Anyone who has ever been frustrated by the totally opaque art scene in New York, will be as excited as I am about the NY Art Beat iPhone app I just found out about. Pop open the app and within seconds, view a map of your current location populated with gallery shows and openings. Sort shows by the number of days until they end, or how much media they are getting. 99¢ in the app store until the end of the month. Buy it here.
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Adam Okrasinski
To follow up the premiere of his first movie, enigmatic graffiti artist Banksy is debuting his own screen. The Lambeth Palace is a 150 seat auditorium in a tunnel under the Waterloo train station in London. Banksy's site describes the Lambeth Palace as "London's newest, darkest, and dirtiest purpose built cinema."
The built purpose is of course to screen the aforementioned film debut: Exit Through the Gift Shop. The trailer:
The film, a collaboration with French videographer Thierry Guetta, premiered at Sundance to positive reviews. Anyone familiar with Banksy's work won't be surprised by the reviews which toss out words like "raucous," "comic," and "inventive." And anyone familiar with Banksy's legend, a product of his outrageous pranks and maniacally guarded anonymity, won't be surprised that there's considerable confusion about what's real and what's invented for the film's narrative.
No word on if the film is slated for a Stateside release any time soon... or, for that matter, a larger release in the U.K. Tickets are scarce so I *guess* you Londoners have an excuse to skip out. Still, why you people wouldn't want to leverage all your contacts for a chance to sit an hour and a half in a dark, dank underground tunnel is really beyond me. More Banksy:
via Dezeen
London shoe designer Tracey Neuls and Danish artist Nina Saunders have collaborated to create an installation using fabrics by British textile brand Sanderson at Neuls’ London shop called Most Curious.
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Azita Rasoli
I recall an article about Twitter in the Times by Maureen Down. Maybe a year ago. Maybe less. Dowd, a bonafide member of the literati, descended upon Twitter's offices in San Francisco to take its creators to task. In the end, she praised Biz Stone and Evan Williams for their smarts yet scolded them for their anti-practical creation, like a school marm scrunching her nose at a prank pulled off cleverly by class clowns.
Regarding Twitter, it's a convenient pose to strike, reclining against the downfall of Western civilization with skeptically crossed arms. It's also one that I'm comfortable in... yet I still check my Twitter account once a day (posting quotes from Once Upon a Time In the West, natch). Why?
Exhibit A: Jenny Holzer(s).
From Jenny Holzer's instillation at the Whitney Museum
Holzer is a conceptual artist best known for projecting aphorisms - PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT, I NEED TO LIE BACK TO FRONT WITH SOMEONE WHO ADORES ME - into public space, often with the use of large LED screens.
Holzer has employed several different mediums besides LED screens over the course of her career. The medium, however, isn't important; throwing phrases in our faces that make us think is.
But the one medium Holzer hasn't employed is Twitter. Yet there http://twitter.com/jennyholzer is, launching Holzer-like phrases into the internet ether... with 14,420 followers to boot.
Quite simply, authentic or not, it's hilarious.
ABSTRACTION IS A TYPE OF DECADENCE (8:11 PM Feb 16th, 2010)
PEOPLE ARE BORING UNLESS THEY ARE EXTREMISTS (12:02 PM Sep 25th, 2009)
THE FUTURE IS STUPID (1:28 PM Apr 29th, 2008)
NOISE CAN BE HOSTILE (6:17 PM Jan 20th, 2008)
FREEDOM IS A LUXURY NOT A NECESSITY (1:02 AM Sep 3rd, 2007)
BEING ALONE WITH YOURSELF IS INCREASINGLY UNPOPULAR (2:10 PM Jun 19th, 2007)
SOCIOPATHS NEED HUGS TOO (5:58 PM Jun 6th, 2009)
LACK OF FATALITY CAN BE CHARISMATIC (6:19 AM May 19th, 2009)
WHAT IS UP WITH THAT (1:45 PM Mar 22nd, 2009)
THE CLUTCH BAG IS A DEBILITATING INCONVENIENCE TO BOTH GENDERS (4:44 PM Feb 12th, 2010)
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF LATVIA (10:41 AM Dec 24th, 2009)
HUMANS ARE NOT ENTITLED TO SNOWSHOES (9:00 PM Dec 6th, 2009)
SOYBEANS ARE HONORARY MAMMALS (10:48 PM Nov 30th, 2009)
POSITIVITY IS BAD IN THE MEDICAL SENSE (11:36 PM Nov 29th, 2009)
MARINATION IS A FORM OF COERCION (9:42 AM Nov 29th, 2009)
jennyholzer: EXTREME BEHAVIOR HAS ITS BASIS IN PATHOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY (1:49 AM)
notjennyholzer: CHEESE IS A CELEBRATED MISTAKE (8:03 PM Dec 14th, 2009)
Let's not get too political here... still, with tonight's State of the Union address, I can't deny the spotlight is on a glut of fatigue concerning 44's young presidency. In order to keep the discussion properly nuanced and not getting too didactic, here's a look back at some Obama art curated at The Art of Obama.
[There's a fair amount from the "Obama Vs" genre on the site, as well as the wacky merch genre (his face on acid blotter: hi-lar-ious!)... but in-between the sycophantism there's some thought provoking work as well as an interesting time line of our thoughts about this president.]
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Cian O'Day
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