VISIBLE ALTERNATIVE

VISIBLE ALTERNATIVE

An installation for The New Museum's Festival of Ideas for a New City

THIS SATURDAY ONLY May 7th, 6PM-4AM 233 Mott St, 2nd FloorExhibition 

DJS Start at 10PM  Presented by ARTIST ACCOMPLICES

Downtown Manhattan to Become a Dynamic Laboratory for Creative Thinking and Action  Visible Alternative is an exploration and exploitation of established systems of artistic validation,  specifically of contemporary nightlife and the social orientation, which encourages audience  participation by offering a new-age Cedar Tavern redux.  This installation re-conceives the role nightlife environments play in establishing standards of  valuation. We demonstrate these systems breaching the gallery and museum realm into a social  context but also note that social rituals of market validation are self-imposed and ultimately  circumstantial. We consider the established practice of lifestyle branding and how the established  generation of creatives have capitalized on their outsider status, ultimately becoming mainstream  icons, a notion inspired by Ewen Cameron and Olivier Zahms' discussion of the Underground on  the Belvedere shoot (April 2008).  Recalling Gavin Brown & Urs Fischer's Whose Afraid of Jasper Johns?, the environment re-  contextualizes spaces like Beatrice Inn, Boom Boom Room, Don Hills, The Jane, Lit, and Omen,  creating a hybrid space within a former schoolroom. We contextualize these various spaces in  terms of the historical relevance to the lineage of spaces like Cedar Tavern and Max’s Kansas  City by highlighting the pluralistic nature of these environments and asking our audience to  consider these spaces beyond their social context--as places to cultivate their professional selves.  The work within the environment reinterprets structural systems of validation in terms of  commercial currency of critical thinking.  A live video stream of the party by Mikaela Bradbury will be projected back into the hybrid  environment. We also offer Homework, a series of works created by emerging artists that  consider systems of art validation with the social sphere and aesthetic inspirations culled from  their participation in this world. The Yearbook – participants will augment with contacts they  interact with as a means of tracking the connections forged throughout the evening – is an  immediate, yet tangible, record of networking embedded in NY nightlife and demonstrates clubs  aren’t only social hubs but extensions of academic training where we convene with mentors of  established generations.  These works are meant to encourage audience reflection about these spaces and how our  exchanges within them ultimately contextualize our culture. How will our emerging generation  redefine established standards? How will we utilize the technological tools of a globalized  marketplace but return to an interactive dialog that engages our audience in a more direct  manner?  Visible Alternative offers a reinterpretation of signifiers of artistic validation and highlights their  positive qualities: interdisciplinary pollination and art moving beyond cultural artifact into the  realm of experience and interaction.  ARTISTS  ROLAND ALLMEYER  ALBERTO ARENSBERG  KORAKRIT ARUNANONDCHAI  BRENT BIRNBAUM  WILLIAM BOLTON  MIKAELA BRADBURY  VIOLET DENNINSON  DAN DREKE  NICK ETRE  LESNY JN FELIX  ERIK FOSS  ALEX GINGROW  SAGE GRAZER  HARIF GUZMAN  JOE KAY  CURTIS KULIG  SNEJINA LATEV  PATRICK MEAGHER  GARRETT PRUTER  CARIS REID  GRAYSON REVOIR  RACHEL ROSSIN  MICHAEL SCOGGINS  NATALIE SHOOK  KASPER SONNE  RJ & V  HANAH YOUNG  EVA ZUCKERMAN  PRESENTED BY ARTIST ACCOMPLICES  SEAN KINNEY  PJ MONTES  SARAH STAUDINGER  CECELIA STUCKER  CASSIDY WEISS  For more information:  http://www.festivalofideasnyc.com/blog  [email protected]  http://artistaccomplices.com

nevver:

Some velvet morning

I've always been a huge fan of Tristan Eaton. Not only did he help build our favorite downtown derelict dive Lit Lounge, Tristan's Thunderdog Studio's creative concepts consistently transcend the trends of street art today. His original designs and ideas never seem to fall short of incendiary. So it's not surprising that the Thunderdog team are the first to artists to develop an anthology of 3D Art. Featuring artists Jeff Soto, Mint and Serf, Erik Foss, Andrew Bell, Ron English and many more.

http://www.amazon.com/3D-Art-Book-Tristan-Eaton/dp/3791345494

artesoul:

streetart by Os Gêmeos (Grottaglie, Italy)

pitchfork:

Photo by Brian DeRan.

veiledhorse:

mandateofheaven:

“Heaven Is A Place We Built Out of Stone” A Mandate of Heaven Autumn Eleven/Winter Twelve Motion Picture Presentation Part I: Only The Birds Music, “Only The Birds” by Firehorse http://www.thisisfirehorse.com/ All Clothing by Mandate of Heaven

*Note: This guy looks best in HD.

AIDS Awareness Through the Power of Art.

Richard Artschwager, Bontecou Crater, 2009

The Armory, ADAA The Art Show, and Independent New York Art Fair Week 2 - 6 March, 2011

maahreeuh:

Stepping into Kenny Scharf’s Bushwick warehouse in New York you’re instantly transformed into a distinct and almost mini-putt-like “Cosmic Cavern”. Known for his partying ways and his close associations with New York’s influential artists, his latest work is “alive with the spirit of the early 80’s, lined in the Day-Glo-painted trash-bedecked panels he once deployed in nightclubs and galleries.”

Dan Krupin, The Passed On, 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 30" x 60"

In "The Passed On," artist Daniel Krupin pays tribute to his late uncle and mentor, David Hessing, who, in 1990 at the age of 42, died of HIV complications.

  Inspired by the works of Henry Joseph Darger and Salvador Dalí, the artist paints a scene of fond, scattered memories from those earlier years that is reminiscent of a family photo album, intentionally set in an imaginative dreamlike landscape.

  In the artist’s recall, Hessing remains a saintly figure, as evidence of the painting’s centered apparition, which is additionally inspired by Hessing’s time participation with the Episcopalian brotherhood. Intended to appear as if he is watching over his blanketed nephew and waving family below, Hessing’s presence is also meant to symbolize the omnipresence of mortality.

  Directing attention to him is a conga line of “never-forgetful” elephants, a memory flash from a trip to the circus, and a flank of large yellow forsythia bushes, which lined the yard of Krupin’s childhood home. Above, red balloons, which sporadically interlace the artist’s memory, dot the bright blue sky.

  Other characters in the painting include a number of mustached men, loosely embodying several familial figures in the artist’s life, along with a number of self portraits of the artist—drawing in the grass, dressed in costume—as his young, unambiguously creative self. 

CURE-ATED FIGHTS AIDS THROUGH THE POWER OF ART

Rated Content and ART KILL NYC, in conjunction with the Swervewolf Experience.

present, CURE-ATED a benefit battling AIDS through the presence of New York City artists.

  NYC – (February 25th-27th, 2011) Fourteen New York City based contemporary artists are joined together in a powerful exhibition that promotes AIDS awareness. Featuring artworks by Arturo Vega, Steven Mertens, James Rubio, Dan Krupin, Erik Foss, Lisa Lebofsky, Cacho Falcon, Riccardo Mazzei, Gerard Marinaccio, Lia Comandatore, Blake Sandberg, Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz, and Michael Holman. This benefit will raise funds to fight one of the world’s leading devastations.

  Art has been a tremendous vessel in promoting numerous causes and involving the public with raising awareness and creating positive change. The battle against AIDS is no exception. CURE-ATED exhibits an impressive lineup of artists showcasing their talents for the benefit. Artists such as Arturo Vega, photographer and artistic director for The Ramones since 1974, will reveal his new series of work “Too Many Fucking People Fucking.” “A Fire In My Belly,” the controversial short silent film created by David Wojnarowicz that was recently withdrawn from the Smithsonian in an act of censorship will be played throughout the duration of the exhibition as well as “Pesceador,” a short art film created by Michael Holman dedicated in memory of Jean-Michel. All three artists have become fixtures of the NYC community and the art world at large.

  Rated Content started in 2010 by noted directors/filmmakers Robert Giraldi and Luigi Comandatore strives to create and document culture with a focus on film, art and philanthropy.  Giraldi is a veteran director known for countless music videos including Michael Jackson's seminal "Beat It". Director and entrepreneur, Luigi Comandatore is a fixture of the New York’s downtown fashionable and creative set. Rated Content set to launch on March 15tth, is a production company based in TriBeCA, creating commercial content for an exclusive list of clientele while also using film as a conduit to campaign awareness for causes in need such as AIDS, breast cancer and education.

ART KILL NYC, is an innovative platform for contemporary living artists, promotes exploratory growth and adaptation through artistic means.  Their ability to break through the confines of artistic restrictions has targeted them as trailblazers in the art community.

  SWERVEWOLF CONSULTING 171 is a division of Swervewolf Experience. We provide strategic advice and services to international clientele in the cultural, political and financial realms. Swervewolf is everything, but not everything is Swervewolf

Arturo Vega

Artist, designer, writer, Ramones Creative Director

Arturo Vega never went to art school, he gives music, especially Rock, the credit of being his guiding light, giving him the inspiration to “always do the best you can any way you know how and don’ t let anything or anybody stop you, never give up.”

He is a New Yorker by choice whose professional career is inextricably linked to that of the progenitors of Punk Rock The Ramones, working alongside the band from day one and continuing for 2,261 Ramones shows, missing only two on their entire career. His duties on the band’s 22 years of touring went from roadie to stage and lighting director, hand painting most of the stage backdrops the band performed in front of. In 1974 Arturo, who was then painting and silk screen printing, continued to work both on his Art and with The Ramones. In 1976 the band started to tour, he designed the iconic Ramones eagle logo, and immediately started printing T-shirts. 

Both Joey and DeeDee Ramone lived at Arturo’ s loft in those days and on many occasions coming home from a show the three of them would spend the night printing silk screened shirts for the next Ramones concert, giving birth to the Ramones T-shirt industry and becoming its merchandise director. All along designing promotional material like posters, programs etc. for the endless touring, with the consequence of Arturo having to stop his painting. The Ramones toured all year round, but in 1987 Arturo started to paint again. Due to the non-stop touring he had to rely on assistants to help execute his ideas, never the less he managed to finish numerous series of works this way. In 1996, when the band finally retired, he went back to painting and designing full time.

In 2002 Arturo produced “ The Bowery Electric Festival” at CBGB in honor of Joey who had died the previous year. In the same year the Ramones were inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame putting an official stamp of approval on the band’s already growing iconic image as the ultimate underdog Punk heroes. Ramones merchandise skyrocketed in popularity so Arturo was back at designing Rock swag.

In 2004 Arturo co-produced the Ramones 30th Anniversary Show, a star studded bicostal concert that took place in Los Angeles and New York.

Away from the Ramones he started to collaborate with the Antagonist Art Movement, a group of artists in the Big Apple’ s east village. About making art, he says “ the most important element for me is that the concepts and ideas be executed, completed, finished to get the issues out of my system, that experience is the real benefit for me, I am totally selfish about it, after that I almost don’t care about showing them or not, but now I am more interested than ever in the Plastic Arts, as a creator, a collector and a curator.”

He has been writing a Rock musical for 10 years and is contemplating the idea of turning his loft into a Ramones Museum, who knows the wild, the original, the incorrigibles have always found a home on the Bowery, or as Arturo calls it, The Bowery Electric Boulevard.