saturday gallery walk-about: nyc

McDermott & McGough

 

Christian Vincent

 

Jeff Baker

 Todd Hido

Nathan Harger

 

James Reilly

 

Josh Bronaugh

 

Kohei Yoshiyuki

 

Patricia Nix

juco for the moment

today was about my budding potential affair with the young photography team.  Flirting dangerously with seriousness, JUCO somehow manage to avoid annoying their rambunctious, mythological side.

juco - making it hot to like elves again. frodo had slaves.  

other juco work is strikingly reminiscent of the recent art basel phenom, and purveyor of the spectacularly right on, alex prager. 

both share that retro 70esque coloring and minimalist suburban spaces and interiors as well as casting heightened attention to women in the throws of mediocre middle class malaise. when form and content begin to emerge in the works of multiple artists simulataneously it used to mean that a new movement may be under way.  now, it could just mean they don't have to travel anywhere or even buy a magazine to copy someone else's vibe. hopefully i'm wrong about that.

 

these two small ones are alex prager

the violent and the sexual tuesday

im not sure what the intentions are in contemporary fashion photography, but these three photo editorials struck me as the most demanding and powerful - perhaps for all the wrong reasons / perhaps that what makes it oh so right.  my aunt told me at dinner last night that an you should always revisit an image or a look that immediately repulses you.  here you may find that long sought after cutting edge.  thus, rape, fascistic sexual domination, forced oral sex, violently cropped chests, and sweaty feeble arms combine to form the most problematic and glamorous visions of the day.

steven klein - coming up with the most fantastic image of the day. his series for vogue italia follows

marcus gaab for ten. sweaty, slippery, and improper... no?          jessica craig martin is not thinking about mess, blood, pedophilia, and oral sexlola (here)

jaime martinez asks to be heir apparent

jaime martinez declares the boldest and most definitive blur of video and photo of the digital age and proposes a new way forward for the image. will anyone listen? maybe they shouldn't. martinez has teamed up with m.i.a. and is intent on being the musician's visual priest. while martinez work is surely stunning and boundary shaking, he risks falling into/ capitalizes on a strengthening trend - female pop stars moving into the realm of high art. martinez is trying to link m.i.a. with a groundbreaking technical manipulation and a potentially potential new artistic medium in the hopes that the star herself can be the piece of art. in such a process, "the artist" is the designer, the celebrity and even the innovative technique. the goal is to replicate andy warhol, jeff koons, and damian hirst's trademark move in reverse. whereas these artists moved from gallery success and art world acclaim to pop culture celebrity, the likes of m.i.a. and gaga seem determined to come in the back door. it is not so unfathomable to imagine martinez's moving pictures and gaga installations against the white walls of berlin and chelsea very soon.

this blog can't support this type of work. only checking out the link will bring you these amuse bouches

http://www.thefader.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/3.gif

http://fuckyoudraculas.tumblr.com/

http://www.brightlightbrightlight.com/series/2009-animated-gif/

http://fuckyoudraculas.tumblr.com/post/110228100

http://fuckyoudraculas.tumblr.com/post/133372068

check out the animated gif series on brightbrightbrightlight.com for the best collection of martinez's non-mia work.

Rust__ Rococo

My show this Friday at the Lemon Grove in Downtown Youngstown.

The Lemon Grove Café will be unveiling a new space inside the establishment dedicated to the display of rotating art exhibitions. The Gallery Lemon Grove’s first show, Rust__Rococo, will feature the work of seven local artists who undress a sensual aesthetic from the ruin around us. 

Their work unearths the lush, the curvaceous, the vibrant, the smooth, the solid, and the sexual from apparent barrenness. They indulge. What these artists create is a new aesthetic of abandon. Rejecting the macabre pantomime of aimless nostalgia and refusing to be overcome by the heavy shadow of memory and doubt, these artists invigorate and reconquer how we understand our wasted landscape. By doing so, they expose how our rust can empower, not suffocate, our future.

                                                    Jimmy Hagan and Leslie Cusano

 

Steve Poullas

 

Don Attenberger

 

event poster