Conrad Ruiz

Words cannot express how epicly awesome these paintings are by San Francisco artist Conrad Ruiz.

Gah!!

I really love these prints by Danna Ray/Groundworks. Whimsical and a little sad, too.

Diem Chau

I saw these adorable Crayola crayon sculptures at Lola Home in Berkeley, CA. It's the same spot I found those hand-felted river rocks in.

Diem Chau was born in Saigon, Vietnam and moved to the United States with her family as refugees in 1986. She graduated with a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts and has received an Artist Trust GAP Grant and a PONCHO Artist-in-Residence Award.

She turns regular every day crayons into delicate portraits, and when we were at the store, the sales clerk told us she even did custom portraits. One couple commissioned her to create portraits in their favorite Crayola colors.

I love that these still have some of the wrapper on them, as if by slowly peeling it away you reveal the tiny sculpture inside.

Her current work involves ceramic plates and silk thread - beautiful stuff.

Alexander Calder

Jewelry by Alexander Calder on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) through March 2009. I studied him in high school and have been a fan since but never knew he made jewelry! The Met isn't my favorite museum - it is way too big and by the time you get to the exhibit you wanted to see in the first place it's 5 hours later. Tiring!

Alexander Calder: The Paris Years is also on view at the Whitney through February 2009. Would be cool do to both the same day - I have a break for the holidays coming up and Alex has to work. So..... Guess what I'll be doing. Any other NYers down? [edit: what's happening to my Engrish??]

Here's a 4-minute clip of the start of Calder's Circus, always entertaining to watch.

Jean Painleve

Edit: We arrived at Monkeytown and headed for the back room. It's set up with each wall as a screen, and a projector shows the film on each of the walls. Low tables line the room, with cush pillows and mattresses. It sounds a little janky but it's actually really nice. Dinner and drinks are served during the film and we ordered some of their house cocktails: Elderflower Bell (St. Germaine, cava, concord grape juice), Westminster Fennel Club (fennel infused gin, grapefruit bitters, pearl onions, twist), Umami Martini (shochu, brine, parmesan, clam juice, caper berry, spicy pickle).

The films were amazing and the re-score by Yo La Tengo was beautiful. My favorites were "Sea Urchins," "The Seahorse" and "The Love Life of the Octopus." The subtitles/commentary was a little tongue in cheek as well, and not so dry which was good. I definitely want to see it again and will try to get to the gallery at least once to do so.

The DVD + score are available as a 2-disc set on Yo La Tengo's website for $45, but only as a region 2 DVD. I guess I can buy myself a few bday presents :)



We're going to see a few of Jean Painleve's films scored by Yo La Tengo tomorrow night (reservations pending) at Monkeytown in Williamsburg. They're showing them through Sunday and reservations are free with a table minimum.

His photographs will be on view at CristineRose/Josée Bienvenu Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, Chelsea through Jan. 11 and his films will also be shown there every day at 4pm or on request.

From the NY Times article:
In 1944, Painlevé made a horrific nature film that is clearly an allegory of Nazi Germany. The film, ''The Vampire,'' originally set to music by Duke Ellington, begins with a survey of animals known for sucking or squeezing their prey dry. You see the octopus, the mosquito and the tick. You see the tongues of insects lapping blood from their victims, a map of Europe and a map of South America. The star of the film, the South American vampire bat, appears with his European screen double, Nosferatu. The subtitle ominously explains the choice of experimental victim: ''Decency has replaced man by a guinea pig.''

Slowly the vampire bat sidles and lurches up to the guinea pig, which is all innocence. The bat gives the guinea pig a gentle kiss on the lips, which, as the subtitles explain, numbs the victim in the place where the bloodletting will occur. Then the bat begins sucking on the guinea pig's cheek. You see the poor furry thing paralyzed, apparently sitting calmly, while the blood is drained from its body. The camera turns cruelly to an image of a cat lapping milk. At the end the bat, seemingly drunk on blood, begins to doze, but not before raising a wing in a hideous ''heil.''

Home sweet home

Now that we are back home I want to focus a little bit on home improvement. More like home decor anyway. I just got a couple of pieces to put up in the living room:
This is a piece by Mister Rob Ryan from the UK. He has beautiful laser cut paper products which he makes into tiles and prints. This is a small piece that's emo without being too cheesy. Like me, hopefully. But who am I kidding, I am a wallower.
This is a print by David Moore of an old WWII poster from England that was never posted. There are a ton of these floating around, re-made by different people but I liked these colors best. I got this for Alex, to remember not to stress too hard.


What I really love are these paintings by SF artist Ian Johnson. I first saw his work about four years ago in San Francisco at a group show curated by Derek from Park Life (before Park Life was born). He usually does old jazz musicians but he has portraits of Haruki Murakami and William S. Burroughs (below, I think) as well.

I like the mixture of realism in the figures and acid trip in the background. Kind of like a mullet - party in the back!

The original paintings are a little much for me right now but I will settle for a print. If they will ever make more. Aha.

One man's trash...

From Kitsune Noir: Dirty Laundry. Creating art from mistakes. In this case, dirty t-shirts.

Rosemarie Fiorre: Smoke bombs


Andrew Degraff: Fish blood

The exhibit is in Hawaii and probably over by now but definitely a fun concept. What kinds of stains can you make into art?

"My Impure Hair" by Blonde Redhead, dir. Mike Mills

Finally caught Beautiful Losers tonight at the IFC Center. Chronicling the early art of skate culture, it showcased some of my favorite artists such as Geoff McFetridge and Jo Jackson. Also included were Harmony Korine (Kids, Gummo, Julien Donkey Boy), Barry McGee/Twist, Shepherd Fairey, Chris Johanson, Thomas Campbell, Mike Mills and Margaret Kilgallen.

Inspiring to watch and both funny and sad - please catch it before it ends its short run.

Os Gemeos

At Deitch Projects, 18 Wooster. June 28-August 9. Don't sleep! This will be an awesome installation.

My big fat gay crush

Todd Oldham's new photo book, John Waters: Place Space will be released this month from Ammo Books. I cannot wait! I've loved JW since Crybaby.


And, not gay but highly crushworthy John Lurie's new book A Fine Example of Art is out. I saw his work at P.S.1 about two years ago and was blown away - it's hilarious and childlike and he uses watercolor like I would. Love this, love Fishing with John, love Stranger than Paradise, love love love John Lurie.



All images from Amazon.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Alex and I saw a similar installation at Jonathan Levine Gallery a while back during their "Streets of Europe" show. He just emailed me this link of a video made in Buenos Aires and Baden. Super awesome stuff - check it out!

About Blu, the artist:
With a penchant for drawing and public art, Blu started painting walls around his native Bologna in 2000. His pieces often cover entire sides of buildings, which he either paints using brushes mounted on long sticks, or by simply standing on a friend’s shoulders. He has painted walls in Italy, Spain, Germany, Brazil and England. In the fall of 2006, Blu, joined by filmmaker Lorenzo Fonda, and two friends documented an unscripted trip across South and Central America. They entitled the project: Megunica. The film is set to be released in late 2007 as a package that will include: a DVD of the documentary as well as a book featuring travel photos, wall pieces and a reproduction of an illustrated travel diary.

Tyler Stout

Crazy, colorful, huge, awesome, intricate music/art/movie posters from Tyler Stout. Totally badical.

Get off Murakami's nuts

Chiho Aoshima
Crazy, gigantic digital prints. Sometimes my dreams look like these:



Aya Takano
One of my absolute favorites. If the Virgin Suicides were done Nihonggo style, this would be it. Dreamy, sometimes sad and always with lanky, doe-eyed girls and boys.




Mr.
The first time I saw his work, they were tiny gel pen drawings on scrap paper and receipts. Slightly pedophillic and otaku-inspired.



Yoshitomo Nara
Japan's OG punk rock artist. I love his style of sleepy, angry children/animals. And his muted color palette. I saw a book he did with Banana Yoshimoto (one of my favorite authors) at Kinokuniya but can't find it in English anywhere.

Through the eyes of a child

Els Dibus de Joanet is a blog of drawings and paintings by Joan, the son of Joan, Sr. who keeps Acuarela, a blog about all things watercolor. It's mostly done in pen & ink but you can see very imaginative, weird, skillful things emerging. My personal favorite is the T. Rex with visible skeleton.

Yinka Shonibare at James Cohan

Been waiting for this to open. London-born Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare uses painting, sculpture and installation art to explore race and culture. Opening reception is this Thursday, 4/17 from 6-8pm at James Cohan, 533 W. 26th Street.

Of my heart

When I first moved here I was at St. Mark's Books and bought a funny little zine that consisted of several mini publications inside a cloth pouch. Inside were some Ryan McGinley photographs, soft and dreamy, reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides. Last night his solo exhibition, "I know where the summer goes" debuted at Team Gallery in NYC. Shaved down from over 4000 rolls of film shot on a 2007 road trip are 50 of the best. Team Gallery is at 83 Grand Street near Greene in Soho. His photographs make me feel like that acoustic Ann Beretta album. Thanks to Ange for the tip.








P.S. Thanks to Bella, I've put a playlist on here courtesy of myplaylist.org

This film debuted at SXSW but I didn't get to see it. I did, however, attend the showcase where Money Mark performed some songs he wrote for the film. It doesn't include all the artists in the original exhibition but it does include Harmony Korinne, Mike Mills, Jo Jackson & Chris Johanson (who I love), Geoff McFetridge (who I also love), Ed Templeton, Shepherd Fairey, Margaret Kilgallen, Thomas Campbell, Espo.

More information at Creativity Online and on the website. It's due out this summer in select cities. Thank goodness I'm in douche centrale.

Please!

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Jo Jackson/Chris Johanson skate deck collabo.

Beautiful Losers