Against a dark, monochromatic background, a figure appears. Wearing a distinctly red robe and not much else, their gaze is penetrative, their hand on their chest evokes an equally surprising look back at the viewer in return. The red halo around the person, as if a reflection from the clothes, adds mystery to the work, yet it gives nothing away. But while all these representational elements certainly inform the painting and add to the public’s possible interpretation of it, what struck me is the exquisite brushwork. The character’s face, the single stroke that comes to define their lip and thus the whole facial expression, the poignant white around the pupils. The way all these movements come together in perfect harmony to create poetry that is this painting.

Fly In League With The Night

It’s hard to believe none of the people in some 80 paintings in this exhibition are real. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977 in London) combines drawings, found images and imagination to give life to ambiguous characters based on these visual notes. Stemming from the artist’s scrapbook, they appear in everyday scenes, in intimate and timeless moments, becoming somebody and nobody at the same time. It is precisely because these people could be any people that we can relate to them so deeply. This is also why this artist is finally in the spotlight she deserves, amid the rise of figurative painting on the international art scene.

Indeed, that very first portrait I saw in this show is a great example of Yiadom-Boakye’s practice as a whole, which we can describe it as a threefold one.

There is the figure depicted, based on a color, a movement, or a gesture. These characters are usually depicted resting, observing, or dancing, in an intimate conversation. Sometimes there is nothing or very little accompanying them on canvas (or linen). The backdrop is usually dark, almost the same hue as the characters’ skin. Sometimes there is an animal, or an endless landscape – all designed to ignite our imagination and have us write out their stories ourselves.

I mention “writing” here on purpose, because aside from being visual narratives, Yiadom-Boakye’s artworks are also poetry, prose. According to the artist, fiction and narration are both profoundly present. “I write about the things I can’t paint and paint the things I can’t write about,” she says. The exhibition title itself, “Fly In League With The Night,” is taken from a poem by the artist, written especially for this presentation. The titles of the paintings can be seen as extensions of the prose, she says, as additional brushstrokes on the picture plane. And so, we have painting titles such as “Repurposed for Songs,” or “No Such Luxury,” or “A Passion Like No Other,” again providing very little actual context to the work and asking us to do it instead.

Finally, there is the act of painting itself. Yiadom-Boakye explores the potential of color, composition, light and tone, improvising in a conversation between paint, brush, and canvas. The paintings are generally dark in color palette, with palpable, thick strokes that examine the way the human eye perceives color. Because of that, and the way the artworks were lit inside Moderna Museet, I explored different points of view of each work, each angle giving me something I hadn’t seen before. Additionally, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye never uses a ready-made black, but instead mixes blues and browns to capture all the nuances and hues – something which can be seen in many of the paintings on display, if you pay enough attention.

Almost always, as well, there is a single or couple of elements that stand out in the paintings. Sometimes it’s a brightly painted piece of clothing, other times it’s the whiteness of a cigarette, or the subject’s teeth, or the redness of a parrot.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Moderna Museet Stockholm

A contemporary artist, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye obtained her MA degree at the Royal Academy Schools in 2003. In 2010, the late curator Okwui Enwezor gave her an exhibition at Studio Museum in Harlem. In 2013, she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. The exhibition “Fly In League With The Night,” which was previously shown at Tate Modern in London (December 2020-May 2021), is the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Wikipedia page states that “her work has contributed to the renaissance in painting the Black figure.” While “painting the Black figure” certainly isn’t a new phenomenon, I would argue that it is one pushed by the mechanisms behind today’s contemporary art market. The white Western contemporary art canon has been showing an interest in Black figurative painters that center Black people in their work. It is a phenomenon that perhaps did start before the Black Lives Matter movement’s 2020 protests, but was definitely pushed by it into the mainstream.

As usual, the two sides of the mainstream coin will show again here: the Black painters will finally benefit from it by getting the spot within it that they deserve, but are also in risk of being forever referred to as “painters of Black figuration” instead of just “painters of figuration.”

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is not new to this business. In my opinion, her work is in no need of contributing to anything. Perhaps the artist’s own quote is best explains this view:

“Blackness has never been other to me. Therefore, I’ve never felt the need to explain its presence in the work anymore than I’ve felt the need to explain my presence in the world, however often I’m asked. I’ve never liked being told who I am, how I should speak, what to think and how to think it. I’ve never needed telling.”

“Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Fly In League With The Night” is on view at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden until September 19, 2021.

The post Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet appeared first on Artiholics.

Artiholics caught up with the artist.

You’ve been in the international news during the pandemic. Can you tell us about it? 

When lockdown started my work was due to go to the Tate for an art festival. The pandemic prevented this. Whilst at home in isolation I decided to fight back, so I began putting on impromptu exhibitions in my back garden.

Because of my disability, my teenage kids would help me install and inflate the sculptures. My neighbours started hanging out of their windows to see this exhibition appear over the garden wall, and even the local ‘bin men’ shouted over the fence that they loved the work. One of my neighbour’s young daughters, Florence, would draw me in my garden with the sculptures, which she would then post through the letterbox. This had such a huge impact on me. A little bit of magic in the bleakest time.

I then started to get interviews requests from newspapers in Germany and then TV companies arrived at my door. In lockdown, this attention had a regenerative effect on me and lifted me to create new art, in new ways. I never stopped working, as you can’t put breaks on the creative process. The attention I received seemed to boost this exponentially.

The 10ft tall, colour changing and illuminated ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ inflatable is a stunning example of your work – what’s its story? 

In 1963 the Ray Harryhausen film was released ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and when I came along in 1969, my parents named me after this illustrious and dynamic hero. I was always intrigued by my name and where it came from. When I found out more about the story of the ‘other’ Jason and his voyage, where he set out to find the finest heroes in ancient Greece to set sail with him and reclaim the magical Golden Fleece, it fitted in well with what I was attempting to do with my art practice.

I had stopped making art just about myself and started to focus on making art about others in the disabled community, and making a conscious decision to make art with and about them.

I was attracted to the idea of replicating a great heroic voyage of discovery where I was collecting stories, which I would then reflect on and make art about.

I am very much a reluctant disability activist, although I choose to use humour and psychedelic colours to get my points across. The works I created are influenced by my working-class childhood, in Yorkshire, in the 1970s.

The surface of this sculpture is covered with the iconography of my own life and the stories which have been shared with me. It is also richly adorned by the names of all who have taken part in my work and my travels around the UK, working with deprived disabled communities.

I am not a spokesperson for these communities, I am just an artist who chooses to make these statements, to make art about those I feel some connection with.

I love the fact that this sculpture is linked so closely with my biography and with those I choose to work with also.

When people ask what my work is about I simply answer that it lies somewhere between the British children’s comic book ‘The Beano’ and the social commentary film ‘I, Daniel Blake’. Don’t be fooled by the bright colours, as the work is a trojan horse (or even a trojan sheep) in that the viewer is pulled in and then I can discuss the complex hidden stories.

And there’s an even bigger inflatable on the way?

Yes, there is a huge inflatable sculpture on the way, which will be unveiled at my solo show at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in October. The sculpture is so big that it will allow the viewer to walk in and around it.

It shows a prone figure who is brightly coloured and highly decorated with tattoos, each with a significant meaning. I have designed it so that you will continue to find different things, regardless of how many times you view the work.

The figure represents a disabled person who is being changed on the floor, as they cannot access proper toilet facilities.

I wanted to create an accessible piece of work that told this story whilst being careful not to preach. Being angry does not work for me when making art, and I think the best approach is to get people on side by making them smile or even laugh first. It is meant to be absurd and provocative.

You use AR a lot in your work and have an iOS app, ‘Jason Residential’. Can you describe this work for us?

Most of my sculptures link to an augmented reality app, so I can animate and move the work and unlock further content, which adds to the sculptural work and is a piece of art in its own right.

Technology has democratised my art and allowed people to download my sculptures into their own living rooms or gardens. I get photos from people who have downloaded my virtual sculptures and it fills my heart with joy, especially when I was so isolated in lockdown. The technology set me free.

The ‘Residential’ app allows you not only to download my work but virtually walk around my head and see the creative process. Think of the film ‘Being John Malkovich’ but in digital form, as the app fully immerses the viewer.

Through the AR I can extend my practice by integrating my love of 1970s animation and popular culture, using the most up to date and cutting edge technology.

In lockdown, I loved the idea of the 70s movie ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ as I wanted to escape the four walls I was trapped in because of the pandemic. I wanted to create magical portals, just like the tollbooth, through which you could see movies and animated characters who acted as strange and magical gatekeepers to this wonderful new work.

This unique approach was adopted by SHAPE Arts and developed by Hot Knife Digital Media to create the app Unfolding Shrines, giving a creative space to other disabled artists around the world. It effectively became a virtual artist AirBnB. 

What’s coming up?

I have a new sculpture being unveiled as part of the prestigious Folkestone Triennial in July and in August I am releasing my first virtual reality video game, which is going to be housed at Shire Hall Courthouse Museum in Dorset.

In September I will be taking part in a SKY Arts tv programme, but I can’t say too much about that yet, and I am unveiling two new inflatable sculptures. In October my work is going to be shown at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in Scunthorpe. This will be so exciting as I get to unveil my largest ever sculpture.

Is there anything else you’d like to share? 

‘The Argonauts on Tour’ is showing across the UK in 2022 and is available to tour to venues internationally. If you are interested in showing the work, then please contact me at Jason@jwmartist.co.uk.

You can also see more of my work at my website www.jwmartist.co.uk and on my Instagram account wilshermills.

The post How Digital Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills is Inflating Accessible Art appeared first on Artiholics.

More than half a century later, the whole month of June is celebrated as Pride Month every year, in honor of the Stonewall Riots, attracting millions of participants around the world. Through parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, the LGBTQ community continues to honor the achievements of its pioneers, while at the same time drawing attention to the still very current issue its members are facing every day. Pride Month also celebrates those lost to hate crime and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

In visual art, many individuals and groups contributed to the LGBTQ activism, be it through direct action or by creating priceless archives, documentations, or portrayals. With the Stonewall Riots, queer art gained in power and rage, fueled even further by the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s through posters, signs, and placards – notably the Silence=Death Project, for instance. The unforgettable, poignant art made by Keith Haring, Isaac Julien, Catherine Opie, David Wojnarowicz, Glenn Ligon, Robert Mapplethorpe, or Félix González-Torres, does not cease to inspire newer generations of queer artists – young people who are successfully building upon their legacy by documenting the ever-expanding identity politics.

For Pride Month 2021, we have picked out 6 art exhibitions to see, online and offline, throughout June and beyond.

Tom of Finland at Fotografiska New York

The raw, explicit images by Tom of Finland are the epitome of gay liberation, in the sense that they show the unapologetic, tongue-in-cheek male-on-male desire. Extremely lean bodies, nude or in leather/uniform, with emphasized genitalia and lustful looks make up some of the most memorable imagery of the 20th century. The iconic Finnish artist, born Touko Valio Laaksonen, challenged the notions of homosexuality in a conservative society by offering provoking, yet positive portrayals of individuals who existed, and had every right to, within it.

The Fotografiska museum in New York is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Tom of Finland’s birth, with an extraordinary exhibition. “The Darkroom” is an exciting study of the artist’s life and work process, consisting of photographic portraits he used as reference images for his famous homoerotic drawings. Tom of Finland created most of these works in secret, as homosexuality was punishable by law until 1971 and was classified as a mental disorder until 1981 in his home country of Finland – giving these works an additional value.

“Tom of Finland, The Darkroom” is on view at Fotografiska New York until August 20, 2021.

and I will wear you in my heart of heart at the FLAG Art Foundation

At The FLAG Art Foundation in New York, there is a splendid group exhibition, featuring the works of 35 contemporary artists. “and I will wear you in my heart of heart” centers around the gesture of care and nods to a line from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” It features paintings and textiles that portray tenderness between lovers, friends, family, but also moments of solitude, at the same time exploring identity, cultural histories, and personal experiences.

The exhibition also appears to be an homage to a very hot trend within the visual art world at the moment: figurative paintings. Alongside the veterans of the genre, such as Peter Doig, John Currin, Derrick Adams, Joan Semmel, or Lisa Yuskavage, there is Salman Toor, whose successful exhibition at The Whitney Museum closed in April, or Louis Fratino, a rising star on the international scene, as well as the new icons of Black portraiture, like Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Jordan Casteel.

“and I will wear you in my heart of heart” is on view at the FLAG Art Foundation in New York until August 13, 2021.

Art After Stonewall, 1969-1989 at the Columbus Museum of Art

The year 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots with a series of exhibitions taking place worldwide. One of them was “Art After Stonewall, 1969-1989”, a show which traveled to Grey Art Gallery and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York (2019), the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, Florida (2019–20), and the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio (2020). This last venue is now offering a virtual display of the show, for those who missed it.

The exhibition represents an excellent overview of queer art made in the first two decades after Stonewall, through more than 200 works of art. Pieces of conceptual, performance, and video art demonstrate the immense impact that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQ) movement had on the society. From images of sexual liberation, expressed in the artworks of Robert Mapplethorpe or Tee A. Corinne, and the gender plays as seen in Vito Acconci’s “Conversions” or Adrian Piper’s “Mythic Being,” to the heart-wrenching imagery showing the devastating realities of AIDS and HIV, as seen in David Wojnarowicz’s “Untitled (One Day, This Kid…),” “Art After Stonewall, 1969-1989” is both a tribute and a reminder – that many of the issues the queer community struggled 30 years ago still persist today.

“Art After Stonewall, 1969-1989” is on view online at the Columbus Museum of Art website.

Sunil Gupta at The Photographers’ Gallery

In Sunil Gupta’s first major retrospective, The Photographers’ Gallery is showing five decades of pioneering photographic work. All the key series shown together for the first time, alongside some never-before-seen works, focusing on the themes of identity, family, race, migration, and the complexities and taboos of sexuality. The exhibition spans from the 1976 “Christopher Street” series, in which Gupta documented the burgeoning gay scene in Greenwich Village, to large-scale narrative portraits such as “From Here to Eternity” (1999), produced following the artist’s diagnosis as HIV positive in 1995, to “Reflections of the Black Experience” (1986), which illustrates aspects of Black people’s experience in London, to name a few.

An Indian-born Canadian photographer based in the UK, Sunil Gupta is also a committed activist, who used the camera as a tool for raising awareness and fighting for gay rights on an International scale. His artwork is an impressive portrayal of body politics, identity search and experience, and the ongoing issues within contemporary societies.

“From Here to Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective” is available as a virtual exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery website.

Laura Aguilar at The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art

There are so many aspects to the touching photographic work of Laura Aguilar, perhaps best expressed in her seminal triptych “Three Eagles Flying” from 1990. The artist is standing naked, tied up with a rope and wrapped up in the American and Mexican flags while two more examples of these hang proud on her each side. Aguilar’s multilayered work imminently shows her struggles with her ethnicity, sexuality, and acceptance of own body, expressed through images rather than words due to her innate auditory dyslexia.

At The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, “Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell” puts together more than 70 works produced by Aguilar over three decades. Both personal and political, the artworks on view tackle feminism and queerness, at the same time offering candid portraits of the artist herself, her friends, and members of her Latinx community. From early photographs conveying political activism, to the nude self-portraits Aguilar continued to make until her death in 2018, the show in New York celebrates this important artist in a unique, unmissable way.

“Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell” is on view at The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York until June 26, 2021.

Leonard Fink at Google Arts & Culture

When we talk about the most seminal figures of queer art, and those who contributed to the visual archives of the gay liberation movement, intentionally or not, we can’t not talk about the legendary photographer Leonard Fink. An amateur artist with a camera, he documented his own LGBT life and culture in New York City, from 1967 until his death in 1992 – so much so that he was proclaimed “the unofficial Mayor of Christopher Street.”

While not much is known about him, his images speak volumes on the culture of the West Village’s gay bars and piers, or the Pride Marches atmosphere, which he photographed every year from 1970.

Fink’s work is held in the archive of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City, parts of which are now available in an online exhibition at Google Arts & Culture. The artist took thousands of photographs, depicting gay life after the Stonewall riots, and the cruising that regularly occurred on the piers 40 to 52 on West Street (in which he often participated himself), for instance.

Fink never intended for his photographs to be seen by the public, which we can sense in the intimate, almost diary-like one of his images. After his death, the LGBT Community Center National History Archive received over 5,000 prints and over 25,000 35mm negatives, that are now of incredible historical importance.

See the works of Leonard Fink online, on Google Arts & Culture.

The post 6 Art Exhibitions To See During Pride Month 2021 appeared first on Artiholics.

Yet, you’re highly likely to have seen his work. Jerram exhibits extensively both at home in the UK and around the world, and his art has also become a go-to for news outlets communicating complex scientific ideas. Perhaps you’ve seen one of his frighteningly fragile glass microbes in the news, or encountered an enormous inflatable moon at a festival.

Pianos, hot air balloons, treasure hunts, sound installations: this multi-faceted approach makes Jerram’s work a little hard to define, and his name tricky to place. At its heart is an ongoing interest in perception and space. Some works, such as the installation piece ‘Retinal Memory Volume’, are explicit in this interest. Others, like the giant slip and slide ‘Park and Ride’, take a more sideways view on the topic.

Yet all of Jerram’s works elegantly combine his artistic research with nuanced scientific and technical understanding – but in a way that shows a real, deep connection to his audiences. You can’t fail to be moved by this work (sometimes literally – in the case of the slip and slide).

And this is why the world needs Luke Jerram right now.

The Art of Science

In February 2021, 10 million doses of the Coronavirus vaccine had been administered in the UK. To mark the occasion, Jerram created a new work in his series of glass microbes – a sculpture of the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine.

Eight weeks before the start of the pandemic, Jerram had worked with his team of scientific glassblowers to create another sculpture, of a then little-known virus called COVID-19.

As the pandemic hit, this highly detailed and realistic work was used by media outlets around the world to help their audiences understand Coronavirus.

Jerram has been creating his Glass Microbiology series of sculptures since 2004. These works blow viruses and microbes up to one million times their size, a feat which can be achieved by using the same highly specialist glassblowing techniques used to make scientific equipment.

“Scientific glassblowing is done with borosilicate glass, starting off with cold glass which is melted over a flame. It’s called lamp work.“ Jerram explains, “The glass team are able to make things incredibly accurately, to the millimetre. It’s a very defined skill set. There are only about 90 professional lamp workers in the country left. It’s very much a dying art. We’ve really pushed the boundaries of this type of glass – some of the artworks are even too fragile to stand up to gravity. The glassblowers have received OBEs for their work in the arts and their signature is on each artwork as well as mine.”

The sculptures make the microbes alarmingly real to their viewers. More real than many popular scientific images, in fact, which were the prompt for Jerram to start the project:

“I was reading a story about HIV in a newspaper and the illustration used was a brightly coloured diagram. I did some research and found out that viruses don’t really have a colour because they’re smaller than the wavelength of light. So back in 2004 I found a glassblower I’d worked with before and we made a small HIV sculpture as an alternative representation of the virus.”

The Science of Culture

Jerram is known as a scientific communicator. But his work does much more than simply explain – it engages with ease and authenticity.

What is so compelling about his projects is their universality – elegant ideas that quickly become part of our general culture. It’s hard to imagine a city without street pianos, for example, an idea pioneered by Jerram with his 2008 installation ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’.

These works offer a moment of meaning and connection. They make space for you and welcome you in.

Jerram’s moving new installation is titled ‘In Memorium’. This work is an open-air artwork designed to offer a space of solace in a time of social distancing. Flags made from NHS bedsheets are arranged in the shape of a medical logo. The fluttering memorial can be explored by visitors who need a place to grieve, to think, and to be thankful for those that have risked their lives during the pandemic.

What’s that name again?

So whether or not Luke Jerram is a name you’ve heard of, his work is a vital voice in the world right now.

His work goes beyond simply grabbing our attention and helping us to understand complex scientific ideas. This art offers an opportunity to feel part of a society and a culture that we have been distanced from for so long.

It’s thoughtful and compassionate, and just the tonic we need as we step blearily towards a post-pandemic world.

For opportunities to see Luke Jerram’s work worldwide see www.lukejerram.com.

Venues include:

Glass Microbiology
‘Infected’, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Netherlands, ongoing
History of Science Museum, Oxford
Barry Art Museum, Norfolk Virginia – COVID19 sculpture
Clear as Crystal: Colorless Glass at the Chrysler Museum, USA, until 3 July

In Memoriam
Harrogate, UK, 28 May  – 7 June
Edinburgh, UK, 26 June – 9 July

Museum of the Moon
Canadian Museum of Nature, Ontario, from 5 September 2020,
Longleat, UK, 19 June – 12 September,
Milton Keynes International Festival, UK, 22 – 25 July
WOMAD Festival, UK, 22 – 25 July

The post Why The World Needs Artist Luke Jerram Right Now appeared first on Artiholics.

To see these masterpieces, you can to the MoMA or the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam – or you can see them projected in 90 million pixels across 500,000 cubic feet of a visual experience. Immersive Van Gogh, a digital art exhibition devoted to the Dutch master, is touring around the world with numerous venues in the United States.

Following the sold-out show in Toronto, and record-breaking run in Paris (glimpses of which you can see in Netflix’s show “Emily in Paris”), “Immersive Van Gogh” opened this May at a secret location in Los Angeles.

One of the most important artists in the history of visual arts, Vincent van Gogh developed a remarkable, memorable painterly style, drawing from his long history with mental illness combined with his unique sense of the world around him. His incredible swirls of colors and attention to detail continue to dazzle audiences around the world, now culminating in the “Immersive Van Gogh” experience. The visitors are able to “step inside” Van Gogh’s masterpieces, carefully selected from his 2000+ lifetime catalog of artworks, and accompanied by light, music, movement, and imagination.

Conceived as a one-hour walkthrough exhibition, “Immersive Van Gogh” was designed by Creative Director and Italian film producer Massimiliano Siccardi, and Art Directed by Vittorio Guidotti. It contains original, mood-setting score by another Italian, multimedia composer Luca Longobardi, that accompanies the Van Gogh artwork as it comes to life before the visitors’ eyes.

Chances are you’ve probably already seen dozens of images of “Immersive Van Gogh” across your socials. The exhibition provides an environment that flawlessly caters to our obsession with social media and the ever-evolving selfie culture (remember Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Room selfies? They were EVERYWHERE). Add to that the ongoing pandemic and our human need to socialize and be part of events, and you got yourself a blockbuster!

The “Immersive Van Gogh” experience has nineteen cities on its North American schedule, with shows already open in Chicago (until November 28, 2021) and San Francisco (until September 6, 2021). The Los Angeles iteration opens on May 27 at a yet undisclosed location “at the heart” of the city. The exhibitions will then open in New York City (June 10), Dallas (June 17), Charlotte, NC (June 18), Las Vegas (July 1), Phoenix, Minneapolis, Houston…

And speaking of the coronavirus, “Immersive Van Gogh” promises a safe space: through timed ticket admission, temperature checks upon arrival, hand sanitizer stations and social distancing markers across the exhibition hall, and of course masks, to be worn at all times.

Tickets for “Immersive Van Gogh” range in prices from $40 for off-peak time slots to $50 for peak ones. You might want to hurry: the first available time slot at the moment is in October!

Immersive Van Gogh LA Website

The post The Immersive Van Gogh Experience is Coming to LA appeared first on Artiholics.

You are an artist and you also perform in shows. Which side of the job do you like and enjoy the most?

I like when everything blurs together and it’s a lifestyle versus a job or a show. It is not just painting, not just performing. I like being ongoing. I paint on my face, then I smash the paint into a canvas, then I stack that onto my chest, then I slam it into a wall, while making a song. Then the song inspires me while I’m drawing. I let it all out, non stop. Sleep less/do more. When we dip back into this “human” life of roles and routine we become less in the moment.

You bridged the gap between the Art and Club world in the 90’s; can you tell us more?

I was a naive kid working clubs in ’93 for food money. I drew at all my events, jobs, even when I WAS A D.J. or did the door or ran events. From booking Wutang to Fat Joe, I was still  drawing all the people that came out. I filled sketchbooks and everyone was like YOOOOO! “Why don’t you just show your work?”  and I was like “ whhhhhhat???”

As a kid I had no clue. I grew up struggling and with no art education so the Club world x “my” people put me on, and then I started organizing art shows at the clubs. Once I saw that I could organize I put other people on. I did things every week back then. I was curating in a way, from dance shows, raves, punk, palladium, horrible bars etc but I left all that and moved on into showing and full time artist life around 18, 19 years old.

Your signature line work has made an impact on NYC. Can you tell us some of the details of what that line is and how it impacted NYC?

I don’t think it’s up to the artist to determine if the work impacts anyone. New York City is constantly changing, the lines are fluid and always moving, overlapping, changing, like this crazy place. Everyone has a line of work, I’m just channeling the rhythms  worked on as a kid and what I develop daily now, to hopefully make new language.

The lines developed from growing up here as a coping mechanism, drawing life, faces, places and movement. Everyone’s experience in New York is different. Growing up I was an extreme outsider to art. The line work I developed was without exposure to the art, even though I was born here. This kind of lifestyle is often overlooked in “art” storytelling when we think of NY. I hope we can start to think of other artists from rough areas that made it, but the common story is born into, or came for it???

I was born sick, as a kid I suffered from extreme illnesses and just became known as the kid that stayed inside and drew weird lines. Outsiders come from all over the world to New York to make art. I was an outsider in my own town, I just drew all the time and it took all the other New Yorkers to tell me to look at these drawings, to look at Warhol, that I was an artist and to go see a Chuck Close show. I was a strange street kid- I was always  getting into trouble living by the side of the road. My NYC story is odd, but many can relate; they just don’t all get the chance to speak and I hope that changes in this extreme twisted culture.

How would you define your work, technique, and what your message is behind it?

I work around the clock every day. I’ve always been this way since I was a kid. My focus has been being free, making, making, making- from doing collage, sculptures, drawings, paintings, masks, music, immersing myself. I like to throw paint on my clothes, cakes on my head and do jackass performances. I need to escape the system and all this man made bullshit construct by creating all the time and fully being lost in the moment. I don’t want to conform and be a part of anything.

You say that your paintings are inside paintings, can you explain to us what you mean by that?

I try to create paintings that are not one dimensional. Even if it’s as simple as strange Miss Piggy if you look closer you can see a skull, a flower and an exploding eye, then maybe yourself. I have to compete with life. People are busy. If I’m making work and want people to see, I have to think of my competition, this huge thing called life which has so many pictures.

There are layers into layers, pushed, smushed and splattering all around fields of color that shift, faces inside of worlds and if you move in close you can discover hidden levels. I’m doing my math, drawing from different angles, different foregrounds, and multiple perspectives. It’s not a straightforward story, it’s more like a painted Matthew Silver bit.

What is art for you?

Art to me isn’t described by the word art. It isn’t something in a box, destroyed by intention, it just is. All the rest is just human bullshit, needs and wants. The thing that works is when it transcends into the next dimension.

You opened the Alien X the living installation. What inspired this installation and can you share with us more about it? What is it about?

We just did an installation on our Lower East Side rooftop with the city skyline, and have another one coming up. We recorded the whole thing live and it’s available to watch. www.michaelalanart.com/thelivinginstallation

During our performances we are creating human paintings, that change and melt and transform on our bodies and in space. In short we slap ourselves up with anything you can think of. We create robots, slam materials on our head, scream and transform and meld our skin, wreaking and creating objects, blindfolded and covered in paint. We speak about the human condition and the artist as a clown and the underlying emptiness of capitalism. My 84 year old mother performs! Jadda cat is my partner. I am just a clown.

People think of New York and they think of Graffiti and Hip Hop and an underground performance scene. We are continuing that old school punk ethos. New York has been shut down and there’s not been too much going on and we are trying to contribute to its rebirth. We designed the show to be accessible in the open air or by live feed so that people have a way to experience art safely again. We also at random daily walk around as living art.

Since artists seem to always be creating or thinking of their next creation, please share with us any of your future projects and dreams.

I have so much work around me piled up and in progress, and series upon series and so many various styles that I can barely keep up. I just keep working and I let it guide me to where I’m going. I want to keep finding the new without an agenda.

 My next show is this upcoming Saturday, May 22nd.

www.instagram.com/michaelalanalien

www.instagram.com/thelivinginstallation

www.facebook.com/MichaelAlan1.0

www.michaelalanart.com

https://michaelalanalien.bandcamp.com/album/michael-alan-alien

The post Meet the Artist Michael Alan Alien appeared first on Artiholics.

Welcome, Stephen! How did you find your way into the art world? Tell us about your journey.

I initially was interested in art by lots of early exposure to it. My parents took me to great museums like the National Gallery of Art and Hirshhorn Museum. My mother used to put me in a papoose-style infant carrier and I’d watch paintings perched on her back. As a kid, I drew and I made Plasticine sculptures routinely and watched my engineer father draw plans for aeronautical projects he did at the Applied Physics Laboratory. Then, after graduating from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, I moved to New York City to make art. I exhibited some work there and came to a big revelation. After experiencing the isolation of making art alone during an ice-cold NYC winter, I wanted to collaborate with other people and use myself as the medium. So, I took acting classes, did professional theater in Washington, D.C., then moved to sunny Los Angeles to act in feature films and network television. After that long, circuitous route, I found an art studio in L.A. and realized plans for dozens of artworks I had been sketching or making notes on the entire time. Now, I’m back.

You are a conceptual artist. For the uninitiated, what exactly is conceptual art? Please, tell us about your conceptual fine art practice.

The traditional definition of conceptual art supposes that the ideas an artist seeks to explore are more important than the objects or events that express them. I think about it differently. While I have developed big and little ideas, the fine art objects I make and their immediate visceral viewer experience are equally important.

My work exists to raise questions about the roles of creation, the people who author our world and those who engage them both. There is obviously a dependence of one upon the other. These relationships, like those in life and society are key to the art experience. Much of my work presents the elements that make up the intimate setting of home interiors. They often say a few things about comfort, class, lifestyle, and – most importantly – personal identity. Our perception wraps up all of the relationships in our lives, which is crowned by our identity and place within those relationships.

At the end of the day, I am an artist – conceptual or otherwise. I create. We all do, whether it’s high art on a white wall or whistling a favorite song. Sometimes, my art is generated from concise ideas that I feel need exploration or an emotional state I feel the audience might want to share, but haven’t been able to.

Your sculptural explorations express domestic dramas. What brought you to that area of interest?

I have always been interested in origin stories. How did it all start? Virtually all of our origin stories began at home with family. Sounds mundane, but it is very complex when, as a young person, you are not equipped to talk about family dynamics or drama. We unconsciously assign value to events in our home lives – good, bad, strange, amazing, disheartening, enlivening. We are, as the saying goes, “meaning making machines.” But we often pack away contorted meanings of our formative upbringing and forge ahead as adults in a rather compromised way.

I was raised in a suburban planned city called Columbia, Maryland, a place where extra care was taken to promote cooperation and understanding among those with differences in class, race, economic power, etc. It wasn’t some idealized “Walden II” town, but had its merits. I experienced family fights, fear of bullies, mysteries of the unknown, loss, love – you name it. I also developed my identity within that experience. The people who made the choice to live there and raise families also chose an aesthetic to populate their homes, whether in step with their station in life or aspirations in life. In my art, I seek to use these home interior design elements and rearrange their context to help audiences review or dispel the meanings we may attach to them.

How do you create your artworks – from conception to completion?

Ideas for new artwork arrive quickly for me. They often come to me in an early morning waking state, a time when we lose consciousness of self, but are brimming with the experience of dreams. When I wake up, I usually write down a working title or a very basic description of what the work will look like and the material it’ll be made of. For days and weeks, I will determine how to refine or simplify the idea.

Sometimes, simply working in the studio helps to generate an idea. A piece I’m currently showing in Hawaii entitled “What’s Right With This Picture?” came from testing out a router radius corner template on scrap wood. I planned to make four rounded corners on the test piece, but stopped short of the fourth corner, keeping the right angle on the lower right side. Then I filled, primed, sanded and finely sprayed it in many layers with a paint gun. It’s difficult to even call it a “picture” at all or say that it is inherently good or bad, right or wrong. It questions perception and judgment, as much art does, but provides very little to gauge or review perception and judgment with. It floats off of the wall and approaches objecthood, but it’s still largely a flat object on that wall. Is it an idea, an object seeking to break out of the idea, a pun or all of the above?

You currently have three exhibitions. Where are they? Is there one that you are enjoying more than others?

I have work right now at the Cameron Art Museum in North Carolina, in L.A. Stories at the Leo Castelli Gallery at Brenau University in Georgia and in Abstract Only! at the Wailoa Center in Hawaii. I think they are all equally interesting spaces and exhibitions. I admire many of the other artists exhibiting alongside me, like Paul Paiement, Abel Alejandre, Cherie Benner Davis and others. I do love the Cameron Art Museum, though. For part of their light-themed Illumination show, I got to do more tech-based work, which I like quite a bit.

Not only are you a conceptual artist, but also maintain a parallel career as a working professional actor on such network TV series as NCIS: Los Angeles. Did you start your acting career first? What brought you to that career?

I started as an artist, but took a long and important detour into the performing arts world. In art college, I took performance art classes with powerhouse playwrights like Ntozake Shange and learned a lot. I later took theater and on-camera acting classes. I love the idea that with my input and someone else’s input, a third unknown thing – a performance, a film, etc. – can be created. That’s phenomenal to me. I figured as an actor, I could make art of myself and contribute to someone else’s art at the same time. I also loved the idea of reaching a great number of people – of affecting a real change of perception – whether it’s in an art house feature film or an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise seen by millions of viewers.

How do you combine your fine art career with your acting career? Do you prefer one over the other?

That’s a great question. There is definitely an overlap between them, so I feel that one informs the other. The activity of making art gives me private time to review my creative motives and a place to decompress from this high velocity world we live in. My acting performance must be integrated with other performances in real time. It takes me out of my comfort zone, but is immediately satisfying. I can’t say that I prefer one over the other, but since the event of Covid-19, making art seems like the best fit.

You are L.A.-based. How do you like the city? Is it part of your inspiration?

Yes, I have been in Los Angeles for many years now, but I also maintain an art studio in Wilmington, North Carolina, so I can be close to family and get extended breaks from the big city. Los Angeles is a fascinating place with a rich history that includes wars, gold rushes, the rise of cinema, agriculture, aerospace industries, the development of suburbs – you name it. It is a city that holds high hopes and uncanny dreams for many people who move there, but tends to be seen and respected differently by indigenous Californians who have an appreciation of the land and what practical life means there.

In some ways, Los Angeles is an inspiration for my art. The sprawl that makes up Metropolitan L.A. is immense, but each distinct neighborhood – from Koreatown to Beverly Hills – can be called home for its residents. Like I said, I am interested in the artifacts that make up “home” in all of those places. The transitory world of Hollywood in particular is, of course, rife with artifice, accolades and anguish that don’t mean much outside of that insular place. Maybe it’s not even a place – but a state of mind. I’m interested in revealing some of that, too.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I see myself making art that really connects with audiences on a significant scale and on a regular basis. Whether it’s on highway billboards, broadcast on iPhones or seen in a venerated museum, I’m totally up for it. I see having significant commercial and institutional solo shows in the U.S., Europe and Japan – and perhaps setting up some cultural exchange programs among artists all over the world.

How has Covid-19 influenced your artwork and your acting career?

Covid-19 is a truly life-altering event for just about everyone, whether they know it or not. Many people who choose to ignore it have to face the bigger change that has come out of this moment in history – and adapt. The people who do accept it also have to adapt and figure out a way to work with those who don’t believe. Clear communication and perception, as well as true acceptance mean a lot in 2020 – and beyond. It has influenced my art. I’m more determined than ever to invite viewers to review their perception, their origins, their home and the world out there, which really isn’t that alien.

Covid-19 has slowed down my acting career, as the entire business has dropped off significantly, but I still audition for network TV. Some safe feature film productions are being made, but only a handful of major television series are being produced for the time being. Many of us are in active hibernation mode; writing new screenplays, pitching media projects and expecting this thing to turn around when scientific and medical officials say we’re ready to go!

Interestingly, even though some art shows I have had work in were postponed, others are still going strong and new ones are coming up. I’ve shown more work in 2020 than ever before. I’m sure you can agree that people truly need art. It’s healing, it’s provocative, and it has an important place in virtually all of our lives.

 www.stephenwozniakart.com

The post Meet the Los Angeles-based Conceptual Artist Stephen Wozniak appeared first on Artiholics.

In the fair city of Perugia, after the long period of social restriction that even Italy had to face, the Alessandro Berni Gallery has scheduled—from today until October 18, 2020—the exhibition Life Scroll, a solo show by Kentaro Chiba, a Japanese contemporary artist.

Life Scroll is the title of a complex, ever-changing, daily scroll drawing that began in 1991 and is still ongoing. Now, it is 19 meters (62 ft) of parchment that is unrolled along the perimeter walls of the beautiful space in the historic center of Perugia. It is the only work on display that narrates 29 years of daily activity in which signs and drawings alternate in a non-stop meditation, and the result is a strip full of meaning that allow a glimpse into the feelings, life, thoughts, and emotions of the artist. The piece is loaded with contradiction, because it consciously contrasts Western perspective expression and mirror projection with the Eastern contra-perspective, which is more of a birds-eye view and isometric projection method.

It is an abstract space-time dimension in which the artist’s daily activity follows, translates, and communicates in an incessant stroke—alternating scenes of life with animals, surreal architecture, expanses of water, imaginary cities, insects—flying over forests and almost organic grids. There is not a single black and white stroke that does not need the communicativeness of color that would distract from deep introspection and intentional, conscious, automatic drawing.

The viewer must leave preconceptions behind and let himself be accompanied in the exploration of this dream landscape, letting his gaze wander to travel in the artist’s conscious and unconscious, which merges with his own.

The human and artistic evolution of Kentaro Chiba is all there, translated into these 19 meters of parchment, a living document of an existence dedicated to artistic expression, growth, observation, and translation into signs.

Life Scroll is 29 years of creativity condensed in 19 meters of walking in someone else’s life. It is a rare experience of communion, curiosity, and understanding.

You can see the visual installation of Life Scroll here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

We are faced with a work of art that has the characteristics of free sincerity, which is more typical of nature than human nature.

Life Scroll touches deep feelings during its dialogue with the heart and mind.

Alessandro Berni Gallery is an independent reality linked to the most prestigious international fairs such as Scope Miami and Scope Basel, Aqua Miami, the Dubai World Trade Center, and others.

Kentaro Chiba (Tokyo, 1953) received his BA in Fine Arts from the National University of Yokohama, Japan 1978 and his MA in Fine Arts from Nottingham Trent University, UK. In 1998 and 1999, he studied at Central St. Martins Art College UK as a guest student. He lives and works in Fujisawa, Japan.

Among his awards and participations: 1992, Artex Tokyo (Golden Prize); 1994 Osaka Triennal (special award) 1999, Liverpool Biennale, United Kingdom. 2017, Artifact Gallery, New York City; 2018 The Silent Witness, group show Onishi Gallery New York City; 2019, Life Scroll, solo exhibition, Milan, MyMicroGallery; 2019 The Silent Witness – group show – London Camden Image Gallery; 2020 Life Scroll, solo exhibition, Alessandro Berni Gallery, Perugia.

The post Life Scroll, the Living Draw by Kentaro Chiba, on Show appeared first on Artiholics.

New York City is a vibrant and dense city, full of life, colors, and forms. A city known for its love of art in all expressions and ways. Artists and creators find in New York City an open space to showcase their talent, that openness and invitation to create are what makes New York City a reference in the world and a destination for many artists and visitors who want to experience and see the world through the eyes of those who have a story to tell.

A beautiful and special place is Central Park, right in the middle of Manhattan, a space that has allowed New Yorkers and guests to experience nature in the middle of this concrete jungle. Central Park is there to offer all its visitor a space to breath, to walk and to decompress from the intensity that this city can embody. Central Park is also an open space and an open canvas for many artists to present their work to the world.

The Horses is a remarkable art installation located in the Doris C. Fredman Plaza in Central park, curated by Public Art Fund and the curator Daniel S. Palmer. The Horses is an impressive artwork of three aluminum horses, created by the well-known and respected French artist Jean-Marie Appriou. The massive sculptures raging from 16 feet tall to 16 feet long are outstanding installations that evoke those whimsical and poetic figures that can be found in magical stories.

Appriou was inspired by the horses-drawn carriages that are one of the many attractions found in Central Park and by August Saint-Gaudens’s gilded monument of William Tacumseh Sherman on horseback, located in the area. The Horses are magnificent sculptures, carved in clay and foam models, cast in aluminum and full of textures emulating muscles, metal plates and in some places like fabric. One horse is seated, the two others are standing but their location it’s made to create a feel of a scene or scenario.

Public Art Fund curator said about the artist in the public art fund press release, “Jean-Marie Appriou’s unconventional approach to sculpture is almost alchemical, His craftsmanship is informed by a deep knowledge of the historical lineage of sculptors that have preceded him. At the same time, Appriou’s equine sculptures are otherworldly, evoking the silent majesty of horses with nuanced sculptural details that flicker between narrative and poetry.” 

The Horses are sculptures of a mix of human and horse form, giving the viewers the experience of being in front of mystical creatures, encouraging the visitors to see beyond what their eyes see and into what their imagination see. The Horses installation is also an active experience, where people can walk under the standing horse, or around the others to see all of their details and touch their textures, an activity that creates a distinctive experience.

The installation is a beautiful artwork that invites all visitors to use their imagination and to find the magic in the creation and is a suitable art piece that asks everyone to experience the charmed that Central Park offers. Art could be a special way to see the world, with curious eyes and with an open and creative mind, and that is the perfect attitude to go to Central Park and see and discover all its beauty, secrets, and artistic elements.

The world is living in a new reality, where social distancing, face mask and proper hygiene are part of the vocabulary, a new reality in which parks and open spaces are now the perfect and safest places to visit and to spend time. For New Yorkers and tourist now days Central Park has become not only an essential point in an itinerary but also a must visit to fulfill the artistic need, to calm the anxious mind and to enter for a moment in a new and simple reality full of nature and art. The Horses and this type of art exhibits give people the chance to practice art in a safe and fun way.

Public art is a great way to enjoy and satisfy that artistic necessity in any day, but most important during this time when people are not only facing isolation and health concern but also economical concerns. Now creativity is a key not only to create art or to find it but also a way to enjoy time, families, and friends. New York is a place that offers many forms of public and accessible art to its residents and guests. The Horses installation is an example of that artistic vain that is part of the essence of this city.

The Horses will be on display at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, 5^th Avenue at 60^th Street, until August 2020.

Jean-Marie Appriou, The Horses, 2019, Cast aluminum, courtesy of the artist and CLEARING, New York/Brussels; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich/New York
Presented by Public Art Fund, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, Sep 11, 2019 – Aug 30, 2020

The post The Horses: Whimsical Art at Central Park appeared first on Artiholics.

What is Clio Art Fair? Can you please describe Clio Art Fair to me?

Clio Art Fair is a marketplace that allows independent artists to come into direct contact with insiders without the presence of any intermediary. The project was born when I was living in New York and working as an art critic, I had come into contact with many independent artists capable of producing quality works but who had difficulty finding exhibition spaces and therefore an audience of insiders; this was because we had little time or little experience to devote to our promotion. Starting from this need, we built a tailor-made fair where artists can promote themselves, and where gallery owners will not be present as exhibitors but are invited to participate as spectators.

When did you create the Clio Art Fair? And how many editions have taken place so far?AB: In our first 6 years of life, Clio had 11 editions of the fair and hosted 541 artists representing 5 continents and 35 countries.

What kind of works do you showcase at the fair?

All sorts of artworks from independent artists and collectives from all over the world. Artists have been freed up to use different materials and media and to deviate from accepted art practice definitions. Clio also hosted two special sections: I Want to Go Home, curated by Asya Rotella in March 2019, and A Nest Watching an Avalanche in March 2020.

What makes Clio Art Fair unique?

The logistics services that we are able to make available to our artists is what makes Clio unique. We can offer logistics for the shipment of the works, for installation and also for sale if requested. We have a team of art handlers and very close curators and sellers built over the years. Moreover, during the selection process, our team of curators establishes a dialogue with each artist, preparing in detail the selection and promotion on-site and online of each work.

How did Clio Art Fair grow in the past years?

During this period together, the fair grew exponentially. In the beginning, the fair started on the fifth floor of the Wolf Building on 26th Street, and by 2018, we were organizing our events on street-level storefronts  positioned in the key areas of the city.

Is there a preferred medium of art that has been successful using this method?

It is important for us to have the maximum diversity of media present, site-specific included.

Do you have any particular success stories related to the new types of dialogues that you have created (artists/collectors, artists/curators)?

From 2014 to today we have managed to create a network of returning artists, curators, and collectors. Every edition we meet new friends, people we sometimes hang out with during the year. Our fair is an opportunity for dialogue, sharing, and comparison with people from all over the world.

What are the plans for this year? And how has this pandemic impacted the fair?

Considering the current health situation, we are officially suspending our fair programming for the next 12 months.

Starting with the name chosen for our project, Clio, the muse of history, we have never hidden the Greek and Latin references of our roots. Our culture, although lovingly open to influences from all over the world, which provide for profitable and mutually enriching exchange, continues to have at its core an education that includes the texts of the Old Testament. Our spirituality is experiencing an epochal and ancestral challenge. And these new times have allowed us to dedicate ourselves to the rediscovery of texts that contributed to our education in our youth and have helped us to  rediscover an awareness of how to live in an obligatory period of repose. In biblical times, every seventh year was a “sabbath under the Mosaic law, a time during which the land was allowed to rest. Clio will enter a sabbath of sorts.

When and where will the next editions of Clio Art Fair be taking place?

We have arrived in our seventh year of activity with an awareness that we will be coming to a halt. However, we are ready to announce new developments. Clio, the Manhattan Fair for independent artists, will debut in Venice in June 2021 as a side event of the Biennale, it will then return to NY in September 2021 during the Armory Show and will debut in Los Angeles in February 2022 as a satellite event of Frieze LA. Once this period of emergency is over, we expect a period of freshness, vigor, and additional energy. We are awaiting and planning for an historical awakening.

We are ready to select the artists for our new programming period, and we invite you to submit your works. The application is free. The marketing fee will be waived if you complete the application by December 14, 2020.

With the hope of a profitable and creative sabbatical period, we respect social distancing today, but we will re-hug stronger than ever tomorrow.

https://www.clioartfair.com/

The post Clio Art Fair is Taking a Sabbatical Year appeared first on Artiholics.

For the ninth edition, Asya Rotella (the daughter of the unforgettable master Mimmo Rotella) has been the chief of the curatorial team, and we must tell, she made a great job!

54 international artists from Canada, the United States, China, Japan, and Europe brightened the second weekend of October.

Asya Rotella chooses among many applications the most representative artworks for this era: versatile, powerful, and eclectic.

Sculptures and paintings, installations, big sized pieces exposed to be the joy of all the art lovers.

Clio Art Fair is known to give to the exhibiting artist lots of services such as free studio visits, which for this edition if we can say, has been a very fortunate choice. Clio Art Fair is also the place where you can meet artists that are showcasing their works for their very first time as the talented Thomas Fazio (painting and sculptures). this edition has seen also the debut in the fine art world of the well-known fashion designer Adrienne Landau, who exhibited her painting for the first time ever.

As old friends of Clio we appreciated again Anne Hefer with two romantic oils, Lauralee Franco with her huge canvases; the exuberant photographer Amanda J Armstrong, and, after a few years, we were glad to meet again Anthea Zito, painter and photographer, just at the entrance.

We would like to highlight also the Greek artist Despina Zografos with her very mystical and elaborated multi-layered paperwork; not to mention the cityscape photographer Annette Schreiber, or the magic gouaches by Hyun Jung Ji or Denise Adler‘s complex paintings empowered by the collage technique; the exquisite bronzes by Emilio Diiorio, and a young – very Basquiat-inspired – Keith Josiah.

Clio Art Fair hosted a couple of thousand visitors from Friday 10th to Sunday 13th, and counting the red dots on the walls we can say that the 25% of the artists sold at least one piece, data that definitely confirm that the human size of the show, and the affordable prices of the artworks (from $300 to $20,000), are a winning formula.

Written by Caterina Chavez

The post Clio Art Fair: The Interesting Highlighted Ninth Edition appeared first on Artiholics.

Photography captures moments in real-time and preserve them through it. A form of art that acts as a window to the past and a way to look back to periods of times and events that created history. A photograph allows the viewer to travel to that specific moment and experience what the photographer tried to capture and convey. It could be a simple memory, a statement, a communication or just a way to tell a story and bring to life a vision of that time.

A photograph is highly influence by the person behind the lens, how the photographer sees the moment, the composition and mostly what is trying to show through the selection of locations, subjects, colors, and methods. For most artists the intention is to produce a photograph that will deliver their intent or will allow the viewer to create their own experience and conclusions.

In Garry Winogrand’s Color exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum, viewers and visitors will find a different side of the artist photography, the less known side, his color photographs. Winogrand was a celebrated photographer. Known for his black and white images, Winogrand was a pioneer of the of “snapshot aesthetics” trend in contemporary art, a trend form around the 1960s in fine art photography consisting on presenting what the photographer saw, casual looks and ordinary living. Winogrand was a figure of his time and a pivotal artist of his generation. According to the press release of Garry Winogrand: Color exhibition, Winogrand used to carry two cameras one with black-and-white film and another with Kodachrome color film, despite not having the resources to produce his color images he still shot them, leaving an unknown and undeveloped work, that now is the center of this exhibition.

As the first exhibition dedicated to Winogrand’s color photography, it presents more than 450 never seen or rarely seen color photographs through seventeen projections in vertical and horizontal points. “Presented in eight thematic sections that highlights Winogrand’s diverse subjects and approaches to color photography” as it was described in the press release. The contrast between the colorful and constant changing slides and the darkness of the gallery room makes it a unique experience to the visitor, a sense of intimacy that allows the viewers to travel through the snaps, the colors and the compositions, to look back to that specific time to recognize and remember their own experiences or to discover a new one. Stories and history not as familiar as the present-day but can still carry an experience, a comparison and distinction to it.

Scenes that seem as everyday life, simple subjects, elements and people who represent that moment in time, leaving a visually compelling experience to the guest making the exhibition a special immersion into Winogrand’s work. The constant changing and movement of the slides give the display a rhythm, engaging the guest and the art in an ingenuous way. Accompanied by a small selection of the artist popular black-and-white photographs the exhibit creates a generous window into the artist photography.

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) was a renown photographer that defined a generation with his work, creativity, methods and style, originally from a working-class family from the Bronx, New York City, he traveled through New York and the United States capturing with his lens the lives and places of normal America and moments that are now part of his legacy to the world. Winogrand was committed to his unique selection of subjects, large crowds and chaotic places that created a contrast with calmer and less packed scenery, an aesthetic that made him a representation and now a reference in the world of photography.

“Continuing the Museum’s commitment to canon-expanding exhibitions, Garry Winogrand: Color is an exciting opportunity to rethink not only the work of an influential artist but also the history of color photography and its modes of presentation before the 1970” expressed curator Drew Sawyer in the Brooklyn Museum press release.  Garry Winogrand: Color is on view through December 8, 2019, at The Brooklyn Museum.

Written by Monica Herrera

The post Garry Winogrand: Color appeared first on Artiholics.

New York City is a cosmopolitan city, where art museums are one of its biggest attractions for visitors who want to learn about art. The variety of options New York has to offer for those seeking to get in touch with the artistic world is an advantage and privilege for locals and visitors. Now the City has an additional option for people who admire, love and appreciate dogs.

The AKC Museum of the Dog, founded in 1982 in New York City, was later moved to St. Louis County, Missouri. After more than 32 years the museum is back in the City. A museum dedicated to celebrate dogs, their history, influence in society, and to praise the emotional bond between canines and humanity.

A unique place where sightseers will find fine-art paintings from various artists and media. Figurines and artifacts that showcase the history and diversity of dogs and their elements, as well as a substantial library with about 42,000 books and all sort of dog related information that a visitor might want to explore. Including a children section.

The Museum of the Dog according to their website, offers “rotating exhibits featuring objects from its 1700 pieces.” Visitors will discover paintings of famous dogs through history, including painting U.S. Presidents George H. Bush’s dog Millie and George W Bush’s dogs Barney and Miss Beazley. It was reported that former first lady Barbara Bush praised the museum in a letter in 1990. Among other famous dogs, visitants will see Edwar VII’s wire fox terrier Caesar.

As part of the American Kennel Club, an organization considered a leader force in all dogs related matters and advocacy, the museum has growth under their financial support and contribution. “The AKC Museum of the Dog houses one of the largest collections of dog art in the world and is an important part of AKC’s history and future,” expressed Ronald H. Menaker, Chairman of the Board for the American Kennel Club in their press information.

For some art critics, art dedicated to dogs has not being taken serious at times due to the sentimentality attachment, for visitors is a new way to learn and appreciate dogs. The Museum of the Dog has added technology and screens where a digital dog will appear to interact with guests enhancing the visitors experience.

The Museum of the dog located in 101 Park Avenue, entrance on East 40th street, open Tuesday through Sunday.

Written by Monica Herrera

The post The Museum of the Dog appeared first on Artiholics.

The human body has always been a fascination for many artists. It has been a source of inspiration, study, and analysis. If we could understand the body, we could probably comprehend the mystery that it embodies and develops the creativity that comes from that knowledge.

Mark Manders, an accomplished contemporary artist from the Netherlands, has always been interested in the human figure, especially the head which has been a significant element represented in his work throughout his career. Manders created an impressive art installation, a thirteen feet tall remarkable piece called Tilted Head, commissioned by the Public Art Fund and exhibit at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza in New York City. This large-scale sculpture that looks like an incomplete half-head made by clay but is actually of cast bronze, is one of the latest artworks that the city is displaying for locals and visitors, as part of their commitment to bring art into public places.

The massive sculpture appears to be a work still in progress or abandoned in a studio, a clear distinction of the labor that entails an installation of that magnitude. Tilted Head has its eyes closed, an expression of tranquility and the upper third of the face is cut. Other elements conforming the piece are wooden planks on the top, two chairs and a suitcase smaller than the installation can be seen in the back. All these components in different sizes have a purpose as stated in the Public Art Fund site “this shift in scale, unexplained objects, and trompe l’oeil bronze effect alter our perception and spark the imagination.”

As most of Manders’ work Tilted Head is his way to write with objects, a transition from his initial interest to be a writer in his younger years to a fascination with objects that evolved in the use of as a language of creativity and art. The result is a career filled with incredible sculptures and art pieces that speak to the public rather through the senses than through the written word. An invitation to the viewer to use their ingenuity and interpretations to formulate their own conclusions about his art.

Central Park as the backdrop of Tilted Head creates a clear contrast between the calm and simplicity of the sculpture against the color, the chaos and vibrancy of the park, making the scenery a compelling New York City spot and photo postal that visitors can experience.

Tilted Head is available for viewing until September 1st, 2019 at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the 60th street and Fifth Avenue, Central Park, New York City.

Written by Monica Herrera

The post The Tilted Head at Central Park appeared first on Artiholics.

New York City is known for its impressive skylines, rich culture and vibrant communities. Considered a melting pot of different cultures and traditions. A diversity represented in its population and also in its art. Many artistic expressions are constantly created to showcase those unique backgrounds and languages that make it a city like no other.

This multiculturalism feeds artist with inspiration, opportunities, and a platform to amplify their message through their work. If you make it here, you can make it anywhere says the famous Frank Sinatra lyric in reference to New York. A phrase that has become a popular invitation for those who come from the outside. It doesn’t matter what language you speak or where you are from, New York City has a cultural history built with the contribution of all those that have come from different places and it will keep growing from the ones that keep arriving.

As a way to celebrate the city’s immigration diversity as well as a celebration of the artist, Kasmine Gallery’s rooftop is presenting a new exhibit consisting of three remarkable sculptures by Robert Indiana (1928-2018).  Indiana was an American artist creator of one of the most renowned works of art of the 20th century on the theme of love. On view from the High Line with access on 28th  street, for the first time, the three sculptures are exhibited in one place. Each sculpture is a reproduction of Indiana’s famous LOVE series. Expressed in three of New York’s most significant dialects: English LOVE, Spanish AMOR, and Hebrew AHAVA.

Indiana’s LOVE composition consists of the word LOVE in bold serif lettering of VE stacked underneath the L and off-kilter O. The original image, green and blue with a lively red script, was used for the Museum of Modern Art Christmas card in 1965. Followed by exhibits of iconic paintings, drawings and small sculptures in the 1960s. Later created as a public sculpture for the first time in 1971. Subsequently, with a series of love theme creations displayed in many museums and parks all over the world.

The three versions of the installation in this exhibition have a similar arrangement of the word in each language. AHAVA created in cor-ten steel, LOVE in color blue, red and white, and AMOR has a vibrant red and yellow.

Indiana was considered a leader in the pop art movement. A movement that originated in the United Kingdom and the United State during the 1950s. Popular imagery and mass culture art were included as a contrast to traditional fine art. Focusing on realism with the use and incorporation of advertising, comic books and day to day objects like Campbell’s soup cans, pop art challenged the ideas of abstract expressionism.

For Indiana the work done with the LOVE series was a return to his beginnings as a sculptor, painter and poet, as stated in his website, for Indiana, “ The Love Sculpture is the culmination of years of work base on the original premise  that the word is  an appropriated and usable element of art.”

The exhibition is accessible to view from the High Line on the 27th street until September 2019.

Written by Monica Herrera

The post The Three Sculptures of LOVE appeared first on Artiholics.

Summer is in full swing in New York City, a time of the year when outdoor activities take center stage, especially in a city known for its vibrant life. Walks around the neighborhood, movies at the park and picnics are a fun way to enjoy the sun, the long days and the heat of the season.

A favorite interest among locals and visitors is to take advantage of art shows, presented in many forms and places all around the city. More recently sightseers have a new interactive public artwork to see, The Nautilus. Located in the famous waterfront at the Seaport District the exhibit lights up the nights of an already popular district.

The Nautilus is a collaboration between Lincoln, Atlantic Re:think, and SOFTlab. A partnership that brought to life an impressive art installation that invites those who visit it to appreciate the design and its magnitude but also to be active participants. An invitation to touch the art reads in most of the elements that shape the piece. Michael Szivos, founder of New York City-based design studio SOFTlab explained, “Museums are great, but our work that’s in the public realm is not in a white box, so it’s not framed, in a way.”

Consisting of 95 interactive poles, The Nautilus recognizes the visitor’s presence and touch. Each pole displays light and plays a melody when grasp, creating an experience of an oversize musical device. Linked by computer and sensors, with a touch, poles will play a full audio display. Guests can walk between the installation, immersed inside, and have a unique experience.

Approachable art and the need to stimulate society were partly the inspiration of its creators. Easy technology to understand and use was the main focus when creating the piece. “With this public art installation, we were able to use Lincoln’s rich design heritage and technology, and bring a really fun and immersive experience to the seaport,” said Jeremy Elias, executive creative director of Atlantic Re:think in a press release.

The Nautilus named after Lincoln new crossover the 2019 Lincoln Nautilus, is free to the public and showcase at Pier 17 until September 10, 2019. Later, it will move to its final destination at the Lincoln Headquarters in Detroit.

Written by Monica Herrera

The post The Nautilus, a Constellation of Lights in the City of Lights appeared first on Artiholics.

She has long been known as photographer, whose black and white portraits of subjects looking away or cut off by the frame, with fragmentary captions that read as if lifted out of an unfolding story, announced her in the 1980s as a major voice in black feminist art.

Lorna’s works have been included in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally and the journey continues. Lorna is currently exhibiting at the world’s most prestigious gallery, Hause & Wirth a Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery in New York City. The exhibit titled “Lorna Simpson. Darkening” which is currently ongoing is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery in New York. Presenting for the first time in the public, the exhibit will bring forth new large-scale paintings by Lorna; it finds Simpson returning to and building upon themes and motifs at the center of her practice: explorations focused on the nature of presentation, identity, gender, race and history.

For more than 30 years, Simpson’s works have entangled viewers in an equivocal web of meaning, drawing upon techniques of collage through the use of found materials, often culled from the pages of vintage Jet and Ebony magazines. In “Darkening “Simpson continues to engage viewers with layers of paradox, threading dichotomies of figuration and abstraction, destruction and creation, past and presents.

Lorna’s Darkening has been on view at Hause & Wirth from 25^th April 2019 and will end on 26^th July 2019.

The post Lorna Simpson at the Hause & Wirth appeared first on Artiholics.

Alta is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work addresses our relationship to the environment which she “records” using various mediums to capture the data, history and memories present in the ever shifting and evolving landscape.  Her pieces have been exhibited in New York and Chicago and have been shown at the Smart Museum of Art (Chicago) and the Museum of contemporary art (Chicago IL). Alta’s pieces become vessels of sorts, mediating the human experience of nature while holding the biological and geological forms from their origins, drawing on her studies of evolutionary biology and New Age mysticism.

Jackson on the other hand is a New York based painter. His work examines the idea of a future society after the environmental collapse. He received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2014 and an MFA from New York Academy of Art in 2019. His works have shown in several group exhibitions including: New Directions, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY (2017), Bless This Home, Memorial Hall Gallery, Providence RI (2014) and the RISD Painting Senior Show, Woods Gerry-Gallery, Providence RI.

The two artists Alta and Jackson are currently exhibiting in a show themed “Environment collapse.” Buden offers chunks of cement embedded with oyster shells, brown glass objects and bits of man-made detritus that seem to evoke a future geological strata recording the current Anthropocene period millions of years from now. O’Brasky apocalyptic vistas populated by abstracted totems bring to mind the surreal devastation of Max Ernst’s wartime landscapes of the 1940s.

The exhibition which is titled “A fearful hope: Alta Buden and Jackson O’Brasky” began on June 6^th and will close on July 28^th.

The post “A Fearful Hope: Alta Buden & Jackson O’Brasky” appeared first on Artiholics.