Archive for the 'Art' Category

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Photos: Dominican artists Quintapata at the Centro Cultural de España in Lima.

By c-monster on June 14, 2009 in Art, C-Monster, Drawing, Installation, Mixed Media, Peru and Sculpture. 5 Comments


Boobies!!! A whole wall of them. The piece is titled Muro, 2009 by Raquel Paiewonsky. (Photos by C-M.)

While my mission on this trip to Lima has been to eat and to eat again, I have managed to sneak in a few visits to art galleries between degustaciones. The best show thus far has been an exhibit of contemporary Dominican art that I happened to catch at the Centro Cultural de España on the Plaza Washington, near downtown. The show, Mover la roca (Move the Rock), features new works by the D.R. arts collective Quintapata, whose members are Tony Capellán, Pascal Meccariello, Raquel Paiewonsky, Jorge Pineda and Belkis Ramírez. Overall, a highly interesting show. And way better than the couch art I’ve been admiring at many of the city’s commercial art galleries.

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The Good, the Bad, the Rude & the Toxic: San Suzie presents the 1st Annual C-Monster.net Venice Biennial Awards.

By SanSuzie on June 12, 2009 in Art, Italy, San Suzie and Venice Biennale. 7 Comments


Obey Biennale: Taste the hype. (Photos by San Suzie.)

We are just back from the City of the Doges where this summer’s artapalooza kicked off with the 53rd Prosecco-soaked edition of La Biennale di Venezia. The show, which bore the very important title Making Worlds consisted of 38 exhibit spaces in the Arsenale and Giardini, plus a whopping 45 collateral event sites scattered throughout the city’s labyrinthine streets. This was in addition to numerous must-see museums, including the fabulous Pinault Collection at Palazzo Grassi and its new contemporary art venue at Punta della Dogana.

We spent at least a third of the preview days simply trying to get from one place to another, searching the maze of alleys and canals for obscure out-of-the-way locales like the Palazzo Rota Ivancich, the official venue of the Mexican Pavillion. But, all in all, we we were nicely surprised by the offerings: free food, art swag, yacht-and-people-watching, and, oh yeah, the city itself, which was once the wealthiest in all of Europe — and is therefore filled with masterpieces by 16th century heavyweights such as Titian, Veronese, Bellini and Palladio.

Of course, no artapalooza comes without annoyances, ironies, ridiculosity and even a few moments of sheer, breathtaking joy. Therefore, we present you with the First Annual C-Mon awards to celebrate the mother-of-all biennales, highlighting the good, the bad, the ugly, the incomprehensible and the just plain too damn much.

The envelope please…

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Kick ass: Moche art at the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera in Lima.

By c-monster on June 2, 2009 in Art, C-Monster, Peru and Sculpture. 4 Comments


Captured warriors are sacrificed on a Moche vessel, crafted at some point during the civilization’s apogee from 1 to 800 A.D. (Photo C-M.)

At this point, I feel confident in letting everyone know that if you come to Peru and don’t make a significant pit stop of at least three days in Lima, you are seriously hurting. Among the incredible sights: the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera, which has a spectacular collection of ceramics from various pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, most significantly the Moche, a culture renowned for their incredible portrait vessels. Think: Roman sculpture of the Americas.

The best part (in addition to the lovely on-site restaurant that serves a highly recommended ceviche) is the separate room that contains a trove of Moche erotic pottery — as in, lots of sculptures of people humping. My tour through the erotic gallery was heightened by a fellow traveler from Italy who spent the entire visit alternately exclaiming ‘Mama mia!’ or laughing nervously.

The museum is open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Also: You can follow my Peruvian adventures on Twitter. Or check in with my buddy @hchuaeoan, who is Tweeting away about everything he puts in his mouth. I won’t say what.

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Lima, Day 6: The Inquisition. What a show!

By c-monster on May 27, 2009 in Art, C-Monster, Peru, Sculpture, Sublime ridiculosity and Travel. 2 Comments


Best. Museum. Ever.

Paul McCarthy wishes he could one day be as freaky as whoever created the installations for the Museo de la Inquisición in Lima, where various displays detail the ways in which humans can inflict pain on each other. It’s a tiny exhibit. (Peruvians weren’t diehard inquisitors, disposing of only 271 “heretics” during the 16th and 17th centuries — compared with the more than 100,000 in Germany during roughly the same period.) But it’s highly entertaining. Particularly if you’re an eight-year-old boy.

The museum is located on the Jirón Junín 548, on the Plaza Bolivar. Admission is free.

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Studio Visit: Lishan Chang at chashama in Queens.

By c-monster on May 19, 2009 in Art, C-Monster, Installation and New York. 1 Comment


Taxidermy galore: in the studio with Lishan Chang. (Photos by C-M.)

A couple of weeks back I attended an open studio that chashama hosted at their new studio spaces in Jamaica, Queens. My favorite of the bunch — hands down — was the former dentist’s office that has been reborn as a taxidermy studio for artist Lishan Chang. Chang, whose past installations have involved everything from plastic wrap to burnt bread, is now hard at work on a series in which he catalogues, taxidermies and displays road kill.

Though the project is still underway, he currently has a fine selection of squirrels, raccoons, hawks, geese and cats that have all been harvested from area roads. Prior to the project, Chang had little experience with taxidermy. But after a short introductory course and a few how-to YouTube videos, he has become a prolific stuffer of unfortunate animals. It’s an interesting way of honoring the creatures we thoughtlessly mow down with our cars. Can’t wait to see the full-blown install when it’s done.

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Martyrdom Makes Me Happy: Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome.

By c-monster on May 11, 2009 in Art, C-Monster, Italy, Painting and Travel. 12 Comments


Pass the bath salts: Martyrdom, Santo Stefano style. (Photos by C-M.)

Of all the churches I genuflected at while in Rome, my absolute favorite was the Basilica di Santo Stefano al Monte Cielo (more commonly known as Santo Stefano Rotondo). It is a graceful circular structure (parts of which date back to 500 AD) with a lovely skylight at center. But it’s best asset is the art. Lining the walls of the church are some impressive 16th century murals of martyrdom that serve as a visual compendium of truly imaginative deaths. You’ll see people being boiled, burnt, flayed and chopped — some of them upside down. Yet, because they depict the fleeting moments of spiritual ecstasy that accompany a good martyrdom, everyone kinda looks like they’re having a really great time. The overall effect: disturbing and hilarious. Kinda like the Catholic Church.

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What’s Your Vector, Victor: When fine art imitates ’80s comedy.

By c-monster on May 8, 2009 in Art, Bizarre Coincidence, C-Monster, Film, Galleries, New York and Sculpture. 5 Comments


Telle mère tel fils, 2008 by Abdel Abdessemed at David Zwirner. (Photo by C-M.)


Airplane, 1980. Thank God it’s only a motion picture!

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Damien Hirst: Portrait of the Artist as a Dead Man.

By c-monster on May 5, 2009 in Art, C-Monster, Sculpture and Sublime ridiculosity. 4 Comments


Coming eventually to an auction house near you: Portrait of the Artist as a Dead Man, 2009. (In collaboration with Ryan Frank, photo by C-M.)

Dear Mister Hirst:

We’ve seen the rotting cow’s head. The dissected farm animals. And your very expensive tiger shark (the over-sized fish lovingly known as “the wastebasket of the sea“). As you tend to your über-show in Kiev — appropriately enough, titled Requiem — we think that you might be ready to plot something even even bigger. We’re talking grand finale, pièce de résistance, the fat lady’s ultimate song: You, in a tank, in formaldehyde.

Alert Gagosian. Get Saatchi on the speed dial. Make sure Sotheby’s is in the loop. ‘Cuz this shit is gonna be truly BADASS!

xox,

C.

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Voila! C-Mon redoes Rhizome’s 50K Wall.

By c-monster on April 26, 2009 in Advertising, Art, C-Monster and Sublime ridiculosity. 7 Comments


Look at me, ma! I’m a ‘net artist!

I’ve made some sorely needed improvements – aka, scrawled my name — across Rhizome’s 50,000 Dollar Web Page, a “collaborative” fundraiser for the New Museum‘s digital arm. Last month, the organization set up a permanent web page on their site where anyone can buy a space and a link (10 x 10 pixels go for $5) — and put up pretty much whatever they like. With your donations, I was able to roller tag the mutha — something far bigger and better than if I’d try to go at this alone.

Needless to say, I’m pretty darn grateful that there are folks out there who saw fit to help me finance this silliness. As promised, my “project” is neither socially nor politically redeeming. And as promised, everyone is thanked on the site. In the process, Rhizome, a non-profit, made a tidy $620 in donations. I’ve raised $447 of that total, surpassing my goal of $400 — and I didn’t even have to get all Sally Struthers. If you still want to contribute a couple of bucks to the cause, however, I’m not gonna say no. (You can do that here.)

In the meantime, thankyouthankthanyouthankyou to everyone who gave $$$ (in the middle of a recession, no less!). I love knowing that there are people out there who not only encourage ridiculosity, they sponsor it! You guys rock HARD.

xox,
C.

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What do you give a Pope who has everything?

By c-monster on April 21, 2009 in Art, C-Monster, Italy, Museums, Sculpture and Sublime ridiculosity. 2 Comments


If you’re Richard Nixon, you give him a figurine of a robin, with a daffodil and a snail. For reals. (Photo by C-M.)

The Vatican Museums may be filled with a mind-boggling number of artistic treasures: a chapel painted by Michelangelo, entire rooms done up by Raphael, and the super dramatic marble sculpture of Laocoön and his sons being gobbled up by sea serpents, among other plunder and loot. But I gotta confess that my favorite piece in the whole joint was the figurine, above, that Richard Nixon presented to Pope Paul VI on the occasion of his visit to the Vatican in March of 1969. I have no doubt that the head of the global religious order that has amassed a citadel’s worth of Poussins, Giottos and Titians was, like, totally excited to get his hands on something that looked as if it was inspired by the Franklin Mint. The best part? You can feast your eyes on this little beauty just minutes after emerging from the Sistine Chapel.

I’m in mad catch-up mode today. The Digest will be resurrected tomorrow.

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