You’ve may noticed that a good number of bus shelters and billboards around the city are not so lame anymore. In the rush of traffic and commutes we don’t normally pay attention to trifles such as outdoor advertisements, but lately there have been some reasons to wait for the next bus.

It won’t take you long.  You can spare a couple of minutes to spend with the art displayed in your bus stop. If you just scan it with your smartphone you’ll immediately discover more about the piece, the artist and its history, as well as the museum it comes from.

This is not a natural phenomenon as you can expect, but a nationwide campaign to promote American art and raise awareness for a group of museums. The art will be displayed in all sorts of billboards, telephone kiosks, subways, newsstands, bus shelters, and oversized screens such as the all mighty LED screens of Times Square.

This artistic campaign is a collaboration ( #ArtEverywhereUS ) between the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and five museums: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and The Whitney Museum of American Art. These museums aim both at educating the public and of course sparking interest in the American art they display at their sites.

Once you are aware of the existence of this campaign, the images surprise you everywhere. There are 58 different art works disseminated around the City, and all over the country, but that’s too much of a wide field for this modest urbanite. The big screens in front of the Madison Square Garden spot art from time to time. The horribly overcrowded Port Authority Station displays “The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme” by Joseph Stella in the steps of a random staircase. Inside metro cars, or in a pathway at 14^th Street, the list becomes too diverse. You can drive by 23^rd Street between 8^Th and 9^Th Avenues and get instinctually stopped by a big Rothko that resembles a STOP sign. We can travel to Egypt in 8^th and 38^th Steet. Or reconcile with your lovely one at Broadway and West 91^st because after all we get along so much better than the couple in Grant Wood’s American Gothic.

American Gothic, 1930 by Grant Wood

My Egypt, 1927 by Charles Demuth

Written and Photographed by Alejandro Pardo

The post What the ART is Going on with my Bus Stop Advertising? appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Kara Walker art installation at the old Brooklyn Domino Sugar Factory has been drawing a lot of art world (and Instagram world) attention these past few weeks. Wandering around in the massive empty shell of a building with a sugar coated sphinx and some small sculptural works, you may start to wonder what the giant warehouse looked like when its machinery was in place.

Paul Raphaelson photographed every inch of the Refinery, just before they began gutting the buildings. He was the last photographer allowed access to the site, and the only one given permission for a large-scale photo documentation project.

Rusting hulks doomed to be dismembered and sold off for metal scrap, victims of the modern age.  I love photography of forgotten and abandoned architecture, monolithic industrial devices shedding crackled paint, slouching under their own weight as years of neglect and the natural environment seep in and begin to take over.  The mammoth machines in these photos are gone, and soon so will be the entire building complex.  Enjoy the final photo tour of America’s crumbling industrial past.

He’s currently working on a book, in collaboration with architectural historian Matthew Postal, Pulitzer Prize-winning photography editor Stella Kramer, and several former workers from the refinery.  Until then, prints are available through his website   www.paulraphaelson.com

Photos by Paul Raphaelson

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post After The Sugar & Before The Sphinx: The Domino Sugar Factory [Photos] appeared first on Artiholics.

Legendary surrealist painter who’s Oscar winning special effects defined the look of Ridley Scott’s Alien, H.R. Giger, died today at the age of 74 in a Zurich hospital in Switzerland, resulting from injuries he sustained in a fall.  If you’ve never had a chance to delve into his amazingly dark techno-organic work outside of the Alien / Poltergeist / Species film franchises or Dark Seed video games, he is one of our 10 Surrealists every art lover should know – and I highly encourage you to do a little googling.

I remember in the 90s the New York club The Limelight, which was a nightclub built inside what was once an old church, commissioned Giger to create a VIP H.R. Giger Room.  I had been to the Limelight a few times during it’s heyday and unfortunately never got access to the room.  The Limelight is now a mall.  According to io9 there are still a few Giger bars in existence.

His sculptures, drawings, and paintings are all insane marvels of technological futuristic wizardry, combined with living matter, muscles, tendons, vaginas, cocks, bones, exoskeletons.  If you aren’t into aliens fucking but you do want to add H.R. Giger to your art book library you may prefer his hyper-future architectural vision of New York he created in a book chock full of insanely intricate cityscapes, 1982’s  H.R. Giger N.Y. City (long out of print, good luck finding it).  For anyone else who isn’t intimidated by a little hi-tech eroticism, here is a full list of his books of his collected works.

Enjoy this small gallery sampling some of his insane future landscapes, brooding creatures, and erotic inter-species sexual depredation (some images are not safe for work):

Giger’s Alien, 1979  via vikisecrets

HR Giger at Work, 1978  – Photo credit: Mia Bonzanigo via vikisecrets

“Erotomechanics VIII” 1979 via Whatculture

Lilith, 1977 via vikisecrets

via gabinetelynch

Birth Machine Babies

via system 75

via Steve Gray

via dark planneur

via wackymania

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

[source: swissinfo.ch]

The post H.R. Giger, Legendary Surrealist Artist Behind the Character Design in Alien, is Dead [NSFW] appeared first on Artiholics.

I was having a conversation with a fellow artist at a gallery opening the other night in Williamsburg, and he was telling me that he wants his work to not only be beautiful, but also to have a practical function.  That conversation resonated with me when I stumbled upon this ingenious and elegantly designed and scientifically crafted work of art titled “The Drinkable Book” by Water Is Life.

Editorial design by Brian Gartside, chemically treated paper design by chemist, Dr. Theresa Dankovich.

Not only is it typographically beautiful, the color and layout stunning, the words within are a tool for learning, and the pages themselves…well…one book can keep a person in the third world alive for four years for a few pennies.  Watch and learn.

Now that’s what I call practical.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post Functional Literary Art That Could Save Millions of Lives…Literally appeared first on Artiholics.

Long Island City based art collective Flux Factory created an elaborate piece of art which runs all around their building.  Exquisite Contraption, a Rube Goldberg machine triggered by sound activation, dominoes through an elaborate series of events concluding with the timed taking of a group photo after their weekly house meeting.  It’s documented beautifully in this short video narrated by Jason Eppink, and shot by Aymann Ismail for AnimalNewYork.

Unfortunate for the Fluxers in residence, who in everyday life must have to tip-toe around that noise sensor or risk accidentally launching the entire chain of events into motion.  It’s not enough that some poor sucker has to reset all of the balls, cars, and soda bottles of liquid each week, god forbid someone in the house raises their voice or comes down with a loud cough – abrupt volume comes with a price.  But it is a small price to pay for art.

Alas, if they had Chunk from the Goonies around, they could program it to only be set off  when the halls echoed with the hauntingly singular siren song of the “Truffle Shuffle.”

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

Flux Factory video via Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork – Goonies video via Sblankman76

The post Flux Factory Built a Rube Goldberg Automated Group Photo Machine appeared first on Artiholics.

Haven’t made any plans for Easter Sunday? This Sunday, April 20th, if you live within walking distance of the big apple or plan on visiting, you have a unique opportunity to see New York City’s streets fill up with the adorable, beautiful, humorous, and ridiculous fabulousness that is our stylish fashionsta’s Easter bonnets and costumes.

New Yorkers become mobile works of art, walking along Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Streets. New York’s Easter Parade began in 1900 along 5th Avenue and has become an iconic tradition. Now people gather around St. Patrick’s Cathedral to hear mass and take pictures of the informal paraders.

Outside of the church, people let their freak flags fly.

This parade isn’t about floats, it’s more of a fun way to interact with others. People watching has always been a great treat in the fashion and art capital of the world.

Here, you get to pet someone’s dog dressed as a rabbit, run up to the purple man with flowers in his hair to snap a quick selfie, and take a group shot with smiling strangers dressed as bunnies.

Some hats are elegant…while some…

The Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival runs from 10 am until 4 pm along Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Streets. The blocks are closed to cars, so it is safe for pedestrians, including children, and pets!

The Stations of the Cross, a group show, becomes the template for artists of various faith traditions to create 28 shrines in two churches, featuring personal relics of their experience on the journey toward death.

On Good Friday a procession will go from Greenpoint to St. Paul’s Church in Williamsburg at 8:30pm. During the procession, lighting of candles, the singing of hymns, readings, and a ritual of carrying a cross from Greenpoint to Williamsburg takes place. Pastor Ben, who’s father is a Professor of Spanish, grew up bilingual. He leads a bilingual, Spanish and English language congregation at St. Paul’s. A French chant of Reproaches is followed by time to meditate on the various stations of the cross. The leads to St. Paul’s, where participants can contemplate the performative reliquaries and meet the artists who created the pieces.

Artists include Aaron Soldner, Chantal Bruchez-Hall, Calla Wright, Andrew Jordan, Betty T. Kao, Baxton Alexander, Ben McKelahan, Raul Barquet, Amy Kienzle, Margaret Semrau, and Rochelle Voyles. St. Paul’s Visiting hours to reflect on the artwork and meditate are Wednesdays: 6-8pm, Sundays: 11am-2pm.

Pastor Ben stands before a photographic installation of an erotic butoh influenced piece, Performative reliquary. Based on Station 2. “Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested. Kiss of Betrayal, Wrongful Imprisonment” playing off of the pain, ecstasy, and will to give of the self and sacrifice for mankind. He is given a crown of thrones, a metallic fluid is poured onto him, covered in a glam illumination of gold, as a broken silver coin is traced along his glittering bloody ribs.

Pastor Ben contributed to Station 1, “Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Sweating blood”, using mementos from his upbringing such as a Day of the Dead scull. Pastor Ben, who was a physics major at Reed College, is a warm contemporary priest. He leads an interdenominational art group that takes place in the church’s bell tower.

He decided to curate The Stations of the Cross as a way for people to become involved with a community minded church. Parables is a outreach project of his with the goal to build relationships in northern Brooklyn through sharing stories, making art, and re-imagining the symbols of tradition through the lens of our lives.

The Lutheran Church is an agnostic faith, the members of the art group range from Christian, Jewish, atheists, to agnostics. On Sunday, April 20th at 3:30pm there will be an Easter Potluck and Egg Hunt at Ben and Elana’s Apartment (they live in a church!). https://parablesnyc.org

Artist / Author Betty T. Kao

Have a great Easter, filled with Parades, Resurrection, Parables, and the cute bunnies reminding you, that Jesus died for your sins.

Written and Photographed by Betty T. Kao

The post Easter: Parades, Resurrection, Parables, Freakshow Fashion & Performance Art – New York City 2014 appeared first on Artiholics.

As the series finale of How I Met Your Mother was airing on CBS My girlfriend Molly and I were hanging out with one of its stars, Neil Patrick Harris. Well hanging out is a stretch, we were at one of the preview performances of the Broadway (Broadway adjacent) show Hedwig And The Angry Inch (possible spoilers ahead).

Molly was in the New York City Rocky Horror Picture Show cast as Magenta for four years, and as she explained to me, the two movies have the same sort of cult following, share an audience, and really are kind of seen as companion shows.

Having never seen the movie the book was written around I went into this totally blind, and was blown away. The songs were legit rock / glam and got the audience’s adrenaline pumping. These were superfans in the crowd, having bought preview tickets, so they (including Molly) were singing along.

Harris plays the titular role of Hedwig, a transsexual Glam-drag (is that a word?) German Rock singer/songwriter who recalls her troubled past and rise to semi-stardom through a continual fourth wall breaking dialog with the audience, as there is no illusion we are in the room.

The entire rock musical’s conceit is that we are at a Hedwig And The Angry Inch Concert as they finally get to play a New York arena. It reminded me of the rock party atmosphere of Rock of Ages, where both shows has the rock band performing live on stage as part of the show, and that they both were singing about a small town girl living in a lonely world leaving their home for bigger rock dreams, but this show had significantly more songs about botched gender reassignment surgery than I remember hearing in Rock of Ages.

I know this is a horrible comparison, Molly told me this multiple times, but it’s the only other Rock Musical I have been to.

Original animation from the film by Emily Hubley

They did some amazing things with a full stage scrim, projecting some traditional hand drawn animation over Harris singing The Origin of Love. Well done use of scrims, much like the way they used it in the revival of Sunday In The Park With George. Molly told me the original animation from the movie looked very similar, but in the movie they just cut from live action to animation (see above) — in the play it looked amazing combined with live performance and live instruments.

Neil Patrick Harris has come a long fucking way from Doogie Howser, and is one of those storied triple threat performers. There are no intermissions, and he is high energy, singing and dancing in super high heels the whole time. It would be a one man show, if not for Hedwig’s husband Yitzhak played by actress Lena Hall.

Who can really sing too, but god forbid if Hedwig would ever allow another performer steal her thunder. That Bitch.

Hedwig And The Angry Inch opens on April 22, at the Belasco theatre and runs till August 17th.  100 minutes, with no intermission

Written and photographed by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”
Video by Broadway.com

The post NPH as Hedwig on Broadway is a Rockin’ Trip Through a Damaged Life appeared first on Artiholics.

This afternoon in cities around the globe, people are gathering in town squares to beat the shit out of each other.  Luckily they are using weapons purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond.  That’s because it’s International Pillow Fight Day! If you want to join in on this fun interactive flash mob, check out the list of cities and see where one is happening near you.  Then just show up, and bring a pillow.

If you want to take the fun to the next level, and you have a decent Halloween costume still laying around, the theme for this year’s fight is Superheroes vs. Villians.  If you are in NYC, the pillow fight takes place at Washington Square Park at 3:00pm.

Rules: Please follow these guidelines to ensure a safe and fun pillow fight for everybody!

• + Soft, feather-free pillows only!
• + Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.
• + Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras.
• + Remove glasses beforehand!
• + Deposit pillows in donation boxes or take them with you.
• + Pajamas welcome.

If you don’t want to join in the fray, you can come with a camera and take pictures.  It’s not often you get to see 5000 New Yorkers whomping on each other with pieces of fluffy furniture.  For every five pillow people there is one person who just shows up to take pictures, so you also never see this many cameras in one place.

A great venue for marketing your artblog for example.  If you have a funny, or important  message you want out there to the world, write it on your pillow.  It will be photographed hundreds of times, it will be posted to facebook hundreds of times, and it will be posted on flickr, used in magazines, and shared by social media, 100s  or 1000s of times.

And you have a good shot in getting interviewed.

I attended and photographed the second annual International Pillow Fight Day in NYC back in 2007.  I drew the ArtSucks logo on both sides of a pillowcase and sent my girlfriend Molly in to do battle.  She is only 5’2″ but packs a wallop.  That pillow fight day took place at Union Square Park, but I assume they have outgrown that park and have since moved to their current location, Washington Square Park (the one with the arch and the fountain in the Village).  Here are some never before published photos of the insanity:

Thanks to the writing on the pillow it was easy to keep tabs on her in the crowd, well, before all hell broke loose and the fight started and feathers started flying, then not so much.

It’s not a party till some pillows start to get damaged, then it starts to look like a truck transporting chickens exploded.

The match that lights the flame.

This is seriously fun, you will see more people smiling and laughing than you have in a while, and you will be smiling too, even when you are getting clubbed in the head.  It is pure childish fun, and something you don’t get to experience as an adult very often.

The guy wearing a shirt that reads “MEAN PEOPLE SUCK” getting clobbered by a pillow that says Art Sucks.

A pillow fight selfie 🙂

Someone brought a futon mattress to a pillow fight.

I hope you didn’t need to use those lungs.

This guy thought ahead.

This ginger haired girl had a chicken fighting technique of pillow fighting.

Having the height advantage is good, but also makes you a good target.

Guys can ride on shoulders as well, it just takes a little team to get them up there.

He soon becomes just another pillow in the crowd.

Best bet is to wear leather or at least something not wool or a material that feathers like to embed themselves into.  A lesson I learned that day.

As the fight winds down the park looks like a snow globe that has been freshly shaken, and the particles are starting to settle.  People are winded, and their arm muscles (muscles many of them aren’t used to using) are completely spent.

Written and photographed by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

Many thanks to Molly Roberson for taking a pillow beating to get these shots. International Pillow Fight Day was created as a flash mob art project by Newmindspace.

The post It’s International Pillow Fight Day! appeared first on Artiholics.

One of Bushwick, Brooklyn’s homegrown original underground art spots (and the only one named after the Kurt Vonnegut novel) may shut down if they can’t pay their various bills. The bohemian Goodbye Blue Monday is facing eviction by the end of the month if they don’t raise enough funds.

You can help save this legendary hot spot where once underground Brooklyn bands like Vampire Weekend played their first shows.

Matthew Silver

On Thursday, March 20th, performance artist and emcee Matthew Silver starts the weekend with a variety show comedy fundraiser, featuring poetry, music, and many of the eclectic underground acts that make New York City great.

Josh Berkowitz

Cheap drinks, interesting installations, a crazy outdoor space, if you’ve never been here it’s worth checking out. Goodbye Blue Monday has been a cultural staple of the Bushwick community for over ten years. It has the homey vibe, strange but not pretentious feel of what you’d imagine the East Village was like during the beatnik era.

Where else can you party for a good cause and enjoy culture from the home of all kinds of artists, film makers, poets, musicians, and performers?

Crimson Kitty

All weekend long from Thursday March 20th to Sunday the 23rd, there will be cheap fundraisers for the venue. All shows are only a $5 donation at the door. All proceeds go toward saving the space.

• Thursday, March 20th: Comedy Open Mic 9-11pm hosted by performance artist and emcee Matthew Silver.
• Friday, the 21st: Rock Show featuring Kung Fu Crimewave, Abby Rock, Space Meow, more surprise artists.
• Saturday the 22nd: Undiscovered Countries all day theater series. And a rave fundraiser party at night.
• Sunday the 23rd: A rave party fundraiser .

You can donate at the event page, think of it as the pocket change tips you’d give to a busker.

Save Goodbye Blue Monday:

https://www.gofundme.com/7kb6vw
https://www.facebook.com/events/348973351901503/?ref=23

Goodbye Blue Monday
1087 Broadway
Brooklyn, New York 11221

Written and Photographed by Betty T. Kao
Header Artwork by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

The post Party Hard & Save ‘Goodbye Blue Monday’ From It’s Last Sad Farewell appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Friday, February 28, 2014

One of the people in these 25 different family portraits looks familiar.

In 2008 over the course of one year artist Christine Rogers posed for 25 family portraits in mall portrait studios.  Unlike your family portraits where you posed lovingly with your family, she is posed lovingly with strangers who looked like they could be related to her.  She met these people in various malls across America.  Check out the photos from her series “New Family,” and then read the interview, the shots are hilarious, and the story behind the project and the making of it just makes it that much better:

Artiholics: “How did you find these people to pose with you?”

Christine Rogers: “They are strangers in a mall who resembled me.  These are really documentary photos, probably the most documentary work I’ve ever done.”

Artiholics: “So what was your pitch to get strangers to pose with you?”

Artiholics: “How long did it take you to collect all 25?”

Christine Rogers: “I worked on it for a year.  Mostly at various malls in Boston and New Hampshire, some on Las Vegas.  I liked that I spent about a year.  I say it’s ongoing in theory,  we’ll see if i need to make more one day.”

Artiholics: “So each one you have a different outfit?  I love that it spans an entire year and you wear different clothes, it’s not like a fake casting call on one day.”

Christine Rogers: ” Yeah, that was tough I don’t really have a lot of clothes, I had to dig deep.”

Artiholics: “Why did you pick 25?”

Christine Rogers: “I was 25 when i started, it felt like a good number.”

Artiholics: “If you were born into 25 different families and got to the age of 25, this is how your life would have looked – captured in one frame, that makes sense.”

Christine Rogers: “Ha that’s a really nice way of looking at it.  I love those corporate picture studios too because they pose you based on your relationships.  A “husband and wife” have a certain pose, “friends” have a certain pose.  So we sort of instantly believe the relationships to be true because of this form they follow.”

Artiholics: “That is nuts, but psychologically it makes total sense.”

Christine Rogers: “Sometimes the photographer would have no idea and sort of not be able to figure out our relationship just quite, maybe we’re related maybe we’re married maybe he’s my dad? So she’d ask and i’d say, ‘I was thinking father.’ and the guy posing with me would say, ‘NEW WIFE!’ and she’d just look blankly and proceed totally confused.”

Artiholics: “Hah, that’s hilarious!”

Christine Rogers: “They’re very special to me. they’re really the only art object I’ve allowed to cross over into my real life and become sort of special to me on a personal level if that makes sense.  The personal backstory to the project is that I never met my dad, so ever since I was little if a guy looked at me for more than 10 seconds I’d start to wonder if it was my dad coming for me”

Artiholics: “Oh, this really takes the project to another level.”

Christine Rogers: “I made these thinking one of these men could be him.  It started with fathers, and then it evolved, because I would like a sister.  My parent’s divorced when I was 8-months-old and he was not allowed to see us.  I know I must have tons of half brothers and sisters out there that I’ve never met, so they could have been there too. ”

Artiholics: “This has just turned into an UPWorthy project, or something you’d see on Oprah.”

Christine Rogers: “There was always an electric charge with strangers for me because of this unknowing.  There was a wonder about them, magic, or what have you.  Part of it too I guess I wanted to send out a ripple into the universe something that would strike him, or hurt him somehow.”

Artiholics: “So maybe he will see this article and can get in touch with you.”

Christine Rogers: “It’s funny now to say…these are very childlike fantasies I think. Since the time I did this project in 2008 I’ve found out that my dad has died, so these are the closest I’m gonna get to reality.”

To view Christine Roger’s other photography work, including the follow-up project to this work in which she confronts the fact that her father is dead, check out her website https://www.cerogers.net

The post Her Family Portraits Are Just Like Yours… And Yours…And Yours appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Monday, February 17, 2014

On Tuesday, February 4th, at Bizarre in Bushwick, a variety of performance artists paid homage to Marina Abramović. Curated and hosted by Scary Ben, LIMITLESS: A Marina Abramović Tribute was a chewed up stew of pretty things and visceral bloody meat of the human body and the human condition.

Tapping into the esoteric side of performance art, Scary Ben  asked his performers to channel the ideas & influences of Marina Abramović. They reinterpreted her art pieces with their own personal meanings mixed with vaudeville fanfare. “We are the creators of our own limits, and therefore we hold our own power to become without limitations.”

There was a great variety of glitter, glamor, humor, and spectacle. However, the highlight of the evening was the very guttural and vulnerable performance of Melody Jane, in her homage to Lips of Thomas.

In Marina Abramović’s 1975 version of the piece, the artist arrives naked before you. Slowly, spoonful after spoonful, she consumes over two pounds of honey and drinks a liter of red wine. She breaks the glass, carving a pentagram onto her abdomen with a shard, and ends the scene flogging herself numb, as she lay down on a cross of ice, bleeding upon it. It is Abramović’s comment on the love, the denial, and the hedonism of the human body.

The piece reflects on ritual, and how women of power are seen as pagans and witches. Melody Jane begins her seduction as the soft mysterious glow of a glittering burlesque strip tease, seen through a plastic curtain diffusing the lights of the stage. The sheet drops away and she slowly pulls off glittering jewelry, gloves, pasties, undoes her wig.

She takes off her panties, to reveal gauze taped over her vagina. She lights a candle, undoes the bandage, and pulls out a razor blade hidden between the soft cotton and her body. She cuts off a lock of hair off from her head, kneels down and ignites it in an offering ceremony.

The smell of burnt hair pervades the front row. She proceeds to carve a symbol of the heart into her skin, deep enough so it bleeds freely across her chest, down her waist, over her vulva. The same heart can be seen as a tattoo on her right forearm. She holds up a small ceramic dish, taking a pinch of salt, rubbing it into her fresh wound.

She stands still, then moves off of the stage onto a platform where she remains for the rest of the show, her hands holding out a vessel of salt, and a vessel of water. Spectators examine her up close, some taking the salt, sprinkling it onto her. One aroused spectator took it upon himself to smile at her as he aggressively rubbed the salt into her skin with his sausage-like unwashed fingers. I found him a bit more disturbing than the pieces themselves, but hey I hope he appreciates art.

Abramović often let the spectator decide upon the boundaries of spectator and fetish voyeur, and their limits on taking from her, offering her body as the vulnerable object for the audience to love or dismember.

One piece she did was so disturbing that it had to be stopped because the participants were worked up into a violent frenzy, forgetting that Abramović is human, and that there are no tricks here. She does feel the pain, the only difference from you and me and her is only that she is enduring it.

Melody Jane’s piece can also be seen as a nod to Abramović’s Rhythm 0. Performed in 1974, Abramović had 72 objects on a table that people could use in any way that they chose to interact with her. Among the objects were items that could bring pleasure or inflict pain, even death. A rose, a feather, honey, grapes, a whip, scissors, a saw, a gun, and a single bullet were among the items present. The artist endured whatever the audience members did to her, and her body for six hours.

“What I learned was that… if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.” “I felt really violated; they cut up my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the (loaded) gun at my head, and another took it away”– Marina Abramović

There are many things that move us and reasons that bring us together: that strange mixture of vulnerability and strength, and the oddity of someone who is wiling and wanting, to let us watch. That is the magic of the mystic hierophant Abramović. She makes us remember, that our life is not passive, it is moved by a series of our intentions. Disturbing or beautiful, self-made, or allowed to be worked on by participants, our intentions are what we become, are our work of art.

Darlinda Just Darlinda & Karl Giant

Adriana Echandi & Rush Hicks

  Bombazeen Bean, Balkan Erotic Epic. Sex Magik

Kitty KaBoom The Onion

Matt Knife. Johnny Panic. Breathing In/Breathing Out (Death Itself)

Eric Schmalenberger and Kae Burke

Me (Betty T. Kao) and Joe Che.

Gin Minsky and Poppy Tart. Relation in Time

The show also featured works presented by:
Rosabelle Salevey &  Zoe Ziegfeld

Written and Photographed by Betty T. Kao

The post [NSFW] Marina Abramovic Tribute, A Limitless Chewed Up Stew Of Pretty Things, Bloody Meat, And Humanity appeared first on Artiholics.

Macaulay Culkin dead center with the blonde pony tail and beard.

On Wednesday, February 5th, Two Boots celebrated the opening of a new location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (look out Roberta’s). Community leader and owner of the space Phil Hartman (no, not the late comedian) honored the legacy of Driggs Pizza with a star studded celebration in Brooklyn.

Anchovy Warhol.

Pizza Underground entertained the crowd with their beatnik, too cool for school performance ensemble. Alongside with the band, Anchovy Warhol, their patron saint, a parody and homage to Andy Warhol, displayed his video art.

Why yes, that was  Jimmy Fallon, the soon to be host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Starting Feb 17,2014 on NBC), who happened to be bartending for Macaulay Culkin. Why wouldn’t it be? This is New York. Fallon sincerely entertained the crowd with his infectious high-spirited energy. After a hundred dollar bill tip, he cheered the patrons and lifted his fellow bartender friend into the air.

Fallon tending bar and holding court.

Jimmy Fallon hanging with Macaulay Culkin.

Maybe the Welders hanging with Jimmy Fallon

Questlove from The Roots,
DJ Max WoWch and DJ Jaclyn spun sets as party goers rubbed elbows with ?uest Love and former soap opera vixen Jordan Lane Price, among other celebrities hidden throughout the show. Brooklyn-based act, Maybe The Welders, a rock and roll band with an old timey hop sound, danced throughout the crowded back room. Dancer Zuzu Mrozek did a burlesque inspired piece during their set.

Maybe The Welders

A Nicolina Art mural on the walls of the newest Two Boots.

Phil Hartman has long been a supporter of the arts, and a fan of the history of New York. Showing his love for cinema, Two Boots is known for their gourmet pies named after pop culture icons, such as Mr. Pink, Steve Buscemi’s character in the film Reservoir Dogs. For some time Hartman owned the now defunct Pioneer Theater, an underground venue screening art flicks and indie work. They hosted cult following screenings, such as Donnie Darko, along with a talk back with writer and director Richard Kelly. It was a great day to celebrate the arts and what makes New York so special.

Two Boots Williamsburg is now open at 588 Driggs Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Written and Photographed by Betty T. Kao

The post Macaulay Culkin Folks Out & Jimmy Fallon Tends Bar @ The Two Boots Williamsburg Opening appeared first on Artiholics.

With just five days into the Kickstarter campaign, founders Maxwell Bogue, Daniel Cowen and Peter Dilworth got over $1.9 million in pledges and undoubtedly surpassed their goal of only $30,000… (you can see our initial report here).

So, what is the 3Doodler you might ask?

The 3Doodler is a pen which heats up plastic sticks and releases them.  Once the plastic comes out of the pen, it cools really quickly and solidifies into wherever you lead the pen!  This allows you to “draw in 3D”.

Brilliant!

To develop such creative technology, it undeniably takes minds that are programmed to think outside of a box.

So, I got to ask the founders Maxwell, Daniel and Peter exactly how they did it:

What inspired you with the idea to create the 3Doodler pen?  How was it birthed?

The idea came about as we frequently use our own 3D printers for rapid prototyping.  We wanted to see if the process could be sped up and made “freer” by placing the parts of the 3D printer in a pen form.  The first iteration was called the teacup, basically an extruder with a handle.  It worked horribly, but it did work.  The team then added to this, creating a unique cooling mechanism and evolving to the 3Doodler you see today.

Are you developing any new products?  If so, how do you find time to develop them?

Yes, we recently announced some new products at CES.  The first is a holder for the pen, which makes storing the 3Doodler in between doodling easier, while also doubling as a moveable platform to allow you to create larger structures with far less hassle.  3Doodler will also be launching the first in a series of changeable nozzles, allowing users to extrude plastic in different shapes and sizes; as well as DoodleBlocks™; silicon molds that can be easily “filled in” with the ABS or PLA plastic from the pen.  The molds come in various shapes including stars, numbers, and letters, making it effortless to create perfectly shaped objects.

What were your biggest challenges leading up to the launch of the 3Doodler?  And any advice to our readers with product ideas of their own?

Prepare, prepare, prepare.  If you think you have something that could get very big, I’d recommend reaching out to media before the launch.  The idea that you can just throw it up there and see how it does might work for smaller projects, but for something really big, you need to reach out.  Logistics are important as well – you need an idea or a basic plan for how you’re going to deal with the craziness.  If you’re thinking of launching on Kickstarter, talking to a Kickstarter veteran is helpful as well.  I spoke to Joe Schlesinger (of Arcbotics) a lot about the pitfalls he hit with Kickstarter. You’re going to get a ton of emails.  My girlfriend took a few weeks off from work, just to help us answer them.  We had some amazing help to strategize and execute the whole campaign.  In short: it’s really important to prepare completely – have exactly the right hands and brains on deck.  There aren’t really any negative points about our Kickstarter experience – but if we were to give advice for those considering it, we’d say be prepared for the amount of emails and publicity, and try and get back to all enquiries if you can!

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and process with us!  If you would like to purchase your own 3Doodler, check it out here:  www.the3doodler.com

Written by Laura West

The post Into The Minds of the Creators: 3Doodler appeared first on Artiholics.

Imagine if Auguste Renoir and Valerie Solanas had a baby…

Artist Greta Bank‘s show NSFW allowed her to transmogrify Portland, Maine’s SPACE Gallery into an immersive landscape of paintings of the female form, raw building materials, and a wall of diffused light, but that was only part of the fun. She transformed herself as well.

Donning a partial drag persona, she created an alter ego of faux French Impressionist, Gustave Menet.  A “genderfucked” woolly-stilt-walking male artist trope with TITS!  Wielding handmade brushes,  a spirit gummed  gray biker beard fright wig, the titular NSFW Hell’s Angels style jacket, red crotch flowers simulating menstruation, and a bra.. Painting in the middle of a gallery, he/she painted and overpainted the pieces in the show off and on during the course of it’s eight week run last fall.

The experience was documented by filmmaker David Meiklejohn.

SPACE Gallery is located at 538 Congress St., Portland, ME.  Their current exhibition Free For All is an unjuried group show featuring works by a wide variety of artists in a democratic curatorial fashion.

More of Greta’s work can be found on her website: MySecretStudio.com

The project NSFW was funded by The Artists Resource Trust and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post The One NSFW Art Opening You Can Take Your Kids To (Video) appeared first on Artiholics.

It’s a sad day in the acting community as they mourn the untimely death of Oscar winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who passed away this morning from an apparent drug overdose in his West Village apartment.

I was fortunate to have seen him perform on stage as Iago in an avant-garde version of Othello at The Skirball Center for the Performing arts a few years ago.  My girlfriend Molly was working there during the run of the show.  I remember at the time that she said it was funny that he would ride his bike to the theatre every day – while smoking.

Hoffman has played some great roles, here are just a few memorable scenes that come to mind which have cross overs into the fine art world.

How many artists and writers watched Hoffman playing Lester Bangs in Almost Famous and didn’t wish they had a mentor like this.  One who recognized your talent early on, had seen it all, and was there to guide you on your artistic path?

And later having to console William, by explaining that most real artists are “uncool,” which is one of the key catalysts for making great art.

How about his role in Synechodche, New York, a film of Being John Malkovich weirdness where he plays husband to a painter of miniatures, whom after she leaves him receives a theatre grant with an ever expanding budget, creating a life-size replica of his life (and New York City) in a massive warehouse, for a show which is in a constant state of being written.

Or that scene in Along Came Polly where his character takes Ben Stiller’s character to an art opening, which ends abruptly when this happens.

I have long been a fan of Hoffman, and it’s because of him I coined a term “Oxtra”(a word I made up which didn’t get any legs) based on his career. The tongue-in-cheek term comes from the combining of the words Oscar and Extra, and is defined by an actor who wins an Oscar, who was previously a character actor who was essentially an extra for a huge part of their career before breaking away to being a leading man.

OXTRA ORIGINS:

Hoffman was one of the very few character actors who beyond all odds (and by way of his amazing acting ability) propelled himself from being an extra, to being an Oscar winner.  Thus making all of his past film work bumped up from extra to oxtra performances, and as thus they should be re-watched with a new eye.

Few may remember back in the early days of high speed internet there was a humorous website called Fametracker, which lasted from 1999 – 2007.  I enjoyed the site, and one of their more popular sections was titled “Hey! It’s That Guy!” This was an alphabetical list of character actors, and what you would know them from, and why they will never be anything but a character actor.

They had funny metrics as to why their theories held (actor goes by three names, etc.) and I remembered back in 1999 Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of the Hey! It’s That Guy! listings. It stuck out in my mind because I agreed with most of their list, but I thought that he would probably be bigger than just a character actor. Thanks to the Wayback machine, here is the page:

I remember the day Hoffman was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 for Capote I checked Fametracker to see how they would react, if they would eat crow and apologize, and take his name off the list.  Nope, they ignored it.  When he took home the Oscar, they ignored it as well.  They just kept the 1999 summary up.  No wonder their site failed.

Rest in Peace Chubby Gen X flotsam.  You will be missed.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

[via NY POST]

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New York – Wednesday, January 22, 2014

A beauty, and powered much like the Flintstone’s vehicle which gained mobility “courtesy of Fred’s two feet” this will be going nowhere fast if you haven’t eaten your Wheaties.  German artist Hannes Langeder, 45, spent six months and 1,000 hours constructing the life-sized pedal-powered eco-friendly car, which cost €13,000 (£11,000) to build.  A real Porsche GT3 RS runs about £130,000, and also runs on gas.

Let’s look to high end structural engineering and design to see how to modify a recumbent bike into a smoking hot Porsche.  Why would you do this?  You have to really love the look of a Porsche from the outside, yet not give a microcosm of a shit about any other attribute a Porsche might possess.

If you do like Porsche’s this badly,  you must next ask yourself “Can I afford an actual  Porsche?” It the answer is yes, you may want to, buy the Porsche.

I guess there are only a few reasons why you would want to devote countless hours and money to design and craft a prototype bike/Porsche.  Reason number one would be that  you care extremely for the environment.  Your level of care has to be directly proportional to your shallowness towards outwardly  looking good on a surface level.  This would make you a good candidate to want to construct the bike/Porsche.

Reason number two would be if you are part of a Porsche enthusiasts club, but have had your license suspended for DUI.

If either of the above apply, then this may calm down that Porsche hard-on you’ve been tucking behind your waistband since puberty.

***Attn: If you’ve built something this cool, let me know so we can show it off for you.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

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   Large drawings, some over one kilometer in length take shape under Sam’s rake.They can take the form of geometrical patterns, figurative work, or sentences.

“I try to integrate my work in the nature as well as the nature in my work. It’s all natural and disappears in a few hours.”

“I take photos of my drawings before the tide erases them.”

“Then I try to tell another story.”

He has brought his rake and his camera with him to beaches in France, Spain, Morocco, England, the Bailiwick of Jersey, and Bermuda. The best photos are printed in a limited series on brushed aluminum for the grain and light.

But this is just the beginning for him, there are more beaches in distant lands to rake.

Basically every sandy coastline on Earth has the potential for being one of Sam’s canvases, it’s brilliant really.  It’s like an impermanent series of Nazca lines…Now that I’m writing about this I am already dreading the thought of hipsters getting inspired by these pictures, and wanting  to co-opt this concept and invade Rockaway Beach with rakes this Summer.  Please, please, please, if you are reading this and had that thought yourself.  NO…We are on to you.  Be a fucking original.

Learn More on Sam’s Website www.sam-dougados.com and like him on Facebook

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post French Artist Creates Mile Wide Beach Graffiti in The Sand appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – Saturday, January 18, 2014

Very shocking and unfortunate news from the NY art world tonight.  9/11 first responder and fellow Castle Fitzjohns artist Jef Campion, also known in the street art community as Army Of One, has passed away.

“Very, very sorry to receive news this evening that my friend Jef, who many of you knew as Army Of One, died today… Always an encouraging and friendly word, a firefighter and this man did so much charity work particularly for his kids at Ronald McDonald House… Very sad news… RIP, my friend…” — Oh Captain My Captain

Video via  Everyday People Project

In Jef’s own words:

“I was born an Artist, I became a firefighter”,

But it took the tragic events of 9/11/01in NYC to unleash the Artist buried deep within me, and send me back into the Studio , after a global street Art Campaign to raise awareness to the plights of Children put in Harms way through War , Poverty and Disease , and,

Trough the ashes of Ground Zero ,this Artists soul and vision was unleashed,

Prior to 9/11/01,I had packed up my studio and art supplies and was content within the Firefighters ranks,

No Art, No Creative outlet, until the World Trade Center attack.

Through Days into Months spent on the pile at Ground Zero, coupled with the social, political and religious I was now experiencing , I retreated in to a world of PSTD and self destruction , finally realizing that humanity had lost its innocence .

Years of therapy and soul searching , followed by re opening my studio and my first portfolio” Atrophy”

Was born,

“Nearly 10 years After I Quit the Creative field , ” Atrophy” combined with Haunting and emotion stories and visceral Artwork, peeled back layer after decomposing layer of a life less ordinary, a hidden life of Drug ,sex and Alcohol Abuse, a highly dysfunctional upbringing and self destruction hidden deep inside my sub conscious , this Artwork and Writing is meant to awake Primal Emotion in the viewer, welcome to my world ,

The images and writing that make up the portfolio “Atrophy ” are not about 9/11/01 or Firefighting ,my artwork breaches the Tenacity of the human Spirit with survival Under the harshest realms of madness……

Art saved My Life……”

Jef

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”
[Jef Campion portrait and photos by Cojo Art Juggernaut Jef Campion quote via. Castle Fitzjohns Gallery]

The post Breaking Art World News: Army Of One aka Jef Campion is Dead appeared first on Artiholics.

Have you ever heard of an artist named Haddon Sundblom? No? Well you’ve seen his work. You could say he’s one of the most famous character designers ever. He created the iconic Santa we know and love. He based him on Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 Poem “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”. Sundblom had his friend Lou Prentiss, a retired salesman model for the initial painting.

The illustration above was a commission from Coca-Cola for an ad that ran in a 1932 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, and later ran in Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic, The New Yorker and others. Sundblom continued painting Santa for Coke for the next 32 years.

According to Coca-Cola’s : 5 Things You Never Knew About Santa Claus and Coca-Cola:

The Santa Claus we all know and love — that big, jolly man in the red suit with a white beard — didn’t always look that way. In fact, many people are surprised to learn that prior to 1931, Santa was depicted as everything from a tall gaunt man to a spooky-looking elf. He has donned a bishop’s robe and a Norse huntsman’s animal skin.

In fact, when Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus for Harper’s Weekly in 1862, Santa was a small elflike figure who supported the Union.

Haddon Sundbloom painted Santa from 1932 -1964. Coca-Cola advertising continues to feature images of Santa based on Sundblom’s original works. These paintings are some of the most prized pieces in the art collection in the company’s archives department and have been on exhibit around the world, in famous locales including the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Isetan Department Store in Tokyo, and the NK Department Store in Stockholm. Many of the original paintings can be seen on display at World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Ga.

So this holiday season, raise a glass of eggnog (or Coke), or eggnog with rum (or rum and coke) to Haddon Sundblom, the forgotten father of father Christmas (and a freelance illustrator).

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

(via. artiholics via. coca-cola, header photo via. love hate advertising)

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George Zimmerman  (yes, that George Zimmerman) is dabbling in a new hobby standing  other people’s ground…painting.   This 18 x 24 canvas is his first.  It’s the artist’s blue period. He has put it up on eBay, and in a night the bidding war has gotten it up to over 110 K.  I posted a link to this brietbart article about it last night on my facebook page when the bidding was still 99K and change and the reaction from the art community was as you could imagine:

“I’ll hang it next to my Dubya puppies.” – Cartoonist, Kyle Baker

“exit through the gun shop” – Artist, Dave Tree

“SO officially the Movie Art School Confidential was right.” – Painter, Ashli Sisk

What Ashli said was so true.  Watch this scene (above) from the movie Art School Confidential based on the comic by Daniel Clowes

There is a real life question and answer section on eBay which Zimmerman is selectivley responding to. Of the 892 inquiries he has answered 11 (at the time this post was written)

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

(via brietbart via eBay)

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