My Alchemical Romance: Read Our Conversation With Alia Raza and Ezra Woods Of Regime Des Fleurs, An Art Collective Disguised As A Luxury Perfume Brand →

Ezra Woods and Alia Raza’s alchemical romance started about ten years ago with a mutual love of flowers. It should be noted that Ezra and Alia are not a romantic couple, but they are bound by some other fateful and supernatural force of nature that allows for their close collaborative efforts. After ten years as close friends, the pair decided to start Regime Des Fleurs, a “postmodern lifestyle art-practice” disguised as a luxury perfume brand. Before starting the brand, Alia was a video artist in New York City and Ezra was a stylist in Los Angeles, but they weren’t exactly satisfied with where their careers were going. A few weeks ago, we met with the pair at Ezra’s grandfather’s estate on a bluff in Malibu overlooking the Pacific Ocean. His grandfather is a lover of flowers – greenhouses and pastures of rare flowers and flora overtake the property – with a few chickens and roosters thrown in for good measure. It is understandable where Ezra’s love of organic fragrances comes from. Alia is just as infatuated, and in the following interview recalls being enraptured by the perfumes on her mother’s vanity. Read the rest here. 

Jim Shaw's 'The End is Near' @ New Museum in New York

he New Museum presents the first New York survey exhibition of the work of Jim Shaw. Over the past thirty years, Shaw has become one of the United States’ most influential and visionary artists, moving between painting, sculpture, and drawing, and building connections between his own psyche and America’s larger political, social, and spiritual histories. Shaw mines his imagery from the cultural refuse of the twentieth century, using comic books, record covers, conspiracy magazines, and obscure religious iconography to produce a portrait of the nation’s subconscious. Although a recognized icon of the Los Angeles art scene since the 1970s, Shaw has never had a comprehensive museum show in New York. This exhibition, which encompasses three floors of the New Museum, reveals the breadth and inventiveness of his art. A comprehensive selection of his works is presented alongside objects from his collections of vernacular art and religious didactic materials. Jim Shaw's 'The End is Near' will be on view until January 10, 2016 at the New Museum in New York. photographs by Adriana Pauly

Aura Rosenberg "Who Am I?, What Am I?, Where Am I?" @ Meliksetian Briggs In Los Angeles

Meliksetian Briggs presents Who Am I?, What Am I?, Where Am I?, a series of photo works by New York/Berlin based artist, Aura Rosenberg. Who Am I? What Am I? Where Am I? is an ongoing, series of collaborative portraits of children. Currently, over eighty artists have taken part. From these, Rosenberg selected five images, from collaborations with John Baldessari, Mike Kelley, Sam Lewitt, Laurie Simmons, and Christopher Williams, to print as large-scale works. Who Am I?, What Am I? will be on view until January 9, 2016 at Meliksetian Briggs, 313 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA

Aaron Curry "STARFUKER" @ David Kordansky Gallery In Los Angeles

David Kordansky Gallery presents STARFUKER, an exhibition of new work by Aaron Curry. Spanning both of the gallery’s exhibition spaces, STARFUKER will feature the debut of two new major bodies of work. One room will contain two large-scale aluminum and steel sculptures, and the other a group of paintings on shaped canvases. The formal advances in the sculptures and paintings on view represent some of Curry’s most ambitious and risk-taking ideas to date, paralleling an evolution in his approach to the cultural themes always present both on the surface and within the DNA of his art. STARFUKER will be on view until January 16, 2016 at David Kordansky Gallery, 5130 W. Edgewood Place, Los Angeles, CA

Adel Abdessemed "From Here to Eternity" @ Venus Over Los Angeles

Venus Over Los Angeles presents From Here to Eternity, an exhibition of new work by Adel Abdessemed. The exhibition is his first major show in Los Angeles and features a series of nearly 100 black stone drawings on paper and military tarpaulin. Adel Abdessemed’s new series is named for the famous 1953 film best known for the scene in which Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kiss passionately on the beach as waves crash over them. As a child in Algeria, Abdessemed viewed such western films under the edit and strict censorship of the Algerian government, who cut out any scene that portrayed physical contact between the sexes. Abdessemed is known for embracing themes of history, religion, and politics in his artworks. Though perhaps best known for his video, sculptural, and conceptual art, Abdessemed has chosen to distinguish his Los Angeles debut show by exclusively exhibiting drawings on paper and military tarpaulin. From Here to Eternity will be on view until December 20th, 2015 at Venus Over Los Angeles, 601 South Anderson Street, Los Angeles, CA

Tadanori Yokoo: 49 Years Later at Albertz Benda Gallery In New York

49 Years Later is the title of the solo exhibition of Japanese artist Tadanori Yokoo at Albertz Benda. The newly opened Chelsea gallery exhibits the artist’s never-before-seen paintings that focus on two major themes, the swimmer, an ongoing investigation of the artist, and the dancing couple, borrowed from old Hollywood.  The artist builds on his early iconography; he started his investigation of the swimmers in 1966, and becomes a plagiarist of himself. The crossing figures reappear in different color pallets, with different backgrounds and in different themes, their mouths aggressively distorted in the action. The position of the swimmers can be seen as a natural predecessor to the dancing couple. Similarly to the swimmers the dancing couple gets further lost in abstraction with each painting. The swimmers faces melt into each other while the dancers are covered in different patterned blankets.  49 Years Later will be on view until December 19, 2015 at Albertz Benda Gallery, 515 W 26th St, New York, NY. photographs by Adriana Pauly

David Benjamin Sherry's "Paradise Fire" at Moran Bondaroff Gallery in Los Angeles

“My interest lays in the changing American landscape, and this new series of pictures reflects my unease. Our land is a direct reflection of human existence – our past, our contemporary lives, and ultimately our impact. I explored, with empathy, these facets of society and the environment, looking to capture surreal moments, in order to better understand the complexities of our existence.” – David Benjamin Sherry. Paradise Fire will be on view until December 12 at Moran Bondaroff Gallery, 937 N. La Cienega Boulevard Los Angeles, CA

The Highway Is For Gamblers: Read Our Interview With Artist Jeremy Everett Who Crashed A 60-Foot Long Truck Full Of Milk On A Utah Highway For Art →

In Jeremy Everett’s latest, most ambitious work of art, entitled FLOY – a magnum opus of grandiosity and scale – the artist crashes a 60-foot truck on a highway in Utah, leaving milk spilled across the asphalt. The wreckage was filmed from a helicopter ­– the artist had to race from the crash site to the helipad before the milk evaporated. Indeed, evaporation is an important part of Everett’s oeuvre – in his Double Pour series, for which his current exhibition at Wilding Cran is named after, the artist captured water spilled on a generic parking lot in Los Angeles before it dried and disappeared into the ether. While most artists apply material to material, Everett’s practice seems almost like a VHS tape on constant rewind; a fuzzy layering of time, space and ephemerality that makes you realize the illusion of time, the impermanence of life and the absurdity of everything. Read our interview with the artist here. 

Nap Eyes, From Novia Scotia, Debuts the First Track off Their Upcoming Sophomore Album

Recorded live to tape, with no overdubs, on the North Shore of Nova Scotia (where the band is from) Nap Eyes’ quietly contemplative sophomore record refines and elaborates their debut, offering an airier, more spacious second chapter, a bracing blast of bright oceanic sunshine after the moonlit alleys of Whine of the Mystic, released in 2014. But the briny, cold Atlantic roils beneath these exquisite, literate guitar pop songs, posing riddles about friendship, faith, mortality, and self-doubt. Here the premiere of the first single off Thought Rock Fish Scale below – album to be released in February. 

Mark Bradford's "Be Strong Boquan" at Hauser and Wirth in New York

The color palette used by Los Angeles-based abstract painter Mark Bradford for the work in his stunning new show at Hauser & Wirth, Be Strong Boquan, is different than the palette that comes to mind when I think of his other work. While some paintings make strong use of the dark and austere colors most associated with his work, there are also bright pinks and yellows. Despite the vivaciousness of these colors, there is still a physical menace that emanates through them. Walking through the exhibit, I was reminded of that indescribable feeling that courses through your body just before you realize that you are full-blown sick: goosebumps on your arms, chills running through your spine, the inability to make a fist, a feeling of faintness. Click here to read the full review. 

Jeff Koons "Gazing Ball Paintings" @ Gagosian Gallery In New York

Jeff Koons’ newest exhibition Gazing Ball Paintings opened Thursday at Gagosian in New York. The exhibit presents Koons’ newest series of paintings entitled Gazing Ball, for which he recreated art historical paintings and inserted a glass-blown blue ball on a small shelve onto each canvas.  The selection of paintings represents Koons’ personal favorites, which he aims to make stronger by creating a dialogue between the viewer, the work and the space through the reflection on its surface. The blue balls hover in front of masterpieces such as Édouard Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass, Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which the artist purposefully did not copy one for one but are there to create the idea of a painting. The flat paintings achieved to confuse some viewers about their authenticity, spark indignation, and the presumption that these paintings needed improvement outraged others. The reflection is reminiscent of a fun-house mirror, and according to the press release, creates a metaphysical occurrence, which connects the viewer to a family of cultural history in real time. Koons seems to have a preference for sexually charged scenes, epitomizing the male gaze even further, by the often unfortunate positions of the balls and their reflections. One disturbing example is Gustave Courbert’s Le Sommeil where the gazing ball is placed right between the legs of one of the figures.  Overall, the exhibit was in line with Koons child-like mentality and left the viewers curious and apprehensive of what can be expected of the artist in the future. Jeff Koons "Gazing Ball Paintings" will be on view until December 23, 2015 at Gagosian Gallery, 522 West 21st Street, New York. photographs and text by Adriana Pauly

Luna Tristá's "She's My Man" Explores Social Themes, Gender Identity and Queer Culture

She's My Man is a new project by one of our favorite photographers, the Cuban-born, Barcelona-based Luna Tristá. It´s a series of portraits she took of her partner, once a month, during their encounters in Barcelona and Paris. She's My Man is about social themes, gender identity and queer culture. It´s a project that develops ironic and romantic undertones and examines these themes from a personal point of view. photographs by Luna Tristá