Stop and Gogo
Not everyone in the Greek art world was thrilled with the opening of mega-dealer Larry Gagosian’s Athens outpost this month. According to Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Nikolaos Damalitis a senior official in charge of the construction of the new Acropolis Museum, has complained about the pedestrianised Dionysiou Areopagitou Street being used as a makeshift car park. The street was clogged with dozens of cars last Thursday when Gagosian hosted a dinner party celebrating the gallery’s opening and inaugural show, “Cy Twombly: Leaving Paphos Ringed with Waves” at the museum’s rooftop restaurant. “Police should issue tickets for traffic offenders in such situations and, if that didn’t happen last Thursday, then maybe there had been some kind of agreement made in advance,” Damalitis said. “In any case, this is something we disapprove of.”
From In The Frame
Published online: 30 September 2009
This month:
Party like it's 1922
They say kids today don’t appreciate great art, but a group of New York college students is trying to change that by organising a series of events and programmes at the Metropolitan Museum aimed at drawing in other students. And by the sound of their upcoming event tomorrow night, “West Egg On The East Side”, they certainly know how to appeal to their audience: throw a good party. To celebrate the opening of the new American Wing, the College Group at the Met is throwing a fancy dress bash based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age novel, The Great Gatsby. Party-goers only need to show a valid student ID to get in and according to the invite, “Guests are encouraged to don attire inspired by the party-throwing, mansion-building, and art-loving Americans of the early 20th century…The honor will be entirely ours, old sport.” Smashing.
From In The Frame
Published online: 29 September 2009
Bonfire of the Vanities
It’s been a rough year for the market, but it must have really stung when certain art world figures received their monthly subscription to Vanity Fair. For September’s issue included the magazine’s list of the 100 most important movers and shakers of the past year, and there were some noticeable absentees. Mega dealer Larry Gagosian, who came in at #38 last year, was left off completely while his star artist, Damien Hirst, was relegated to the “Pit Stop”, a sort of celebrity limbo where the publication placed individuals they hope will regain their glory with “a little grit and determination”. Hirst is kept company in the pit with collector Steve Cohen, who has been working hard to keep his hedge fund business in the black. Meanwhile to add insult to injury, Russian collector Roman Abramovich is singled out by the magazine in a much less flattering list, as among one of “The 100 to Blame” for the economic recession. But some prove just too high to topple, like collectors and private museum founders Charles Saatchi and François Pinault, who are both enshrined in Vanity Fair’s Hall of Fame.
From In The Frame
Published online: 28 September 2009
Vezzoli's royal revamp of Princess Caroline
Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli really does get everywhere. He's now popped up at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in a lavish two-hand show "Dalí Dalí featuring Francesco Vezzoli" (until 17 January 2010) which pairs the Surrealist master with the mischievous maker of Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal’s “Caligula” (2005). Noting Dalí's penchant for posing famous names as historical figures (British actor Laurence Olivier as Richard III, for instance), Vezzoli has created a double photographic portrait of Caroline, Hereditary Princess of Monaco, immortalising her as Queen Christina of Sweden (one of Greta Garbo's more memorable roles). "I was looking especially for a subject that could perfectly reunite 'real royalty' and 'Hollywood royalty', as my intention was to represent at the same time the power of privilege and the power of popularity. Being H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover and the daughter of Grace Kelly, Caroline seemed to me the only possible and overambitious choice for a portrait," said a playful Vezzoli.
From In The Frame
Published online: 25 September 2009
Damien give us your dosh
A rather novel idea has pinged into The Art Newspaper's email tray from Matthew Edwards who plans to stand as an independent member of parliament for Vauxhall (TAN's very own patch) in South London at the next general election. "Damien Hirst's workshop 'Science' is in the constituency of Vauxhall," he says. "I have made a very poor piece of A4 artwork called For the Love of Dog (pictured) which I would like to offer him for £1m with the proviso that every penny will go into a microcredit scheme in the local area to provide small loans to people with good ideas to set up sustainable enterprises that provide long-term employment for the people of Vauxhall." Over to you Damien. For more information, go to: http://mdedwards.typepad.com
From In The Frame
Published online: 24 September 2009
Fantastic elastic
Andy Warhol was never one to shy away from kinkiness, so it comes as rather fitting to see an exhibition entitled “Unnatural Rubber” opening at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh this month. For the show, sponsor Lanxess Corporation, a leading manufacturer of synthetic rubber, invited 15 artists to submit ideas for what they would do with a load of the elastic material. The winners, Hank Willis Thomas and Ryan Alexiev, created the work Wheel of Fortune, a massive hanging sculpture made of tyres that reflects the production of synthetic rubber over the past 100 years. The other submissions will also be on view, many revealing a much more sensual response to the medium, such as Michael Kalmbach’s undulating Rubber Kiss sculpture or Emiko Kashara’s Skin to Skin installation.
From In The Frame
Published online: 23 September 2009
Art Attack
"The Art of Medicine" exhibition at The Elaine Baker Gallery in Boca Raton, Florida (until 30 September) got our pulses racing - and so it should with works on show by 38 "medical professionals with a passion for the arts", says a press statement. "The 150 paintings, sculptures and photographs reveal remarkable skills that extend far beyond the examination room," continues the blurb. Artists represented include Mark Bernhardt, MD Dermatologist, Arthur Brimberg, MD Oncologist and Robert Burger, MD Urologist. And the best title in the show? Man in the Waiting Room (pictured) by Jamie Morhaim, MD, Dermatologist.
From In The Frame
Published online: 22 September 2009
Art meets music in Manchester
Contemporary art really is the new rock n'roll if the Buy Art Fair is anything to go by. The fair, to be held at Urbis in Manchester (24-27 September), will include works by music glitterati such as Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood who is set to show a limited edition compendium fetchingly entitled Wood on Canvas, featuring portraits of Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. Former Stone Roses guitarist and songwriter John Squire will, according to a press spokesman, unveil his "series of monumental rusting steel box structures" alongside art by Paul Normansell, designer of the Killers album cover Day & Age. To top it all, Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice fame will be showing off his drawings (pictured). Rock on.
From In The Frame
Published online: 21 September 2009
Park it
Happy Park(ing) Day NYC! Today is the day when random city parking spots will be turned into temporary urban oases. Launched in 2005 by the non-profit anti-car organisation Transportation Alternatives, Park(ing) Day invites creative groups to transform a tiny stretch of street into a miniature park where people can relax, play games and socialise. Some of our favourites for this year’s event include Shakespeare in the Parking Spot on 60th Street, organised by Fordham University’s visual arts and theatre students; The Buckminster Fuller Park on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn; No Longer Empty’s lot near the High Line, which looks at the neighbourhood’s recent changes; and Performance Space 122’s Avant-Garden on East 9th Street, where visitors can sit back in a mini-theatre with refreshments and watch art videos. A full map of sites can be downloaded at http://parkingdaynyc.org.
From In The Frame
Published online: 18 September 2009
A man, a van, a plan
A man in a van is on his was to Grand Rapids, Michigan to enter his mobile installation in a open art contest that could win him up to $250,000. The man is artist Aaron Heideman and the van is his work of art, which he’s been driving cross-country from his home state of Oregon since he was laid off in July. Along the way, he’s asked people to share their stories about the recession by writing it in black marker on the van or on a 50-yard roll of Tyvek he carries with him. Once he reaches Michigan, he’ll submit his “memorial to the recession” in ArtPrize, a massive, art festival opening 23 September that promises to allow any artist a chance to enter and any visitor to vote for their favourite work. And Heideman is also sharing his own experiences creating the project on Twitter as @Man_IN_A_VAN so those interested can join in the roadtrip, if only virtually.
From In The Frame
Published online: 17 September 2009
George keeps true to his roots
An exhibition of acid-hued images of the atomic age at the Akron Art Museum has a powerful patron, none other than senior Washington correspondent, former Clinton advisor and all around Greek-American heartthrob George Stephanopoulos. The show, “Nuclear Enchantment” (opening 10 October) features 25 colour photographs by Japanese-American artist Patrick Nagatani, who was born in the US only 13 days after the bombing of Hiroshima. Spokeswoman Betty Wilson told us the works are among over 100 photographs donated to the institution by Stephanopoulos over the years. “George grew up just up the road from the Akron Art Museum in Orange Village, east of Cleveland. (Of course, in those days he was more into wrestling than photography),” says Wilson, referring to the political reporter’s high school varsity years. “He is happy to stay connected to his Ohio roots through his relationship with the museum.” Such a good boy, that George.
From In The Frame
Published online: 16 September 2009
Doc puts death and sex on display
Dr Gunther von Hagens is causing an uproar again with a newly planned exhibition of his plastinated corpses, this time combining the patented publicity generators of sex and death. The German anatomist, who dissects and preserves donated bodies for display in exhibitions worldwide, says he'd like to organise a show made up solely of cadavers demonstrating various sexual practices. The macabre doctor's newest stunt follows a German court's ban of a display of his showing a pair of skinned cadavers in a unique sexual position. To try and get around the local decency laws, von Hagens hacked off the dead lovers' torsos, explaining that "It was the expressions on the faces that the court objected to—so I have removed that problem."
From In The Frame
Published online: 15 September 2009
Mimicking Miuccia
Art and fashion have been very cosy bedfellows in the 21st century. Louis Vuitton, which has previously teamed up with Richard Prince, has gone so far as to open a gallery on the seventh floor of its vast emporium in Paris, while other fashion brands have also brought in artists: Tracey Emin for Longchamp, Stella Vine for Topshop and Julie Verhoeven for Mulberry. Not to be outdone, Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons has set up its own exhibition space in Minamisemba, Osaka, adjacent to a CDG shop. "This space is not a regular gallery, where works of art are merely exhibited or displayed, but a place where the force of the artists clashes with the will of Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo, resulting in an unexpected body of work," said a press spokeswoman. Veteran Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has garlanded the space with her trademark spot creations for the first show.
From In The Frame
Published online: 11 September 2009
Will Ashmolean's party plans be pooped?
The Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology in Oxford is understandably revving up for the launch of its new building in November. "In spite of its size, the £61m redevelopment will double the Ashmolean's display space - the 10,000sq m. extension by Rick Mather Architects is a subtle affair, discreetly tucked behind the neo-classical Charles Cockerell building, opened in 1845. You almost wouldn't know it were there," according to Mather's website. Not so, says the venerable Randolph Hotel opposite which has protested against the museum's plans to serve drinks until midnight at its swanky new rooftop bar, thereby disturbing weary hotel guests. But will the partying now continue until 12 o'clock we wonder? "We were happy to agree to end the licenseable activities on outside areas at 21.30 and to close the doors to the outside area after this time if the performance continues inside," said an Ashmolean spokeswoman. Party on.
From In The Frame
Published online: 10 September 2009
Rod and Bob are on NTS party list
The troubled conservation organisation National Trust for Scotland (NTS) is going through a rough patch as part of a cost-cutting exercise, closing four properties and reducing staff numbers by 65. To add to its woes, embattled chairman Shonaig Macpherson has just announced her resignation (she aims to step down by September 2010) after 21 members tabled a no-confidence vote in the NTS board. But it’s good to see that it’s all guns blazing on the Robert Burns museum front, a £21m NTS project which has been the focus of its recent troubles due to a reported £3.8m shortfall in its funding. For the grand opening in Ayrshire next summer, organisers have invited a plethora of celebrities including boxer Muhammad Ali and singers Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart. “Ali is a lifetime member of the Alloway Burns Club and no mean poet himself while Bob Dylan said ‘My Love is Like a Red Red Rose’ is one of the best songs ever written and inspired his early work,” museum director Nat Edwards told local press.
From In The Frame
Published online: 09 September 2009
Dead dressed up in Moscow
Russian art collective AES+F looks set to hit the headlines (again) in its home country with the launch of the "Defilé" series (2000-07) of lightbox works at the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture (Moscow Biennale, 25 September-25 October). These images, seen at Miami's Bass Museum last year, show a selection of unidentified, wizened corpses digitally clad in haute couture clothing. "In granting these morbid forms a sense of dignity and beauty in death, in a sense an afterlife, we hope our audience will find something of value in this project," says AES+F. What kind of reaction will the macabre works get in the Russian capital, home of both the super rich and the impoverished?
From In The Frame
Published online: 08 September 2009
Brad backs Oscar's Spanish centre
Could the backers for the new Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre in Avilés, a coastal city in Asturias, northern Spain, be any glitzier? The artistic management committee for the new venue, scheduled to open mid 2010, includes film director Woody Allen, author Paulo Coelho, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and computer scientist Vint Cerf (The Art Newspaper, March 2009). But the celebrity quota doesn't stop there. Film idol Brad Pitt was recently spotted at the construction site, resplendent in a builder's hard hat, surveying the action. "Brad is interested in supporting the project, both the cultural and architectural aspects," reportedly said the mayor of Avilés, Pilar Varela. The €30m centre, designed by the eponymous Brazilian architect, is funded jointly by the governments of Spain and the Asturias region.
From In The Frame
Published online: 07 September 2009
Say cheese!
Visitors to the Great New York State Fair this weekend in Syracuse, NY (including one animal-loving The Art Newspaper reporter) were privy to a real treat in the Dairy Building, where accomplished cheese sculptor Sarah Kaufmann was chiselling away at a giant hunk of marbled monterey jack. Kaufmann, who has been practicing her craft for 13 years, hails from the great diary state of Wisconsin and says she is a "natural-born cheese-head". Giving us a quick history of working with curds, Kaufmann says the best queso to sculpt with is cheddar. "It's the most practical because it's so dense, it's like clay." She creates her tasty tableaux for major events, including a six-foot astronaut holding a miniature mozzarella moon, in honour of the Apollo moon landing this summer. And the best part? “They are completely edible, you can eat them when I’m done!”
From In The Frame
Published online: 06 September 2009
New Amsterdam lives again
Exactly 400 years ago this month, Captain Henry Hudson sailed past a little island known as Manna-hata and thought it would make a nice spot for his employers, the Dutch East India Company, to set up shop. And with all the Dutch arts and cultural events opening next week to celebrate Hudson’s voyage, you’d think the city was still called New Amsterdam. NY400 Week officials starts on 8 September but this weekend a colonial Dutch village, complete with spinning windmill, opens in Bowling Green Park. And just a hop across the river on Governor’s Island is the New Island Festival, which promises to be a full-on weird-fest (think conceptual performers on your picnic table while you eat) featuring contemporary artists straight from Holland. A full schedule of events and exhibitions can be found online at www.ny400.org.
From In The Frame
Published online: 04 September 2009
Saltz challenges Beck to a battle of the arts
No one likes a critic, especially one who has no background in the subject he's talking about, so it's no wonder art critics lashed out against conservative television pundit Glenn Beck when he tried his hand this week at analysing the art in Rockefeller Plaza. Claiming the Art Deco wall reliefs carved on the buildings actually contain hidden communist and fascist symbolism—how does one become both communist and fascist anyway? Aren’t the two mutually exclusive?—Beck went on a tirade about Obama’s own use of art as propaganda and his plans to indoctrinate the Youth of America, comparing the President to Mussolini. Coming to the defense of art, New York magazine critic, Jerry Saltz, has issued a challenge to Beck to step up and curate two exhibitions himself: “The first, images (or actual artworks) that exist in New York City that he would like to see demolished. He could call it Degenerative Art. The second, a show of contemporary art that he approves of.” And Saltz even promises to secure “a first-rate New York venue” for each exhibition and write about each show. We, for one, hope Beck takes up the challenge, if only to see what kind of art he actually likes.
From In The Frame
Published online: 04 September 2009
Hell on wheels
It’s all about beauty and brawn at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, where an exhibition of roller derby portraits by photographer Glen McClure is set to open on 18 September. While the wildly colourful costumes and aggressive posturing definitely add to the works’ appeal, our favourite aspects are the titles, taken from the brawling ladies’ own imaginative stage names. T-Rex Ya Face, Bam Bam McCha-Cha and Holly GoBiteMe are such intimidating sobriquets, who would guess these women are actually elementary school teachers, new mothers and young professionals? As to why they do it, each has her own story, but we suspect the real reason is the one given by a Ms Thunder Lips: “It’s fun. Where else can you hit someone?” Where indeed.
From In The Frame
Published online: 03 September 2009
Dirty not-so-little secret uncovered by art restorer
A Louvre art restorer came across a stimulating discovery while cleaning a 17th-century canvas by French artist Nicolas Poussin—a fully erect penis hidden by layers of paint. While working on Poussin’s huge canvas Hymenaios Disguised as a Woman During an Offering to Priapus (1634-38), Brazilian conservator Regina Pinto Moreira uncovered the fertility god’s, er, surprise package, which had been concealed by centuries of dirt and paint. Speaking to the São Paulo press, Moreira said she suspects conservative Catholic critics made a later artist cover up the offending member in the 18th century. "They hid the phallus of Priapus. It's what we call adjustment for modesty, and it's not uncommon." The painting, proudly restored to all its former glory, will be exposed next week at Museu de Arte de São Paulo on 8 September.
From In The Frame
Published online: 02 September 2009
Matthew Barney's blue-skinned doppelgänger
While watching the trailer for James Cameron's upcoming sci-fi epic, Avatar, we wondered if we were the only ones to notice a striking similarity between the blue-skinned CGI humanoids featured in the film and the equally alien-looking creatures portrayed by artist Matthew Barney in his Cremaster Cycle. But the films share more than vaguely sheep-faced protagonists, they are both multi-million-dollar productions, with Avatar's $237m estimated budget making it the fourth most expensive movie ever. Barney's Cremaster 3 suddenly seems a bargain at around $5m. Perhaps all Cameron's added costs can be chalked up to the hundreds of virtual characters need for Avatar, rather than one multi-tasking artist playing most of the roles in Cremaster.
From In The Frame
Published online: 02 September 2009
A race to remember
In what might be the strangest example of cross-promotion, a custom-painted Nascar race car emblazoned with the logo of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was unveiled yesterday near Ground Zero in Manhattan. The speedster, a Ford Fusion hand painted with stars, stripes and the words "Always Remember", will be driven on 11 September at the Richmond International Speedway in Virginia in honour of the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. Driver Benny Gordon hopes the race will also help promote the planned museum, which just recently opened a preview site where visitors can follow the construction's progress and see photos and models of what the memorial will look like when it's completed. See you at the finish line!
From In The Frame
Published online: 01 September 2009