AM stopped by again at the Park Avenue Armory to check up on the progress of Yoshitomo Nara and YNG/graf during this week’s “Open Studio” session. This time, we got to take full pictures detailing some of the amazing strides made in the past two days since we last visited the crew. Nara’s of pseudo workspace was filled with what looks to be completed works on paper, most of which will be added to the upcoming retrospective at Asia Society in two weeks.
We also got to meet with co-curator Miwako Tezuka to discuss some of the exhibition details. Apparently YNG has a few surprises coming down the pipeline as there multiple installations planned. What we can tell you is that YNG is going old school in the spirit of the retrospective and bringing back “Home”. For those that don’t know, “Home” is the very first collaboration between Nara & YNG in 2005. Other installation features will include a looping photo montage of Nara’s photographs of children (a likely source of inspiration for his works). All in all, what’s planned looks to be epic, so definitely make plans to attend the opening on September 9th.
Check out a preview of the pieces for the retrospective and a very special Nara giveaway after the jump.
Eli Broad, who is arguably known as the most powerful man in Los Angeles, revealed this week where he will build his museum, which will house the spectacular Broad Collection. The highly-anticipated location was speculated for years to be decided between Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Downtown Los Angeles. In the end, Downtown LA wins out and will be the site where Broad’s world-class contemporary art collection will reside. It will be situated right by Disney Hall and will be in close proximity to The Museum of Contemporary Art. With this exciting project, Broad hopes to revitalize Downtown into a vibrant cultural center, including new hotels, restaurants, shops, and condos.
AMstopped by the opening of Yoshitomo Nara & design firm graf/YNG’s ”Open Studio” at the Park Avenue Armory. Using the massive Armory venue as a central staging ground, the YNG crew hit the ground running; creating a modular structure/installation designed to be carted up Park Ave in the upcoming week for the retrospective opening September 9th at the Asia Society. There, Nara will exhibit over 50 works to go along with the always impressive installations that accompany the immersive shows.
Occupying the other half of the Armory space, Nara has a make shift studio where on-lookers can observe the master at work on some fresh pieces intended to be additions of this exhibition. The in-progress construction site was just that as attendees were required to wear hard hats and closed-toed shoes as safety precautions to gain entry to the work site. This unique experience is open daily from 4pm - 7pm until August 27th, so definitely make a trip up to the Park Avenue Armory to check out Nara and his crew hard at work.
Good News/Bad News… The bad news: we were informed to stop taking further pictures until Thursday. The good news: we got a nice shot of Nara’s pseudo studio before that conversation.
Continuing a string of quality book releases at SFMOMA (see David Choe and Further signings), Mark Ryden spent some time last week meeting and greeting his legions of fans on the occasion of the release of his new book “The Snow Yak Show” from Last Gasp Books (purchase here). Luckily for us, our friends from Hi-Fructose were on hand to document the event.
Last week AM visited the SFMOMA to catch the signing of David Choe’s (featured) monograph (previewed) from Chronicle Books. The crowd of fans waited patiently to get some face time with the accomplished artist. David, as usual, took his time greet his loyal Bay Area followers and for a lucky few, even created mini sketches in their books.
Renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor is currently showing at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the first large-scale survey of the artist’s work to be seen in Spain. In a fascinating series of videos, Kapoor gives a tour of each of the major pieces in the exhibition. Not only do we get to see some nice footage of the show, we also get an explanation of each artwork from Kapoor himself.
So, it turns out that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have a vast collection of original Norman Rockwell paintings and drawings. Luckily for us, they are willing to share these iconic pieces with the public in the form of an exhibition, “Telling Stories”, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. The exhibition, highlighting the connections between the master storyteller with American life and the movies, opened earlier this month and will continue into Janurary 2011.
More examples of the 57 works on display after the jump…
If you remember, AM recently brought you a first look at the KAWS museum show at The Aldrich as well as a peek at the upcoming Pinnochio and Jiminy Cricket figures. Apparently, High Snobiety also made the trek out to Connecticut and put together a nice video capturing footage of the paintings, installations, drawings, sculptural work, and art products that were part of the massive retrospective.
Saturday evening in San Diego was a great night for street, urban, and new contemporary art. With many of the museums in so-called cultural centers of this country and world still slow to embrace a rapidly growing movement, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego made it clear where they stand with an amazing exhibition of some of the major players in this art “Revolucion”. Not only did the city open up their public spaces to the artists (albeit still with some naysayers), they also turned out in full force to support the opening just like art lovers have in the few other museums that have taken a risk to display non-traditional art.
Perhaps the rumored upcoming street art exhibition at the LA MOCA under the new guidance of Deitch will be the coming out party for our movement, but San Diego, you will be remembered. More opening photos after the jump…
AM headed down to San Diego on Friday morning to catch the press preview ofViva La Revolucion at MCASD (check out our street coverage here). It was great to wander around the Jacobs Building and get a sneak peek of everything the artists have been working on indoors after seeing all the amazing pieces that have been popping up on the streets of the city. Pedro Alonzo, the exhibition’s curator, led a talk around the museum and spoke about the different artists and their work. Shepard Fairey, David Ellis, Stephan Doitschinoff aka Calma, Dzine, William Cordova, the Date Farmers and more were all on hand, either finishing up their pieces or talking about them to the crowd.
We won’t give everything away in case you’re going to tonight’s preview, but we do have a few exclusive images to share after the jump.
After finishing his mural in Hillcrest for the Viva La Revolucion exhibition, Shepard Fairey’s (featured) moved to the next spot - South Park (29th and Ivy). From the looks of things, this piece will be a larger version of his “Burmese Monk” image. Those in San Diego, make sure you get out and find all these street gems by these major artists as most likely, this will be the only time in the near future where you will have this opportunity in your hometown.
The Jeffrey Deitch era at MOCA has officially begun with his first show as director of the esteemed institution - Dennis Hopper’sDouble Standard. The retrospective, curated by Julian Schnabel and with assistance from dealer Tony Shafrazi, takes place at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary location and includes Hopper’s photographs, sculptures, films, and paintings, which included elements of pop, abstract expressionism, photorealism, and graffiti.
With the actor and artist’s recent death still fresh in the minds of everyone in attendance, the exhibition was a timely one and can be seen as a celebration of Hopper’s life and work. Many were able to see his life outside of film and view his formerly under-appreciated works, such as his observant shots of Los Angeles and California life and the fringes of society. The opening was DJ’d by Ed Ruscha’s son, Eddie Ruscha, and as expected, drew a large, stylish, and hip crowd
AM went along to the opening of Emma Tooth’s exhibition “Extraordinary paintings of Ordinary People” this weekend at Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Lavishly dressed for the occasion in one her own creations, Ms. Tooth’s paintings were spread across two rooms of the Museum, and as we mentioned last week, both mixed in with the permanent collection of 18th Century artist Joseph Wright, and also in her own exhibition space with Wright’s paintings interspersed between Emma’s work.
It was a treat so see paintings from a past era displayed alongside contemporary works, and it also shows that regardless of year of creation, skillful painting is timeless. The new paintings blended well with the old with Emma’s classical style of portraiture complimenting the works by Wright from the Museum’s permanent collection. Many of Wright’s compositions are beautifully lit by candlelight, and a similar approach in her use of shadows and the lighting she stages in her reference shoots for her chiaroscuro pieces aligns Emma’s work perfectly alongside Wright in this showing.
Read on for more details and pictures from the opening after the jump.
As we have reported, the “Viva la Revolución : A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape” group show is fast approaching. While Barry McGee et al. were leaving their controversial mark in San Diego, Invader has been quietly getting up around town with his signature tile work, even getting close to the Navy ships stationed there it seems. There is method to his madness though as you will see in the video trailer after the jump; his path of street work forms a huge invader piece seen from the sky reminiscent of the GPS work of Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba.
