Contemporary artist Paola Pivi interacts with Renaissance architecture, with a surreal and colorful inflatable staircase over 20 metres tall in the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi. The celebrated Italian contemporary artist will be invading Palazzo Strozzi with a monumental installation entitled Untitled (Project for Etchigo-Tsumari). The installation will be on view until February 28, 2016 at Piazza degli Strozzi, 50123 Florence, Italy. photographs by Beatrice Lontani
Listen to Adam Lehrer's picks for the best rock records of 2015, featuring Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Deerhunter, Petite Noir, and more. Click here for the full playlist.
"Roadkill" from "Oscar Hocks", the debut album by Bianca Casady & The C.i.A. "Oscar Hocks" will be released January 29nd 2016 on Atlas Chair in the Americas, and FANTASYmusic in the rest of the world.
James Capper looks a bit like a mad scientist. He is standing in the middle of a park holding a comically large box with buttons and joysticks on it. It’s raining and everything, including Capper, appears to be sinking in to the grass. His hair and clothing are soaked; his expression part exasperation, part intense focus. The box is attached to a Mini-Cooper-sized, spider-like machine that Capper is controlling. The machine raises and lowers it’s legs, taking chunks of grass with it. A small crowd gathers to watch. “I didn’t expect all the rain,” Capper says to no one in particular. Click here to read more.
Click here to read our interview with James Capper. photographs by Scout MacEachron
Amélie Pichard has teamed up with actress and animal rights activist Pamela Anderson for an exclusive footwear collection for Opening Ceremony. The collection is made out of completely vegan materials. The collection, which harken a 90s vision of 1970s fashion, will be available to purchase in January. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to PETA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper
"No other art form inspires that level of obsession from me. Sometimes I feel like a fraud art critic because I watch and obsess over so much TV, but then I realize, EVERYONE does." Adam Lehrer chooses the 15 best television seasons of 2015. Click here to read the list.
Makeup, styling, photography, and art direction all by Jessie Askinazi. Model: Kate Adams. Shot in Joshua Tree, California.
Miami Art Basel is that magical time once a year, when the young and fabulous (and their sugar daddies) travel to paradise to see art and sleep with art dealers. Miami Art Basel is where editors brag about their fair trade hemp sandals while snorting cocaine that was brought into the country by a pregnant teenager. Miami Art Basel is where wet dreams come true and creative dreams are killed by two girls stabbing each other and therefore stealing attention from your performance art piece (dancing in leotards is a little 2008, tbh). Some people do look at art at Art Basel, because it’s their job to and because it’s raining too hard outside to say “screw it, I’ll get fired for the sake of a tan.” But for those of us who don’t know the difference between digital collages and foam sculptures, the week of Miami Art Basel was an excuse to go Hard As Hell (or HAH!) before the holy holidays. For those of us #blessed enough to be there, half the fun was making our Instagram followers who aren’t #blessed jealous of our poolside lounging. But the fun doesn’t have to end! The only thing your followers will hate more than seeing you enjoying Miami is seeing you bounce back afterwards. Click here to read the full detox guide.
“Full Moon” reflects a specific time on the lunar calendar characterized by mystery, magic, and mayhem. The Full Moon is understood, both within vernacular and occult cultures, to be a time of transition, of letting go, and of reaching full potential. A symbolic, purifying gesture is undertaken during this phase of the Lunar Cycle, whereupon old identities, attitudes, and behaviors are shed in favor of more vibrant, more vital possibilities. All ten Spinello Projects represented artists will participate: Farley Aguilar, Kris Knight, Aramis Gutierrez, Sinisa Kukec, Manny Prieres, Santiago Rubino, Naama Tsabar, TYPOE, Agustina Woodgate, and Antonia Wright. Special live performances by past collaborators will include Psychic Youth, Inc. and Franky Cruz. Full Moon will be on view until January 9, 2015 at Spinello Projects, 7221 NW 2nd Ave Miami, FL
Locust Projects presents Nochebuena, a new immersive installation by Cuban-born, Miami-based artist Beatriz Monteavaro. The exhibition is centered around memories of family gatherings in the artist’s childhood home, with a focus on the celebrations surrounding Nochebuena (Cuban Christmas Eve). Monteavaro’s work is influenced by the English Punk Rock music scene, science fiction and horror movies, and the fantasy environments of Disney Theme Parks. She has adapted and transformed some of her existing paintings, drawings and sculpture for this installation, which are presented in combination with new sculptural pieces, seasonal decorations, and special lighting. Beatriz Monteavaro "Nochebuena" will be on view until January 9, 2015 at Locust Projects, 3852 North Miami Avenue, Miami Florida
This season, MZ Wallace teamed up with artist Raymond Pettibon to create a tote bag that benefits the New York Public Library. 100% of the proceeds will go toward enhancing the library’s special collections. Click here to purchase. photograph by Brad Elterman
Last week, during Art Basel Miami, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) commissioned a collaborative performance between musician Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange) and artist Ryan McNamara. The performance on PAMM’s terrace included an original multi-part composition by Hynes, an internationally-acclaimed musician and producer, and sculptural elements and choreography by McNamara, a celebrated performance artist. Presented within the global context of Miami Art Week, the performance was an allegory of Miami’s history as a place of fantasy and fragmentation. photographs by Scout MacEachron
"Eight pinups in a portfolio laced with perfume. Wallet-sized: a barber's New Year's gift slipped into the hands of loyal customers. The secret currencies of men in suits. The kid searches his father's jacket pocket for the prize. Any thumbnail memento promises to make real his world of fantasy. He smells the perfume. In his studio, an artist photographs a friend. The photographs are transferred to screen prints. Her body is abstracted in close-up, her figure fractured by halftone dots. Glossiness is displaced by the rough grain of uncoated paper. A fuzzy sensation becomes direct. The coy touch gets confrontational. Gratification becomes something less certain. As the kid finds pleasure in obscenity, the artist finds it in disorientation and dissonance. They agree on the urge. Peeking and seeing are two different acts, but no one should refuse the right to look. Satisfaction only takes a few steps." A poem by Sam Sweet.
These never-before-displayed photographs by Italian-born Los Angeles photographer Gusmano Cesaretti represent a departure from the gritty, black-and-white documentary pictures and portraits of Los Angeles subcultures for which he is mainly known. By contrast, this 1979 series delves into the artist’s experiments in abstraction and eroticism. Cesaretti took a progressive series of eight tightly cropped black & white photographs of a woman shaving her pubic hair. He made traditional silver gelatin prints which were then turned into high contrast half tones eliminating any grey scale from the images and rendering them purely in black and white. He furthered the mutation by running the halftones through a mid-70s photocopy machine and adding only the color red or green to the images. The result was a combination of pop art and abstraction, producing a voyeuristic view of an intimate, yet anonymous, grooming ritual. Gusmano Cesaretti "8 EZ Steps" will be on view until January 17, 2016 at These Days in Los Angeles. You can also purchase a monograph of the works here.
