Weekend link-o-rama

Poster by Morley

Wow. This week has gone by really quickly. I guess the world feels like it is moving faster when you are running on less sleep. Such a counter-intuitive thing. Anyway, here is what has been going on that I didn’t have a chance to write about this week:

Photo by Morley

Mark Jenkins at VOLTA

Finally, some new Mark Jenkins works to drool over. I’m a big fan of my DC homeboy, so it is about time to see a new crop of Jenkins, even if it is in a show setting. Taking place at VOLTANY in Brooklyn from March 3- 5, the fair hosts a slew of galleries and artists, not just more street art in a gallery setting. Thank god. The Jenkins pieces will be at the Carmichael Gallery booth, so go say hi to our good friends Seth and Elisa. And don’t forget to point and laugh at them as their freeze their asses off in the Northeast winter, since they are California transplants and don’t know what cold means.

Photo via Carmichael Gallery

Royce Bannon presents “The Unusual Suspects”

Opening tomorrow, Saturday evening, from 6 – 10pm at the 17 Frost Art and Performance Space at 17 Frost Street in Williamsburg, The Unusual Suspects features new and collaborative pieces by Abe Lincoln, Jr., Celso, Chris RWK, Darkclouds, Deeker, Infinity, Keely, Matt Siren, Moody, Nose Go, Royce Bannon and Sno Monster. Curated by Royce Bannon of the famed Endless Love Crew, the artwork ranges from minimal iconic characters to splashy expressionistic compositions.   There are some surprises, too, like this collaboration between Abe Lincoln, Jr. and Nose Go:

Photo by Lois Stavsky

KAWS X Bape

The latest KAWS toy is available today at 1pm Eastern time. This three colored edition figure is nowhere near some of the artist’s best figurative and the whole idea reeks of shameless self-promotion, but it’s still a cute addition to any toy collection. It reminds of the Hello Kitty Dunny’s or a surprisingly well done McDonald’s toy. I would much rather this than a Scooby-Doo kaleidoscope.

MILO can only be purchased at http://www.kawsone.com. Well, at least until it goes on Ebay tomorrow.

 

Photos by KAWS One

Above solo show opens today in Sydney

Above has a solo show, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, opening today at Lo-Fi Gallery (383 Bourke St. Sydney, Australia). I haven’t liked Above’s indoor work in the past, but from the look of the preview, I think done something very right this time. The most surprising thing about that is that he’s combining some ideas in this work that normally spell “train wreck.” The work combines ripped posters, pop art and images of dead celebrities.  Unless we’re talking about Faile, that combo tends to end in an EPIC FAIL. But this work actually looks some Above has pulled it off, which is exciting. Don’t ask me how or why, but I like this new series. CFYE has plenty of photos posted, and here’s a teaser video:

HERE TODAY GONE TOMORROW (PART 3) from ABOVE on Vimeo.

Graffiti at Christie’s Amsterdam

My friends are Lebowski Publishers are hosting this event next week at Christie’s in Amsterdam. At the next auction at that Christie’s location, there are going to be a number of pieces for sale from old-school writers, which is how this party has come about. Nothing against old-school graffiti on canvas, but it’s not really my thing. What I’m more interested in with this party is the living painting collaboration between Shoe and Quik, plus whatever Laser 3.14 and WorldWarWon get up to in. WWW is a clever and new street artist in London, and Laser 3.14 does some great text-based street art/graffiti. Also, the first 50 people there will get a copy of a classic book: The Faith of Graffiti.

Street Art View

I came across Street Art View only the other day, which is pretty pathetic considering the number of Facebook and Twitter posts on it. Right now I am teetering on how I feel about it. Powered by Red Bull (who seem to have their hands in street art related activities a lot recently) and Google Maps, the site allows people to virtually “tag” graff and street art as depicted on the Street View. Thing is though, isn’t most of the work already covered/altered/buffed/etc.? Just an initial look, there is work from JR and Banksy that are no longer on the streets. For historical purposes, I guess this is a good idea because you can find exact locations or learn where they used to be. But in the present, works change so much, that tagging something on the map misleads people looking to see works. Also, since the Street View is already created, won’t new works not be able to be seen at all? This is like a “Where is Waldo” of street art from a certain time period. I personally enjoyed finding the wizard more enjoyable.

This map is a lot like Marxism to me- sounds good in theory, but shit in practice.

I also hear there is an Iphone app in the making (already created?) that you can take a photo of a piece and it recognizes the artist when people upload the same work and tag it as an artist? I read this somewhere a few weeks ago, but don’t remember where. I bet the cops will have a field day with that application.

http://streetartview.com/