Pedro Matos has curated a show (his first!) that opens at the Montana Shop & Gallery in Lisbon on December 9th. Some artists whose work I really like – Fefe Talavera (above), Remed, Zosen and Dave Kinsey – as well as several others will be taking part. I recommend checking it out if you will be in the neighborhood. It runs through January 3rd, 2011.
Visit Yellow Pants Gallery’s site for more information.
– Elisa
Swoon and Bastardilla, two artists who were in this year’s FAME Festival, have got some new work up in London recently. Swoon is in London as part of the current group show at Black Rat Projects, something I’ll be posting about soon.
Photos by Hookedblog, Claudelondon, HowAboutNo! and Marie A.-C.
Just got back from Jordan Seiler’s show at Vincent Michael Gallery. I’ll have more on that in the next few days, but I found an awesome store in the same area as the gallery: Jinxed. It sells cool toys and the like. Here’s what I didn’t write about this week while I was busy procrastinating and thinking about The Underbelly Project.
Photo by nolionsinengland
I love this piece by Alex Hornest. The colors are awesome and he uses the corner so well!
If you’re in Sao Paulo, Alex has a solo show on right now called Animais de Concreto at Cavalera ART PROJECTS. The works I’ve seen from it look really good. I’ve included one below.
The show runs through November 30. Find out more here.
– Elisa
Photo by FernandoGomes0301.
In light of the parallels series that I am doing I thought I would share these two projects before going deeper into Alfredo Jaar’s work. Martha Rosler’s “Housing is a Human Right” (1989) and Alfredo Jaar’s “A Logo For America” (1987) pieces in Times Square
I’ve got a few more exclusive pics to share from The Underbelly Project (previous posts here and here). Also, Ian Cox has uploaded some more pictures on his blog and there is a flickr group for the project.
Photos by Workhorse, PAC and Ian Cox
One of my roommates came by a few minutes ago and asked “So, did shit hit the fan?” He knew I was posting something about Underbelly yesterday, but he’s not really the artsy type so he didn’t know quite what it was.
Well indeed shit has hit the fan, but mostly in a good way so far. The Underbelly Project made it into The New York Times and The Age. Also, Ian Cox and Luna Park have posted their photos on their respective blogs. And their photos are much better than mine, so check them out.
It seems most people are liking the project, even if some have some reservations. As one commenter on my last post pointed out, maybe you had to be there to experience some of the awesomeness, but it’s still pretty cool. I think that’s a fair assessment. Some artists’ work is best viewed in person, and the best artworks in The Underbelly Project tend to fall into that category. Posterchild put up an interactive sculpture, and Dan Witz’ art is definitely more powerful when it comes as a surprise and in person.
But there’s been one criticism that I absolutely don’t buy: That The Underbelly Project was conceived and executed purely for commercial gain. Yeah, later this week I’ll be posting a trailer to a documentary about the project, but the organizers, who I think are two very bright people, would have to be complete idiots to do this project if their only interest was a sick book deal. Yeah, there are street artists and graffiti writers out there who do illegal work to get attention and doing well-promoted street art can sell a painting or two. I’ve called out people on doing things like that before. That said, the scale and risk of The Underbelly Project is greater than what could be often by any likely monetary rewards. It would be much easier and less risky to either fake the entire project in a warehouse somewhere or just do something that relies on one or two big events instead of a year of secrecy and dangerous activities. I highly doubt that The Underbelly Project will be an efficient way to make money for the participants, even with any future books or films or anything like that. When I was first told about The Underbelly Project, it was little more than an idea, and the idea was to create a secret street art and graffiti Mecca, not to make a million bucks.
Here are some more photos from down in the tunnel:
I’ll continue this week to post more photos, but you can check out a more full set of my images on flickr.
Photos courtesy of The Underbelly Project (by Workhorse, PAC and Garrett) and by RJ
