How to make it in the Art World

Ok, this is a little bit of a copy and paste, sorry, but this article was just too amusing not to (via NYMAG):

The art world made it through the real-world crash relatively unscathed, but not unchanged. And even as money still courses thick and blue-chip through its veins, the system is beginning to reexamine itself. Last month during ­Armory Week, there was not just the big Establishment fair but a handful of smaller and less-Establishment fairs; a couple of anti-money, anti-Establishment fairs; and at least one anti-anti-Establishment fair, which was both a tribute to the Armory Show’s origins and a flip of the bird to its corporate values, and might also just have been one big art-punk hotel party (we’re still figuring that one out). And now, for the first time, London’s Frieze fair is coming to town; when it arrives next week, it’ll challenge incumbent kingpin Armory for supremacy in the city. Our art critic Jerry Saltz, for one, is excited by this, as he is by quite a bit of the new art he sees burbling out there, art that seems to be getting smaller rather than bigger, intimate rather than corporate, and intangible and performative rather than industrial and perfectly resolved—the stranger and more mercurial, the better. It’s a moment of weird equipoise, as the Art Death Star and the Rebel Forces are battling to the quick. To mark it, we’ve decided to present our own version of performance art: a tongue-in-cheek rulebook for how to make it in the art world now—as artist, gallerist, collector, hanger-on. Many of the case studies demonstrate this period’s impish contradictions (“Make Art That’s Difficult to Collect,” “Pretend You’re an Outsider, Even When You’re at the Center of Everything”). And many of them show how to walk a line that has become particularly well trod of late: Used to be, new galleries admired the powerhouses and young artists envied the established ones—until they deposed them. These days, the envy runs both ways. Everyone wants in, and the only way to get in is to act like you’re out. Which means nobody wants to cop to having made it already, and everyone acts like they’re overthrowing the system by thriving in it. Maybe they are.

Rule No. 1Saltz
Reject the Market. Embrace the Market.
How Jerry Saltz has found new magic amid all that money.
Rule No. 2Recent Trends
Stay on Trend…
Some things we’ve been seeing a lot of lately.
Sarah SzeRule No. 3
Make Art That’s Difficult to Collect
So only museums will collect it.
Gates JohhsonRule No. 4
Be Young, Post-Black, and From Chicago
Rule No. 5Alex Katz
Survive
With your head down.
Rule No. 6Kehinde Wiley
Outsource to China
While riffing on the Western canon. Kehinde Wiley’s global reach.
Rule No. 7
Know These 100 People
An insider’s list of art insiders.
Trading UpRule No. 8
Don’t Be Afraid to Trade Up
When a bigger gallery comes calling, listen.
Rule No. 9Art Fair Portraits
Show Up
The art world in a photo booth.
Rule No. 10Patronage
Pick Your Artists and Stick With Them
Whole-life art patronage—collecting work is just the start.
What to BuyRule No. 11
Buy the Same Thing Everyone Else Is Buying
A shopping list.
HeirsRule No. 12
Get Born Into It
The inheritance class.
Reena SpaulingsRule No. 13
Don’t Let a Gallerist Take Half the Profit
The Chinatown collective Reena Spaulings.
RuthlessRule No. 14
Be Ruthless
Making a killing in the art world’s dark market.
Family BusinessRule No. 15
Pretend You’re an Outsider Even When You’re at the Center of Everything
Family Business is a gallery that’s not a gallery, run by two art stars slumming it as art nobodies.
Rule No. 16
Pack Your Bags, Fly Around the World, and Hang Out With Everyone You Know From New York
The don’t-miss-out itinerary of the art-world world traveler.
Rule No. 17Obrist
Be Everywhere at Once (But Rarely New York)
Hans Ulrich Obrist, frequent-flying super-connector of the art world.
Rule No. 18Gavin Brown
Join the Establishment. Cling to Your Street Cred.
Gallerist Gavin Brown on not becoming Larry Gagosian
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Altuzarra for J.Crew

Well, I guess this isn’t a collaboration I can say I was particularly excited about but curious nonetheless….and….am I the only one that thinks this looks just like J.Crew for J.Crew?

via Fashionista.com

The Modern Portrait

I realized I rarely am drawn to portraiture paintings because it tends to remind me of the old school, traditional, paintings from the 1600′s ish. Obviously a lot of time has passed and I am clearly holding grudges against a genre for no good reason. Here are some paintings that prove portraits can be innovative, and interesting.

These are by an artist named Xiaolu Zhang, a Chinese artist that also happens to go to SCAD (the college I went to a billion years ago). The humor is great.

And these are by Kehinde Wiley, a true reconfiguration of the traditional portrait.

And last but not least these are by Phillip Gurrey, these remind me of botched plastic surgery. I really like it.

All that glitters and beautiful photographs

I’ve found two very cool things today; one is this sculpture by Dean Project which is rad. The second is the lovely photography of Brandon Schulman that has me so excited for my upcoming roadtrip.

Dean Project

 

Brandon Schulman

 

Mona Lisa’s Twin

Recently discovered that this copy of the Mona Lisa was painted by a pupil working alongside Da Vinci

The original

‘The Mona Lisa is one of the most enigmatic and iconic pieces of Western art. It has inspired countless copies, but one replica at the Madrid’s Museo del Prado is generating its own buzz: Conservators say that it was painted at the same time as the original — and possibly by one of the master’s pupils, perhaps even a lover.

Juxtaposing the two paintings — and using infrared technology, which works like an X-ray, allowing one to see beneath the paint to see previous, obscured versions — conservators say that Leonardo and the painter of the replica made exactly the same changes at the same time.’ check out entire article

(images via npr)

Best Of January Entertainment Photos

Happy Groundhog Day people, every day today is the day we all watch the Bill Murray movie, and pretend like it matters whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not. It’s such an odd tradition….and his prediction of 6 more weeks of winter means nothing here because it’s 65 degrees and sunny. Take that Phil.

Well since it’s the beginning of February it means it’s time to check out some of the best of last months entertainment photography from all the magazines out there in the world.

Carey Mulligan in W; rocking some Prada and a chipmunk

Scarlett Johansson in Interview; is she preparing to box? I just can’t tell what’s up here.

Adam Lambert in OUT, I don’t know who he is but I like the Warholianism

Ricky Martin in V

Meryl Streep in Vanity Fair

Justin Bieber in V

Dianna Agron in Nylon

Matt Damon in GQ, looking very ‘Strongest Man in the World’ ly

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga in Vanity Fair
Jamie Bell in Vogue Hommes International, why so sad?
Eva Green in L’Officiel
Rooney Mara in Dazed & Confused
Michael Fassbender in L’uomo Vogue
George Clooney inEsquire
Jessica Chastain in Interview


 (images via NYMAG)

Moscow’s Banksy and an F-111

Street art is one of my favorite art forms, and has inspired my own work tremendously. Banksy obviously is a huge pioneer in the street art world, this Russian artist, P183, has been dubbed ‘Moscow’s Banksy’ for obvious reasons. He emulates, maybe borders on copying?, Banksy and creates an interesting commentary often about industrialization. What do you all think? Too similar or just as brilliant?

And MOMA has a new addition to the fourth floor, James Rosenquist’s F-111, ‘ a monumental 23-panel piece, is being exhibited for the first time since 2006 in the original 1965 configuration that the artist created for his debut show at Leo Castelli’s 77th Street gallery.’ It’s huge and breathtaking. Sometimes bigger isn’t always better but in this case helps accentuate it’s message. Here are F-111 (first image) and some of his other great works

(images from Guardian and Vanity Fair)

Stream of Conscious paintings

I was walking down the street today and passed a very irate elderly woman screaming GYNOCOLOGICAL, repeatedly, at someone on the other end of the telephone she was holding, which was mildly odd, but gynocological made me think of Georgia O’Keefe. And Georgia O’Keefe was married to Alfred Steiglitz….and six more degrees of separation followed and eventually found myself thinking of this artist. Ergo how it came about to post about Mark Bradford. Now you’re privvy to the method behind my decision making. No logic whatsoever.

Mark Bradfords paintings ‘unite high art and popular culture as unorthodox tableaux of unequivocal beauty. Working in both paint and collage, Bradford incorporates elements from daily life into his canvases such as remnants of found posters and billboards and hairdresser’s permanent endpapers’ I am particularly drawn to the more muted colors, which are less blatant in their aesthetic, but they are all lovely.

And here is a random ass painting I found while trolling Tumblr, by Michael Cina, that I thought was worthy of a post (and has nothing to do with Gynocology either)

Holiday Garb and November fashion’s good and bad

Falalala la la la laaaaa. I am such a good singer. I am also a sucker for Christmas. I would have a tree up from Thanksgiving til Valentines day if my husband would let me it weren’t such a fire hazard. I’m not religious, and am actually half Jewish, it’s just my version of shiny object syndrome I think. Twinkling lights, xmas carols, perfect excuses for superflous baking….and of course getting dressed up for no reason at all. The holidays make everywhere worthy of fancy-pants ware. Here are a few beautiful and festive pieces that also happen to be totally affordable:

 

Jane Norman jacquard dress, $85.94

 

Lipsy skirt sequin $95 Bloomingdales

Sequin jacket, blouse and pleated shorts all Zara

Audrey pump, $79.95 DSW

Gold Button Blouse,  $75 at Oasis

Rodna Halter dress, $158 at Anthropologie

Sequin clutch $98 at Anthropologie

 

And since it’s the beginning of December it can only mean it’s time for the monthly fashion mag review. Here are some of the beautiful and the unbeautiful images from November:

My thoughts, from top to bottom: 1 Inspiring and beautiful, 2 Bizarre, yet also beautiful, 3 Puppies and fur shoots? PETA should tackly your ass, 4 I’m pretty sure that’s toilet paper, 5 Does she know people can see her? What is that on her head? 6 Hilarious 7 Take off the stupid orange hat and this image would be lovely. That is all

 

 

Roaring 20′s cinema and fashion

I’m sure everyone has a time period that they hold as the pinnacle of fashion and aesthetic, for me that time period is the ’40′s but my second choice is the 20′s.  How could it not be fantastic with things like Jazz, Art Deco….the Fitzgeralds? Good stuff. I’ve written here numerous times about the love affair I have with those two decades so it only makes sense I would be drawn to these images. They are fascinating to me not only because I love fashion from the 1920′s but I love the stills from the movie ‘The Artist’ which are so evocative of  (what I imagine to be) the spirit of  that time period. The movie ‘ takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining male film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema grows out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies. ‘ Talkies of course being movies with people talking in them.  The only silent films I remember seeing were with Charlie Chaplin, but I’m sure I must have seen others. The fashion comparisons are from a number of designers, you can check out more at Vogue.it

 

Are you inspired by the 1920′s? What’s your favorite fashion era?