So goes the slogan of the Bruce High Quality Foundation, a five-year-old artist collective of young men based in New York who dedicate themselves (and their serious art school credentials from Cooper Union) to the task of critiquing art commerce and the star-making antics of the market.
In keeping with their philosophy, the Bruces retain anonymous identities, claiming that they are each named after a fictional artist (named Bruce High Quality) who perished during the events of 9/11. As part of the group’s efforts to highlight some of the shadier elements of the art world, they’ve given lectures and performances, imagined Manhattan as a pizza, staged a renegade revival of Cats: The Musical, performed a stunning a capella version of George Michael’s “Father Figure”, and employed a motorboat to pull a miniature version of Jeanne-Claude and Christo’s Gates around the island of Manhattan, in 2005. Oh, and they’ve also launched a university, appropriately called The Bruce High Quality Foundation University.
In summary, the group aspires “to invest the experience of public space with wonder, to resurrect art history from the bowels of despair, and to impregnate the institutions of art with the joy of man’s desiring.”
Today is Where the Wild Things Are takeover day on the website of UK lifestyle magazine Huck! They’ve temporarily transformed the whole site to celebrate the British release of the movie, and it includes videos, exclusive interviews, rare Maurice Sendak art, a tribute to Spike’s seminal skate film, Video Days, a Wild Things drawing contest and much more! Go check it out before the wild rumpus ends.
Space 15 Twenty has been killing it lately! The L.A. event/retail space that hosted our super fun Where the Wild Things Arephoto exhibit and pop-up shop in September has since brought David Kramer’s mind-blowing video art show, Main Street, to glorious fruition, presented a free Girls concert last weekend, and are about to open a fantastical exhibition of DIY fashion designer Susan Cianciolo’s work, called Mountains and Flowers. On top of that, the opening of Mountains and Flowers this Saturday will also feature the debut solo performance of the ethereal Aska.
You loved her as the leader of Moonrats, David Scott Stone’s counterpart in AsDSSka, and an Aaron Rose co-conspirator in The Sads– and now you get to experience the pure, unfettered Aska. With a voice like a sunbeam melting a glacier, you’ll feel like an owl being cooed to sleep by its mother. Check out a cozy acoustic performance by Aska below, and don’t miss her first live show tomorrow at 4pm!
What’s the RHS, you ask? Why, Britain’s premiere gardening charity, founded in 1804 by John Wedgwood and the explorer Sir Joseph Banks and devoted to excellence in horticulture—that’s what!
The truly tubular grid of post-its pictured above were inked by incredible illustrator Lisa Hanawalt for GR2’s currently running Post-It Show 4. I helped hang the 1000+ post-its for the show (helpful tip: when hanging post-its on uneven gallery walls, use liberal amounts of double stick tape), and I was so taken by Ms. Hanawalt’s lovably creepy creatures that when it came time to choose just a couple to take home, I couldn’t help myself from including one of her dapper cross-eyed kittens alongside an excellently obscene Johnny Ryan post-it and the crystal-worshiping transcendence of Aiyana Udesen’s piece.
Only afterwards did I realize that this is the same Lisa Hanawalt whose comic strip about Georgia O’Keefe and Johannes Vermeer’s secret obsession with dirty hip hop lyrics in The Believer’s 2009 Art Issue had had me nervously laughing days prior. Not only that, but she’s also the same Lisa Hanawalt whose contribution to Vice’s sweet Where the Wild Things Are mini-comic had pictured the Wild Things gleefully go-cart racing! Interview on that matter here. Pull quote: “I like the [Wild Thing] with the long, orange mane and webbed feet–she looks cuddly but she also gives me the creeps.”
Check out Hanawalt’s brand-new comic book, I Want You, published by Buenaventura Press and currently on sale for $3.96. What a steal!
Just slid in under the turnstile. See the email below for all the info.
Hi everyone,
Hope you are all well. In an unexpected twist, one of the announced Grammy
candidates for Best Song written for a Soundtrack has been disqualified
after the fact (Miley Cyris in fact).
The nomination then goes to the song with the next-highest initial vote
count, which is Karen O and the Kids’ “All is Love”.
Great news all around- it will be included in all ballots going soon to
Grammy voters and we are working on a press release now.
Please let me know your thoughts and questions- still brand new info to us
but we are diving into it now.
Thank you and congrats!
Interscope Geffen A&M Records
Becky Stark’s delicate voice makes this warmhearted serenade the most tender adaptation of “Like a Prayer” known to man. Genius illustrator (and Lavender Diamond drummer) Ron Rege teamed up with Paper Rad’s Jacob Ciocci and animator Tom McConnell to lend the song some visual flair– namely space rainbows and mystical portals– in this brand new video, directed by Peter Glantz. Glantz and his production company, Imaginary Company are also the wizards who brought Kevin Hooyman’s work to life in a rad music video for The USA Is A Monster, earlier this year.
If you’re looking to strike up a relationship with Vladimir Nabokov, it’s probably best to start with Lolita, which has an opening chapter so beautiful it will make you pee your pants, or Pnin, a short ‘n sweet novel about a loopy professor. There’s also the author’s memoir Speak, Memory, which includes lovely descriptions of the writer’s boyhood in Saint Petersburg, and Pale Fire, a crafty novel/poem/exegesis explosion. Any of these books would constitute a fine starting point.
Here, on the other hand, is what NOT to begin with: the recently released The Original of Laura (Dying Is Fun), a volume comprised of the index cards upon which Nabokov wrote his last novel. Or, at least, the notes for his last novel. The Original of Laura is not a fully-fleshed work, but rather an unfinished experiment that will be baffling to all but the most steadfast Nabokov fans. If you fall into this category—or you just enjoy the odd literary puzzle—by all means, dive in.
Remember summer camp? Remember how fun that was? Now imagine going back to camp as an adult, but instead of making shoddy arts and crafts, you get to watch a few dozen mind-blowing musical performances. That’s what All Tomorrow’s Parties is– a series of festivals often thrown at off-season summer camps in the British countryside, featuring some of the best musical talents in the world.
Just peruse Wikipedia’s list of lineups from the many events bearing the ATP moniker– it’s a veritable who’s who of rad artists in the 2000s, frequently featuring now-beloved bands before they’ve broken. Instead of safely selecting big name musicians though a committee of concert promoters, All Tomorrow’s Parties will invite artists like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Thurston Moore, and Sleater-Kinney to curate their festivals. The result is an air of playful excitement that is impossible to replicate, at a festival with authentic enthusiasm for the artists it’s promoting.
Jonathan Caouette, the filmmaker who breathed new life into the documentary medium with 2003’s Tarnation, is behind All Tomorrow’s Parties, a documentary about the concerts that was just released on DVD. Using his razor-sharp editing skills, Caouette incorporates footage shot by fans, promoters, and the musicians themselves into a patchwork of pure experience that’s as exhilarating as it is intimate. Check out the trailer below:
Update: The awesomely prolific Lance Bangs writes in:
Just saw your write up, I shot for that film, that’s my young passport photo on the bottom of the cover! I assumed they were just going to use those in some credits section, didn’t know they were going to design such a cool cover out of them….
Isn’t he the spitting image of a young Paul McCartney? We love you, Lance!
Mark Giglio is a machine of productivity. The Southern California-born artist runs his studio and workshop, Pen Pencil Stencil, out of Oakland, and wastes no time in cranking out fine drawings, prints, photography, (see below) wallpaper, sculptures (like the nine-piece set of trees made from scrap wood above) limited-edition t-shirt designs, stickers, tote bags and zines. Whew.
Luckily, the quality of Giglio’s work more than matches the quantity. A preference for clean, colorful and minimalist shapes turns each image into a visual treat. Mark’s blog keeps things moving right along with travel bulletins, observations and experiments. It’s almost like being a fly on the workshop wall.
If you find yourself in San Francisco, check out Mark’s serigraphs in PRINTED MATTER 7, Giant Robot’s show that runs from December 5th through January 6th of next year.
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