Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Ashley Bickerton "Nocturnes" at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Go see what his self-imposed exile to Bali has done for Ashley Bickerton's art. Still working with relationships between men and women in the "me-love-you-long-time" vein, the pieces here are even more polished than in the past, with the appropriation of brand imagery to include his own name, in various fonts and styles, and his signature, as part of the detailing on the frames of the work. Other scratchings on frames and rough treatments suggest a primitivism that is hardly diluted, but rather reinforced, by the high-tech approach and digital imagery, garishly colorful and "alienish" at times, in the work. Gauguin gone mad in the 21st Century?
Until June 25.
Ashley Bickerton
Red Scooter Nocturne, 2010-2011
acrylic, digital print and plastic laminate on wood
65.5 x 76.75 x 5 inches
166.4 x 194.9 x 12.7 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Ashley Bickerton
TITNW 7, 2010-2011
acrylic, digital print and plastic laminate on wood
57 x 96 x 5 inches
144.8 x 243.8 x 12.7 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Monday, May 9, 2011

Christies brings art back into auction previews

It wasn't enough that Christie's had some of the best work on the auction block this season. They had to go and top it off by making the viewing experience over the top in all the right ways; servers wearing white Warhol fright wigs; a photo booth where you could make a picture of yourself, just like Andy Warhol, black sunglasses and all! You have to applaud the idea person behind these little touches which took a great sale preview and brunch, and put it into the annals of history, just like Andy would have liked :)
You can preview the Contemporary and Post War sale at Christies here.


Alexander McQueen @ the Met


The curators of this exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have most definitely tapped the spirit of McQueen to show him at his most genius. The catalog is worth having though it lacks, sadly, an interview with him.

Tony Shafrazi's Three New Exhibitions Was a Star-Studded Event


It was a star-studded evening at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery last week Thursday. Ed Norton, Quincy Jones, Naomi Campbell, Spike Lee and David LaChapelle were just a few of those who turned up for Tony's Revolutionary Film Posters, Vladimir Tatlin and R. Crumb exhibition opening. After all these years in the art world, Tony still gets it right!





Images by Chervine, www.chervine.com