Mark Lugo, a wine steward from an upscale Manhattan restaurant, has plead guilty to a prolific bout of art thievery. He stole works by Basquiat, Yoshitomo Nara and others — accumulating a world-class trove worth $430,000 — and stashed it in his Hoboken apartment. He had no intention to sell it. Boinkers? Obviously… Or not? Read more »
From the makers of Internet-famous snow-globe sculptures “Travelers”, comes a C-print series of miniature adventures starring unattended children, captured priests, and a giant mystical dog, all covered in night, all tiny, tiny tiny tiny. “Dystopian Kinderland” is one of P.P.O.W. Gallery’s locutions. Catchy, huh? If you like miniatures a lot, so much that you don’t even need ‘em to be strung up erotically Japanese rope bondage-style, come see these wintry forestscapes with a slightly surrealist twist (and yes, they will have those snow-globes too) at “Night Falls,” Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz, Feb 9 – Mar 10, P.P.O.W. Gallery, NYC.
“Occupying” the Museum of Sex, 20 artists “who have pushed notions of propriety into provocation on the street” — or, their stuff has lots of tits, many dicks — have brought their work inside, most notably the William Thomas Porter and Andrew H. Shirley “Fuck Bike #001.” It’s been to Basel. It’s been in a lot of places. It’s a sculptural, bike-hybrid system of pedals, chains, tires and a prosthetic phallus that does what you think it does. Watch the NSFW video. Read more »
Did you feel the crash? Artist Luke Jerram has made this duo of sculptures that turn the data graphs of the New York Stock Exchange (Composite 2004-2012) and the Dow Jones (Industrial Average 1980-2012) into tactile visualizations in carved wood. Nifty, just like his sculptures of the earthquake in Japan and the N1H1 virus. Looking at these conical, oblong art-works, your very professional art blogger, in all her professionalism, is professionally abstaining from butt plug metaphors, even though that dangerous looking ridge circa 2009 really was a pain, wasn’t it? Professionalism! Read more »
After turning down every media outlet so he can go on the Howard Stern show, artist David Choe talks jerking off in a Japanese prison, naturally. Then, about the time Facebook paid him for murals in stock that’s now worth more $200 million and how much of it is left. Listen. Read more »
And now, the burn we’ve all been waiting for: Legendary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who has been painting polka-dots since before Damien Hirst was born, comments on the hated “Spot” mania. Let’s get ready to oooooh… Read more »
I’ll say it again, Kris Kuksi’s sculptures need to be seen in person. See all the obsessive sculptural nuances by the modern Rococo master up close. Don’t just squint at the .jpgs but come and walk up to these floating islands, dripping in details, blooming with guns barrels, anachronistic soldiers, machines in decay. What is it about growing up lonely in rural Kansas in a broken home that makes one make stuff like this? Beats us. See the freshest, like the mythical-themed first three above at: Kris Kuksi, “Triumph,” Mar 8 – Apr 7, Joshua Liner Gallery, NYC
David LaChapelle’s “Earth Laughs in Flowers” series takes from the Dutch Masters’ still life and its opulent piles of fruit, only, his throws in some signifiers of the modern age that “explore contemporary vanity, vice, the transience of earthly possessions and, ultimately, the fragility of humanity.” It’s all vapid hues of pink and yellow, plasticine sheen and nothing subtle: Silicone assholes, Vienna sausages, blooming, flowers, wet fruit, a praying mantis, blood-splattered wine-glasses, more flowers, more fruit, clouds of cigarette ash, Cheetos, junk, a toy airplane, a burning American flag. See them for the first time on US soil at “David LaChapelle: Earth Laughs in Flowers,” Feb 23 – Mar 24, Fred Torres Collaborations, NYC
From the Internet’s best art critic behind Art Thoughtz: Damien Hirst, here’s Hennesy Youngman’s crash course through performance art’s various attempts to annoy people through the ages. Featuring: “white males with scissors” and “titties.” Read more »
Damien Hirst’s treasure hunt for rich people who like dots goes on! So far, 18 deep-pocketed jet-setters like this Russian weirdo went to all 11 Gagosian Galleries in all 8 countries to get their card stamped for a free print of Hirst’s hated spots. Let’s all root for young #AverageJoe or Josef Valentino who shares my Hirst-hate and has almost crowd-sourced his way to a win, just to prove a point! Read more »
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