tomorrow night’s apocalypse, you’re in for a week of solo shows opening, lectures from the likes of Ta-Nehisi Coates, open studios at the fantastic Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and several nights to see the weirdest beauty pageant imaginable from Psychic Readings Company. The week ends with an epic four exhibitions closing in Bushwick just after Sunday brunch time.

See? Art F City is always helping you navigate the treacherous wastelands of 2015. Won’t you help us survive?

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Tuesday Links: The Haunted Macbook

by Paddy Johnson and Whitney Kimball on February 10, 2015

Culled from an email thread on public hair

A haunted white Macbook, only $182! The seller claims to have left the Macbook in a graveyard next to a mental institution on the night of an electrical storm, green fog clouding, and “an old crone” who was terrorizing a nearby neighborhood. Haunting followed:

How do I “know” the computer is haunted?

Well, I took the computer home (still in perfect working condition) and, folks, this is when things started to get downright weird. First, I noticed that ALL of my songs in iTunes had become scary or haunted. Second, the desktop background was changed to a scary photo. The following week, we (my wife, Barbie, and I) noticed some of our stuff around the house had been mysteriously rearranged. One night, we went out to dinner with my wife’s parents and their friends and some people from my wife’s work and some of their parents. When we came home, my baseball cards were all out of order and my wife’s rare American coins were in total disarray. To make matters spookier, I occasionally saw the computer levitating. In some cases the screen and keyboard would open and shut quickly, as though the computer were attempting to speak.

[ebay via Molly Rhinestones and Julia Maria Sinelnikova on Facebook <- (thank you)]

Daily Life columnist Clementine Ford started #QuestionsForMen as an outlet to record unequal expectations between genders. The distinction is obvious in the blogging business, which generally permits men to freely air emotional complaints while expecting women to steer a more rational course, or else we’re on our period. [Twitter, via Buzzfeed]
Serial killer Charles Manson has called his wedding off to Afton Elaine Burton, a woman 53 years his junior, after it emerged that she was only after him for his corpse. She was hoping to gain possession of the corpse through marriage so she and her friends could put it on display in L.A. and profit from its display. [The Independent]
Miley Cyrus enters the NYC Porn Festival. The fucking tongue. Video included. [NY Post]
The new Whitney megaplex reaches completion. [Jerry Saltz on twitter]
The city of Atlanta might incarcerate the art student whose pinhole camera accidentally brought the highways when police suspected a bomb threat. The professor is throwing the kids under the bus by specifying that this was assigned as a “take-home” project. [artnet News]
Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew no. Brokelyn lists Brooklyn-branded Valentine’s gifts including graffiting the work “BROOKLYN” on a cologne bottle. [Brokelyn]
CAA has released a “Best Practices in Fair Use” guide for artists. [Hyperallergic]
Photographer Sarah Meyohas has invented an art version of BitCoin, “Bitch coin” in which collectors buy her work at a fixed rate of one BitchCoin per 25 inches of photographic print. (It’s backed by one of Meyohas’s prints, which she’s placed in a vault). After February 15th, you’ll be able to buy Bitchcoins online. [BitchCoin]

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Artscape Diary: Three Days of Art Tourism in Baltimore

by Whitney Kimball on July 23, 2014

Finding the weird amongst the Jeep tents in Baltimore’s Artscape festival.

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Death to Normcore

by Whitney Kimball Corinna Kirsch Andrew Wagner on July 21, 2014

This week comes at us with high-energy midsummer events, more group shows, and air-conditioned movie theaters.

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Molly Rhinestones

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