If you haven’t heard, Barry McGee’s (@barrymcgeeart) China Boo opened at Ratio3 in the Mission of San Francisco last Friday. BDAB couldn’t make it to the opening, but here’s a sick video that MOCA produced 4 years ago that walks you through a dystopian graffiti utopia that Barry had a heavy hand in.
Category: art show
Better in than out? I think Banksy would disagree.
Better In than Out, an obvious parody of Banksy’s outdoor New York City residency titled Better Out than In that took place around the city of New York back in October, 2013, is not a show that is in any way affiliated with the notorious street artist Banksy. Let me reiterate that.
Banksy did not provide the artwork for this show, he did not create any new work for the purpose of showing it at Taglialatella Gallery, nor did he ever set foot in the gallery. This is a gallery that specializes in the secondary market, meaning they take on consignments or buy artworks from private collections to sell at a huge markup. Banksy has never done a show of this nature nor will he ever do so. The recent “bemusement park” Dismaland, a totally off-the-wall art-show-cum-performance-art, that he created in Weston-super-Mare would bemoan to death a show like this.
But for those that have not had a chance to see Banksy’s work in person, such as myself, this is a fun little gallery to visit in Chelsea, if you ever visit NYC, like myself. Most of the works on display were print editions that Banksy’s released in the last 10+ years, but there were also original works. I’m not entirely certain of their authenticity, although the name cards mentioned being authenticated by Pest Control. No, Pest Control isn’t an extermination company. That’s Banksy’s institution for authenticating prints, originals, or any other artwork (except for street works, which is to deter people from stealing works from the street) that may have been created by Banksy. However, there is an easy way to find out if a Bansky street art you find on the street is real: Visit Banksy’s website because he will update his site with pictures of any new street piece. These days you should never buy any Banksy artwork without having a certificate of authenticity from Pest Control. But I digress.
Click through to find the pictures from the show. I purposely did not take a picture of a Banksy piece that was stolen from the street that they had displayed center stage in the gallery. No need to encourage behavior like that. Enjoy.
“On Our Hands” – Shepard Fairey’s Latest Show @ Jacob Lewis Gallery
“On Our Hands” is the latest solo exhibition of new paintings of various media and sculptures from Shepard Fairey (@obeygiant), and the first solo exhibition the artist has had in New York City since his “May Day” show as the swan song exhibition of Jeffrey Deitch’s Deitch Projects in May, 2010. The new show came to a close on October 24th, but for those who could not attend, here are some words and photos from the show.
Fairey’s art has always leaned political in subject and bluntly direct in nature so as there not to be any ambiguity of the message that he intends to deliver, and “On Our Hands” was no different. This new body of work from the artist tackles many topics that has been generating headlines on mainstream media, such as environmental atrophy caused by oil and gas industries, police brutality, campaign finance reform, and global feminism. The title of the show suggests that it is our responsibility, that the power lies in our hands, to solve these greater problems of the world.
Fairey has always put his money where his mouth is and shouldered the responsibility of focusing the lens on these problems through his public murals, exhibitions, charitable works, and creating recognizable works that reach a critical mass where we can actually start to make a difference. Although this new body of work is not conceptually profound (I admit though there is no other stencil artist in the world that is doing it with such finesse. I mean, look at how he incorporates pieces of retired stencil into his painting to create a 3 dimensional aspect.), in the context of his body of work outside the gallery space it makes complete sense.
Some of the most powerful works in the show are the least assuming, for example the above three portraits. Upon first glance it is nothing but portraits of anonymous women. By my American sensibilities, these women are Muslim, but their ability to convey regality and piercing strength with not much more than their eyes hint at Fairey’s message of equal rights for women, even in Arab countries, that women should not be viewed as inferior and should be given equal treatment to men. There’s also a veil of criticism of American sensibilities as well. Notice how I immediately assumed these women are Muslim because they donned what looks like the hijab?
Another thing strikes me is how Fairey makes his art accessible for so many levels of collectors. The canvas pieces are priced at around $48,000, well outside of the budget of 99.9% of America, but the works on paper, retired stencils, and stencils on found papers can range anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000, which makes his shows within budget for many collectors despite the blue chip status that Shepard Fairey has been enjoying for the past few years since the first Obama campaign. In cooperation with the gallery, Pace Prints, which is just one floor below the Jacob Lewis Gallery, released sets of prints in the $2,000 range. Also the artist releases art prints almost weekly on his website in the $45-60 range that could fit even a college student’s budget.
Although the show has come to an end, click through to find 30+ high-res photos from the show.
Pharrell Visits Takashi Murakami’s Studio Ahead of “The 500 Arhats”
Pharrell, a long time admirer and collector of Murakami (@takashipom), visited the artist’s studio in Japan to promote the upcoming show titled The 500 Arhats at Mori Art Museum in the Roppongi Hills. Murakami explains his motivation behind the masterpiece of the same title, a 3meter x 100meter painting, as to manifest the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan as the arhats of Buddha.
For me, the actual highlight of the video was seeing a snippet of the factory system of assistants that are working on his paintings. How is he supervising this production while maintaining his vision and quality of the work intact? BDAB already got their flight tickets and housing booked for the show, so stay tuned for more coverage.
The Broad Opens Its Inaugural Exhibition – Part Two
Downstairs on the 1st floor of the Broad is a recent body of work by the Superflat movement leader Takashi Murakami (@takashipom). There are other works on the first floor, but it is largely dominated by the works of Murakami. The common motif in these works is the catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami off the Pacific coast of Tohoku in Japan. The emotions and devastations felt as the aftermath of the disaster overtook the livelihood of the Japanese people served as an artistic inspiration for Murakami.
A 82 ft long and 10 ft tall masterwork completed in 2014 by the artist took up two full walls of the large hall. It told a beautiful story of a mischievous sea god that caused numerous deaths and the survivors that braved through the storm on the sea finally meet prosperity and peace. However, the prosperity and peace lead to greed and gluttony that foretells another disaster soon to come. I tried to capture that story in the set of pictures after the break:
The Broad Opens Its Inaugural Exhibition- Part One
“The Broad is a new contemporary art museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. The museum is home to nearly 2,000 works of art and holds one of the most prominent collections of postwar and contemporary art worldwide” exclaim the museum’s brochures that were handed out to the attendees in bold, black, capitalized letters. Angelenos came out in droves today to finally catch a glimpse of the billion dollar collection that was promised to the city back in 2010 when Eli officially announced that the Broad (rhymes with road, not rod) museum would be opening in Downtown Los Angeles.
The “veil and vault” architecture of the museum was designed by the esteemed firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, who are no strangers to designing high art institutes (for example Boston ICA, MoMA expansion, and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive). The vault refers to the carefully temperature and humidity controlled archive where the Broad Foundation conducts all its lending activities of its collection to outside organizations. You can catch a glimpse of the vault here.
As you might expect from a museum inaugural exhibition, they played it very safe. There’s nothing challenging, provocative, or educating about it, but plenty of familiar names and images of contemporary art are abound: Damien Hirst, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Baldessari, Julian Schnabel, Andry Warhol, Roy Lichenstein, Jeff Koon, Takashi Murakami, Ed Ruscha, Barbara Kruger, Christopher Wool, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Kara Walker.
It is designed to draw crowds and Instagram picture tags, rather than to push the boundaries of modern art exhibition for which this opening could have been used. I don’t think the Broad needed to cater to populist tastes to draw attendance given that the Broad name carries such prominence in the art world. However, this exhibition does speak volumes about the vision and persistence of the Broad collection to recognize and build the talent of these artists before they had become household names. The Broad is a collection that continuously grows at a pace of approximately one new work per week, so I’m really excited that Eli and Edythe have decided to share it with the public in this fashion. Although this museum wasn’t built on pure philanthropy, given that museum shows will only help appreciate the value of the collection, and I couldn’t care less about the business practices of Eli Broad, this is a leading contemporary art collection that Los Angeles has been very fortunate to gain.
In Part Two, we’ll go to the exhibition area on the 1st Floor of the museum that showcases works by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
Click through to see 100+ pictures from the opening.
Huge Turnout for Aaron Horkey, Esao Andrews, and Joao Ruas’s Exhibition “The Gilded Age” @ Thinkspace Gallery
What a turnout for Thinkspace Gallery’s newest sold-out exhibition, a three-man show by Aaron Horkey, Esao Andrews, and Joao Ruas titled “The Gilded Age”. A line to enter the show started forming around 5:30pm and by start of the show at 6pm the line was easily 60 people strong. The line continued for the remainder of the night.
Aaron Horkey and Joao Ruas each brought 9 new works for the show, and Esao brought 8 new works, including a massive 48″x36″ piece, the largest piece in the room. Not only in the artworks themselves, but the attention to detail in the presentation (Aaron Horkey painstakingly lettered the title under each piece by hand) could hardly go unnoticed. There’s a lot of pictures to be shared so I’m going let the pictures do the talking.
Click through the link to view 48 pictures from the show.
Anthony Lister’s “Mad Props Street Cred” Brings the Street to the Gallery @ New Image Art
Lister’s first solo show in US in three years opened last night at New Image Art in West Hollywood. The Australian street artist was in attendance, lots of Angeleno art fans came out to party, and, of course, free booze, provided by House Beers (which was a surprisingly good beer), always helps. It was a truly multi-media event: sculptures, an installation mimicking the artist’s roaming street studio, a video installation that brought one of his paintings to life, and numerous new pieces on canvas were strewn across the gallery floor and walls. The show is open until October 10th.
Click through the post to find more pictures from the opening.
Art Openings in Los Angeles, Sept. 11th Weekend
There’s a quite a few exciting show openings in Los Angeles next weekend. BDAB will be in attendance for at least a couple of these, so drop me a line in the comments if you’re going too.
Gilded Age @ Thinkspace Gallery. Saturday, September 12th, 6-9pm
6009 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232
Andrew Horkey, Esao Andrews, Joao Ruas
Don’t call it a group show. It is a three-man exhibition between Aaron Horkey (@aaronhorkey), Esao Andrews (@esao), and Joao Ruas (@feral_kid). The idea for this show first came about back in 2012 when Thinkspace Gallery’s head honcho Andrew Hosner (@thinkspace_art) casually asked Andrew Horkey about his ideal three-man show, to which Horkey quickly named off Esao and Joao. Each of these artists have been heavily promoting the show with teasers of works-in-progress and it’s looks like it’ll easily be the show of the year in Los Angeles. Be sure to sign up for Thinkspace’s email list or follow them on social media for more information.
Mad Props Street Cred @ New Image Art. Friday, September 11th, 7-10pm
7920 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90046
Anthony Lister
This is the first solo exhibition in United States since 2012 of the self-proclaimed “adventure painter” Anthony Lister (@anthonylister). The Australian street artist has been busy on the streets of LA in the last week hitting up walls to promote the show. New Image Art (@newimageart) knows how to throw a party, so it should be a good show to attend if you’re not doing much this Friday. Even if you are, this will probably be better, so go to the show anyways.
https://instagram.com/p/6-8a3lL9VH/?taken-by=anthonylister
https://instagram.com/p/7N9zsyQRLD/?taken-by=newimageart
Trapezoid @ KP Projects/Merry Karnowsky Gallery. Saturday, September 12th, 7-10pm
170 S La Brea Ave Los Angeles, CA
Mark Whalen
Mark Whalen (@mark_whalen) is another Australian artist showing in Los Angeles next weekend. Merry Karnowsky (@kpprojectsmkg) has been kind to the BDAB collection in the last few years, although they probably don’t even know it. From the looks of it, Mark is preparing a large installation, much akin to the large scale outdoor work he’s done in the past.
https://instagram.com/p/7MBonZySP9/?taken-by=mark__whalen
https://instagram.com/p/7E2ZqiSSHi/?taken-by=mark__whalen
It’s going to be a fun weekend. See you guys at the shows!
BREAKING NEWS: Banksy’s Dismaland Confirmed
There have been murmurs for the past couple of weeks that a new Banksy show may be abound, but today it has been confirmed that it is happening in Weston-super-Mare, August 22-September 27, 2015. Located on the Bristol Channel Coast of Somerset, England, Weston-super-Mare is, or was, a popular tourist destination with a population that is largely 65 or older. Weston-super-Mare is also the title of a Banksy print from 2003, image of which is found below.
According to the website, you can expect to see work from many artists from all over the world, not just Banksy, including Polly Morgan, Josh Keyes, Paul Insect, Bast, Espo, and even Damien Hirst. Tickets for guaranteed entry to the “amusement park” will be available starting Friday, London time, for only £3. You can bet your dollar that I will be F5’ing all day to get my ticket. 
Visit Dismaland’s website [here] for more information.