Once again the week has arrived where the titans of the art world (global art world) flock to NYC for Armory Week to take in the art work and show off the art wares.  Parties, social climbing, art writers, buyers, dealers, artists, and gallery inbetweens swap stories and mingle in converted warehouses, armory’s, post offices, and climate controlled piers along the Hudson river.

The week takes it’s name from the Armory Show, which is the grandaddy of all of the week’s fairs, but any seasoned art traveler will now that the Armory is just the tip of the art fair iceberg.  Satellite fairs pop-up and take orbit, each with it’s own respective gravity and collector base, trying to pull the titans toward them, and each year the satellites either get larger, or fizzle out.

We all know that in NYC, time is money.  Rather than spend a lot of both shuttling yourself around town without any direction as to which fairs  (and social affairs ) might appeal to you, we at Artiholics.com have created this handy guide to NYC Armory Week.

Listed in descending order from Most to Least expensive:

THE ARMORY SHOW:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $40  |   Students – $20  |  Armory / VoltaNY Dual Pass: $50

Wednesday – March 5, 5pm – Midnight @ MoMA | The Armory Party $175 – $10,000 Tickets
Thursday – March 6, 12pm – 7pm
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 7pm

Featuring: 200+ Of The largest art galleries in the world showcasing their artist’s most sellable work, the worlds top collectors, art writers, etc.  Art wise you will see: Lots of Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Neon, Random Artists In Costume, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Photography, Performance art, etc..

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Peter Max

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Kenny Scharf & Damien Hirst.
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Damien Hirst, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, Tracey Emin, John Wesley, Jenny Holtzer, Olaf Breuning, Yayoi Kusama, Julian Opie. Nancy Chunn, Marina Abrovonich, Kehinde Wiley, Retna, Ryan McGuinness, Nick Cave, Chuck Close, Gagosian, Chitra Ganesh, David Kramer , Kim Jones, Pierogi, Warhol, Basquait, etc.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: The variety of Blue Chip and Museum Artists’ work in one place.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at The Armory Show? Yes, I’ve seen a Marina Abrovonich performance, although it was with an actor not Marina.  Live drawing by Ai Kowada Gallery’s Fukuhara.  Also weird performance artists doing their thing in the crowd.

The Scoop on The Armory Show From An Artiholic:
This is the one show all the satellite shows revolve around.  It has anywhere from 200 – 300 international galleries represented in a given year, and is a lot to take in, and a lot of walking.  Make sure to wear your comfy shoes and prepare to see a lot of neon, glitter, and museum quality presentations.  The sculptures are as polished and pristine as it is possible to make them, the wall paint is flawless.  If you go to as many of the art fairs as I do will start to feel like you walking through a brand new IKEA after a while (the scale of the two piers are enormous) .  If while you are seeing world class art in this familiar Big Box Store format your eyes  become blurred and the work starts to become indistinguishable from Norwegian furniture, take a seat in their cushy bar areas and get a drink.  You don’t need to push your eyes that far, the brain can only accept so much eye candy before it goes into shock.

For the price of admission you get access to both the Modern show, and the contemporary (each with it’s own pier), so you can see work from older masters, as well as the masters that are still alive and working today (based on which pier you are checking out).

Positives: Buying the Armory / Volta NY combo ticket for $50 is the best deal in town.  There is a shuttle bus between the two venues, and you get to experience the opposite worlds of the big box store IKEA experience of the Armory, along with the intimacy of Volta NY. You will be seeing the best most sought after artists in the world hanging in a show that is only up for an extended weekend, buying frenzy is a thing to behold.

Negatives: The size and scope of this show can be daunting and overwhelming to a beginner, just start at one side and work your way through it to the other side, move to the next row and do it again.  Think of it like a giant supermarket, but instead of cereal and canned goods, you are looking at artwork worth 10’s to 100’s of thousands of dollars by artists you have seen at The Whitney and The Met.  You will not see these galleries taking to many risks. At SCOPE, The Unfair, and Fountain artists aren’t paying the insane per-square-foot rates as at The Armory so they can go edgier.  This show is squeaky clean – most booths on a factory produced precision.  If you prefer to see a little of the artist’s hand (blood, sweat, and tears) mixed into the paint, you might want to check out some of those other fairs.

Location: Piers 92 & 94:  711 12th Ave New York, NY (@55th Street & the West Side Highway)

Website: https://www.thearmoryshow.com/
View Our Armory Show Photos From Previous Years

SCOPE ART FAIR:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $25  – Student $15

Thursday – March 6, 3pm – 6pm (Platinum VIP Preview Gala)  –  6pm – 9pm (First View Benefit & Press)  $100
Friday – March 7, 11am – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 11am – 8pm
Sunday – March 9, 11am – 7pm

Featuring: Drawing, Collage, Sculpture, Painting, Performance Art, New Media, Neon, Photography.

THIS YEAR’S SCOPE (SPOILERS): SCOPE Art Fair NY 2014 VIP Opening Reception Was Packed (Photos) – Artiholics

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Ron English

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Ron English.
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Augusto Esquivel, Jordan Eagles, Karim Hamid, Ron English, Banksy, Luke Chueh,  Russell West, gilf! Hiroko Tsuchida, Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, Andrea Stanislav, HuskMitNavn, Kikyz 1313, Camille Rose Garcia.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Performance art piece where a female artist walked around the fair nude from the waste down.
Possibility of Live Nudity: It’s Possible.

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at SCOPE? Occasional Live Painting, Occasional Live Performing Installation, Occasional Live Music.

The Scoop on SCOPE From An Artiholic:I’ve personally attended the 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 incarnations of the fair.  It’s one of the satellite fairs that didn’t have a permanent home until 2013 and was constantly competing with Pulse as they have very similar vibes, that is until Pulse decided to slide into May and be a part of Frieze Week, thus freeing Scope up to take control of the more serious emerging contemporary art galleries.  I watched this fair bounce from Lincoln Center, to a tent on the West Side Highway, and finally to it’s current NY location in the giant post office building Skylight at Moynihan Station next to Madison Square Garden.

Scope is a good dowsing rod for what trends are most likely to be prevalent thought-out all of the art fairs during Armory Arts Week.  Mostly pretty good art, there are some major international galleries represented, as well as a lot of NYC talent.  Scope is what galleries at Fountain aspire to graduate up to.

Positives: A ton of good work, lots of roaming artists, friendly gallerists.  The show has really come into its own since Pulse left.  A good mix of low and high brow to appeal to a wide audience.  Gets a lot of solid press, and a lot of sales.

Negatives: Some galleries are obviously not yet ready for prime time and stick out like a sore thumb.  When you start to notice trends, you will see them repeated and repeated in multiple booths. Location is far from Armory. 

Location: Skylight at Moynihan Station 360 West 33rd Street, W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001

Website: https://scope-art.com/
View Our SCOPE Photos From Previous Years

THE ART SHOW:  March 5th – 9th 

General Admission: $25

Wednesday – March 5, 12pm – 8pm
Thursday – March 6, 12pm – 8pm
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Museum Quality Gallery Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: John Leguizamo

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Andy Warhol & James Rosenquist
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Rosenquist, Henri Matisse, Mark Rydan, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, George Condo, Ray Johnson, Phil Guston, Wim Delvope, Sperone Westwater, Charles McGill.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: The Egon Schiele / Gustav Klimt exhibit.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at The Art Show? No, this is a serious art fair.

The Scoop on The Art Show From An Artiholic:

This fair is decades older than The Armory Show and has a sterling reputation as presenting some of the best in the business.  Blue chip art, museum art.  Most of what you will find here by artists who’s names you will recognize from your Christie’s and Sotherby’s catalogs.

Positives: You will see museum quality work, amazing drawings and paintings from many dead modern artists, and some current living blue chip artists, as well as original portraits of famous artists.  If you are a fan of really good drawing, and seeing drawings by some of your favorite dead artists, this is a good place to get a glimpse of artwork that exists outside of museums and is sold to private collectors.

Negatives: This is a lot like the Modern section of The Armory Show.  It is old masters, mixed with some more elite contemporary artists.  The crowd is extremely highbrow and it’s easy to feel under-dressed when attending.

Location: Park Avenue Armory – Park Avenue at 67th Street, New York City

Website: https://www.artdealers.org/artshow.html
View Our THE ART SHOW Photos From Previous Years

INDEPENDENT:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $20

Thursday – March 6, 6pm – 8pm (Private Vernissage)
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 6pm

Featuring: Sculpture, Kinetic Sculpture, Collage, Car, Interactive Art, Neon, Animation, New Media, Painting, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: John McEnroe

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Dan Flavin
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Ella Kruglyanskaya, Steve Claydon, Thomas Julier, Oliver Mosset, David Shrigley.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: A random DeLorian with no flux capicitor.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at Independent? No

The Scoop on the Independent From An Artiholic:

To me this fair always felt the least like a fair, and even refused to call itself a fair.  The floors have big open spaces in the middle rather than the sectioned off walls that the other art fairs are known to have, all the galleries share the same light.

Since it started The Independent has always been free admission to the public, and the focus has been more about the art than the selling.  It is many people’s favorite fair because of the amount of sculpture, and minimalism and distinct lack of drawing and painting.  I am in the minority, and the lack of drawing and painting drives me up the wall.

I don’t know exactly what changed with Independent’s business model,  but this year it costs $20 instead of costing nothing to get in ($20 is a distinct price increase from free).

Positives: A ton of big sculptures on four floors.  The possibility of a random car in the middle of one of the floors.  The permanent Dan Flavin instillation on the staircase in between floors is always inviting – not technically part of the show, but a welcome break from the different levels.  Top Floor Cafe, with Roof Access

Negatives: Extreme lack of drawing and painting. Super snobby curators who really don’t want to talk to you, which is another thing that makes this unlike the other art fairs where the exhibitors actually want to interact.  I have hundreds of photos I’ve taken of artists and curators at the various art fairs, and Independent is the only art fair I have taken zero shots of any curators or artists.  I am acting the same as I do at the art fairs but never get approached.  Located in Chelsea it is close to other art openings, but far from The Armory Show piers.

Location: 548 West 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues in the heart of the Chelsea gallery district.

Website: https://independentnewyork.com/
View Our INDEPENDENT Photos From Previous Years

VOLTA NY ART FAIR:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $15  |   Students – $10  |  Armory / VoltaNY Dual Pass: $50

Thursday – March 6, 11am – 2pm (Guest of Honor) 2pm – 5pm  (VIP / Press Preview)  6pm – 9pm (Public Vernissage)
Friday – March 7, 10am – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 10am – 8pm
Sunday – March 9, 10am – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Neon, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Delroy Lindo

Unofficial Art Matriarch: Amanda Coulson
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  This changes every year, as all booths are solo shows.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Very focused solo shows that aren’t like the typical art fair.  The ability to see a depth to an artist’s work, unlike the other top tier fairs that would only showcase one or two pieces by each artist.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at VoltaNY? Yes, I’ve seen Break Dancing & Pastry Eating Contests

The Scoop on Volta NY From An Artiholic:
Volta NY rules.  It is the offshoot of The Armory Show so it has the top tier credibility of The Armory, but also has the intimacy that comes with solo shows.  It feels like you are attending 90 gallery openings where the artist is in attendance, and you are the only guest.  You get a real one-on-one experience with each booth and are able to engage with the artists.

It is an invitational show, and all the artists have to be represented by a gallery, so there is no room for amateurs, and no buying your way in.  I have had nothing but positive experiences with Volta NY, and since they moved down to SoHo from their previous residency at  7 West 34th Street they really have the space you need to fit everyone and not feel like you are walking around a fair in a converted office.

Positives: Buying the Armory / Volta NY combo ticket for $50 is the best deal in town.  There is a shuttle bus between the two venues, and you get to experience the opposite worlds of the big box store IKEA experience of the Armory, along with the intimacy of Volta.  This is a show I would love to one day solo in, and you can’t get much higher praise from me than that.

Negatives: If you don’t like meeting artists, or seeing solo exhibits, and prefer to see more salon style gallery showings presenting a diverse group of artists from a gallery’s stable, then you won’t like this show.  If you aren’t planning on attending The Armory, this show is kind of out of the way in relation to the other shows.

Location: 82 Mercer Street., New York, NY  (Between Spring and Broome Streets)
Website: https://ny.voltashow.com/index.php
View Our VOLTA NY Photos From Previous Years

FOUNTAIN ART FAIR:  March 7th – 9th 

General Admission: $10 – VIP Pass: $50 – Weekend Pass $15

Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm (VIP Press Preview / Open to the public)  7pm – Midnight (Opening Night Reception) Music Lineup: DJ Nick Zinner
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm (Open to the public) 7pm – Midnight (Saturday Night Event) Music Lineup: THE DEEP!
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Neon, Photography

Featuring: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Live Painting, Live Performance, Performance Art,  Music, Collage, Car, Interactive Art, Neon, New Media, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Mia Tyler
Unofficial Art Matriarch: Swoon
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Alison Berkoy, The Murder Lounge, Brian Leo, Dave Tree, Casey Porn, Jonny Fenix, Veng, Victor W. Cox, Ryan Cronin, Chris Smith, Alex Emmart, Rob Servo, Leah Yerpe, JMR, Brandon Friend, Christina Ray, Mighty Tanaka, Leo Kesting, Front Room, Munch, Dacia.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Nude Body Finger Painting.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Very Good.

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at Fountain? Yes, tons.

The Scoop on The Fountain Art Fair From An Artiholic:
I love fountain, it is such a fun fair to attend and you get a lot of bang for your buck.  Lots of good artists, also a lot of not so good, but the needles in the haystacks are in the numbers at this fair.  This is truly the independent fair as usually it’s one artist, or a group of artists splitting a booth on their own.  No galleries need be involved, although a lot of booths are represented by galleries.  It’s one of the cheapest art fairs for artists to get work in (per square foot) so the bar is set a little lower than a Scope or Pulse, and leaves the door wide open to untrained artists, street artists, and Brooklyn artists on the rise.

You will see a lot of drawing at this fair, a lot of painting, and a lot of pop.  I have heard it referred to many times in art circles as “amateur hour” but there are generally some stand outs in the masses, and as years go by you will start to see artists who got their start at Fountain’s careers shoot them up to larger galleries, and land them larger exposure at the top tier fairs like Scope and Volta.

You will be likely to meet a lot of artists if you wander around this fair, as most booths are artist run.  It is a great way to talk to artists and have them talk to you about their work.  Almost everyone is friendly and open here, and there is very little pretension.  You will find a few street artist wanna-be-banksies aka Mini-Banksys, who don’t want to have their photo taken, which is annoying as fuck, and almost comical.

When I  first attended this fair in 2009 it was on the frying pan pier.  In a tent that leaked when it rained.  There was a basement floor called the Murder Lounge where a small collective of Greenpoint artists would always show together. Fountain in gaining credibility and exposure has moved several avenues over to the Lexington Ave Armory and now has a solid foundation and doesn’t have to worry about dark clouds.They still have a section of the new location called The Murder Lounge, but it’s more of just a tribute.
Fountain is a 1917 work widely attributed to Marcel Duchamp. The scandalous work was a porcelain urinal, which was signed “R.Mutt” and titled Fountain. Submitted for the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in 1917, Fountain was rejected by the committee, even though the rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee.  The exhibition took place in the building where The Fountain Art Fair now resides almost a hundred years later.

Positives: A lot of fun, a lot of really great artists and a lot of good drawing.  Live painting, performances, music.  It is almost like getting a first glimpse into the unsigned talent of the art world.  You see what bubbles up from Brooklyn, Queens, and the outer boroughs before it gets snagged up by the machine.  The Friday opening night reception is the most fun you will have at any of the art fairs with open bar and live music – it becomes a party – and I will see you there.  If you are a fan of drawing, street art, illustration, comics, lowbrow, or graffiti, you will really enjoy yourself.  If you are a collector you can find a great deals on artwork by emerging artists here, and fill your apartment for a fraction of the price you would have to pay at the other fairs.

Negatives: Depending on your perspective, you will either come away loving, or hating Fountain.  If you like drawing and painting, you will have a good time.  If you really enjoy The Independent, you will probably not like Fountain so much.  If you are looking for Museum Quality work, you will not like Fountain.  It is very unpolished, but that’s what gives it it’s underground handmade charm.  Although I have a great time at Fountain it is one of the lower tier fairs and doesn’t get much love from the mainstream art press, but art blogs and Scene and Alt magazines like Paper are all over it. 

Location: Centrally Located at the 69th Regiment Armory (Lexington Avenue & 26th Street)
Website: https://www.fountainartfair.com/
View Our Fountain Photos From Previous Years

SPRING / BREAK – $5

THIS YEAR’S SPRING/ BREAK (SPOILERS): SPRING/BREAK Art Show Is Your Elementary School On Psilocybin- Artiholics

CLIO ART FAIR – $FREE

THIS YEAR’S CLIO ART FAIR (SPOILERS): The Clio Art Fair 2014 Inaugural Show Opening Reception- Artiholics

THE (UN)FAIR – $FREE

THIS YEAR’S (UN)FAIR (SPOILERS): THE (UN)FAIR is Back, Bigger, & More Popular Than Ever – Opening (Photos) – Artiholics

MOVING IMAGE- $FREE

NEW CITY ART FAIR- $FREE

The post Artiholics New York Armory Week Art Fair Travel Guide 2014 appeared first on Artiholics.

1. Roberto Matta

Roberto Matta is a twentieth century surrealist and abstract expressionist. His work seems to contain recognizable forms such as fireworks and onion heads, and possibly even staircases and architectural forms. At closer examination, the viewer realizes his work is composed of unrecognizable features such as lines, complimentary colors, a trail of mossy greens, and the occasional inclusion of yellow.

2. Robert Venosa

Robert Venosa is an artist that I was first introduced to by seeing a Facebook post of Alex Grey, mentioning his death in 2011. His work caught my eye with its liquidity, and vibrant blues. It’s almost as if he is channeling  extraterrestrial beings that contain benevolence, housed in a shiny membrane with light piercing through its translucence. Venosa’s work gives a new aesthetic to angels, and his work encourages viewers to be transported to another world.

3. Max Ernst

Max Ernst is a surrealist artist that made friends with major players in the art world such as Peggy Guggenheim and Andre Breton in the early twentieth century. Ernst has the ability to create magnificent landscapes that remind us of something from dreams, but not quite nightmares. He conveys organic matter covering seemingly vast surfaces. Ernst uses vibrant colors such as algae green, and a sandy yellow, creating the illusion of real vegetation on some alternate alien planet. There’s visibility of bodies and shadows of anatomical sculptural protrusions in his cavernous painted structures. He influenced the surrealist movement greatly, and made an appearance in the Museum of Modern Art in 1936.

4. Aurel Schmidt

Aurel Schmidt is a Brooklyn based artist that I discovered at the Museum of Modern Art a few years ago. Her work consists of extremely detailed conglomerations of cigarette butts, mice, snakes, and other things one could find in the streets and apartments of the city life. Her work is the kind that you can look at, and keep on finding new things. Included in this blog is an especially successful piece, in which tiny, creepy, crawling, insects, maggots, rodents, and birds- all of which which eats away at our deceased body, ironically compose a human form that stands tall and alive.

5. H.R. Giger

H. R. Giger can be recognized from his set design work of the movie Alien and the Matrix, with his signature “bio-mechanical” style. To any aspiring surrealist, Giger will point you in the direction that helps you bridge the organic with the artificial. He merges the machine with the human anatomy, combining imagery of needles, ridges, chains, phalluses, and flesh to create something visceral and complex. His work feels cold and post-apocolyptic, bringing us into a world that we are both afraid of and intrigued by.

6. Dorthea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning was 101 when she died in 2012, leaving a life and legacy of surrealism behind her. This painting is from the 1960s, and it is that decade, and the late 1950s that her work had an especially ambiguous, ambient, and yet anatomical aesthetic to it. She made extraordinary friends in her lifetime including Robert Motherwell, husband Max Ernst, and Man Ray. Her work is whimsical, and this painting is reminiscent of cumulonimbus clouds one would stare up at during a Summer day dreaming of figures lost in our memory.

7. Andre Breton

Andre Breton is known as the founder of surrealism because he wrote the surrealism manifesto in 1924. This painting describes the revolution of the mind, as one climbs into their unconscious, there is so much wonder and complexity he or she can discover.

8. Isaac Abrams

Isaac Abrams founded the first psychedelic art gallery in the world in NYC in the 1960s. I spoke to Isaac on the phone not too long ago, and he told me “God helps those who help themselves. He has shown in the Tate museum twice, and the Whitney Museum twice as well. His work involves intricacies of vibrant patterns, and he has a keen ability to push and pull colors using oil color paint. He is not limited to only paint, as he draws frequently. He is extremely prolific, and he has a major amount of paintings in his studio in upstate NY. He is alive, and still working very hard; if you are interested in one of his painting, you should contact him through his website.

9. Zdzislaw Beksinski

Zdzislaw Beksinski painted haunting oil color paintings that he surprisingly found quite humorous. He was a European painter, and his oeuvre is filled with nightmarish scenes of figures without faces, dream-like landscapes, and creatures from the depths of his mind. Unfortunately, at the end of his life, he was stabbed to death, which marked a series of tragic events towards his final years. Beksinski had the ability to pull us into a surreal plane of existence without never having been academically trained.

10. James Roper

James Roper is an artist that works mostly with acrylic on canvas, although he can work in multiple mediums, including sculpture. His work is explosive, and works brilliantly with tone, as he has gray palettes colliding next vibrant primary colors. His work seems to be the result of Greek Gods throwing thunderbolts at one another in a hurricane of action and propulsion. He has mastered creating folds in fabric by using a limited color palette, not too hasty on gradations. His work employs compositions with centrifugal force.

Written by Andrew Kaminski

The post Ten Surrealists Art Historians Love And Every Art Lover Must Know appeared first on Artiholics.

NEW YORK CITY, NY – Monday, September 9, 2013

You might recognize Rick Genest better known as Zombie Boy (or Rico the Zombie) from the Lady Gaga Born This Way video.  Or maybe you’ve seen his fashion modeling work (he’s the face of Jay Z‘s clothing line Rocawear in Europe- and the face of Dermablend Professional).

He also DJ’s, is the front man for a punk band, a side show freak, and acts in music videos as well as alongside Keanu Reeves  as “Savage” in 47Ronin due out in December 2013.

Any way you slice it, if you’ve seen him, you can’t forget him (at least your subconscious can’t).  In a world of short attention spans, and first impressions, there is no mistaking this tattooed artist in a crowd.  He is in NYC for fashion week, modeling tonight with Eyewear Designer Stevie Boi for the fashion-show  “Leather” to be held at The Out Hotel 510 W 42nd Street at 7pm.

Followed by an After Party hosted by Dermablend Professional (the tattoo cover-up seen above), that you surely won’t want to miss. Especially, since the underground fashion & music scene is already a buzz. Zombie Boy will be performing LIVE for the FIRST time ever & debuting his material from his upcoming EP due out November 2013 –  ‘Zombie Boy Vs The World’ – at Webster Hall’s Marlin Room – Doors 10pm – Stage time Midnight. RSVP is required for both events. zombieboyguestlist@gmail.com

One day before his band’s big NYC debut I got a chance to ask him the requisite 10 questions to try to find out why corpse is the new black.

Artiholics: “What was your first tattoo?”

ZOMBIE BOY: “The Jolly Roger on my shoulder. The Jolly Roger is an old school symbol that represented anarchy. ”

Artiholics: “Have you ever just bought flash off the wall?”

ZOMBIE BOY: “Yes, a cupcake on my ass.”

Artiholics: “Who designs your tats, and who actually needles them into your skin?”

ZOMBIE BOY: “My grandmother.”

Artiholics: “In your modeling career, have there ever been any outfits your tats have clashed with?”

ZOMBIE BOY: “No, because all my ink is black and white and goes with everything. Except for the time I had to wear the red dress. It wasn’t the designers fault though… Or mine. ”

Artiholics: “Do you ever find your own body artwork competes with the artwork on the clothes you wear?”

ZOMBIE BOY: “I feel the clothes I model complement my tattoos and vice versa.”

Artiholics: “How did you get involved with Gaga?”

ZOMBIE BOY: “I was modeling for Nicola Formichetti the designer of Muglar who is Gaga’s designer and we had previously worked together in fashion.”

Artiholics: “What’s the weirdest reaction you’ve ever got from a stranger”

ZOMBIE BOY: “Airport security or a bus driver? lt’s hard to narrow it down. I once held a door for a little old lady and she went all the way to the other set of doors to avoid me. ”

Artiholics: “What was the first artwork you were proud of?”

ZOMBIE BOY: ” I did some pretty bad ass finger paintings when I was a kid. And some wicked Lego creations.”

Artiholics: “Do you consider your facade a work of performance art, a living sculpture, or a life long installation?”

ZOMBIE BOY: “Facade? (laughs) I’m a living piece of something. Or am I?”

Artiholics: “Now that you have covered your entire canvas, what is your next masterpiece?”

ZOMBIE BOY: ” My band, Zombie Boy vs. the World is the main focus of my facade but I’m also working on getting my laundry done.”

Interview by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post ZOMBIE BOY: The Artiholics Interview appeared first on Artiholics.

New York, NY – Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Late last year Street Artist Essam was arrested for a highly charged NYPD drone fake ad campaign he hung around the city.  In mid-March I went to a fundraising art event at Mother hosted by Animal NY to help pay his attorney and court fees.

The list of artists that donated work to the silent auction included Clay Patrick McBride, Dan Witz, Peter Max, Tanyth Berkeley, GILF, Mr. EWOKONE, Patrick Waldo, Jaron Berman, QRST,Stash, SERVO, Army of One, Adam Dare, and many more.  There were also musical performances by Ben Morgan, Danny Musengo​, California Kings​, Motherwell Johnson​, and Ludlow Thieves.

I caught up with Essam a few months later to see what had resulted from the auction, and how the case was going after all the dust had settled.

Artiholics: “First off, can you give me a little run down of what exactly happened for any of my readers who might be living outside of NYC who might not have caught the story?”

ESSAM: “On November 28th the NYPD intelligence/counter terrorism unit came knocking on my door and arrested me for allegedly placing mock NYPD public service announcements all over Manhattan.  The ad’s said things like ‘Always Watching,’ with Bloomberg’s face, cameras and drones ominously watching overhead, and “NYPD Drones, protection when you least expect it,” with a drone firing a hellfire at a fleeing family. Needless to say the NYPD was none to pleased.”

Artiholics: “What charges did they slap you with?”

ESSAM: “I’m being charged with Grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, 56 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, and criminal possession of a firearm for my great grand fathers antique revolver.”

Artiholics: “Who proposed the Free Essam silent auction?”

ESSAM: “The silent auction and concert were actually first proposed by my close friend Danny Musengo, the lead singer of Ludlow Thieves who headlined the performance that evening. I spent a week thinking, ‘I either let this ruin my life, or I try to use the momentum in the press to make something of this’. In hind sight it seems like a no brainer.”

Essam (Left) with Clay Patrick McBride.

Artiholics: “How did you get such an eclectic mix of artists to donate work?”

ESSAM: “Well, I received a formal arts education at SVA, and having been older than most other students due to my previous military service, I formed some very lasting relationships with the faculty, a few of which were instrumental in making the benefit happen. Mainly Clay Patrick McBride who was the MC for the evening, is a very well known and respected photographer in the music and sports industries and really went to bat for me. Through him I was able to meet many of the artists who donated, including one of the performers.”

Artiholics: “Anyone show up at the party you didn’t expect to?”

ESSAM: “I met a lot of people that I was honored to have in attendance to include one of the heads of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, the wall street journal, a representative from Adam Harvey’s studio, but I was most surprised to see photographer Kareem Black, who’s presence usually signifies ‘this’ is the cool thing to be doing, and collector W. H. Hunt who is one of the bigger collectors and curators of photography in New York. There was also an Assistant District Attorney in attendance which made me a little nervous.”

Artiholics: “Did the party raise a lot of funds?  Anyone offer up a get out of jail free card?”

ESSAM: “I managed to raise about $13,000 front the event itself and another $10,000 through the sale of work online with 1xRun, which in total nearly covered the cost of my attorney, so i’m happy, though a get out of jail free card would have been nice. I did make a piece for Libertarian Billionaire Peter Thiel and sent it along with a letter to his place of business in San Francisco in hopes of at least having an ally in the fight but I never received a response.”

Artiholics: “Have you had to return to court since the party?”

ESSAM: “I have, I went back on May 1st, the case was adjured until August 5th.  To date there has been no progress in the case, My attorney is in communication with the district attorney to negotiate a plea bargain. The only real progress is soon I may finally be receiving my computers and hard drives that were taken in the raid.”

Artiholics: “What’s next on the horizon for you artistically?  And where can we keep tabs on your openings and events?”

ESSAM: “Right now I’m working with 1xRun on another edition of screen prints and I’m putting together work for a couple shows. No dates are set but you can keep updated with both my photography and my street art at www.eadamattia.com and www.freeessam.com, Free_ESSAM is on all social media as well.”

To support the FREE ESSAM campaign, you can buy a poster, the first two posters have sold out.  The third edition of posters are now available to purchase on 1xrun.com  (here)

You can also sign the petition to drop the charges against Essam, on ForceChange.com

Interview and Photos by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”
(header image by The Daily News)

The post Targeted Artist: NYPD Drone Poster Bomber Essam Artiholics Interview appeared first on Artiholics.

Clear or “invisible” tech always seems futuristic.  Soon our cellphones may be completely transparent.  Something that would blow your mind if you haven’t seen it already in science fiction.
I don’t know why this doesn’t seems cooler to me.  If I hadn’t seen and adjusted to all the various generations of phones leading up to this I would be blown away, but even though this isn’t fully developed, it already seems like it exists on the market.

Probably because we are programmed from infancy via advertising, film, TV, and art to register clear things, polished and perfect things, to be machine made. Since machines that could do this only have existed for the past 100 years or so, they appear to be futuristic.  So the more the fingerprint of man is removed from the art & design (the more unlike nature), the more futuristic it will register to our eyes.  The packaging industry has taken full advantage of this by wrapping everything in plastic, perfectly hermetically sealed to look glazed, futuristic, and beautiful on the store shelf.  We like clear, we like shiny.

Maybe it was because of seeing Wonder Woman in her invisible jet as a kid.

Or those cars in Tron.

Or Barbarella’s clear body armor.

This could carry over to fine art by having art being encased in clear Lucite which is somewhat of a trend this year.  But before that, just framing art behind glass gives it a clear futuristic clean quality a piece of paper doesn’t intrinsically have on it’s own.  It’s like a candy coating, a glaze of futuristic eye candy.

Like the mosquitoes encased in amber from Jurassic Park, even though they are ancient, it seemed futuristic.

And there is this guy with the fish.

A clear “half-crown” in The Fifth Element.

Precious jewels are pretty, and come in all colors, but the one without the color is the most valuable.

It’s no surprise that glass dry erase walls are replacing chalk boards, and tablets and flat screen smart phones are replacing 3D keypads.  They look more futuristic.

You may be asking yourself, what’s the next step?  Interactive holographic computers of course.

We don’t have to imagine it, it’s already been done for us in film many, many times. Clear screens in Avatar indicate that yes, this is the future.

Minority Report.

Jarvis in Iron man. We already have a mental visual vocabulary for what this should look like and how it should function.  Screens that are completely clear but manifest images when they are touched.  But these are actually not screens but floating in space.

Something sci fi films have been promising us forever and have yet to fully deliver on.

If you think about it, before TV, and Film the best way to see what was to come in the future?  Gaze into this clear perfect crystal object.

Although, some clear future innovations were better left on the drawing board.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post The Art & Design Of Our Future Looks Like It’s Getting Clearer appeared first on Artiholics.

I arrived a few hours into an 8 hour living installation performance and the madness was already well underway. An amazing seat had been taped off with a “Reserved For Cojo” sign.  The second my ass hit metal I was catapulted front row center into an intoxicating juxtaposition of paint, garbage, and the odd beauty of the artistically distorted female form.

Ethereal music echoed, rose and fell as the faceless muses blindly repeated insignificant tasks with purpose. Ad nausium they wound up a rope, or painted and repainted their breasts with one hand while loosely shooting the action with a close-circuit camera linked to an HD flat screen sitting a few feet away.

The women start as clothed audience members, stripping nude as they walk towards the stage.  Their faces are quickly covered in some sort of mask.  The whole scene reminded me a bit of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

Once in the middle of everything one girl’s mask slipped off, and the odd flash of humanity it revealed was jarring.

I grabbed one photo (although you aren’t supposed to) with my camera to show the chaotic scene from where I was sitting.  I also wanted to make sure I got a shot of artist  Joseph Meloy, who was the official photographer of the event in action.

I caught up with Michael Alan a few days later to talk a bit about the show, and the drawings he’s working on for his upcoming performance at The New Museum.

Artiholics: “The last of your ‘living installations’ I went to was The Healing Show (read about it on ArtSucks), this one new one ‘The Adoration Of Women’ seemed a little less chaotic, can you talk a little bit about the different approaches you took with the two shows?”

“My drawing for The New Museum performance/live show! This is one of 4 drawings that will be picked for the card/ for the Untapped show at the Museum!” – Michael Alan

Michael Alan: “The installations, drawings, sculptures, music, and paintings are all connected with their language.  That being said, every work is standalone.  The healing show was extremely raw, chaotic and emotional. It was a few days after Sandy and that was the energy at the time.  We were extremely lucky we were able to make that production happen and it was wild! This experience, the adoration of women, was less chaotic and more attentive to what the performers and I wanted to express.

We wanted to highlight and deeply develop each character for the audience.  Each performer had their place on stage, forming a circle.  I was in the center of this ritual, so the piece was literally centered.”

Artiholics: “So this is the last of your live performances before the big show at The New Museum.  How crazy are you gonna get over there, seems like you would probably have to tone it down a bit.”

Michael Alan: “The word crazy is relative.  The New Museum untapped living installation is entitled ‘freedom’. The curators have given us the liberty to work in new collaborative opportunities (special thanks Rick Herron and Travis Chamberlain!).  This festival is outdoors for the public.  I’m work working with musicians I’ve never worked with before.  I’m using less paint and moving to different materials. I have decided to work with Rose Lou and Tim Love Lee verse my normal 8 to really push that collaboration to the extreme.

In addition to collaborative works I will be drawing 15 large, human sized works, and building miniature sculptures.This festival inspired us to be coming out with a 12 song album, of Tim and Mike songs!”

Artiholics: “I’m sure after seeing one of your performances, people picture your studio to be like that scene in the movie Frida where we see Diego Rivera’s studio and there are just nude female models hanging around 24×7 swinging on fabric swings.  How close is that to reality?”

Michael Alan: “This is the classic Hollywood fantasy, at the end the hero drives and crashes off a cliff. On a typical Monday, there is usually about 750 nude male and female aliens swimming in a #warm pool of legos while eating feathers, fishies, and bags of paper. On Tuesday, there is anywhere between 50-75 billion naked smurfs, ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 lbs each. On Wednesdays, there are 20,000 half monkey half raccoon hybrids clapping while they teach lizards and squirrels how to get along. Fridays are casual, I’m usually free basing. The rest of my schedule is really confusing.”

Pictured: Michael Alan.  (You only get one ride on this dirty fucking earth speck, so why not make it interesting).

Artiholics: “After the New Museum show, where and when can people who’ve never experienced a Michael Alan ‘Living Installation’ or seen your drawings and paintings expect to see you next?”

Michael Alan: “My work is with Gasser Grunert gallery, on 19th and 11th in Chelsea, New York. There is always work up, and a ton on request. I’m planning a huge installation in the beginning of the summer, and The Draw-A-Thon reunion, a studio show called “works on fire a bunch of group shows, my Record comes out! and possibly a solo show! Woop!” ~

You can view some of Michael Alan’s artwork, as well as keep tabs on his upcoming projects on his website: MichaelAlanArt.com

See his New Museum Performance of The Living Installation: Saturday, May 4th at IDEAS CITY. Houston and Chrystie St., NYC 12-4pm. FREE!!!!

Michael Alan featuring Tim Love Lee, Pearl Necklace, Maria Minerva, La Big Vic, Erika Spring
and so much more!!! Come!

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”
Photographs by Joseph Meloy

The post The Adoration Of Women: The Return of Michael Alan’s Living Installation appeared first on Artiholics.

New York, NY – Monday, April 22nd, 2013

If you are a fan of Kenny’s work, with just that simple description you can now draw a mental image of this snake in your mind.  This is how iconic the man’s work is, and it almost seems bizarre that he got arrested.  It would be on par to Howard Stern getting an FCC fine for using a few foul words on mic at a bachelor party.  After navigating all the crazy web traffic the article sent my way, I caught up with the artist for a quick interview about his twenty hours in the Brooklyn Tombs:

Andy Warhol, Jacqueline Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel & Kenny Scharf, NY 1984

Artiholics: “What was the first image or words you drew / painted on property you didn’t own, and where was it?  I personally have been asked many times if I do graffiti, and I never have.  There must have been something or someone that encouraged you to do it that first time.”

Kenny Scharf: “The first image I drew on the street was a TV set with the words the Jetsons inside probably 1978 and was somewhere in Chelsea I think and it was Jean-Michael {Basquiat} who handed me his marker after tagging Samo. We were both teenagers.”

Artiholics: “I guess it’s always been an unwritten law of the streets, that anyone who does any sort of “street art” isn’t really credible until they have been arrested.  How was your recent stint in the clink?”

Kenny Scharf: “I don’t recommend anyone to go to jail whether it helps you get street CRED. i have been there before for the same reason over 30 years ago but that’s another crazy story much crazier than the recent one. I didn’t really count going back I thought one time was enough so I’m definitely not planning on third visit. The only reason I got caught was there was someone with me and I assumed he was watching my back which wasn’t the case if I have been alone this would not have happened.”

Artiholics: “The amount of man hours you put into making the drabber parts of the city more colorful and vibrant, seems kind of weird to be throwing you in the same cell as hoodlums, rapists, and murders.  What was your prison experience like compared to your last NYC stint 30 years ago?”

Kenny Scharf: “The experience I had this time compared to 30 years ago is similar yet very different. the first time the cops physically abused me and this time nobody touched me except for the handcuffs and frisking. The whole system itself seems to be much worse than 30 years ago much more chaotic and the crowds we were all packed like sardines and it just felt like half of the black kids in Brooklyn were in there with me I mean I couldn’t believe HOW crowded it was.”

Artiholics: “You seem to love to work big, I remember that show you had back at PS1 in 2009, your pieces were gigantic.  Did you start out going big on walls, or canvas?”

Kenny Scharf:  “I always liked the New York school and wanted to be a part of that so big paintings were definitely part of that. I also love cinema and big paintings can have that vibe. As far as murals go the bigger the better.”

The finished Scharf Mural on Houston, December 2010. (Photo by Noel Y.C.)

Artiholics: “It is always weird to me to see people doing throw-up tags over your pieces, like the big mural on Houston you did which kept getting bombed.  Do they not know their history, or are they just trying to get some quick notoriety by being completely disrespectful?”

Photo by Ev Grieve.

Kenny Scharf: “I think the latter half of your question is the correct one just want to be noticed and by choosing the most noticeable wall in the city they feel some notoriety. I have the unfortunate luck to be the only artist on that group that didn’t get a protective coating which allows you to rub off the tags. so I had to fix it myself it was not Fun.”

Artiholics:“People are speculating, where exactly is this building you were tagged tagging?  It should almost get landmark status now. People should be taking Instagram #selfies in front of this now-iconic piece.”

Kenny Scharf: “It’s around the corner from my mural on Metropolitan there’s three tags and they’re all on Morgan Very close to Metropolitan. I was having a grand old time until the handcuffs.”

Thanks Kenny, and if anyone does find the piece, be sure to take a picture with it and send it here.  I’ll put together a gallery of them.  A little shrine to the piece that landed Kenny Scharf in jail. – Cojo

If you want to see the snake in question (and take a #selfie in front of it) , you will be catching an L Train to Brooklyn. If you want to see his most recent work that isn’t on the side of a building, Kenny Scharf is fresh off of the opening his new show titled KOLORS at Paul Kasmin Gallery featuring three large sculptures, and ten new paintings. The show is on view till May 4th at 515 West 27th Street, New York, NYC.

Interviewed by Cojo “Art Juggernaut” for Artiholics.com

The post Artiholics.com Exclusive Interview: Kenny Scharf – Unchained appeared first on Artiholics.

The Scope Art Fair has always been a good dowsing rod for what’s going to be hot and popular if not for the art world as a whole, at least it at all of the other art fairs this week.  I had fun roaming around Scope during the private press and VIP viewing.  Based on Scope here are 10 TRENDS you will likely be able to expect from the other fairs in the days to come.

TREND NUMBER 1: Assemblage Faces

I have a feeling assemblage will be the keyword of the 2013 Armory Week trends.  Other names I’ve come up with for this are Army of One.. One of many, The Big Picture.  The gist of an assemblage, as humans we have a instinctive ability to search for patterns and try to recognize a human face and facial features even in objects.  Throughout the history of human experience it has been important to recognize in real time the slightest facial movements and gesture and be able to respond accordingly with the appropriate reactions, we can blame the human eye + brain for this.   The eye will not only cheat reality to fill in the gaps, but also blur the obviously inhuman incongruities of oddly shaped items, or tiny uniform patterns, grids, or dot matrixes touching one another, or arranged next to or above one another, and visually merge them to see one image.

TREND NUMBER 2: Lincoln, the Dollar sign, and or The 5 Dollar bill

How could this be a trend?  Black President, and two Lincoln movies in the same year  that’s how.   Lincoln is part of the collective unconscious this year.  There were a few other Lincoln pieces I didn’t photograph at Scope because I didn’t think about the trend until I was already on my way out the door, but I can see the pattern.  Money is always a good topic, because it’s one of the only pieces of art we carry around in our pockets all the time, and even people who don’t collect art want to have more of those portraits.

TREND NUMBER 3: Corrupted Disney & Classic Cartoon Characters

Disney has spent literally HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS branding these time tested characters and putting them into your brain as a child, and your parent’s brain as a child, and your grandparent’s brain as a child.  You want to take an unproven artist and have his work be instantly recognizable by the masses, have them redraw characters they already know, in poses they already know, but slightly altered and maybe in a different color scheme…

TREND NUMBER 4: Upcycling

Art using found objects which could be of no good use and “recycling them into art.”

TREND NUMBER 5: Sugar Skulls

Sounds a little out there for a trend, but I actually painted a sugar skull into a painting this year, and then I see about 4 of them at Scope.  The voodoo is in the air this year my friend.

TREND NUMBER 6: Objects Encased In Lucite Or Resin

Things look cool suspended in the middle of a clear box, just ask Damien Hirst.

TREND NUMBER 7: Art Which Appears To Be Melting

For some reason Jackson Pollock splatter is the end result of all this melt, let’s try to catch the paint in suspended animation before it hits the canvas!

TREND NUMBER 8: Art Made To Have The Illusion Of Depth – Using Mirrors

This art is amusing as it initially tricks your eye.  It is an optical illusion, more magic trick than art.  That box is only 3 feet deep, how come it looks as though it Is a mile deep.  Magic?  Or Art?

TREND NUMBER 9: Neon

You can’t escape it, there is always a ton of it.

TREND NUMBER 10: Glitter

See #9.

BONUS TREND: RADIAL BURSTS

Written  by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post Armory Week 2013 Trend Spotting appeared first on Artiholics.

NEW YORK – Tuesday, February 19, 2013

“I Will Not Be Your Father” – 20 Ad Lines For This Piece of Pop Art

Sometimes pop culture combines with art, making pop art.  In this case the art is not only funny, but functional.  I opened the floor to comments on facebook to see what type of nerd sensibility my friends have towards the Darth Vader “I WILL NOT BE YOUR FATHER” Condom, as well as to come up with some witty ad lines for this product.  I quickly brainfarted a bunch out to get the ball rolling…

I was going to try to work out something with kessel run and 12 parsecs, but I had a bunch of art openings to go to, so I left the floor open.  Here is the best of what you came up with:

#10  The Darth Vader Condom —

Um, can I get an incest joke? – JP Marin

#9   The Darth Vader Condom —

The “Darth Player Condom.”- Mack Simpson

#8   The Darth Vader Condom —

Even a scruffy nerfherder can get it in. – Sly Augustus

#7   The Darth Vader Condom —

You can’t chewbacka your way out of this one… – AngeeLuz Octavia Cortorreal-Perez

#6   The Darth Vader Condom —

Only your ovaries could destory me. – Jemile Nesimi

#5   The Darth Vader Condom —

The force strong with this one – Louis Nieves

#4   The Darth Vader Condom —

With this blast shield down I can’t feel a thing. – Zack Menna

#3   The Darth Vader Condom —

For when you want to keep your midi-chlorians to yourself. – Todd Whyte

#2   The Darth Vader Condom —

Ahem… ‘come… To the dark side’ – Mitchell Crozier

And the #1 Best Ad Slogan- as voted on by Facebook Likes:

Red 5 I’m going in… – Michael J. Brotschul

Written and crowdsourced by Cojo “Art Juggernaut

P.S.

Let’s keep the ball rolling.  Feel free to add your own ad lines below.

The post Art Captionator: Vader Condoms appeared first on Artiholics.