50 minutes of porn

Alan Smithee´s latest work will be on display at the contemporary art ruhr (C.A.R.) media art fair, this weekend, 3th-5th of June. Alan Smithee, best known for his cooperations with Julia Murakami,  is represented by A&O gallery/Directors Lounge.

Alan Smithee, 50 min. of porn, 2011
from the series Reality Scans


Alu-Dibond, Lambda print, behind acrylic glass, 60 cm x 75 cm, 23.6” x 29.5” , ed. of 5/1 AP

DIE: Dice Portrait Emphasizing on the Randomness of Life

13,138 days. 13,138 die. One die for every day he lived. Frederick McSwain remembers his friend Tobias Wong as, “one of the funniest people who ever lived. Every day with him was a monumental occasion. He had this big presence. There was something about the way he saw the world, the way he reacted was like the butterfly effect.” In his tribute piece for the  BrokenOff BrokenOff exhibition, McSwain chose to create a composite portrait of Wong using dice.

McSwain explains:

The idea of a die itself was appropriate—the randomness of life. It felt like [a medium] he would use. Because [Tobias] was a very street-level force, I thought it was appropriate [to install] the portrait on the floor. Its not something I wanted to suspend on the wall; I wanted it to be right there on the floor where you almost interact with it. The idea of every decision you make and everything you’ve done in your life, defines who you are. All of those days symbolically makes up the image of Tobi.

Core77 was there for the installation at Gallery R’Pure and created a stunning time lapse video of the making of DIE

"DIE" Frederick McSwain Installation Time Lapse from stephen dirkes on Vimeo.




(via the art resort)

From Paris with Love

Looks like Invader is safely back in Paris with new work and possibly a subtle message for the LAPD. (Photo: Lionel/Flickr)

(via ultra look)

Ai Weiwei Projected on Chinese Consulate in NYC

Cuban artist Geandy Pavon projected a giant image of Ai Weiwei on the Consulate General of China in Manhattan on Friday night. Since the diplomatic mission’s security always runs protesters off their sidewalk and into a designated patch of concrete across the street, this was appropriate.
Protest project Nemesis Ai Weiwei: The Elusiveness of Being had a rippling Ai portrait tower over Twelfth Avenue, haunting the building with a public shaming. This video’s scenes of New Yorkers recognizing Ai’s face are heartwarming, but the action is only symbolic. Too many of Ai’s friends and associates are still missing and the reported details on Ai’s brief visit with his wife seem suspicious. Support from the international art community is growing steadily, but the Chinese government has not wavered in their demonstrative persecution of the artist.
by Marina Galperina

Tthe Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi going Dolce Vita

The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi World Tour: The Tour Must Go On - JGP disregarding the Piazza Garibaldi

Our little friends, The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi just popped up in and around Rome, doing what they do best, ignoring the landmarks around them.  It was only pure chance that the enchanting Nadya Cazan was around, able to shoot back, capturing the hunters. You know what they say: When in Rome do as the Romans do but it is hard to imagine that The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi will ever change their cameras for a mobile, (but wait, ... when they come with a build in camera...)

read more about the project: sometimes they shoot back

I am more than my face :) Mitsuko Nagone

Mitsuko Nagone

Cement eclipses

electoral campaign Gendarmenmarkt. Berlin. April. 2011

T he Cement Eclipses by Isaac Cordal, "small interventions in the big city" as he  calls them are clever placed little sculptures that pop up in several European cities. His sculptures take the form of little people sculpted from concrete in ’real’ situations. Cordal manages to capture a lot of emotion in his vignettes, in spite of their lack of detail or colour. He is sympathetic toward his little people and we empathise with their situations, their leisure time, their waiting for buses and their more tragic moments such as accidental death, suicide or family funerals. His sculptures can be found in gutters, on top of buildings, on top of bus sheltersLast year, London bases street art magazine LSD published an interview with Isaac. Excerpt:
Where and when did the Cement Eclipse campaign begin? 
I started making sculptures out of cement when I was at School of Art in 2002, but it was not until 2006 when I started to use them on the streets. The first place I left a Cement eclipses sculpture was in the city of Vigo

What’s the concept behind these small street pieces? 
Cement Eclipses is a critic/definition of our behavior as a social mass. This project intends to catch the attention on our devalued relation with the nature through a critical look to the collateral effects of our evolution. These scenes zoom in the routine tasks of the contemporary human being. They present fragments in which the nature, still present, maintains encouraging symptoms of survival. The precariousness of these anonymous statuettes, at the height of the sole of the passers, represents the nomadic remainders of an imperfect construction of our society. These small sculptures contemplate the demolition and reconstruction of everything around us. They catch the attention of the absurdity of our existence. more

 A book about the Cement eclipses will be presented Thursday 26th May 2011 6.00pm at The Pure Evil Gallery, London