Dreamscapes

Looking through the archives....a photograph of Adarsha Benjamin pondering her next shot for a fashion story at a John Lautner house for the first issue of AUTRE almost one year ago today. Adarsha will be having her first solo exhibition, entitled Dreamscapes, next week in Los Angeles.  Along side the series of photographs & moving images there will be Soundscapes by Rocco Deluca and tunes DJ'd by the Ana Calderon. Dreamscapes will be on view as part of The Rooftop Sessions artist series at Siren Studios, May 17th 6-10pm. RSVP by Wednesday May 16th at rsvp@sirenstudios.com.

Yayoi Kusama: Hong Kong Blooms in My Mind

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Sotheby’s announces an exclusive selling exhibition of works by Yayoi Kusama in their brand new gallery space in Hong Kong. The exhibition, entitled Hong Kong Blooms In My Mind, showcases seminal works in a variety of mediums and from a range of important dates in the artist’s oeuvre. On view from May 19 to  May 30, 2012

James Franco's Rebel Opening This Weekend in Los Angeles

MOCA presents Rebel, conceived by James Franco with Douglas Gordon, Harmony Korine, Damon McCarthy, Paul McCarthy, Terry Richardson, Ed Ruscha, Aaron Young and more. Rebel will be on view from May 15 through June 23, 2012, at JF Chen, a newly emerging contemporary art and design space, located at 941 North Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038. Photograph by Adarsha Benjamin 

Ian Svenonius: Supernatural Strategies

Musician and writer Ian Svenonius presents a coffee talk on Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group. In this presentation he will give a preview of his forthcoming publication, which functions as an instructional guide for would-be stars, a warning device, a philosophical text, an exercise in terror, an aerobics manual, and a coloring book. Svenonius is the host of the talk show Soft Focus, the author of the collected essay volume The Psychic Soviet (Drag City, 2006) and the frontman of iconic bands such as The Nation of Ulysses and The Make-Up, which have been invited to reunite for this year's All Tomorrow's Parties "I'll Be Your Mirror" festival in London. This event is organized by Wendy Yao (Ooga Booga) in conjunction with First Among Equals and as a lead-in to Excursus III: Ooga Booga opening September 26, 2012. Ian Svenonius will present his talks this weekend May 13 at 2 p.m. Institute of Contemporary Art @ University of Pennsylvania.

Helmut Newton's Sex & Landscapes

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Opening June 1st in Los Angeles, Helmut Newton's Sex & Landscapes, a series created in collaboration with the late artist’s wife and collaborator, June Netwon, features 20 of his so-called “sex pictures” — glamorous, seductive shots of women in various states of undress and seductive performance — and 20 landscapes.  Helmut Netwon: Sex and Landscapes, opens on June 1 at Perry Rubenstein Galleryat 1215 N. Highland Avenue.

Nude Man Forsblom & Jay Johnson @ Gagosian Opening For Richard Avedon In New York

New York’s spriteliest interior designer, Brock Forsblom, became so inspired at the opening of Richard Avedon: Murals & Portraits last Friday night, he stripped naked to pose in front of the Warhol gang. He in turn inspired hundreds of photographs taken by the mob-scene crowd, which included fellow interior designer Jay Johnson, twin brother to Warhol’s former partner Jed Johnson, and one of the original Avedon subjects. In these large-scale murals and the smaller, related portraits of the 1960s and 1970s, Avedon sought to depict the spirit of the times, a spirit that clearly lives on.

See the exhibition at Gagosian’s West 21st St. Gallery, New York. On view through July 27. photographs by Temo Callahan