Monthly Archive for December, 2009

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The Digest. 12.18.09.

By c-monster on December 18, 2009 in C-Monster, Installation, Sculpture and Street Art. Closed

Cash for your Warhol, by Hargo. From an upcoming exhibit at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass. (Image courtesy of Cash for Your Warhol.)

Happy Birf-day to my boo.

Pee and poo. (Brainwaves Toys via ackackack.)
Note to Self: Must start tour company dedicated to visiting the key sites of Colombian narchitecture.
Highly fascinating post by Ed Winkleman on how art ages.
A profile of Hans Obrist, celebrity curator. (Art Fag City.)
Tyler Green isn’t sure about the Hirshhorn’s proposed #bulbousmembrane.
Jen Graves Art Basel write-ups are badass…in one and two parts.
Writer says that writing about an actor visiting a museum is déclassé. Then writes 250 words about it. Awesome.
It’s amazing how something as simple as cake can by hyper-intellectualized. Though I gotta say, I woulda so loved to have eaten a slice of that Mies Barcelona couch.
Cuban television sets.
Microbe art. Love the bioluminescent bacteria. (Arts Journal.)
Photo Essay: Three days in California.
The Day in Art Merch: Kehinde Wiley soccer cleats. Plus: A Yayoi Kusama puzzle.
The Best New Blogs of 2009, according to the Bygone Bureau.
Today’s Street Art: A leaf installation by SpY in Madrid.
Coulda used biscotti: Ai Wei Wei fills the pools at Mies Van Der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion with milk and coffee.
Don’t call Frank Gehry a starchitect. Seriously. Plus: he defends Prince Charles. Sorta. (Hrag Vartanian.)
Five things you don’t know about La Zaha. Plus: preview photos of her MAXXI pad in Rome and how her buildings resemble snack foods. (The Funyuns reference is inspired.) Last but not least: a design schematic of her Eli Broad museum in Michigan, which has gotten the go-ahead.
More End-of-Year Top 10: Christopher Hawthorne’s top architecture moments for ’09. Digging that Annenberg community beach house.
A look behind the knock-offs: The rise and fall of Design Within Reach. Interesting story.
Spilled milk Hasta las narices.

Tags: cash for your warhol, hargo.

On the town in S.F.: It’s all about Artsy Fartsy Urinals.

By Sebastian Puig on December 17, 2009 in San Francisco, Sculpture, Sebastian Puig, Sublime ridiculosity and Travel. 4 Comments

Piss on this: Clark Sorensen’s over-the-top urinals. (Photos by Sebastian Puig.)

On a recent visit to San Francisco’s once nitty gritty Mission district, we paid a visit to the studio of Clark Sorensen, a ceramicist known for his outrageous glazed and high-fired floral urinals. Interestingly, Sorensen was raised as a Mormon in Utah (and once proselytized for the Latter Day Saints in France) but found himself as a pinko leftist queer in San Francisco where he came to his senses, and he has recently let his politics creep into his work. In addition to producing some highly unusual urinals (ever tinkle on a cala lilly?), he also has a series titled Down the Drain: The Legacy of George W. Bush — a fitting urinary tribute to those eight lousy years. There’s no telling what his next series will be devoted to, but may we kindly suggest the addition of hysteria-monger and kooky gold shiller Glenn Beck.

Take that, Dubya!

Tags: clark sorensen, urinals.

Calendar. 12.17.09.

By c-monster on December 17, 2009 in C-Monster and Calendar. 1 Comment

Twigscape, 1971-1986, by Barbara Crane. From the exhibit Repeats at Higher Pictures in New York City, opening today. (Image courtesy of Higher Pictures.)

In NYC: Episcodisco, with Troy Bayless, Maya Hayuk and Pale Hoarse, at Grace Church in the Village, this Saturday, starting at 7 p.m.
In NYC: 5,000 Years of Japanese Art: Treasures from the Packard Collection at the Met, opens today.
In NYC: Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize to be announced tonight at 7 p.m.
In S.F.: Buff Monster signs copies of his new book, Life is Sweat, at Giant Robot, this Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
In Liverpool: Space Invaders: Art and the Computer Game Environment at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, opens today.
In Rome: Alexander Calder at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, through Feb. 14.
In Sydney: Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson at the Museum of Contemporary Art, through April 11.

Tags: barbara crane, twigscape.

The Digest. 12.16.09.

By c-monster on December 16, 2009 in C-Monster, Graffiti and Street Art. Closed

A truck by Sqon. (Image courtesy of sqon_cat.)

Julio Cesar Morales is a badass.
¡Art Critic Smackdown! The L.A. Times‘ Christopher Knight versus NY Mag‘s Jerry Saltz getting all East Coast-West Coast on the topic of Jeff Koons’ puppy. Bring it on!!!!!
Artist Christmas tree at the Tate shocks audiences by being “Christmassy.” (Art Observed.)
The contemporary art industrial average continues to float in the pooper. (In sort of related news: Better late than never: me, me, me on WNYC blabbin’ about the Basel Frazzle.)
RIP Larry Sultan. See a slideshow of his work at Wallpaper.com.
It’s Top 10 Time: Time‘s Top 10 exhibits of the year, plus the Times of London‘s Top 10 exhibits to check out in early 2010.
James Rosenquist gets his autobiography reviewed in the NYT by Deborah Solomon, who describes it as “amiable and rambling.”
The Day in Art Merch: A Jeff Koons watch. Art Observed reports that this little baby clocks in at $15K. I’ll take two.
Johnny Cash’s boyhood home, as seen by Alec Soth.
The hyper-organized assemblages of Michael Johansson.
19th century Japanese drawings of mermaids. Freaky.
Mimi Mollica: Pictures of Palermo.
Robbie Conal devotes his new book to his drawings of animals. See a small preview of it here.
Today’s Graff: Revs. Definitely Revs.
Trippy: The inflatable bubble-thingy by Diller Scofidio & Renfro that’s gonna top Washington’s Hirshhorn.
Eric Owen Moss to curate the architecture exhibit at 2010′s Venice Biennale.
A building clad in a topographic map in Brisbane. The pseudo-outdoorswoman in me finds this hopelessly cool.
An LED building façade in Madrid.
The recession is hitting Chicago architects hard. (Cityscapes.)
Gnome Chomsky.

Tags: sqon.

Whitney Biennial-palooza gets rolling!!!

By c-monster on December 16, 2009 in C-Monster. 1 Comment

Biennial artoon by Pablo Helguera.

The Whitney Museum has announced the artists that will be participating in next February’s Biennial…with a beautifully nerd-arrific video (which I can’t get enough of). Which means it’s time to cue the Greek chorus!! On today’s line-up: the New York Times‘s Carol Vogel comments on the shrinking nature of the biennial, Art Fag City goes after the weird juxtapositions, New York Mag‘s Saltz-master writes about the chick factor, Two Coats of Paint talks paint, and ArtNet‘s Charlie Finch does his Charlie Finch thing.

You can find my two cents over at WNYC (pleasepleaseplease click through). A teaser: it involves references to pretentious artspeak, garbage and quarterbacks. Feel free to leave lots of comments telling me how clueless I am.

Want to see what the heck everyone’s talking about? The World’s Best Ever has put together a very helpful slideshow of the artists selected for the show.

Tags: pablo helguera, whitney biennial.

Chicha.

By c-monster on December 15, 2009 in C-Monster, Music, Peru and Photography. Closed

A dancer for Los Mirlos. Lima, Peru. (Photo by Carlos Díaz.)

Peruvian photographer Carlos Díaz took some awesome shots of some of Peru’s best-known chicha bands at a Lima concert a couple of weeks ago. (Chicha is a type of totally pyschedelic Amazonian cumbia heavy on the gnarly surf guitar.) Check out the full set of pix here — and be sure to listen to the sound files to get the full effect. Ay, mama…

Tags: carlos diaz, chicha, cumbia, los mirlos.

Calendar. 12.15.09.

By c-monster on December 15, 2009 in C-Monster, Calendar and Los Angeles. 3 Comments

This makes me wish I was in L.A. right now. I’ve always been fascinated by the city’s oil derricks beam pumping units. (Thank you, RWB.) Now you can tour them with the Center for Land Use Interpretation — this Friday, Dec. 18th at 12 p.m. Tickets ($30) must be purchased in advance. (Image courtesy of CLUI. Via BLDGBLOG.)

In L.A.: Nothing New: Amir Zaki Selects Vintage Photographs of Southern California, 1870-1950 at Steve Turner Contemporary, through Saturday.
In L.A.: Susan Anderson, High Glitz, at Kopeikin Gallery, through Dec. 24.
In Chicago: Liam Gillick at the Museum of Contemporary Art, through Jan. 10.
In NYC: Gabriel Orozco at MoMA, through Mar. 1. The NYT has a story and slideshow, plus a review.
In NYC: Dan Flavin at David Zwirner, through Saturday.
In Nottingham: David Hockney: 1960-1968, A Marriage of Styles, at Nottingham Contemporary, through Jan. 24.
In Amsterdam: Sex Cinema Venus at Foam, through Wednesday.
In Amsterdam: Tavern Scenes in the Rijksmuseum at the Rijksmuseum, through March 1. Promises to be good and lushy.

Tags: center for land use interpretation, urban oilscape.

The Digest. 12.14.09. The bitch is back edition.

By c-monster on December 14, 2009 in C-Monster, Photography and The Digest. 3 Comments

Narita Airport, 2009, by Anthony Smith. (Image courtesy of Anthony Smith.)

Before I get down to business…I just wanted to once again thank all the folks who came out to Art Burn 2009 in Miami, as well as our sponsors: LAS TIAS (who provided the prime real estate across from the Rubell Collection), Hyperallergic, Two Coats of Paint, Brooklyn Street Art and Rosa Lowinger & Associates Art Conservation. Also many thanks to the folks who teased and/or covered the event: Paper Magazine, the Miami New Times, Art Observed, World’s Best Ever, The Art Newspaper [which mentioned it in one (on p. 15) and two (p. 11) stories!!], ArtNet, which supported us through Tweets and coverage (including two items here and here), the Miami Herald (which plugged it as “a funky Basel sideshow”) and William Powhida, who brought the New York Times in tow. (Though, for the record NYT dude: those weren’t “failed” canvases. Sheesh.) And, lastly, a very kind thanks to our buddy Hargo, who took one of the best photos of the entire event. Muchas gracias y’all! xox, C.

Dirty pillows.
New Orleans Museum of Art shilling for Disney.
Find out who’s the hard-ass: A chart that documents who does the most negative art reviews at the New York Times.
Former Met director Thomas Hoving goes to the big neo-classical museum in the sky. A few flashbacks here.
Art Burn, O.G. edition: Long lost Caravaggio likely burned. (Arts Journal.)
Art Basel: Offering art or home décor?
Charles Saatchi picks up a David Ellis sculpture at Scope Miami.
Gallery Beat does the Tracey Emin show at Lehman Maupin, with awesome ’90s flashback.
For the conservation geeks: a fascinating interview about architectural paint analysis.
Platon’s Portraits of Power. This is fascinating. (Buildings and Food.)
Marshall Astor has been taking some epic photos of his food encounters in Seoul. Check out the dumplings, the odeng, the bacon-wrapped dog, a Chinese lunch, the ramen and more ramen… Dude is killing me.
On Monsters.
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as interpreted by vintage computers. Gnarly. (Gracias, El Celso.)
¡Samba! A song by Carmen Miranda has been chosen by the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress as one of 25 songs to be preserved for all time.
One ton of CO2.
Is Manhattan about to lose a giant Revs/Cost tag?
Maybe all those big ass blingy museum concepts weren’t such a great idea.
The Gugg’s new Andre Kikoski-designed restaurant: like, totally Jetsons.
Edward Lifson riffs on Frank Gehry’s latest in Vegas.
Things I’d like to see before I die: A Charles Bukowski commemorative stamp.

Tags: anthony smith, art burn 2009, narita airport.

Calendar. 12.11.09.

By c-monster on December 11, 2009 in C-Monster, Calendar and Sculpture. Closed

Golden Egg, by Brent Crothers, in the group show The Language of Objects. (Image courtesy of the Maryland State Arts Council.)

Hey Folks: I’ve been on the road and should be back to the usual hijinks on Monday. See you then! xox, C.

In Baltimore: The Language of Objects at the Maryland State Arts Council, through Mar. 24.
In NYC: The Bruce High Quality Foundation at Susan Inglett, through Jan. 23.
In NYC: The London Police and Galo: Fresh Geezers at Factory Fresh in Brooklyn, through Jan. 10.
In NYC: Elia Alba at Black & White Gallery, through Jan. 17.
In NYC: Kensuke Koike, Aliens’ Lounge, at Virgil de Voldere, opens today.
In NYC: Jonah Bokaer, Judith Sanchez Ruiz and Daniel Arsham, Replica, at the New Museum, starting tonight at 7 p.m.
In Chicago: Picturing the Studio at the Sullivan Galleries at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, opens Saturday.
In S.F.: Winter Group Show at White Walls, opens tomorrow.
In L.A.: Chile Estyle at the Carmichael Gallery, through Dec. 23.
In L.A.: Glenn Ligon, Off Book, at Regen Projects, opens Saturday. Read the L.A. Times profile of Ligon here.