Monthly Archive for September, 2008

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Calendar. 09.25.08.

By c-monster on September 25, 2008 in C-Monster, Calendar and Painting. Closed

Lesende (Reader), 1994, by Gerard Richter. (Photo by ksuayan.)

In London: Gerard Richter at the Serpentine Gallery, through Nov. 16th.
In London: Mark Rothko at the Tate Modern, opens Friday. Read Adrian Searle’s review here.
In NYC: Untethered at Eyebeam, opens today.
In NYC: I Am a Man: Revisited, at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn, opens today.
In NYC: Catherine Opie at the Gugg, opens tomorrow.
In NYC: Sign/Age at Armand Bartos Fine Art, featuring the work of Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Robert Indiana and Ed Ruscha, among many others, opens Friday.
In NYC: Arts Under the Bridge Festival, from Friday through Sunday, in Dumbo. A handy guide here.
In NYC: Stephen Talasnik, Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction, at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows/Corona Park, opens Sunday.
In NYC: Christian Marclay at Paula Cooper, through Oct. 11. (Via AFC.)
In Montreal: Forest, an exhibit in which artists and architect submit their visions of forest, at Monopoli, Galerie d’Architecture, through Sunday.
In Austin: Reset/Play, a group show of video game art, at the Arthouse, through Nov. 2nd.
In Miami: Dark Continents at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, opens tomorrow. Reception this evening at 7 p.m. R.S.V.P. required.
In Portland, Or.: A screening of Bomb It at Breeze Block Gallery + Goods, this Saturday at dusk.
In L.A.: Closing party for I Learned it by Watching You at Crewest Gallery, tomorrow.
In L.A: The 2008 Wight Biennial at the Broad Art Center, opens today.
In L.A.: Under Fluorescent Light at Giant Robot, through Oct. 15th.
In L.A.: Kerry James Marshall at Koplin Del Rio in Culver City, through Oct. 24th.
In Seattle: Alec Soth gives a talk at the Seattle Art Museum, Sunday at 2 p.m.

The Digest. 09.25.08.

By c-monster on September 25, 2008 in C-Monster, Street Art and The Digest. Closed

LAME, by Deeker, in NYC. (Photo by C-M.)

So what do you get for more than a year’s worth of unpaid blog labor? Some newspaper, run by a nutso bajillionaire, lifts your name (or at least a version of it). Many thanks to LAist, L.A. Observed, Art21 and Art to Go for the nice pieces. And super gracias, Heart As Arena, who has changed his name to Heart As Monster in protest. (It has a nice ring to it, really…) P.S. Haven’t heard word one from the Times, where, by the way, I worked as a desk assistant in the features department when I was in college.
Rad gif.
Kerry James Marshall on museums. Very thoughtful.
Curator or promoter? The fine line museums tread in working with dealers.
Art Criticism of the Day: “But the autumn’s most eagerly awaited exhibition, the one that is generating the biggest noise and by far the most frantic ticket sales, is the one that is, on the face of it, the most difficult: the dark and completely abstract paintings of a depressive, alcoholic and — let’s be polite here — unphotogenic New Yorker who, even 20 years ago, would have been considered almost laughably abstruse — Mark Rothko.”
In Japan, media companies play important roles in presenting art exhibitions. Which leads me to believe that in Japan, media companies must actually be relevant. (Via A.J.)
These days it’s all about miniature sculpture.
Mark Bradford’s post-Katrina ark. (Boy, does it make me gag to link here, but I’m gonna be the bigger Monster.)
A slideshow of the Francis Bacon retrospective at the Tate.
Forger cooked up his fake Vermeers in a pizza oven. For reals.
Kate Moss to be the subject of a Paris exhibition.
Awesomeness: Princess Leia as a Nagel.
Dennis Hopper, aesthete.
Graff of the Day: Joe83 in Poland.
Letterman on McCain. Plus: Brown people on brown people. Sublime.
Parametricism, the new word in architecture. Also known as: Zaha Hadid Architects want to baptize their own movement. (Via architecture.mnp.)
Looking Around has a report on Brad Cloepfil’s redesign of the Museum of Arts and Design. And a certain L.A. newspaper has one, too.
Lovely images of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s new cathedral in Oakland. (Via NotCot.)
Slate isn’t too wild about the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial: “The overall effect is also oddly unresolved, almost nihilistic.” (Via A.J.)
Ford redesigns the Mustang logo. Interesting fact: C-Monster learned to drive in a Mustang. A cherry-red V-8 number from ’67.
And this little ditty is for all my friends over at the L.A. Times…

Dear L.A. Times: WTF????

By c-monster on September 24, 2008 in Bizarre Coincidence, C-Monster and Rant. 23 Comments

Culture Monster, the L.A. Times’s new blog.

Proving that there’s no such thing as an original idea, the L.A. Times recently debuted an arts and architecture blog called, ahem, Culture Monster. It’s been around for approximately five minutes.

I mean, really, people. I know you’re just hoping to ride C-Monster’s coattails out of dead-tree obscurity, but did you have to be such flagrant biters? I’ve been toiling for more than a year now. I’ve even covered stuff in your home turf. So, don’t even try to tell me that you didn’t know C-Monster.net didn’t exist. Besides, my Statcounter tells me that there’s someone over there at the Times who Googles “C-Monster” on a semi-regular basis and then reads the blog. And I’m sure it’s not the mail guy, because if you’re anything like the rest of print media, corporate has already fired them all.

All I know is that if this isn’t remedied somehow, I’m gonna go all Sarah Palin on your asses. And you guys are gonna be the moose.

xox, C.

Unfortunate discovery made via Modern Art Notes.

Tags: C-Monster, copycats, Culture Monster is a total biter, Los Angeles Times.

Photos: Urban Mantra at chashama, in NYC.

By c-monster on September 24, 2008 in C-Monster, Galleries, New York and Street Art. Closed

Ellis G. on 44th Street. (Photos by C-M.)

There’s a gathering of street artists in a show called Urban Mantra over at chashama’s 44th street gallery, which includes some sidewalk redecoration by Ellis G. (Look for the chalk remnants outside.) The show, organized by Mighty Tanaka, is up until October 2nd, so you’ve got one more week to check it out!

Click on images to supersize. More after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Photos: Urban Mantra at chashama, in NYC.’

The Digest. 09.24.08.

By c-monster on September 24, 2008 in Architecture, C-Monster and The Digest. Closed

A new Tijuana subdivision, from a photo series called Tijuana Nice, by Alonso Delgadillo. (Image courtesy of el norteño.)

READ THIS: Our country’s financial mess explained. And guess what? McCain had a (lack of regulatory) hand in it (via bloggy). Plus: The Daily Show explains the explainers.
Speaking of which, the weak economy is hitting China’s art-fakes market hard.
Sounds like the Dia Foundation needs to do a little homework on managing land art if they’re gonna be overseeing Spiral Jetty. More here.
The Museum of Arts and Design, in Edward Durell Stone’s old lollipop building, is open for business in NYC.
Have a painting? Leave a painting. Need a painting? Take a painting.
Artist Tara Donovan is a MacArthur genius grant recipient. (Via CultureGrrl.)
Half of Gagosian’s global sales are to people living in former Soviet republics.
The Krens-Master Cycle is (Mostly) Over: Richard Armstrong, of the Carnegie, to take over the Gugg. On the story: The Art Newspaper, Bloomberg and the New York Times. In the latter, Armstrong is described as “tall and strapping.”
Excuse of the Day: It wasn’t attempted murder. It was performance art.
Shanghai contemporary art fair not as gangbusters as expected. Though Indian art did well.
Graff of the Day: Raisin, Mishel, Ryngard, Jame, B2M and Oks in France.
Hilarious vinyl toy video of the day: Rotofugi’s The Collector.
A video interview with Martha Cooper. (Via Ekosystem.)
Skateboarding in Kabul. (Via Fecal Face.)
U.S. Navy to demolish Building 521 in Chicago, a Modernist structure designed by Skidmore, Owings, Merill architects William Priestly and Bruce Graham (of Sears Tower fame) and completed in 1954. Here is the National Trust’s for Historic Preservation’s evaluation of the building.
Nicolai Ourosoff on Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences: “It is a comforting reminder of the civilizing function of great art in a barbaric age.” See the photo essay. Plus, lots of photos and a report at Dwell. Related: a story on SWA Group, the landscape design firm responsible for all that rooftop greenery.
The winners of the White House Redux contest (a.k.a. redesign the White House) have been announced. In first place, a truly inscrutable project whose accompanying architecturespeak has me cross-eyed. (Sample: “In these fantasies and love stories, these relationships and lost histories from Kabul, Little Rock, Tacoma and Peshawar demonstrate and architecture of wit, humanity and originality not previously achieved since writers imagined an architecture of iDeath.” Um, right.
Your moment of Broke Trek.

Calendar. 09.23.08.

By c-monster on September 23, 2008 in C-Monster, Graffiti, Painting and Street Art. Closed

Blu, in Managua, Nicaragua. (Photo courtesy of Blu.)

In L.A.: A screening of Megunica, the feature-length film about Blu, the guy behind all of those incredible graffiti animations, at The Montalbán, in Hollywood, tonight! Read a Q&A with Blu. (Via Juxtapoz.)
In L.A.: Martin Kippenberger at the Museum of Contemporary Art, through Jan. 5th.
In Seattle: Matthew Buckingham at the Henry.
In Cincinati: Carlos Amorales: Discarded Spider at the Contemporary Arts Center, opens Saturday.
In Northampton, Mass.: Bauhaus Modern at the Smith College Museum of Art, opens Friday.
In NYC: 21: Selections of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
In NYC: DZine at Deitch Studios in Long Island City, through Oct. 19th.
In NYC: Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night at MoMA, through Jan. 5th.
In NYC: Raymond Pettibon at Specific Object, through Friday. More here.
In Perth: Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial at the Perth Cultural Centre, through Nov. 23rd.

The Digest. 09.23.08.

By c-monster on September 23, 2008 in C-Monster, Graffiti, Painting and The Digest. Closed

A painting by David Choe, in Manhattan. Plus: Images of the artist painting at Upper Playground’s new NYC outlet. (Photo by mikeion.)

Kitty wigs. (Via Weary Gunfighter.)
Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty is far from “saved,” reports Modern Art Notes. Plus, a report on the Salt Lake environment, which apparently is just loaded with mercury.
Dallas parents freaked out by PBS’s Art21 profiles of Kara Walker and Sally Mann. The docs are used as a middle school teaching supplement.
The Liverpool Biennial is kind of a mishmash, says the Guardian‘s Adrian Searle.
Anish Kapoor’s house. Looks expensive.
Van Gogh’s color palettes. (Via Kottke.)
An audio slideshow about Creative Time’s Democracy in America project. Story here.
In case you have an extra $35 million laying around: Edvard Munch’s vampire painting, Love and Pain, will go up for sale at Sotheby’s in November.
Sit on Hercules’s face. And tell him that you love him.
San Francisco: Putting that garbage to good use by turning it into art.
New photos shed light on Robert Capa’s Death of a Loyalist Militiamen. The photo may have been taken during a training exercise that attracted the enemy’s attention. There is no doubt that the militiaman, however, died. (Via ArtInfo.)
Chris Rock discusses Bill Clinton’s appearance on Letterman.
The new Rubik’s Cube.
Graff of the Day: AEC in Kiev. More here. And because all art seems to be on a poo kick right now.
An interview with Blek le Rat, the guy to whom Banksy owes, well, everything. (Via NotCot.)
The Bilbao Effect, v. 2.0. More images here (via A.J.).
“Airport architects.” Designers who, “just like that, pushing their trolleys, they arrive, sign, pose, shake a couple of hands, and leave.” Or so says architect Andrew Todd. (Via Unbeige.)
Photos from the Chilean pavilion at the Venice architecture biennale: The theme is I Was There, and for the project, Mauricio Pezo and Sofía Von Ellrichshausen created a display featuring miniature, tourist tchotchke-style reproductions of well-known buildings in Chile. The most revealing aspect of the exhibit is that most of Chile’s well-known buildings appear to be churches (though I can’t seem to find the miniaturized reproduction of Gustave Eiffel’s church in Arica).
They should do this in every parking lot in America: install solar energy “trees.” Especially in Miami, where your car will go from zero to broiling in 0.6 seconds.
Your moment of art industry politics.

Photos: The BakerIE at James Turrell’s Baker Pool, in Greenwich, Ct.

By c-monster on September 22, 2008 in Art, C-Monster, Installation and Sculpture. Closed

Project at the James Turrell Baker Pool
Bracelet by Anakin Koening, at the Greenwich project space the BakerIE. Michael De Feo’s sculpture, Firecracker Face, is in the display case on the right. (All images courtesy of Michael De Feo.)

This past Sunday, the BakerIE in Greenwich, Conn., an arts incubator founded by Lisa and Richard Baker and Walter Patrick Smith, hosted a private showcase of ongoing projects in a space above the Bakers’ James Turrell-designed swimming pool. Michael De Feo, one of the artists featured in this artistic experiment — open only to Aldrich Museum members — slipped us a few photos of the proceedings, and it all looks damn interesting. If you are an upper level member of Greenwich’s Bruce Museum, you can still check out the installations this Wednesday from 5 to 9 pm. You have to be a museum member and an RSVP is required to attend (the list is first come first serve), so get dialing.

Special thanks to Michael for the pix.

More images after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Photos: The BakerIE at James Turrell’s Baker Pool, in Greenwich, Ct.’

The Digest. 09.22.08.

By c-monster on September 22, 2008 in C-Monster, New York, Street Art and The Digest. Closed

A paste-up by JR in New York City. Ekosystem has a night shot.(Photo by Joe Holmes.)

Venetian gondoliers for Obama. (Courtesy of San Suzie!) Plus: McCain on the environment. And, please vote! A PBS poll on whether you think Palin is qualified to be veep.
“Überdealer” Larry Gagosian’s Moscow show is all about education: educating Russians to buy his wares. Plus: NY Mag reports that “Gago” skipped out on Hirst-a-palooza at Sotheby’s in order to manage the debut of his Russian roadshow. Related: Deep Thoughts by Damien Hirst.
¡Art Industry Smackdown! Damien Hirst=Thomas Kinkade, says the NYT‘s Roberta Smith.
¡Art Industry Smackdown #2! Germaine Greer vs. Robert Hughes: “Bob, dear, Damien Hirst is just one of many artists you don’t get.”
On poop in art. More here.
In Seattle: when cheesy retail outlets (allegedly) rip off installation artists. And then deny it.
Sol Lewitt’s SF MOMA murals get buffed.
More hijinks from the Smithsonian, gimme money edition.
Trippy: Audience, an installation by Random International and Chris O’Shea that is made of individual mirrors that react to the public as they walk around. (Via eyebeam.)
How England’s National Gallery protected its art during World War II.
An interesting photojournalism story: photographer Rick Smolan on shooting an Amerasian girl in Korea, and ultimately getting her adopted by friends.
Tricked out: A history of the Popemobile. (Via Life Without Buildings.)
Ben Kingsley kicks ass.
Bathroom graffiti round-up, one and two.
Graff of the Day: WaOne and Interesni-Kazki in the Ukraine. More here.
Steven Holl architects to design a new arts center at Princeton. More on the project here. Plus: an image of the maquette.
Loopy architecture: The Denmark Pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010 by BIG.
Frank Lloyd Wright on What’s My Line, looking like he’d like to be just about anywhere else.
Landmark Illinois’s 10 Most Endangered Buildings. (Via Hrag.)
The life of the architect: Win a Pritzker, design a pooper.
Because the world really needs to know my every thought burp: I’m on Twitter.
From the culture that brought you the Renaissance…Your moment of My Name is Potato, a video that has me loving carbs. (Grazie, Yvonne, for the sublime ridiculosity.)

Lehman Bros. CEO a top art collector. For a few more minutes.

By c-monster on September 19, 2008 in Art, C-Monster and Incisive Reportage. 2 Comments

You gotta know when to Fuld ‘em. (Image courtesy of Forbes.)

In addition to having a multi-million dollar Greenwich, Conn. mansion with 20 rooms and a squash court, it turns out that Lehman Bros. CEO Richard Fuld, and his wife Kathleen, regularly make ARTNews‘s Top 200 Collectors list for their “works on paper, especially postwar and contemporary.” Which leads me to believe that there’s gonna be a bunch of postwar and contemporary works on paper hitting a local auction house sometime soon. If they don’t get shredded by p.o.’d Lehman traders first. In the meantime, Fuld’s fall should presumably open up a slot on next year’s Top Collectors list.

(Thanks to Todd Kessler for the heads up!)