An Exclusive Sneak Peek At "Piston Head II – Artists Engage The Automobile" Opening This Weekend @ Venus Los Angeles Gallery

Venus Gallery in Los Angeles presents Piston Head II, an exhibition which explores the relationship and parallels between art and the automobile, featuring new works in which the car is considered as both a cultural icon and sculptural form. The exhibition includes works by César, Katherine Bernhardt, Will Boone, Keith Haring, Matthew Day Jackson, Olivier Mosset, Richard Prince, Sterling Ruby, Peter Shire, Lawrence Weiner, and Jonas Wood. Additionally, VENUS is delighted that Garage Italia Customs, the creative hub founded by Lapo Elkann and dedicated to tailor-made customizations, will personalize a selection of vehicles exclusively for the exhibition. As the quintessential machine of modern life, the car has both shaped human experience and inspired countless artists over the years. With the power to convey status and identity, the automobile reflects the desires and dreams of its owners. The artists included in the exhibition have approached the car as both object and subject in numerous ways—from Olivier Mosset’s bikes recontextualized in the gallery space to Sterling Ruby’s caged-in bus to a quintessential Richard Prince muscle car. In a collision between the automobile and contemporary art, the exhibition explores the tensions between aesthetics and utility. Piston Head II will open July 30 and run until September 30, at Venus LA, 601 South Anderson Street, Los Angeles, CA

Watch The Music Video For "Killer Road" by Soundwalk Collective with Jesse Paris Smith featuring Patti Smith

Nomadic experimental trio Soundwalk Collective has shared a new video for “Killer Road” from their collaborative album of the same name with Jesse Paris Smith and Patti Smith. Killer Road is a tribute to Nico, featuring immersive soundscapes by Soundwalk Collective and Jesse Paris Smith with Patti Smith reciting lyrics and poetry from throughout the Velvet Underground singer’s life. The album is due out September 2nd on Sacred Bones and is now available to preorder HERE.

"Grind" Group Show Curated By Joshua Nathanson @ Various Small Fires Gallery In Los Angeles

I grew up with the feeling that our cities would evolve toward some kind of extreme state; utopian commune, technological wonder, total apocalypse etc. I think I absorbed these notions from our culture. But I’ve come to believe that the current nature of the city is likely its default state. Its apex more mundane than I (or anyone) had imagined: comfortable with its dysfunction, cozy in its chaos. Conversations regarding the eventual state of the city feel irrelevant, as the future seems folded into the past; self-driving cars amble along streets originally paved for horses, Pokemon are projected onto 19th century brownstones, and 3-D programs dutifully render simulations of rusted cans. The city is a churning mess of ancient/current/future. Grand hopes now seem naive and it’s really a bummer. Yet the city is still an ecosystem fueled by enormous forces. Although its trajectory may be circular it still gives birth to cultures that thrive along the periphery. And the feeling that the future is indefinitely delayed makes it possible for artists to gaze into the present with an unflinching eye and a twisted sense of glee at the unfathomable strangeness of it all. In our paradigm the city is rarely an overt subject but rather the de facto setting for art’s production and reception – where the city’s emergent forces manifest. This show will feature artists whose work reflect urban life from our current position. It’s a sketch of the city – incomplete, oblique and at times pessimistic, but evidence of life flourishing within the persistent clutter. text by Joshua Nathanson. Grind will be on view until August 27, 2016 at Various Small Fires Gallery, 812 North Highland Avenue Los Angeles, California

Patron Saint of The Impossible: Read Our Interview of South African Hip Hop Artist Hope Saint Jude →

Who is Dope Saint Jude? For one thing, she is subversive: a self-produced black queer woman from South Africa who is breaking into the cis-male dominated hip hop scene. She is cool: tattoos, leather, glitter on her lips; she has guys on gold chains in her music videos, and next week she is flying to France for the second leg of her tour. She is revolutionary: using hip hop and mad aesthetics as a means to talk about queer visibility, the politics of the brown body, the radical act of self-empowerment. Dope Saint Jude drinks coffee with you, talks about going back to school to legitimize and expand her political consciousness. Days later, you are sharing a joint and dancing at a party for which the theme is “70s DISCO, BLACK EXCELLENCE, and INEVITABLE SHINE.” In essence, Dope Saint Jude resists clean definitions. She is multi-faceted and she expands to include narratives we don’t normally read together. Click here to read more. 

Watch The Music Video For Cairobi's Track "Lupo" Made Entirely With Magic Markers

Cairobi have shared a psychedelic video for their new single "Lupo" made completely with magic markers by Sebaldo. Cairobi are a headily eclectic globe-crossing fourpiece of Giorgio Poti (vocals, guitars), Alessandro Marrosu (bass), Salvador Garza (keys) and Aurelien Bernard (drums). Their psych-pop, world music bordering sound reflects their various backgrounds from Italy and Mexico via France. "Lupo" follows the band's 2014 Distant Fire EP and the single "Gristly Words," which is taken from their forthcoming debut record along with EP track Zoraide. Lupo is a hypnotically lush yet despondently exultant track featuring exotic grooves and synth-dappled psychedelic haziness. Cairobi is set to play on August 10 at the Contronatura Festival in Italy. Click here to purchase the single. 

Private Opening Of High Times, Curated By Richard Prince @ Blum & Poe Gallery In Los Angeles

Blum & Poe presents a collaboration between artist Richard Prince and the paragon of marijuana counterculture press, High Times magazine. Well known for his penchant for outsider aesthetics and subculture iconography, Prince works with High Times for the first time, lending original compositions from his Hippie Drawings series of the late 1990s/early 2000s for the September 2016 special Trippy issue. These drawings exemplify Prince’s practice of investigating the American collective unconscious and pursuing dualities – he mines the marginalized and commonplace, and then filters this content through a discerning, expressive, and painterly tradition. Extraterrestrial, polychromatic figures wielding joints smirk at their viewer; wild and joyful gestures that recall the artwork of children or channel the renderings of a psychedelic trip – Prince says of this series, “Being funny is a way to survive.” In conjunction with the launch of the special issue, Prince has curated a collection of historical High Times covers traversing the publication’s history from 1974-2014. The artist’s practice of gleaning inspiration from news and popular media well documented, here Prince selects covers from the magazine’s archives that reflect certain subjects commonly found in his oeuvre. On the occasion of the special edition issue launch, rolling papers designed by the artist will be produced, along with a marijuana strain. This presentation has been organized in cooperation with Green St. Agency. High Times opens July 26 and runs until July 30 at Blum & Poe Gallery in Los Angeles. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Never Before Seen Photographs From The Set of Asthma on The Occasion of The Late Rene Ricard’s 70th Birthday

Rene was quite proud to have been cast as a dope dealer in Jake Hoffman’s film “Asthma." The moment he got the script he had plenty of ideas on how to tweak the language to turn his character even more real. This was a world he knew only too well. As far as outfits go, he had already thought it all out, so when the stylists came to the apartment he pulled out a gold embroidered cashmere jacket, mixed it with his usual black jeans, a little Hermes neck scarf, a black t-shirt and wore what he called his money shoes: loafers with big gold embroidered dollar signs. It was perfect. He knew how to look fabulous with just a few things. It was agreed on the spot that he had nailed it. The only thing missing was the bling. "A dope dealer has to have bling," he said., so he went about gathering as much bling as he could. The flashy look was important. "Did you ever see a proper dealer without bling?” he insisted. On the day of the shoot he called me a number of times, "You have to come down to the set. It’s so much fun, such nice people." When I got there, a loft in SoHo, Rene was having such a ball, flashing his jewels, showing the white convertible Rolls Royce with red leather seats parked on the sidewalk, telling funny stories and making the actors and crew laugh. And then there were the toy guns, which of course he had to play with, so Jake got to be "arrested" by Rene. Text and photographs by Rita Barros. Rene Ricard was an art critic, poet, artist and legend in New York. He wrote the first major article on Jean-Michel Basquiat, entitled "The Radiant Child." Shortly before his passing in 2014, Ricard played an extravagantly over-the-top drug dealer named Juan in Jake Hoffman's directorial debut Asthma, which is available to watch on Netflix and Amazon. This Saturday, July 23, 2016 would have been Ricard's 70th birthday. 

Ed Ruscha and the Great American West @ De Young Museum In San Francisco

Ed Ruscha and the Great American West includes 99 works that reveal the artist’s engagement with the American West and its starring role in our national mythology. This exclusive exhibition has been organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and celebrates the career of one of the world’s most influential and critically acclaimed artists. The exhibition will be on view until October 9, 2016 at De Young Museum in San Francisco. photographs by Bradley Golden

"Shapeshifters" Group Show Curated by Tim Goossens @ Shulamit Nazarian Gallery in Los Angeles

Curated by Tim Goossens, Shapeshifters is an intergenerational exhibition that features the work of artists, activists, and musicians who use alter egos as tools for change and survival. The artists included in this exhibition have created personas in their visual or performative practices in order to discuss feminism and the making of difference beyond anthropocentric or gender politics. Shapeshifters focuses on contemporary production alongside a selection of influential historical works. Shapeshifters will be on view until July 29, 2016 at Shulamit Nazarian Gallery in Los Angeles. 

William Eggleston Rare Book Signing @ David Zwirner On The Occasion Of His Exhibition At The National Portrait Gallery in London

On the occasion of the exhibition 'William Eggleston Portraits' at the National Portrait Gallery, David Zwirner hosted a rare book signing with William Eggleston at the London gallery, in partnership with The Photographers' Gallery. Eggleston is a pioneering American photographer renowned for his vivid, poetic and mysterious images. This exhibition of 100 works surveys Eggleston’s full career from the 1960s to the present day and is the most comprehensive display of his portrait photography ever. Eggleston is celebrated for his experimental use of color and his solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1976 is considered a pivotal moment in the recognition of color photography as a contemporary art form. William Eggleston 'Portraits' will be on view from July 21 to October 23 at National Portrait Gallery in London. photographs by Flo Kohl

Betty Tompkins "Sex Works / WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories" @ Gavlak Gallery in Los Angeles

Gavlak Los Angeles presents Sex Works / WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories, Betty Tompkins’ second solo exhibition with the gallery and her first in Los Angeles. This exhibition includes Betty’s recent series of WOMEN Words paintings, along with a survey of her early works on paper, and large-scale Cunt, Fuck, and Pussy paintings. Sex Works / WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories put pieces from the beginning of Tompkins’ career in conversation with her most recent paintings, showcasing the artist’s trajectory from subtly political works to more overt statements. The exhibition will be on view until September 3, 2016 at Gavlak Los Angeles. photographs by Sara Clarken

Happy Endings: Read Our Interview With The Enigmatic Alex Cameron On His Upcoming Album And Surviving Failure →

These days, being an indie musician is harder than ever and no one knows that better than Aussie based Alex Cameron and his “business partner” and saxophonist Roy Molloy who have been on tour for three years supporting Cameron’s various releases. Next month, Cameron will release his official debut album, entitled Jumping The Shark on Secretly Canadian. The album is very much a collage of disillusionment – disillusionment with the music industry, love and life in general. It’s a raw album that howls with the sentiment of an artist that has been raked over the coals more than once. But it’s not all doom and gloom – these “four minute tales” of failed ambition and self-destruction that comprise the upcoming album are really relatable, listenable and offer a sense of catharsis akin to copping a fix. Click here to read more.