Saturday, November 08, 2008

Halloween Special

...well 8 days later.

The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill
89 7th Ave S
(between S 7 Ave & Barrow St)
New York, NY 10014
http://thevillagepetstoreandcharcoalgrill.com



I went to the Village Pet Shore and Charcoal Grill to see what's all the hype was. Right when I got there, I encountered many visitors already flooded the area. It was right next to Sushi Samba, a over-priced Japanese restaurant in a trendy setting. In my notion, I thought it was a real petshop but to my realization it was an art show by Banksy. Saw moving hot dog, swimming fish sticks, chimpanzee watching money porn, little chick nuggets eating and more. It a small shop which takes a 360 turn to complete the tour. The displayment can be seen outside as well. It was a fun interesting experience. The show ended by October 31st.










Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Racking up for Bikers at Wall St

http://www.davidbyrne.com/art/bike_racks/index.php

TRUE GENIUS

David Byrne and the New York City Department of Transportation, in conjunction with New York art gallery PaceWildenstein, have unveiled nine unique bicycle racks designed by DB and installed in various locations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. An avid bicyclist for almost 30 years, Byrne was invited to join the panel of jurors selected by the DOT to judge a design competition for outdoor and indoor bicycle racks. Inspired by the city's initiative, he submitted some original design ideas of his own named after specific locations and neighborhoods, which the DOT enthusiastically agreed to install for a period of 364 days.


Villager, 2008 (Location: LaGuardia Place)

Olde Time Square, 2008 (Location: 44th and 7th Ave)

The Wall Street (Location: Water St and Pearl St)

Ladies' miles (Between 5th Ave and 57th/ 58th in front of Bergdof)

The coffee cup (Location: Amsterdam between 110th and 111th St, near the Hungarian Pastry Shop)

The Chelsea (Location: 25th St between 10th and 11th, front of Pace Wildenstein Gallery)

The Moma (Location:53rd St , in front of Moma-of course)

The Hipster (Location: Bedford and North 6th Street, Williamsburg Brooklyn)

The Jersey (Location:9th Ave and 39th St)

Monday, August 18, 2008

Erin Patrice O' Brien's


Elizabeth, 15

Maria 18, with Kimberly and Summer

On Saturday, Fort Greene photographer Erin Patrice O'Brien unveiled her new exhibit at Brooklyn's Corridor Gallery. The images on display were not that of her normal clientele (she used to take portraits of celebrities), but of the young mothers living in New York. She told the Daily News, “I was interested in someone who never gets their story told as opposed to someone who always has the limelight."

Erin visited Bellevue Hospital in 2006 where he met the young girls from age 14-18, mostly from Mexico. This experiment gave him an understanding of their stories as a young pregnant girls and the struggle they dealt with.

This wasn't the limelight that Diablo Cody gave pregnant teens in Juno, these photographs put a different story on the statistics--teen mothers, from the ages of 14 to 18, spending most of their time home alone while their husbands work 70 hour weeks. The exhibit, titled Mamás Adolescentes: NYC 2006-2007, is on view through the 24th.

By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events www.gothamist.com

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Shen Jing Dong

SHEN JINGDONG
Curated by Eric C. Shiner
On view from August 5, 2008
Reception: August 7, 2008 / 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
China Square
545 W. 25th Street
Chelsea Arts Tower 8th fl.







Do not think that I'm promoting communist. I rather slit my wrist than praise on China's communist. I love the style Shen Jing Dong. I love the playfulness that he created. The mix of ideological and consumerist subject matter definitively places Shen's work, alongside works by Takashi Murakami (How hot is that?)- in the post-pop period, attempting to digest the nation's transition into a consumer-driven society. His plastic toy characters have the reflections of the light that is pure genius. The smiles in the three panels of people with different ethnicities shows a connection in Yue Minjun's smily characters but less jovial. I'm happy that he has his one man show at this gallery since I was in awe of his work last year.

ChinaSquare is pleased to present SHEN JINGDONG: Hero, curated by Eric C. Shiner. The exhibit will be on view August 5th to 30th with an opening reception on Thursday, August 7th, from 6 to 8 pm. Born in Nanjing in 1965, Shen Jingdong received his masters degree from the Nanjing Institute of Arts in 1991. He was then conscripted to the Military Drama Troupe until 2007. Shen Jingdong's work taps into the vulnerability of the venerable by examining heroes of China's Cultural Revolution – most notably, members of the military. Serving in the military drama troupe for 16 years provided the artist ample exposure to military life and time to consider soldiers as sentient beings, rather than mere emblems of Communist thought. The plastic, manufactured soldiers Shen paints is in contrast to the observed humanity from his experience, but allows one to view these cultural icons as government play things gazing out with placid, unquestioning expressions. The mix of ideological and consumerist subject matter definitively places Shen's work -- alongside works by Takashi Murakami - in the post-pop period, attempting to digest the nation's transition into a consumer-driven society.

Not surprisingly, such critical examination of the validity of Communist ideals has not gone unnoticed by China's central government. Just two years ago, one of Shen Jingdong's installations grouped Chairman Mao with political dictators of other countries and was promptly banned from a major Beijing international art festival.Despite the controversy surrounding his work, pieces have already been collected by the China National Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Retreat Museum in Singapore. Well-received both critically and at auction, there is every reason to believe Shen Jingdong's talent will
continue to unveil itself.

Eric C. Shiner is an independent curator and art historian specializing in Asian contemporary art.
An assistant curator of the Yokohama Triennial in 2001, Shiner is an active writer and translator, a contributing editor for Art Asia Pacific magazine, and adjunct professor of Asian art history at Pace University in New York City

Friday, August 01, 2008

Dali Dali

Dalí: Painting and Film
June 29–September 15, 2008



Bringing together more than 130 paintings, drawings, scenarios, and films by Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), this exhibition explores the role that cinema played in the artist's work. Both an inspiration and an outlet for experimentation, film was Dalí's passion, and cinematic vision became a model for his own work. Collaborations between Dalí and legendary filmmakers are displayed alongside his paintings and other works, illuminating the ways in which ideas, iconography, and pictorial strategies are shared and transformed across mediums. Among the provocative works on display are Un Chien andalou, a film made with Luis Buñuel, which features the notorious, almost unwatchable sequence of an eye being slit by a razor; L'Age d'Or, another collaboration with Buñuel and one of the landmarks of Surrealist film; projects undertaken in Hollywood with Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney; and such important paintings as The First Days of Spring and Illumined Pleasures. In conjunction with the gallery exhibition, a series of screenings in the MoMA theaters presents the classic and avant-garde motion pictures Dalí treasured, films on which he collaborated, and examples of his legacy in contemporary cinema.

True genius. His works plays in your eyes as in optical illusion. It's amazing to capture his work since it was sold out when I was in Philly 2 years ago and now I got the chance. He has prove that he is the greatest surrealist. He will always be known as the one who did "The persistence of time".

His work awed the viewers at MOMA. It was pretty crowded on a Saturday. It's difficult to stay for more than 15 second on one work until someone is so close to you reading the small summaries.

My favorite is the small clip he did with Disney. It was so creative and dreamy. Your mind keeps wandering on very little details. It was awesome.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Lucian Freud's $33 Million Painting Sets Sale Record for Living Artist



At Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale last night, "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" (1955) by Lucian Freud (Sigmund's grandson), went for $33 million. It beat the record auction price for a living artist—the last record was set by Jeff Koons' "Hanging Heart" sculpture, sold for $23 mil at Sotheby's last November. (P.S.: Fat- and appearance-mockers will be executed!)

Monday, May 05, 2008

Seo-Bo Park

Seobo Park 2008
May 1, 2008 - May 31, 2008
Reception: May 1, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Arario New York is pleased to present Empty the Mind, a solo exhibition of new works by Park, Seo-Bo, the father of Korean abstract painting. The exhibition will be on view from May 1 through May 31, 2008, and a reception for the artist will be held at the gallery on May 1 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Since beginning his artistic career in the 1950s, Park, Seo-Bo has been at the forefront of contemporary Korean art. He is considered his country’s preeminent artist, credited with introducing Modernism to Korean art. Park’s innovative combination of traditional Korean sensibility with the Western abstract art movements of Minimalism, Art Informel, and Color Field painting has made him an influential figure to generations of Korean artists.

Empty the Mind will feature the brightly-colored, monochrome abstract paintings for which Park, Seo-Bo is best known today. Through a labor-intensive, multi-step process, the artist creates Minimalist paintings with complexly textured surfaces. Several layers of mulberry paper – known in Korea as hanji – acrylic paint, and ink are built up onto each canvas. Before the layers dry, Park uses a pencil or a narrow bamboo stick to incise thin parallel lines across the entire surface. In each painting, rectangular spaces are strategically carved away, revealing a vivid under layer of paint and creating what Park calls “Breathing Spaces” amidst the sea of lines. In keeping with Park’s understated style, these new works juxtapose pattern and emptiness, restrained form and exuberant color, and Eastern and Western aesthetics.

Park, Seo-Bo’s work has been on view throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S. for more than fifty years. Among his retrospective exhibitions is, Park, Seo-Bo’s Paintings: Its Forty Years, at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul in 1991. He has received numerous awards, such as The National Medal of Korea (The Medal of Seokryu) in 1987, The Order of Cultural Merits, Korea in 1994, and the Seoul Metropolitan Cultural Award in 1995. His work is in the collections of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; The Seoul Museum of Art; The Contemporary Museum of Hongik University, Seoul; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and the Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, France. In 1994 he founded the Park, Seo-Bo Art and Cultural Foundation. He lives and works in Seoul, where he was a Professor at the College of Fine Arts, Hongik University. This is the artist’s first exhibition at Arario Gallery New York, though he has previously shown at Arario Beijing.







My first impression of pretty colors. I came close and saw the artist's work. The textures were amazing. It plays well with the two monochrome colors. It revolutionized what Mondrian's abstraction works. I got to speak the artist. He had a translator but I managed to use the little Korean I learned in college. I sort of impressed the translator. After a great champagne later, I bought the autograph poster.

James Lahey - Skulls

James Lahey: New Works
May 4, 2006 - June 4, 2006
J. Cacciola
531 W 25th St
New York (Chelsea)







I love James' skulls and the concept of "You want to start over" Its has a playful theme of having to think about your life and self esteem. For me, it makes me contemplate how we will live life regretting in the end. Do we want to start over? Yes. Or no. What would happen if we could change, then what would happen next. Would it be better or not. Then would we want to start again until we are satisfied. When will we ever be happy?

I stood next to my own reflection with a text says "This will make you beautiful". Does it help standing by the mirror? Will the people standing next to me will think that I possessed a low self esteem standing in front of it? It helps that the artist understand a person's self image.

Ye Yong Qing

China Square
545 W. 25th St.
8th Flr. Chelsea Arts Tower
New York, NY 10001

May 1st - May 31st
Opening:
May 1st 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Through Ye’s clever stroke, the poetic impression of his birds unites the dreams and mythologies
the world over. Recreating the immediacy of his sketches, in large sweeping gestures, Ye develops
a style that is both traditional and anew. This series of paradoxical structures curve the frames
of birds: depicting stillness and movement. His ephemeral stroke shows a studied knowledge of
form and gesture. Like the scholarly art of calligraphy, his exacting movements breeze through
the picture plain. Unlike literati art, his stroke stands formed yet fragmented, elegant yet rough,
controlled yet whimsical, thick yet thin. These distorted frames of Ye’s create the image of birds
and the expansive connections of mythologies. Birds symbolize the power of spirit and are found
throughout legends, both east and west. His birds breathe reality and fantasy, living a world of
paradox.

Nest
2005
acrylic on canvas
110 x 150 cm / 43.31 x 59.06 in.



Joy No.2
2008
acrylic on canvas
200 x 200 cm / 78.74 x 78.74 in.


Bird
2006
oil on canvas
200 x 300 cm / 78.74 x 118.11 in.


Egypt
2007
acrylic on canvas
300 x 200 cm / 118.11 x 78.74 in.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Dirty Car Windows







Chihung Yang

ChinaSquare New York
545 W 25th Street 8th Fl.
Chelsea Arts Tower
New York, NY 10001
Tel: 212.255.8886

On View from April 1, 2008 / Opening Reception on April 3, 2008, 6:00-8:00 pm
ChinaSquare is pleased to present CHIHUNG YANG : Recent Paintings, curated by Eric C. Shiner. Chihung Yang’s new abstract paintings will be on view April 1st through 26th with an opening reception on Thursday, April 3rd, from 6 to 8 pm.

Chihung Yang’s deeply complex abstractions and sweeping brushwork transports the viewer into a universe ruled by the Chinese tradition of the ephemeral “floating clouds and flowing waters.” In standing before Yang’s work, it seems as if the universe has come to a standstill, that his clouds and rivulets of paint have been frozen in time. Yet, his balanced compositions hint at the grandeur of nature, or perhaps chaos unleashed and then reigned in. Mixing subtle monochromatic hues with bright bursts of paint, the fleeting appearance of color results in a feeling of life breaking through soil, or rays peeking through clouds. Organic structures emerge from the otherwise abstract nature of Yang’s painting in the form of buds, roots and veins. As abstract painting, Yang’s oeuvre stands its own in comparison with the great names of the tradition, whether Western or Chinese.

Chihung Yang, a graduate of the National Taiwan College of Art in Taipei, has been extensively exhibited throughout the world. Yang was awarded a year’s residency at The Clocktower in New York City by The Institute for Art and Urban Resources in 1985 and has since been living and working in New York City. Yang’s work is included in significant museum, corporate, and private art collections in Western Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Eric C. Shiner is an independent curator and art historian specializing in Asian contemporary art. An assistant curator of the Yokohama Triennial in 2001, Shiner is an active writer and translator, a contributing editor for Art Asia Pacific magazine, and adjunct professor of Asian art history at Pace University in New York City.


The Sea Inside
2007


Song of Spring
2007


Odyssey of Darkness
2007