Category: art

something arresting about these images. found on i heart photograph.

I was reminded of Yinka Shonibare recently, while watching a preview for the latest season of Art: 21, a fantastic PBS documentary series. (the video is posted below, for your viewing pleasure.)

I was aware of Shonibare’s work before, and seen it in person, but this video in a few short seconds, gave me new insights into his work and allowed me to appreciate it more fully. I think it’s because I wasn’t aware of his photographs or video work before, and now suddenly it all came together as a whole. I really enjoy how the installations are so performative, and the photography and video work even more so, almost hyper-real, super-performative.

I also appreciate that he is tackling issues of race, but not in dumbed down black and white (literally or figuratively), but with work that is nuanced, multi-dimensional, and asks us to explore and question (concepts like “african fabric”), instead of scolding us or telling us how to feel, usually guilty or proud depending on the color of our skin. “My figures are neither white nor black, […] it’s a device that manages to make the pieces post-racial,” he says.
Continue reading Yinka Shonibare

I’m usually not interested in prints, but this one is so beautiful and works on so many levels for me, I had to post it. I love its direct connection to nature, its one-to-one relationship with the original, and its hand made nature. It’s so gloriously simple an idea and execution, yet it’s meticulous in its creation. I only wish I could afford the $4000 price tag. This Bryan Nash Gill original is available at the fantastic ashes & milk store.

Art Babble is a new website that is like a youtube but for art. I don’t think it allows any user generated content, it’s art related so it is heavily curated but the quality seems really high right now. Already I’ve found more than few videos I have never seen and was interested in. Additionally, the suggested content section alongside each video is really great and unbiased (links out to other websites).

They also seem pretty well focused on the social aspects, commenting, facebook, etc. I do wish they had a twitter account I could follow. It’s hard to compete with youtube, and there have been other attempts at curated content, but I’m very excited about this, so I hope it takes off! check it out.

I don’t know much about the Oz Collective I just came across this image and it struck me. I love the shape of the sculpture, their ability to use dramatic lighting and the title is hard to beat : Abri N°177.

Well it’s more like “art”, definitely low-brow but for a Seinfeld fan like me definitely amusing and worth a look! (click through for the full size plus the answer key!) Found on the you fail blog

Perfection! (Couldn’t have done it better myself, LOL.) Minimal, lighting, and extra cord-age.

Attended a Panel at the New York Public Library today, entitled “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy” with Shepard Fairey, Lawrence Lessig and Steven Johnson.

This is my second event in this series, first one was with Zadie Smith, and I think it’s starting to be a trend. I certainly enjoyed Tonight, it’s super nice to be in a room full of smart people and be part of an intelligent conversation on important topics.

The important topic of the night being copyright and everyone’s right to be creative and remix. The panelists were generally in favor of intellectual property rights but also agreed that our current system is failing us and the legal system is really following the money and not at all looking out for the public good. I also learned Lawrence Lessig will never run for any public office, Shepard Fairy aims to make populist art with accessible metaphors, and Stephen Johnson introduced me to some underground writings of Thomas Jefferson and we all tried to figure out where to draw the line of acceptable use when making a remix.

nice one! so simple. ultra-minimalist and exemplifies the essence of contemporary art for me.

Someday I may move out of NYC so I like to collect things that exemplify it’s essence, the everyday bits that comprise the NYC experience,  the things you experience only if you live here, not if you just come by for a visit.

This is a slow motion video made by Vicente Sahuc using only the video capabilities of his Casio EX-F1, pretty nice result.

(via todayandtomorrow)