Satirical artist and commentator Steve Brodner, whose beat is politics, has probably heard or read every statement by the many candidates in this presidential election. This week he gives the lowdown on the Republican nominee Donald J. Trump. Q: Last week, columnist and former speechwriter Michael A. Cohen said that Trump’s speeches are peppered with statements that reflect ideas that exist only in his head. … Read the full Story >>
In an interview for It’s Nice That, Christoph Niemann (1970) said, “A drawing is like when you describe something to a reader in three sentences.” In a few words, the artist/author/animator, who mainly works from Berlin, captured the essence of what is illustration at its best. On Thursday, February 29, he will be in New York for an exhibition of his Photo Graphics at Janet … Read the full Story >>
What is home? Is it a place? An Idea? A state of mind? Ask around and you’ll probably get into the most interesting conversations of your week. Pauline Vermare, curator at Magnum Photos, had the rare opportunity to explore this complex subject through the eyes and minds of 16 photographers who dug deeply into their experiences to convey the inherently intimate and introspective sentiments … Read the full Story >>
On Monday, a 50-foot-long mural in a distinctively Subway Graffiti style was unveiled at Walton Street and East 150th Street in the East Tremont section of the Bronx. If you were to catch sight of it on the fly, you’d think that you had slipped into a time warp. It has the authenticity of the spray-can graffiti that literally subsumed most of New York … Read the full Story >>
How does a “resurgence of interest” get underway? Take Herb Lubalin, for example. During the 1970s and ‘80s, Lubalin, who previously was part of the “mad men” decades in advertising, formed a design consultancy through which he celebrated a vernacular approach to typography. You could say that his anti-Helvetic stance eliminated many design pitfalls that might have sidetracked him in what seems … Read the full Story >>
Q: Originally from [where?] what are some of your favorite things about living and working in [your current locale]? A: I was born in Cologne, studied in different places (Istanbul; at the Bauhaus in Weimar; Linz, Austria) and now live in Passau, South Germany, with my girlfriend and son in a house where I also have my studio. Three rivers, including the … Read the full Story >>
In the summer of 2004, Simon Roberts began a year-long journey across Russia, covering more than 47,000 miles, crossing eleven time zones, and making pictures in over 200 locations. The result is Motherland, a book published this year, and an exhibition opening tonight at Klompching Gallery, in DUMBO. He began in Russia's Far East, in the arctic region of Murmansk, and on the … Read the full Story >>
An exhibition of New York photographs by Christopher Thomas is on view at Steven Kasher Gallery until the end of this week. The Munich-based photographer began shooting his adopted hometown in 2001 and has made extended visits since. Like Alexix de Tocqueville in America during the 1830s, Thomas saw his subject with new eyes, and found majesty in the commonplace, glamor in the mundane … Read the full Story >>
"What happens when a professional is simply at play, free of assignments and left to their own creative whims? In the case of the legendary late designer and SVA faculty member Ivan Chermayeff, the answer is everything from finger paintings to mixed-media collages filled with a wondrously wacky assortment of collected and found objects". SVA archivist Beth Kleber asks this question as she takes a closer look at … Read the full Story >>
Q: What are some of your favorite things about living and working in San Francisco? A: I’m from NYC but currently living in San Francisco. A great thing about San Francisco is that it’s pretty quiet (boring), so it’s easier to stay in and work than it is in NYC. Frankly, I will always be a New Yorker! Q: How and when did you … Read the full Story >>
Opening February 1: The Black Index at CUNY The artists featured in The Black Index build upon the tradition of Black self-representation as an antidote to colonialist images. Using drawing, performance, printmaking, sculpture, and digital technology to transform the recorded image, they question our reliance on photography as a privileged source for documentary objectivity and understanding. Their works offer an alternative practice—a Black index—that … Read the full Story >>
In Forest Defenders: The Confrontational American Landscape, photographer Christopher LaMarca has profiled the hidden reality of logging on public lands. An Oregonian with a degree in environmental studies and biology, he spent five years documenting protests against illegal logging in Forest Service-protected wilderness areas. When La Marca learned that the Bush administration had rescinded the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, allowing the U.S. Forest … Read the full Story >>
Ward Schumaker, a San Francisco-based artist known for the iconic illustrations he's created for books and magazines, has recently been making one-of-a-kind hand painted books. Encouraged by his wife, artist Vivienne Flesher, he has devoted much of his time over the last five years to this pursuit. In an email interview, Ward talked about the art and process of making books - and … Read the full Story >>
Spring weekends invite art tours—an idea most recently touted in the New York Times [see]. Tomorrow I'll be taking students of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice on a Lower East Side art crawl, so I'm sharing my route with DART readers here. If you need to fuel up before starting out, you can grab a bite at Whole Foods Houston Street. Then head south … Read the full Story >>
How people share photographs has become one of the most discussed subjects of the digital age. Digital natives have only the experience of seeing their family histories unfold, almost instantly, on the screen. The family photo album has been replaced by social media sites, and the snapshot has nearly disappeared, both physically, and as a metaphor. This generation has missed the experience of dropping off … Read the full Story >>
If this year's Whitney Biennale, heavy on installation and performance art, left you wanting more paint on canvas, hang on for another week. The tenth edition of The Armory Show opens next Thursday, at Pier 94 in New York. And The International Fair of New Art, as it is subtitled, has attracted a galaxy of satellite fairs, to be scattered throughout Manhattan's west side. … Read the full Story >>
Q: Originally from a Medieval city in Cambridgeshire, what are some of your favorite things about living and working in London? A: I am originally from a small city called Peterborough and, having lived and worked in London for the past 6 years, I am now temporarily back in Peterborough working on a residency. I enjoy Peterborough a lot and I find it makes … Read the full Story >>
Gift markets organized by/and for artists are a growing part of the holiday market “seen”—especially what have become known as “small works” shows. Usually organized as open calls for affordable art of all kinds, these shows are not only fun shopping but also a treat for the eyes. Following (in no particular order) are some enticing showings that recently came into view. New … Read the full Story >>
An exhibition of new paintings and collages by Robert Kushner, Portraits & Perennials, opens tonight at DC Moore Gallery. One of the group of Pattern and Decoration [P&D] artists to emerge in the mid-1970s, Kushner has, over the intervening years, deepened and broadened the underpinnings of his highly syncretic work in painting, collage, printmaking, and tapestry. Above: Robert Kushner, Two Old Friends II: Aloe … Read the full Story >>
Edward Hopper’s New York, which opens next week at the Whitney Museum of American Art, presents more than 200 paintings, watercolors, prints and drawings Hopper made of the city during the six decades he made his home here. Iconic images such as Early Sunday Morning, 1930 (above), from the Whitney’s collection, are joined by loans from public and private collections across the country. The power … Read the full Story >>
