Supertouch buddy LANCE ARMSTRONG has added his custom SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK Madone cycle into rotation as he rides in the 100th edition of the legendary GIRO D’ITALIA race in support of teammate LEVI LEIPHEIMER. With a matching Shepard Fairey-designed brain bucket to boot, Lance is sporting a coordinated ensemble that even Bruno would give an enthusiastic “Ach ja.”
*Watch live feed of the Giro daily HERE…
Tex warms up with airy mags in place…
Rolling through Venice, Italy, on the opening day of his first-ever run in the country’s legendary GIRO D’ITALIA race, LANCE ARMSTRONG helped bring his ASTANA team in third place atop his new Supertouch-curated KENNY SCHARF custom-designed TREK TTX cycle in today’s time trial. Recovering from his recent broken collarbone, Armstrong has stated that hopes of winning the centennial edition of the Italian race is out of the question while he strives to regain race shape in support of teammate LEVI LEIPHEIMER in the three week tour of Italy. SHEPARD FAIREY’s custom Trek Madone hits the pavement tomorrow, keep an eye on ST for first looks…
Kenny’s art wheels in place for today’s time trial…
Just another day at the office…
If you want something done right…
Lance inspects his Kenny Scharf-designed Trek TTX time trial bike (sans art wheels for now) with legendary coach Johan Bruyneel…
Stationed in Venice, Italy for the kickoff of this year’s GIRO D’TALIA on Saturday, Supertouch buddy LANCE ARMSTRONG has just gotten his new KENNY SCHARF and SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK art cycles up and running and ready to hit the hills in the grand tour’s epic centennial run. The 2009 Giro d’Italia celebrates the race’s 100 year legacy—from Ganna to Contador—with a spectacular and unexpected route. It lacks the massive, mythical mountain passes and its final stage ends in the south for the first time in years. Riders will visit all of Italy’s great cities including Venezia, Trieste, Milano, Torino, Firenze, Bologna, Napoli and Roma, and delivers deceptively difficult stages in the second half of the event. Stay tuned to ST for updates throughout the three-week run…
In Honor of MOTHER’S DAY, Supertouch’s resident tattoo godfather SCOTT CAMPBELL will be doing “Mom” tattoos for $100 each on a first come first served basis this Sunday, May 10th at THE SMILE (SAVED TATTOO’s second location in Manhattan). He will have a set of 5 designs to choose from that he drew up specifically for the occasion, and he will not tattoo these designs again after Sunday. Inking starts at 8am and Scotty will take as many people as he can until 6pm. Don’t sleep!
THE SMILE: 26 Bond St, between Lafayette and Bowery, NYC.
As if LANCE ARMSTRONG’s Supertouch-curated custom SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK MADONE road cycle wasn’t enough to snap necks at this month’s GIRO D’ITALIA race, helmet company GIRO has just created a matching lid to up the ante. Incorporating swaths of graphics from Shep’s race bike the helmet might just see the light of day on store shelves as an incredibly limited-edition run with proceeds from sales going to benefit LIVESTRONG. Keep an eye on ST for more updates in the coming week, including the chance to win one of the coveted brain buckets…
Where your brain could end up without one of these lids…
Creating SHEPARD FAIREY’s new TREK MADONE racing cycle for LANCE ARMSTRONG’s run in this month’s GIRO D’ITALIA was no easy task. Luckily, Trek artist SHANE SIEDSCHLAG is nice with a blade and a decal sheet…
When pressed about Shep’s new bike in Rome today, Lance told an AP reporter: “I’m a fan of his artwork. I collect his artwork. The bike that he did for this race I think is pretty stunning.”
The work of 74-year-old painter PETER SAUL reveals an artist whose vigor for wild Cartoon Expressionism remains undiminished by age. A pioneer of Pop Art who wears his pulp influences on his sleeve, Saul has created some of his finest modern work in this show of mostly large scale new paintings now on display at NYC’s venerable DAVID NOLAN GALLERY, all of which explode with the trademark color and humor inherent in all of the artist’s most memorable work. Rightfully, the paper of record has taken notice:
The irrepressible Peter Saul, now 74, continues his cheerfully acerbic, riotously goofy ways. The paintings in this entertaining show are made in Mr. Saul’s signature Pop-Surrealist cartoon style. With their rubbery, pneumatic forms neatly rendered with a spongy, semi-pointillist touch in glowing colors, they are like much-enlarged stills from a twisted animated film.
There are three different types of pictures: weirdly personal, violently political and insouciantly art historical. In “Viva la Difference,” a grinning bon vivant in pajamas with a martini in one hand wraps his arm around an amorphous blob that sprouts multiple breasts and is perforated by numerous vaginal orifices. (Talk about your male gaze!)
On the political front, there’s “Stalin & Mao,” in which the dictators are represented as giants punching the heads off enemy soldiers. As for art history, “Better Than de Kooning,” a translation of de Kooning’s “Woman” paintings from the 1950s into a picture of bulging, writhing, tubular forms, is visually captivating and amusingly Oedipal.
“Beckmann’s the Night” is based on a 1919 painting by Max Beckmann. In Mr. Saul’s version, a green maniac armed with a knife and a pistol attacks a naked blonde tied by her wrists to an overhead beam, while Beckmann himself licks the swollen foot of a half-naked man who hangs by the neck. A careening bullet rips through the flesh of the strung-up victims. Mr. Saul’s picture reminds us that few sights are more gripping to behold than scenes of horrific carnage.
—KEN JOHNSON, NYTimes
On display until May23rd, consider this a must-see show of the highest order. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »
SPIKE JONZE’s forthcoming “Where The Wild Things Are” film marketing blitz is easily the most welcome merchandising moment in recent years. Kicking off the collecting onslaught is MEDICOM TOY’s excellent KUBRICK set depicting Max and his merry band of monsters alongside an amazing 12″ REAL ACTION HERO version of Max in his fuzzy suit and crown. All figures hit shelves in October when the movie— based on Maurice Sendak’s seminal children’s book of the same name—drops in theaters…
Supertouch buddies DALEK and MIKE GIANT took over GALERIE MAGDA DANYSZ with their dazzling eponymous joint show that opened its doors last week…
Pioneering “Hyperrealist” artist DUANE HANSON spent a lifetime perfecting his totally lifelike human sculptures before cancer claimed his life at age 71 in 1996. Now, in homage to the great renderer of the everyman, GALERIE EMMANUEL PERROTIN is presenting an incredible collection of some of the artist’s best work, representing everyone from skater kids to construction workers in their epic new Rue Turenne space in Paris’ 4th arrondissement. Hanson cast his sculptures from live subjects and fabricated them using fiberglass and resin, allowing for utterly lifelike detail. Thematically, Hanson was concerned with the man on the street and sought to portray the marginalized members of society he saw around him every day: “People, workers, the elderly, all these people I see with sympathy and affection. These are the people who have fought the battle of life and who now and then show the hard work and the frustration … It’s all about human activity, it’s truth, and we all get there.” As the home to Lance Armstrong’s upcoming anti-cancer “Stages” art show benefiting the Livestrong foundation this July 16th, Perrotin’s incredible exhibition provides the perfect prelude illustrating the career of an artist working at the peak of his craft when his life was so tragically ended by a disease still not fully understood. Hanson’s work remains on display until July 11th, don’t miss it. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »
Last weekend saw the DAMIEN HIRST’s first grand spectacle of 2009 when his daunting career retrospective “Requiem” opened at the PINCHUK ART CENTER in the unlikely city of Kiev, Ukraine. Not exactly known as an epicenter of fine art (unless you count the Ukrainian girls, that is), resident steel billionaire and obsessed Hirst collector VICTOR PINCHUK aims to change that by launching the epic visual spectacle that includes over 100 works (a vast amount of which came from Pinchuk’s private collection) by the British artist from 1998 – 2008 in his own privately funded art palace that holds the title as the largest private museum in the former Soviet Union. The fact that this grandiose show of power comes at a time when…
It is truly with a heavy heart that we must break the news that one of Supertouch’s dear friends, photographer SHAWN MORTENSEN, passed away last nite. A kinetic force of optimism and seemingly limitless positive energy, Shawn’s hearty career as a photojournalist and artist took him around the world several times over, unselfishly spreading his endless supply of good vibes as he went. Particularly renowned for his portraits of musicians, artists, and entertainers, Shawn photographed a stunning array of pop culture demigods in his 20+ year career including…
As a director of some of the most acclaimed highbrow B-movies of all time, Supertouch amigo JOHN WATERS needs no further introduction. Quietly working the night shift as a fine artist for years now, the Baltimore-bound obsessive’s hard work has finally landed him a spot in the most hallowed hall of the modern art world, namely, the GAGOSIAN GALLERY, where the artist’s solo “Rear Projection” show opened to a throng of Hollywood players, weirdos, fanboys and girls, and well-wishing lookie-loos on Saturday nite. Comprised largely of C-prints of photos Waters has taken of TV screens bearing his favorite stills from movies of all kinds, the works pulse with the raw humor and dry wit that is Waters’ hallmark…
To officially launch the LIVESTRONG “Stages” benefit art show (full details below) powered by NIKE that will debut during LANCE ARMSTRONG’s run in this year’s TOUR DE FRANCE, an epic kickoff celebration was held on Saturday nite at Nike’s MONTALBAN THEATER in the heart of Hollywood.
KAWS‘ anxiously anticipated new show “The Long Way Home,” opened its doors to an absolutely massive crowd at HONOR FRASER gallery in LA last nite, with a queue that wrapped entirely around the block (and then some) for the duration of the frenzied two-hour opening. KAWS’ incredibly well behaved legion of faithful followers did their best to make the Brooklyn-based artist feel welcome in his first west coast solo exhibition that featured new paintings (the largest of which went to collector and Supertouch buddy Lance Armstrong), sculptures, a 20″ solid bronze Chum figure and a new series of “Kurfs” and Spongebob package paintings that were spoken for well before the opening festivities kicked off.
J O'Shea/Editor
Shepard Fairey
Everlast
Dr Romanelli
Lupe Fiasco
Billy Gibbons
Christian Parkes
Davey Havok
Eric White
Erik Foss
Christian Hosoi
Josh Davis
Kenna
Mark Ryden
Masa/Three Tides
Sarah/Colette
Scott Campbell
Tim Biskup
WK Interact
Donny Miller
Lance Mountain
James Jean
Andy Cruz
Adam Glickman
Ron English
Jose Parla
D* Face
Eric Nakamura
Nathan Cabrera
Kostas Seremetis
Phil Frost
Kyle Ng
Suitman