Monthly Archive for May, 2010

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C-Mon Giveaway Extravaganza: Street Art New York.

By c-monster on May 11, 2010 in Books, C-Monster, Giveaway, New York and Street Art. 38 Comments

Hold this book in your hot little hands.

Okay street art aficionados, I’ve got an extra copy of Jaime Rojo and Steve Harrington’s Street Art New York to give away. Just released by Prestel, it features lots of blazing, color pics of the New York City street scene, in addition to an introduction by yours truly. You can also pick it up at Amazon. And get all the deets you’ll ever need on the book’s website.

Leave a comment below to be entered to win and this little baby could be yours. You’ve got through Friday.

xox,
C.

Tags: jaime rojo, steven harrington, street art new york.

Calendar. 05.11.10.

By c-monster on May 11, 2010 in C-Monster, Calendar, Galleries, Graffiti, New York and Street Art. 1 Comment

A skeleton of a rabbit, by Belgian street artist Roa, who is having a solo show at Factory Fresh in Brooklyn, opening this Friday at 7pm. (Image courtesy of Factory Fresh.)

Seattle: Lucha VaVoom, Sexo y Violencia, lucha libre and saucy striptease, at Showbox Sodo, this Sunday at 7pm.
NYC: Emerging photographers can have their portfolios reviewed at The New York Photo Festival Portfolio Review, starting this Thursday. The Festival kicks off at noon.
NYC: The Moth: Saints and Sinners, with Ernesto Quinonez, Maria Finn and graffiti artist Lee Quiñones, hosted by Al Leston, this evening at 7:30pm.
NYC: Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, at MoMA, through March 21, 2011.
NYC: Kate Gilmore, Walk the Walk, at Bryant Park, through May 14.
Norfolk, Va.: Playlab, Peep Show, at 403 Granby, through July 1.
Miami: Alicy Aycock, Loriel Beltran, Cristina Lei Rodriguez, John Bock and others, Paper, at Fredric Snitzer Gallery, through June 26.
Madrid: Principio Potosí at the Museo Reina Sofía, opens Wednesday. (Art Newspaper.)
Ghent: Ed Templeton, The Cemetery of Reason, at S.M.A.K., through June 13.
Basel: Basquiat at the Fondation Beyeler, through Sep. 5.
Berlin: Andreas Gursky at Sprüth Magers, through June 19.
Rome: Hungry for Death, an exhibition from the archive of Destroy All Monsters, a collective/band that included Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara, and Jim Shaw, at the American Academy in Rome, this Thursday at 6pm.

Tags: Factory Fresh, roa.

In Fashion: American High Style at the Brooklyn Museum.

By c-monster on May 10, 2010 in C-Monster, Design, Fashion and Museums. 2 Comments

Oh Those Sleeves! A 1969 evening dress by Madame Alix Grès, made from taupe silk paper taffeta. (Photos by C-M.)

I’m not someone who is known for her fashion sense (my entire closet is one long, jazz-like riff on jeans and sneakers). But that doesn’t mean I can’t drool over a beautifully-constructed frock when I see one. And the American High Style exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, dedicated to chronicling the museum’s costume holdings, offered plenty to salivate over: Christian Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli, Cristobal Balenciaga, to name but a few. Of particular interest is the extensive collection of pieces by master cutter Charles James (1906-1978), whose Diamond Evening Dress (shown after the jump), made for heiress/philanthropist Dominique De Menil, is truly a wonder to behold.

Overall, this show is a winner — beautifully and cleanly presented (unlike its sister show at the Met, which is supposed to be a hot mess). The only bummer is that the curators decided to pipe in a lite music soundtrack of operatic ahhhhhs that seem to have been taken from a Disney musical (from the part of the film where the princess wakes up). It not only made me grit my teeth, it made me want to commit random acts of violence on small animals. My advice: if you truly want to enjoy this exhibit: pack an iPod.

The show is up at the Brooklyn Museum through Aug. 1.

Continue reading ‘In Fashion: American High Style at the Brooklyn Museum.’

Tags: american high style, brooklyn museum, fashioning a national collection.

The Digest. 05.10.10.

By c-monster on May 10, 2010 in Architecture, C-Monster and New York. Closed

100 11th Avenue, a residential development designed by Jean Nouvel. More on the project here. If you want to avoid the annoying Flash intro, click here instead. Plus: Nicolai Ourossof’s New York Times review. (Photo by C-M.)

Congrats to Ries for winning the LP Peru guide C-Mon Giveaway Extravaganza.

America’s 12 Most Famous Artists, according to Detective Magazine, 1964.
Wanted: Sukkah builders.
Seriously girly-fun time-suck: The Brooklyn Museum has teamed up with Polyvore for a create-your-own interactive fashion section on the museum’s website tied to the American High Style exhibit. (Of course, I had to make a tribute to Mme. Alix Grès’s taffeta evening dress from 1969.)
Robert Irwin’s palm garden coming together at LACMA.
Patti Smith, at the PEN World Voices Festival, talking about her love of art, rare books and her writing process. Interesting fact: She owns a calling card that once belonged to Arthur Rimbaud.
What won’t artists sell?
An augmented reality art project that brings alien invaders to your iPhone.
“When you tell people you don’t play, they say what a waste, like it’s almost a sin against the body that I was born in.” Mark Bradford on his height (he’s 6’8″), in an insightful Q&A in the Art Newspaper.
A participant in performance artist Kate Gilmore’s Bryant Park piece: “I feel like we’re all bridesmaids in some insane wedding.”
A photographic slideshow from the Hyères Photographic Festival.
Party of One: On Picasso’s politics.
The Day in Art Merch: Anish Kapoor designs a ring for Bulgari.
Art Fag City intern Anne Johnson reviews the budget food selection at New York’s various museums. Handy!
A family of geese makes their way through the Norton Simon. Cute. Overload. (@ARTnewsmag.)
Dear American Airlines: The Museum of Natural History wants its fish back.
This is one sublimely luscious book cover. (Thank you, @mtlb.)
Seriously enjoying the ICP’s blog. Including this wonderful little bit on children’s graffiti, photographed by Helen Leavitt. (Thank you, Adrienne.)
Today’s Street Art: Bicycle graffiti in Berlin. (Thank you *fab*.)
Shepard Fairey worried that AP case could bankrupt him.
Must-read: Christopher Hawthorne’s piece on the architectural and civic rebirth of Medellín. Photo essay here.
William Burroughs shooting William Shakespeare. Crazy.

Tags: 100 11th Ave, jean nouvel.

The Digest. 05.07.10.

By c-monster on May 7, 2010 in C-Monster, Graffiti, New York, Street Art and The Digest. 1 Comment

Substandard, by Deeker. (Photo by Becki Fuller.)

Spiral Jedi.
Joanne McNeil has an interesting post about ROFLcon, and what makes a meme, over at NiemanLab.
13 Things Not to Do when promoting your book. (The Rumpus.)
Bookslut‘s Jessa Crispin on art as plunder.
Further evidence that clowns are truly the scariest thing in nature: An art clown round-up.
That Picasso that sold for a buttload? A paean to female submissiveness.
Plus: Jerry Saltz on the Met’s Picasso show: “Do scholars want this guy to invent fire every ten years?“
And because too much Picasso is never enough: In Chicago, no more skating on the Picasso.
The Whitney gets a buncha art from trustee Emily Fisher Landau.
The Guggenheim’s restaurant redesign has been honored with a James Beard award.
The Austin Museum of Art is looking for area artists.
Metropolis, fully restored. And if you live in NYC: about to screen at Film Forum. (Pack a lunch. It’s two and a half hours long.)
Today’s Street Art: Verbo in Italy.
Vintage Swedish book covers.
Ten seriously gnarly chairs.
Cowboy rain boots. You know you want ‘em. (Buckt.)
Interesting architectural piece about Berlin’s Topography of Terror museum: how to make a building that documents Nazi horrors without celebrating them.
The Day in Curmudgeonly Architectural Criticism: Jonathan Glancey doesn’t think the UK pavilion at Shanghai Expo is entertaining enough. Um, how ’bout just sitting around tripping out on that building?
A Christian anti-kissing video from the ’80s. The hairdos (and the furniture) are amazing. (Gracias, I think, John.)
Geologic pasta: The 100 Layer Lasagna. (World’s Best Ever.)

Tags: deeker, Street Art, substandard, wood.

Prada Marfa: Front and Back.

By c-monster on May 6, 2010 in C-Monster, Conceptual, Installation, Sculpture, Street Art and Travel. 1 Comment

The front: Good.

The back. Even better.

Tags: art vandalism, elmgreen & dragset, prada marfa, roadtrip, texas.

Cinco de Mayo at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn.

By c-monster on May 6, 2010 in C-Monster, New York, Performance art, Photo Diary and Sublime ridiculosity. Closed

Spent last night at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn watching some inter-gender lucha libre — complete with an intermission performance of the Mexican hat dance and a Pee Wee Herman-inspired rendition of Tequila. I also voted in the guacamole contest. A note to whomever made guacamole #1: Never, under any circumstances, or for any reason, must you put curry powder in guacamole. I believe that this is governed by the Geneva Convention. Look it up.

Tags: brooklyn, cinco de mayo, secret project robot, wrestling.

Calendar. 05.06.10.

By c-monster on May 6, 2010 in C-Monster, Calendar, Fashion, Museums and New York. 4 Comments

Butterfly Dress, 1955, by Charles James. Part of the exhibit American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection at the Brooklyn Museum, opens tomorrow. (Image courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum.)

Seattle: Erin Morrison, Patterns of Impermanence: An Exhibition of Landscape Works, at Monarch Contemporary, opens today at 6pm.
Seattle: Blake Haygood’s open studio, at the Publix Hotel, all day today until about 8:30pm.
Chicago: The Seductiveness of the Interval, at the Renaissance Society, through June 27.
Washington, D.C.: One Hour Photo, a group show, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, opens Saturday.
Washington, D.C.: Beat Memories, the Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, at the National Gallery, through Sept. 6.
NYC: Edward Kienholz, Roxys, at David Zwirner Gallery, opens today.
NYC: The Affordable Art Fair, opens today.
NYC: JMR, Of Clouds and Something, at Mighty Tanaka in Brooklyn, opens today. (Part of DUMBO Gallery Walk.)
NYC: American ReConstruction: An exhibition of new photography, at Edward Winkleman Gallery, opens Friday at 6pm.
NYC: Single Fare, art of the MetroCard, at 224 Grand Street in Williamsburg, open Saturday at 6pm.
NYC: Roxy Paine, China Blue, David Opdyke and many others, Nature of the Beast, at HP Garcia Gallery, through May 29.
NYC: David Barnett, Sacred Creatures, at Denise Bibro, opens today at 6pm.
Newburyport, Mass.: Craig Colorusso, Sun Boxes, at Important Records, this Saturday, from noon to sunset.
S.F.: Matthew Paladino, Wonder Box, at Baer Ridgeway, opens Saturday at 4pm.
S.F.: Alex Lukas and Matt Leines at Guerrero Gallery, opens Saturday at 7pm.
L.A.: Lisi Raskin, Mt. Disappointment, at The Company, opens Saturday at 7pm.
L.A.: Keith Haring, Urban Legend, at Carmichael Gallery, opens Saturday at 7pm.
L.A.: Marc Johns and Steven Weissman, Butter and Blood, at Giant Robot, opens Saturday at 6:30 pm.
Milan: TVBoy, Mash Up, at Art Kitchen, through May. (Thank you, *fab*.)

Tags: american high style, brooklyn museum, butterfly dress, charles james, fashioning a national collection.

They Just Fucked With the Wrong Mexican.

By c-monster on May 5, 2010 in C-Monster, Film and Video. Closed

Robert Rodriguez’s special Cinco de Mayo message to the state of Arizona. (Via The Rumpus, via Ain’t It Cool News.)

Update: Unfortunately, the video is gone. The blowhards at Twentieth Century Fox took it down for copyright violation. Boooooo.

Tags: arizona, cinco de mayo, danny trejo, go ahead make my day, machete, robert rodriguez, too awesome for words.

C-Mon Giveaway Extravaganza: My Lonely Planet guide to Peru.

By c-monster on May 5, 2010 in Books, C-Monster, Giveaway, Peru and Travel. 14 Comments

This spitting camelid could be yours. All yours.

If you were into those posts I did about surreal sights in Lima and scrumptious Peruvian cooking, all of that hard-earned research (and much, much more) is now available in guidebook form from Lonely Planet. (I helped co-author this puppy, so please buuuuy it!) I do have one extra copy on-hand, however, for a single lucky ceviche-muncher. Leave a comment below and all my Lima fine-dining secrets could be yours gratis.

Thanks for reading!
C.

Tags: lonely planet, Peru.