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Category Archives: Contemporary Art

Openings: JR x New York City Ballet (Part I)

Last week, AM attended the New York City Ballet (NYCB) to catch the premiere of the next exhibition in their artist series, this time featuring JR. The French “photograffeur” took the opportunity to transform the Lincoln Center with his imagery both inside and out. Utilizing numerous photo sessions with NYCB’s dancers, JR was able to add a new wrinkle to the storied performance troupe’s performances. First, JR wheatpasted the large glass front facade of the building with the graceful feet of the ballet. Once inside, an exhibition of his […]

Openings: Jason Thielke – “Monuments” @ David B. Smith Gallery

AM was on hand for the opening night of Jason Thielke’s (interviewed) third solo show at Denver’s David B. Smith Gallery. Deviating from his trademark female figures, the show features animals as well as landscapes of some of Colorado’s most recognizable geologic formations, including Red Rocks Amphitheater and Garden of the Gods. Thielke continues to work in mixed media on wood and use his signature angular lines and minimal use of color. A Denver transplant, Thielke is coming off recent group shows including Wider Than a Postcard at […]

Previews: KAWS – “PLAY YOUR PART” @ Galeria Javier Lopez

Coming up on February, one of the shows we will be looking forward to will be KAWS’ new solo at Galeria Javier Lopez in Madrid. Entitled PLAY YOUR PART, the exhibition will be a followup to the street turned contemporary artist’s showing there in 2010 (covered). Take a look at some more preview images below, gleaned from KAWS’ Instagram and plan to be there on the 20th when the doors open. Discuss KAWS here.

Interviews: Sage Vaughn – ‘Nobody’s Home’ @ Lazarides

LA based Sage Vaughn makes a welcome return to the UK for his new solo exhibition Nobody’s Home this week at Lazarides Gallery. His ability to present beauty and brutality, cleverly intertwined within the same image, has always resonated with us. A couple of weeks ago, Sage interviewed Bill McRight for AM in anticipation of his solo exhibition Willing to Lose at Breeze Block Gallery in Portland. This time around Bill has repaid the favour and turned the questions on Sage. Read on as the pair […]

Showing: Amanda Marie – “I Was Just Thinking” @ White Walls

White Walls Gallery in San Francisco recently opened a solo show by American painter and stencilist Amanda Marie. The show titled I Was Just Thinking, opened on January 11th, and will be on view until 1st of February. For this exhibition, Marie used the majority of the gallery space to create an installation which includes both wall murals and clusters of original works. The one thing that is very noticeable about this body of work is the use of black paint as the background, which hasn’t […]

Basel Week Miami ’13: Ai Weiwei – “According to What?” @ Pérez Art Museum Miami

One of the exhibitions we made sure to stop by while in Miami for Art Basel Week back in December was the survey of Ai Weiwei’s work at the Perez Art Museum Miami. Housed in the newly designed building by Herzog & de Meuron, the showing spans the Chinese activist – artist’s 20 year career and features a wide range of works including photography and the large-scale installations like the amazing stacked bicycles seen above. Discuss Ai Weiwei here.

LA Art Show ’14: Ace Gallery

One of the first booths you saw on entrance to this year’s Los Angeles Art Fair was occupied by the ACE Gallery. The large booth was stocked with prime examples of work from many of the artists that show with them including Justin Bower (seen above), Laurie Lipton, Phil Frost, Date Farmers and more. Check out the rest of our coverage of the fair here.  

Openings: Oscar Murillo – “Distribution Room” @ The Mistake Room

Last weekend, along with taking in the LA Art Show (covered), we also stopped to check out the much talked about Los Angeles and US debut of Oscar Murillo. Touted as the next Basquiat by some in the art world, the Colombian born artist put his process on display with videos, finished and unfinished works at The Mistake Room with a show entitled Distribution Room. During the opening, raffle tickets ($1000) were also sold to pick winners of two t-shirts painted on by Murillo. Discuss Oscar Murillo here.

Art Focus: Aaron Li-Hill

For our latest Art Focus feature, we wanted to bring the dynamic work of Aaron Li-Hill to your attention. The recently relocated artist who moved from Toronto to New York City can be seen above working on one of his kinetic and visually arresting installations, another one of which can be seen below. The multi-disciplinary Li-Hill, comfortable across a plethora of mediums, also creates street murals and paintings. For those interested, he will be exhibiting at the Next Gallery in Toulouse, France  in May, showcasing mainly […]

Overtime: Jan 20 – Jan 26

More stories from the week ended Jan 26 (click on bolded words for more info): Jeff Koons balloon rabbit installed in lobby of new IBM building on 51 Astor Place. RIP: Chryssa, who died at the age of 79. RIP: Martha Beck, who died at the age of 75. RIP: Robert Alistair McAlpine, who died at the age of 71 Getty senior curator Scott Schaefer is retiring. Bombings in Cairo killed people and wrecked a nearby museum of Islamic artifacts. Charles Saatchi and Taki may […]