Our next “First Artist,” Shepard Fairey…

Having provided the main image for the OBAMA campaign now recognized around the world, the influence of street & graphic artist SHEPARD FAIREY cannot be overstated. Having transcended the traditional boundaries of his chosen medium to create an image that united and inspired voters (and the presidential candidate himself) across lines of class, race, gender, and party, Fairey has achieved a truly monumental task in this election and inspired a generation of young people to become politically active in the process. A key element to the success of Obama’s visual campaign was Fairey’s mostly illegal dissemination tactics of wheatpasting posters on private and public property without permission, a sweet little twist in the side of the political machine that proved the artist’s steadfast adherence to his streetwise principals remained intact while working overground in such an unprecedented way. In doing so, he single-handedly inspired a nation of supporters to do the same and the Obama campaign has seen an outpouring of viral aesthetic support at a level never before realized by a political candidate. On the eve of tomorrow’s presidential election, we spoke with Shepard about the relevance of his work for Obama and his thoughts on the shape of political things to come. READ ON: Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Sachs has always been known for crying in public… 

Following his two awe-inspiring solo shows in NYC earlier this year, Supertouch buddy & perhaps today’s most visionary artist TOM SACHS brought his troupe of crying HELLO KITTY sculptures first exhibited at Lever House in Manhattan last month to the Paris to be displayed at the base of the fashion capital’s most iconic sight, the Eiffel Tower. Exhibited in conjunction with his show of new works at GALERIE THADDAEUS ROPAC that debuted in the City of Lights on October 23rd—the centerpiece of which was an epic half pipe sculpture composed of two fully-skateable life-sized bronze quarter pipes alongside other bronze castings and wood burned plywood pieces—Sach’s menagerie of Sanrio sculptures appear to be constructed of the artist’s favorite material, foamcore, but are actually giant bronzes cast and painted to resemble the cheap material that is the hallmark of the New Yorker’s oeuvre. On display through November 2nd, the three pieces representing the iconic characters of “Hello Kitty,” “Miffy,” and “My Melody,” are viewable 24-7 on the Trocadero and have somehow managed to do the impossible and evade tagging, obviously a testament to Sach’s enduring street cred. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Following the opening of ROSTARR’s retrospective “Wreckless Abandon” exhibition at Miami’s newly-inaugurated O.H.W.O.W.GALLERY on October 11, Supertouch’s own DARREN “DR” ROMANELLI (aka: DRx) caught up with the nomadic artist to get the real story on the last ten years of artwork that constitutes the show and a look at what’s on his horizon in 2009. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

” ‘Er bum looks even smaller in gold… ”

In what is surely the single event that turned even the most aesthetically impaired men of the world into modern art lovers, renowned British sculptor MARC QUINN unveiled his solid gold KATE MOSS sculpture at the BRITISH MUSEUM this weekend as part of the “Statuephilia” show that also included works by DAMIEN HIRST, RON MUECK, NOBLE & WEBSTER, and ANTONY GORMLEY. Titled “Siren,” the piece is made of solid 18K gold and cost nearly $3 million USD to fabricate, with nearly all the cost going to the price of gold. It is the largest solid gold sculpture made since ancient Egypt. At 11o pounds, the piece weighs about the same as its waifish subject and is currently on display in the museum’s Nereid Gallery among statues of Greek goddesses including—fittingly—Aphrodite. Said Quinn at the Statue’s unveiling this weekend, “The sculpture is really about whether we make images or they make us. It’s about trying to live up to impossible dreams and immortality … For Kate, she thinks it lifts into her into a mythical level. I think she very much loved it because she understands the difference between her image and her self.” The piece remains on display at the museum through the end of the year and Quinn expects the sculpture to fetch in the neighborhood of $20 million USD when it’s finally sold following the exhibition. Reports of Pete Doherty camping out in front of the sculpture and staring longingly from morning till nite since the opening have been confirmed. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Banksy’s art & life intersect in the lower ninth ward…

One wouldn’t normally expect to find the world’s most Googled street artist lurking among the ruins of the lower ninth ward in NEW ORLEANS, but that’s just where renegade stencil artist BANKSY has been holed up for the past week, covering the desiccated city with art to commemorate the anniversary of KATRINA, the hurricane that killed 1800 people when it struck the coastal city in 2005. Said Banksy of the operation, “Three years after Katrina I wanted to make a statement about the state of the clean-up operation,” and attested that the city’s levee wall offered “the best painting surface in the state of Louisiana.” However, the Bristol Bomber seemed to feel some pangs of regret in his action when he added, “…I wanted to highlight the state of the clean-up operation. Only later did it dawn on me that if you choose to do this by drawing all over their stuff, you’re actually only slowing down that clean-up operation.” Of course, in the art world, timing is everything, and as the roving stencil demigod wraps up his project, the city braces for the onslaught of oncoming tropical storm Gustav which threatens to again devestate the slowly healing city. Hopefully, once residents realize what’s been painted on their doorstop, a quick sawsall session and a little eBay savvy will net them enough to build a mansion in the French Quarter. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

With all the mainstream news outlets presenting the “official” view of the 29th OLYMPIC GAMES in Beijing (including computer-generated fireworks and lip-synching 6-year-old body doubles), Supertouch brings you a street level look at the real haps around town from the back alleys to the 798 Arts District, you won’t see anywhere else. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Mr Brainwash’s personal SWAT team keep an eye on the goods…

To call last nite’s opening of newly minted and ridiculously named “artist” MR BRAINWASH an “art show” would be a disservice to artists everywhere and even Mr Brainwash himself. Instead, let’s call it what it really is: a grand art prank of epic proportions. A heist. A spoof. A joke. Or maybe just the biggest, funnest, sloppiest high school art fair of all time. But let’s not call it an “art show.” Unfortunately, the majority of the Hollywood zombies lined up around the block for the better part of four hours awaiting entrance didn’t quite get the joke. Neither did the faceless minions who quietly bought into the affair during the preceding weeks for a reported—but completely unverified—total of $500K as of opening nite after reading the recent LA Weekly cover story hyping the event. And, apparently, neither did Mr Brainwash who is taking this all very, very seriously. And who is this alleged artist we’ve never heard of till now? If you had asked Frenchman THEIRRY GUETTA eight years ago about his chosen profession, the answer would have surely been “cameraman.” After following pioneering street art legends like Banksy and Shepard Fairey around, camera in hand, shooting hundreds of hours of footage, however, the lure of cheap & easy fame began to eat away at him. The desire to mint an original style proved more elusive. It all began several years ago with a series of uninspiring wheatpaste posters in the style of nearly every stencil artist that came before him depicting Guetta, with trademark facial hair and fedora, holding a camera, fused to the walls of Hollywood’s most heavily trafficked corridors. Further inspired by the success of Banksy’s self-produced “Barely Legal” solo show in 2006 (and with the encouragement of Sir Banks himself—possibly his biggest art prank on us all to date?), and having established sufficient “street cred,” Guetta began to plot his own ascent. The result is the exhibition in question, titled “Life is Beautiful” that currently occupies the formerly vacant CBS Studios on Sunset Blvd. Unfortunately for us all, instead of using Bansky’s example as an inspiration for an original show, Mr Brainwash has replicated the Bristol Bad Boy’s fete in relative scale and concept, but without a trace of originality. Which is not to say that Guetta lacks vision. The concept of renting out the staggeringly large and formerly vacant (it will be razed in coming months to make way for LA’s biggest skyscraper) building for a homegrown art show is a brilliant move. Handling it all himself sans gallery, even moreso. But what Guetta has chosen to fill the studio with amounts to the canon of Pop Art fed through the blender of street art and rendered verbatim in the style of the genre’s top earners in nearly every conceivable medium from sculpture to paintings. Which in theory, should make it an incredible work of parody, if not for Mr Brainwash’s steadfast assertion that what he has created is indeed art. “For ten years I’ve been creating real artwork and never with a show,” explains the artist. “I never did it to make money, and I’m still not. This is a gift to Los Angeles. I’m sharing this experience with everyone.” The result is indeed visually stunning with giant Claes Oldenburg style sculptures greeting his fans in the building’s courtyard who are in turn awed by the cavernous and sloppy wonderland of imagery that awaits them inside. In the words of one of LA’s most pioneering street art provocateurs, Skullphone, “if Disneyland wanted to open a street art ride, this is what they’d have done.” Warhol, Banksy, and nearly every other major Pop artist conceivable are ripped off wholesale in these works which incorporate the style of humor implicit in Banksy’s best designs but without the artist’s biting irony and dry English wit. Instead, what Mr Brainwash (or more accurately, his army of assistants) has created is a vast array of straightforward sight gags that never fail to amuse, but never quite hit the satirical homeruns of his mentor. The sloppiness of the entire affair and DIY spirit are its most redeeming qualities, and it will surely be the biggest show LA will see all year. It’s just too bad it wasn’t intentionally the most astutely satirical one too, aimed at taking the inflated, overpaid, and hyper-serious world of street art down a notch. That would have made it truly brilliant. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

A National Geographic moment if there ever was one…

One of the most memorable experiences in life has to be climbing the legendary GREAT WALL OF CHINA. Built between the 6th century BC and the 16th century, the 4,000 mile Great Wall was constructed to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties. The area pictured here is closest to Beijing, the former capital city of the Ming Dynasty which was responsible for building the most strong, fortified, and enduring segments of the wall. At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men and historical records indicate that around two to three million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall. Now, the colossal structure is a modern tourist trap where American, Euro, and native Chinese travelers mingle to gawk at each other and the monumental gigantitude of the twisting path before them. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »