Art
Takashi Murakami “Mononoke Kyoto” Tells Stories of the Old City
“Mononoke Kyoto” is Takashi Murakami’s latest large-scale solo exhibition in Japan — the first one in eight years no less. Held at Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, the show features over 160 new works that were created for the museum’s 90th anniversary, and especially at the request of its general manager Mr. Shinya Takahashi, “one of a handful of people involved in the art industry in Japan that [Murakami] truly trusts,” as written in the introductory text at the opening section of “Mononoke Kyoto”.Even with a team behind him, creating so many new works is no easy task. “Normally, to realize such a vision the museum would make arrangements to borrow existing works from museums and collectors abroad, but this time, they wanted to avoid the expensive shipping costs and associated insurance...
Spike Jonze Releases Exhibition of Previously Unseen Photos of Björk
A series of previously unseen photographs of Björk taken by Spike Jonze were released yesterday. Curated by Humberto Leon and on view as part of a special exhibition at Arroz & Fun in Los Angeles, The Day I Met Björk is an exclusive photo-series that is available to download via WeTransfer that documents the fruitful partnership between the Icelandic singer and the American filmmaker. The images were taken at the famed Chateau Marmont back in the 1990s, prior to Jonze directing Björk’s “It’s Oh So Quiet” music video. Within the images, Björk lends an intriguing and sometimes uncanny effect to otherwise ordinary and mundane scenes — from jumping on a hotel room bed, hunching over a bathtub to swimming in the pool. “It’s very easy to shoot photos of someone when they’re compelling, whe...
Daniel Arsham and Hot Wheels to Launch “Lap Three” Drop
Hot Wheels, through Mattel Creations, has revealed the third "Lap" of its four-part collaboration with artist Daniel Arsham, a project two years in the making that sees original Hot Wheels models in the 1:64 scale reimagined in Arsham’s signature future relic aesthetic.The collaboration started with Lap One, which featured an eroded version of the artist’s Porsche 930 Turbo and a crystalized version of the Rodger Dodger. This was followed by Lap Two, which saw the release of the "Original Sweet 16" Deora II and a replica of Arsham’s personal Porsche 356 Speedster.As for Lap Three, it introduces two new vehicles to the collaboration, an eroded and uniquely colored version of the Twin Mill, one of the first-ever "Hot Wheels Orginials" designs not based on any real-world car, originally relea...
Yinka Ilori Teams Up With THE SKATEROOM
THE SKATEROOM has enlisted the likes of another major multidisciplinary creator to curate a captivating new capsule. Tapping British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori, the skate collective is serving up two solo skateboards as well as a triptych, all of which are drenched in Ilori's signature vibrant hues.Ilori is no stranger to the world of skating. In 2020, Ilori spearheaded the design on the COLORAMA Skatepark in Roubaix, France, and in 2021, he unveiled his "Block Cubes" project – a colorful skatepark in the heart of Savannah, Georgia.In this collaborative capsule with THE SKATEROOM, the artist taps into the prominent themes of love, unity and hope within skateboarding. He brings his signature West-African-infused patterns and motifs to the series of boards, with the dynamic triptych reading...
Climate Activists Target Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ Painting
The origins of love and the spirituality of beauty are several of the many interpretations art critics have described regarding Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (1485–1486). But yesterday, February 13, the Renaissance painting was overlaid with images of widespread destruction and ecological collapse as two activists part of the Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) group staged a protest at Florence's Uffizi Gallery to raise awareness to climate change. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Fondo Riparazione | Ultima Generazione 🧡 (@ultima.generazione)“The government continues to pretend that fields did not burn in January," shouted one of the protesters, "that water will not be a problem this summer, that houses destroyed by floods are accidental events and not caused ...
Mike Reesé Explores the Complexities of Life Through His Storybook Practice
Mike Reesé is equal parts artist and storyteller. He uses his practice as a way to tell tales of pain, joy, tension and fantasy. Born and raised in Los Angeles, the thick applications of paint and cultural signifiers he uses is partly inspired by his own experiences, while purposefully left shrouded to leave an air of ambiguity for the viewer to piece together for themselves. As the art director of The OpM Company and co-founder of DREAMHAUS LA, Reesé, alongside fellow artist Nikkolos Mohammed, provide internships and creative workshops for youth of all ages to spark collaborations within the community, while empowering the unique expression native to each individual. "I don't think there is any type of formal protocol that any artist needs to follow to make impactful work," Reesé tells Hy...
Jaedoo Lee Releases Vibrant Series of Screen Prints
South Korean artist Jaedoo Lee has released a capsule of screen prints produced in collaboration with Bushwick Print Lab. Each of the seven prints are limited to an edition of 50 and consist of varying flat and textured shapes that the New York-based artist regularly employs across his surreal animations. Lee's work occupies a realm that floats between reality and the imagination, where ordinary shapes and scenes are digitized into euphoric playgrounds where DNA chains unwind out of a frog's mouth or blocks of Korean script hover in space like a satellite in orbit. His process involves journaling through everyday photographs and an immeasurable amount of doodling, which Lee compiles onto his computer and further refines through his Cintiq tablet. Lee's choice of characters and color palett...
‘Football’ Documents North Africa and the Middle East’s Love for the Beautiful Game
Football has always been the biggest sport within North Africa and across the Middle East (MENA). But in 2022, both regions wrote a triumphant page in the history books as Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup and Morocco finished in the semi-finals — the first Arab nation to do so. A new book shines a light on the passion that MENA nations have for the Beautiful Game.Published by MIDDLE EAST ARCHIVE and designed by Lack of Guidance co-founder Akaar, Football transcends the limitations of sport to explore how the game has become an essential aspect of the region's cultural identity. View this post on InstagramA post shared by MIDDLE EAST ARCHIVE - الأرشيف (@middleastarchive)The book contains photographs that were taken between the late 1980s up until 2023, from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt a...
New Phaidon Book Chronicles the Art Collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz
Power couple Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) are well celebrated for their impact in music, but lesser-known to fans is their interest in the world of art. A new book by Phaidon will chronicle their 20 years of collecting, including interviews with prominent artists discussing their at-home curation. The release coincides with an upcoming exhibition spotlighting Keys and Dean's collection, going on view at the Brooklyn Museum from February 10 to July 7, 2024.Entitled GIANTS: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, the 250-page book features 100 works by 40 multigenerational Black American, African, and African diasporic artist, including Jamel Shabazz and Kehinde Wiley. As patrons, Dean and Keys have forged a fruitful bond with each of the artists they colle...
Polar Bear Sleeping on an Iceberg Wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award
The Natural History Museum has announced the winner of its annual People's Choice Award for Wildlife Photography. The competition saw over 50,000 entries submitted, which was narrowed down to 25 shortlisted for the top honors. British photographer Nima Sarikhani made headlines for what's being hailed as the marquee entry, as she captured a lonely polar bear perched asleep against an iceberg. The image was taken while on a three-day tour of Norway's Svalbard archipelago, where Sarikhani noted that the photo "stirred strong emotions in many of those who have seen it," adding that, "Whilst climate change is the biggest challenge we face, I hope that this photograph also inspires hope; there is still time to fix the mess we have caused.”Entitled Ice Bed, the image was described as "poignant" b...
Desert X AlUla Returns to the Arabian Peninsula
The oasis art event known as Desert X AlUla returns for its third edition in the ancient Arabian Peninsula. The annual exhibition brings together a collection of ethereal site-responsive artworks made by celebrated and emerging creative figures from around the world. Curated by Maya El Khalil and Marcello Dantas, this year's iteration is dubbed “In the Presence of Absence,” which invites artists and audiences to contemplate empty, "invisible" spaces and how the works on view offer new dialogues with the surrounding desert.The latest Desert X AlUla will be mapped across three locations for the first time, Wadi AlFann, Harrat Uwayrid, and the alManshiyah Plaza, each area challenging its participants "to adjust their perspective to encounter the unseen aspects of the place with reverence, att...
Jared Brook Explores ‘Glimpses of Infatuation’ at VILLAZAN Gallery
VILLAZAN is excited to announce the debut solo exhibition in New York by American artist Jared Brook, titled Glimpses of Infatuation. Featuring a collection of new paintings, the exhibition will be showcased at VILLAZAN’s New York gallery starting from February 8 until February 28.Brook's exhibition introduces ten acrylic paintings on wood that delicately yet powerfully explore stages of passionate love. Through Brook's unique perspective and diverse compositional techniques, each observer is confronted with figures grappling with palpable emotions of solitude, desire, yearning, and introspection. Acting as voyeurs to these personal scenes, viewers can easily immerse themselves in the inner thoughts of the depicted characters. The paintings exude intimacy, both through the depicted actions...
