My yearly visit to the Tate Modern was on one of the coldest day in January, the neon “Pop Life” sign was comforting against the grey sky and minus celsius degrees. £25 each is what I recalled one of the most expensive shows for entry at the Tate, but then it is for “Pop Life: Art in a Material World.” First impression was quite right.

A large room dedicated to the King of Pop Art Andy Warhol who brought art and commerce together. It was a tour of his ever-crazier antics as he aged: a top to bottom wall full images of himself; chasing stars almost as big as himself ever more frenetically. Making mindless pronouncements on TV. There are large amount of magazines and newspapers that demonstrate how he managed to persuade the media to hang upon his every move.

Keith Haring’s recreation of his 1986 SoHo store, printed tees pinned on his iconic graffiti all over the walls of a room, branded merchandise for sale at the hole in the wall, named “Pop Shop”.

I’d have charge each photo taken for a pound for the sake of “Pop Shop” to the max, it is about time to cash in!

Jeff Koons’s room is filled with sculptures and photos of himself and his sometime porn bride, La Cicciolina in marital congress from the “Made In Heaven”series.

Damien Hirst’s calf in formaldehyde with gorgeous gold hooves; gem-studded butterflies; whole rows of diamonds on shelves, it was basically his previous work in a glittery and tackier version.

To end our journey in “Pop Life” with Takashi Murakami’s The Simple Thing. The man with pony tail and his laughing flower characters, simply sells. Now you can get the reproduction of his Flower Ball for £3,000 from the special museum shop that set up just for this show!

So it got rated one star by The Independent newspaper, and critical comments from various culture commentators. It is glitteringly shallow, vulgar and vibrant therefore is pop, is fast food in art form. I love it and hate it depends on the time of the day, but I certainly can’t resist it.

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It’s easy to get caught up in the world we live in and forget that there is life outside of fashion and such, so it’s nice that Mr. Larry Gagosian is hosting a benefit auction at his gallery in New York. On Friday, January 29, 2010, you will have the chance to purchase works from Richard Serra, Ed Ruscha, Jasper Johns, Richard Prince, Dan Colen, Tom Sachs, and Takashi Murakami. The 80×80 painting on paper below is by Richard Serra and has an estimated value of $400,000.

“Individual tickets start at $175. To purchase tickets or for additional information, please visit http://www.partnershipforthehomeless.org/auction/ Or, contact Liz Gilchrist at 212.868.8450 x210 or email Liz@livetreichard.com”

Source: Arrested Motion

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After the drama’s and controversy that ensued after Jeff Koons exhibition at the illustrious Versailles Palace in 2008, organisers have decided to continue with modern art on site. Announcing today, that Japan’s Takashi Murakami (The New Order Issue 2), will hold a 2 month retrospective of his work from September 12 to December 12, where his sculptures and paintings will be displayed in 15 rooms in the palace’s Hall of Mirrors and the apartments of the King and the Queen. This will be the iconic pop artists first major retrospective in France. The controversy around Koon’s show was mainly met by those opposed to the pornographic nature of the american artists work, something likely to be avoided by Murakami.

Stay tuned for more details as they come to hand, but mark the dates, this will be worth a flight to France.

Check out coverage from Jeff Koons 2008 exhibition here.

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Japanese artist Kenichi Yokono has gained a lot of fans in his home country and the US over the years, but his intricate, large, boldly painted woodcuts have rarely been seen in Europe.  However, that is about to change as 2×2projects in Amsterdam is about to host the artists first major European solo show. A taster of the typically red and black horror and manga themed work that will make up the show can be seen above.

Yokono-san graduated from art college in Japan in 1997 and rose to prominence after he was invited to participate in Japanese art superstar Takashi Murakami’s Gesai art fairs. Yokono has also won both the prestigious Eriko Osaka Prize and the Tom Tom Eccels Prize, and his works have appeared in numerous solo and group shows in Japan as well as in New York and LA.

Check out a flavour of his previous works below.

Kenichi Yokono is at 2×2projects in Amsterdam from 8th January until February 13th.

Source: Arrested Motion

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As a result we have seen many great shows across the globe over the last few years, and not just in the capital or major cities, many provincial towns have had a look in too.  The most notable of these was the amazing Banksy Summer Show at the Bristol Museum, which saw people queing for over 3 hours to gain access, but many small local galleries have also put on impressive shows of their own.

The latest of these is  “(R)Evolution of Urban Art” at the Warrington Museum and Art Gallery in England.  Billed as a street art show it contains some of the biggest names on the scene such as Banksy and Blek le Rat, but also well known contemporary artists such as Gavin Turk, Sam Talylor-Wood and Takashi Murakami.  Also included in the exhibition are canvases and limited edition prints from an impressive line up of Adam Neate, David Choe, Faile, Lorraine Robbins, Antony Micallef, Ron English, José Parlá, Elbow-toe, Candice Tripp and Swoon.  Check out the highlight video below and if your in Warrington this is a must visit.

“(R)Evolution of Urban Art” at the Warrington Museum and Art Gallery is on until the 13 March 2010 .

Don’t forget to let us know if there are any good local art exhibitions happening in your town.

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Set to be available in time for the Holiday’s is a special set of Prints by Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki. Ever, the Pop Artist, Murakami, finds ways to make his highly sought after art accessable. This time through 3 different prints available exclusively at Honeyee’s online store.

Source: Honeyee

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James Marshall (a.k.a. Dalek), known both for his Space Monkey characters and an instantly recognizable superflat style (adopted from his time as the former assistant to Takashi Murakami), James Marshall has recently created a limited edition 9-color silkscreen print on a heavy weight Coventry Rag Vellum 320 gsm archival paper for the San-Francisco art collective Neon Monster. Limited to 50 prints, each hand signed and numbered, the print measures 38 x 50 inches. You can buy these now for $450USD at their website. A fantastic opportunity for all the Dalek fans out there. And if you’re in New York this month, make sure you head over to the Johnathan LeVine Gallery for a look at his current exhibition titled “And There Was War In Heaven”.

Purchase the prints here.

More info on the exhibition here.

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Luckily for me and anyone else who missed out, Vernissage TV were on hand to film their walk through.

About The Rubell Family Collection

The Rubell Family Collection (RFC) is one of the leading collections of contemporary art in the world. Started in 1964, soon after Don and Mera Rubell were married, the collecting group expanded some years later when their children Jason and Jennifer, then quite young, joined their parents in buying and collecting art. Recently Jason’s wife Michelle joined the collecting team alongside her husband. The family’s extensive collection of works dates from the 1960s to the present.

The Collection is housed and exhibited in a converted 30,000-square-foot former Drug Enforcement Agency (D.E.A.) confiscated-goods warehouse. Open to the public since 1996, the Collection features rotating exhibitions of work by such prominent artists as Maurizio Cattelan, Marlene Dumas, David Hammons, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Takashi Murakami, Neo Rauch, Charles Ray, Gregor Schneider, Cindy Sherman, Luc Tuymans and Kara Walker The museum features twenty-seven galleries, a research library with over 40,000 volumes, a new media room, a bookstore, a gift shop and a sculpture garden.

Over the last number of years, the Rubell Family Collection has presented large solo exhibitions of such historical and influential figures as Keith Haring and Richard Prince. We have also presented solo exhibitions of a new generation of artists, like Franz Ackermann, Francis Alÿs, Hernan Bas, Eberhard Havekost, Jim Lambie, Andrea Lehmann and Andro Wekua.

RFC operates as a museum with a strong policy of loaning works to other institutions to support their exhibition activities. Some recent loans have gone to the following institutions: Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art in New York; Schaulager in Basel; Tate Modern; and Whitney Museum of American Art.

In addition, as part of its exhibition services, the RFC regularly produces exhibitions that travel from the Collection in Miami to museums, university galleries and other educational institutions around the world, thereby presenting the work to a larger audience. Recent traveling exhibitions include “Memorials of Identity: New Media from the Rubell Family Collection,” which was presented at The Art Gallery of Florida Gulf Coast University, Corcoran Gallery of Art / College of Art + Design, Haifa Museum of Art, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, and Tampa Museum of Art; and “Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection,” which was also presented at American University Museum, Frye Art Museum, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, MASS MoCA, Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw Univeristy, Salt Lake Art Center, and SITE Sante Fe. “Eberhard Havekost 1996-2006: Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection” was presented at American University Museum, The Art Gallery of Florida Gulf Coast University, and Tampa Museum of Art.

The Rubell Family is passionately committed to the art and artists to which they respond. As art patrons first and foremost, and as the heart and soul of an innovative collecting institution, the Rubells focus their efforts on acquiring a large body of work from a particular artist, and conserving that body of work for future generations. Most of the artists in the collection have several of their works on display simultaneously, offering visitors a complete overview of an artist’s oeuvre.

Photos from the show itself.(Courtesy of RFC)

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Kaikai Kiki is an art production company founded in 2001 by one of our favourite artists, Takashi Murakami, with the goal of promoting and supporting young artists and the Japanese art market.  It is involved in artist management and producing the Geisai art festival, as well as creating a series of art related merchandise and animation.

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Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to announce And There Was War In Heaven, a solo exhibition of recent works by James Marshall, the artist more commonly known as Dalek (a name which references a fictional robotic race from the classic British Sci-Fi series Dr. Who). In the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, And There Was War In Heaven, Marshall continues to build upon the creative departure marked in his 2007 show Desperate, Rejected, and Angry—when he dropped the Dalek moniker to reveal his true name and debuted a new series of paintings rich in color and complex layers, reducing his popular Space Monkey character to its basic underlying geometric components for the first time. On the experience, the artist said: “The show was really cathartic, and I think it helped open up a lot of things for me visually. By not having that iconic centerpiece to build a painting around, all the other elements started happening more naturally… things grew in a different way, which was liberating.”

The Space Monkey was a character that Marshall created early on in his career. Resembling a mouse with mischievous bulging eyes, the figure was once described in The New York Times by art critic Holland Cotter as: “an ingeniously stylized creature with bulbous ears, a lopsided grin and a clear pedigree in the art of Takashi Murakami.” The character was used as a tool to represent and explore concepts of human emotions and relationships, often illustrating themes of violence and survival. These iconic figures became Marshall’s trademark as they appeared in his work for over a decade, however they play a far less prominent role in recent paintings. The familiar forms that defined earlier work by the artist have been refined into a new set of signature elements. By fragmenting, abstracting and obscuring the figural component within busy environments that echo the mechanical repetition of industrial mass-production, Marshall’s direction has evolved yet his aesthetic remains cohesive. His canvases consistently feature brightly hued flat colors painted in crisply defined planes of space, forming shapes and optical perspectives clearly separated by impeccably clean, sharp, and precise geometric line-work.

James Marshall is a painter who currently lives and works in North Carolina. He was raised in a military family who moved frequently along the East Coast throughout his childhood and later lived in Hawaii and Japan. In his youth, Marshall turned to punk rock, skateboarding and graffiti subcultures for inclusion and identity. His Space Monkey character was born out of graffiti, which he discovered in 1994 in the rail yards of California and later in Chicago. After an education in anthropology and sociology, followed by receiving a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995, Marshall worked under the name Dalek to merge street art with influences from animation, Japanese pop, and the energy of the urban punk scene. In 2001, he reached a major turning point in his studio practice while working as an assistant/apprentice to the world-renowned artist Takashi Murakami. Marshall’s work has been shown in galleries and museums across North America, Europe and Japan.

December 12th—January 9th, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12th, 7pm—9pm

Jonathan Levine Gallery

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Works by : Chiho AOSHIMA, Lionel ESTEVE, Bernard FRIZE, Duane HANSON, GELITIN
Bharti KHER, KOLKOZ, Klara KRISTALOVA, Farhad MOSHIRI, Takashi MURAKAMI
Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Michael SAILSTORFER, Piotr UKLANSKI
 and Peter ZIMMERMANN.

Takashi MURAKAMI

“Warp”, 2009 (detail, in Production) 244 x 10,16 x 5 cm / 8 feet x 4 inches x 2 inches
Photo: Kaikai Kiki Studio staff ©2009 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Bharti KHER

“Dead ruler” 2008, Fibreglass, wood, shell, 103 x 165 x 165 cm / 40 1/2 x 65 x 65 inches; life size gorilla.

Jean-Michel OTHONIEL

“Red Bounce” 2008, Mirrored glass, aluminum 110 x 110 x 110 cm / 43 1/4 x 43 1/4 x 43 1/4 inches

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If Takashi Murakami, Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, and Raymond Pettibon each unleashed their inner child and created art for coloring books, what imaginative renderings might they come up with? That’s just what you’ll discover in Between the Lines: Volume II, RxArt’s follow-up to Volume I of its immensely successful coloring book.

Contemporary art fans, artists of all ages, and philanthropists alike will be delighted with this lively new collection of more than 50 original line drawings contributed by a diverse roster of today’s best-known contemporary artists. In Between the Lines: Volume II everyone is free to add their own personal touches to the pages, which are supplemented with a series of vibrant, stickers designed by Nate Lowman and Mickalene Thomas.

RxArt is a not-for-profit organization that curates contemporary art installations in hospitals and outpatient centers. The Between the Lines coloring books are distributed free of charge to children in RxArt’s participating health care facilities and sold to benefit RxArt’s projects.

Contributing Artists in the Coloring Book: Mike Bayne, Matthew Brannon, Olaf Breuning, Delia Brown, Edgar Bryan, Ernesto Caivano, Gordon Chung, Dan Colen, Dexter Dalwood, Tacita Dean, Nicholas Di Genova, Sam Durant, Marcel Dzama, Inka Essenhigh, Tony Feher, Robert Gober, Evan Gruzis, Wade Guyton, Ridley Howard, Ben Jones, KAWS, Karen Kilimnik, Terence Koh, Jim Lambie, Sean Landers, Louise Lawler, Scott Lenhardt, Justin Lieberman, Nate Lowman, Adam McEwen, Sarah Morris, Matt Mullican, Takashi Murakami, Jorge Pardo, Raymond Pettibon, Ed Ruscha, Cynthia Rowley, Alison Saar, Aurel Schmidt, James Siena, Tom Slaughter, Marc Swanson, Mary Temple, Mickalene Thomas, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Kon Trubkovich, Lawrence Weiner, Kehinde Wiley.

Ed Ruscha

Nate Lowman

Kehinde Wiley

Coming soon to RxArt

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The famed Gagosian Gallery will feature the highly coveted Takashi Murakami soon with an exhibition “Picture of Fate: I Am But A Fisherman Who Angles in the Darkness of his Mind”. Amongst the collection of works are some more large-scale pieces similar to this “A Picture Of The Blessed Lion Who Stares At Death” that features Murakami’s highly regarded superflat style. In addition to the collection of works hanging on the walls at the gallery there is also a video featured on the Gagosian Gallery website.

Thanks to The Art Collectors for the info.

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Here is a preview of the latest project from Takashi Murakami, a short film entitled “Akihabara Majokko Princess” which features Kirsten Dunst dressed as a Murakami princess, dancing round the streets of Akihabara in Tokyo whilst singing The Vapors “Turning Japanese”. Shot in conjunction with Hollywood director McG, who’s cartoony visual style seen in Charlie’s Angels, Terminator Salvation and many pop promos is a fantastic match for Murakami’s visual style.  Expect more details soon.

Source: Arrested Motion

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Assembling together the biggest names in the modern art world, Tate Modern has just opened it’s doors to a hugely anticipated and high profile art show named ‘Pop Life’. Based on the famous quote from legendary pop artist Andy Warhol; ‘good business is the best art’, the show reels in names such as Tracey Emin, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Gavin Turk, Richard Prince, and Cosey Fanni Tutti. We share images from the opening of this not-to-miss show here. 

Images Arrested Motion via Diario El Tiempo

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