PHILIP TAAFFE

On Friday night I made the familiar trek to Bushwick for the Philip Taaffe (b. 1955) opening at Luhring Augustine.  I've long been a fan of Taaffe's work (peep my ancient blog post inspired by his work), and the way he is able to combine so many elements into a large canvas.  His canvases feature a myriad of processes, including silkscreen, collage, stain, and paint, and imagery drawn from broad sources such as religion, popular culture, and media.  According to his gallery, "Taffe strives for an optical vibrancy and visual energy that integrate the decorative with the narrative, the natural with the man-made, the ancient with the modern - entwining cultural lineages and histories to create something authentically new from these interwoven sources."

The exhibition continues through April 26th at 25 Knickerbocker Avenue in Brooklyn.

Vintage Dress: No Relation, NYC

Leather Boots: Goodwill, VA

Poncho: Brooklyn Flea

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

EXHIBITION: Hypnopompic.

Last night, I attended the opening reception of Finnish-born illustrator Kustaa Saksi's Hynopompic exhibition.  Taking place for 48 hours only, the exhibition combines beautifully intricate wool jacquard weavings as well as projection.  According to his bio, Saksi's illustrations "[radiate] meaning, bending what's real and distilling what's unreal."  It's true -- the combination of organic forms with undulating patterns was transfixing.

Dress: L'Amour Nanette Lepore via JCP

Blouse: L'Amour Nanette Lepore via JCP

Tights: Hue

Boots: Franco Sarto

Jacket: Vintage

If you're in New York City this evening, stop by Artifact at 84 Orchard Street between 6:30 and 9:30pm to see the exhibition.

Photos by Meri Feir and myself.

Mike Kelley at MoMA PS1

The full-museum retrospective on the late Mike Kelley at MoMA PS1 opened a few weeks ago.  I attended the opening in my self-made Kelley-inspired pom pom jacket, but it's taken me a few weeks to develop my feelings about the show and begin to understand the overwhelming experience.


First of all, it is not an exhibition that can be confronted in one visit.  There is just too much -- so many extremely different, opposing mediums and ideas -- that it requires more than one sojourn in order to begin to even scratch the surface of the meaning and intent of Kelley's oeuvre.


Kelley created work that spanned a 30-year career in almost every medium imaginable: assemblage, film, works on paper, painting, sculpture, digital, installation, and on and on.  Much of this work deals with themes of isolation, repressed memory, sexuality, self-exploration.  My personal favorite work is Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites (1991), which I planned ahead to emulate with my pom pom jacket.

However, one of the most poignant pieces in the exhibition is Lumpenprole and Ageistprop (above).  A vast knit blanket stretched across the floor, concealing unidentified lumps beneath it, this work is the perfect example of Kelley's interest in repressed memory, and the way he consistently returned to previously explored themes throughout his widespread career.  While I was viewing the work, another museum attendee held his iPhone poised at the ready in order to catch the movement of the mysterious shapes (spoiler alert: they don't move).  This anecdote is a perfect example of my experience of the show: the feeling that there is something lurking around the corner that could change or develop at any moment, without notice.

Jacket: DIY

Dress: H&M

Shoes: United Nude

Clutch: Betsey Johnson

Photos by Kathy Paciello; Lumpenprole image from hamptonartshub.com.

AAKASH NIHALANI

I originally became interested in the work of Aakash Nihalani in 2010, when a friend introduced me to his tape pieces. Nihalani uses neon gaffing tape to create, miraculously, statements on the way art and the city interact spatially.

The exhibition, Portal, currently on view at the Jonathan Levine Gallery, was my first encounter with Nihalani's paintings.  I missed the grit of the street works, which are powerful simply because of the way they confront the viewer, who could just be a passerby on the street.

However, the bold, bright works are visually arresting, and reminiscent of Minimalist works by artists such as Frank Stella.

Embroidered Paillette Dress: Christopher Kane for Topshop

Blazer: Maison Martin Margiela Re-Issue

Tights: H&M

Reptile Ankle Boots: Jean-Michel Cazabat

Snakeskin Minaudière: Lauren Merkin

Lapel "pin": neon tape

The exhibition Portal closes this weekend.

iPhone photos of me by La Mer; other photos by me.

WHOSE COAT IS THAT JACKET YOU'RE WEARING?

I recently read the headline

Hundreds of stolen coats released in controversial art installation

My interest was piqued as my favorite coat came to mind. There is something almost familial about a beloved coat--it keeps you warm during the coldest months of the year!

In the installation, Whose Coat is that Jacket You're Wearing?, artist Mike Ballard attempted to come to terms with the theft of his favorite coat. Over the past ten years, Ballard lifted men's outerwear from bars and pubs around London, cataloguing their contents, and storing them in his home, never to be worn or used. In his installation this fall, he will reveal the over 200 stolen coats, and return them to anyone who can identify where they were lost or their contents.

Ballard's installation is an extension of the use of "appropriation" in art, which usually means stealing ideas or images from other artists or disciplines (such as Richard Prince's cowboy photographs). Ballard has taken appropriation to the next level, displaying the cold-weather loot in the first exhibition of entirely stolen materials. Ballard clearly took Picasso's words to heart:

"Good artists copy, great artists steal."

The exhibition will be on view at Walker's Tailor in London from October 8-23, 2010.

Click here to read the full press release. My pink fur-trimmed coat is by Julie Haus and it is the only way I survive the winter!

EDIT--

Apparently artist Mike Ballard swiped this idea from "John the Jacket Man". Check out the original radio interview here. This just keeps getting better!

COUNTER COUTURE

Last week, I went to check out a really interesting exhibition at the French Institute. Artist Greg Lauren created a site-specific installation at the institute on the subject of the obsessive nature of fashion. I knew it was not to miss.

Lauren uses a tried-and-true medium: oil on paper. However, he then forms the paper into 3-Dimensional shapes with a keen perception of the paper's likeness to fabric.

Though the subject was clothing, the installation was reminiscent of bleached bones and skeletons. The collars pinned to the wall especially reminded me of shark jaws or something. I personally thought the installation was quite macabre.

Though the installation purported to comment on the enslaving nature of fashion, I sensed a reprimanding of consumer culture as well. Also, could the likeness to skeletons have been a comment on contemporary fashion icons?

The great thing about art is that it's so subjective. I wore an H&M flokati jacket, Habitual jeans, A&F scarf, United Nude flats, and L.A.M.B. bag.

More to come soon on Art Fair Weekend!