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Damien Hirst

Art

Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Employees and the Art That Should Decorate Their Offices

By Chloe Pantazi on

With Season 6 of Mad Men returning this Sunday night and venturing even deeper into the 1960s, we figured it was high time for an art update at the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce offices. After the jump, the famous artworks with which we would redecorate the walls of each of our favorite SCDP employees’ offices. In the name of sheer fun, note that no regard whatsoever has been paid to the price, availability, or timeliness of these artworks. … Read More

New York

10 New York Bars Where You Can Contemplate Great Art While You Imbibe

By Lori Zimmer on

New Yorkers are familiar with the whole subculture of people who just got to art openings for the free wine, but have you ever thought about going to a bar for the free art? There are tons of places around the city to imbibe while taking a gander at a private art collection. From dives to places with fancy $20 cocktails, you can get an eyeful of everything from street art to Hirsts to 16th-century old masters, all while getting your drink on. Here are a few of our faves. … Read More

Art

The Most Controversial Artworks of 2012

By Marina Galperina on

This has been quite a controversial year for art, and we’re not talking Jeffrey Deitch making a mess at the MoCA or that work selling for this many millions or some blue chip gallery doing whatever, wherever… Well, I’m not going to talk about that. Not that it’s not relevant — sure it is! — but it’s pretty inside baseball. Instead, why don’t we just take a look at the art that, for better or for worse, caused international controversy, cocked the heads of the masses, and made the art world ponder its relationship with society? … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we got some excellent suggestions on what to do with our leftover turkey from F. Scott Fitzgerald, including his recipe for the Turkey Cocktail. We wanted to own every single one of these action figure versions of the most famous scientists of the 20th century. We drooled over… Read More

Pop Culture

10 Music Videos That “Borrow” from Famous Artists

By Marina Galperina on

Last week, there was a piece on Hyperallergic on pop music’s love affair with contemporary art that inspired us to do some digging. Yayoi Kusama à la Nicky Minaj specifically made us optimistic that modern pop music cares enough about art to stage such elaborate recreations — although, a little credit where credit is due would be nice. That said, down the rabbit hole we went. Here are a few of the standout music videos doing that pay homage to visual artists, with various aesthetic and legal results. What did we miss? … Read More

Art

Amazing Chess Sets Created by Famous Artists

By Marina Galperina on

Who needs regular chess when you can play with Yayoi Kusama’s splendidly dotted mushroomy shapes, Damien Hirst’s glass crystal pharmacy sets, or major chess champ Garry Kasparov’s favorite, Paul McCarthy’s playable collection of random kitchen ephemera? Ketchup to F3 and toaster-mate! Want! That is, if we had the money to purchase famous art. On now at the Saatchi Gallery in London through October 3rd, The Art of Chess brings together the work of some of the biggest names in the art world and their version of one of the humanity’s oldest games. Luckily for us, the fantastic Happy Famous Artists blog team stopped by the exhibit. Check out their photos, check check. Get it?  … Read More

Music

10 Album Covers You Didn’t Know Were Created by Famous Artists

By Tom Hawking on

Sure, everybody knows that Andy Warhol did the artwork to The Velvet Underground and Nico and Sticky Fingers, and that Annie Leibovitz did the cover shot for Born in the USA. But honestly, from what you read on the Internet sometimes, you’d think they’re the only two artists to have ever moonlighted in designing record covers. That’s of course not the case at all — plenty of other renowned artists have been responsible for cover artwork over the years. Indeed, we’ve addressed this topic before, but with Grizzly Bear’s Shields out this week — complete with a sleeve featuring a painting by figurative painter Richard Diebenkorn — we thought we’d have a look at some other great record sleeves you may not have known were designed by famous contemporary artists. Did we miss any? … Read More

Art

15 Medical Models More Interesting Than Damien Hirst’s Pregnant Sculpture

By Marina Galperina on

If all goes according to plan, the residents of a small seaside English town called Ilfracombe are about to get a new neighbor that will turn their “run down Victorian seaside resort” into a tourist hotspot. Meet Verity, a hulking, 65-foot tall Damien Hirst statue of a pregnant woman with a sword, which is basically a giant bronze version of a medical model… with a sword. Sigh. It’s one of his signature treatments. Just like his $1.5 million duplicate of a Humbrol Young Scientist Laboratory Set with removable organs, originally priced at $24. Sigh. With that in mind, we bring you the Vintage Anatomicals Flickr pool, culling curious specimens from such places like the The Museum of Unnatural History and the Medical Museum of Florence. Check ‘em out — fabric fetuses sticking out of felt bellies, cavernous gaping skeletons, and drawings of skulls riddled with detailed capillaries and veins. We’d rather gaze at these a bit. You? … Read More

Art

Early Exhibition Reviews of Famous Artists

By Alison Nastasi on

Picasso visited Paris for the first time in 1900. The city had such a profound effect on him, he returned the following year with 100 paintings in hand, hoping to land a show. The 19-year-old painter was introduced to Ambroise Vollard — the same dealer who sponsored the works of Cezanne and other notable artists — who immediately secured a spot for him at a gallery on the prestigious Rue Laffitte. Picasso was unknown at the time, but the 75 paintings that ranged from moody portraits to representational works featuring landscapes, prostitutes, and society ladies proved he was extremely talented and driven.

This Sunday marks the 111th anniversary of Picasso’s Paris exhibition. The few critics that did attend the show gave him favorable reviews. Years later, the painter’s exhibit in Switzerland drew enormous crowds and the criticisms of some very prominent figures. Find out who after the break, and see what other reviewers had to say about famous artists throughout history during the early part of their careers. … Read More