Over the past few years Aurel Schmidt has been steadily earning her stripes and securing her position as one of the country’s premiere contemporary artists, which in NYC in the late 2000’s can be about as difficult a thing to pull off as there is. Canadian-born, the Vice camp favorite has mastered a hand-style that is both rare and completely arresting in this digitized age- a style which is only made more powerful buy how well it is executed.
Check out Aurel’s page at Tiny Vices to see more of her drawings and this interview to learn more about what makes an artists brain work when they are detailing the finer points of New York’s unwanted insects, cigarette butts, and discarded refuse. A beautiful lot!
Let’s digitally flip through the hot-off-the-press Beautiful/Decay Book 2! Subtitled “What A Mess!” in salute to the issue’s plethora of rough, rococo work, the second in their series of limited run, ad-free surveys of contemporary art is printed beautifully, includes fun bonuses like a hand-signed silkscreen by Cody Hoyt, and best of all– it’s stock full of dazzling artwork by a litany of rad people.
Amongst the aforementioned rad people are luminaries like David Altmejd, with his glorious larger than life hyper-physiological bodily distortions, and Julien Ducourthial, whose “bitmap symphonies adjoin Mondrian with Macintosh to create a kind of abstract expressionist pixel push that noisily echoes today’s digitally-induced spastic synthetic sensibility”– to borrow a spot-on description from the B/D blog. Renaissance woman Melanie Bonajo also appears, delightfully dragging along an assortment of horrific household objects. Snatch up a copy while you can (only 1,500 exist) and stop by the always-fabulous Synchronicity Space in Los Angeles this Saturday for the book release party!
Impressive-looking art is often unimpeachable. Think of that massive topiary puppy by Jeff Koons or certain sculptures by Tom Friedman or anything by Dan Flavin: these things are beautiful and imposing and they do not look as though any human had ever touched them.
On the other end of the scale lies impressive-looking art that is somehow imminently approachable. Justin Valdes fits into this category, or maybe even exemplifies it. His drawings are intricate and calculated while offering the deception, at first glance, that anyone with a set of pencils and ink might eventually produce something so good. No one could, of course, but that’s part of the pleasure of taking in his work. He makes it look so easy.
Becky Stark– the divine dame behind Lavender Diamond– is writing, directing and starring in a new series for Aaron Rose’s online entertainment portal WKE. Aesthetically parallel to the world of Stark’s L.A. Ladies Choir, or at least awash in the same rose-scented perfume, Califunya is described as:
a new “peace comedy” variety show from WKE parodying a high school play that is parodying a kids show from the 60s as performed by grown-ups — with all the expected exclamation points muted!
Sign me up! The all too brief first episode, which is sponsored by roses (because “they’re so beautiful”), gets into some deep ontological musings on the nature of time and space in the span of one minute and thirty-seven seconds. It also features the talents of Mia Doi Todd and Ariana Delawari, with musical accompaniment by Decemberist Colin Meloy. Stay tuned for an upcoming guest appearance by Miranda July!
Sometimes a simple song and a simple video can be the best kind of song and the best kind of video. Spring Summer is the work of the LA-based, North Carolina native Jennifer Furches. While her site is still under construction, and songs from the just-released album are in short supply online, WLYS recently attended a private listening party for the debut album and can in all honesty that it’s got us rearranging our top ten lists for best releases of 2009. Beautiful girl, beautiful voice, beautiful words, beautiful music. Get in on the ground floor.
Still trying to find the perfect holiday gift? Why not give Wholphin #9 to that special someone in your life? The latest issue of McSweeney’s always-impressive DVD magazine has something for everyone! Highlights include an electrifying Elmore Leonard adaptation directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (featuring amazing papercraft set design by Cat Solen), a scene from the most awkward acting class of all time, and a French animation about the bizarre side effects of getting hit by an asteroid.
But wait, I’m burying the lede: Wholphin #9 includes not one but three never-released short films directed by Spike! Marcel Dzama animates a glimpse at what really went on behind the scenes of Where the Wild Things Are, Sonny Gerasimowicz portrays Maurice Sendak’s viciously self-doubting inner demon, and Catherine Keener aides Spike in the dramatic reenactment of a distinctly Sendakian childhood memory from the 1939 World’s Fair. These tiny treasures will whet your appetite for the sumptuous special features that are sure to supplement the impending home video release of Where the Wild Things Are!
If you happen to be in Tokyo today, you’re in luck! Internationally rad fashion boutique Opening Ceremony is hosting a Q&A and signing with Spike at 7:00pm (doors open at 6:00). Stop by the Shibuya-based store and say hello! Here are the details from the Opening Ceremony blog:
Come to POTLUCK at Opening Ceremony Tokyo for our Q and A with Spike Jonze! All week long we’ll be showing Spike’s films ranging from legendary skate videos, music videos and movies. Stop in to check out all of the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE merchandise we’ve created, ranging from faux furs, tee’s, books and shoes, to Pamela Love’s jewelry collection, and more. The best part about it is that you can get all that stuff signed by Spike on December 16th at 7pm (or 19:00)!
Doors open at 6pm so make sure to secure your spot!!!!! Tokyo here we come!!! Please rsvp to email hidden; JavaScript is required.
Opening Ceremony Tokyo
Shibuya Seibu Movida
21-1, Udawaga-Cho, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo
Have you ever been so moved by a band, you shaved off your own eyebrows? The devoted early adopters of Yura Yura Teikoku’s guitar-dueling psychedelia did just that, seduced by singer Sakamoto Shintaro’s eviscerated eyebrows– a grooming choice only accentuated by his long, flowing hair parted down the middle, like a traditional Japanese ghost. As Yura Yura Teikoku rose from obscurity in those irreverent days of yore to a level of popularity unprecedented for a band in the Japanese psych rock scene, they never compromised their innovative style.
These days their sound has evolved towards seductively cool introspective pop jams that seem to inspire the shuffling steps of an aloof yet precise back alley hustler. Yura Yura Teikoku has recently shared the stage with Yo La Tengo and Animal Collective. Their latest album, Hollow Me was released state-side by DFA, and it lays claim to more than a couple fantastic tunes. Several songs from the album were implemented to great effect in Sion Sono’s 4-hour cinematic opus, Love Exposure. Check out the epic title track:
If the words “gigantic” and “comic” and “anthology” make you tingle with delight when combined in one sentence, get ready to tingle hugetime. Gutter is an anthology of comics and drawings edited by Victor Kerlow and produced by Tiny Vices, featuring 100 pages of full-color work by a bundle of artists all equally worthy of each other’s company.
Among the many scribblers included are Eamon Espey, Genevieve Simms, Gavin McInnes, our old favorite Travis Millard, Joana Avillez, Frank the Addict, Ben Jones, Andrew Gonzales and a zillion others. At seventy bones, the book is no drop in the bucket, but it’s worth putting on the Christmas list just in case you get lucky.
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