Art

Kehinde Wiley has been working extensively in his hometown of Los Angeles over the past few years — from a statue commission in Crenshaw to a curatorial exhibition with Jeffrey Deitch. To follow, the LA native is showcasing a new body of work entitled Colorful Realm at Roberts Projects on La Brea. For this latest body of work, Wiley was inspired by the nature paintings of Japan's Edo-period, from artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro, Kiyohara Yukinobu, and Utagawa Kunisada, particularly in their use of negative space. “So much of my work is about appearance and showing up and being visible," said Wiley, adding "this dance between exploring the vastness of space within the minimality of this technique I find to be an interesting juxtaposition.”Created with oil on exposed raw linen, Wiley's work...

Hypeart will unveil its first group exhibition in the United States, entitled NOISY REALITY, in the heart of New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. Featuring 16 pieces of exceptional works from U.S. based artists, the exhibition celebrates creativity as a means to escape from the noise of everyday life and find beauty amidst chaos. Through painting, sculpture, mixed media and furniture design, participating artists Meguru Yamaguchi, Heather Benjamin, Eny Lee Parker and B. Thom Stevenson share a desire to capture the essence of New York City and infuse its energy into their works. Showcasing New York City’s diverse cultures and fast-paced lifestyle through abstract and diaristic pieces, the NOISY REALITY exhibition offers a respite from the sensory overload of the city through the vibrant color...

There is often a cult that circles around celebrity. Certainly that is the case with Tom Sachs, who for years has garnered a tribal following for his subversive installations, NASA-inspired sculptures, his decade-long partnership with Nike and, of course, the enigmatic studio practice he runs in New York City. Cult is a word that should not be used lightly here, however, as former studio workers have accused Sachs of operating an abusive and oftentimes violent practice. First reported by Curbed, many former managers and assistants (many of which asked for anonymity, fearing retaliation) described a work environment where Sachs would verbally berate them and throw objects if angered — surprising revelations for those on the outside, as Sachs largely portrayed a charming, carefree and creati...

German artist André Butzer has unveiled his latest paintings at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin. The show runs concurrent to a joint body of work between Butzer and Jinn Bronwen currently on view at the gallery's Bleibtreustraße 15/16 location. In the former, entitled Kirschmichel (which is a German cherry dessert), Butzer presents 12 new paintings and two drawings that orbit around the universe of characters he first began exploring back in the 1990s and early 2000s.Butzer's work operates between figuration and abstraction and touches on universal themes — from birth and death to hope and hardships. "In my Kirschmichel exhibition something is celebrated," noted the artist in a statement. "An autumn celebration in spring time. Fertility is an event of the seasons and of the colors. Colors ar...

French artist JR has unveiled a new solo exhibition that sheds light on the refugee crisis around the world. Housed at Perrotin's 130 Orchard Street location in New York, Les Enfants d'Ouranos (The Children of Ouranos) refers to the primordial Greek god of the sky who fathered the Titans.The latest work builds on JR's recent Déplacé-e-s series, which showcased aerial photographs of 120-foot-long banners of children playing. The massive art was purposefully unfurled by groups of people around refugee camps — giving sight to the often unheard and invisible. Similarly, the latest work was created by transferring the negatives of children playing on reclaimed wood and reinforced with black ink for contrast. The resulting depictions obscure the original context, while imbuing a holy aura to the...

Art has always shown to be an arena for self-exploration — from the earliest cave paintings to the avatars of the digital age. A new exhibition at The Whitney Museum of American Art showcases five artists who extend this thought and reinterpret the growing fascination between digital and physical materiality in attempt to define identity. Entitled Refigured, Morehshin Allahyari, Zach Blas, Jemima Wyman, Auriea Harvey, Rachel Rossin and American Artist present five installations that probe into new modes of self-representation, while examining a number of structures that shape them, such as systematic and technologic forms of racism and colonialism to AI and cultural myth-making. Morehshin Allahyari’s installation The Laughing Snake draws on Arabian folklore to dissect the myth of Jinn in r...

How can someone summarize the vast history of art in just one book? Austrian-British historian E.H. Gombrich did so in 1950 with his best-selling title, The Story of Art. Since then, over eight million copies have been sold and the book has been translated in over 30 languages. Phaidon is set to release a newly expanded edition in a small flexibound format that can fit in your pocket. Gombrich, who is also celebrated for similar titles, such as A Little History of the World, was a master storyteller and had an unrivaled ability to condense vast scopes of history and subject matter into insightful and whimsical prose. The upcoming edition will feature a new cover and a preface by Leonie Gombrich, who looks to continue her grandfather's work to instill history to a new generation of readers....

Last week at Design Miami/ Podium x Shanghai, Daniel Arsham unveiled the official East West Project exhibition, curated in collaboration with multi-disciplinary artist Oscar Wang.The project explored beyond the superficial and outdated notion of “east meets west”, which at first seems like an obvious naming as Arsham is an American artist, while Wang is Chinese. In fact, the East West Project is deemed as more of a “blueprint” for amalgamating traditional craftsmanship with contemporary aesthetics. The name of the project was also a play on words in Chinese, as “east west” or “东西“ (pronounced dōng-xī) is more often used in referring to objects, making this a fitting concept that encompassed the project’s limited series of collectibles.Adorned with a grid-like patterned design reminiscent o...

Last week at Design Miami/ Podium x Shanghai, Daniel Arsham unveiled the official East West Project exhibition, curated in collaboration with multi-disciplinary artist Oscar Wang.The project explored beyond the superficial and outdated notion of “east meets west”, which at first seems like an obvious naming as Arsham is an American artist, while Wang is Chinese. In fact, the East West Project is deemed as more of a “blueprint” for amalgamating traditional craftsmanship with contemporary aesthetics. The name of the project was also a play on words in Chinese, as “east west” or “东西“ (pronounced dōng-xī) is more often used in referring to objects, making this a fitting concept that encompassed the project’s limited series of collectibles.Adorned with a grid-like patterned design reminiscent o...

Last week at Design Miami/ Podium x Shanghai, Daniel Arsham unveiled the official East West Project exhibition, curated in collaboration with multi-disciplinary artist Oscar Wang.The project explored beyond the superficial and outdated notion of “east meets west”, which at first seems like an obvious naming as Arsham is an American artist, while Wang is Chinese. In fact, the East West Project is deemed as more of a “blueprint” for amalgamating traditional craftsmanship with contemporary aesthetics. The name of the project was also a play on words in Chinese, as “east west” or “东西“ (pronounced dōng-xī) is more often used in referring to objects, making this a fitting concept that encompassed the project’s limited series of collectibles.Adorned with a grid-like patterned design reminiscent o...

After a stunning Desert X exhibition was presented the ancient Saudi Arabian city of AIUIa last year, the immersive art exhibition now returns to Coachella Valley, exhibiting works from eleven artists from Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.“Contrary to the archetype, a desert is not defined by the absence of water. The desert landscape is formed by the memory of water,” writes Desert X co-curator Diana Campbell.The temperate extremes of deserts around the world result in not just physical adaptations and structures of survival but also distinct social formations. The artl, presented in the landscapes of Coachella Valley that have inspired so many artists and architects over the years, aims to serve as instruments of self-awareness, allowing viewers to better realized the forces we ...