Arts Visuels
SpY
LOVE the public art by Spanish artist SpY.
Here’s an excerpt of a review of his work:
His work involves the appropiation urban elements through transformation or replication, commentary on urban reality, and the interference in its communicative codes. The bulk of his production stems from the observation of the city and an appreciation of its components, not as inert elements but as a palette of materials overflowing with possibilities. His ludic spirit, careful attention to the context of each piece, and a not invasive, constructive attitude, unmistakably characterize his interventions.
…SpY’s pieces want to be a parenthesis in the automated inertia of the urbanite. They are pinches of intention, hidden in a corner for those who want to let themselves be surprised. Filled with equal parts of irony and positive humor, they appear to raise a smile, incite reflection, and to favor an enlightened conscience.
(Based on the typical bike rack found in Madrid.)
A statement from SpY on his website about taking this photo…
I was taking the pictures of this sign, placed in a very busy street in Madrid city center, when a policeman approached and said: “Did you put it there last night?” I said no, I’m a photographer taking pictures of the city. He insisted: “are you taking pictures of the flower?” I said yes, I’ve seen it and found it funny. Then the cop says: “I think I know your face, maybe we know each other?” I then thought: fuck, this cop knows me and has figured all out. Y said no, I don’t seem to remember you. His face was partly hidden with a hat and a scarf. He went again: “I’m sure to remember you, didn’t you hang out with Suso? I think we know each other from graffiti.” Already more relaxed, I asked him what neighbourhood he was from. He was a member of Los Trece, a well-known graffiti crew from Móstoles. I recognized him and said that his looks had gotten me nervous. He laughed and said: “I saw it this morning, I thought it was probably put there last night, it’s pretty cool, I hope it stays long.” I then kept on with the pictures. When seeing me precariously try to do it from the middle of the street, he said: “Do you want me to stop the traffic so you can take the picture better?” I said, well, if you don’t mind… He then walked to the middle of the street and started stopping the traffic. I quickly took the pictures, thanked him and said goodbye, he said goodbye and I left.
Arts Visuels
Wonderment >> Alex MacClean
Unmarked Tennis Courts, Manchester, NH
I just don’t get sick of aerial photography (see past posts here and here). It’s the wonder you felt as a kid looking out of a plane window, captured in a photograph, how awesome. Ok, I still feel that way looking out of a plane window.
I am really digging the graphic quality of these images by Alex MacClean. I’m fairly obsessed with that top image of unmarked tennis courts– it’s just so cool that you can’t tell at all what it is until you know the title.
Marias River Drainage and Pivot Irrigator, Loma Area, MT
I seem to like the images more the more they abstract what the subject actually is– it’s cool to see these views of very real, tangible things only for their graphic qualities. If you visit his website you’ll see he has tons of different subjects and style, but I’m most drawn to the bold, graphic, and pattern-suggestive images.
Floating Daisy Docks, Chicago, IL
B-52 Bone Yards, Tuscon, AZ
Apple Trees After Spring Snowstorm, Clinton, Mass
[Alex MacClean website]
Arts Visuels
The World’s Largest Work of Art
Remember Jim Denevan, whose work I put up back here (if you didn’t see it, check it out, pretty awesome)? Well apparently back in March, he completed the “world’s largest work of art,” on Lake Baikal in Siberia, and there’s a documentary in the works about the piece (intro below).
Denevan’s large-scale earth works explore the impermanent, carving geometric shapes into element-sensitive areas, like sand and snow, that will eventually be erased by wind and water.
This latest project in Siberia was a 9-square mile spiral of circles, along the fibonacci curve, starting at 18″ and ranging up to miles in diameter.
Jim Denevan site here.
Siberia project as featured on The Anthropologist
Arts Visuels
Murakami at Versailles
Takashi Murakami is exhibiting at Versailles! I caught the Murakami show at the Brooklyn Museum a couple of years ago, but would LOVE to see his work in this setting.
Murakami is known for his play on the intersection of high and low, appropriating both Japanese anime and traditional forms of Japanese painting and often producing his work through mass production. Exploring similar themes as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, etc., such as mass media, pop culture, and consumerism, he is considered one of the most prolific Japanese pop artists (albeit a few decades after the West’s pop art movement).
Here’s the artist’s statement about the show– pretty interesting:
For a Japanese like me, the Château de Versailles is one of the greatest symbols of Western history. It is the emblem of an ambition for elegance, sophistication and art that most of us can only dream of.
Of course, we are aware that the spark that set fire to the powder of the Revolution came directly from the centre of the building.
Of course, we are aware that the spark that set fire to the powder of the Revolution came directly from the centre of the building.
But, in many respects, everything is transmitted to us as a fantastic tale coming from a very distant kingdom. Just as French people can find it hard to recreate in their minds an accurate image of the Samurai period, the history of this palace has become diminished for us in reality.
So it is probable that the Versailles of my imagination corresponds to an exaggeration and a transformation in my mind so that it has become a kind of completely separate and unreal world. That is what I have tried to depict in this exhibition.
I am the Cheshire cat that welcomes Alice in Wonderland with its diabolic smile, and chatters away as she wanders around the Château.
With a broad smile I invite you all to discover the wonderland of Versailles.
Similar to Keith Haring, who sold his own work out of a storefront, Murakami also lends his name and his “Superflat” style to other projects. One such project was an ongoing collaboration with Marc Jacobs on a limited edition Louis Vuitton bags, which they even sold within the museums where Murakami was exhibiting.
They effectively set up a pop-up Louis Vuitton store within the Brooklyn Museum during his show, selling bags for $5,000 and canvases for $10,000… now if that doesn’t blur lines between art and commodity, I don’t know what does.
Here is Marc Jacobs on working with Murakami:
Apparently Kanye caught the Superflat bug as well and collaborated with Murakami on the “Good Morning” video…
Arts Visuels
Ten Images for Ithaca
This is cool! What a great example of using art for a civic cause! Every year, Ithaca, the island in Greece, hosts a global poster design competition called “Ten Images for Ithaca,” with a specific theme, as a way of emphasizing the island’s focus on culture and the arts and bringing creative people together on the island. This year’s theme was “labels.”
[Images for Ithaca site here, including past themes and images]
[Eye Mag blog]
Arts Visuels
Keeping Tabs >> Jason Hackenwerth
With his imaginative, large-scale, sea-creaturey balloon art, Jason Hackenwerth is one to keep tabs on.
Doesn’t this seem kind of like an ironic take on Jeff Koons, whose work was an ironic take on balloon art? Now Hackenwerth actually just makes huge balloon art? I’m lost in a maze of irony, but I think it’s like the same as √xˆ2=x.
I like how the context affects this one…
Arts Visuels
Zimoun’s Sound Sculptures
Above, 21 of artist Zimoun’s “sound sculptures,” which despite their mechanical mediums all seem to sound amazingly like different types of rain and wind, making them peaceful-sounding but faintly maniacal to watch. I felt like I was listening to a sleep-sound-machine while slowly going insane.
Still, check it out. My personal faves are at about 2:24 and 7:23… I just realized I incidentally picked the two least mechanical as my favorites. Ha.
“Zimoun’s sound sculptures and installations are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the «artificial» and the «organic».”
[Thanks Monica!]
Arts Visuels
XYXX
The tumblr XYXX is a “visual conversation between two iphones and two lovers.” Essentially, this couple started sending photos back and forth, any old thing from their days, more abstract and less cheesy than you might expect, and they turned it into a tumblr as a record of the “conversation.”
You can tell which photos were uploaded by him and which by her given their small tags at the bottom– either XX or XY.
Though the photos are interesting, it’s the concept more than the photos that I like. Here’s what they say about it in their “authors” section of the site:
where conversations can be routine, an image is so much more intimate. it’s letting someone in behind your eye and saying right now, this second, this is my world. this is what i see, how I feel, and what I want to share with you. somedays it’s a game of exquisite corpse. somedays it’s a quiet conversation. An ever evolving game of tag with no rules or expectations except to simply be present, and that’s the beauty of it.
Arts Visuels
Art in Stead
The MAK Center’s project “How Many Billboards, Art in Stead” asked 21 contemporary artists to each produce a billboard to be placed around Los Angeles, giving residents a break from the generally un-stimulating clutter crowding their cityscapes.
Wouldn’t it be cool if, for some amount of time per year, billboard owners were required to give a portion of their billboards over to art instituations for projects like this, the same way tv networks have to allow ad space for PSAs? And every once in a while you would glance at a billboard and see art instead of an ad?
Read more about the project (which is sadly over) in this NYT article.
Project website here.
Arts Visuels
Classic >> Slim Aarons
