Dissolving floors of memory, 2007
Detail Destruction of Memory, Infinitely Suffering Thing, 2008
Violent Contradiction, 2008
Effacement, 2008
Infallible, Close-UpOverpainting in Twentieth Century Press Photography
Before the invention of photoshop in 1991, it was commonplace for press agencies and the photographic departments of newspapers and magazines to enhance, crop and embellish their press photographs prior to publication. An upcoming exhibition, entitled Overworked: Overpainting in Twentieth Century Press Photography, at Flash Projects UK explores the ways in which photographs were worked-over in paint, gouache, watercolour and pencil prior to their publication, challenging the veracity of the image.
www.flash-projects.co.uk
Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible
A comprehensive monograph on highly influential product designer Dieter Rams. As head of design at Braun from 1961 to 1995, Rams created some of the most iconic objects of the twentieth century. www.phaidon.co.uk
[PHILOSOPHY] Contextualizations of a Genius
To honor the 60th anniversary of the death of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein the Shwules Museum (Gay Museum) in Berlin is holding a special exhibition. Wittgenstein was a giant in 20th century philosophy–the exhibition explores his jewish identity, his coming to grips with his family and the suicides of his three brothers, and his unique dialectics. Ludwig Wittgenstein: Contextualizations of a Genius is on view until June 13. www.ludwig-wittgenstein.com
Man Ray and Lee Miller, Partners in Surrealism
From 1929 to 1932, Man Ray and Lee Miller -- two giants of the European Surrealism movement -- lived together in Paris, first as teacher and student, and later as lovers. Their mercurial relationship resulted in some of the most powerful work of each artist's career, and helped shape the course of modern art. Combining rare vintage photographs, paintings, sculpture and drawings, a new exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, tells the story of the artists' brief but intense association and reveals the nature of their creative partnership. On view from June 11 to December 4, 2011. www.pem.org
STOP THE SENSELESS HUNTING OF WOLVES
On August 5, 2010, a U.S. District Court in Montana restored federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies. Wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana have been temporarily halted, but now more wolves may be killed by Wildlife Services—federal agents who are seeking authority to gas wolf pups in their dens and sterilize breeding pairs to control the wolf population. And in Alaska More than 1,000 wolves in Alaska have been killed by aerial gunning since 2003, and state officials are pushing to kill even more wolves this year using aerial gunning, poison gas and snares. Take action now to save wolves in Alaska...CLICK HERE
[EROTICA] Pornography Celebrated at UCLA
RadleyMetzger_TheOpeningofMistyBeethoven
It seems as though even California's leading university is accepting pornography as art as UCLA currently exhibits a nearly month long retrospective of films by the legendary art house pornographer Radley Metzger–famous for such films as The Opening of Misty Beethoven and Therese and Isabelle. www.happenings.ucla.com
Louis Vuitton Voyages
Vuitton Family, 1888
When Louis Vuitton founded his maroquinerie label in 1854 on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris he knew how to make a good travelling case. This is proven in durability and by the fact that most of the cases, even the earliest examples, still stand the test of time. And, just as well, the ethos of handmade luxury, that has slowly faded into a seemingly prehistoric notion, has lasted too–leaving the Vuitton unprecedented in the integrity of its craft–even through corporate mastication, mergers, and a platform in the publicly traded market. The Louis Vuitton label has had its own history in China too–in an age when the orient was a universe away from its Parisian base. In 1931 the Croisiere Jaune expedition led 40 men to drive 12,000 km from the Mediterranean coast to the China coast, following the footsteps of Marco Polo, was outfitted with Louis Vuitton trunks. And even further back to the 1907 Paris to Peking expedition when members struggled against temperatures as low as -30 degrees in cars outfitted with Louis Vuitton trunks. On view now until August 31 at the National Museum of China in Beijing, "Louis Vuitton Voyages" explores its own history and tradition since its inception as well as celebrates the label's place in Chinese culture.
[LAST DAYS] Marilyn Minter Retrospective in Hamburg
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Marilyn Minter, Chewing Green, 2008 C-Print
In Marilyn Minter’s work, pride of place goes to the complex relationship between body, photography and painting. Here, Minter exposes all our cultural inhibitions in dealing with sexuality and desire, the hyperrealist shots of high-gloss surfaces and sections of the body are both seductive and irritating at once. In the fragmented representation of lips, eyes, mouths and necks, decadence confronts beauty and the pitfalls of glamour collide with the fascination it exerts. Minter’s voyeuristic hallucinations seem both tempting and dangerous. Beauty here proves to be a brittle construct in which sensuality and self-destruction are two sides of the same coin; flesh, yearning, sexuality and gender models are revealed to be commercial products. For the first time, the oeuvre of US artist Marilyn Minter (born 1948) is the subject of an extensive exhibition in Germany. On view until June 12. www.sammlung-falckenberg.de
Rei Kawakubo and Matt Groening
Dover Street Market window installation by Rei Kawakubo to celebrate the launch of a small collection of T-shirts in collaboration with Matt Groening. www.doverstreetmarket.com
[FIRST LOOK] LINDSAY LOHAN - A RICHARD PHILLIPS FILM
Gagosian Gallery announces Lindsay Lohan, Richard Phillips' first short film. In his 90-second motion portrait of Lindsay Lohan, Phillips draws on the conventions of his painting that explore the legacies of classical portraiture in relation to the mediated representations of contemporary popular culture. Richard Phillips' Lindsay Lohan will be included in "Commercial Break," presented by the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Venice, Italy, June 1 - 5, 2011, concurrent with the 54th international exhibition of the Venice Biennale.
Kurt Cobain Well FUCKING Hung
Kurt_Cobain_with_gun_experience_music
"Kurt was a leader, he was strong, in fact he was well fucking hung, if you really want to know."—Courtney Love, singer, Hole; widow of Kurt Cobain remarked in an, ahem, oral history of the band Nirvana. The Experience Music Project in Seattle is holding a massive exhibition celebrating the music and history of Nirvana, whose lead signer Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994. Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses runs until April 22, 2013. www.empmuseum.org
Riding the Hoods With Maripol
Riding_the_Hoods_With_Maripol
Maripol moved to New York from France in 1976, where she became a part of the New York club and music scene, styling Madonna and working on films such as Downtown 81 (starring Jean-Michel Basquiat and Deborah Harry). In the mid-1980s, she opened her own boutique, Maripolitan, in the NoHo area of New York. Maripol has also been art director on music videos for Cher, D'Angelo and Elton John, among others. Riding the Hoods With Maripol, a collection of her photographs, are on view at the Clic gallery in New York until June 19. www.clicgallery.com
Vivienne Westwood Shoes at the Sursock Palace in Beirut
Vivienne Westwood's collections of shoes since the seventies have been on whats shaping out the be a world wide tour after the success of a show in London last year. You could also contribute the success to the rash of designer retrospectives. Right now the exhibition is on view at the Sursock Palace in Beirut. Vivienne Westwood Shoes, An Exhibition 1973 – 2011, which has opened in Beirut, will be followed by a stop in the north of England then on to Hong Kong, China and Japan. www.viviennewestwood.co.uk
Bob Dylan on Kicking Heroin
"I kicked a heroin habit in New York City. I got very, very strung out for a while, I mean really very strung out and I kicked this habit."
The Return of the Fiat Cinquecento
Fiat 500, Cinquecento, 1957
The Fiat Cinquecento, originally designed by automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro–famous for the De Lorean and Alfa Romeo–was recently introduced to the American driving public. The Fiat 500 originally hit Italian streets in 1957 and was the quintessential Italian driving machine. www.fiatusa.com
[Craft, Utility and Luxury] Serum Versus Venom
Serum Versus Venom (SVSV), which was created in 2003, as a "interconnectedness of craft, utility and luxury" is re-launching after several years in hiatus. SVSV is built on a philosophy called Futurecraft - an "ideological framework for creating high and sustainable value in an over-saturated consumer landscape by colliding elements of hype modernity with traditional product development philosophies, techniques and values." www.serumvenom.com
Three Way: A Trilogy of Vintage Erotica
"It's rarely a bad idea to show some sex films. I mean...really. This is a small series and is intended, certainly, to entertain. But it's also intended to investigate both the fantasies and realities of sexual representation — that uncomfortable space where we so often find a huge gap. When you place a slick, erotic daydream like Camille 2000 against the gritty reality of A Labor of Love, the difference becomes all the more stark. And then there's The Wild Pussycat, a masterpiece of what-the-fuck-is-this-ism. It combines erotic scenes with some pretty rough sadism — but somehow becomes an intense, unintentional black comedy instead of a just another crappy 60s sexploitation picture. Combined, I hope the three films illustrate some of the perils and positives of depicting sex, and raise questions about how, or if, anything has ultimately changed. Stay tuned for 'Three-Way Redux: A Trilogy of Contemporary Erotica,' coming soon." — Joel Shepard, Film & Video Curator, Three Way: A Trilogy of Vintage Erotica is showing the weekend at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. www.ybca.org
Shunga: Erotic Art in a Comparative Context
Series: The Prelude to Desire, 1799, Utamaro
It was a time when Japan was ruled by military dictators called Shoguns and much of the East was just large swaths of bucolic countryside, with flowing grass, and a certain mysticism you can only associate with "the Orient." For centuries it was like this. Seemingly perfect and serene. The artistic output from this time is extremely recognizable: ornate woodcuts painted on scrolls, called ukiyo-e, that depicted the quotidien routine of Japanese life: work, play, love, theater, history, and pleasure. Shunga, a Japanese form of erotic art, that most think was deemed immoral, but was actually morally accepted, was common and many artists, without risking their reputations, dipped their pens in this type of ink. It was all the same–work and sex–it still followed a classifiable aesthetic of the quotidien. It begs the question–what did you do last night?
Series: The Prelude to Desire, 1799, Utamaro
This weekend, the University of London's School of Oriental and African studies will hold a workshop and a list of speakers on the topic of Shunga art. Talks are ranging and include introductions on the history of Shunga art to how to present and curate Shunga art. The talks are free and is being held at the Brunei Gallery May 20 and 21. www.soas.ac.uk/
Nino Migliori
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Nino Migliori, Il tuffatore, 1951
Nino Migliori's photography is the epitome of a definitively Italian cultural movement during postwar Italy called neorealismo, or neorealism. Its the stark black and white photography of an Italy that seems to sizzle to the touch. Whilst Migliori captured still images of Northern and Southern Italy's street life, neorealism can also be exemplified with film–for example, Vittorio De Sico's 1948 classic The Bicycle Thief. Nino Migliori, who was born in Bologne in 1926, is still alive and well–a new exhibit Nino Migliori "Neorealism" opens this july at the La Mar de Musicas Festival in Cartagena, Spain. Nino Migliori "Neorealism–July 11 to August 31 at the Palacio Molina–www.lamardemusicas.com