Martin Klimas’ Flower Explosions and Daft Punk Paintings
German photographer Martin Klimas loves to play. I came across his remarkable photos of high speed flower explosions after reading about a former work of his featuring photographs of shattered ceramic figures. For the flower series, Klimas first soaked them in liquid nitrogen before blasting them with an airgun. The result is a burst of […]
Ashley Bickerton at Lehmann Maupin
The Bali-based artist Ashley Bickteron has a show opening this week in New York at lived in New York in the 1980s, and made work that was then classified (perhaps unjustly) as “Neo-Geo.” By 1993, he left the US and traveled around the world, mostly surfing and finally landing in Bali. For more on Bickerton […]
ARTIST SPREADS GOOD WILL IN FUKUSHIMA
Last month, artist, surfer and all-around great guy Ty Williams was asked to travel to Fukushima to paint fish on the boats of fishermen who lost everything in the devastating tsunami. The project was both a gesture of good will (fish are symbol of good luck) and a way of hearing and acknowledging the fishermen’s […]
Edward Hopper Diorama at Flatiron Building
Last weekend the Whitney unveiled a 3D installation diorama of Edward Hopper’s iconic “Nighthawk’s” painting outside New York’s Flatiron building. Though Gothamist was quick to point out that the actual diner never existed, Hopper himself said that the locale “was suggested by a restaurant on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet.” Check out Whitney curator Carter Foster’s […]
The Gramsci Monument
The Gramsci Monument is closing on September 15. Writing in the New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl called it “this year’s most captivating new art work.” To that I’d add that it’s also this year’s most debated art work. Be sure to see it before it closes to make your own decisions. Details here and here.
Plantastic Hotel
Never thought too much about Singapore until I recently read about this beautiful hotel that has combined futuristic architectural design with organic details and yes, a four-story tall sky-garden with cascading vertical greenery. WOHA architectural firm executed the “hotel-in-a-garden” concept within a city that is striving to be “a city in a garden.” Who knew?
WILLIAM FINNEGAN: THE INERTIA INTERVIEW
For those of you who don’t know, William Finnegan is the author of one of the best pieces of surf literature out there. The piece, Playing Doc’s Games, which appeared in The New Yorker (broken into two installments because if its size) follows the small pod of Bay Area surfers surfing spots like Mavericks in the early 90’s. […]
Light Show
Art is a completed pass. You don’t just throw it out into the world—someone has to catch it.—James Turrell The Turrell exhibit at the Guggenheim in NYC closes in less than a month on September 25th. Don’t miss it.
When Attitudes Become Form
Holland Cotter reports from Venice in the New York Times on the Prada Foundation’s remake of a seminal 1969 exhibition. He writes: The original version, which took place in Bern, Switzerland, has a near-mythical reputation as a late-20th-century landmark. It brought together some of the most adventurous young European and American avant-gardists of the day, […]
Carlos Motta
Brazilian architect Madeira de Redescobrimento [demolition and reused materials] was a natural progression and nowadays this is the main material used. Recently the atelier has begun using wood sourced from FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] certified companies. In the work of the atelier, the encounter with architecture was at the same time peculiar and immediate. From […]
Courtesy of Nature
Rather than commission an artist to design a piece for a given museum or gallery, architect Anouk Vogel and landscape artist Johan Selbing were commissioned by Jardins de Métis to design Courtesy of Nature, a contextual art installation surrounding living trees and ferns. The temporary gallery was featured as part of this year’s International Garden Festival, running through September 29. […]
“Architecture for Dogs”
An exhibition at the Long Beach Museum of Art this summer––the name says it all! Closes on September 1. The project debuted at Design Miami in early December, and includes collaborations with many notable designers and architects from America, Europe, and Japan. Check this website, which offers free blueprints for thirteen different DIY doghouses, each one custom-made for […]
TIME MAGAZINE’S NEW PROJECT: RED BORDER FILMS
Building on their success from their short film project Beyond 9/11, Time magazine has launched a new documentary film site called Red Border Films. As the New York Times states, “As most print news outlets scramble to find greater profits in a punishing media market by adding more online video content, they are trying to […]
Floating on the Bronx River
Throughout August you can find a gorgeous metal dome floating mysteriously on the Bronx River. Designed and made by husband and wife team Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi of SLO Architecture, the structure was created entirely from recycled plastic bottles and discarded umbrellas collected from the streets of New York City. They describe their piece as “performance […]
Soundings: A Contemporary Score
MoMa’s newest exhibit Soundings: A Contemporary Score will open tomorrow, featuring a number of field recordings and site specific audio clips from around the world. Read more below from MoMA’s site: MoMA’s first major exhibition of sound art presents work by 16 of the most innovative contemporary artists working with sound. While these artists approach sound […]
Impossible Project 8×10 Portrait Day
Twice a month the during one of their 8×10 Portrait Weekends. Check out their blog to read about a previous event they held for Mother’s Day and the gorgeous photos that emerged. Next Portrait Weekend: August 9th and 10th, 12-4pm RVSP@THEIMPOSSIBLEPROJECT.COM $40 for one, $60 for two Impossible Project NYC Space 425 Broadway New York […]
Robert Irwin, Scrim veilBlack rectangleNatural light, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The Whitney takes the prize for the most cooling and indeed refreshing show this summer: Robert Irwin’s recreation of his site-specific 1977 piece for the museum. Roberta Smith aptly describes the show in a recent NYT review: “Scrim Veil — Black Rectangle — Natural Light, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York” is an installation piece […]
Loreto Caceres Opening at Lost Weekend NYC
Pop by NYC’s of Chilean photographer Loreto Caceres NY-area surf photos. RSVP at info@lostweekendnyc.com.
MONDAY FUNDAY: SUITA ANIMATA by Pavla Neverov
Suita Animata is an audiovisual composition by Czech graphic designer (and former classical musician) Paval Nesverova. Consisting of 5 parts—Introduction, Badinerie, Alemande, Bourrée and Finale—the piece is both aural and visual. Each single musical line is expressed by an animation so you are able to listen to what you see and see what you hear. […]
Challenging the Sense of Reality; The Dalston House
If you won’t have a chance to catch the MoMA’s Rain Room exhibit before it closes this Sunday, rest assured, you can find a similarly disorienting experience at the Barbican Gallery in London where Dalston House will be available through August 4th. Indulging every super-hero dream, the piece invites audience members to scale its walls from […]
SMASH FEST & BOBBY FISHER: TWO GREAT SURF / ART EVENTS IN NYC THIS WEEK
Two great surf and art events will take place this week just blocks from each other in Brooklyn. The first is SMASH Fest, a surf film festival and group photo show which will take place this Thursday and Friday. Get more info here (including info on their special event Saturday in Rockaway) and purchase […]
Surfing Madonna
Founded by Surfing Madonna creator Mark Patterson, agents of change (i.e. you can help reverse the serious degradation currently impacting the world’s oceans). Now the organization is challenging artists located near the world’s 10 deadliest waves—Banzai Pipeline, Ghost Trees, Mavericks, Teahupoo, Waimea, Shipstern Bluff, Dungeons, Cyclops, ours and New Smyrna—to create mosaics in their locations.
“The Cat Show” at White Columns
I’d be remiss not to mention here the best summer group show I’ve ever seen: “The Cat Show” at interviewed the curator, Rhonda Lieberman, in early June, and since then there’s been a ton of great press on the show. You can also keep up with more details on the show via Twitter. Postscript: Check […]
Wassaic Arts Festival, August 2-4
For a good many of us just itching to get out of the city on a hot weekend, once July 4th has passed we feel ready to get excited about the Wassaic Arts Festival. Each year the a nearby field. The Festival is accessible by taking the Metro North to Wassaic and walking to the […]
