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.
Long before and since his death on June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson, the self-styled “King of Pop,” was a muse to a wide group of contemporary artists — ranging from Andy Warhol, who was dubbed the “Pope of Pop Art,” and his neo-pop art protégés, Jeff Koons and David LaChapelle, to the hip-hop championing Kehinde Wiley and celebrated street artist KAWS. Now, nearly two years after his untimely death at age 50, Flavorpill pays tribute to the award winning singer/songwriters life through the works of art he inspired.
Following projects in China, Brazil, Africa, and India, artist extraordinaire Kehinde Wiley takes his “hip-hop meets Old Masters” style on the road again to present The World Stage: Israel at Roberts & Tilton, where the show of 15 paintings on canvas and paper opened on Saturday and remains on view through May 28. Wiley and his scouts found young, handsome European and Ethiopian Jews and Arab Israelis at malls, bars, nightclubs, and sporting events in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and had them to pose for photographs that were later transformed into hyperrealistic paintings of optimistic youth in a conflicted country.
Exciting news for New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers who will be riding in an NYC cab anytime soon: For the second year running, John Amato, president of Show Media (a company which sells the ad space on many of the city’s taxis), is donating 500 spots to showcase artwork — specifically pieces by Chuck Close and Kehinde Wiley. As he explains it: “Art is a great passion of mine, and I am very fortunate to be in a place in my life where I can do this as my annual holiday gift not just to myself, but to everyone who enjoys seeing the art as it travels around New York City’s streets.” Last year featured Yoko Ono and Alex Katz. Who would you like to see grace NYC taxis next? [via Gothamist]
Yesterday The Root published its second annual list of 100 leaders in the African American community between the ages of 25 and 45. The website believes these to be individuals who are “impactful, creative, iconoclastic, innovative, committed to community.” While the list includes many politicians and life-long volunteers, as well as better-known artists such as Wyclef Jean and Nick Cannon, we’ve chosen to look at 10 artists who made the list and who, in The Root’s words, are not yet “household brands.” Click through for a look, and tell us who you think will be breaking through in the near future.
In previewing the fresh art season, one thing became increasingly clear — the galleries and museums of our major coastal cities no longer have the monopoly on important, innovative, powerful, and engaging art. Despite economic fears, if this September is anything to go by, the audiences for established and emerging voices working in media from oil pigment to futuristic genres are hungrier than ever. Here are ten of the fall’s most intriguing exhibitions, opening in New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, DC, and Cleveland.
It was still hot and humid on Friday so we began the day with the Nada Art Fair at the Deauville, a sprawling, shabby-chic hotel that hosted the fair in the lobby and two ballrooms. The Richelieu room featured galleries with solo exhibitions, which were far better than what was on view in the group show hangings in the Napoleon room. Highlights included Brendan Fowler’s canceled concert posters in fractured frames at Rental; Patrick Jackson’s stacked sculptures of kitsch objects at Francois Ghebally Gallery; and Scott Hug’s pie chart pieces at John Connelly Presents. We ran into Kavi Gupta in the lobby and he invited us to an impromptu celebration at the hotel’s Tiki Bar so we stopped looking at art long enough to enjoy a mojito by the pool.
One might think that after the Venice Biennale opened, Art Basel came and went, and the Athens Biennial added more to consider, the art world would be ready for a summer break, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. After returning from Europe, New York has offered one art event after the next. Read More »
