Banksy art exhibit on display in New York

by Grant Martin on

Looking at the amazing street graffiti in Barcelona last week, I was struck by the complexity and quality of many of the compositions. No, I’m not an art critic, but some of the pieces were fantastically done and could have held their ground in a modern art museum anywhere across the world.

Where Barcelona has rich, sprawling artistic graffiti, London and New York now have Banksy.

If you’re not familiar with the moniker, you may recognize his hijinks; his trademark work is all over the London landscape and has effectively been bleeding into the US. Recently, Banksy made headlines by sneaking his pieces into the Tate Britain, MOMA and American Museum of Natural History. To the embarrassment of curators and critics alike, many of the pieces have gone unnoticed in their respective places for days.

Luckily, the art world is starting to take notice of the artist’s talents. This week, the famous British graffiti artist opened a temporary exhibition in Chelsea (New York) at the Vanina Holasek Gallery. You can stop by and visit the exhibit through the end of this month.

The year’s best films that capture “sense of place”

by Neil Woodburn on

Films have always played a very important role in defining our impressions of the outside world. In fact, for the majority of people on this planet, film is the only way to see far off lands and exotic locales.

But which ones portray a sense of place the best?

Condé Nast Traveler recently asked its readers this very question. The magazine limited it, however, to films released between July 1, 2006 and July 1, 2007. This was hardly limiting, however. Readers still came up with an impressively extensive list of more than 50 films that “capture a sense of place” which Condé Nast Traveler has just posted. Sadly, I’ve seen just one of the top ten–The Lives of Others and man, does it capture Berlin before the Wall came down. Oh, and I bet you didn’t know that parts of Letters from Iwo Jima were filmed in Iceland. Wild!

For a complete listing beyond the top ten, click here.

1. The Painted Veil (China)
2. The Queen (Paris; United Kingdom)
3. Paris, Je T’aime (Paris)
4. The Last King of Scotland (Uganda)
5. The Lives of Others (Berlin)
6. The Namesake (India; New York)
7. Volver (Spain)
8. Letters from Iwo Jima (California; Iceland as Iwo Jima; Japan)
9. The Holiday (England; Los Angeles)
10. Blood Diamond (Mozambique and South Africa as Sierra Leone)

Another piece of cool architecture in New York

by Iva Skoch on

Architecture, like food, is another one of those great incentives for traveling. If modern architecture interests you, you have probably already seen the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.

It looks like a bunch of boxes randomly thrown on top of each other. Which, is essentially how New York City was built — a bunch of building randomly placed next to (and sometimes on top of) each other. That is why I love New York so much. It has a lot of random energy!

Here is an article about the New Museum by the New Yorker. Check it out if you have a chance. They offer free Thursday evenings, from 7-10pm.

Indian excrement on display in London

by Abha Malpani on

14 anthropometric blocks of human excrement from Indian cities New Delhi and Jaipur are on display at London’s Lisson Gallery. The modular blocks were collected by Sulabh International Social Service Organization under a sanitary initiative and have been formalized in this exhibition by provocative and often scandalous Madrileño artist Santiago Sierra.

The human waste was collected by many Indians who were obliged to do so under some karmic belief that would redeem them from their sins of their past life. The collection was eventually mixed with mud and exported to England.

This exhibition has been interpreted as an original Santiago tactic on shedding light onto the most inhumane situations in the world.

Sierra has a history of jaw-dropping “live” exhibitions: he has paid people to masturbate in public; he once invited Germans to wear gas masks and walk through what used to be a synagogue, smoked with fumes from the exhaust pipes of cars.

I enjoy this type of live art — although concocted rather simply, they have a strong and disturbing impact; the type that keeps you thinking way after you have left the exhibition.

(Via English Version of El Pais / IHT)

Photo of the Day (12/05/07)

by Jamie Rhein on

This past Sunday at the Wexner Center of the Arts I indulged in an hour of pleasure, and landed a heap of inspiration viewing the photographs and other artwork by William Wegman in an exhibit called, Funney/Strange. It’s quite fabulous and has given me another idea for a post. This photo by Mark Hout reminds me a bit of Wegman’s work. One of Wegman’s techniques involves taking double image photographs. Another is juxtaposing images in interesting, quirky ways.

My 5 year-old son also loved Wegman’s work. Those of you with kids, or who have kids who you like to do things with, I suggest a trip to see Wegman’s work if you notice an exhibit of his work somewhere. It’s the type of art that crosses generations. But, back to Mark’s intriguing photograph. I’ve been to the corner of Broadway and Houston in Manhattan several times and now have a different perspective to look for. The implication of this photo seems like some sort of societal commentary, one of the things Wegman also does. Neat.

If you have some artistically inspired photographs, or any you are particularly proud of, send them our way by posting them at Gadling’s Flickr photo pool. We love photos and will gush.