Gonzo Art

It may be thought of as a gimmick, but I like it: creating art under extreme situations--and elements. As part of his ongoing "Drawing Restraint" project, Matthew Barney sailed from Gibraltar to New York last December. As the boat rocked to and fro, Barney drew and painted with what he had available. The final art images are now on view at the Serpentine Gallery in London, and some were printed in W magazine. (Unfortunately, they are not available online, but thanks to my scanner, here are a select few.)

When the weather was cooperative, Barney went out of his way to make his circumstances uncooperative, such as strapping himself to the boat's side and using the hull as an easel.

Dracula's version of a Jackson Pollock drip painting. Who knows? Maybe that fish is a pollack.

Fish lips lend a hand.
(Images via W magazine)

Homage or Rip-off

Remember that pictorial spread in W magazine a few years back featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie portraying a bored 1960s couple? The 60-paged catalogue, which was photographed by Steve Klein, oozed with smart mise-en-scene and tons of back story. Well, at least one image wasn't as original as I thought. Julius Shulman took a very similar photograph almost 50 years ago. (The image is currently on view at the Orange County Museum of Art's "Birth of the Cool" show, as I read on Modern Art Notes.) Entitled "Case Study #21," Shulman's photo highlights a very cool couple relaxing in their Pierre Koenig-designed living room. So, was Klein's image an homage or just a blatant rip-off?

Smells Like Calculated Media Blitz

Am I the only person in the world who is tired of Tom Ford's ongoing media blitz to prove he's not shy about sex? He likes to woo the press, and they all eat up his calculated, "shocking" sound bites. In his latest business venture at the perfume counter, the (former?) designer likes to talk about the alluring smells of body odor and men's crotches. T.F. and his don't-you-forget-about-me campaign have marched through the pages of Vanity Fair, the New York Times, and Out, but can he please leave ArtForum alone? I'm not wild about the monthly art magazine printing non-gallery ads, and this one for a T.F. fragrance for men seems especially grotesque and obvious. Can't we reserve this type of image for the sidebar ads on PerezHilton?

Lone Dissenting Voice

Who could ever imagine that Amp Power would be mentioned in the same breath as "Meet the Press" and "The New Republic"? Well, it happened this week in New York Magazine's comments section in which the weekly cited rave reviews for its Bill Clinton-in-Drag cover, along with one lone dissenting voice--yours truly. The weekly writes that "The New Republic's blog called it 'hilarious.' The Amp Power blog was unimpressed..." (See side image to read more.) I got a lot of ink on this one. Today, New York Magazine; tomorrow, the Drudge Report!

From the Best to the Worst

Not long ago, New York Magazine issued out one of my favorite all-time magazine covers, featuring a curmudgeon Woody Allen and a steamy Scarlett Johansson sitting on a beach. How far a magazine can fall. This week's magazine's image of a photoshopped Bill Clinton in drag tops my worst all-time mag covers. Accompanying an article speculating on Bill Clinton as "First Lady" (get it?), the morph-job not only looks crudely created but is unfunny. An intern must have surely made this. Now all this week, I'll have to make a concerted effort to keep the mag face down on the table, or I could simply rip this unwelcomed image off and toss it in the trash.

First Cousins

Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and "Air Force One" with Harrison Ford have a lot more in common than you may think. According to director Michael Haneke in a NYT profile, both have "a distinct political agenda [and] a common goal — the total manipulation of the viewer. What’s terrible about the Harrison Ford film, though, especially terrible, is that it represents itself as simple entertainment." Haneke goes on to rip Hollywood-style storytelling, full of sly mind control. His argument, which I pretty much agree with, is that type of filmmaking was mastered by the Nazis, and it became very suspect by European directors. "As a result, film, and especially literature, began to examine itself. " In a nutshell, American films can lull you into becoming a compliant zombie, whereas foreign movies force you to think. (Images via weeklywire.com and 25frames.org)

Art=Commerce

Did you know that going to art galleries is very hip, very sexy, and so very Banana Republic (according to the clothing retailer's latest ad campaign)? The ads published in Vogue and the New York Times spotlight models hanging out in front of abstract paintings with gallery invitations either tucked in oversized bags or used as shields for whispers or kisses. Apparently, these ads is B.R.'s way to highlight artists' works, but I challenge you to find who painted the canvases. Neither of these ads credit an artist.

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

New York Times tipped me off to this fun show at Danziger Projects. Andy Freeberg turns his lens on those I-dare-you-to-approach front desks in almost every single Chelsea gallery. In person, these formidable barriers are intimidating, but these images capture how silly they are. However, I have been in even more uncomfortable situations in which a gallery staff member sits out in the open in a straight-back chair, and you're never quite sure if he or she is a part of the exhibit.

High Fashion, High Art

The relationship has always been tight, but when I see it in black and white, I always think "sell out." At some point, gallery-quality photographers usually take up a fashion shoot for that bread and butter money. As New York gears up for Fashion Week, I've recognized a few names attached to photo spreads in local publications. Tierney Gearon, whose Mother Project I really liked, got tapped for a whole spread in New York Magazine, featuring super pricey threads, while Tina Barney, whose travelogue photos didn't really grab me by the lapels, snapped some pix for Theory's ad campaign. Are these photos any more arty than your average fashion images? Nope, but at least the fashion industry is trying to make things a little bit more interesting. (Related: New York Sun on the overlap between fashion and art.)

Beyond the Cover

Everyone has been talking about Gwyneth Paltrow's unrecognizable cover shot on W magazine. But the real reason to pick up this month's issue is the 17-page spread of Laura Dern photographed by Juergen Teller. Any actress in her late 30s who stands before Teller's unmerciful lens should be applauded. She has real guts. This is the same woman who let David Lynch shoot her in "Inland Empire" with a DV cam about two inches away from her face. Dern seems to be the type who is all about the artistic endeavor, and if she looks her age or older, so what. Fortunately, Teller did show a little kindness to his subject and snapped a few flattering images. (Images via W magazine)

Still Bad to a Few

You and I may think that Michael Jackson is a washed-up has-been, but apparently he's still a creative inspiration for a few artists. Flipping through the most recent ArtForum, I spied not one but two ads for galleries whose artists' shows focus on M.J.: Paul Pfeiffer's exhibit, "Live from Neverland" and Meredith Danluck's "Michael Jackson, Jesus Christ...Coca-Cola." I went to Pfeiffer's show at El Proyecto (a review soon), and Danluck's opens this weekend at Renwick gallery. New York Magazine profiled Danluck who is pictured with M.J. in the ad. The most interesting thing about that photo is that the artist looks almost as creepy as the singer. Using Michael Jackson as source material is a little too '90s for me (and even then he was too easy a target) and will probably inspire mostly yawns from gallery-goers.

Subversive Sell

The photo of artist Josephine Meckseper modeling in the New York Times Magazine may be the artist's cleverest creation yet. The magazine's Mother Day spread featured women wearing something that belonged to their mother along with top designers' clothing. In her installations, Meckseper likes to mix images of consumerism and political protest. Although the image of Meckseper is subtler than her art, it still hits the same plot points. Meckseper wears two necklaces: her mom's star pendant and her own creation, which she created by "[converting] the gold chain that the pendant was hanging on into an artwork called 'CDU-CSU,' mocking German right-wing politics by turning the two parties' logos into pendants," she says. Completing the high concept image, Meckseper wears a $2,290 Stella McCartney suit.

The Month of Magical P.R.

The P.R. machine has revved up for the Broadway version of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking," and I'm eating it all up. Like a few other million people, I was entraced by this memoir on grief. The New York Times recently ran Didion's diary-like article about working on the Broadway show, and New York Magazine just published evocative behind-the-scenes photos of the play. The one-woman show, starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by David Hare, opens March 29. (Photos by Brigitte Lacombe via New York Magazine)

No

I thought I was fan, but now I'm not quite so sure. I recently came around to embracing Marc Jacobs' ads featuring Juergen Teller's photos. However, for the past three months, M.J. ads appearing in fashion mags have continued to spotlight Dakota Fanning. One of these ads even appeared in Artforum (the one on the far right) amid promos for exhibits by Jeff Wall and Kristen Baker. All I can say is: No.

The Unfunnies

I kept hearing myself say, "yes, yes, yes," as I read Roberta Smith's biting review of MoMA's exhibit "Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making." I have major problems classifying cartoons as fine art. I love Ernie Bushmiller, Charles Schulz, and Takashi Murakami, but I consider their work to be merely something that amuses me. Smith seems to have more a problem with this particular exhibit than with comix=art. Here's Smith's take on the show:

...in the end the works here are mostly cute, neat and perfectly pleasant, implying a view of contemporary art as mildly titillating but basically toothless entertainment.... too much here operates in some kind of vacuum, far from the madding crowd of ambition, recent art history, life or a deep engagement with the primary vehicle of visual experience, which is form.

Camped Out

These images are so deliciously over-the-top that I had to share. Photographed by Michael Thompson and styled by Karl Templer, this super camped-out spread appeared in this month's W, under the title "Ile de la Mode." Next time I'm at the beach, I'll definitely wear my blood-red lipstick and don my towel like a turban. (Images via W mag)

Cheeky Weekly Slashes Self

Let me try to explain how disappointed I am in The New York Observer's new tabloid-sized incarnation: I hate it. A huge part of the charm of this once cheeky weekly broadsheet was its dense print, full-paged articles, and three-decked screaming clever headlines. Gone. A new owner has taken over this New York media-focused publication, and I guess this is his way to put his stamp on it. I let my subscription run out, and I don't plan to renew it.

Mag Noir

Forgive me if my next couple of posts are about magazines. For the past week, all I've been doing is reading big, fat mags. If you've got strong palm muscles, I recommend Vanity Fair's more than an inch-thick Hollywood Issue. This annual edition boasts a fantasy film noir spread, shot by Annie Leibovitz, featuring such A-listers as Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Jack Nicholson, and Robert DeNiro. (Vanity Fair has not posted the images online, but Faded Youth has a lot of scans.) Plus, the publication includes insider profiles on director Brett Ratner, Liz Taylor, and Elia Kazan. As well, the article on former talent agent Pat Dollard, who has made a pro-war documentary and fancies himself as a neocon version of Hunter S. Thompson, is worth a read. (Images via Vanity Fair)

Art + Pop = Trash

To keep up with the art world, not only do you have to read fashion magazines, like W, which consistently has features on and spreads by artists, but you have to start reading political mags as well. Jed Perl's article in The New Republic dissects why the art world is in the toilet. He savages Chelsea gallery owners and artists, such as John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage, who practice "laissez-faire aesthetics," that is, artwork that has no meaning because anything can be read into it. It elevates pop culture to high art but with no bite, no irony, and no critique. My summary barely does justice to this intriguing article, so check out the issue if you can still find it on the newsstands.

Astonishingly Close to Home

Joe Queenan's essay in the NY Times Book Review on the overuse of the word "astonishing" in book reviews made me both smile and cringe. In the humorous piece, Queenan sets out to read only books that reviewers deem "astonishing" (there's a ridiculous--or rather "astonishing"--amount of them). In a separate column in the Book Review, Dwight Garner notes that the Book Review editors have banned a number of words, described as "book reviewese": "compelling," "iconic," "lyrical" and "poignant." This is where I cringe. Am I guilty of relying on these words in reviews when other words fail me? Yes. Like the Book Review, I'll do my best to ban those words from Amp Power as well. (Image via New York Times)