Julien Hoeber renders his verdict on the state of the art world…

Sculpture of all kinds, big & small, took center stage at this year’s ART BASEL with amazing offerings seemingly around every corner. The work of young LA artist JULIAN HOEBER, however, kept us coming back for more. His recent “bullet hole” series of bronze busts has us mesmerized, along with Japanese Pop Art master TAKASHI MURAKAMI who recently ponied up $15K for Hoeber’s bullet ridden self-portrait bust. Expect big things from Julian on the horizon. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

“Art damage” might just be an understatement…

NIKE SPORTSWEAR took the hipsters to town at this year’s ART BASEL in Miami on Friday nite when their AARON ROSE-curated “Art Damage” party broke open in conjunction with the NADA art fair. Featuring visual displays drawn from the label’s “Being True” photography campaign, video portraits of NSW athletes by acclaimed artist ROBERT WILSON, and elements of their recent alliance with the “Beautiful Losers” documentary film, the party shifted into overdrive when the evening’s real entertainment kicked in courtesy of musical guests THE SADS, NO AGE, and PANDA BEAR. Needless to say, heads were rocked, sweat was poured, and art was damaged by all. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Art Basel saw Ryden and White at the top of their game…

Having seen an astounding array of high quality offerings at this year’s ART BASEL, we still can’t help but marvel at the insane quality of the new work put forth by Supertouch’s own resident modern old masters MARK RYDEN and ERIC WHITE. Debuting the centerpiece of his forthcoming Tokyo solo show opening in February, Ryden showed off the 7′ wide oil painting “Sophia’s Bubbles,” announcing a new, more simple style and palette in the process. Meanwhile, master of figurative detail Eric White continued his “Psychology of Interiors” series of oil paintings to great success with five amazing new dreamscapes. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

At Art Basel, the writing was on the wall this year…

After days of tepid sales, guarded optimism, thinly veiled terror, and defiantly happening parties, ART BASEL 2008 was still a good year for, well, art. Spread over dozens of fairs were epic pieces by Barry McGee, Tomoo Gokita, Friends With You, Chiho Aoshima, Richard Prince, Mark Ryden, Barbara Kruger, Hyungkoo Lee, Josh Keyes, Robert Williams, Colin Christian, Todd James, Ron English, KAWS, Dearraindrop, Tony Oursler, Raymond Pettibon, , Eric White, Usugrow, Chris Mars, Fafi, Dash Snow, Aurel Schmidt, Scott Campbell, Phil Frost, Shepard Fairey, The Clayton Brothers, Takashi Murakami, and Kehinde Wiley, to name but a scant few, and celebrity buyers like Brad Pitt, Pharrell, Sofia Coppola, Jay-Z, and Dennis Hopper were still out shopping—though not necessarily buying—in full effect. Even Paris Hilton made her usual appearance. All in all, it was a good year to look at art, just not necessarily a great one to buy a lot of it. Following is a flashback of some of the cool stuff. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Guns on the streets in Miami…

Artistic comrades-in-arms and emissaries of Franco-American relations SHEPARD FAIREY & WK INTERACT were literally some of the busiest artists on the streets in Miami last week at ART BASEL. While both were represented by galleries at several fairs, the pair also managed to get extremely busy in the streets, posting up large-scale pieces throughout the Wynwood district with Shepard’s installations featuring political imagery from his recent Shooting Gallery SF show, while Frenchman WK illustrated a monochromatic futuristic-cops-and robbers scenario gone wrong. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Capturing Yan Pei-Ming’s Obama for posterity & Shepard Fairey’s fine art tribute to the king…

Throughout the seemingly endless sea of imagery, from good to bad, high to low, one of the most consistent themes of this year’s ART BASEL was none other than President #44-to-be, BARACK OBAMA, by a slew of artists no doubt hoping to cash in on some of the last vestiges of hope most Americans have left to cling to. Here’s a brief recap of some of the visual homages. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Manson debuts new girlfriend, conjures tri-faced Christ in Miami…

Casting a distinct pall over the already overcast Miami area on Thursday nite was the opening party of rocker/painter MARILYN MANSON’s “Trismegistus,” (named for the legendary Greek alchemist) his first ART BASEL solo show, presented by Germany’s GALERIE BRIGITTE SCHENK. Housed at the 101 EXHIBIT space in the design district, the show featured over 20 watercolor works by the painter spanning the past eight years of his ever-tumultuous life. Of course, the subject matter of the paintings did not disappoint, reflecting the artist’s deeply dark sense of humor, and included a transvestite Charlie Chaplin, Jon Benet Ramsey as Sleeping Beauty, portraits of the Black Dahlia, a bleeding, triple-faced Christ, and a self-portrait as an old, bald absinthe drinker. Painting titles were equally imaginative and included poetic bits like “Green Whore of Love,” “I’ve got my arm around no one,” and “The man who eats his fingers.” The show remains on display through February 2009, giving Tampa’s massive Goth population ample time to organize a massive field trip/Greyhound bus convoy to the show. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Punk attitude in a new wave wrapper…

Miami’s punk contingent turned out in droves on Thursday nite for the KILL YOUR IDOLS/PUNK IS EVERYTHING installation opening party in Miami’s design district, sponsored by CONVERSE, “with love.” A poignant tribute to the lasting vitality of underground punk culture, the exhibition is curated by author, artist, and punk historian BRYAN RAY TURCOTTE, whose books “Fucked Up and Photocopied” and the newly-published “Punk is Dead, Punk is Everything” are virtual textbooks of punk art over the years. Classic imagery from Turcotte’s books forms the foundation of the exhibition’s visuals and is augmented by a show of original photographs by lenswoman EILEEN POLK who captured early visions of everyone from the Dead Boys and The Clash, to The Misfits and The Ramones, in her 30+ year career. MATT & KIM and NODZZZ provided the night’s rowdy musical performances and whipped the crowd into a frenzy before giving away 100 pairs of Matt & Kim’s signature Converse 1HUND(RED) art shoes to the sweaty mob that included Supertouch buddies Takashi Murakami, MC Spank Rock, Jose Parla, Kelsey Brooks, and Phil Frost, to name a few. Open nightly with live music until Basel’s close, the schedule of bands is as follows: Friday, December 5: Performances by Reigning Sound, Brutal Knights, Hex Dispensers; Saturday, December 6: Performances by Annihilation Time, Caustic Christ, Sex/Vid; Sunday, December 7: Performances by Times New Viking, and Pink Reason. Don’t sleep. Meanwhile, HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »