Street art purists grumbled this week when the Sincura Group, a concierge company in London, held a members-only event to exhibit Slave Labour, a spray painting by the artist Banksy, which was eventually sold for more than £750,000 ($1.1 million). In an expression of self-assurance that bordered on defensiveness, Sincura’s director told Bloomberg that this was mission accomplished. … Read More
Shepard Fairey
What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds In Our Office
Today at Flavorpill, we met some of the smartest musicians in rock ‘n’ roll history. We learned what inspired Clint Eastwood to yell at a chair. We decided that death metal scares a lot less when it’s being sung by a little girl who’s wearing fairy wings. We watched… Read More
What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office
Today at Flavorpill, we stayed far away from the 10 hottest places in the States. We met a human bowling ball. We had a zen moment watching Andy Warhol eat a hamburger. We listened to Ira Glass’ tips about the secrets of creative success. We were mesmerized… Read More
Why We Should Support Sotheby’s Locked Out Art Handlers
As an 1895 version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream heads off to Sotheby’s today, it could bring in as much as a record-breaking $200 million. Sotheby’s, the world’s largest auction house, is doing better than ever, with profits on the rise. And yet, the unionized professionals who handle the art are out of work. They’ve been locked out since July 29 of last year, after refusing to accept an unfair contract from Sotheby’s that called to cut pay, hours, and pensions; eliminate health benefits; and replace full-time employees with temporary, unskilled workers. For the people who have spent years — and some, decades — lending their specialized skills to handling some of the world’s most precious artifacts, it wasn’t acceptable. … Read More
The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories
1. Shepard Fairey is looking to produce a new film adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984; apparently the street artist has been pursuing the rights to the project on behalf of Imagine Entertainment, the production house run by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. [via Heat Vision]
2. Hollywood Exes, a new VH1… Read More
Shepard Fairey Pleads Guilty in His AP Case
Earlier this year Shepard Fairey settled his civil case with the Associated Press over the misuse of Mannie Garcia’s photo of Barack Obama as the basis for his ubiquitous Hope poster. While neither side was willing to back down from a legal standpoint, Fairey agreed that in the future he wouldn’t use AP… Read More
A Bunch of Famous Street Artists Will Cameo on ‘The Simpsons’
Think about the last time that The Simpsons made headlines for something other than ugly salary negotiations — it was that Banksy-helmed opening credit sequence back in 2010. Perhaps in an effort to recapture some of that art world relevancy, the Fox animated series plans to bring on Shepard Fairey, Ron English, Kenny Scharf and… Read More
Artists Who Don’t “Make” Their Own Work
Allegedly David Hockney recently took a dig at Damien Hirst when a poster for his upcoming show at the Royal Academy of Art read, “All the works here were made by the artist himself, personally.” The Royal Academy of Art has since clarified that the phrase appeared on Hockney’s gallery wall, not their poster, and Mr. Hockney was not attacking anyone specifically.
This got us thinking. It’s not uncommon for artists to have assistants or employ experienced craftsmen to help with the production of their work. Sometimes, that’s the only way to bring their ideas to life. Sometimes, that process is part of the art’s conceit. Sometimes, they just want the money without doing much of anything. Here’s a brief and wide survey of classical and contemporary artists who conceive, but don’t or didn’t always “make” their own work. This is not exactly “in defense” of Damien Hirst. It’s a bit that, but more of … “in contrast,” just some thoughts to levy the hype and hate currently swirling around the artist. Let’s get to it! … Read More
20 Amazing Artist-Inspired Tattoos
[Editor's note: While your Flavorwire editors take a much-needed holiday break, we're revisiting some of our most popular features of the year. This post was originally published February 16, 2011.] If we’re being honest, most of us will never own a work of art by a famous artist. And while back in college, it might have been okay to pay homage to one of the greats with a poster print from the museum, these days when it comes to the artwork that hangs on our walls, we tend to opt for original pieces by emerging (read: more affordable) talents. A few enterprising souls have found a way to sidestep the issue completely by displaying famous works of art directly on their bodies. Click through for some of our favorite examples, and if you happen to have an art-inspired tattoo, be sure to tell us about it in the comments. … Read More
20 Artworks Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street Movement
There’s no denying that the Occupy movement has been inspiring people across the globe, and in many cases, that inspiration is being expressed artistically. Not that we find this the least bit surprising — art and activism have always gone hand in hand. In New York City, the Smithsonian and the New York Historical Society, aware that they have a phenomenon on their hands, have been gathering artifacts from the protest all along, with an eye towards future exhibitions. Even with the art-world spin-off Occupy Museums, meant to get “people to think about who museums serve, and calling the art world out on its elitism and its abuse of labor,” the artistic community has been very supportive of the movement. Here we have collected twenty artworks, from drawings to posters to sculptures to puppets from artists both well known (Banksy, Shepard Fairey) and anonymous. Some of these, like the propaganda posters and stamped dollars, are meant to further the Occupy movement’s cause directly, while others are just artistic visions or ways to capture the humanity of what’s going on in the world right now. Click through to check out twenty pieces of art about Occupy Wall Street, and let us know what you think in the comments. … Read More
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