Austere: A One Night Only Exhibition Held At A Former Accounting Office In Los Angeles

Austere, a one night exhibition curated by Shyan Rahimi and Cedric Aurelle, took place in a former accounting agency located on the 20th floor of the only office tower along Santa Monica’s Ocean Ave, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the city of Los Angeles. Alongside aerial views and unique sunsets, the vacant office provided the starting point to an exhibition that addressed a contemporary world whose reality proceeds from the economic speculation of global players and political decisions of supra-powers. With the background of a fictional reinterpretation of this reality by the media, the exhibition convoked images, texts and stories that present a critical approach to contemporary narratives of a post-capitalist world stuck between global fears and dream-industry.  Artists included were William Cordova, Zoe Crosher, Lauren Elder, Sam Kenswil, Bradley Michael Kronz and more. photographs by Sara Clarken

Mark Flood Gives An Obscene and Depraved Lesson On How To Become An Artist @ The SFAQ [Project] Space

It’s clear that Houston based artist Mark Flood has a love/hate relationship with the art world – with the scales often leaning toward the latter. It feeds him, clothes him and allows him to make his work, but what he hates is the politics, the obsequiousness of collectors, the hyperbole of the press, the endless “bad” art, and the rusty, death defying latter good artists put themselves through to get to the top. These are allow things Flood is exploring in Some Frequently Assked Questions – a show that is on view now at the exciting SFAQ [Project] Space in the gritty Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. A perfect place to stage Flood’s vitriol, but nonetheless it’s a brilliant, must-see show that may be one of the best of the year. Some pieces of note are two triptychs smattered with memes that read as a how-to-guide for making it to the top of the art food chain – the images are gruesome, pornographic, horrifying tidbits plucked from the netherweb – stand back and it spells out LOL and KEK, which is a World of Warcraft translation of the former. Some Frequently Assked Questions will be on view until August 15, 2015 at the SFAQ [Project] Space, O'Farrell, 441 O'Farrell St, San Francisco, CA. Text and photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Douglas Gordon and Tobias Rehberger "After the After" @ MACE In Ibiza

Museu d'Art Contemporani d’Eivissa (MACE) present a collaborative exhibition of works by Scottish artist Douglas Gordon and German sculpture Tobias Rehberger - this is not the first time they have shown together. At the centre of After the After is a work comprising two parts based on the same section of film of two men engaging in sexual intercourse. Rehberger has constructed a large ‘tile painting’ depicting the upper half of the men, their faces and torsos, displayed on the terrace wall on the exterior of the museum. In the interior space of the museum, Gordon and Rehberger present directly collaborative sculptures and film works, many of which suggest feelings of abandonment and neglect. The exhibition title, After the After, considers Ibiza’s status as an iconic place of hedonism, parties and decadence while examining the ‘after-point’ that occurs when this ultimately comes to an end, a time of emptiness and paranoia when one should not be left alone. After the After will be on view until October 4th, 2015 at MACE. 

Read Our Interview With Interdisciplinary Artist Eric Parren on Genetically Manipulating E. Coli For the Sake of Art and How Rave Culture Inspired His Practice →

Eric Parren on the swell of a new wave of artists that are borrowing from the forces of science to create major artistic statements. Parren, an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, combines facets of art, science, technology and investigates the human connection with deeply complex notions about the technologies that shape our future – often without our knowing – such as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and space exploration. The works are often deeply sensory experiences dealing with modes of perception and the physics of light and sound. For instance, Parren has genetically manipulated the e. coli bacteria, which are naturally occurring in the intestine, to light up red, green and cyan – he then filmed them with a time-lapse laser-scanning confocal microscope. With the visuals of dancing bacteria, like microscopic ballerinas, he played an algorithmically composed composition based on the biosynthetic pathways of the e. coli’s genome. Click here to read the full interview. 

Marcel Breuer's Gorgeous Stillman House Hits the Auction Block This November

On November 19th Wright presents The Stillman House by Marcel Breuer at auction. A masterpiece of modern architecture and art—with murals designed by Alexander Calder and Xanti Schawinsky—this sale represents a rare opportunity to own a house by one of the world’s most important modernists. Estimate: $2,000,000–3,000,000. Click here to learn more. 

Night Gallery Presents "Sunset Strrip" @ The Battery Social Club in San Francisco

Los Angeles based Night Gallery collaborated with the Thomas Moller and Matthew Bernstein, directors of the art program at The Battery Social Club in San Francisco to present a group show called "Sunset Strrip" featuring artists like Derek Boshier, Mira Dancy, Sojourner Truth Parsons and more. "In the 60s the Sunset Strip was dirrty. Dirrty in the trash that covered the avenues and dirrty in the deals that went down between hustlers on the street and those in cars. Dirrty hands shook behind asbestos walls while polyester fabrics brimmed with dirrty sweat and car exhaust. Today Sunset Strip is very different, operating more like a television commercial through which you drive. Massive billboards consume your visual attention leaving little else to be absorbed.The new strrip has moved southeast. It runs through downtown Los Angeles,  beginning at the Fashion District and ending at Dames-N-Games. This is Night Gallery’s neighborhood." Sunset Strrip will be on view until October 11, 2015 at the Battery Social Club, 717 Battery St, San Francisco, CA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Not Fleshy Enough Performance at Faith Holland's Solo Exhibition @ Transfer in Brooklyn

Faith Holland is young, and shaking things up. Her exhibition at Transfer in Bushwick, ‘Technophillia,’ presents a strong palette that suggests an examination of the modern links between tech and sex. The centerpiece of the exhibition, entitled ‘Visual Orgasms,’ features a series of looped images emblematic of the co modifying of sex. Her ‘Ookie Canvas’ canvas abstractions are composed of ejaculations selected from porn and lenders’ own photographs. Holland’s work resonates easily as it focuses on two of literally everyone’s primary obsessions: technology and sex. Along with Giovanna Olmos, Holland hosted “four performances on the digitally mediated body’ last Friday night. Alexandra Marzella, who was featured in Autre last week, performed an interpretative dance that was both mentally stimulating and sexually provocative. Not only is her work interesting, she is also a good dancer overall, and the performance worked on two levels. Shireen Ahmed presented a play in which she handed a script to two audience members (both guys, as it turned out) in which the lines read as text conversations between a series of pairs of people. The texts were sexual in nature, emblematic of the over-sharing commonly found in private text messages. Monica Mirabelle choreographed a group dance with one man and several women wearing close to nothing and gyrating in unison. The uniformity reminded me of Vanessa Beecroft on a smaller scale. But unlike Beecroft the movement was more of the focus, rather than the bodies. Finally, curator Olmos gave her performance of unique performance art. Olmos gets held upside down and blows bubbles into a glass of milk, and some chewed skittles held a prominent position in the performance. It is nice to see that New York’s art world is not as dead as some people think it to be, and that there is such strong camaraderie and shared ideals amongst a group of very young artists. photographs and text by Adam Lehrer. Follow Autre on Instagram: @AUTREMAGAZINE

Katherine Bernhardt: Fruit Salad @ Venus Over Los Angeles

Venus Over Los Angeles presents, Katherine Bernhardt: Fruit Salad, a large mural covering the exterior walls of the L.A. gallery; a public iteration of her signature wildly colorful still life patterned paintings. Fruit Salad will serve both as Katherine Bernhardt’s first foray into executing a public mural, and as a prelude to her upcoming solo exhibition at Venus Over Manhattan in September. Katherine Bernhardt’s recent series of paintings offer vibrant portraits of objects that exemplify the casually quotidian in acrylic and spray paint. She covers her canvases with a painterly hodgepodge of commodity items such as fruit, cigarettes, junk food, and objects of New York’s day-to-day that float against richly colored, striking backgrounds that themselves seem to push forward and demand the viewer’s attention. The patterns emerge without source material, purely from the artist’s thoughts and imagination, and driven by her experiences. With this in mind, the pieces become part of a larger portrait of the artist herself to be pieced together by the viewer. The often times random assortment of objects relate to one another in a way that is presumably deeply personal to Bernhardt herself. In fine Los Angeles fashion, the exhibition will be on view indefinitely. photographs by Sara Clarken 

Aki Sasamoto Food Rental Performance On The High Line at the Rail Yards In New York

New York-based Japanese artist Aki Sasamoto’s work affects the viewer on many levels. Her creations, sculptures that serve utilitarian and aesthetic purposes, are superb enough to warrant museum attention by themselves. But Sasamoto’s work really is about the performance. Her singularly silly performance style is underlined by real human truths. But aside from all the wisdom and beauty that is found in Sasamoto’s work, it’s also really funny. Perhaps that is why her public performance on the New York City Highline, ‘Food Rental,’ worked so well: though a certain art-centric crowd (including NY Mag art critic Jerry Saltz) was in attendance, there was also what seemed to be a gathering crowd of passing tourists. These people were perhaps not aware that they were witnessing the newest performance by one of the most important contemporary artists in the world, but they certainly laughed a lot. Click here to read the full review. Text and photos by Adam Lehrer

Read Our Conversation With the Last of the Great Actionists, Hermann Nitsch →

Photograph by Luci Lux

Herman Nitsch is considered the last of the great ‘Actionists.’ Together with fellow Austrian artists Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, he developed what would become one of the most violent and “depraved” artistic movements of the 20th century. In reaction to a complacent post-war society, Nitsch aimed for realism…shocking, brutal realism, which he insists is only a mirror to man’s own innate brutality and thirst for violence and defilement. His performances, which are held under the title of The Orgies Mysteries Theater, were so shocking and real, that he has been arrested multiple times and even exiled from his own country. His action performances, or “aktionens,” vary in length – sometimes they last several days – but they always convey a sense of pagan ritual, replete with human and animal sacrifices, copulation, blood drinking and bloodletting, disembowelment, intestines spilling from carcasses, dance, music, and audience participation. In one filmed performance, held in Germany in 1970, you can find Nitsch disemboweling a goat, removing the intestines, forcing participants to drink the blood, placing a female participant on a crucifix and then inserting his penis into her vagina through the entrails. Autre was fortunate enough to have a chat with Hermann Nitsch from his studio in Vienna – our conversation ranged from development of The Orgy Mystery Theater, how the artist embraces his work in the face of possible jail time, the success of his current show in Palermo and what he likes to do for fun. Click here to read the full conversation. 

Paddle 8 Benefit Auction Exhibition Organized by Marcel Dzama at David Zwirner Gallery in New York

Digital auctioneer Paddle 8, an agency that combines the high-octane excitement of an auction house with today’s most advanced technology, offered a dizzying selection of pieces last night at David Zwirner. Offering pieces by some of our favorite artists including Richard Prince, Chris Ofili, Oscar Murillo, Raymond Pettibon, Dustin Yellin, Dave Eggers, Enoc Perez, Suzan Frecon, and many more, A Benefit Auction for 826NYC drew a crowd of both powerful collectors looking to build on their collections as well as art students and lovers just looking for a reason to see a vast array of beautiful work. Click here to see our five favorite pieces from this auction. The exhibition and auction will run until July 31, 2015 at David Zwirner Gallery in New York and you can bid online here. text and photographs by Adam Lehrer 

Read Our Intimate Text Interview With Exhibitionist and Performance Artist Alexandra Marzella →

Alexandra Marzella is an exhibitionist in the purist form – zits, bodily fluids, and armpit hair are all on full display. She is also beautiful, but eschews many of the expectations that society has for women: she rarely wears makeup, her eyebrows are unkempt and her selfies are the opposite of the countless duck face tragedies that bombard most social media feeds. Basically, she lets her freak flag fly and doesn’t give a fuck what you think. I first saw her perform at the Standard Hotel Miami back in December – in a little poolside bungalow – as part of an exhibition by Petra Collins presented by nightlife impresario André Saraiva. In a small, cramped room she writhed as she stripped naked, while getting water poured on her from friend, collaborator, and fellow artist India Menuez – Wet’s “Don’t Want to Be Your Girl” played in the background. It was exciting, erotic, strange and captivating – Marzella was not only stripping off her clothes, she was also stripping off parts of her soul and the audience was too close not to get splashed, which felt intrusive, but also incredibly viscerally engaging. It’s almost like Marzella has created a new form of art out of stripping. Indeed, Marzella, who is based in New York, is part of a new wave of young female artists that are using their youth, bodies, and femininity to say fuck you to the jock rapist culture that dominates the culture. Whatever she is doing, she should keep doing it. In the following text interview Marzella talks about her initial inclination to shun art, her time as a cheerleader and her take on nudity in performance art. Click here to read the interview. 

"Tiger Tiger" Group Show At Salon 94 in New York

Salon 94 presents Tiger Tiger, a summer group exhibition. Tiger Tiger features work from Michael Assiff, Jules de Balincourt, Brian Belott, Katherine Bernhardt, Karin Gulbran, Shara Hughes, Marc Hundley, Misaki Kawai, Makiko Kudo, Nikki Maloof, Ryan Mrozowski, David Benjamin Sherry, Yutaka Sone, and Paul Swenbeck. The exhibition includes plastic on canvas works by Michael Assiff, counterfeit children’s art by Brian Belott, ceramics by Karin Gulbran and Paul Swenbeck, metal sculpture by Yutaka Sone, and more. The exhibition will be on view until August 21, 2015 at Salon 94 Bowery in New York. 

Go See Artist Dan Graham's "Observatory / Playground" Atop Le Corbusier's Radiant City In Marseille

On view now, atop Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse (Radiant City) in Marseille, France you will be able to find a stunning presentation of works by iconic conceptual sculptor Dan Graham. Curated by French designer Ora Ito, who purchased the rooftop of Corbusier's stunning apartment complex in 2013 and named it MAMO, or MArseille MOdulor. The space has become an outdoor gallery of sorts - set against the masterful surrounding architecture. Presented here are two of Graham's classic pavilions, seven maquettes, as well as a selection of films. "Observatory / Playground" will be on view until September 20, 2015 at MAMO, in Marseille, France. 

"Queer Fantasy" Group Show Opening at OHWOW Gallery In Los Angeles

OHWOW Gallery presents Queer Fantasy, a group exhibition curated by William J. Simmons. Featuring work by ten artists – A.K. Burns, Leidy Churchman, Jimmy DeSana, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Mariah Garnett, Jacolby Satterwhite, David Benjamin Sherry, Jack Smith, A.L. Steiner, and John Waters – this show seeks to recount and preserve a frequently marginalized history of queer voices within contemporary art. Queer Fantasy will be on view until August 15, 2015 at OHWOW Gallery in Los Angeles. 

Go See Joe Sola's Live Painted Horse On View At Tif Sigfrids Gallery in Los Angeles

Tif Sigfrids presents A Painted Horse by Joe Sola (with Matthew Chambers, Sayre Gomez, Rudy K. Slobeck, and others). This is Joe Sola’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. For this show, Sola explores the use of everyday materials and techniques common to contemporary animal grooming practices and presents us with a painted miniature horse. Originally bred as pets for nobility in the 17th century and known to be amongst the rare species of animals in King Louis XIV’s menagerie at Versailles, Sola embraces the animal’s potential for visual pleasure and transposes an abstract language onto this rather unconventional painting surface. With palatial images in mind, the artist will transform the gallery to resemble the dining room of a prosperous collector of contemporary art. Surrounded by walls adorned with new works by Matthew Chambers. Sayre Gomez, and Rudy K. Slobeck, Riba, the painted horse, will roam freely as if at home. Don't worry, the horse is very well taken care of. Only four visitors at a time will be permitted into the gallery to view the exhibition. Visit the Tif Sigfrids website to learn how to make an appointment. 

Melike Kara “Lunch” Salon Kennedy in Frankfurt, Germany

Salon Kennedy presents Melike Kara “Lunch” – her first solo exhibition in Frankfurt. In her work, Melike Kara first and foremost allows the being to emerge without any evaluation. She questions the notion of duality between form and formlessness, incurrence and dissolution, focusing on the correspondence between groups and singular figures. Attitude, gesture and facial expression visualize social constellation, transmitting undefined content without ever being specific. Yet, by reflecting common, everyday social encounters, the figures seem utterly familiar. Emanating from the being, the artist allows the canvas to react upon all these emotions. The color however, is deliberately selected to provide a form and frame to the painting´s inner life. Melike Kara “Lunch” will be on view until July 31, 2015 at Salon Kennedy, Cultural Avenue HQ Frankfurt am Main 

Bad Boys Bail Bonds Adopt A Highway Group Exhibition at Team Gallery In New York

Team (gallery, inc.) is pleased to announce Bad Boys Bail Bonds Adopt A Highway, a group exhibition of sculpture, drawings, photographs, paintings, and video by fourteen Los Angeles based artists and practitioners. The exhibition will take place in both gallery spaces and run from 28 June through 31 July, 2015. Team Gallery is located at 83 Grand Street, cross streets Wooster and Greene, and at 47 Wooster Street, cross streets Grand and Broome.

'Russian Doll' Group Exhibition Opening @ M+B Gallery In Los Angeles

Russian Doll, a group exhibition that is on view now at M+B Gallery, presents a broad view of contemporary art strategies, using the conceit of nesting dolls to explore how others' ideas are transmuted into one's own work. Rather than attempting to draw direct relationships between practices, the show deals in variations and multitudes, in the unexpected connections and overlaps found in the work of M+B artists and the artists they have each invited to participate. From video animations that question the indexical nature of photography, to sculptures that navigate the shifting relationship between form and image; in photographs that investigate subjectivity and visual pleasure, and paintings where the mark is translated through multiple processes, the show explores the various approaches and commonalities that can arise in current practices and in relation to art historical precedents. Russian Doll offers the opportunity to consider generative possibilities - of the way in which relationships between artists can allow for an embeddedness of works within works. Artists in the exhibition include Roe Ethridge, Anthony Lepore, Alex Prager, Hannah Whitaker, Jon Rafman and more. 'Russian Doll' will be on view until August 20, 2015 at M+B, 612 North Almont Drive, Los Angeles, California

The Flamboyant Life & Forbidden Art of George Quaintance @ The Taschen Gallery in Los Angeles

George Quaintance lived and worked during an era when homosexuality was repressed, when his joyful paintings and physique photos could not depict a penis. In an era before Stonewall, the sexual revolution, gay rights and the AIDS crisis, Quaintance and his high-camp erotic art existed in a demi-monde of borderline legality. Currently, Taschen Gallery is presenting The Flamboyant Life & Forbidden Art of George Quaintance, the first public show of works by this culturally significant artist. Seventy years since the creation of his first physique painting, discover Quaintance's masculine fantasy world, populated by Greek gods, Latin lovers, lusty cowboys and chiseled ranch hands. Accompanying pieces from photographer and gay magazine pioneer Bob Mizer, as well as from the legendary Tom of Finland, show Quaintance’s leading influence on the gay publishing and art scene. The exhibition will be on view until August 31, 2015 at Taschen Gallery, 8070 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA