Artist Firsts

Iran Displaying Little Seen Modern Art Masterpieces

2010-06-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

While the work of artists such as Monet, Picasso and Warhol are enjoyed by art-lovers around the world (and many of the artists' images are as recognizable and well-known as McDonald's Golden Arches), the masterpieces of famed Western Artists were not appreciated by the leaders of Iran's Islamic revolution, and thus, they were kept out of view in the nation for decades.

Now, one of the greatest collections of contemporary Western art - put together under a Western-leaning monarchy before the revolution in Iran - is open to the public at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, with some works on display for the first time in over 30 years!

In a land where the US is considered the "great Satan" and where decadent music, movies and other popular culture entities are seen as "Godless," the exhibition is full of Iranian cultural contradictions. (For example, a colorful Roy Lichtenstein bronze portrays a giant glass filled with a fruity cocktail - an uncommon site in Iran, where alcohol is banned).

Visitors entering the museum will first see images of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (picture, above), the founder of the Islamic Republic, and his successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These portraits are compulsory features of all public buildings throughout Iran.

The galleries of the stark concrete museum - built especially to house the collection during the latter years of American ally, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's reign - are works by pretty much every major Western artist of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The exhibition, which runs through the summer, includes French impressionist paintings, Van Gogh lithographs, the self-portrait of Edvard Munch, sculptures by Picasso, Henry Moore and Alberto Giacometti, and more.

The collection contains around 4,000 pieces and has always been stored in good conditions. Furthermore, Iran's authorities have no desire to suppress the exhibiting of the collection, but there is no room in the museum to display the entire collection at once. Hopefully, in the future, the museum will be able to mount theme-based exhibitions, rotating the collection through various schools of art.

Click here to read the entire Washington Post article related to this story.

Jasper Johns Painting Sells for $28.6 Million, Setting Impressive Record for the Artist

2010-05-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday one of Jasper Johns' "Flag" paintings from 1960-66, which had previously belonged to the late Michael Crichton, sold at a Christie's New York postwar and contemporary art auction for $28.5 million. The painting, which sold for nearly double its high estimate of $15 million, marks a very impressive accomplishment for Johns - his highest selling painting to date.

Richard Rossello, a Bryn Mawr, PA-based art dealer of American paintings, purchased the Johns' painting (although it is not known who he bought it on behalf).

Throughout the evening, (Christie's first week of postwar and contemporary art auctions) Americans dominated the buying, as Christie's officials estimate that 75% of the buyers were American. "Flag" was one of 31 works being sold from Crichton's estate. The famed author, who died in November 2008, had met Jasper Johns during the early 1970s and bought the painting directly from the artist in 1974. The fact that the painting had just one owner (and a big named-one at that) - contributed to its high selling price.

Crichton's collection got to know most of the artists whose work he collected - including David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg (image, left). Last week's sale featured works by all of them.

Click HERE to read the entire story from the New York Times (including details about the other works on sale from Crichton's estate as well as information about the auction's high sellers and stats about the sale)

Click HERE to see where Jasper Johns is exhibiting around the world

"Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present" at the MoMA

2010-04-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

NYC's Museum of Modern Art is currently exhibiting a performance retrospective that traces the career of bountiful Yugoslavian artist Marina Abramović. "The Artist is Present" (which runs through May 31st) displays fifty works that span over four decades - including the artist's early interventions and sound pieces, video works, installations, photographs, solo performances and collaborative performance made with Ulay (AKA Uwe Laysiepen).

The exhibition marks three important "firsts" (one for the museum and two for the artist). These include: the first time the MoMA has devoted a retrospective to a living artist; the first live re-performances of Abramović's works by other people ever to be performed in a museum setting; and a new piece by the artist that marks the longest original solo performance Abramović has ever created and executed.

In order to allow visitors the chance the experience the timelessness of the works in the exhibition, all performances in "the Artist is Present" will take place throughout the entire duration of the exhibition - starting before the museum opens each day and continuing until after it closes.

Additionally, a chronological installation of the artist's work will run concurrently (on the sixth floor of the MoMA), revealing different modes of representing, documenting and exhibiting Abramović's ephemeral, time-based and media-based works.

Click here to read more about the exhibition (and to view Abramović's first performance)

Click here for related exhibitions at the MoMA

A New Type of Art Patronage

2010-03-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

The rich and powerful have always expressed a love of expensive art (among other luxuries) and kings / czars / popes (etc) of the past, seemed to have artists on hand to create masterpieces for their wealthy bosses. But Andrew Jeffrey Wright, a punky, independent-minded Philadelphia -based artist devoid of convention, defies the ideas of art patronage.

While Wright admits that his own drawings and paintings are "too expensive for people who don't have that much money," he displays his desire for everyone to have access to his art.

"I love poor people, and not just because I am one- I think poor people have great style and taste," says Wright.

Because of this, the artist recently launched a low-cost subscription series for fans who pay a yearly fee for what he has to offer. Wright's "patrons" are to receive one of every colorful screen print he produces for the calendar year of 2010. The subscription, which includes a guaranteed minimum of twelve prints for each patron, starts at an annual cost of just $300 (and includes shipping and handling).

Wright's excited about the "fun connection" his lower-cost art generates, as he appreciates the people who really like his work (and is happy that they can now enjoy their very own Andrew Jeffrey Wright screen prints).

In addition, Wright is one of the co-creators of Philadelphia's Space 1026, a communal gallery and studio launched in 1997, intended as a ten year experiment. Since its debut, the collective has become known for its innovative (and sometimes wacky) works in photography, video, animation, painting, drawing, collages, zines, performance, sculpture, t-shirts, and screen printing - all of which Wright does handily, with both humor and enthusiasm.

Space 1026, along with Los Angeles gallery owner Justin Van Hoy (who bought one of Wright's pieces at 1026 - but worried about keeping up with the artist after leaving Philadelphia), and Wright's zine-making friend Mark Price (who achieved much success with his "zine-of-the-month" club) are the three contributing factors that inspired the creation of Wright's subscription series.

Last words: the witty and personable Wright says,

"There is no feeling of loss even though I am selling my prints for a lot less money. It creates a connection between me and the people who dig me ... if they feel they are receiving way too many screen prints, they could use some as currency - go into a five-star restaurant and pay for a meal. Or book a trip to Paris..."

Read the entire article about Wright and his Subscription Series here.

Michail Pirgelis' First Solo Show in Berlin

2010-02-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

German-born artist Michail Pirgelis, who grew up in Greece, is currently exhibiting his first solo exhibition in Berlin at Sprüth Magers Berlin. The exhibition, called ‘Ακρόπολης – Acropolis,’ includes sculptures and objects based on (and made from) original airplane parts.

Pirgelis collects airplane parts, salvaging them from scrap yards around the world. His Berlin exhibition displays seven new objects – plus two sculptures from his 2009 “Airsaddles” series. Some of his new works include brightly polished outer fuselage sections, which casually hang from the gallery wall and a series of baggage storage compartments, which have been transformed into loudspeaker towers.

Through cutting, collaging, highlighting, covering and polishing, the artist transforms his rescued pieces, which have escaped their ill-fated destiny of ending up as scrap metal, into elaborate sculptures. Upon completion, each piece’s rejuvenation represents the once-evident prominence of aviation (which has seemed to disappear due to today’s mass air transportation).

Likewise, Pirgelis’ creations surpass issues plaguing the airline industry and airplanes today – those of safety, terrorism, and ecological effects – and touch on themes of technology and how humanity works with and transforms materials, turning them into masterful marvels, like airplanes.

This powerfully intriguing exhibition is on display through April 1, 2010.

Read more about the artist, his exhibition and artwork.

See what else is going on in Berlin's Art Scene

Nicky Philipps Paints the First Double Portrait of Princes William and Harry

2010-01-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

London's National Portrait Gallery recently revealed the first (official) double portrait of Princes William and Harry of Wales. Painted by artist Nicky Philipps, the candid-like portrait shows the royal brothers engaging in conversation while wearing their Household Cavalry uniforms.

The artist hoped to capture William and Harrys' "brotherly banter." The juxtaposition of regal charm - the Princes in their royal military garb - and everyday normalcy - the brothers engaging in relaxed conversation - give the portrait a welcomed balance.

Philipps remarked that the Princes were "good company," and Sandy Nairne, the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, stated

The first portrait of the Princes captures them formally dressed, but informally posed. It is a delightful image which extends the tradition of royal portraiture."

Click here to read more about this topic.

William Klein's Never-Before-Seen Fashion Photos Exposed in New Book

2009-12-29T11:59:00.000-08:00

Artist William Klein, who arrived in Rome in 1956 and wandered around the city with film director Federico Fellini, poet Pier Paolo Pasolini, novelist Alberto Moravia, and other avant-garde Italian writers and artists, masterfully photographed images of the city and the fashionable men and women who inhabited Rome. Klein's visual displays were published in an a book that featured the artist's observations and descriptions (via extended captions) as well as quotes and statements about Rome by some of the world's most famous writers.

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Rome book's 1959 release, the Aperture Foundation and Contrasto are collaborating to publish a revised version. The new edition includes two volumes of many never-before-seen fashion photos that Klein had taken while in Rome and text updated by the artist. The book introduces society's newest generation of photography lovers to Klein's daring and experimental work (which, during the 1950s and 60s, shocked the art world) and today still captivates viewers and inspires creative thinking.

To read the ArtDaily article associated with this post, click here.

"Six Decades" of Kazuo Shiraga at McCaffrey Fine Art

2009-12-08T11:46:00.000-08:00

McCaffrey Fine Art is currently displaying Japanese artist Kazuo Shiraga's first ever solo show in the US. The exhibition, titled "Six Decades," shows paintings by the distinguished artist who uses the style of "foot painting" in his work.

A style often associated with artists who cannot use their hands (or whose hands have been amputated or otherwise destroyed), Shiraga says he first experimented with this method in order to go beyond (the already complex) style of Abstract Expressionism. He has used foot art since the 1950s (hence the title of the exhibition).

The avant-garde artist sought inspiration from Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Yves Klein and Jackson Pollock during the 50s - but developed his own unique methods of placing large sheets of paper on the floor, then sliding, spinning, and swirling his feet into heaps of boldly colored oil paint and letting his feet and mind create masterful paintings.

Although the artist's work has been included in various museums' surveys of Japanese Art throughout the United States in the past few decades, he has remained largely unknown in the American Art World until now. The current exhibition at McCaffrey Fine Art also accompanies the first in-depth publication on Shiraga's work in English.

To read more about the artist, his influences, and past exhibitions, click here.

Alejandro Corujeira's New York Debut

2009-11-20T12:39:00.000-08:00

Internationally acclaimed Argentine painter, Alejandro Corujeira, will debut his first New York show at Marlborough Gallery. The artist, who now lives in Madrid, creates abstract works that mix curvy lines, subdued colors, and layers of transparency. His paintings radiate a calming - almost trance like - effect on those who are drawn to the soothing nature of his creations.

The artist's use of earth tones and pale blue and green hues gives many of Corujeira's paintings in his new exhibit a unique essence, which is precisely what the artist strives for. As he states in a recent article from Art Daily,

“In this painting ["El comienzo" or The Beginning ... ] there is a sinuous plane, organic in nature, which is left suspended over the surface; with the colored lines, energies of tinted light, causing it to palpitate permanently in a respiratory rhythm.” "Melodías inventadas" (Invented Melodies) ... is invested with a similar vibrating energy. Here graphite circles move like cells over the surface of the painting, seemingly attempting to settle upon pale red and green lines and producing, in the artist’s words, a continual movement like an audible impression.

Check out Corujeira's first NY solo show - which promises to be a welcoming and calming display - from November 19th until December 19th.

Above Images ( "Álbum de los días" and "El comenzio," respectively) courtesy of Marlborough New York

Glenn Barr's First Solo Show in Seven Years: Old Style/ New Style/ Creative Mix

2009-10-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Artist Glenn Barr, who worked on Nickelodeon's "Ren and Stimpy Show" in the mid-1990s and was one of two artists from Detroit's 1990s underground art scene to make it big, will be presenting his first local show in seven years. Barr is most known for his surrealist and noir-styled paintings and prints, but along with his re-emergence comes the added style of lighter, more realistic works.

As mentioned in an article from the Detroit News:

"When I started out, my work was irreverent, campy, erotic, alluring and somewhat dangerous in theme," Barr says, as if that's all safely in the past. But even a cursory look at his new stuff suggests the continuing vitality of those themes...

...By contrast, Barr's recent, realistic works spring from the mythic realm of vintage advertisements and noir paperbacks -- and more recently the folk art decorating the sides of Detroit beauty salons.

It's this move into realism that tickles Tom Thewes, who carried Barr's work at Detroit's late C-Pop Gallery until it closed earlier this year. In particular, Thewes points to "Evening," a tension-filled work in which a well-dressed man helps a woman into her fur coat.
"It's beautiful and in the vein of an old 1950s illustration," Thewes says, noting that Barr collects old illustrations by the masters. "There was a whole story there that didn't need all kinds of crazy weird creatures. I loved it."

Barr does continue to use his darker creativity to produce the quirky noir works that everyone associates him with, and his approach of combining elements from his old and new styles create an innovative mix of art worth seeing.

Exhibition Details:

Start Date/ Time:

October 28, 2009 at 6:00pm

End Date/ Time:

November 27, 2009 at 9:00pm

Location:

323East Gallery
323 E. Fourth St
Royal Oak, MI

Tel: 248-246-9544

For the little ones

2009-10-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

I previously wrote about the Lascaux cave paintings on this blog, so imagine my delight when I came across this precious children's book over the weekend. First Painter by Dawn Sirett tells a fantastically fictional tale of how the first cave paintings were created. I know that it's well, a little more "youth-geared" than most of my recommendations, but it's never too early to create an art lover!

America through the eyes of its first painters

2009-09-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

An interesting new book was published this year that examines the first years of America through the portrait artists that documented the great politicians of the time. The Painter's Chair, by Hugh Howard, chronicles George Washington's relationship with these artists.

When George Washington was born, the New World had virtually no artists. Over the course of his life and career, a cultural transformation would occur. Virtually everyone regarded Washington as America's indispensable man, and the early painters and sculptors were no exception. Hugh Howard brings to life the founding fathers of American painting, and the elusive Washington himself, through their evolving portraits. We meet Charles Willson Peale, the comrade-in-arms; John Trumbull, the aristocrat; Benjamin West, the mentor; and Gilbert Stuart, the brilliant wastrel and most gifted painter of his day.

Howard's narrative traces Washington's interaction with these and other artists, while offering a fresh and intimate portrait of the first president. The Painter's Chair is an engaging narrative of how America's first painters toiled to create an art worthy of the new republic, and of the hero whom they turned into an icon.

Dennis Hopper and his new billboard paintings

2009-09-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

From NYMag:

Before his self-directed performance in 1969's Easy Rider made him the Dennis Hopper you know, he was but a promising young photographer documenting the sixties in all its cinematic glory. On display at Shafrazi through October 24 is his new show, "Sign of the Times," a collection of Hopper's pre-'67 photos of Warhol, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, and other twentieth-century art-world luminaries, along with a dozen of his never-before-seen "billboard paintings." Vulture spoke with Hopper this week about the show, his career, and a job opening at the Vatican.

click here to read the interview

Painting her son's final images of Iraq

2009-08-27T08:00:00.001-07:00

Typically, this site is devoted to posts about artists' first endeavors, or breakthrough moments in art history, but I was really moved by an article I recently read in the Los Angeles Times that may be more appropriately categorized as a "last". Suzy Shealy, the mother of a soldier who lost his life in Iraq, is painting images of the last things her son saw in his short life. An excerpt of the heart-wrenching story is below:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Suzy Shealy was one of those preppy Southern moms whose artistic streak found expression in what she calls "crafty-type things": cross-stitched towels, Christmas ornaments, knitted scarves.

It was stuff to give away at school auctions or offer to neighbors, stuff with little hearts and frills, the comforting, precious visual language of mother-love.

Yet here she was on a balmy June afternoon, in a studio overlooking a yard full of petunias and marigolds, painting the kill-or-be-killed scowl of an American soldier patrolling on the streets of Iraq.

Whish-whish went her brush, and as if by magic, the planes and angles of the soldier's bones emerged from a light haze of grayish paint: gun-metal cheekbones and nostrils flared and fierce. She outlined the suggestion of a right arm, and a hand clutching an M-16 assault rifle.

The snapshot she painted from was attached to the canvas with a potato-chip clip from her kitchen. In the photo, a second soldier hovered in the background, his torso emerging from a Humvee turret.

But Shealy will not paint her dead son. She is not ready.

"I'm just not," she said. "I don't know why."

Some of Sgt. Joseph Derrick's personal belongings were returned to his family in boxes. Some of it came back in little velvet jewelry bags with "UNITED STATES ARMY" embossed in golden letters. His mother has kept nearly everything, no matter how trivial: the phone card he used to call her from Baghdad, his cellphone, his boot laces, his civilian clothes.

A mother learns that every one of her children has a signature scent. The old T-shirts and sweats still smell like her first child. She can still picture him the day he was born -- those perfect hands and perfect feet, those big blue eyes. How could she throw his things away?

Among the belongings that came back from Iraq was a tiny Flash drive she had sent to him as part of a care package. It returned to her filled with more than 500 photos. Some of them were taken by Joseph. Others were taken by his fellow soldiers. Before Sept. 23, 2005 -- before the insurgent sniper fired the bullets that pierced his neck -- Joseph had told her about the pictures. He couldn't wait, he had said, to come home and deliver the stories that the pictures promised. But without their narrator, Shealy found that the photos amounted to a chain of riddles. An eternally incomplete slide show.

Click here to keep reading the story

Chagall's first artwork

2009-08-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Marc Chagall, the painter associated with Modernism and France, was actually born Moishe Segal to a Russian-Jewish family in 1887. At the time of his childhood, Jewish students were not admitted to Russian schools. However, with a bribe to an official, Chagall's parents managed to get him access to attend, where he fell in love with drawing.

It makes perfect sense that, considering Chagall's contribution as a Jewish artist, his first artwork ever created was an illustrated Haggadah for Passover (a text that details the order of events for Seder) for his family. I couldn't seem to find any images of his particular Haggadah... perhaps it's still in his family and not on public view?

"Damien Hirst's auction" or "Hirst rhymes with first"

2009-08-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since Damien Hirst's infamous auction took place at Sotheby's in London. Hirst is an interesting figure in the art world - his splashy work and astronomical prices have earned him a spot as one of the most loved and despised artists in the world. September 15, 2008, Sotheby's held a special two day sale of works by Hirst, which is nothing rare (I joke). However, it was incredibly rare, in fact the first time that a set of work went straight from an artist's studio to the auction block - no galleries, no exhibit, no public display. It was sensational. It angered many. It made a lot of people smile, and a lot more people curse his name.

Agnes Denes

2009-08-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

The artist Agnes Denes, known for her "Whatfield - A Confrontation" in Manhattan, created a piece entitled "Tree Mountain - A Living Time Capsule" between 1992 and 1996. The drawings and renderings were the beginning of a project that the Finnish government would make as their Earth Day contribution at the Earth Summit. Denes invited 11,000 people to each plant a tree on a mountain, using a mathematical pattern. This marked "the first time that an artist has been commissioned to restore environmental damage with an artwork that is global in scale, international in scope, and unsurpassed in duration."

keep reading

Hong Kong artists at Sotheby's auction

2009-07-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

This past Spring auction of contemporary Asian art at Sotheby's was the very first time that an auction house had a series dedicated specifically to Hong Kong artists.

From Art Radar Asia:

"The artworks are concerned with significant historical Hong Kong events including the 1997 Handover of the British colony to China, the 2003 SARS epidemic and the annual July 1st protests as well as the experience of living in Hong Kong’s cramped urban cityscape.

All of the lots were sold at estimate or more. Kum Chi Keung, Kevin Fung and the Kowloon Emperor achieved sale prices which were double or several multiples of the estimate."

Kum Chi Keung

John Fung, Kin Chung

Herb and Dorothy

2009-07-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw an amazing film - Herb & Dorothy - at Cinema Village. I must say that I was in tears for much of it - so sweet!

Anyway, the movie documents the married couple Herb and Dorothy Vogel - unlikely but very prolific art collectors. Living on goverment incomes, they amassed an amazing and significant art collection that they housed in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment for years, until donating most of it to the National Gallery of Art. Because they were willing to schlep downtown to "dangerous" neighborhoods, they often got work for very cheap from emerging artists and developed relationships with artists - they traded with Sol LeWitt for one of his first geometric works. Their story is moving and beautiful - a love story - they loved each other and loved art - unlovable art. Whether you are an artist, a collector, or just are an interested person, definitely go see this movie. Click here for theatres and showtimes.

HERB & DOROTHY Trailer from Herb & Dorothy on Vimeo.

Ross Bleckner - UN Goodwill Ambassador

2009-07-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

(Photo: Anna Rosario Kennedy/United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)

This year Ross Bleckner was named the first fine artist to be a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Long known for his abstract paintings and work about AIDS, Bleckner recently went on an official trip to the Uganda district of Gulu, where abduction and human trafficking has traumatized the people.

Using supplies shipped over from New York Central Art Supply, Bleckner worked with 25 children to create over 200 paintings. The work was exhibited and sold at a UN exhibition. Bleckner plans to return to Uganda and continue the project next year.

Click here to see the NY Times slideshow featuring the children's work

Below is an excerpt from the very moving speech given by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the opening of the exhibition:

I imagine many of you are invited to more fabulous parties in more glamorous locations. But you are here this evening because you care about the issue of human trafficking. And you understand the profound contribution that Ross Bleckner is making through his work.

Today, Ross Bleckner will make history by becoming the first fine artist to be named as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. I welcome him to our family and I hope many others follow.

His tremendously powerful exhibition, “Welcome to Gulu”, proves that art has a unique and important mission in advancing peace and human rights. With his eye, Mr. Bleckner has been able to show the world a side of human trafficking that a diplomat never could. I have my role to play in fighting the horrendous abuse of children we see in northern Uganda and elsewhere. But only an artist as visionary and compassionate as Mr. Bleckner could allow the victims to express themselves so eloquently.

Their paintings show that, although they have endured terrible forms of abuse, these children retain a purity and love of life that are the birthright of all youth. Only art -- the kind of empowering art that Mr. Bleckner has facilitated through this life-changing project -- can offer such a profound perspective.

It is vital that we shine a harsh light on the terrible trade in humans. I recently reported to the Security Council on the extent of this problem. I listed parties that are recruiting children to fight in conflicts, and abusing girls as sexual slaves. We call this “name and shame”. I urged the Security Council to take action against those guilty of these atrocities.

At the same time, I am all-too-aware of the limits of my office. Naming and shaming are critical to confronting perpetrators. Punishing them is essential to fighting the culture of impunity. But none of that will truly heal the boy who has been forced not only to witness killings but to commit them, or the girl who has suffered multiple rapes.

That is why I so deeply appreciate Mr. Bleckner’s contributions. He has done more than just expose a problem -- he has taken steps towards solving it. For him, the victims are not just poster children trotted out to show the devastation caused by human trafficking. They are people with full rights, talents and aspirations. They are speaking in their own voices, painting their own images and healing in the process.

I was delighted to learn that proceeds from the sale of these powerful paintings, and from Mr. Bleckner’s compelling portraits, will benefit former child soldiers and abducted girls.

Two years ago, my wife opened another exhibition sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] here at United Nations Headquarters, called “Human Trafficking: Images of Vulnerability”. She decried the trade in people, and she said, “Thanks to this exhibit, it is staring us in the face.”

Then she called for action. “Let us not just look at these pictures and walk away”, she said. “Let us be moved to act.”

There was an artist in the audience that day who took those words to heart. His name is Ross Bleckner, and we see today the results of his passionate activism.

So I repeat the words my wife spoke then: Let us be moved to act. You may not have the same painting skills as Mr. Bleckner, but each and every one of you can make a difference in your own sphere of influence.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is showing the way through its invaluable activities. By supporting UNODC, we can stop human trafficking so that the people who are today in shackles can tomorrow be free to contribute to a better world for all.

NASA's first (and maybe last) artist-in-residence

2009-07-10T09:25:00.001-07:00

I recently wrote about our first "space artist", and so I was really excited to come across this NY Times article about Laurie Anderson's stint as NASA's first artist-in-residence...

Your new one-woman show, ''The End of the Moon,'' is based on your stint as an artist in residence at NASA. Why would a performance artist known for her iconoclasm want to visit mission control in Houston?

As sad as I am about being in the United States these days, NASA is genuinely exciting. I keep thinking what it would be like to be a kid in this country. I think it would be really depressing, except for NASA.

Did you want to be an astronaut when you were growing up?

No. Although I could definitely imagine myself floating in space, I didn't want to become an astronaut. Driving those golf carts around on the moon seems a little geeky. Also, astronauts are constantly busy, and I didn't want to have that much to do.

Most other people see astronauts as figures of smoldering romance who rank right up there with cowboys and other American pioneers. Did you get to spend any time with astronauts?

I met many astronauts, and they seemed so out of place. They were given jobs around mission control, but they were living to be in space, and all their conversations were about the next time maybe they were going to go.

Since you don't identify with astronauts, what moved you to spend a year at NASA?

I like the scale of space. I like thinking about human beings and what worms we are. We are really worms and specks. I find a certain comfort in that.

You were NASA's first artist in residence and perhaps its last.

I think there is a lot of animosity between Congress and NASA right now. I heard that someone in Congress was looking through the budget, and the artist-in-residence program got scratched out.

An Historical First

2009-07-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

The 81-year-old artist Artis Lane made history several months ago when a sculpture she made debuted at the U.S. Capitol. The bust of Sojourner Truth, a former slave and activist, is the first sculpture of a black woman at the Capitol.

From the LA Times:

"The world's coming around to seeing black as beautiful," Lane said in an interview at her home in Los Angeles' Fairfax district. "When I came up, they were laughing at darker people."

The campaign to memorialize Truth in the nation's Capitol began more than a decade ago. A self-educated abolitionist who changed her name from Isabella Baumfree, Truth played a large role in the women's suffrage movement and in 1851 delivered the famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at a women's rights convention in Ohio.

Truth, who died in 1883, "encompassed all aspects of a truly free woman," Lane said. "She personified women's rights, equal rights . . . the struggling and understanding that was taken away from us because of slavery."

E. Faye Williams, chair of the nonprofit National Congress of Black Women, which commissioned the work, said many believed that Truth should stand alongside women's rights figures Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott in a portrait monument that was placed in the Capitol Rotunda in 1997.

Congressional legislation to include Truth in that group failed, Williams said. But Congress approved a bill in 2006 to memorialize the black suffragist in a stand-alone sculpture. Williams said Lane was the first choice to produce the work.

Michelangelo's first painting

2009-06-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC is what experts believe to be Michelangelo Buonarroti's first painting, The Torment of Saint Anthony. The painting was made between 1487 and 1488, which would make Michelangelo only 12 years old. Michelangelo used to visit the studio and workshop of Ghirlandaio to visit his lifelong friend, Francesco Granacci, an apprentice for the painter. The shop is most likely where Michelangelo acquired his first materials and became fascinated with art. This painting of his is completely astonishing, and to think that he was only a child when it was created simply knocks me off my feet. I'm sure the images don't even do it justice, so I am definitely heading over there to see it soon.

From the Met:

Like many boys then and now, Michelangelo loved monsters. He loved them so much, he made them the stars of his first painting, “The Torment of Saint Anthony,” which he copied from an engraving by Martin Schongauer (1448-14910) the way kids today copy scenes from comic books.

Visit the Michelangelo show at the Met

or read the Examiner article about Michelangelo's first painting

First Family gets some new art

2009-06-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Obamas have borrowed Ed Ruscha's "I Think I'll..." (1983) from the National Gallery

President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama are shaking things up in D.C. in more ways than one. Besides being the first black Presidential family, the Obamas are changing out the artwork in the White House.

Currently, the White House is full of Hudson River School paintings, landscapes, and the like. The Obamas, supporters of the arts, are actively seeking out modern and contemporary work made by women, Latinos, Asian, and African-American artists. It is said that they have a "wish list" of about 40 artists that they would like to see in their home, and are contacting museums and galleries to borrow the work.

Read more about the Obama artwork shakeup:

• Changing the Art on the White House Walls from The Wall Street Journal

• Listen to "Yes We Can Be More Artistically Inclusive" from WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show

• Art Goes to the Obama White House from Time

First photographs

2009-06-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Although people were experimenting with primitive photography techniques, pin-hole cameras, camera obscuras, etc. for centuries, the first permanent photograph is said to have been created around 1825 by Nicéphore Niépce. Niépce referred to this type of images as heliographs (sun writings). Using a plate coated in bitumen, he exposed the plated with a camera obscura over an 8-hour period. After he washed the plate with lavender oil, the View from the Window at Le Gras appeared.

Currently, the original plate is on display at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, at the University of Texas at Austin.

First Oil Paintings

2009-06-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Just last year scientists discovered what are being described as the world's first-ever oil paintings. Much like the Lascaux paintings, these were found on caves, however in Afghanistan. The findings prove that oils had been used in Asia hundreds of years earlier than in Europe.

From CNN:
Scientists found the murals in a network of caves where monks lived and prayed in the Afghan region of Bamiyan, according to a statement on the Web site of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, where the ancient paintings were analyzed.

Until 2001, two colossal 6th-century statues of Buddhas stood at the mouth of the caves. Then the Taliban, which then ruled Afghanistan, blew up the statues on the grounds that they were un-Islamic. The action drew international condemnation.

Inside the caves, scientists found murals painted in the 7th century. They show images of Buddha in vermilion robes sitting cross-legged amid palm leaves and mythical creatures.

In 12 of 50 caves, the murals were painted using drying oils -- perhaps from walnuts and poppy seeds -- the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility said.

Its findings on the age of the oil paintings were published this week in The Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.

"This is the earliest clear example of oil paintings in the world," said Yoko Taniguchi, leader of the team of scientists.

keep reading about the first oil paintings...

our first space artist

2009-06-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

This summer, 40 years after Neil Armstrong walked his first steps on the moon, "space artist" Alan Bean will exhibit a group of his paintings in a show entitled Alan Bean: Painting Apollo, First Artist on Another World at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Alan Bean was the fourth man to walk on the Moon in 1969 (with Apollo 12). After working with NASA for 18 years as an astronaut, Bean retired so that he could focus on his painting.

The Smithsonian, heralding Bean as the first "space artist", says, "Displaying both art and artifacts, this exhibition weaves the technology of one of humankind’s greatest achievements with an artist’s firsthand account of a new frontier."

Opening Thursday, July 16, 2009
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The National Mall
Independence Ave at 6th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20560

Tiptoeing on the Ocean of Storms, 1982, acrylic on masonite

Kissing the Earth, 1994, acrylic on masonite

Nam June Paik

2009-05-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Nam June Paik is considered to be the world's first video artist, as well as the first video artist to break many boundaries.

Born in South Korea in 1932, Paik was an American artist working from the 1960s until his death in 2006. A participant in Fluxus as well, Paik's contribution to the art world and to future generations is unparalleled.

Visit the official website here

A video about Paik:

Some images of his work:

thanks goodness for gutenberg!

2009-05-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Gutenberg Bible is widely considered to be the first book ever printed using a printing press (it is not the very first, but the first major work). Completed in the fifteenth century (1455) by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, the book is also referred to as the Mazarin Bible. Currently, there are 48 Gutenberg Bibles (of the 42-line variety) in existence in the world, with eleven of them in the United States.

Each copy of the Gutenberg is unique, due to the hand work it took to complete the illuminations of the books. The illuminated manuscripts are quite beautiful (I have spent quite a lot of time with one of them), and the colors are remarkably still vibrant.

Because of Gutenberg's work, books were now widely distributable and easier to acquire, beginning the "Age of the Printed Book."

Sadie Benning at the Whitney

2009-05-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Whitney Museum of American Art's first floor gallery is currently home to Sadie Benning's stop-animation Play Pause. Benning was first shown at the Whitney in 1993 at the biennial, when she was only 20, and once again at the 2000 biennial.

Benning, aside from being a former member and cofounder of the band Le Tigre, is most known for her films. As a young girl growing up in Milwaukee, she was given a gift by her father (experimental filmmaker James Benning) - a Fischer-Price PXL-2000 - the PixelVision. She began recording herself and making short films concerning adolescence and sexual identity. She continued to use the PixelVision at times, even when other cameras became available to her, as her signature style - as it added a sense of authenticity and grittiness to the shots.

Her current show at the Whitney marks her 3rd time at the Whitney, as she returns to the site of her 1st Biennial.

Benning has received grants and fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, Andrea Frank Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts, and Rockefeller Foundation. Awards include Wexner Center Residency Award in Media Arts, National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture Merit Award, Grande video Kunst Award, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle Award. She received her M.F.A. from Bard College. Her videos are distributed by Video Data Bank.

Dan Graham at MOCA

2009-05-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Dan Graham on Los Angeles from MOCA LA on Vimeo.

Dan Graham: Beyond is the first North American retrospective of the art of Dan Graham (b.1942, Urbana, Illinois), examining his entire body of work in a focused selection of photographs, film and video, architectural models, indoor and outdoor pavilions, conceptual projects for magazine pages, drawings and prints, and writings. Graham has been a central figure in the development of contemporary art since the 1960s—from the rise of minimalism, conceptual art, and video and performance art, to explorations of architecture and the public sphere and collaborations with musicians and the culture of rock and roll. This exhibition traces the evolution of his practice across each of its major stages, while asserting ongoing themes, most notably, the changing relationship of the individual to society as filtered through American mass media and architecture at the end of the 20th century. Dan Graham: Beyond is co-curated by Bennett Simpson, MOCA associate curator, and Chrissie Iles, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Following its presentation in Los Angeles, the exhibition will tour nationally to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Dan Graham: Beyond will be accompanied by a fully illustrated, scholarly catalogue.

Khalif Kelly - First museum show

2009-05-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

Recent Yale M.F.A. graduate Khalif Kelly will have his first museum exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art this month. Entitled Khalif Kelly: Electronicon, the work will be displayed in Project Room 1 of the Museum from May 16 - August 22, 2009.

Kelly's work, brightly colored paintings, resonate with images of cartoon-like children in various states of play. Heavily drawing upon artists like Jacob Lawrence and early video games and animation, Kelly "creates scenes that on closer inspection reveal a mixture of personal archetypes and classic racial stereotypes."

Khalif Kelly was born in 1980 in Texas. He received a B.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, his M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Art, and lives and works in New Haven, CT and New York. He shows with Thierry Goldberg Projects in New York. He is a participant in the Artist Pension Trust.

press release

JJ Peet's first NYC solo show

2009-05-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

JJ Peet, The TV Show
On Stellar Rays
133 Orchard Street
April 5 - May 10, 2009

Anne Wehr reviews the show for Frieze:

Few exhibitions reward careful scrutiny and repeat visits as much as JJ PEET’s ‘The TV Show’ at On Stellar Rays does, where the dozen sculptures that occupy the main gallery are just the tip of the iceberg. His smallish assemblages of found items and repurposed materials resemble an apocalyptic strain of folk art, and are constructed in a provisional manner, stacked or held together with rubber bands or caulking as if to assure maximum flexibility for future disassembly and reuse. Many bear anthropomorphic touches, like Luxury Leader Voodoo Doll (2009), a meager little character with a crudely drawn pair of glasses for a face and a withered carrot for a body, attached with a black shoestring to a scrap of wood.

To see the entire review click here.

Lascaux cave paintings

2009-04-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

Located in southwestern France, Lascaux is the site of several cave paintings widely regarded to be some of the earliest artworks discovered to date. The works were accidentally discovered in teh 1940s by teenage boys. After hundreds of visitors a day partially destroyed the works by simply exhaling their carbon dioxide, the caves were closed so that the paintings could be restored to their previous glory.

The majority of the paintings are of animal figures, and the site has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Full of mysticism and black mold, the caves have continued to be a constant source for speculation, and restricted access.

Picasso and Hirst's Firsts

2009-04-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

Picasso's first Cubist work, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)

Damien Hirst's first major dead animal work, A Thousand Years, 1990

First retrospective of the photographer Liselotte Grschebina

2009-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Woman with a Camera: Liselotte Grschebina
April 5 to June 28, 2009
Martin-Gropius-Bau

The Martin-Gropius-Bau presents the first retrospective of the avante-garde photographer Liselotte Grschebina (1908–1994). The exhibition features 100 photos taken by the relatively obscure artist in Germany and Palestine between 1929 and the 1940s.

Grschebina’s life was similar to other artists at the time who were living in Weimar Germany and trying to create work under the impending Nazi regime. Her work exemplifies the energizing spirit of cultural innovation during the time of the Weimar Republic, as well as the golden age of photography when artists were just beginning to see the potential with the medium.

Born in Germany, the artist was forced to leave her home in 1934 when she immigrated to Palestine and opened a studio in Tel-Aviv. Grschebina’s talent developed without major recognition until after her death, when a hidden body of work was discovered by her son in his apartment. In 2000, he gave the entire archive – including some 1,800 photographs – to the Israel Museum.

The current retrospective at the Martin-Gropius-Bau reveals the art of a young woman who in the period of the Weimar Republic was inspired by the New Sobriety (Neue Sachlichkeit). The Neue Sachlichkeit was distinguished by clarity of form and structure and the beauty of simple things. At the same time it had a documentary character, which concentrated on the essence of an object. Grschebina developed this style further in her new home in Palestine and integrated her work with that of the influential group of German photographers, who came with the fifth wave of immigration and settled mainly in Tel Aviv.

Pop Artist James Rosenquist's First Break

2009-04-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Photo of James Rosenquist in his Aripeka, Florida studio, 1988. Photo by Russ Blaise

The American painter James Rosenquist is one of the protagonists of the pop-art movement. It's interesting to trace his past as a billboard painter and events leading up to his first one-man show in 1962 at Richard Bellamy's Green Gallery.

The following article by Alexi Worth was published in Artforum in 2002.

JAMES ROSENQUIST, a headstrong twenty-two-year-old from Minneapolis, arrived in New York in 1955. After a year at the Art Students League his money ran out, so he took a job as a chauffeur for a wealthy couple who provided room and board, along with a studio where he could make his smeary impastoed abstractions. It was a comfortable situation-no expenses, plenty of time to paint--and it's easy to imagine a young artist settling into it. But Rosenquist was restless. In Minnesota he had worked summers painting billboards; now he applied to Local 230 of the International Sign and Pictorial Painters Union and got his first assignment, painting a Hebrew National Salami ad on Flatbush Avenue.

For the next three years he worked all over the city. In a union dominated by middle-aged Italians, he was an oddball. Glaringly young, blond, and disproportionately talented, he rose quickly to become head painter. Surviving photographs of Rosenquist on scaffolding have a Tom Sawyerish glamour, but in fact the work was repetitive and dangerous. In 1959, after two painters fell to their death, Rosenquist quit and rented a studio in Coenties Slip, on a now all but vanished three-block strip that has been called Manhattan's Bateau-Lavoir.

Sign painting had given him skills that no other young artist had. The other Coenties artists--among them Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Jack Youngerman, and Robert Indiana (Rauschenberg and Johns lived a couple of blocks away, on Pearl Street)-reinforced Rosenquist's growing impatience with the prevailing AbEx aesthetic. In the new studio, he began collecting magazine images and stapling them to the wall, making small photocolages. Enlarging those fragments to billboard scale re-created a sensation that Rosenquist had first had while working on his commercial jobs: of being suspended in the middle of an image, in effect immersed in it, so that a commonplace visual texture-hair or skin or fabric--became unrecognizable, Brobdingnagian, mysterious.

The first dealer to see the "soft, closeup imagery" of these first half-dozen Pop paintings was the Upper East Side gallerist Allan Stone, who dropped by in mid-1961. It was the only false start of Rosenquist's career. As the artist remembers it, Stone was positive, but vague. "He was reading the newspaper and kind of halfway glancing at the pictures. He said, 'I'd-like to hang one of those in my office ... in about a year or so.'" Ileana Sonnabend, who came along with Stone, was more enthusiastic, but she didn't yet have a gallery. The same was true of Ivan Karp (soon to be named director of Leo Castelli), who visited the Coenties studio shortly afterward. At this point, things get muddy: Did Karp bring Richard Bellamy--another gallery director with a famously sharp eye--on a subsequent visit? Or did Bellamy come on his own initiative? Either way, Bellamy showed up. A week later he came back with the collector Robert Scull. As Rosenquist remembers it, "Scull came in and says, 'Oh, fantastic! Wonderful! A gre at American spirit,' and he walked out the door." Rosenquist didn't know it, but this odd, almost furtive appearance was pivotal. With Scull, Bellamy's financial backer, on board, Rosenquist's career was on the move.

The next week, Bellamy said he'd like to bring some more collectors, Burton and Emily Tremaine. "So they came down, and this old lady wearing Lolita glasses said, 'I'd like to buy ... that one.' And Dick says, 'I'm sorry, it's already sold to Bob Scull.'" Rosenquist was taken aback, and not just because he hadn't been told about the Scull sale. "I took Dick aside and said 'I don't want to sell them.'" Bellamy, the least mercantile of art dealers, had to persuade the wary young artist that selling paintings was a good idea. "Think it over," he concluded. A few months later, in February 1962, Rosenquist's first solo opened at Bellamy's Green Gallery, with all but one of the paintings already spoken for. Looming ahead were the now mythic group exhibitions--beginning the same year with "The New Realists" at Sidney Janis and, in 1963, "Sixteen Americans" at MOMA and "Six Painters and the Object" at the Guggenheim--which would provide a context for the coolly flamboyant aesthetic that Rosenquist had pioneered in hi s Coenties studio. But that afternoon, none of this was apparent. The future looked promising, but blank. Rosenquist and his friend Ray Donarski set up a whiskey-only bar for the opening. And then the two of them sat down on the gallery floor, waiting, "wondering if anybody would show up."

In this monthly column, Artforum talks with renowned artists about the incident or encounter that first brought them public recognition.

Roxy Paine's First Dendroid

2009-03-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

The artist Roxy Paine in the midst of working on Maelstrom, his latest Dendroid sculpture on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum. Photo by Jeremy Liebman

Artist, Roxy Paine has become known for his Dendroids, tree-like sculptures that have been placed in many public spaces around the world. I once encountered one of his Dendroids while taking a walk through Central Park. It was a striking juxtaposition between the natural environment and an artificial tree shimmering with a silver patina.

Dendroids are exemplary of Paine’s approach to his artwork, where he mirrors natural processes, drawing on the tension between organic and man-made environments. Paine has said: "I've processed the idea of a tree and created a system for its form. I take this organic majestic being and break it down into components and rules. The branches are translated into pipe and rod."

Paine’s first Dendroid was Imposter from 1999 and it was planted deep within the Swedish forest. This work is now at the Wanas Foundation, in Knislinge, Sweden.

Paine has created more than fifteen of these tree-like sculptures at places such as Madison Square Park, New York; Central Park, New York; Art Basel 39, Basel; and Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle.

Opening on April 28, 2009 Paine’s most recent Dendroid will be presented on the rooftop sculpture garden of the The Metropolitan Museum, in New York.

David Musgrave's New York Solo Premiere

2009-03-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

David Musgrave at Luhring Augustine
531 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

March 21 - April 18, 2009
Opening Friday, March 20th, 6-8 pm

This week power house gallery Luhring Augustine hosts David Musgrave's first solo exhibition in New York. The show features drawings and sculptures created over the past two years, which explore his ongoing preoccupation with the abstraction inherent in representation and the transformative capacity of materials.

Musgrave's work examines the relation between thoughts and things, ideas and objects. He produces images and forms that unsettle distinctions between inner and outer realms. The apparent accessibility of the simple human or animal schema that underpins much of his imagery forms a counterpoint to Musgrave's many-layered approach. His drawings often resemble documents of artifacts that hint at the primitive or the paranormal. Close viewing reveals a highly detailed evocation of fictive but perfectly plausible surfaces created with graphite.

Artist, William Delvoye's Cloaca

2009-03-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

William Delvoye was the first artist to create a machine that imitates a human digestive system to produce excrement. This artwork, called Cloaca, has become the most famous artwork by the artist.

Cloaca was first exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, Belgium, in the fall of 2000. The end products were suspended in resin inside large glass jars, which were displayed on stainless steel shelves, with menus hanging beside them documenting what Cloaca had been fed. The jars and their accompanying menus sold well at $1,000 apiece.

Marina Abramović's First Performance Artwork

2009-03-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

Marina Abramović, Rhythm 10, Part 2 | Photograph: Dezan Poznanovic, © Marina Abramović

Marina Abramović is one of the most prominent performance artists of our time. Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1946, she began her career in the early 1970s and has continued to be active over three decades. She has described herself as the “grandmother of performance art”.

Abramović’s work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Her first performance, entitled Rhythm 10, was in 1973 and performed at a festival in Edinburgh. Like many of her performances, it explored elements of ritual and gesture.

As stated by the artist:

Preparation
I lay a sheet of white paper on the floor. I lay twenty knives of different shapes and sizes on the floor. I place two cassette recorders with microphones on the floor.

Performance
I switch on the first cassette recorder. I take the knife and plunge it, as fast as I can, into the flesh between the outstretched fingers of my left hand. After each cut, I change to a different knife. Once all the knives (all the rhythms) have been used, I rewind the tape. I listen to the recording of the first performance. I concentrate. I repeat the first part of the performance. I pick up the knives in the same sequence, adhere to the same rhythm and cut myself in the same places. In this performance, the mistakes of the past and those of the present are synchronous. I rewind the same tape and listen to the dual rhythm of the knives. I leave.

Georgia O’Keeffe's Firsts

2009-02-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hibiscus With Plumeria, Georgia O'Keeffe

Many people consider Georgia O’Keeffe the first female artist to gain recognition in America. The artist was also called the premier female artist of the 20th century, a title she considered sexist.

Born November 15, 1887, O’Keeffe became known for her signature style that fused abstract and realistic into bold still life compositions. She was an innovative artists who incorporated a modernist style with minimal aesthetic. She has become know for her large paintings of desert scenery, close up views of flowers and bones.

O'Keeffe had an ongoing relationship with the art dealer Alfred Stieglitz and she would often send work to him to exhibit. O'Keeffe had her first solo exhibition of charcoals, oils, and watercolors at his gallery in 1917.

Simon Evans First New York Solo Gallery Exhibition

2009-02-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

Simon Evans, Symptoms of Loneliness, 2009
Pen, paper, scotch tape, correction fluidm 28 1/2 X 39 3/8 inches
Courtesy James Cohan Gallery, NY

Berlin-based artist, Simon Evans, has his first New York solo exhibition, Island Time, at James Cohan Gallery, February 20 – March 21, 2009. Previously a pro-skateboarder and writer, Evans broke into the art scene in 2003.

His drawings and collages are made from mundane materials such as found paper, scotch tape, pencil shavings and white out. Ironic, yet earnest, his drawings take the form of maps, charts, diary entries and cosmologies.

Adam Helm's First Solo Museum Show

2009-02-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Untitled Portrait (Vallegrande), Adam Helms, 2007. Double sided silk screen on vellum.

Adam Helm's recently had his first solo museum exhibition at the MCA, Denver. This strong show was comprised of an installation of new works on paper and a large-scale assemblage.

Loaded with political imagery, his work incorporates romantic subjects of revolution, war and the American West. He works from appropriated images of radical and extremist movements from around the world and combines them into loosely narrative works. His method of silk-screening on both sides of translucent vellum adds to the hallucinatory feel of the work.

Adam Helms was born in the United States in 1974 and currently lives and works in New York, NY. Helms received an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. He has shown in group exhibitions at Ballroom Marfa, Texas; Kunsthalle und Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY among others. Helms was the recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and was a recent artist in residence at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

Pipilotti Rist's First Solo Exhibition and First Video

2009-02-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

Pipilotti Rist, still from "Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)" (2008)

Swiss artist, Pipilotti Rist, whose real name is Elizabeth Charlotte, had her first solo exhibition in 1984, when she transformed Vienna’s Galerie Prottore/Stauraum into a bank branch. But, it was her first video, I’m Not the Girl Who Misses Much (1986), that really helped jump start her career. In the video she repeatedly sings an adaptation of a lyric from the Beattles song Happiness is a Warm Gun, while romping around in a black dress with her breasts exposed. She has continued to incorporate the female protagonist, nudity, and music throughout her career.

Recent exhibitions include Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, among others. Her work is in the permanent collections of such institutions as the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Pollock's first break

2009-02-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

Jackson Pollock was lucky enough to have Peggy Guggenheim visit his studio early on in his career. After a few studio visits Guggenheim invited him to have his first solo exhibition in November 1943.

The exhibition was held at Art of This Century and featured fifteen oil paintings and an unrecorded number of works on paper, all completed between 1941 and 1943. The exhibition included important works such as Guardians of the Secret, The Mad Moon-Woman, Male and Female, The Moon Woman, and The She-Wolf, plus gouaches and drawings. Prices ranged from $25 to $750. The show is the first solo exhibition by an American artist at Art of This Century gallery.

Guggenheim also gave Pollock his first commission, a mural for the entrance hall of her East 61st Street town house. Pollock had to tear down a wall in his apartment to accommodate the twenty-foot-large canvas. When it was installed in Guggenheim’s home, it was a hit.

Mary Heilmann's First NY museum retrospective

2009-02-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

Mary Heilmann recently had her first solo exhibition and retrospective in a New York museum. The exhibition was called To Be Someone and featured work from the past 40 years, including her signature colorful paintings, a series of rolling chairs, and ceramic sculpture.

Born in 1940, Heilmann is one of the pioneering artists of her generation. Her paintings exquisitely fuse together abstraction with elements from pop culture and craft traditions.

Here’s a link to images and a press release on the show.

Shepard Fairey's First Museum Survey

2009-01-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles-based street artist Shepard Fairey has his first museum survey at the The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, opening February 6, 2009. The exhibition, Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand, traces the artist's career over the past 20 years and includes over 200 works. The exhibition includes his screen-prints of political revolutionaries and rock-stars, as well as new public art commissions that will be placed around Boston.

The artist has recently gained recognition with his iconic red, white, and blue Obama poster, his feature in GQ Magazine naming him as one of the "Men of the Year" and his cover art for TIME Magazine's Person of the Year Issue.

First solo exhibition, first sale, first review, etc

2009-01-29T18:58:00.000-08:00

This blog tracks a series of significant firsts for artists. Whether it be the first solo exhibition at a gallery or the first museum survey show of an artist, a breakthrough of any size can truly help an artist succeed.