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Monthly Archives: April 2014

Kickstarter: A Secretly Filmed Sci-Fi Starring Ai Weiwei

An interesting project surfaced a couple days ago when it was announced that there was a secret short film starring Ai Weiwei in his acting debut. The dystopian sci-fi, written and directed by Jason Wishnow (the filmmaker behind “TED Talks”), made on the down low in China, features the dissident artist as a smuggler in a world without water. Overcoming many obstacles, all the footage has been shot (by Christopher Doyle no less), but help is still needed for production costs, visual effects, sound design, music, mix, color […]

Previews / Installation: Swoon – “Submerged Motherlands” @ Brooklyn Museum

Coming up on April 11th, the Brooklyn Museum will be presenting a new large-scale installation from Swoon (interviewed), whom we just visited in studio earlier this year. Entitled Submerged Motherlands, the epic site-specific creation will be housed in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery on the 5th Floor featuring a “monumental sculptural tree with a constructed environment at its base, including sculpted boats and rafts, figurative prints and drawings, and cut paper foliage.” Known for her interest in social issues, Swoon will be working with theme of climate […]

Upcoming: Mark Jenkins – “Terrible Horrible” @ Ruttkowski;68

After seeding the city of Cologne last year with some of his sculptural urban interventions for the CityLeaks Festival, Mark Jenkins (interviewed) has returned for a solo show at Ruttkowski;68. Entitled Terrible Horrible, the exhibition opening on April 4th will delight and surprise the American artist’s fans alike with his play on the human form. If you were one of the lucky people that attended a special preview dinner put on by the gallery, you would have directly off one of his pieces lying on the table (seen below). […]

Showing: MTV RE:DEFINE @ Dallas Contemporary

Dallas Contemporary is currently hosting the 3rd edition (also see 2012, 2011) of MTV RE:DEFINE, a special art exhibition and auction event curated by The Future Tense and Peter Doroshenko and powered by Paddle8. Including a wide variety of works by internationally renowned artists such as Damien Hirst, Richard Phillips, Daniel Arsham, Joe Black, Katrin Fridriks, Kevin Francis Gray, Maya Hayuk, JR, Margaret Lee, Chris Levine, Jonathan Yeo, Sarah Lucas, as well as huge list of young, emerging urban, street and contemporary artist, all proceeds from sales […]

Armory Week ’14: Armory Art Fair (Part 2)

One of the unique aspect of the Armory Art Show during  Armory Week is the fact that it’s spread out over two piers (92 & 94) on the west side of Manhattan Island with each pier themed differently. Pier 92 housed classic works from the Modern art period. Art from the history books were on display in this focused section of the fair, while the pier 94 housed works from the current contemporary era showing alongside a newly debuted Focus: China area where select gallerists from the […]

Openings: STASH – “Sprayed In Full” @ The Seventh Letter

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to attend the opening of a show from New York graffiti legend STASH (featured). Entitled Sprayed In Full and held at The Seventh Letter gallery in Los Angeles, the exhibition featured a series of works on canvas and paper featuring the same abstract splatter, inspired by elements of graffiti that have made him a wanted man for collaborations with streetwear and fashion companies (as evidenced by a new shoe design from Reebok – also one of the sponsors of the show). Discuss Stash […]

Previews: Mark Whalen – “Stranded” @ Merry Karnowsky Gallery

On April 5th, the Merry Karnowsky Gallery will be opening a show from Mark Whalen (as well as from Julian Meagher). Entitled Stranded, the new body of work from Whalen will include surreal paintings, his catalog of human activity – “playing, fighting, experimenting, creating, cultivating, dreaming, and destroying” – this time within confined interior spaces. Rounding out the exhibition will be a series of ceramic vessels. Discuss Mark Whalen here.

The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt (New York)

Kicking off yesterday, the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt features egg sculptures customized by 260 artists, designers, photographers, architects and other creatives, some seen regularly here on AM. This event is a followup to the successful hunts held in London in 2012 and Dublin in 2013. An app has been created that will allow participants in the search to check in each time an egg is found, with the location hidden until 10 people discover it (prizes will be given out). On April 18th, each egg will be […]

Showing: “20 Years Art X Mags Exhibition” @ Giant Robot 2

A couple weeks ago, we visited Giant Robot 2 in West LA to check out the 20 Years Art X Mags Exhibition. Celebrating twenty years as a brand and supporter of Asian art & pop culture, the show features many of the artists that have been featured by GR over its long history including Yoshitomo Nara, Geoff McFetridge, Yoskay Yamamoto, Ai Yamaguchi, Souther Salazar, Rob Sata, Uglydoll, Edwin Ushiro, Kozyndan, Luke Chueh, Jeff Soto, Masakatsu Sashie, Barry McGee (seen above), and more. The show ends today […]

Studio Visits: Femke Hiemstra

AM visited Dutch artist Femke Hiemstra in her home studio in Amsterdam shortly after relaunched her official website, Femtasia.nl, and the release of her latest book Timid Cabbage. We were intrigued to see how her impressive works take form, where she get the ideas for her unique pieces, and what her plans were for the coming year. Hiemstra’s art career started by chance, when her long time job as an illustrator for different Dutch publications got put on hold. This was a result of the ongoing recession and […]