Chronic crochet bomber Olek’s newest show at Jonathan Levine is nothing but rips. There’s a crochet Invader. There’s a crochet installation version of Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of Keith Haring. Olek even stole the “great artist steal” quote Banksy stole from Picasso. There’s an Olek Supreme art skate deck… or not, maybe it’s just the usual bunch of sex toys in cozies and wheeled objects rendered immobile, swallowed by a web of Olek’s signature crochet insanity. Approach with caution. “The Bad Artists Imitate , The Great Artists Steal,” Olek, Aug 10 – Aug 27, Jonathan Levine Gallery, NYC
In addition to the opening of his Ludovico Aversion Therapy show at Jonathan Levine gallery this past weekend, British artist D*Face adapted some of the work into a series of murals painted on security gates on the Lower East Side—200 Clinton Street to be exact. While the exhibit at the gallery will be viewable until October 10th, the inevitable work of vandals will likely ensure a much shorter shelf life for these outdoor pieces.
Shepard Fairey, the 38-year-old street artist who has garnered mainstream attention recently thanks to the “Progress” and “Hope” posters he designed for Barack Obama’s campaign, is rapidly losing his vision due to a lifelong battle with diabetes. According to one source close to Fairey, he could be legally blind by the end of the year.
“That’s why he’s having so many gallery shows and making so many prints,” the source, who requested anonymity, said. “The Faireys are trying to pump out as much artwork as they can before he can’t see anymore — time is running out.”
Before his Obama work, Fairey was best known for littering countless urban landscapes with his ‘Andre the Giant Has A Posse’ wheatpastings and and has been compared to a modern-day Andy Warhol by many in the contemporary art world.
L to R: |Dalek 9, 32″x32″|Dalek 7, 32″x32″|Dalek 2, 36″x36″|All work: Acrylics on Panel|
There’s a reason DALEK’s ‘Desperate, Rejected & Angry’ show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery basically sold out—only one painting didn’t sell—for almost $10k a pop. The work was new. Way more intricate, detailed and refined than some of his former tribes of Space Monkeys floating around on multiple-colored canvasses. DALEK had the insight to transition, and executed his vision really well. He even admits to the dangers of being pigeon holed in this interview with Creativity, a warning that some artists in the whole ‘Downtown Contemporary-Graffiti-Whitney Bi-ennial-ish’ art scene should take heed of:
“That’s all I got when people asked me to design something—’Can we get a monkey for this?’ There are only so many fucking Space Monkeys you can put out into the world before people burn out on it.
Word. KAWS, your turn?
Dalek Transistorizes |Creativity|
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