Thursday, April 15, 2010

Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop: Go See it NOW

Screened at the Core Club last Wednesday and billed as "The World's First Street Art Disaster Movie" this is a movie that makes you happy about art and questioning the state of the art world. In one word: Beautiful!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

3rd Ward


Well the word has been out for some time about 3rd Ward but it took me this long to concur. The guys over there in Brooklyn are cute, and good at what they are doing! My friend David Seigel works there and took me around to see "the shop". My my my...Certainly a lot of good work back there among all those pieces of wood ;)

Carol Taylor's Ex Chronicles


Carol Taylor
Reading and Booksigning
Thursday, April 8, 2010
7:00pm - 9:00pm
McNally Jackson Booksellers
52 Prince Street
New York, NY

PRAISE FOR THE EX CHRONICLES
"It's a familiar premise—four New York City friends navigating the perils of single life. Thankfully, Taylor makes it fresh again in her delicious debut novel." — Publisher's Weekly
"Strong characters and an interesting storyline makes The Ex Chronicles a wonderful debut novel." — Urban Reviews.
"The Ex-Chronicles is a damn good book. I enjoyed it!"
— AALBC.com
"The Ex Chronicles is everything you think it would be, but nothing you’d expect. Yes, it’s steamy and sexy, but it’s also about love. With sixteen years in publishing, Taylor has been in the book game for quite some time, but the recent release of The Ex Chronicles (described as "Sex And The City" meets Waiting to Exhale), is her first time as a novelist." UptownLife.net.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Cy Twombly's Ceiling at the Musée du Louvre, Paris



Cy Twombly: The Ceiling at the Musée du Louvre, Paris

on view beginning March 25, 2010

Selected by a committee of international experts, Cy Twombly is the third contemporary artist invited to install a permanent work at the Louvre: a painted ceiling for the Salle des Bronzes.

The permanent installation of 21st century works at the Louvre, the introduction of new elements in the décor and architecture of the palace, is the cornerstone of the museum's policy relating to contemporary art. This type of ambitious endeavor is in keeping with the history of the palace, which has served since its creation as an ideal architectural canvas for commissions of painted and sculpted decoration projects. Prior to Cy Twombly, the Louvre's commitment to living artists has resulted in invitations extended to Anselm Kiefer in 2007 and to François Morellet for an installation unveiled earlier in 2010, but these three artists also follow in the footsteps of a long line of predecessors including Le Brun, Delacroix, Ingres and, in the twentieth century, Georges Braque.

Twombly's painting is showcased on the ceiling of one of the Louvre's largest galleries, in one of the oldest sections of the museum. It is a work of monumental proportions, covering more than 350 square meters, its colossal size ably served by the painter's breathtaking and unprecedented vision.

Twombly's two best-known trademarks are perhaps the incorporation of passionately scrawled words into his paintings and the energetic use of splashes or drips of vivid colors. In this work, Twombly leaves behind such romantic expressiveness. Here, the visitor discovers an immense blue sky, enlivened by the movements of spheres and punctuated by white insets inscribed with the names of the leading Greek sculptors active in the 4th century: Cephisodotus, Lysippus, Myron, Phidias, Polyclitus, Praxiteles and Scopas.

Twombly's aim was to create a work perfectly in harmony with the architecture and purpose of the space, this huge rectangular gallery housing the Louvre's collection of Classical bronzes. Thus the round shapes can be interpreted as shields, planets, or coins, while the blue background evokes either the sky or the sea.

Although certainly an American artist—Twombly was born in Lexington, Virginia in 1928—he is thoroughly Mediterranean in spirit and has lived in Italy since 1959, making frequent trips to Greece over the years. All of Twombly's work finds inspiration in mythology, in the poetry and heroic figures of Antiquity. The Ceiling is the artist's second commission in France, following the curtain conceived for the Paris National Opera's new flagship theater at the Bastille in 1989. In 2001, Twombly received the prestigious "Golden Lion" award at the Venice Biennale. Commemorating the artist's 80th birthday in 2008, the Tate Modern presented a major retrospective of his work, an exhibition that would travel to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome later that same year and in 2009.

Exhibition curator: Marie-Laure Bernadac, Curator in Charge, Special Advisor on Contemporary Art, Musée du Louvre, assisted by Pauline Guelaud.
Françoise Mardrus, Curator and Interior Design Coordinator, Musée du Louvre

THIS WORK IS MADE POSSIBLE THANKS TO THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE JANET WOLFSON DE BOTTON FOUNDATION. WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY GAGOSIAN GALLERY.

VISITOR INFORMATION
Musée du Louvre
Sully Wing, 1st floor
Salle des Bronze Antiques
Rue de Rivoli
75058 Paris cedex 01
FRANCE
T. +33.1.40.20.50.50
Website: Louvre