As every artist knows, it’s good to get your hands dirty every once in a while. And there’s something undeniably wonderful about messy, filthy, dig-your-hands-in art, a departure from pristine lines and immaculate form. Recently, The Pace Gallery opened its summer season with “Through the Claw,” a performance piece by Kate Gilmore in which several women decimated a block of clay with their bare hands, getting understandably filthy in the process, and we were inspired to come up with some of our favorite messy artworks for your visceral viewing pleasure. After all, it’s summer. What better time to get a little dirty? Click through to see some of the messiest artworks we’ve ever seen, and let us know which of your favorites we’ve missed in the comments!
Taking a lesson from the Deitch Projects playbook of mixing multi-generational artists, Deitch disciples Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman, who run The Hole in Soho, have combined NYC’s ’80s downtown art legend Kenny Scharf with the ’00s energetic Virginia Beach art collective Dearraindrop to make a phantasmagorical mashup for our otherwise staid modern times. Although Scharf’s involvement is kind of Kenny-lite, the inspiration he provides for Dearraindrop, particularly lead member Joe Grillo, is gigantic. Scharf shows some signature graffiti wall murals, a work on paper of one of his Cosmic Donuts, and collaborates with the Dearraindrop team of Grillo and the brother/sister members Billy and Laura Grant on a painting, promotional sticker, and a mini-blacklight disco, which apes Scharf’s infamous Cosmic Cavern installations.
There is life after Deitch. Now that the dynamic art dealer has assumed his new position as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, his former staff members are carving out places of their own in the New York art world.
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported on the opening of the Hole — a collaborative art space run by former Deitch Projects directors Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman in SoHo — and on Friday the gallery sent out news of its first show, Not Quite Open for Business, which features unfinished art, unfinished poems, and unfinished symphonies by 20 renegade artists in an installation designed by Taylor McKimens. Seeking an inside look at the project and the related personalities, we surfed Grayson’s blog, Art From Behind, and grabbed some images that provide a playful view of the situation in flux.
Although Shepard Fairey hasn’t been given the key to New York City, he’s taking over as much property as he can seize on his Big Apple visit. Six murals, related to his May Day exhibition at Deitch Projects, have surfaced in the past week — and we have an inkling that the “Obey” master isn’t done yet. Like what he did in Venice during the Biennale last summer and Miami at Art Basel Miami Beach in December, Fairey is getting the best bang for his buck when he knows that the art world’s powers-that-be are traversing the streets.
With his exhibition May Day being the final show at Deitch Projects and the contemporary art auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips de Pury taking place this month, Fairey is poised to continue his ascent to art-world royalty.
1. The Deitch Projects-commissioned mural by Shepard Fairey has been up less than a week and it’s already been vandalized with tags, holes, and a Target logo. Ruh-roh, Shep, losing the favor of the proletariat? [via ArtsBeat]
2. Lo-fi indie rockers Grizzly Bear licensed one minute of an as-yet-unreleased song to Washington State for a lottery commercial. The clip also features choreography by the guy behind the dance sequences in (500) Days of Summer. [via Entertainment Weekly]
3. An old friend of Lady Gaga named Brendan Sullivan wrote a really detailed piece about their mutual past for the Esquire “Women We Love” issue. Naturally, there’s a photo gallery. [via Esquire]
4. Continuing that jail theme, T.I. throws (down) some Molotov cocktails in his new video for “I’m Back.” [via Vulture]
5. Teen fashion blogging robot sensation Tavi “Style Rookie” Gevinson had her website blocked last night by the evil honchos at Blogger, all because she posted a fashion editorial with a model barely wearing Yohji Yamamoto. From 1998. [via WSJ Digits]
Bonus link: Think Black Flag and Justin Bieber have nothing in common? Think again. Both cause riots, and both make an appearance on this t-shirt from DIY mecca Etsy.
It has been forever since we’ve posted something about Shepard Fairey that actually had to do with new work rather than controversy. So here you go. Earlier today Fairey told WNYC that this piece — which is a promo for his upcoming show at Deitch Projects — will be up for the next six months and is a critique of everything from global warming to political gridlock in Washington. He chose the location because it’s busy, and the same spot where Keith Haring’s Day-Glo mural went up in the early ’80s.
Have any New York readers seen Fairey’s latest in person yet? If so, leave us a review in the comments. [Image by Cameron Schiller via Wooster Collective]
1. Shepard Fairey says honesty is essential to his art despite the fact that he initially lied about which AP photo his infamous “Hope” poster was based on. On a related note, he’ll be the last artist to exhibit at Deitch Projects. [via LAT]
2. Radiohead have announced benefit show this Sunday, January 24 at LA’s Music Box theater — super exciting news for fans, as the venue is nice and intimate. All proceeds will go to the Oxfam Haiti relief fund, and tickets will be sold by auction on Ticketmaster. [via Rolling Stone]
3. Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle will make his National Theatre debut next winter with an adaption of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. [via Guardian]
4. Confused about why the New York Times pay model won’t go live until 2011 but they’re talking about it now? They need a year to build the architecture for the new pay system. [via NYO]
5. Rumors that Rob Marshall will direct the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie have finally been confirmed. It will be released next year. [via HitFix]
And the verdict is in. After much tongue wagging via the art press this weekend (including some Twitter chatter by the likes of artist/instigator William Powhida and Saltz-archrival Tyler Green), MOCA Los Angeles has confirmed the selection of New York gallerist Jeffrey Deitch as the museum’s new director. Way to start 2010 with a boom, LA — never before has a major US museum hired a leader from the commercial side of the market. One has to wonder: Can Deitch man up for such a significant role at a nonprofit? And what will become of his baby, Deitch Projects? (UPDATE: definitely closing shop.) After the jump we take a walk down memory lane.
The celebrity/art world machine doesn’t get much better than this: after a guest stint on a daytime soap and an appearance at Art Basel Miami Beach, we hear through the grapevine that actor/pinup James Franco has scored a gallery show with downtown enclave Deitch Projects. Though we’ve questioned his motives in the past, we’re warming up to the idea of Franco as Warhol 2.0: film and performance art wrapped into one highly marketable package. A rundown of Franco vs. Andy, after the jump.
Art Basel Miami Beach opened to a smart-dressed crowd of VIPs, collectors, and the press on Tuesday afternoon. Bigger than ever, we kept getting lost as we tried to navigate the labyrinth-like arrangement of gallery booths. Eventually we stopped trying to plot a direction and just followed our eye, wandering from one aisle to the next while spotting noteworthy work here and there. Things that didn’t really look like art stood out, such as Michael Beutler’s gigantic rag rug at Galleria Franco Soffiantino. After believing we had seen everything, which wasn’t really the case, we dropped into the VIP lounge for champagne and nibbles, courtesy of Cartier.
