Art

Rapper, skincare ambassador, jewelry aficionado, fashion icon — Pharrell Williams has wore many hats over his career. A new book aims to capture the creative process that underpins each of his endeavors through quotes said by the larger-than-life personality. Published by No More Rulers (NMR) and Princeton University Press, Pharrell-isms is the latest entry in the ISMs series, which includes past volumes on Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ai Weiwei, Virgil Abloh, and Daniel Arsham. Playing in line with past titles, the book is edited by NMR founder Larry Warsh and comes in a sleek purple pocket-sized format.Select quotations from the book:Self-awareness is a muscle that needs exercise. It needs a regimen.You’ve got to continue to reinvent yourself today, all the while thinking about tomorrow.Music i...

New York-based artist Erik Foss will soon be presenting his first-ever solo show in Japan at Kaikai Kiki Gallery later this week. The exhibition, titled Carnival, will be Foss’ first solo show since 2021 and will showcase a selection of new paintings, sculptures as well as drawings he worked on over the past six months.Raised in the deserts, Foss is a self-taught artist whose early artistic influences stem from his religious upbringing, the American cultural landscape, underground music, skateboarding, and other subcultures. Even in his more recent works, cultural identity remains to be a prominent theme that the artist explores and expands on.In Carnival, Foss depicts snakes with smiley faces in his signature airbrushed style and almost fluorescent color schemes. Carlo McCormick, curator,...

Ruttkowski;68 is playing host to a new joint exhibition by Japanese-American artist KATSU and Belgian artist Frédéric Platéus. Housed at the gallery's Cologne flagship, DAS INTELLIGENCE is a collaborative effort that fuses their unique approaches to material, form, and technique.Platéus' dynamic work harks to the world of supercars and motorsports. The Belgian artist sources an array of branded material, from fake leather, nylon, and mesh, to create quixotic forms that are aesthetically rooted in the present, but veer towards the future, such as his monochromatic MK12-325 Punch.KATSU on the other hand, employs drones to assist in the creation of his hybridized portraits and landscapes. In the past, he has tapped into the metaverse through an ambitious NFT project, along with collaborating ...

"What if Noguchi sculpted the letter N? Or Hilma af Klint painted her own initial?" A new book by designers Andrea Trabucco-Campos and Martín Azambuja seeks to find out as the two worked with AI platform Midjourney to imagine what each letter in the alphabet would look like if created by 52 historical artists. Entitled Artificial Typography, the book is as much a meditation on art history, as it is on the current hysteria surrounding AI, and the very nature of communication. By using text prompts, the two former Pentagram alumni took on the role of curator as they meticulously sifted through a pool of AI-generated imagery to guide readers along a creative journey through the alphabet. “It puts an emphasis on art direction and the idea, which is what some of the best image makers spend thei...

Tomokazu Matsuyama is set to unveil a new solo exhibition entitled Episodes Far From Home at Almine Rech's London outpost. As his first presentation with the gallery, the New York-based Japanese artist continues an exploration into his bi-cultural experience of growing up between Japan and America through a vibrant and intricate aesthetic that conflates both Eastern and Western symbology. As with his past work, there is a pattern language that emerges in each of Matsuyama's latest paintings — from floral motifs that equally evoke the patterns by 19th century British designer William Morris as they would the artwork on an Edo Period kimono, or perhaps an unassuming Sapporo bottle contrasted with a Starburst candy wrapper — a commentary on the waste ushered in by globalization. Filled with d...

Ann Veronica Janssens is a Belgian visual artist who tinkers with light and sound to transform one's sense of space. Having exhibited across the world, she is best known for her minimalistic cubic sculptures, along with her truly immersive installations that submerge audiences in a cloud of color. For Janssens' latest exhibition, she tapped into the colossal space of Milan's Pirelli HangarBicocca to present Grand Bal. As the most comprehensive show of her works to date, the exhibition comprises of new and existing art in both the Navate within the gallery, as well as the the outdoor area. Any semblance of distance is removed when viewing Janssens' artwork, in fact, user participation is essential to each of her ephemeral exhibitions. From billowing swings to video reels, circular floor mir...

Egypt's ancient past continues to fascinate scores of historians, archaeologists, moviegoers and artists thousands of years later. Despite the advancements in modern technology and the many colossal discoveries over the years, researchers estimate that less than one percent of Ancient Egypt has in fact been excavated. A German-Egyptian research team recently added a new page in that forgotten history by uncovering a series of zodiac murals buried in 2,000 years of grime and dirt in the Temple of Esna. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities worked with the Universtiy of Tübingen to restore the relief murals unearthed which depict all twelve zodiac signs, along with fantastic animals and planets, such as snakes and crocodiles to Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. Originally of Babylonian o...

Pharrell's luxury streetwear brand Billionaire Boys Club has joined forces with visual artist Michael Kagan to celebrate their long-time friendship with a limited edition astronaut sculpture. Launching later this week, BBC and Kagan are releasing two colorways of the astronaut art piece, arriving in gold and chrome metal treatment. Kagan, who is based in Brooklyn, has always been known for his contemporary pieces, including oil paintings featuring large, expressive brush strokes, where he explores both the physical and emotional journey that accompanies explorers of all genres from mountaineers to astronauts. A common theme amongst his paintings is that they often depict humans pushing their natural limits through physical stamina and technology. In celebration of the launch of the BBC x K...

George Condo is currently exhibiting a Los Angeles-inspired body of work at Hauser & Wirth's new location in West Hollywood. But for those of you in New York, the prolific American artist is concurrently showing a more introspective look at his drawing practice. Housed at the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan, Entrance to the Mind transports visitors into the artist's thought process — from his earliest drawings as a teenager to the frantic and endearing works he is known for today. The subject to his portraits are often arbitrary and is rather a means to "visual thinking" as Condo likes to put it. "It's just how you're able to transmit or transcribe the image in your mind that makes all the difference," the artist noted in an interview.Saul Bass, arguably the greatest American ...

As part of Hong Kong Art Week 2023, Tyrrell Winston created Double Technical, a basketball court-themed installation in the city's Landmark Mall. Now, Double Technical's floor has been covered and parts of it will be replaced due to a warning from local health authorities. The piece of Winston's installation that caught the eye of the Hong Kong Department of Health's Tobacco and Alchohol Control Office (TACO) was the large white "Winston" hit on one of Double Technical's borders. The graphic, borrowed from American tobacco manufacturer Winston, is representative of the artist's work merging sports and pop culture — he's heavily influenced by artists like Jeff Koons, Cy Twombly and Marcel Duchamp and often uses discarded cigarettes or cigarette boxes in his sculptural pieces — but it runs a...