Monthly Archive for March, 2009

Page 5 of 5

Armory-palooza: Photos from the main event.

By c-monster on March 6, 2009 in Armory-palooza, Art, C-Monster and New York. Closed

Free Twinkies at Pace Wildenstein. No Little Debbies in sight. (Photos by C-M, unless otherwise stated.)

That giant art supermarket on the piers, known as the Armory Show, is open for business! And no matter how snobbarrific this event can be, it also, at times, takes on the lowbrow sheen of a tattoo convention. Take, for example, the cereal portrait of Barack Obama at Philadelphia’s Cerealart. Or the free Twinkies (above) being dispensed by the über-galleristas at Pace Wildenstein. Or the Kenny Scharf golf cart driven by a guy in a space suit that dispenses free donuts. (I gnoshed on a French cruller.) It’s as if everyone was catering to the little stoner that lives inside each and every one of us.

There was incredible stuff, too: The Michael Vazquez canvases at Fred Snitzer, the Don Bachardy drawings at Cheim & Reid. And, of course, those seriously gnarly bottle-cap sculptures by El Anatsui. Sublime!

If you haven’t had quite enough Armory, here’s me blabbing about it on WNYC.

The show runs through 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Click on images to supersize. More after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Armory-palooza: Photos from the main event.’

Tags: armory show, burk uzzle, don bachardy, doug aitken, el anatsui, fred snitzer, hernan bas, leo koenig, michael vasquez, twinkies, victoria miro.

Calendar. 03.05.09.

By c-monster on March 6, 2009 in C-Monster, Calendar and Sculpture. Closed

Grapes, 2008 by Ai WeiWei. (Image courtesy of Phillips de Pury.)

In London: Ai WeiWei: Four Movements at Phillips De Pury & Co., through March 28.
In D.C.: Dawn Black, The Conceal Project, at Curator’s Office, through March 21.
In NYC: A conversation with Sarah McKenzie and Eva Hagberg — along with mimosas and donut holes — at Jen Bekman, this Saturday at 10:00 a.m
In NYC: Casual Conversations in Brooklyn at Black & White Gallery’s Brooklyn project space in Williamsburg, opens Saturday.
In NYC: Jim Avignon performing live at Factory Fresh, in Brooklyn, on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
In NYC: As Is: The Art of JMR and In the Raw, with Alexandra Pacula, Will Anderson and David Cook at 105 Lexington in Brooklyn, opens Saturday at 7 p.m.
In NYC: In Real Life, real-life access to the people behind Art Fag City, VVork, I Heart Photograph, Private Circulation and more, at Capricious Space, opens Saturday at noon. (@walkerartcenter.)
In Northampton, Mass.: Lauren Greenfield talks about her film Thin, at Smith College, tomorrow at 5 p.m., related to an exhibit of her photographs at the Smith Museum of Art.
In L.A.: Looking into Andy Warhol’s Photographic Practice at USC’s Fischer Museum, through April 18.
In L.A.: Edward Biberman at the Municipal Gallery at Barnsdall Park, through April 19.
In L.A.: Sao Paulo, curated by Choque Cultural, at Scion Installation L.A., through March 28.

Tags: ai weiwei, grapes, phillips de pury.

Crazy Day Today.

By c-monster on March 5, 2009 in Armory-palooza, Art for stoners, C-Monster, New York and Sculpture. Closed

Entertain yourselves with a little stonerrific kinetic sculpture from the David Zwirner space at the Armory Show (or at least I think it was the Zwirner space). Being the truly bad reporter I am, I forgot to get the name of the artist. So if anyone knows, give a holler…

Tags: david zwirner, kinetic, scultpure.

The Digest. 03.04.09.

By c-monster on March 4, 2009 in C-Monster, Street Art and The Digest. Closed

Aakash Nihalani in NYC. (Photo by Jake Dobkin.)

Headline I didn’t invent: “Giant human colon makes Times Square PR Debut.” (@abelincolnjr.)
Me, me, me…on the subject of KISS front-man Paul Stanley’s career as an artiste. See my pictures from the event here.
Create your own supermarket art.
Clothing made of porcelain.
You too can sign up to stand on a plinth in London as part of a work by Antony Gormley. (The Guardian.)
Geohistoriography, by Tim Schwartz. A video that shows a representation of America’s view of the world, according to news media coverage. (reBlog.)
Today’s If-a-Tree-Falls-in-a-Forest Story: Land artist Michael Heizer will not be bulldozing his secretive Nevada earthwork, City.
A profile of the Gugg’s new director, Richard Armstrong — who is way more low key than his predecessor, the Krens-master. (Art Observed.)
Nara arrested for graffiti before his opening at Marianne Boesky. (World’s Best Ever.)
The Noam Chomsky coloring book. (Flavorwire.)
Old school radiologist.
Your very own keyboard drum kit. (Thank you, Ryan Frank.)
The Day in Art Merch: Damien Hirst skateboard decks and Steven Meisel puzzles. (Art Observed.)
Today’s Graff: Oz and Komsa in France.
Frank Gehry on his 80th birthday and the new economic climate: “Today, if there’s frugality, I’m ready. I’ll do corrugated again.” Plus: A story on Gehry and the recession, as well as an article on the architect’s predilection for fish.
Richard Rogers lays off a quarter of his staff.
General Mills reintroduces vintage cereal boxes.
Your moment of dinosaur.

Tags: Aakash Nihalani.

The Best Dive Bars for Armory-palooza in NYC.

By c-monster on March 3, 2009 in Armory-palooza, Food, New York and Travel. 3 Comments

Need to get your drink on after pondering the state of the art market? Boy, do we have the places for you. (Photos by C-M.)

Everyday, it seems that the economy sucks harder. Which means that an awful lot of gallerists and artists are gonna be white-knuckling it through New York’s Armory Week as they try to move merch at a time when few people are busting open their wallets. This is where C-Monster.net comes in. All of us, at some point this week, are gonna need a good stiff drink. Or seven. Either because we’re not making any money. Or because art fairs make us want to shove sticks in our eyes. So, in honor of Armory-palooza, I have rounded up the best spots for grabbing a snort — all in relatively close proximity to the fairs. I’ve even created a handy Google map that you can print and take with you. Cheers! And pray for a miracle.

NEAR THE ARMORY SHOW AND SCOPE: J. Mac’s. 600 W. 57th Street, west of 11th Ave. This eight year old spot is popular with the neighborhood auto mechanics, as well as the artists from the nearby chashama studios. It’s all bottles, no draft. But there’s a vintage cigarette machine that dispenses Marlboros, Newports and Parliaments and a pool table where a game costs a buck. The best part? The following advice, which is prominently displayed on the wall: “All you need in this life is a tremendous sex drive and a great eye. Brains don’t mean shit.” We’ll drink to that.

Click on images to supersize.

Continue reading ‘The Best Dive Bars for Armory-palooza in NYC.’

Tags: armory fair, armory week, dive bars, manhattan, new york city.

Naples: Where low climbed out of a volcano and whupped high upside the head.

By SanSuzie on March 3, 2009 in Art, Italy, San Suzie, Sculpture and Travel. 6 Comments

Pan and the Goat: The Romans had remarkable taste in garden statuary, such as this 24″ high marble depiction of Pan getting frisky with a member of the genus Capra at the National Archaeological Museum. (Photos by San Suzie.)

Despite warnings in every Italian guidebook that we would be pick-pocketed, run over by a motorino, threatened by camorristi, or just plain hosed by restaurant owners and taxi drivers, last weekend we decided to go to Naples to pay homage to the birthplace of the pizza and the baba au rum. A 2,800 year-old seaport founded by the Greeks, conquered by the Romans, Spaniards and Bourbons (the Neapolitans are quick to tell you that they are a thousand years older than Rome), Naples is the veritable promised land of high and low culture. It’s a place where you can see two of the greatest Caravaggio masterpieces (1 and 2) within a stone’s throw of graffiti-covered baroque buildings whose stucco is literally falling to the ground.

Our plan was to grab a few of the sublime slices at the nearly 300-year-old Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba and then head over to the archaeological museum to ogle the Roman pornographic art — contained in a titillatingly hilarious permanent display known as the Secret Cabinet. (Boy, did we get an eyeful!) In addition to admiring all the ancient erections, there were plenty of other things to take in during our visit to Naples as well: the glittering Mediterranean, the medieval castles (complete with round turrets and crenelated tops), the volcano that destroyed Pompeii and the hundreds of cioccolato caldo stands where you can stuff your face with sfogliatelle, ricotta cheesecake, and mini-babas for about $2.

In Naples, you can not only see the life-sized bust that houses the actual lopped-off head of San Gennaro (a.k.a. Saint Januarius) at the Duomo, but also admire a vial of his blood that miraculously liquifies at various times of the year. All this in a city where motorino drivers, piled three to a bike, drive so unnervingly fast, you are encouraged to look both ways even when crossing the sidewalk — or face a martyrdom of your own.

Click on images to supersize. More after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Naples: Where low climbed out of a volcano and whupped high upside the head.’

Tags: Italy, naples, napoli, pan and the goat.

Calendar. 03.03.09.

By c-monster on March 3, 2009 in C-Monster, Calendar and Photography. Closed

Untitled (Graffiti) by Andreas Gefeller, at Hasted Hunt. (Image courtesy of Hasted Hunt.)

In NYC: Andreas Gefeller at Hasted Hunt, opens Thursday.
In NYC: Intersections: the Grand Concourse at 100, at the Bronx Museum of Art, opens Friday. Architect Daniel Libeskind will deliver a keynote, related to the exhibit, on Saturday.
In NYC: Art ! Fair, a group photography show, at Michael Mazzeo, opens Wednesday.
In NYC: Spent Heat, Time in the Works of Yohei Nishimura, at Cavin Morris, opens Thursday.
In NYC: It’s art fair time again!!!! Find a complete listing of events for Armory-palooza and all of its related spawn right here. Plus, here’s Art Fag City’s art fair prep map. On your marks, get set, ogle.
In NYC: MoMA is having an Armory Show preview party with a performance by Gang Gang Dance and music by DJ Justin Miller, tomorrow at 8:30 p.m.
In NYC: The Glamour Project, a group show, at Lehmann Maupin, through March 21.
In NYC: Martin Kippenberger at MoMA.
In New Orleans: Street Art, Part 1: The Mark, a panel discussion with Michael De Feo, Dan Witz, Gabriel Flores and Michael Dingler at Louisiana Art Works, today at 7:00 p.m.

Tags: andreas gefeller, hasted hunt.

The Digest. 03.03.09.

By c-monster on March 3, 2009 in C-Monster, Photography and The Digest. 2 Comments

Corridor, Dachau, 2005 by Yaniv Waissa. From the series, Here They Are Flying… Flew… Already Gone. (Image courtesy of Yaniv Waissa.)

Almost forgot: Congrats to Richard of Washington, D.C. for winning the Stikman giveaway extravaganza. Your little men are now making their way to you. xox, C.

What Jimmy Fallon can teach newspapers.
A solution to every museum’s money problems: a show about nothing.
Chinese bidder of looted Qing heads at Yves Saint Laurent auction refuses to pay for them as a statement of protest. The bidder reportedly acted without the support of the Chinese government.
Photo Essay: Stills from “Communism’s seismographic films.”
The winner of LACMA’s Urban Light photo contest.
David Zwirner still selling expensive art.
An Italian researcher may have found a self-portrait of Da Vinci as a young man. (ArtInfo.)
This is for all the writer geeks. (Personism.)
Blagojevich to write a book. (Flavorwire.)
The energy diet. (architecture.mnp.)
Annie Liebovitz’s financial woes stem from having to pay taxes on her deceased partner, Susan Sontag’s estate — something she wouldn’t have to do if they’d been married.
Baldessari remixes Mies. Boy, would I love me one of them nose-shaped wall sconces.
Today’s Graff: A whale by Screw in Argentina.
90 years of Bauhaus. Photo essay here. (ArchDaily.)
A home dome made of plastic, wire and packing peanuts.
Since Art Fag City has been doing vag, I guess I’ll do boobs.
Your moment of camels.

Tags: dachau, yaniv waissa.

The Digest. 03.02.09. Better late than never.

By c-monster on March 2, 2009 in Installation, Museums, Sculpture and The Digest. Closed

Untitled, an installation by Jason Peters, part of last year’s The Light Project at The Pulitzer, in St. Louis. (Image courtesy of The Pulitzer.)

An international array of matchbox labels.
Why pictures of coffins are necessary.
Where Money and Art and Money Intersect: Gold purchased by Gagosian (for a Chris Burden show) is held by the SEC because of its connection to the Robert Allen Stanford’s ponzi scheme case.
“If I ran the NEA…” (Marshall Astor.)
Irrational Exhuberance: Jeff Koons and his $25 million dollar train sculpture for LACMA — just in time for the end of the world.
Art in America Magazine relaunches their website. And it’s lookin’ good.
W Magazine profiles artist Steve McQueen.
badpaintingsofbarackobama.com. (Art Fag City.)
The road signs of Eric Tabuchi.
Loving those Dyke Action Machine “ads” on AFC.
Momo designs Yohji Yamamoto’s fashion week runway. (@lunaparknyc.)
The Internet is causing a “poetry boom.” (Personism.)
Hijab-izing Paris street ads. Plus: Arts21 asks if there is such a thing as right-wing street art. To answer the question: Yes, it’s called advertising. (To Fear is to Know.)
The Citrus Report interviews Lady Pink on female politics in the graffiti scene: “Of all the girls in NY there’s only one bitch that I hate, and that’s it. But for the most part we’re all like sisters, it’s cool. (Juxtapoz.)
The most abandoned cities. (@bldgblog.)
Own a Mies van der Rohe in Chicago.
In Springfield, Mo.: Andy’s Frozen Custard goes, like, totally neon.
Is Frank Gehry’s Atlantic Yards Project dead yet? The organizers of this petition — who want to prevent the project from getting any federal stimulus money – sure hope so.
Your moment of flight patterns in the Northeast.

Tags: jason peters, the pulitzer.

Monthly Archive for March, 2009

Page 5 of 5

Armory-palooza: Photos from the main event.

Calendar. 03.05.09.

Crazy Day Today.

The Digest. 03.04.09.

The Best Dive Bars for Armory-palooza in NYC.

Naples: Where low climbed out of a volcano and whupped high upside the head.

Calendar. 03.03.09.

The Digest. 03.03.09.

The Digest. 03.02.09. Better late than never.

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