An eagle soars through Mer de Glace in the French Alps with a camera strapped to its back.
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Yu Hong | The Laughing Heart
Nowness
Reflecting on the frenetic rush of her country, Yu Hong inhabits a quiet, thoughtful corner of the Chinese art world.
Reflecting on the frenetic rush of her country, Yu Hong inhabits a quiet, thoughtful corner of the Chinese art world.
PBS Off/Book | The Art of Portrait Photography
Humans have been creating likenesses of each other for thousands of years, but with the introduction of photography, a new language developed for capturing the human image.
Mark Landis | Philanthropist/Master Forger
The Avant/Garde Diaries
Mark Landis is a philanthropist who for the better part of thirty years donated art to nearly fifty art institutions in over twenty states. The works he gave were copies of little known, nineteenth-century American impressionists that he forged.
Referring to himself strictly as a philanthropist, Landis never profited from this particular compulsion since he always “donated” the works in honor of his deceased parents or a distant relative.
His ruse was also abetted by the unassuming appearance of the man himself – which he habitually refined by dressing as a Jesuit priest. By the mid-2000s, Landis had set up a veritable assembly-line production of forgeries that he created from the comfort of his dim bedroom.
Mark Landis is a philanthropist who for the better part of thirty years donated art to nearly fifty art institutions in over twenty states. The works he gave were copies of little known, nineteenth-century American impressionists that he forged.
Referring to himself strictly as a philanthropist, Landis never profited from this particular compulsion since he always “donated” the works in honor of his deceased parents or a distant relative.
His ruse was also abetted by the unassuming appearance of the man himself – which he habitually refined by dressing as a Jesuit priest. By the mid-2000s, Landis had set up a veritable assembly-line production of forgeries that he created from the comfort of his dim bedroom.
Ken Perenyi | Caveat Emptor
CBS
Ken Perenyi spent a lifetime ripping off art dealers and auction houses, by painting fakes so accurately few could tell the difference between his forgeries and the real thing.
He is self-taught for the most part. And he learned well. His steady hand and his eye for detail are often compared to many of the 19th century masters.
Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger
Ken Perenyi spent a lifetime ripping off art dealers and auction houses, by painting fakes so accurately few could tell the difference between his forgeries and the real thing.
He is self-taught for the most part. And he learned well. His steady hand and his eye for detail are often compared to many of the 19th century masters.
Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger
Pei-Shen Qian is Now a Famous Artist
 |
| Pei-Shen Qian |
The New York Times
Pei-Shen Qian’s paintings hang in an American embassy, a museum and are displayed at international exhibitions. But the artworks do not have his signature.
Mr. Qian, who immigrated to New York four decades ago, is revealed as the painter who created dozens of works modeled after America’s Modernist masters that were sold as their handiwork.
These creations by Mr. Qian are so convincing that they were purchased for millions of dollars although he received only a few thousand dollars for each painting.
Pei-Shen Qian’s neighbors on 95th Street in Woodhaven, Queens, knew he scratched out a living as an artist: he often dried his paintings in the sun, propping them up on the weathered white siding of his modest house.
Pei-Shen Qian’s paintings hang in an American embassy, a museum and are displayed at international exhibitions. But the artworks do not have his signature.
Mr. Qian, who immigrated to New York four decades ago, is revealed as the painter who created dozens of works modeled after America’s Modernist masters that were sold as their handiwork.
These creations by Mr. Qian are so convincing that they were purchased for millions of dollars although he received only a few thousand dollars for each painting.
Pei-Shen Qian’s neighbors on 95th Street in Woodhaven, Queens, knew he scratched out a living as an artist: he often dried his paintings in the sun, propping them up on the weathered white siding of his modest house.
 |
| Pei-Shen Qian lived and worked in this house on 95th Street in Woodhaven, Queens. Photo: Robert Stolarik for NYTimes |
Over a period of 15 years, court papers claim, the painter, working out of his home studio and garage, churned out at least 63 drawings and paintings that carried the signatures of artistic giants like Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell and Richard Diebenkorn.
Long before Mr. Qian settled in Queens, he worked as an artist. He grew up in the island city of Zhoushan and in Shanghai, according to a 2004 interview with a Chinese television station. In 1981, Mr. Qian came to New York, where he and his friend Mr. Zhang took art classes together at the Art Students League on West 57th Street. Continue reading at The New York Times.
Long before Mr. Qian settled in Queens, he worked as an artist. He grew up in the island city of Zhoushan and in Shanghai, according to a 2004 interview with a Chinese television station. In 1981, Mr. Qian came to New York, where he and his friend Mr. Zhang took art classes together at the Art Students League on West 57th Street. Continue reading at The New York Times.
David Bradford | Cabbie Photographer
newyork.com
Not long after becoming a cabbie, David Bradford began taking photographs from his cab to use as reference points for his illustrations. By 1993 he was snapping pictures for the sake of the photos themselves, creating a personal portrait of New York City from a unique vantage point: the front seat of a yellow cab.
In 2000, Bradford published Drive-By Shootings, which sold out its first printing of 50,000 copies within three months. A second volume of photos, The New York Taxi Back Seat Book, followed in 2006, offering a more intimate view of the people who pass through the back seat of a taxicab in New York City.
Bradford continues to capture images of the city, most recently in the form of 15-second movies he shoots from the front seat of his cab with his cell phone’s video camera. The films are accompanied by a “soundtrack” (whatever music happens to be on the cab’s radio at the time) and published on his website as-is, with no post-production editing. Be on the lookout for Bradford; you never know when you might find yourself in his taxi, watching art made on the fly.
Not long after becoming a cabbie, David Bradford began taking photographs from his cab to use as reference points for his illustrations. By 1993 he was snapping pictures for the sake of the photos themselves, creating a personal portrait of New York City from a unique vantage point: the front seat of a yellow cab.
In 2000, Bradford published Drive-By Shootings, which sold out its first printing of 50,000 copies within three months. A second volume of photos, The New York Taxi Back Seat Book, followed in 2006, offering a more intimate view of the people who pass through the back seat of a taxicab in New York City.
Bradford continues to capture images of the city, most recently in the form of 15-second movies he shoots from the front seat of his cab with his cell phone’s video camera. The films are accompanied by a “soundtrack” (whatever music happens to be on the cab’s radio at the time) and published on his website as-is, with no post-production editing. Be on the lookout for Bradford; you never know when you might find yourself in his taxi, watching art made on the fly.
Queens Painter Created Art Forgeries That Sold For Millions
The New York Times
In this recent tale of fake art sold for millions, the artist who created the work has not been charged and the dealer who sold the work has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Perhaps if she had not filed false tax returns and concealed proceeds of the sales in overseas bank accounts, she would not have been charged.
Federal prosecutors say that most, if not all, of the 63 artworks — which fetched more than $80 million in sales — were painted in a home and garage in Queens by one unusually talented but unknown artist who was paid only a few thousand dollars apiece for his handiworks.
Authorities did not name or charge the painter and provided few identifying details except to say he had trained at a Manhattan art school in a variety of disciplines including painting, drawing and lithography. He was selling his work on the streets of New York in the early 1990s, they said, when he was spotted by a Chelsea art dealer who helped convert his work into one of the most audacious art frauds in recent memory.
In this recent tale of fake art sold for millions, the artist who created the work has not been charged and the dealer who sold the work has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Perhaps if she had not filed false tax returns and concealed proceeds of the sales in overseas bank accounts, she would not have been charged.
Federal prosecutors say that most, if not all, of the 63 artworks — which fetched more than $80 million in sales — were painted in a home and garage in Queens by one unusually talented but unknown artist who was paid only a few thousand dollars apiece for his handiworks.
Authorities did not name or charge the painter and provided few identifying details except to say he had trained at a Manhattan art school in a variety of disciplines including painting, drawing and lithography. He was selling his work on the streets of New York in the early 1990s, they said, when he was spotted by a Chelsea art dealer who helped convert his work into one of the most audacious art frauds in recent memory.
 |
| “Untitled” by Jackson Pollock was one of the forged works. |
Glafira Rosales, an obscure dealer from Long Island, was arrested after a lengthy Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry. She has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering in connection to what authorities have called a scam, but her boyfriend, alleged to be the other co-conspirator who discovered the painter, has not been charged.
How imitations of the most heralded Abstract Expressionists by a complete unknown could have fooled connoisseurs and clients remains a mystery.
“It’s impressive,” said Jack Flam, president of the Dedalus Foundation, the nonprofit organization that authenticates Motherwell’s work. “Whoever did these paintings was very well-informed of the practices of the artists.”
One of the first experts to publicly identify some of these paintings as forgeries, Mr. Flam noted that not only the works themselves, but also the backs of the paintings and the way the canvases were treated and the frames constructed aped the styles of the artists.
But he said “the way we look at reality is highly influenced by the context it’s presented to us.” The fact that they were sold by Knoedler, a respected gallery, influenced people’s opinions, he said.
How imitations of the most heralded Abstract Expressionists by a complete unknown could have fooled connoisseurs and clients remains a mystery.
“It’s impressive,” said Jack Flam, president of the Dedalus Foundation, the nonprofit organization that authenticates Motherwell’s work. “Whoever did these paintings was very well-informed of the practices of the artists.”
One of the first experts to publicly identify some of these paintings as forgeries, Mr. Flam noted that not only the works themselves, but also the backs of the paintings and the way the canvases were treated and the frames constructed aped the styles of the artists.
But he said “the way we look at reality is highly influenced by the context it’s presented to us.” The fact that they were sold by Knoedler, a respected gallery, influenced people’s opinions, he said.
Laurel Nakadate | Strangers and Relations
 |
| West Palm Beach, Fla. #1, 2012 |
Interview
Curious about her genetic link to others, artist Laurel Nakadate took a 23andMe DNA test and tracked down distant relatives on her mother’s side. (One of the founders of 23andMe is biologist Anne Wojcicki who is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin.)
Curious about her genetic link to others, artist Laurel Nakadate took a 23andMe DNA test and tracked down distant relatives on her mother’s side. (One of the founders of 23andMe is biologist Anne Wojcicki who is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin.)
Nakadate’s maternal kin are the subjects of “Strangers and Relations,” a solo exhibition at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects.
She chose to photograph the newly found strangers in remote areas under the evening sky and lit them with both flashlight and ambient light “because when we are lost in the dark, we use flashlights to find one another.”
She chose to photograph the newly found strangers in remote areas under the evening sky and lit them with both flashlight and ambient light “because when we are lost in the dark, we use flashlights to find one another.”
 |
| Self Portrait #1 |
She started by cold-emailing relatives describing her concept, but wary her request was a bit peculiar. “It’s a strange project,“ she says. “[It’s like]:
‘Hi, I don’t know you, but we are related, and I’d like to make your portrait! Oh, and I’d like to meet you at night, under only star and moonlight. Oh, and the darker the location, the better.’ ”
 |
| Tyler, Texas #1, 2013 |
Nakadate traveled 37,000 miles (!!!) over 31 states to meet her subjects. “I slept in some of the strangest, saddest motels, I've ever stayed in…I saw a lot of abandoned storefronts, boarded-up houses, and empty lots,” she remembers. “Half the time, my GPS didn’t even know where I was.”
The lonely journey helped put the project in context. “It speaks about America in 2013, and that heavy feeling of being alone in the middle of nowhere, while still trying to make connections with strangers,” Nakadate explains.
The lonely journey helped put the project in context. “It speaks about America in 2013, and that heavy feeling of being alone in the middle of nowhere, while still trying to make connections with strangers,” Nakadate explains.
 |
| Carolina Beach, N.C. #1, 2013 |
“My mother’s DNA revealed that, as with most Americans, there is nothing simple about the history of her family in America. She descends from Mayflower passengers, African slaves, indentured servants, and prominent figures in American history such as Anne Hutchinson, the Quaker martyr.”
“Because I share DNA with each person in the ‘Relations’ photographs, these portraits are also modern-day self-portraits.“
“Because I share DNA with each person in the ‘Relations’ photographs, these portraits are also modern-day self-portraits.“
 |
| Akron, Ohio #1, 2013 |
A genome is more than a cluster of molecules to Nakadate: “It’s a map that connects me with others on this planet, and it’s a mystery, a list of clues, evidence of lives lived.”
Laurel Nakadate’s works are included in major museum collections, such as the MoMA New York, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.
Laurel Nakadate’s works are included in major museum collections, such as the MoMA New York, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.
 |
| Kalispell, Mont. #1, 2013 |
 |
| Tyler, Texas #2, 2013 |
 |
| Cleveland, Ohio #1, 2012 |
 |
| Shelbyville, Ky. #1, 2012 |
 |
| Urbana, Ill. #1, 2013 |
New York City | Voice Tunnel
NYC Gov
An interactive light and sound installation in the Park Avenue Tunnel contains 300 theatrical spotlights that produce glimmering arches of light along the tunnel’s walls and ceiling. Participants will be able to influence the intensity of each light by speaking into a special intercom at the tunnel’s center that records their voice and loops it. Louder speech increases the lights’ brightness proportionally, creating a Morse-like code of flashes throughout the tunnel. The individual voices can be heard as pedestrians walk through the tunnel, on 150 loudspeakers, one beside each light arch and synchronized with it.
At any given time, the tunnel is illuminated by the voices of the past 90 participants. As new participants speak into the intercom, older recordings get pushed away by one position down the array of light fixtures until they leave the tunnel, so that the content of the piece is constantly changing.
An interactive light and sound installation in the Park Avenue Tunnel contains 300 theatrical spotlights that produce glimmering arches of light along the tunnel’s walls and ceiling. Participants will be able to influence the intensity of each light by speaking into a special intercom at the tunnel’s center that records their voice and loops it. Louder speech increases the lights’ brightness proportionally, creating a Morse-like code of flashes throughout the tunnel. The individual voices can be heard as pedestrians walk through the tunnel, on 150 loudspeakers, one beside each light arch and synchronized with it.
At any given time, the tunnel is illuminated by the voices of the past 90 participants. As new participants speak into the intercom, older recordings get pushed away by one position down the array of light fixtures until they leave the tunnel, so that the content of the piece is constantly changing.
JR | INSIDE OUT
INSIDE OUT tracks the evolution of the world’s largest participatory art project. Travel the globe with French artist JR as he motivates communities to define their most important causes by pasting giant portraits in the street, testing the limits of what they thought possible.
Tomás Saraceno | in orbit
Art Daily
“When I look at the multilayered levels of diaphanous lines and spheres, I am reminded of models of the universe that depict the forces of gravity and planetary bodies. For me, the work visualizes the space-time continuum, the three-dimensional web of a spider, the ramifications of tissue in the brain, dark matter, or the structure of the universe. With ‘in orbit,’ proportions enter into new relationships; human bodies become planets, molecules, or social black holes.”
Visitors to Tomás Saraceno’s latest installation, “in orbit” become part of the art and have a good time. Each movement of individuals in the artwork is felt by everyone.
The artist describes the floating space as an oscillating network of relationships, neural pathways, resonances, and synchronous communication—a new digital geography, one that is experienced in physical terms.
The gigantic installation work has been assembled in Dusseldorf’s Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. At a height of more than 20 meters above the piazza of the K21 Ständehaus, Saraceno has suspended a net construction within which visitors can move, apparently weightlessly. This contemporary safety net, which covers altogether 2500 m², spreads itself out across three levels below the massive glass cupola of the K21. The levels are held apart from one another by a series of “spheres,” airfilled PVC balls measuring up to 8.5 meters in diameter.
The artist describes the floating space as an oscillating network of relationships, neural pathways, resonances, and synchronous communication—a new digital geography, one that is experienced in physical terms.
The gigantic installation work has been assembled in Dusseldorf’s Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. At a height of more than 20 meters above the piazza of the K21 Ständehaus, Saraceno has suspended a net construction within which visitors can move, apparently weightlessly. This contemporary safety net, which covers altogether 2500 m², spreads itself out across three levels below the massive glass cupola of the K21. The levels are held apart from one another by a series of “spheres,” airfilled PVC balls measuring up to 8.5 meters in diameter.
Cutie And The Boxer
Once a rising star in the ‘70s New York art scene, 80-year-old “boxing” painter Ushio Shinohara hopes to reinvigorate his career as he preps for his latest show. His wife, and de facto assistant, Noriko, seeks her own recognition through her “Cutie” illustrations, which depict their chaotic, yet sustained, 40-year marriage.
rAndom International | Rain Room
Creators Project
Imagine that angels follow you with an invisible umbrella leaving you dry as you walk through a rain shower. Rain Room offers visitors the chance to stand in the middle of a rain storm without getting wet.
Sensors detect and track your movement so that as you move forward, the rain around you ceases to fall overhead, allowing a glimpse into what it might be like to control the rain. Every movement is anticipated—quickly shoot out your arm and still it stays dry; change the speed or angle of your walking and still the rain stops.
Imagine that angels follow you with an invisible umbrella leaving you dry as you walk through a rain shower. Rain Room offers visitors the chance to stand in the middle of a rain storm without getting wet.
Sensors detect and track your movement so that as you move forward, the rain around you ceases to fall overhead, allowing a glimpse into what it might be like to control the rain. Every movement is anticipated—quickly shoot out your arm and still it stays dry; change the speed or angle of your walking and still the rain stops.
Edwin Ushiro
Trash Lab
Originally from Maui, Edwin Ushiro attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and works in the entertainment world as a Production Designer, Visual Consultant, Art Director, Storyboard Artist, and Concept Designer.
Originally from Maui, Edwin Ushiro attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and works in the entertainment world as a Production Designer, Visual Consultant, Art Director, Storyboard Artist, and Concept Designer.
The most famous haunted house on the north shore of Oahu once stood beside Kamehameha Highway, at the entrance to Waimea Falls Park. Visitors to this house described high pitched calls, which locals identified as the spirits of the house. The spirits called out through the walls, from under the floor and down from the ceiling, vibrating the entire frame of the wooden building. In the mid-'80s, the structure was scheduled to be demolished, and a curious archaeologist was given permission to make a quick survey. Over a few days, they uncovered an ancient structure under the foundation, which was believed to be a fish shrine. As the research team continued to work, they heard a faint “woooo” sound that seemed to be exhaling through the ground. Following that noise among the stones, the team located a small opening from which the eerie sound emanated. Evidently, an old lava tube ran underneath the house, down to the nearby ocean at Waimea Bay. So when the tide rose, the air in the tube was forced out through the opening, literally penetrating the earth and into the walls of the house, emitting that unearthly call of the dead.
Owned and operated by the Kahului Railroad Company, the stone crusher was a concrete and corrugated metal building near the western breakwater of Maui’s Kahului Harbor. The crusher was primarily used to maintain the breakwater, while the finer rock was used for road pavement. Decades ago, the building was torn down, leaving only skeletal remains which can be explored today as a remnant of Kahului’s industrial period.
Cohen Van Balen | 75 WATT
Cohen Van Balen
Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen designed a product to be made in China. The object’s only function is to choreograph a dance performed by the laborers manufacturing it.
“A labourer over the course of an 8-hour day can sustain an average output of about 75 watts” ~Marks’ Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers
Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen designed a product to be made in China. The object’s only function is to choreograph a dance performed by the laborers manufacturing it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
