Contemporary Art: History Believes Itself - Tom La Duke @ CRG Gallery, New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Visiting art galleries is sometimes pure bliss. The CRG Gallery on New York´s Lower East Side (195 Christie Street crggallery) has an amazing show. The ambitious art dealer exhibits new work by Los Angeles-based artist Tom LaDuke. The show runs through April 24, 2016.

According to the press release LaDuke draws "references from art history, popular culture, and personal memories to create multi-layered objects and paintings." The artist "references Old Masters such as Dürer, Rubens, and Vermeer  by rendering each Old Master painting as a subtly blurred background on which thick impasto paint and a restrained use of embellishments like sequins and glitter both disrupt the smooth surface" (exhibitions). Here is a link to an article in the Los Angeles Times about LaDuke (latimes).

Anyway, I love the combination of shapes & colors. The paintings look like stills from science fiction movies I would like to see.

Above you can see "Collider" (2016, mixed media and acrylic on canvas over panel, 18 1/4 x 25 in. (46.4 x 63.5 cm) and a detail of it.

Above: "Dear tilt cam" (2016, mixed media and acrylic on canvas over panel, 32 x 21 1/2 in. (81.3 x 54.6 cm) plus a detail.


                                Split Universe

"Split Universe" (2016, mixed media and acrylic on canvas over panel 88 x 114 in. (223.5 x 289.6 cm) and a series of details. The press release explains LaDuke "draws inspiration from Velasquez’s Forge of Vulcan". 

And: "Velasquez’s painting fades to the background of Split Universe and sets the stage for a foreground that is a complex interplay between references to Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and renderings of photographs of the artist himself reflected off and obscured by the surface of various objects depicted in the painting. Additionally, the spatial references such as deep space, limited and flat space as well as representational and actual dimension (of the sequins for instance) within the painting seem to highlight".

 

"Forbidden Thoughts" (2015, acrylic on canvas over panel 13 3/4 x 17 1/2 in. (34.9 x 44.5 cm)

"ID" (2015, acrylic on canvas over panel 11 1/4 x 14 3/4 in. (28.6 x 37.5 cm).

 

 

                      History Believes Itself

 

"Early Signs" (2016, mixed media and acrylic on canvas over panel 39 1/2 x 39 1/2 in. (100.3 x 100.3 cm) 

"History Believes Itself" (2016, mixed media and acrylic on canvas over panel 38 x 45 1/2 in. (96.5 x 115.6 cm).


                        Deer Fur & Finger Nails

 

The sculptures above are called "Happy Trail" (2016, silicone, deer fur, fingernail, flash, cyrano acrylate 19 ¾ x 7 x 10 ½ in. (50 x 18 x 27 cm) & "Wake" 2016, salt, hair, powder titanium pigment, cyrano acrylate 23 x 11 x 15 in. (58.4 x 27.9 x 38.1 cm). Sorry, don´t know the name of the black & white painting on the end. 

Enjoy!

Economy: US Retail Sales - Don´t Trust The Headlines

(Drivebycuriosity) - This morning was a lot katzenjammer about the "falling US retail sales". Reuters, Bloomberg, Marketwatch & Co. all lamented about the disappointing numbers from February. "Weak U.S. retail sales highlight risks to economic outlook", claims Reuters (reuters).

Really? The headlines say the retail sales dropped 0.1% last months. Yes, American have to spend more for rents & healthcare, but the numbers are blurred by cheaper gasoline. US consumers spend a lot less at the gas pump which reduces their whole expenditures. Therefore the "real" spending is much better than the media tell you.

Retail sales ex-gasoline were up 0.2% (calculatedrisk ). Compared to February last year retail sales ex-gasoline increased by 4.8% (calculatedrisk ). The screenshots above show the retail sales are growing with a solid speed.

Don`t trust the headlines.

Photography: Brooklyn - Shot On iPhone 6s Plus

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Being a resident of Manhattan I sometimes make excursions into the neighborhood. Once in a while I walk over the Williamsburg Bridge to visit Brooklyn. Here you can see some pics I took with my iPhone 6s Plus that I got last Christmas.

As you can see above the neighborhoods Williamsburg & Greenpoint are quite popular, a real competition to Manhattan`s Lower East Side and East Village. You will get there when you walk from the Williamsburg Bridge north.

More impressions from Greenpoint.

What would a cool neighborhood be without street art?



                Transforming The Architecture

A lot of capital is flowing into "cool" Brooklyn which also is changing the architecture.

But when you walk from the Williamsburg Bridge south you can still see some rotten and neglected parts. Above this paragraph some pics from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The night - and the artificial lights - give the city a charm of its own, as everywhere. 

 

As final I chose 2 photographies I took last fall with a Samsung ST150F. I shot the pics from a balcony in Greenpoint. They also explain why Williamsburg & Greenpoint are so popular - it`s the vicinity to Manhattan.


Enjoy.

Contemporary Art: Flamenco Dancers @ Salon 94, New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Contemporary is global.  Salon 94 on New York´s trendy Bowery (243 Bowery salon94) shows new paintings by Ibrahim El-Salahi. The exhibiton is called "Alhambra" (through April 24, 2016).

El-Salahi is known as the father of African and Arab Modernism. His paintings harmonize African, Arab, and Islamic visual sources with twentieth century European art traditions (press release). Salon 94 shows "an ambitious series of Flamenco paintings the artist started following his extended stay in Andalusia, Spain in 2009. There he found inspiration in the deep Moorish influences across the region" (you can find more information here salon94.com).

Above you can see  "Flamenco Dancers" and a detial of it (2012, Oil on Canvas, Overall Dimensions: 66.875 x 122.875 x 2 inches (169.9 x 312.1 x 5.1 cm) Each Panel (6): 32 x 40.125 inches (81.3 x 101.9 cm).

                                                          Alhambra
                                                                                 

Above this paragraph "Flamenco Dancers" (2011–2012, Ink on paper mounted on canvas, 60.25 × 96.25 inches (153 × 244 cm).

Above "Flamenco" (2010, Poster paint on cardboard, 33.875 × 34.625 inches (86 × 88 cm)

Above "Untitled" (2016, Oil on canvas, 40.98 × 96.02 inches (104 × 244 cm).


Enjoy!

Contemporary Art: Transmuted Images @ 11R Gallery, New York

(Drivebycuriosity) - Do you like elegant & elaboratingly constructed abstracts? Then you might enjoy a show @ 11R Gallery on New York`s Lower East Side (195 Chrystie Street 11rgallery). They display works by Mika Tajiama. The exhibition is called "Embody" (through March 13, 2016).

The press release explains that "each work is made from field recordings that are digitally transmuted into images and physically interpreted by a weaving designer to produce a Jacquard fabric.  Passing through different processes and hands, these textiles are woven on an industrial Jacquard loom, considered a predecessor to mass automated technology and a prototype for computers" (press-release).

The second image from above is "Negative Entropy" (Bally Ribbon Mills NASA Carbon Fiber 3D Weave, Pink, Single) 2015, Cotton, wood, acoustic baffling felt,37 x 27 1/2 inches (94 x 69.9 cm);

followed by"Negative Entropy"(Kim Reddick, Jacquard Card Cutter, Pink, Quad) (2015, Cotton, wood, acoustic baffling felt,110 x 55 1/2 inches (279.4 x 141 cm)

&  "Negative Entropy" (Kazue Kobata, Purple, Double) (2015, Cotton, wood, acoustic baffling felt,
55 x 43 1/2 inches (139.7 x 110.5 cm)



Enjoy!