Two Ways to Ruin a Borough

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After a cold several months in Germany, like many artists Cake has returned with the rising temperatures to complete new murals, the first of these for Fountain Art Fair. Covering her canvas with layers of paint, gold leaf, and a wash resulted in a halo’d figure taking scissors to her neck as the blood flowed away from the wounds and spun its way into gold leaf. A mix of beauty and intensity, these feature were only echoed in the work’s title “Two Ways to Ruin a Borough.” While the brush strokes may issue the end of her figure, the spring will see it as the beginning for Cake and many other artists.

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Preview: Fountain Art Fair NY 2012

Swoon will be showing at KESTING / RAY's booth

It’s art-fair week in New York. Of course there’s The Armory Show, The Volta Show and SCOPE, but the fair that Vandalog readers are going to love is the Fountain New York Art Fair. That’s where the street artists are showing. 5 Pointz Art Space, KESTING / RAY, Mighty Tanaka, Station 16 and The Marketplace Gallery will all be there, plus GILF and Fab5 Freddy will be there independent of any gallery. Fountain runs Friday through Sunday, with musical performances on Friday night and Saturday night. I’ve been to Fountain’s fair in Miami twice, and each time it has been something a bit different from the standard art fair whateverness. I don’t want to give anything away, but I’ve heard that some Vandalog favorites will be working on indoor murals for the fair.

Photo courtesy of KESTING / Ray

Temporary walls at Fountain Miami

Hugh Leeman

We’ve got more photos today from Mike Pearce‘s time in Miami. Today we’re focusing on the art installation at the Fountain Art Fair. As they have done in past years, the fair got some street artists to paint on temporary walls in an outdoor section of the fair. This year, the installation was curated by Samson Contompasis of The Marketplace Gallery and included Hugh Leeman, Sharktoof, Gilf!, Elle, Know Hope, Chris Stain, Joe Iurato, Overunder and White Cocoa. Mike has more from Fountain in this flickr set.

Overunder and White Cocoa
Joe Iurato
Chris Stain and Sharktoof
Know Hope
Gilf! and Elle

Photos by Mike Pearce

Marianne Nems presents Ugly Kid Gumo, Benoit Debbane, LA2 & more @ Miami’s Fountain Art Fair

I met Marianne Nems back in June at the East Village’s Dorian Grey Gallery, where she introduced me to the impassioned work of French graffiti artist, Ugly Kid Gumo.  For the next three days, Marianne will be at the Fountain Art Fair, 2505 North Miami Ave. @ 25th St. exhibiting work by Ugly Kid Gumo and others. Among the images that she shared, I’m particularly intrigued by the artwork of Benoit Debbane, the Lebanese painter whose work first surfaced on the walls of Beirut in the 1990’s.  Another highlight are new works by Angel Ortiz aka LA2, who recently graced New York City’s East Village with a huge mural.

"Adrenaline" by Ugly Kid Gumo
"The Darkness Rising" by Benoit Debbane
LA2's recent mural in the East Village

Photos courtesy of Marianne Nems

Some NY art fair suggestions

EVOL will be at the WILDE Gallery booth at Volta

With two midterms exams tomorrow, I’m rushing this post, but here’s a simple list for some of what to check out at the art fairs in New York this week.

I won’t be in NYC for the fairs myself, but I’ll hopefully have some photos to post. Otherwise, the places I will be getting my art fair news will be Hyperallergic and Arrested Motion.

Photo courtesy of Volta Art Fair