CLAXONS

Haunch of Venison presents Claxons, a group show curated by art critic Walter Robinson. The show will feature works by ceramic artist Elisabeth Kley, glass artist John Drury, painter Robert Goldman and Robinson. The exhibition aims to present underrepresented artists with an idiosyncratic sensibility. The title of the show Claxons (or loud horns) refers to the idea that artists create dissonance and cacophony. “It’s about letting oneself be carried along by events rather than trying to steer a clear path,” explained Robinson. “Each artist’s work is disturbed, either through subject matter that focuses on outcasts or through execution of materiality.” Claxons will be on view until August 17 at Haunch of Venison, Chelsea, 550 West 21st Street

Mauricio Guillén: Avenida Progreso

The work of the Mexican-born artist Mauricio Guillén (b. 1971) encompasses film, photography, text works and objects. Guillén combines personal experience with the conceptual strategies he uses to explore how images and language influence our understanding of culture and history. The chief focus of the exhibition at the MMK Zollamt will be Guillén’s most recent 16-mm black-and-white film "Avenida Progreso", for which he returned to Mexico City, where he spent his childhood and teenage years. The film story leads the viewer through the districts of Polanco, Irrigación and Oceanía to the end of the Avenida Progreso. A professor of philosophy and aesthetics is the main protagonist in this anachronistic journey along streets of which many bear the names of such European philosophers and literary figures as Goethe, Byron, Marx, Tolstoi and Aristoteles. In this film, Guillén investigates social and cultural differences within a society that is undergoing a process of change but nevertheless still reflects the impact of the cultural import brought about by colonization. Questions about the emergence and distribution of knowledge and education in society are of key importance to the artist’s work. The film will be supplemented by photographs and text works.
 Opening Friday July 27 at the MMK Zollamt, Domstraße 10 60311 Frankfurt, Germany, 

Nobuyoshi Araki Art Editions Coming Soon to Taschen

Two art editions by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki from his famous bondage series will be available by Taschen coming this September. Each edition will be available in three volumes, enticingly hand-bound in the Japanese tradition and packaged in a wooden box, featuring Araki’s selection of his favorite bondage photos from over his entire career. Each volume will be limited to only 50 copies, each numbered and signed by Nobuyoshi Araki himself and will include a photograph from the series.

Love, Commas and Asterisks

Blum & Poe and legendary musician Van Dyke Parks present a selection of work by Maurizio Vetrugno, his first one-person exhibition in Los Angeles. Vetrugno’s practice alters everyday objects, such as cloth and tools, into wry commentary on popular culture of a bygone era. Hand-made, embroidered textiles, woven in Laos, depict the distinctive designs of vinyl record sleeves from the 1950s-1980s. The selected album covers reference the legacies of exotica, modernism, glam rock and the golden age of graphic design in music. Fashion has been a continuing influence on Vetrugno’s work, as exemplified in his female portraits woven in monochromatic hues of blue and green. Sources for these works derive from black and white images taken from fashion magazines of the same time period as the album covers. Models such as Twiggy evoke mid-century popular culture and become self-referential in the works -- the cloth “wears” the model. There is a lushness and preciousness to these labor-intensive textiles, whose technique co-opts and contradicts the Pop content. Maurizio Vetrugno: Love, Commas and Asterisks will be on view until August 25, 2012 at Blum & Poe, 2727 S. La Cienega, BLVD

My Idol by Sergey Melnitchenko

Schwarzenegger Is My Idol is a series of juxtaposing photographs of Ukrainian body builders in the nude by twenty year old Ukraine based photographer Sergey Melnitchenko. The series harkens back to the male erotic imagery of 1950s pin-ups with a certain campiness that seems intentional. Melnitchenko says, "In these photos we can see boys whose main goal is to be the best of the best and they will do anything to reach it." 

Autre Issue #2 Review From Down Under

Enormous thanks to Alex Vancil and The Thousands, Australia's go to guide for all things culturally relevant and cool, for the amazing review on Autre's second issue. It was hard to choose just one quote: "Channeling a potent combination of anti-heroism and raw intimacy, the magazine casts long shadows of various experimental attitudes in a wide range of artistic nooks and crannies." Read the full review here.