What happens when an artist drops his brush or a photographer lowers his camera to pose for a portrait by a colleague? We investigated and found a snap of a young Nan Goldin, pre-fame and sans blouse, Francis Bacon’s face deconstructed by the strokes of Lucian Freud, and Picasso romping around in a big blond wig for Brassaï. Often starkly casual peeks, these portraits are brimming with a friendly intimacy and professional camaraderie. Take a look at some of our favorite cultural figures as models in the slide show. Read More »
Last week, we gave in to our voyeuristic tendencies and brought you a slideshow of rare photos of cultural icons snapped in their own beds. This week, our we’d like to revisit the topic, but instead of focusing on the celebrities, take a closer look at the intimate spaces that they choose to inhabit. From Sylvia Plath’s temporary digs at the former Barbizon Hotel for Women to Norman Mailer’s sleek “sleeping loft,” we’ve rounded up some fantastic images after the jump. Let us know in the comments whose bedroom you’d like to steal. Read More »
These are not just pictures on a wall. These are not some set pieces in the corner. There are certain artworks in film that are as vital as its characters. Of course, it helps when a character happens to bludgeon someone to death with a certain rude-shaped sculpture or a painting casts an evil spell of eternal youth on a heartless protagonist. Whether it’s famous artists creating work for fictional ones or directors commissioning well-crafted fakes to take the place of what they can’t acquire, most of these memorable artworks come with a little background story. Here are ten (mostly) great films and the tales of origin behind their most central art pieces.
Our recent author-on-author, filmmaker-on-filmmaker and musician-on-musician insults have proved that creative folk are only human, and occasionally enjoy a good rip on their industry compatriots. Artists are no different, albeit they do it a bit differently. What they lack in media exposure, they make up in specifics, attacking “sickly” lines and “filthy” shades or, like Salvador Dalí, outright making up verbs like “outuglying” to drive their insults. Naturally, a good portion of these revolve around artists cutting down each others’ relevancy — yesterday’s Renaissance “daubers” are today’s graffiti “toys.” Looks like the battle of egos will never go away. (Oh, good!) Here are 30 harshest historical and contemporary artist-on-artists insults. We’d love to hear yours in the comments.
When a range of limited-edition towels from the Art Production Fund first debuted at Art Basel Miami back in 2006, everyone was clamoring to get their hands on one of the eye-catching designs. Since then, terry cloth artworks by the likes of Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Marilyn Minter, and Alex Katz have all sold out, but lucky for you, new editions have been added to the collection each year, and some of them are still up for grabs. Click through to pick out your favorite (we’re partial to Elizabeth Peyton’s charcoal rendering of Sid Vicious), and remember when you’re eying the rather spendy price tag — proceeds go to support public art projects.
[Editor's note: While your editors take the day off, Flavorwire will be counting down some of our most popular features of 2011 so far. This post originally ran on April 10th. Enjoy your Memorial Day!] This week, New York Magazine ran a series of fairly great articles documenting apartment living in New York City. One of these in particular, entitled ‘The Perpetual Garret: Where the starving artists slept’ caught our eye for its rare peek into the homes of some of our favorite artists. Inspired, here we’ve put together some of our favorites from the NY Mag article as well as some of our other favorite artists’ lairs from around the world (and the internet), the whole collection running the gamut from the tiny and cramped to the ridiculously messy to the spacious and modern. Click through to see how the other half lives.
Mike Leavitt has a giant Art Army. Hand-crafted from scratch out of 20 to 30 custom-made parts, each lil famous artist busts out with physical likeness and personal aesthetic sensibility. His grinning Jeff Koons is karmically turning into a big balloon animal. Matthew Barney is in full-on Cremaster Cycle mode, Takashi Murakami is mid-metamorphosis into a psychotic Kawaii toon, and Julian Schnabel comes with a removable ceramic plate halo. And those are just his freshest four!
The Seattle-based proud Pratt drop-out is having a solo show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery later this year. Meanwhile, enjoy Ron English a-clowning, Banksy a-pranking, and Damien Hirst getting sliced.
“My idea of a good picture is one that’s in focus and of a famous person,” declared Andy Warhol, the Pope of Pop. What could be easier than shooting quick-to-see Polaroid prints of celebrity pals that arrived daily on his “factory” doorstep? Andy’s also ironically remembered for stating, “Photographers feel guilty that all they do for a living is press a button,” which is exactly what he did for his instantaneous snapshots of Debbie Harry, Diana Ross, Yoko Ono, Dolly Parton, Schwarzenegger, and other boldface names currently assembled for Andy Warhol: Big Shotat New York’s Danziger Projects.
1. According to the NY Post, Jim Carrey is renting studio space from Julian Schnabel. Says a source: “Jim is working on a large abstract canvas. His work is actually quite good.”
2. NBC may be moving 30 Rock to a 10pm time slot to make way for the return of Parks and Recreation and a new comedy, Perfect Couples. [via EW]
3. “My whole goal is to reintroduce magic to hip hop. We watched this wizard do his thing. Y’all supported him. And he’s an official Roc Nation signee.” Jay-Z on signing Jay Electronica to Roc Nation
4. Michael Jackson’s first official posthumous single — “Hold My Hand” — is here. A different version of the song leaked back in 2008, but this one is supposedly a lot better. [via Vulture]
5. Watch the five most ridiculous moments from last night’s premiere of Sarah Palin’s Alaska — including its unfortunate theme song. [via Gawker.tv]
Best known for his film career, Dennis Hopper was also a photographer, artist, collector, and fixture of the creative community for over half a century.
James Dean first introduced Hopper to the Los Angeles art world after the two met on the set of Rebel Without a Cause. He went on to produce a wide body of visual art while working as an actor and director on classic movies like Easy Rider. As an artist, Hopper’s talent was most obvious in his photography, which documented his creatively charged milieu and reflected his uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time.
