Her New Religion

Wearing Larry Gagosian and billionaire art patron Eli Broad's credit cards as charms from a rosary like Chanel necklace, and decked out in other shiny designer accessories, the subject in the painting, entitled Her New Religion, by artist Anna Halldin Maule, is a brilliant psychological statement on the blatant and shocking materialism of the art world. The subject, wearing nothing save for a pair of tiny pink lace panties, in a pose similar to the praying saints of classical paintings, almost denounces the art world as a religion where money is god and billionaire patrons are like sugar-daddy saints. Anna Halldin Maule, a painter who originally hails from Sweden and now lives in Hawaii with her husband and creative partner, uses techniques of the the old masters to paint incredibly life like portraits that explore the themes of materialism and money with glossy, erotic overtones.  After the jump watch the whole process of her working with the model, capturing the perfect pose, and the meticulous brushstroke by brushstroke process of her amazing painting technique. www.halldinmaule.com

Appropriated Imagery: Richard Prince + Jackson Pollock

Guild Hall of East Hampton presents Richard Prince “Covering Pollock” featuring 27 new works that are focused on Jackson Pollock, a leader of the Abstract Expressionist group. Richard Prince uses appropriation to distill and disrupt America’s compulsive fascination with iconic brands, fame, and lifestyle. This is the first public viewing of “Covering Pollock” and the first museum exhibition of Richard Prince’s work on Long Island. On view until October 17. 

Drawn Blank: Bob Dylan to Show Paintings at the Gagosian

Gagosian: "A committed visual artist, Bob Dylan has only recently begun to exhibit his works publicly. Firstly, a collection of multi-media watercolors and gouaches, The Drawn Blank Series, was exhibited in Germany’s Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz in autumn 2007. His latest works on acrylic and canvas, The Brazil Series, are currently on exhibit at The National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen." Bob Dylan is set to exhibit artwork at the Gagosian Gallery this September.

RICHARD PRINCE, first solo exhibition in Asia

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Since the late 1970s, Prince has been mining images from mass media, advertising, and entertainment. Working in the tear-sheet department at TIME/LIFE in New York, he took magazine ads for jewelry, furniture, fashion, and cigarettes, and gave them new potency by cropping, removing ad copy from the images, reshooting black and white images on color film, and configuring them in generic groups. With these “rephotographs”, he redefined the artistic act and its related concepts of authorship, ownership, and the aura of the image. Applying his understanding of the complex transactions of representation to the making of art, he has crafted a unique signature filled with echoes of other signatures but that is unquestionably his own.

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An exhibition, that opened yesterday at the Gagosian gallery in Hong Kong, explores the role and representation of women in the male imaginary and in American culture, a principal theme in Prince’s oeuvre since the outset of his career and one that is charged with ambiguity and provocation. By locating, appropriating, and manipulating popular depictions of feminine types – from the aloof fashion model and the glamorous celebrity to the fetishistic nurse and the bold biker girlfriend - Prince explores how visual definitions of gender form in popular culture through repetition and reiteration. Gleaned from a variety of highbrow, lowbrow, and subcultural sources, Prince’s women abound with a diversity of stereotyped erotic appeal.

On view until July 16, 2011 www.gagosian.com

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Objet d'Art: Cupid's Lie

DAMIEN HIRST, Cupid's Lie, Gold

To inaugurate the Hong Kong exhibition space, Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present “Forgotten Promises,” an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Damien Hirst. Forgotten Promises - Jan 18 - Mar. 19, 2011 at the Gasgosian Gallery, Hong Kong.