After buying a new Banksy piece, Tim Biskup found time to make nice with the ladies…

The art “Extravaganza” event that was originally scheduled to take place at the now infamous LAZARIDES GALLERY in London last week during the throes of the FRIEZE ART FAIR was instead turned into the “Shut Down Show” after the local authorities canned STEVE LAZARIDES‘ original setup over gambling concerns. Turns out Laz’s grand plan to sell 250 tickets at £5,000 GBP each for the event—which guaranteed every participant a 1-in-10 chance of winning an original piece of art from the gallerist’s stable of artists including Miranda Donovan and Faile and included a raffle of an original BANKSY oil painting valued at more than £300,000 GBP—looked more like a mini casino operation to the gambling commission than a proper art show. Instead, Lazarides stepped to the plate and converted the original fete into an equally impressive group show of art by ANTHONY MICALLEF, INVADER, PAUL INSECT, and JONATHAN YEO, to name a few, that also included several vintage works by Banksy, including the “corrupted” oil painting that was to serve as the centerpiece of the raffle. While everyone who bought tickets for the original party was given a full refund and a piece of free artwork for their trouble, the new show did include a “Gnome Bowling” game whereby anyone knocking down a set of gnome bowling pins received a piece of free art, a less-than-subtle F.U. to the gambling commission if there ever was one. Of course, our man TIM BISKUP was on the scene to take in the spread, pick up on the ladies, and even DJ’d the afterparty side-by-side with Supertouch homie ACYDE at SoHo HOUSE where show attendees like DENNIS HOPPER tore it up late into the foggy eve. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

The rats in NYC keep getting bigger…

As we mentioned last week, BANKSY is indeed in Manhattan, this time for the opening of his self-funded mock pet store installation, titled “Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill,” and he’s spending big to post huge—and, yes, LEGAL—wall-sized murals around downtown to prove it. These two new installments—located at Houston & MacDougal and Canal Street near the Holland Tunnel—were again paid for by the deepening pockets of Sir Banksy himself, and executed by expert sign painters, COLOSSAL MEDIA, who just days prior installed the reigning street art king’s first two mega-rats. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

It used to be you could get this on any street corner on the Lower East Side for about $5 bucks…

Supertouch buddy/French street art sensation JR has gone big on the streets of NYC’s Lower East Side this week in visual preparation for the debut of English artstar-maker STEVE LAZARIDES‘ upcoming Beautiful-Losers battling “Outsiders” show opening this Friday, September 26th on the Bowery (more on this soon). Meanwhile, innocent New Yorkers can only stand idly by as the streets of their beloved Gotham are stormed by the French like a reverse Norman invasion, albeit with more wheatpaste and fewer bayonets…

Bye-bye bugle boy… 

As we reported earlier, immediately following BANKSY’s recent pre-Hurricane Ike art trip through NEW ORLEANS the newly-placed guerilla art installations stenciled onto the sides of vacant houses and abandoned buildings throughout the city’s Katrina-ravaged Lower 9th Ward began to disappear. Some have fallen prey to obvious treasure hunters (hopefully New Orleans residents who can actually put the money from sold Banksys back into the neighborhood), and others, ironically, have been erased by the so-called “Gray Ghost,” an anonymous New Orleans resident known for covering graffiti with gray paint that Banksy parodied in several of the recent installations. Regardless of who’s taken them, it’s only a matter of time till the doors and siding planks bearing the mark of the Bristol bad boy begin to make their way into the seemingly endless array of “street art” auctions of late. Following is a near-complete recap of the streetjacking to date. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Banksy’s NOLA house rat flees the roost…

Following BANKSY’s recent art run through NEW ORLEANS and the city’s subsequent drenching from Hurricane Gustav, observant residents have begun removing the English street artist’s guerilla art gifts, including the stenciled rat from the side of this Katrina-ravaged home. Other pieces have been reported missing and we await photographic confirmation. Meanwhile, we’re renting a sawsall and booking a flight to the South with an eye towards early retirement. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

NYC legend Carlo McCormick (top), and (below) the real star of the nite…

The American onslaught of the new “Beautiful Losers” documentary film kicked off with the inaugural screening in NYC last week on Friday, 08.08.08, at the indie-centric IFC CENTER, hosted by director AARON ROSE. The usual cast of art freaks and downtown hipsters turned out in full force to take in the flick before repairing back to the East Village hotspot that is ERIK FOSS‘ venerable LIT LOUNGE for a late nite of celebratory god-only-knows-what, obligatory scandalous photo ops, and loud sounds by DJ CHRIS JOHANSON. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Above: McLaren & Hirst. Below: One of the alleged original fake garments in question…

The world’s highest-paid living artist, DAMIEN HIRST recently shelled out $160,000 of his hard-earned diamond skull money to a private collector for a wardrobe of original punk clothing created by Sex Pistols impresario MALCOLM McLAREN and VIVIENNE WESTWOOD for their legendary 1970s shop SEX & SEDITIONARIES, only to have it all declared fake by McLaren himself. Purchased from longtime McLaren archivist SIMON EASTON as an intended addition to Hirst’s private museum currently under construction, McLaren examined the entire collection at Hirst’s home shortly thereafter only to find the entire lot was comprised of authentic-looking bootlegs. “Seeing these clothes, I said, ‘Wow, they’ve gone to great lengths to manufacture the labels, and distress the fabrics,’” McLaren explained, “but clearly they were not the fabrics we used 35 years ago, and the stitching was totally different. And there were bags and bags of them. We simply didn’t make that many. I mean, we literally made these clothes on my kitchen floor. They were each unique.” While Hirst remains under gag order pending legal action against the collector, Easton maintains that “absolutely everything my clients have purchased is authentic. McLaren actually had very little input in the design of the clothes; he’ll rewrite history on a daily basis. He has less knowledge about these clothes than the people who collect them.” Ever get the feeling you’ve been “cheet-ed”?…

McLaren & Westwood’s “Sex” shoppe as it appeared at 430 King’s Road in the ’70s…

The above two pieces of artwork by CLARE ROJAS (left) and BARRY McGEE (right) were recently stolen from the RVCA x CINELLI “Pressure” art exhibition at RVCA’s San Francisco shop at the corner of Haight & Asbury. Both pieces are from private collections and RVCA asks that anyone with any information about their whereabouts please contact shop staff at 415 701 7822. There will be no questions asked of anyone phoning in with information and if the person in possession of the works wishes to return them, no legal action will be taken against anyone. They just want the art back. Anonymous tips can also be emailed to Supertouch staff at Supertouchart@gmail.com. DO THE RIGHT THING…