Art

Revealed: The Connection Between Classical Art and Hip Hop

By Tom Hawking on Mar 5, 2015 10:30am

If you’ve never considered the nexus between classical art and the world of hip hop, well, OK, you’re not the only one. Happily, though, the creators of a Tumblr called B4-XVI have the vision that many of us lack, and their blog is a series of composite images that draw parallels between prominent rappers and art dating from the 16th century and before. It’s as excellent as it sounds, and we’ve collected some of our favorites for your viewing pleasure. (There are plenty more to be seen here.) … Read More

Music

Björk’s MoMA Retrospective: When Technology Fails Innovation

By Jillian Mapes on Mar 4, 2015 1:15pm

Tuesday morning, at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, I found myself standing a few feet away from someone clad in a black cactus costume. Its face was covered, and thus it took me a minute to realize the cactus was Björk. Situated in a room custom-designed for the occasion (6,000 soundproofing cones covered the walls and ceiling),the Icelandic icon introduced her new MoMA-commissioned piece, the short film “Black Lake.” “I’m very grateful that Klaus [Biesenbach] convinced me to do this exhibition,” Björk timidly announced, referencing the 12 years it took MoMA’s curator at large to snag her for an exhibition. “It’s been quite a journey, and a close relationship that I’m really grateful… Read More

Art

WORDLESS! Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston on the Birth of the Graphic Novel

By Jonathon Sturgeon on Mar 4, 2015 12:45pm

On March 13, The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University will present WORDLESS!, a performance by artist, theorist, and historian Art Spiegelman, and American composer Phillip Johnston. The show combines a score composed and performed by Johnston with images curated and discussed by Spiegelman, who will present a tour of early “graphic novels” by artists like Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, and Milt Gross. WORDLESS! will also feature new work by Spiegelman made specifically for this project. … Read More

Photography

David Williams’ ‘Ponycon Portraits’ Capture My Little Pony Fandom, From Kids to Bronies

By Elisabeth Donnelly on Mar 3, 2015 9:45am

David Williams is a Brooklyn-based photographer who has an eye for portraiture. In his recent Ponycon Portraits series, taken at February’s 2015 Ponycon in Brooklyn, he captures the range of My Little Pony fandom, from little girls to the infamous “bronies” (adult male fans of My Little Pony). Williams, a 2011 Art Institute of Colorado graduate, says that “it was important for me to show how diverse the convention is and how passionate these fans are about My Little Pony, whether they be a male, female, or child.” The results are honest and striking. Click through for a selection of Williams’ Ponycon Portraits, and visit his official website and Instagram to see more. … Read More

Photography

Moving Photos of Long-Married Couples

By Alison Nastasi on Mar 1, 2015 11:09am

UK-based photographer Lauren Fleishman was inspired to create her The Lovers series after finding a collection of letters her grandfather had written to her grandmother during World War II. Tucked inside a book next to his bed, the letters revealed the history of her grandparent’s relationship, chronicling the young love that brought them together. “They connected me to my grandfather and his 59-year marriage in a way that I had no been able to connect to him in life,” the artist writes on her website. Since then, Fleishman has recorded the love stories of long-married couples across the world, photographing them during intimate moments together. From Fleishman’s publisher: … Read More

Art

The Autobiographical Haunted House of Artist Alex Da Corte

By Alison Nastasi on Feb 28, 2015 11:34am

Philadelphia-based artist Alex Da Corte, who celebrates his first major museum solo exhibition at MASS MoCA in 2016, has taken over gallery Luxembourg & Dayan’s East 77th Street townhouse for his newest installation, Die Hexe (“The Witch,” but for the artist it means “death of symbol”). Da Corte’s haunted house tableau references everything from his grandmother (who was a dollhouse maker), to the building’s former residents (The Mamas & the Papas), to Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s decadent 1972 film, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. The artist also joins his personal history with that of the art world. Die Hexe features cleverly hidden nods to artists like Mike Kelley, Robert Gober, and Haim Steinbach, taking visitors “on a journey through surreal interiors where familiar imagery and obscure biographical references mingle, repeat, trade places, and morph into new provocations that invite reflections upon memory, impulse, the stability of knowledge, and what constitutes value in a work of art.” Die Hexe will be on view at Luxembourg & Dayan through April 11. … Read More

Art

Banksy Posts Biting, Satirical Tourist Video of Gaza

By Moze Halperin on Feb 26, 2015 2:18pm

Operation Protective Edge killed over an estimated 2,100 Palestinians (most of whom were civilians) and destroyed 18,000 homes in the crowded… Read More

Photography

Photos of Frozen “Slurpee” Waves Are Today’s Internet Sensation

By Sarah Seltzer on Feb 26, 2015 12:23pm

It’s been a cold, cold winter in the Northeast — and unusually warm elsewhere. While Boston digs itself out of… Read More

Art

Flavorwire Exclusive: A Lesson on Art School by Chris Kraus

By Jonathon Sturgeon on Feb 26, 2015 9:45am

The work of Chris Kraus — the American novelist, critic or fictocritic, professor of film, filmmaker, and editor — is irreducible to a single mode of artistic output. Nevertheless, in recent years, Kraus has been known more in her capacity as “the art world’s favorite fiction writer,” or, as Kate Zambreno put it, as a writer who “radicalized a vernacular criticism that involves the self” and “[is] influential in re-innovating the idea of the nonfiction novel.” In whatever mode, Kraus draws fearlessly from her life as an artist. In the below short excerpt, taken from Phaidon’s new Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life, Kraus does the same, effortlessly combining biography and criticism to deliver a sui generis lesson on art school. Included at the bottom is Kraus’ selection of reading, viewing, and other assignments for would-be students. … Read More