C-MONSTER.net.

A collage composed of found stickers, by Tom Fruin at the Buia Gallery in New York in February ‘08. A few of the street artists represented include: Royce Bannon, Over Consume and Ambusch. (Photos by C-M unless otherwise noted.)

For the purpose of this blog, I spend much of my spare time photographing just about everything the art industrial complex sees fit to churn out: paintings, sculpture, video, and totally weird breakfast buffets. In the past six months, I’ve noticed a small, but growing trend: studio artists (including the late Robert Rauschenberg) incorporating street and graffiti art into their work.

This takes various guises. There are painters who incorporate graffiti art into urban landscapes, assemblage artists who use elements of real-live street art in collages and sculptures, and art photographer types who go out and document all of the beautiful decay. It’s one of those interesting art world conundrums: on its own, most street art and graffiti isn’t thought to have much artistic or monetary value. But clearly there is some potency residing in this imagery if studio artists are remixing and reconfiguring it for the pristine walls of commercial galleries.

Click images to supersize. More after the jump.

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Detail: Dangerous Intersection, 2008. (Photos by C-M.)

Photos from the opening of Josh Dorman’s solo show, Babel, at Mary Ryan Gallery in New York City. The show is up until June 21st.

Click on images to supersize. More after the jump.

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Inga Huld Tryggvadottir. (Photos by C-M.)

Photos from Lather, Rinse, Repeat: new works by Aurora Robson, Inga Huld Tryggvadottir, Jason Wagner and Megan Hayes at Lumenhouse in Brooklyn. The show is up until May 18th. Check it out!

Click on images to make ‘em big. Many more pix after the jump.

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Taking your temperature: Judith Supine in Dirt Mansion at English Kills in Brooklyn. (All photos by C-M.)

Street art madman Judith Supine opened up his latest show, Dirt Mansion, at English Kills Gallery in Brooklyn over the weekend. Every available surface was covered with Supine’s over-sized collages, many of which went floor-to-ceiling. There was also 3-D installation work, including some trippy looking birdhouses, and one piece which included a small pool of goldfish. (They were delicious!) The show is up until June 8th.

The photos get ever more ballsy after the jump. Click on images to see ‘em big.

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Sex and Moderate Violence Sells by Pure Evil. See it large.

• And I Quote… “Anyone can be an art dealer; you don’t need qualifications, background, or any fiddly stuff like that. All you need is capital, something that passes for charm and boundless stocks of windy guff.”
• Jerry Saltz and Jeffrey Deitch talk about what else? Art and money. (Via Hrag Vartanian.)
• Art theft, the hot topic currently being beaten to death by the art media: How to steal a painting and why people steal those paintings to begin with. More here.
• In related news: Art theft is big business. (Via Arts Journal.)
• Contraband, a photo essay by Jan Sochor. (Via Fecal Face.)
• The Day in D.I.Y. tractor culture: Thailand and Poland editions.
• Photo Essay: South Korea’s Namdaemun gate, dating back to the 14^th century, is destroyed by arson. Read more here.
• More on the road that threatens to undo Marfa’s quaintness. (Via MAN.)
• The New York celebrity death map. It’s amazing how many of these are in some way connected to Andy Warhol. It’s like he was the grim reaper or something… (Via World’s Best.)
• I always wondered what this was all about.
• Vanity Fair (the magazine): “…a title that doesn’t so much as wryly observe celebrity as swoon at its manicured feet…” More here.
• Elevator art.
• BCAM opens to the public. In a related story: There’s stuff to like at LACMA/BCAM, reports the LAT’s Christopher Knight.
• And I Quote… “How many spineless curatorial suck-ups have hitched ride after ride on Eli Broad’s private jet for all-expenses-paid trips to the pleasure spots of the world?”
• In Roanoke: Museum as tourist attraction.
• Belgium’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts: An antidote to all that McArt.
• Graff of the Day: Henes in Nayarit, Mexico.
• Banana street art.
• Book: PEEL’s The Art of the Sticker.
• So you think you can dance: From Mambo to Hip-Hop.
• Vatican treasures: See what all those indulgences bought.
• Photos Essay: L.A.’s Museum of Natural History gets a facelift. (Includes vintage shots of the building from the 1920s and ‘30s.)
• Just in case: A 1962 Fallout Shelter Handbook. (Via Coudal.)
• The Day in Funny Lyrics: Me duele la cara de ser tan guapo.
• Ways to kill time at the office: The New Museum’s Unmonumental Online (Via AFC.):
• 50 50 by Oliver Laric.
• Guitar Solo Three Way by John Michael Boling.
• Superman II.0 by Chris Choy.
• Time-Lapse Home Page by Paul Slocum.
• Freaky Ass Video: I Ain’t Gonna Pee-Pee My Bed Tonight. (Via Fecal Face.)
• Inflatable tea house. (Via Eybeam reBlog.)
• If Zaha Hadid is the new Leni Riefenstahl for working with Azeri dictator Ilham Aliyev, then what does that make Herzog & De Mueron and OMA for working with the Chinese government? (Via Bloggy.)
• Buildings that sprout.
• In honor of President’s Day: Your moment of photocopying.