Monthly Archive for February, 2009

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Nekkid Superman. Plus: Posting Notice.

By c-monster on February 8, 2009 in Announcements, C-Monster and Drawing. Closed

Holy Chorizo, Batman! There’s a naked superhero in my bedroom. (Image courtesy of J. Doe.)

Hey Folks:

I’m gonna be on the road for the next couple of weeks, which means posting will be very sparse — as in: no Digest. In the meantime, check out the saucy remixes of the world’s most clean-cut superhero (see above), as done up by J. Doe and featured on the website Mr. Marvel. Find the full series of redone comics here.

Plus, some links from the weekend:

Aquarium phone booth.
Tomorrow Museum on “The Problem with Shepard Fairey.” More on the artist here. Plus: Fairey is arrested on the way to his opening at the ICA in Boston. (aczine.)
Brandeis students hold a funeral for the Rose Art Museum. More on the general confusion at the university here, here and here.
In related who-the-hell-knows-what’s-happening-at-the-museum news: Iowa reportedly not gonna sell its Pollock.
Chris Bodle’s Watermarks Projects shows where the tides will reach should the entire Greenland Ice Cap melt.
Really liking Alexander Heim’s short film Untitled (Dog), but Tank.tv‘s Flash-heavy website won’t let me link directly to it. To load the film, click on its title. It will be online until this Saturday, after which a new set of videos go up.
Art critic Christopher Knight at the L.A.T. argues for a cultural jobs bill.
Snow sculptures.
The MassMoCA reception desk: pretty killer.
A comprehensive photo essay of Herzog & de Meuron’s latest in Tenerife, Spain.
Oscar Niemeyer agrees to not mess with his own skyline.
When climbing walls resemble art museums.
Billboard Remix: “Fox News: We deceive. You Believe.”
Today’s Graff: Titi Freak in Brazil.
Wii Spray.
A little design inspiration.
Giant robot spider! (Ekosystem.)
Your moment of hobos from the future.

xox, C.

Tags: iowa, j. doe, jackson pollock, mr. marvel, rose art museum, shepard fairey, superman.

Nature break.

By c-monster on February 7, 2009 in C-Monster and Nature Break. 1 Comment

Cholla Gardens, Joshua Tree National Park, California. (Photo by C-M.)

Tags: cholla gardens, joshua tree national park.

Ready for the Weekend: With the C-Mon Museum Pot-Cast.

By c-monster on February 6, 2009 in Audio, C-Monster, Museums, New York, Photography and Pot-Casts. Closed

Anna May Wong, photographed by Edward Steichen in 1931. (Image courtesy of Condé Nast.)

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, consider downloading our C-Mon Museum Pot-Cast guide to Edward Steichen’s In High Fashion at the International Center of Photography. Make it a cheapie by going on a Friday evening, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., when the museum operates on a more affordable donation system.

Download the Pot-Cast here. Or add C-Mon to your iTunes feed here.

The show is up through May 3.

Tags: anna may wong, edward steichen, icp, in high fashion, pot-cast, the conde nast years.

Say It Loud: Day-Glo everything by Stephen Sprouse at Deitch in NYC.

By c-monster on February 6, 2009 in C-Monster, Fashion, Galleries and New York. 2 Comments

Celso and C-Monster arrive at the opening of the Stephen Sprouse show at Deitch. (Photos by C-M.)

For anyone wanting to short circuit their eyesight on the visual wonders of ’80s excess, look no further than Stephen Sprouse: Rock on Mars at Deitch — a throwback to the days when everyone was having a good old time amid the crack vials and the dog poo in SoHo. This fashion retrospective, by the designer known for channeling Day-Glo and punk to a high-end crowd, is relentless. Crayola colors are stirred in with velvety textures, vaguely reminding me of the outfits donned by Locomía, a high-camp fan-dancing Spanish pop group from the early ’90s. (Yes, fan-dancing!)

The best part of the show, however, has nothing to do with the fashion. It’s an upstairs wall that has been covered, top to bottom, in the designer’s personal Polaroids. Expect to see the likes of Debbie Harry, Francesco Clemente and the rest of the ’80s Interview Magazine set mugging for the camera.

The show is up until Feb. 28.

Click on images to supersize. Polaroids after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Say It Loud: Day-Glo everything by Stephen Sprouse at Deitch in NYC.’

Tags: anthony kiedis, debbie harry, deitch, francesco clemente, rock on mars, stephen sprouse, tama janowitz.

Calendar. 02.05.09.

By c-monster on February 5, 2009 in C-Monster, Calendar, Installation, New York and Sculpture. Closed

Third Wave, by Cordy Ryman at DCKT. (Image courtesy of jameswagner.com.)

In NYC: Cordy Ryman at DCKT, through Feb. 14.
In NYC: Evan Penny at Sperone Westwater, through Feb. 14.
In NYC: A benefit for Swoon’s latest waterborne project in Europe, this Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
In NYC: Make It Last, a one night show with Ned Colcough, Stephen Davis and Jaime Gecker in Brooklyn, this Saturday at 6 p.m.
In Philadelphia: Frank O. Gehry: Design Process at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, through Apr. 5.
In Milwaukee: Jan Lievens: Out of Rembrandt’s Shadow at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, opens Saturday.
In Dallas: The Dallas Art Fair, at the Fashion Industry Gallery, opens tomorrow.
In S.F.: Bay Area Graffiti book release party at 111 Minna, Friday at 5 p.m.
In S.F.: Ryan Shaffer and Matthew Palladino at White Walls, opens Saturday.
In L.A.: Chris Stain, Up on the Roof and Counting Pigeons, at the Carmichael Gallery, opens Friday.

Tags: cordy ryman, dckt.

The Digest. 02.05.08.

By c-monster on February 5, 2009 in C-Monster, Galleries, New York, Painting and The Digest. Closed

A detail from Songs of Russia #20 by Yevgeniy Fiks in Things Fall Apart, a group show curated by Joy Garnett at Edward Winkleman Gallery (through Feb. 21). (Photo by C-M.)

Art on a coffee cup.
R.I.P. Lux Interior.
Bizarre Coincidence: When Francesco Vezzoli’s fake perfume campaign imitates Daniel Bozhkov’s fake perfume campaign…from the 2005 Istanbul Biennial. Plus: A profile of Vezzoli in the Jerusalem Post. (Thanks to the super San Suzie for the heads up!)
The Jaffa Photography Project.
Modern video games imagined as classic book covers. (NotCot.)
Digitizing the museum catalogue.
The Met is going high-tech, with a photo contest that encourages people to imitate art. (Culture Grrl.)
How many times is this guy gonna change his story? An audio interview with the Brandeis president on the possible selling off of some of works from the collection. (Arts Journal.)
State legislators in Iowa are talking about the possibility of forcing the University of Iowa to sell its Pollock.
Pugnacious puffy pants. (Coudal.)
Hrag Vartanian on Prospect.1 in New Orleans.
Must-see L.A. museum: Frances Kuyper’s cake museum in Boyle Heights.
Crazy carpets. (Eyebeam reBlog.)
There goes the digital neighborhood: Congress goes YouTube.
The AP goes after Shepard Fairey for use of the Obama image.
Today’s Graff: Swek in France. More here.
Makes you say, Whoa! Photos from Atelier Bow-Wow’s show at RedCat in L.A.
Your moment of landscape architecturespeak. (architecture.mnp.)

Tags: edward winkleman gallery, things fall apart, yevgeniy fiks.

The C-Mon Museum Audio Guide: Edward Steichen, In High Fashion, the Conde Nast years at ICP.

By c-monster on February 4, 2009 in Audio, C-Monster, Museums, New York, Photography and Pot-Casts. 4 Comments

Ladies Man: Gary Cooper, photographed in 1930 by Edward Steichen. (Image courtesy of ICP.)

Make your way through the International Center of Photography‘s exhibit on Edward Steichen and you’ll see glamorous fashion models, hunky movie stars and lots of long-forgotten society types striking a pose. What you don’t get is any sort of real information on the people in the pictures. The wall labels provide names and dates — and not much else. Not even the exhibit catalogue (which weighs more than a small dog) will tell you, for example, about the uber-Catholic starlet who secretly gave birth to Clark Gable’s lovechild or the Greta Garbo-wannabe who immolated herself on a pyre of her own publicity.

To address this terrible oversight, I recently teamed up with Paris Bureau Chieftess Yvonne Connasse to create the very first C-Monster Pot-Cast: a 30-minute audio guide to the Steichen show that you can download and listen to as you tour the exhibit. We not only provide plenty of important background on Steichen and his time, but give you the dish on who was sleeping with who.

The podcast also provides listeners with a fine opportunity to admire my neolithic audio-editing skills and the many ways in which it is possible to massacre the English language. You can download or listen to the guide below. Likewise, you can subscribe to my Pot-Cast feed on iTunes via Podbean. (Oh, yes. There will be others.)

Have fun at the museum. Steichen is up through May 3.

Download this episode (right click and save)

DISCLAIMER: A lot of martinis were harmed in the making of this Pot-Cast.

Tags: conde nast, edward steichen, icp, in high fashion, museum audio guide, podcast.

The Digest. 02.04.09.

By c-monster on February 4, 2009 in C-Monster, Photography and The Digest. Closed

Part of the series Elle était si belle by Gabrielle de Montmollin. (Image courtesy of De Montmollin.)

Colbert takes a deep, deep toke off the Hope Bong. We think “Change” is clearly short for “Change the Bong Water.” (To Fear It Is To Know It.)
R.I.P. Peeler Man.
Rhizome will be handing out grants to new media artists. Deadline is April 2. (Art Fag City.)
The New Museum is looking for sleepers. (UpDownAcross.)
L.A. MOCA’s board is slimming down. And hopefully it will stay that way. Plus: NYC’s MoMA is targeting the locals.
A visual response to Regina Hackett’s street signs series. (See some of her other posts here, here and here.)
Looking Around digs into the case of those Picassos at MoMA and the Gugg that were part of a Holocaust restitution fight.
A Victorian blood book. (Dinosaurs & Robots.)
Jean-Paul Gaultier’s muse: Sarah Palin? (Tomorrow Museum.)
Lego New York. (jdickerson.)
Photo essay: Contemporary art from the Middle East at Saatchi. (Rebel: Art.)
A Boston Globe blog gives Shepard Fairey the smackdown, referring to him as a “graphic pickpocket.” (Vandalog.)
Street pianos in Sydney. (Rebel: Art.)
L.A.’s MTA crew — responsible for that blocks-long tag in the L.A. River — is busted. Plus: The NYT covers the Poster Boy bust, which the artist is now playing up as some sort of conceptual piece called “We Are All Poster Boys.”
Architecture of snow and ice.
What to do with the Bird’s Nest now that the Olympics are over? Why, turn it into a shopping mall, of course!
Staircase porn, at the Public Records Office in Liestal, Switzerland.
1960s illustrations: Aluminum: How It’s Made and How it’s Used. (marcjohns.)
Your moment of Caterpillar wheelies.

Tags: elle etait si belle, gabrielle de montmollin.

Calendar. 02.03.09.

By c-monster on February 3, 2009 in C-Monster, Calendar and Street Art. 1 Comment

Obey Boston. (Photo by Hargo.)

In Boston: Shepard Fairey, Supply and Demand, at the ICA, opens Friday.
In NYC: Fred Sandback at David Zwirner, through Feb. 14.
In NYC: Ana Blohm, Interior Life, at the NYU Hospital Library, opens Thursday.
In NYC: Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard, opens today.
In Miami: 30 Americans at the Rubell Collection.
In L.A.: Becca Mann at Roberts & Tilton in Culver City, through Feb. 28.
In S.F.: Some Word Pictures, by Bill Daniel and Santiago Mostyn at Needles & Pens, through Feb. 28. BTW, if you haven’t seen Daniel’s film, Who Is Bozo Texino?, get it now! It’s frackin’ amazing. (Eyebeam reBlog.)
In London: The works of Hussein Chalayan at the Design Museum, through May 17.

Tags: andre the giant, boston, ica, obey, shepard fairey.

The Digest. 02.03.09.

By c-monster on February 3, 2009 in C-Monster, Installation, Sculpture and The Digest. Closed

Robert Irwin at Pace Wildenstein, 22nd Street, through Feb. 28. (Photo by C-M.)

Recession Special: The $5 portrait studio.
The Future is Now: yesterday I linked to an old TV news story that reported that receiving a newspaper digitally back in the early ’80s cost $10 in telephone modem time. It turns out that producing and delivering the print edition of the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle now costs exactly that much.
Tyler Green has an excellent links roundup on the whole Emily Jacir wall text bungle at SFMOMA. (The museum penned some bureaucratese that shows that they aren’t at all comfortable with the content of Jacir’s work, namely the Israeli/Palestinian conflict — viewed from the Palestinian side.) He’s also got a rundown on the whole Brandeis museum brouhaha.
Jeff Weinstein pens a thoughtful obituary for the Rose Art Museum in Obit Mag.
In related news: Regina Hackett has a great visual piece on the Rose’s demise. Plus: Brandeis, a modest proposal. (The Slog.)
The Guggenheim and MoMA get to keep their disputed Picassos.
NYC galleries aren’t moving any merch. In related news: The NYT profiles Nicola Vassell, gallery director at Deitch, on what it’s like to come into the art world as it hits bottom. (Or, at least we hope it’s the bottom.)
A rug made of ladies’ gloves.
“Question: what happens if you lose vast amounts of other people’s money? Answer: you get a big gift from the federal government — but the president says some very harsh things about you before forking over the cash.”
Titian’s Diana and Acteon has been acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland and London’s National Gallery in a joint purchase — for a mere £50 million.
Paddy Johnson at AFC has a spectacular round-up of arts stories that have appeared in The Onion. To that list, I’d like to add my favorite Onion architecture story: “Stoner Architect Drafts All-Foyer Mansion.”
The Moment has a good bit on atrocious airline food.
Pick a kiss. (Modern Art Notes.)
Pride and Prejudice…with zombies. (ackackack.com.)
Today’s Street Art: JR in Kenya.
Poster Boy reportedly got picked up by the po-po at his art opening. (To Fear is to Know.)
The Dark Lord Foster may not be a Lord for much longer. (architecture.mnp.)
Your moment of the greatest snack food stadium ever built. (ackackack.com.)

Tags: black painting, pace wildenstein, red drawing, robert irwin, white drawing.