Mr.
Matt
Spangler

Really digging James’ work.

via mattdowney:

Incredible mixed media piece by James Hopkins. You can check out more from this series on his site.

Baldessari is a badass.

via blakegopnik:

Daily Pic: A billboard piece titled “The First $100,000 I Ever Made”. It’s a new work by John Baldessari that will live beside the High Line park in New York for the rest of this month. Baldessari doesn’t spell out what it means, but gives some facts about its subject: For three weeks during the Great Depression, the government circulated these high-denomination bills among the country’s Federal Reserve Banks.

Is someone’s “first $100,000” a little money, or a lot? Is this like when a greasy spoon sticks up the first dollar bill that comes in? Is it a glancing comment on the sorry state of the world’s economy – or on the inflated state of the art market? Baldessari has hoisted a giant piece of currency high above the world’s largest concentration of art dealers, who have their galleries to either side of the High Line, so it seems likely that he’s saying something about them.

The Daily Pic, along with more global art news, can also be found on the  Art Beast page at TheDailyBeast.com.

A cool new series launched today about my buddy Mr. Rubino. One of the most talented and genuinely good doods you’ll encounter out there. This is great and well worth getting through all 12 vignettes.

“Over the span of one year filmmaker Jim Helton documented New York-based artist Chris Rubino while he searched for a new direction in his work. In the process we see screenprinting, drawing, painting, wandering as well as a peak inside the workings of a studio and an artist’s process. The final 12 part film that is Love Kills Demons takes a look behind the proverbial curtain exposing some of the mystery of creation supported by the otherworldly sounds of Big Blood.”

WATCH HERE

Back around 2005 (or ‘04, I can’t really remember), we did an event as part of LVHRD series that we called “FXHRD” where we released a “secret” number to our audience and then asked people to fax in anything that they wanted to, creating a piece of unique art. We then created a gallery for a night and showed all of the images that came in at the “opening”. There were lots of great portraits and other interesting well thought out designs. I remember Jennifer Daniels had a great one.

Like many of the things we did, it was a analog reaction to the digital world we saw growing around us.  In the lifecycle of ideas, it took a while for this one to come back around, but there it is. Lots of the Barbarians are LVHRD alums and I like where they took this one.

via bestrooftalkever:

faxblog:

20110805110320

Fax Blog is the best. It uploads whatever gets faxed to its “secret number.” 

so sick.

via nevver: via Aryz

Sandy takes a shot of me through the looking glass door at Sebastian’s solo show.

My friend Sebastian’s fantastic “Magistral Cabinet” created with 80,000 pointed bamboo sticks. You can see the piece at Cristina Grajales Gallery for a few more weeks.

via purple-diary:

Scott Campbell burning his works in front of Vice Gallery, Mexico.

(Source: purple-diary)

One of my favorite bookshop/art galleries in Los Angeles, LEADAPRON is hosting an opening this Thursday for the release of some of Morton Bartlett’s fascinating work:

Morton Bartlett, 1909 — 1992, was a private man whose passion became public after his death. The adopted only child of a Boston Brahmin couple, he left Harvard two years before graduating with the class of 1932.

Various jobs followed, such as gas station manager and printer’s broker, while he devoted himself to creating a fantasy family of perfectly sculpted children. Meticulously dressing and posing the anatomically correct figures, Bartlett would photograph them in staged scenarios, at once quotidian and dramatic: A girl curled up comfortably reading or dancing at ballet class, a boy at the beach, a startled child or two serene teenagers in a garden.

Discovered in its entirety only after his death in 1992 and the subsequent distribution of his estate, Morton Bartlett’s art has since received International acclaim. Described as a 20th century Lewis Carroll and sought after by private collectors and major museums, Bartlett’s life seemed as complete as his perfect family…until now.

A limited edition of large format original prints is being offered in 2010. Comprising Morton Bartlett’s most desirable and iconic images, no longer available in vintage format, these finely executed prints meet two obligations - allowing Morton Bartlett’s enigmatic vision and artistic legacy to continue while amplifying his remarkable attention to drama and detail.

A companion 60 page color catalogue, FAMILY FOUND – The Lifetime Obsession of Morton Bartlett, accesses original negatives and source material to show his drawings and study models. It includes most of the fantasy family images along with four insightful essays on his life and work. 

FAMILY FOUND is available for purchase at $35.00

Johan Lobeer from his “Still Life” series via MUG

One of the intense photos from Marina Abramovic Made Me Cry.

The whole exhibit can be viewed here. Photographs by Marco Anelli