Streets: Pejac (Hong Kong)
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Streets: Maya Hayuk (Coney Art Walls)
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Overtime: June 1 – June 7
- Anish Kapoor sculpture becomes relevant to a lot of people's interests because it is a giant vagina.
- Artists create parody imagery mocking FIFA and World Cup sponsors due to human rights violations.
- Russia requests that Britain blocks sale of Ivan Aivazovsky's "Evening in Cairo" because it is stolen.
- Some of the creative class in San Francisco leaving the city to live in Portland.
- Portland's creative community starting to be evicted and priced out of properties.
- Dale Chihuly employee discovered to have stolen $3mil. worth of works from him.
- Nepal's Prime Minister requesting $2bil. in aid to rebuild country and heritage sites.
- Ownership of Caravaggio's The Burial of Saint Lucy painting contested between rival churches.
- MoMA workers protest health care cuts outside during Party in the Garden event.
- British Museum plans to lend 500 objects to Abu Dhabi for five years at the Zayed National Museum. It is subsequently criticized for loaning to institution known for abuse of workers' rights.
- Frick Museum cancels controversial and contested renovation plans.
- Manhattan Art Supply Store may close after being in business for 110 years.
- Why Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol.
- Atena Farghadani sentenced to over 12 years in prison for criticizing the government through her art.
- Auction of Native American artifacts proceeds despite pleas from Hopi tribe and others to suspend sale.
- A look at money laundering and the art market.
- Paris starts to remove “locks of love” from Pont des Arts footbridge after structural integrity is threatened.
- Mint & Serf pop-up show in Soho shut down by NYPD.
- Upcoming hurricane season threatening billions of dollars worth of art.
- Annie Leibovitz shoots Caitlyn Jenner for Vanity Fair. Christopher Knight feels cover image falls flat.
- Indecline claims to have created the largest piece of illegal graffiti in the world.
- Boston Public Library is enhancing security and changing management of valuables after thefts. Turns out that they simply misfiled the missing prints.
- Marcantonio Raimondi engraving may depict Leonardo da Vinci playing a musical instrument.
- Best paying jobs for art majors are in the fashion industry.
- San Francisco giving away 480 tons of steel from the Bay Bridge to artists for projects.
- Some quotes from Maccarone Gallery's panel on feminism.
- Museums like LACMA promote selfie moments at their spaces.
- Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to establish John Singer Sargent Archive.
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art acquires major works by Jasper Johns and Louise Bourgeois.
- Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture obtains artifacts from slave ship.
- Tate Modern receives an extra £6mil. in government funding to help run museum.
- MoMA director Glenn Lowry revealed to have earned $2.1mil. in salary, bonus, and benefits in 2013. The museum elevates vice chairman Leon Black to newly created role of co-chairman.
- The Swiss Institute’s board of trustees elects Maja Hoffmann as board chair.
- Sammy Olagbaju plans to build a private museum in Lagos to show his collection.
- Inaugural Seattle Art Fair has some impressive dealers.
- Hunter S. Thompson's home in Woody Creek, Colorado to be turned into a museum.
- Denver Art Museum names Rebecca R. Hart its curator.
- A look at "Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life" at New York Botanical Garden.
- Exploring the case of free museum admission.
- The growing trend of luxury brand-owned galleries and museums.
- Katya Kazakina writes about the increasing popularity of flipping older works at auction.
- Andrey Filatov collecting and betting on Soviet-era art in bulk.
- Tehran auction exceed expectations and breaks records in spite of sanctions.
- Sotheby's to auction painting by Gustav Klimt that was in private hands for over a century.
- German art market not growing at a comparable rate to other countries due to taxes and bureaucracy.
- Financial Times looks at the art market in Lebanon.
- Amanda Brooks recalls her time working for Larry Gagosian.
- Jinty Stephenson consigning her Peter Blake painting she bought for £30 to Christies. It may sell for £350k.
- Jeff Koons Birkin Bag breaks record for a handbag at auction, selling for $220k.
- First edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit sells for record-breaking $210k at Sotheby’s.
- Art Basel makes a significant change to its floor plan. What some dealers are bringing to the fair.
- Sotheby's profiles Wang Zhongjun, who recently bought a Van Gogh painting.
- Collector profile of Valeria Napoleone, who collects artwork by female artists.
- Artsy talks to some collectors about how to collect video art.
- Bloomberg writes about its thoughts on Cultivist.
- Carmen Herrera still going strong at 100 years of age.
- Filippo Blengini and Alessandra Bacchilega take the world's largest photograph at Mont Blanc.
- SFAQ reviews Raymond Pettibon's show at Regen Projects.
- Richard Serra to be awarded les Insignes de Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur.
- Profile of Math Bass.
- Ry Rocklen now represented in Los Angeles by Honor Fraser.
- Phillip Glass to perform inside Richard Serra sculpture to benefit House With Heart.
- Rirkirt Tiravanija Kickstarter to build studio residency building in Thailand.
- Phaidon interviews Olafur Eliasson.
- Arne Glimcher talks about Agnes Martin.
- Contemporary Art Review looks at Aaron Garber-Maikovska's show at Greene Exhibitions.
- A look at Robert Rauschenberg's warehouse.
- Rashid Johnson featured on Nowness.
- Ken Johnson reviews Robert Irwin's show at Dia:Beacon.
- The Brooklyn Rail reviews Brent Wadden's show at Mitchell-Innes & Nash.
- The Space talks to James Bridle.
- A look at Olaf Breuning's show at Metro Pictures.
- Robert Irwin catalogue raisonné, edited by Marianne Stockebrand, is coming.
- KPCC features a story about Sister Korita Kent.
- The Fader takes a look at Michael Soi.
- Kambui Olujimi interviews Mark Bradford.
- JR wins Gordon Parks Foundation Award.
- Artspace interviews Agathe Snow. They also have an edition by her available.
- Artspace's list of ten artists to watch this June.
- POP International Galleries to present exhibition of photographs of Marilyn Monroe.
- Artists including Alex Becerra and Kim Fisher turn out to draw on Mama Shelter hotel in Los Angeles.
- New Poesia prints available from Graffuturism.
- The Banksy of the beach.
- Artnet provides career advice to James Franco.
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Interviews / Studio Visits: Jan Kalab
Arrested Motion (AM): How did your work evolve from abstract graffiti to minimal circular pieces?
Jan Kalab (JK): I have to say the most difficult for me was to find the way from letters to abstraction. Once I didn't want to repeat my name (Cakes) in different styles any more, I realized I lost the most important thing - the theme. And, it takes time to build up a new one from there. I began to work with fragments which remained and I tried to picture what I was only thinking about before. Infinity, movement, change. From that moment my work evolved pretty naturally.
AM: A lot of your recent work are circle based? Why is that?
JK: After few years of abstract painting I simplified my elements only to the square and circle, so it was just natural step to go further and use the circle as the key element only. I'm working on the circle theme more or less three years already and there is still a lot to discover. In fact, the circle is the most complex shape. Circle and sphere. Just look at macro and micro cosmos photos, or think about mathematics sets.
AM: Where did the idea for round paintings come from?
JK: I decided to study a circle, and the possibilities also, because not many people did at that time. It is more simple to work with straight lines. I also like the idea of what circle is - line around a point. Point is a name I used for building graffiti sculptures, and because of sculptures I was able to see the letters from the back side which eventually led me to abstraction. So when I think about all that, it all makes sense.
AM: Do those works represent something or do they have only value for its visual appeal?
JK: As I mentioned, circle is very complex shape. You can see a planet or a cell in it if you put a little imperfection to it. Actually, a lot of people ask if the organic circles represent an eyeball. I didn't think about that before, but yes, if you alternate something in the right way, it usually gets universal meaning. Lately, I'm focused more on the visual value of my work. I like to play with colors and want to transfer the joy of painting to a viewer. So, the works talk clear and simple without using too many sentences, if you know what I mean. I would be happy to know my work made the observer feel happy while looking at it.
AM: How does your work process look like?
JK: First, I usually do some simple sketches with pencil in my sketchbook. I use a computer to play around with composition and colors. It is a lot of fun and so easy to change a color with one click. Than again I do a similar process in my studio on canvas. Even if I have printed out a sketch, I usually change it a little and I do a lot of color mixing and tests on canvas leftovers until I find the right tones and color combination. It is always very different what you see on the screen, what is printed out, and how the colors look on canvas.
AM: You are using a lot of custom shapes in your works. do you create those yourself?
JK: I draw the imperfection on circle, I scan the drawing, draw it again in vectors and send it to a carpenter company where they create the custom stretchers for me. It took us a while until we found the best way to build a solid round custom stretcher. The stretching part I do by myself.
AM: Do you have further plans for expanding that concept?
JK: Yes, I guess so, but I never know where the creation takes me.
AM: What are your plans for the rest of the year? Any big shows or projects on the horizon?
JK: I'm having a solo show in Prague this summer. We prepare my first solo show in London @ Lollipop gallery for October too. I want to show there the evolution of my artistic journey from graffiti pieces on wall until the minimal geometry on canvas. So it could be interesting for the viewers to understand my evolution better. In December I'm also having the first solo show in Berlin @ BC gallery, where I will exhibit just the latest round minimal paintings and one sculpture. So yeah, busy year. I'm really excited.
AM: What kind of work are you preparing for the Prague show?
JK: The show in Prague is in beautiful Villa Pelle that looks like a little museum. I'm working on paintings especially for that space. I'm trying to build really clean installations with a relationship between the paintings - the smallest piece is 80 cm and the biggest almost 2 x 3 m. I will show one brand new colorful sphere sculpture made of resin, and I'm really looking forward to how this will come out. The body of work is almost done, but it will be still a lot of work to cover all the spheres with designs I planned.
Photo credit: Tomáš Třeštík & Jan Kalab
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Rewind: Mar 19 – Jun 7
- The Hundreds in studio with Tim Biskup.
- Easey Living in Melbourne featuring Adnate, Askew, Guido, Mayonaize, and Rone.
- Erin M Riley x Altamont collaboration.
- Peter Halley discusses his work.
- Steve Aoki discusses his live DJ sets as an art form.
- Rashid Johnson on Art21.
- Parody of a street artist by Daniel Solé.
- Sturtevant talks about her practice.
- TagsAndThrows goes bombing with Ligisd pt.1.
- Ryan Hewett talks about his work.
- Monika Rostvold performance piece at Texas State.
- CANEMORTO x BORONDO painting in the streets.
- Installation vid of Alexander Calder show at Dominque Levy.
- Elmgreen & Dragset's "Past Tomorrow" at Galerie Perrotin.
- Diana Al-Hadid feature on Art21.
- Dogs creating Pollock-like paintings.
- Apexer for Spotify in New York.
- Watercolor painter Alexandra Becker-Black
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Streets / Recap: ALT!rove Festival 2015 (Italy)
Alberonero[/caption]
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Sbagliato[/caption]
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Sten & Lex[/caption]
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Erosie[/caption]
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Giorgio Bartocci[/caption]
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Graphic Surgery[/caption]
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Tellas[/caption]
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Streets: Wes21 x ONUR –“Big Catch” (Denmark)
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Previews / Interviews: House Warming @ Athen B. Gallery
Arrested Motion (AM): First things first tell us a little about you and your background Brock… How did your journey steer you towards opening a gallery?
Brock Brake (BB): It started in 2010 in Chicago when I met this graffiti crew KWT 2NR. I didn't spray; I just documented all of them and their antics. Eventually through them, in a roundabout way, I met Nick Marzullo, one half of the amazing Pawn Works Chicago, who introduced me to this urban / contemporary art we all know and love. Before I knew it, I was filming Nick and Baltimore’s GAIA wearing construction hats and vests pasting up a giant lion rabbit head on the side of Cabrini Green before it was knocked down. Since that little mission, I started exclusively documenting artists and their processes. I really owe a lot of what I’ve learned, especially building relationships with artists from Nick. He has definitely been a huge mentor for me. For the next 2 and half years I documented everyone that lived and visited Chicago via Pawn Works. Skewville, ROA, Gaia, Over Under, RAE, Pose, Reyes, Omens, Ludo, and more.
After graduating from college in 2012, I made the trek to the Bay Area. All the artists I was working with in Chicago said, “Go work at White Walls if you’re moving to San Francisco” and that I should use them as a reference. So that’s what I did. I worked there for a little over a year as an art handler alongside four other really amazing guys. As handlers, we got to work with at least four different local/international artist each month. Some of those had pretty wild installations that called for early mornings and late nights. After a while, I moved into the role of PR/Media for White Walls and Shooting Gallery on top of helping with regular art handler duties. After October of this past year, we were all let go.
In November, I found a home at LeQuiVive in Downtown Oakland doing their PR/Media. It’s a completely different array of artists working in the similar urban contemporary world in Oakland. Tons of creative talent and energy. Unfortunately, a few months later that ended. As frustrating as it was to go from job to job, I remained optimistic. Sorell Raino-Tsui, one of the partners at LeQuiVive, reached out after they closed and proposed the idea of starting over and offered me a 50/50 partnership on a new gallery. He had the space LeQuiVive was in already locked down so we decided to rebuild. That’s how Athen B. Gallery came about.
AM: The next thing I have to ask is about the name. What’s the meaning behind Athen B. Gallery?
BB: I felt like a parent trying to name a new-born. Landing on a good strong name for a gallery is hard. You want people to remember it, but we didn't want it to be to brandy, like a clothing company. We spent almost a month working on a name. Texting back and forth, back and forth. Brock Brake Gallery or Sorell Raino-Tsui Gallery didn't really have the ring we were looking for. We finally landed on Athen B. Gallery. Athen is actually Sorell’s first name, he has just always went by his middle name Sorell and the B is for Brock or Brake. It resonates as someone's name and in this case it represents both of us.
AM: I was intrigued by how you announced the opening of the gallery. I saw your mission statement as a call to arms. A public transmission of your legitimacy and intent. I also sense a level of acknowledgement of how things shouldn’t be done… You’ve worked at a number of galleries over the last few years, and as I understand it this is your first real foray into curating. What have you learned whilst working for others and what have you decided to put into place that is uniquely you as a curator?
BB: Over the past handful of years, I've been acting as a sponge, just soaking up all the good and bad experiences I’ve been through over the past 5 years in various gallery settings. I won’t say it here but I’m sure people know my past work and from some of that past work I definitely learned what NOT to do. As far as my curating style: not sure I can put it into words. I’m just going to show work from artists that I believe in and whose processes are intriguing to me. I’d like to show members of my extended family like Word To Mother, Skewville, Moneyless, Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada to name a few, and introduce work from emerging local artists like Aubrey Learner, and photographers Jason Henry and Shawn Bush. Also unique is my intention to limit solo exhibitions and instead do two, three or four person shows and encourage collaborations between artists. This means that there will be extremely unique, one of a kind works of art from artists that have maybe never worked together before. It’s an opportunity to create something that, otherwise, would not exist.
AM: There is a strong community message in your opening statement. What do you genuinely intend to feed into the community that others previously haven’t?
BB: I realize that we are a business newcomer to the Oakland and I wanted to address the community with a promise to be involved, not just to be there and exist within a vacuum within the walls of our space. I’m not sure whether others have or have not given back, we just know what we want to do. We hope to be a ubiquitous force in the mural game in Oakland, providing the community with art on the walls of their neighborhood. We hope that schools will be involved with our mural projects, bringing students to help artists and observe the process. We also want to provide educational programs for youths as well as adults, local businesses and aspiring artists in the form of workshops and forum discussions with professionals. There are far too many emerging and aspiring artists in our community that do not have this resource and have to learn things for themselves. We hope to bring in professionals in the art community to talk to these artists and have informed discussions about the “art-world.”
AM: You mention the phrase ‘serve the neighborhood’ in your statement. Other than being a place to view art, what should a gallery strive to be within a neighborhood?
BB: I think a gallery should be a resource for all in the community. There is so much potential for cross-pollination between us and different businesses, schools and even other galleries. I think that a lot of what serving the neighborhood means is tapping into the youth of the neighborhood and getting them involved - whether this means assisting and interning for credit, coming out and viewing and assisting with murals or providing talks and workshops for them. Getting the youth of a community excited about the arts and actively helping to shape the visual landscape of their community is priceless and will hopefully resonate with them into their adult life.
AM: Tell us a little about the Bay Area scene that has inspired you to open the gallery. You’ve been resident in the Bay Area for a while. SF is obviously the largest city and traditionally a center for the arts, but how has Oakland risen in terms of an arts community in recent years?
BB: While I was still going to high school in Marysville, Ohio, I was checking the Fecal Face and Juxtapoz blogs on a daily basis. A lot of the content on those sites were based around the Bay Area’s art community. Jeremy Fish, Mike Giant, Josh Keyes just to name a few of some of my personal favorites during those first years of learning.
Oakland’s art community has always been around and like San Francisco, it’s constantly evolving. My perspective, however, when I moved here was that San Francisco was overshadowing Oakland, but it was still a place where artists could prosper. Over the past couple of years, though, fewer artists have been able to live and work in The City and have moved to Oakland or started studios there because of the space/cost relation. Oakland has officially been chosen as a new frontier, in a way, and muralists especially love the large developing space to paint. A section of 15th St. in Downtown Oakland now houses a string of galleries that have unified and started doing a second Saturday openings to do something different from first Friday’s and to give some fresh breath to Oakland openings; We will also be joining in on second Saturdays to connect with our community.
AM: Who was the first artist you contacted about showing with you? I’m interested to see who you wanted to be your cornerstone and why?
BB: I didn't ask anyone in particular right away. I knew from the get go that I needed to play the curation of the gallery very strategically. Over the years I’ve worked with hundreds of artist that I still hold a solid relationship with. I made a list several pages long with a long list of names in my little black book and started the elimination process. After a couple of weeks I had a list of 23 people. I reached out, they were down.
I tried to compile a good mixture of local and national/international artist that would compliment each other. These are artist that represent what I hope to do with the space moving forward.
AM: You’ve already started on a programme of mural projects locally. Tell us a little about what you’re doing and why?
BB: Murals are something special that engages the community. Some murals become staples in the community and that’s really, really important. No one person can buy it or claim it as their own. It belongs just as much to the dude sleeping on the cardboard boxes as it does to the lady driving by in her Tesla. How often does that happen nowadays?
This week we have three murals going up in Downtown Oakland that we are facilitating. Local artist Zio Ziegler is teaming up with the United Nations to paint one of Oakland’s most historic sites, the Cathedral building. It’s a massive wall about 14 stories tall. My good friend Meggs is in town and had a project fall through so we helped find him something near Jack London Square that he is starting this week. We also have hometown heroes Ernest Doty and Irot getting down on a massive collaboration together as we speak.
AM: The first exhibition is a group show entitled House Warming. There are a wide range of styles represented in the show. Can you tell us a little about some of the works and the artists that will be exhibited?
BB: The works are so crazy. Skewville repurposed a piece from 2010 and turned it into a DJ mixing table made out of saw blades, wood and hardware. He even made headphones for it from an electrical conduit box. Troy Lovegates made a series of large wood cut outs that he pieced together like a puzzle that is about 7 x 4 ft. tall. He used an oil stick for marking trains and his finger on the wood puzzle pieces to make a series of beautiful portraits that are literally hand done. He is also making two small wooden sculptures. Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada’s works are part of his continued Fragment series created on 150+ year old wallpaper from abandoned cathedrals in Spain.
I also asked local artist Cannon Dill/Katherine Rutter and Dan Hampe/Rachel Mandala to team up together on collaborative works for ‘House Warming’. I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised with the result.
AM: Is this a cross section of what you will be showing with Athen B. Gallery moving forward? What future exhibitions do you have planned?
BB: Exactly. For example Troy Lovegates and Zio Ziegler are a part of ‘House Warming’ but will also be joining Ever Siempre and JAZ in a four-person exhibition this September. I’m working on trying to get both Ever and Jaz out to Oakland so they can collaborate with Troy and Zio on pieces and hopefully a mural. Moving forward a lot of the exhibitions are going to have this collaboration theme.
In October, I’m working on putting together a group exhibition of 60 artists and 30 pieces. All of the works will be collaboration between two or three artists. This is something I’ve wanted to see for years, as a fan of many artists across the globe. Now I get the chance to puzzle piece that idea together. I can’t wait.
We’re only doing one solo exhibition this year in November and that’s with Reno based artist Overunder, who will also be taking part in our ‘House Warming’ as well. He is a stay at home art dad and with this exhibition he wants to focus on a new subject matter for him, fatherhood. Being an active urban artist, he describes his life as “changing diapers one minute, then in a police chase the next. So the work will have a feeling of hard meets soft”. We want to reach out to different father based organizations in the area to get them incorporated in some way for the show.
Its going to be an interesting 2015. House Warming opens on 13th June and runs through to 3rd July.
Pictures courtesy of the gallery.
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Interviews / Studio Visits: Kai & Sunny –“The Matter Of Time” @ 886 Gallery
Arrested Motion (AM): So firstly, a little about yourselves. You met at Epsom School of Arts where you were carrying out your art degrees. Did you plan to start working with each other back then or later? Was it an organic process that brought you together as collaborators?
Kai & Sunny (KS): When we graduated, I went to work for Mo Wax records designing record sleeves and Sunny went to work at Maharishi creating artwork for their clothing. It was a couple years later when we reconnected and began working together. This was back in 2003. We formed a fashion brand called ‘Call of The Wild’. Starting the label was a great introduction to working together. We had a studio on Hoxton Square in Shoreditch, London. There were lots of people starting labels during this period and was a fun time. It was an important learning curve for us and taught us how to work together.
AM: What strengths do you collectively draw from working together that you couldn’t do apart? Is there any overlying methodology for how you work together?
KS: We’ve worked together for over 10 years so during that time our approach has changed. Our process has definitely grown organically and we have naturally grown together as our own tastes and references have changed. Luckily, we have similar tastes and we trust each other’s judgment. Our strengths are similar in terms of what we bring. We discuss ideas together and work on pieces together.
AM: How frequently do you encounter rock/paper/scissors moments when working together?
KS: We often have disagreements but we resolve them and move on. Sometimes, an idea Sunny has I’m not that into turns out great. This works the other way around too. We have different ways of getting our point across. I would say Sunny is way more tolerant than I am and is more diplomatic in his feedback, but I know what he really means.
AM: You walk the line quite comfortably between designers and as fine artists. What sort of division of your time do you work to, and what sort of division do you strive for?
KS: Our time is mainly taken working on fine art pieces and getting ready for the next show. However we still take on a few commissions. We’ve just completed a book jacket commission for Penguin for a re-release for Vermilion Sands by J. G Ballard. We are fans of his work so it was a great book to work on. This book gave us an idea for one of the pieces in the show. We’re also currently working on a collaborative fashion range and decks with Element Skateboards for fall 16 season. We both love skateboarding so a great project to work on.
AM: Book cover design commissions have played a big part in the design side of your careers of recent times. Do you have a particular project that really had a personal connection to you?
KS: When we started working together and created the label ‘Call of The Wild,’ people started knowing about us a bit more. We were approached to work on other commissions and a book by ‘David Mitchell’ called ‘Cloud Atlas’ was one of our first commissions. We didn’t know anything about ‘David Mitchell’ at the time, but the book went on to be a huge success around the world. We owe a lot to this book and the voice it gave us. We’ve worked with David since this point and have huge respect for him as a writer. He’s written us short stories for a couple of our shows in response to our work.
AM: It seems as though some of the design commissions you’ve undertaken have been a two-way street. For example, after designing the cover art for Cloud Atlas, you asked author David Mitchell to author a short story to accompany your Caught by the Nest project. How much do you value these reciprocal relationships?
KS: Completely, and as I mention above David has had a huge impact on us. Our trust for each other over the years has grown and we are profoundly proud David has written two stories for us. One for our ‘The Flower Show’ at Stolen Space in London and our ‘Caught By The Nest’ show at Subliminal Projects in L.A. We have created the art and designed lots of David’s books.
Most recently, we were commissions to create the artwork for ‘The Reason I Jump’ a true story about a boy with Autism. David wrote the intro to this book and it's is a very personal book to him. This book became the inspiration behind our L.A show. David wrote a short story for this show. The story was called ‘Lots Of Bits Of Star’ and that was the name of our last show at Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York.
AM: You’re famed for your collaborations of recent times. Where did your associations with Shepard Fairey and Alexander McQueen originate?
KS: Shepard showed interest in our work a few years back and bought a couple of our pieces. We met up at Art Basel in Miami 3 years ago and he offered us a show at his gallery in L.A called Subliminal Projects. The collaboration then happened in conjunction with the show. We have huge admiration for Shepard and to work with him was definitely a high point in our careers. It was also a high point to work on a project for Alexander McQueen. We didn’t get to meet him though which was a shame.
AM: Screen printing has been your medium of choice for a number of years . I’m interested to understand how you arrived at using this medium…
KS: It’s a medium we were introduced to when we had the fashion label. We did lots of fabric prints so got to know how the medium worked. When we started applying this process to our artwork we had a good understanding of what we could do. We started pushing the medium to its limits. Our work is often detailed and made up of elements. We would draw these elements and then refine them digitally. Silkscreen made sense for our process and we loved the finish it gave to our pieces.
AM: What about the materials you have been using lately? You seem to be pushing the boundaries in terms of ‘surface’ to work with. How different is copper or the other metals you’ve been working with recently to traditional paper? Does the medium influence the design or does the artwork influence the choice of medium?
KS: Over the last couple of years, we have been working with wood and metals and we have had some great results. I would say it’s trying to push the medium further and see what results we get. As we become more comfortable with these materials we are pushing what can be done. We are exploring how detailed we can make a piece, how the material changes the feeling of our work etc.
AM: Where does your interest in nature and natural elements come from? I like how you have been pushing further abstraction of these elements in your recent work.
KS: We both grew up in the country so I believe it reminds us of our childhood. We use nature in our work to connect with people. Abstracting these elements gives our work a different meaning and provokes thoughts and memories. We like our images to have layers. Our pieces can feel serene but at the same time have intensity to them.
AM: Recent artworks have also seen you experimenting with ballpoint pens in original line work. These pieces look incredibly labor intensive. Can you elaborate a little on this process?
KS: We’ve worked mainly in black and white for our previous shows and love the strength monochrome gives. It allows you to focus on the shapes. It really worked with our pieces. However we love colour and were thinking how we can start introducing colour to our work. StolenSpace asked us to be part of a group show. The show was called ‘Spectrum’ and black and white just didn’t work. We’d been playing with these colour pens and started getting interesting results. It was perfect for the ‘Spectrum’ piece. We began with straight lines and have slowly worked more variation and movement into each piece. These pen pieces are less about individual shape and all about the line work. Colour suited these. They are labor intensive but we love the results.
AM: These ballpoint pieces form the backbone for your new exhibition ‘The Matter of Time’ opening next week in San Francisco at 886 Geary Gallery. Can you tell us a little more about the work in the exhibition?
KS: The works in The Matter Of Time revolve around the passing of time. The ballpoint pen pieces explore the turning of tides and time for reflection. Tides can be peaceful and innocent, while also wild and chaotic. This series balances the serene with the intense and the fragile with the stable. Seemingly innocent natural subjects are layered with hidden undertones, hinting at the subversion that occurs in the wild and beyond.
AM: Aside from group exhibitions, this will be your first time showing in the city. You are making the trip out for the exhibition. What expectations do you have about showing in SF?
KS: I haven’t been to San Francisco for about 9 years so I’m sure it has changed a lot. I loved it when I was there last. If our time in L.A in 2013 is anything to go by Sunny and I will have a great time. From my experience Californians are really friendly and welcoming. Can’t wait!
AM: I guess this is the closing of a trifecta of sorts; following your show at Subliminal projects in LA and Jonathan Levine in NYC. Where do Kai and Sunny go next after this exhibition?
KS: I know, it’s been a great few years and we’ve enjoyed them all. Next year we are bringing it back home and are having a solo show at the gallery that represents us in the UK, StolenSpace Gallery, London!
Discuss Kai & Sunny here.
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Streets: Nate Frizzell for artBGC ONE (Manila)
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Streets: SpY (Bilbao)
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Overtime: June 8 – June 14
- Artsy looks at the Eve Fowler show at Mier Gallery.
- RIP: Alan Bond, who died at the age of 77 following heart surgery.
- Man stabbed in the neck in the gardens of Art Institute of Chicago.
- Egyptian temple of Karnak site of attempted terrorist attack. Heritige sites Great Dam of Marib and Al-Qahira castle in Yemen damaged by Saudi airstrikes.
- Zwelethu Mthethwa's trial begins as he pleads not guilty to murder.
- Kosovo art installation of dresses supports war of independence rape victims.
- Cooper Union president Jamshed Bharucha announces his resignation.
- Jeffrey Rudman will resign as chairman of the Boston Public Library board of trustees.
- Anish Kapoor responds to vagina controversy.
- Drouot auction house continuing to sell sacred Native American masks despite protests.
- Website hosting Emma Sulkowicz's new video taken down by DoS cyberattack.
- Nadia Plesner's three-year battle with Louis Vuitton over depictions of their products in her work.
- CBC fires Evan Solomon for allegedly leveraging his professional position to broker lucrative art deals.
- Los Angeles sees a steady rise in graffiti.
- Christian Viveros-Fauné on how Jeffrey Deitch's "Coney Art Walls" is exploiting artists for real estate ploy.
- Ben Davis writes about Russian government possibly staging Neo-Nazi attack on Chelsea gallery show.
- The Global Times tabloid urges Ai Weiwei to change his politics.
- Hergé heirs lose court ruling due to unexpected appearance of document.
- Arne Glimcher thinks Agnes Martin is underrated because her work doesn’t reproduce well.
- TSA returns $40k painting temporarily forgotten at Newark airport.
- Saul and David painting reattributed to Rembrandt after being dismissed in 1969 as the work of a follower.
- Pont des Arts bridge in Paris now is adorned with street art instead of padlocks.
- Computer algorithm picks and ranks art history's most creative paintings.
- The Garage Museum for Contemporary Art opens in Moscow.
- TAN interviews Richard Armstrong, director of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation.
- Kelly Baum named curator of postwar and contemporary art at the Met.
- Leonardo DiCaprio to donate large installation by John Gerrard to LACMA.
- MoMA announces Marcel Broodthaers, the artist’s first museum retrospective in New York. The museum has also acquired Richard Serra’s Equal from David Zwirner.
- Artnet looks at Philippe Parreno's show at Park Avenue Armory.
- De Young show in 2016 to exhibit Ed Ruscha's vision of the American frontier.
- Tate Britain to exhibit Steve McQueen's Lynching Tree piece.
- Artinfo reviews the Storylines show at The Guggenheim Museum.
- Artinfo reviews Cy Twombly: Paradise in Venice at the Ca’Pesaro.
- Letters from Lucian Freud to Sir Stephen Spender to go on sale at Sotheby's.
- Steven Cohen revealed to be buyer of $140mil. Giacometti sculpture from Christie's.
- Large gilt-bronze figure of the Buddha Vairocana sells for $3.85mil. at Sotheby's.
- Christopher Lee's golden gun from Bond film goes to auction at Bonhams.
- The experience of bidding by phone during auction sales.
- NY Times writes about the Choices Paris art fair.
- Conceptual Fine Arts talks about how auctions have been shaping the emerging art scene today.
- Larry Gagosian opens a third gallery space in London.
- Michele Maccarone expanding to Los Angeles in September.
- The art market boom in Nigeria.
- Colin Gleadell writes about the cold market for Russian art.
- Andrew Goldstein interviews Carlos Rivera for Artspace.
- A guide for visitors to Basel.
- The ever-elusive Silcon Valley set and its relation to art collecting.
- Paddle8 seeing more $100k+ works on its platform and more single-owner sales. It also talks to Bibi Gritti about her collection and sale.
- Simon de Pury launches De Pury, an online auction platform specializing in single owner sales.
- How collectors are using Instagram to buy art.
- Katya Kazakina looks at the gallery shows in NY that opened in May.
- Part six of Joel Mesler's True Confessions of a Justified Art Dealer serial on ARTnews.
- Kohn Gallery will represent the estate of artist John Altoon
- Ai Weiwei's first-ever solo exhibition in China opens at Galleria Continua and Tang Contemporary Art Center.
- Artinfo reviews Sam Falls' show at Ballroom Marfa.
- Andrew Russeth talks to Carmen Herrera.
- Ai Weiwei and Jacob Appelbaum collaborate on a project.
- Alphasixty visits Luke Diiorio at his studio and interviews him.
- Agnès Varda and JR launch crowdfunding campaign to finance their road trip.
- Paola Pivi inserts horses at the Eiffel Tower for a photographic series.
- Christo on the verge of turning 80 years old.
- Brent Wadden interview in Randian.
- Roger Hiorns to bury decommissioned Boeing 737 underground outside his hometown of Birmingham.
- J. Grant Brittain interview about the skate scene and his photography back in the day.
- Katsu shows us how to make a graffiti drone.
- A look at the selfie in art history.
- A lot of art dealers would be farmers if they had a alternate occupation.
- When avocados are inserted into classic paintings.
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Streets: El Mac –“Nuestra Gente” (Phoenix)
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Streets: Pejac (Seoul)
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Streets: Jeff Soto (Los Angeles)
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Streets: Mehdi Ghadyanloo (Dulwich)
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Overtime: June 15 – June 21
- Some recent Broad Museum acquisitions revealed, such as 82-ft Murakami and Robert Longo Ferguson piece.
- Activists occupy Tate, staging 25-hour “textual intervention" to protest BP sponsorship agreement.
- Louvre and Sainte-Chapelle church accused of discrimination after refusing tours to Israeli students.
- Joseph Gibbons pleads guilty to robbing banks in the name of art and receives one year prison sentence.
- Richard Matt gave Joyce Mitchell a painting he painted of her children before he escaped prison in NY.
- The Queen's vagina is vandalized as Anish Kapoor sculpture is splattered with yellow paint.
- MoMA staff members hand deliver letter of protest to Glenn Lowry's office days before negotiations deadline.
- Jonathan Weal accused of concealing ownership of JMW Turner painting during bankruptcy proceedings.
- Rachel Dolezal may have copied JMW Turner's painting.
- Nine artists that had work at 5Pointz file federal lawsuit for punitive damages over whitewashed work.
- 24-meter-tall monument to Vladimir the Great opposed by Russians due to skyline view and other issues.
- Is there an art market bubble? Marc Spiegler thinks that we are not in a bubble.
- A look at Old Masters paintings in a contemporary context.
- Discover Los Angeles' guide to what to do in LA with 72 hours in the city.
- Vibrant arts district slowly forming in Savannah, Georgia.
- The US repatriates two major works to Brazil, including Jean Michel Basquiat's Hannibal painting.
- Americans' donation to arts, culture and humanities grew 9.2% in 2014
- Qatar building Art Mill - a one million square foot modern and contemporary art museum in Doha.
- Rembrandt's Saul and David goes on display at Mauritshuis museum after extensive restoration.
- The Getty Museum acquires Gian Lorenzo Bernini bust of Pope Paul V.
- MoMA acquires the Rainbow Flag.
- Anthony P. Ressler and Elaine P. Wynn announced as new board co-chairs at LACMA.
- Studio Museum in Harlem chooses Jordan Casteel, EJ Hill, & Jibade-Khalil Huffman as artists in residence.
- Willem de Kooning's East Hampton’s studio opens its doors as part of an artist-in-residence program.
- Shepard Fairey donates $60k to RISD Scholars fund.
- Lee Ufan talks about Space Lee Ufan.
- Michelle Grabner named as curator of Portland’s Contemporary Art Biennial in 2016.
- Reem Fadda appointed curator of the sixth Marrakech Biennale.
- Exploring the price for the world's priciest art sales in relation to the wealth gap in specific years.
- Total sales in this season's London auctions could top $1bil.
- The current market for Indian art.
- Dorotheum has its highest sales total ever as some artist records are broken.
- Sotheby's' Simon Stock discusses Pablo Picasso’s Deux personnages (La Lecture).
- Observer writes about toy-themed Paddle8 auction sale.
- Kai Kühne and his boyfriend launch Hasbeens & Willbees auction house.
- The jury selection process for galleries to be admitted into Art Basel.
- Artspace's guide on how to get your gallery admitted into Art Basel.
- Andrew Goldstein interviews Marc Spiegler about Art Basel.
- The rise in power of private museums versus public institutions evident at Art Basel.
- Judd Tully provides a video walkthrough of some Art Basel booths.
- James Koch of Hauser & Wirth talks about his day 1 at Art Basel. Then he tells us about his day 2.
- Judd Tully's opening sales report from Art Basel. Brian Boucher's sales report from Art Basel's first few hours. Katya Kazakina also has her report. Artnet has a sales report from the second day of the fair. Judd Tully looks at day two sales. Artnet has latter week fair sales figures. CFA writes about work by younger artists at Basel.
- NY Times thinks enthusiasm for buying is high at Art Basel. Financial Times also thinks sales were good.
- Sandy Rower's five favorite works at Art Basel. Andrew Goldstein has his choices for the ten best works at the fair. The Horts have their choices for the ten best works at Liste and Art Basel. Rozalia Jovanovic chooses the 11 best booths at Art Basel.
- Helly Nahmad brings very pricey works to Art Basel, including Rothko with $50mil asking price.
- Andrew Goldstein writes about Art Unlimited at Art Basel.
- ARTnews visits Liste and finds a lot of work using cigarette butts. CFA also has some Liste picks.
- An analysis of the growth of the art fair industry.
- The Economist writes about Zlot Buell.
- Part 2 of Andrew Goldstein's interview with Carlos Rivera, who discusses his new art-backed loans venture.
- Sotheby's Magazine writes about Aby Rosen.
- Artnet's list of the world's top twelve photography collectors.
- Christie's offers some tips in a guide to collecting post-war art.
- Collectors are using their artwork more as collateral for loans.
- Erling Kagge's guide to collecting art.
- Paddle8 interviews Lev Levarek about toys and KAWS.
- When commercial galleries hire scholarly curators.
- Gavin Brown moves his gallery from the West Village to Harlem.
- Matt Bangser named as a partner at Blum & Poe.
- Artinfo interviews Ryan Wallace and Hilary Schaffner about Halsey McKay Gallery.
- The Telegraph interviews Bridget Riley.
- Time Out's list of most important new NY artists includes Jamian Juliano-Villani, Tabor Robak & more.
- Marlene Dumas commissioned to paint an altarpiece for an 18th-century church in Dresden.
- Tino Seghal talks to Tina Brown during Art Basel.
- The global popularity of Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Room installation.
- Artists from LA, like Jennifer Guidi and Liz Craft join with Afghan weavers to create unique rugs.
- Sour Harvest interviews Bumblebee.
- Architectural Digest looks at Paul Winstanley’s show at the Mitchell-Innes & Nash.
- Keith J. Varadi reviews Amelie von Wulffen's show at Freedman Fitzpatrick.
- Rirkrit Tiravanija discusses his DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY project.
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Financial Times interviews Robert Irwin.
- LA Times reviews Austin Irving's show at Wilding Cran.
- David Hockney compares drawing to playing chess.
- Artnet talks to Tracey Emin.
- Setsuko Klossowska de Rola, Balthus's widow, speaks about his work.
- Pussy Riot members pose for photographs for Terry Richardson.
- Karen Rosenberg visits and interviews Sarah Morris.
- Molly Soda's nude and scandalous selfies project.
- Alexander Calder’s great-grandson Gryphon Rower-Upjohn exhibiting work in Marfa, Texas.
- Milo Moiré performs a nude selfie performance in Basel.
- ExhibitionA interviews Walter Robinson.
- Juxtapoz covers Daniel Rolnik Gallery's Fake History of the World exhibition.
- The Onion satirizes the work of Van Gogh.
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Studio Visits: Jeff Soto –“Nightgardens” @ KP Projects / MKG
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Streets: Miss Van (Coney Art Walls)
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Streets: Surface Project (Copenhagen)
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More Pages to Explore .....
