Preview of Legendary Viennese Actionist Hermann Nitsch's First Exhibition @ Marc Straus Gallery in New York

Last month, we featured an incredibly fascinating interview with legendary Viennese Actionist Hermann Nisch.  Tonight, the artist will be having his first exhibition at the Marc Straus gallery in New York. The exhibition will include recent paintings as well as important historic pieces from his distinguished career of over 55 years. Since 1957, Nitsch has been addressing the intensification of human existence through his ritualistic performance art, most prominently “The Orgien Mysterien Theater.” With more than 100 performances to date, these staged Dionysian performances are replete with religious sacrifices, mock crucifixion, blood, entrails, robes, dance and nude participants. Religious tropes are all here; the intensity resembles scenes from Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, the carcasses nod towards Rembrandt’s hanging meats. The exhibition opens tonight and runs until October 8 at Marc Straus Gallery, 299 Grand Street New York, NY. photographs by Tenlie Mourning

Sue De Beer On Shooting Noir In the Middle East, The Excitement of Unpredictability, and Explaining American Puritanism to German Electro-Clash Musicians →

Sue de Beer

Untitled (Mariya), 2009/2011

Sue de Beer paints a lonely, haunting portrait with moving imagery. She is a filmmaker, but she is ultimately an artist in the sense that her short films exist in a sculptural environment that typically inhabits a physical space – usually a gallery – replete with film stills, three dimensional objects and more. Her films are often inspired or influenced by literary works and deal with identity, memory, and paranormal activity. In her film Ghosts, an occult hypnotist recovers lost lengths of time from peoples’ memories and returns them as if they are new memories. In another film, The Quickening, sexuality and desire is explored in an oppressive environment of Puritanical New England in the 18th century. The installations in which De Beer presents her films creates an almost dreamlike environment that leaves the viewer wondering if the time spent within the installation was a dream itself. Click here to read our interview of the artist. 

Gloss Explores The Glamorous and Dangerous Work of Chris von Wangenheim

The first monograph on notorious photographer Chris von Wangenheim, whose shocking work epitomized the glamour and excess of the 1970s and reflected the fashionable underworld living life on the edge. Between the years 1968 and 1981, photographer Chris von Wangenheim shocked the world with a body of work that explored sex, violence, and danger in the realm of high fashion. Von Wangenheim’s dark photographs were emblematic of the time—an era that encompassed Deep Throat, the sexual revolution, punk, and porn—and continually challenged the viewers’ taste by its stylized depictions of suggestive (and often harrowing) narratives. His images appeared in every top fashion publication—including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia, and Interview—and he produced unforgettable campaigns for Dior and Valentino until he died in a car accident at age 39. This book, the first monograph on von Wangenheim’s career, contains over two hundred provocative and iconic images from this tumultuous era, including never-before-seen outtakes from memorable shoots with such supermodels as Christie Brinkley, Lisa Taylor, and the late Gia Carangi. Drawing on interviews with models, editors, art directors, and photographers who were influenced by him, the Padilhas revive von Wangenheim’s explosive depictions of the glamour and excess of the 1970s for a contemporary audience and reveal how his work continues to inform fashion imagery today. Click here to preorder the book. 

Run(a)way Fashion Art Show Featuring Clothing by Barf Queen, Agency and More at Night Gallery In Los Angeles

"Forget the runway, come run(a)way to a place where fashion has been wrestled from the talons of Vogue, torn to shreds, and redistributed amongst the munchkins." Barf Queen, Agency, and Dopp Doolittle present a unique one night only tradeshow fashion orgy at Night Gallery in Los Angeles.

20 Days In the Extraterrestrial Landlocked Landscapes and Andean Plateaus of Bolivia

Bolivia is the second to last stop for Holy Patte, who last week took us on a tour of Peru and the week before that Ecuador. On their four-month journey through South America, no country would take them higher than Bolivia. It's staggering elevations have encouraged a seemingly extraterrestrial landscape to emerge over the millennia. Bolivia is also landlocked, which means there is no shore to infringe upon its remoteness. Amaury and Chloé, or Holy Patte, perfectly capture the eeriness of this landscape that could just as easily be Mars or Neptune - if only these planets had pink flamingoes that exist in the well below freezing environment of Laguna Colorada and wooly alpaca that roam the surrounding Andean plateau. 

Anish Kapoor's Statement On His Sculpture "Dirty Corner" That Has Been Vandalized By Antisemitic Right-Wing Royalists

This is the second time a public sculpture by the British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor has been vandalized. This time, it's a lot more sensitive, especially in the light of European refugee crisis and a seemingly worldwide paranoia and xenophobia. The 230-foot sculpture, entitled Dirty Corner, caused a stir when it was erected in Versailles and the artist alluded that it "evoked the vagina of the queen." In this instance, Kapoor has decided to leave the anti-semitic, royalist text as a rebellion to the perpetrators. 

Once again my work Dirty Corner has become a receptacle for the dirty politics of anti-Semitic vandals, racists and right-wing royalists. The vandalised sculpture now looks like a graveyard, the stones are now gravestones marking the ruinous politics of fundamentalist bigotry. Dirty Corner allows this dirty politics to expose itself fully, in full view for all to see. At this time, when we need to have compassion for the thousands of refugees on the road in Europe, the anti-Semitic, racist attack on Dirty Corner at Chateau de Versailles in Paris, brings to the forefront the intolerance and racism in our midst. Dirty Corner has become the vehicle for the expression of our anxiety of "the other" and emphasis that Art is a focus for our deepest longings and fears. It is urgent that we show our solidarity with the oppressed the downtrodden and those of our brothers and sisters in need. As the artist I have -for the second time- to ask myself what this act of violence means to my work. The sculpture will now carry the scars of this renewed attack. I will not allow this act of violence and intolerance to be erased. Dirty Corner will now be marked with hate and I will preserve these scars as a memory of this painful history. I am determined that Art will triumph. text by Anish Kapoor

A Fatal Personality: An Interview With Artist Brian Kokoska On Knives, His Inspirations, and His Current Must See Show in Paris →

Brian Kokoska, who can often be found with a knife clutched between his teeth or with a devious, wide-grinned smile, is one of our favorite artists working today. His paintings almost look like they belong to the hand of a child in art class working out some kind of trauma caused by alien abduction, but when you look closer, there is unexplainable magic going on. Perhaps Kokoska’s paintings are mirrored reflections of our own demons, or the artist’s – who really knows or cares – but what you will find amongst his crude oil painted visages is a sense of primordial familiarity. Maybe these creatures are our friends, or maybe they are out to kill us. Click here to read our interview with the artist. 

Get Lost In A K-Hole With The Second Friday Autre Playlist That Explores Mid-90s Pro-Arena Techno

Get ready to enter a K-hole of musical nostalgia – Adam Lehrer explores a world pre Skrillex, pre Deadmau5 – the halcyon days of underground raves and candy flipping – when electronic dance music made a brief, but beautiful emergence on the mainstream radio and kids all over the world were wearing wide jeans and popped a pacifier in their mouth. Click here to listen to the playlist - with tracks by the Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and more.  

Hope and Fear: Read Our Interview With Artist Will Ryman On His Powerful Upcoming Solo Show In New York →

Will Ryman is a brilliant puppeteer and manipulator of materials to expose innate contradictions in history, commerce and power. It started with a gilded reinterpretation of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood cabin and took even more shape when he crafted a true-to-size 1958 Cadillac and coated the entire thing in Bounty paper towels. It’s simple distillation and refinery, and Ryman is the centrifuge forcing the base materials to the surface – the resultant work connotes a singular layer of blatant truth. His upcoming exhibition at Paul Kasmin gallery, Two Rooms, is an even more advanced exploration of this distillation and stripping down. Click here to read the full interview. 

Blending Art and Fashion: Samuel Gui Yang Private Preview of Untitled (Ephemeral Study 1) In Los Angeles

Garments encased in giant blocks of ice, immersive sound, dance and photography – recent Central Saint Martins graduate Samuel Gui Yang brilliantly explores the nature of fashion as art, its ephemerality in culture and the notions of 'fast fashion' in his first "collection" as a designer. Instead of taking the runway route, the Shenzhen, China born designer and artist has chosen to collaborate on an installation that exemplifies his collection in the form of an installation. Wellington-style boots, tunics, and over garments are trapped in giant ice blocks that will melt over the course of the installation. Hart + Leshkina create a series of imagery and posters that line walls and pedestals. Chris Peck creates a sound installation that culminates in a dance, performance choreographed by Milka Djordjevich, with three female dancers to evoke the tension and restrictive nature of Yang's rubber pieces that almost look alien and marbleized. Autre was lucky enough to attend the private preview of Yang's first installation and performance, but it will be on view until September 5th with a closing event at 2736 S. La Cienega Blvd in Los Angeles. You can RSVP here. 

Jen Osborne's Red West Is Eastern Europe's Rendition of the Wild West

Autre is honored to present an exclusive selection of images from photographer and documentarian Jen Osborne's incredible Red West series. "From 2011 until 2015, I photographed the elusive 'Indian Hobbyists' situated in Hungary, Poland, Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as film sets and stills from the popular Winnetou series and other Eastern European Native American films. The subjects in my series are not 'ethnically' First Nations, but Europeans who use cultural mirroring, as practiced heavily in the sixties and seventies, to claim 'Indianess,' as well as present themselves as sympathetic to Native Americans. This hobby was once used as a form of psychological escape from grueling dictatorships embraced behind the iron curtain." Right now Osborne is working on an incredibly important and exciting project documenting the lives of female soldiers in war torn Ukraine. Currently, she is looking to raise funds to continue this project - you can visit the Indiegogo page to make a pledge. Rewards include limited edition prints and even a private photography workshop. photographs by Jen Osborne

Girls, Girls, Girls Group Photo Show Opening At Max Fish in New York

Max Fish, the Lower East Side bar known for its artsy congregations, was the host for GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS, an exhibition curated by photographer Brian Boulos. As the title suggests, the show features a photographs predominantly of woman by the likes of Richard Kern, Magdalena Wosinska, Alessandro Simonetti, Dan Martensen, and more. The women on the walls are a mix of personal inspirations and celebrity girl crushes, including Agyness Deyn, Sofia Coppola, a pregant Jemima Kirke eating ice cream by Kern, and an iconic portrait of Blondie. photographs by Adam Lehrer

Watch: the Music Video for Kenton Slash Demon's Track "Harpe" Is A Magical Misfit Dance Party

Copenhagen, Denmark based Kenton Slash Demon are set to release their Harpe/Syko EP on September 11th on vinyl and on September 18th digitally via Future Classic. Today, the Danes release the music video for their track Harpe off the new EP. Director Jenna Mangulad says, “The idea for the video was to create a scene that could be from a feature film, where different types of people at a bar, come together and share their love for music and dancing. The video is about those moments you experience in life, were you just let go, and lose yourself to the moment.”

See Our New Editorial Shot By Chris Jarvis Using the Environment of Kent, England As His Natural Prop Master →

Chris Jarvis is a photographer based in Kent, England who uses the surrounding landscape as his studio and natural prop master. The following editorial, entitled Reclamation Playground, features selections from Yllin collections – the brightly colored panels starkly contrast against the manic walls of antiques, collectables and furniture. See the full editorial here. 

Diana Dors' 1964 Maserati Mistral 3.7 Spyder Hits The Auction Block This Week

In 1964, the Maserati range was at its most diverse, with the Mistral and Quattroporte joining the Sebring, 3500 GT, and 3500 GT Spyder. Maserati was building upon the success of the 3500 GT and Sebring when it commissioned Pietro Frua to design a new body to be placed upon an updated Tipo 109 chassis. The new two-seat coupé was named “Mistral”, after the strong winds blowing from the Mediterranean coast in the south of France, at the suggestion of Colonel John Simone, the French Maserati importer.The Mistral was sold directly from the Motor Show stand to its first owner, Diana Dors, the English screen icon frequently known as the “English Marilyn Monroe”. She is said to have fallen in love with the car after seeing it first-hand at the motor show. Dors, one of the earliest English stars to court the press, and gain notoriety in the process, was famously the youngest person to own a Rolls-Royce, despite the fact that she was not even old enough to drive at the time. The car, fully restored, will be on the auction block – presented by RM Sotheby’s – this Monday, September 7, 2015 in London. 

A New Group Show Will Explore The Beautiful Art of Cuban Concretism

Who knew that concrete could be so damn beautiful. Coming up this week, David Zwirner will be presenting a comprehensive exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the Cuban group of abstract painters Los Diez Pintores Concretos (Ten Concrete Painters), which was active from 1959 to 1961, at the gallery’s London location. Concrete Cuba is the first presentation in the United Kingdom to highlight the origins of concretism in Cuba during the 1950s, and will include important works by the eleven artists who were at different times associated with the short-lived group:Pedro Álvarez, Wifredo Arcay, Mario Carreño, Salvador Corratgé, Sandú Darié, Luis Martínez Pedro, Alberto Menocal, José Mijares, Pedro de Oraá, José Ángel Rosabal, Loló Soldevilla, and Rafael Soriano. Concrete Cuba will be on view from September 5 to October 3, 2015 at David Zwirner, 24 Grafton Street London

Lucas Price "Dumb Poetry" at Lazarides Rathbone in London

Lucas Price makes his debut appearance at Lazarides Rathbone with a major new solo exhibition entitled Dumb Poetry. Using a combination of photorealism, hard-edged abstraction and text, the London-based artist has created a new series of paintings, drawings and sculptures. The exhibition deconstructs the traditional still life and opens up an intuitive line of enquiry into the complex relationships between object and language. Price's latest paintings combine a series of loaded objects, including basketballs, tyres and fire extinguishers, alongside short bursts of open-ended language. From his earliest paintings the artist's work has incorporated the use of text and in these most recent works this idea is again brought into play alongside a series of harshly-lit sculptural forms. Lucas Price "Dumb Poetry" will be on view until September 10 at Lazarides, 11 Rathbone Place, London, W1T 1HR.