Affordable Art Fair: Putting the beautiful within reach

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The Affordable Art Fair wrapped up in New York last weekend, crowed until the end. The event, which highlights originals and reproductions that don’t require obscene wealth to own, is the antithesis of a global art market in which the appreciation of beauty has been nudged aside by appreciation in value.

Galleries from around the world were represented at the event, which was home to more than 70 exhibitors for four days. I wandered the floor, often not knowing which way to look as my senses were assaulted by engaging pieces that could actually wind up adorning the walls of my apartment.

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Throughout my experiences on Sunday afternoon, in the waning hours of the art fair, I couldn’t shake a feeling of satisfaction: a thrill that anyone could begin to collect art as a result of the Affordable Art Fair. I remember being moved almost to anger through 2007 as the global art market bubble formed, making it nearly impossible for all but society’s wealthiest to participate. Even with the subsequent collapse in 2008, helped along by the financial crisis, it was still clear that art collecting was inherently exclusive.

These feelings fell away as I spoke with Laurance Lafforgue of ArtWeLove and artist Kamol Akhumov. I realized that art is actually inclusive, and it’s open to all to participate.

I stepped onto W. 34th Street after leaving the Affordable Art Fair with a fresh excitement for art and art collecting. Forget about the market; focus on the art.

North Korean art show focuses on the familiar

by Tom Johansmeyer on

A new fine art exhibition kicked off in Pyongyang last week, and according to the Korea Central News Agency, it’s a must-see. If you’re down with the “anti-Japanese struggle,” I suspect you’ll be right at home at the Pyongyang International Cultural Center.

There are “at least 60 fine art works” on display, among them pieces created by Pyongyang-area artists during the “period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle.” At the top of the list are paintings with the catchy titles “Return Blood for Blood and Oppose Arms with Arms” and “Arirang on Jiansanfeng,” They highlight the efforts of the Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, and his first wife, the Dear Leader’s mother, Kim Jong Suk. Both, according to the country’s official view of the past.

And, you won’t want to miss “You Should Conduct Combat Training under the Simulated Condition of Real Battle,” which addresses “the commanding trait of General Secretary Kim Jong Il who has strengthened the Korean People’s Army into the invincible revolutionary armed forces.” No exhibition, of course, would be complete without a Kim Jong-il painting!

The KCNA continues:

Among the works on display are Korean painting “Grievance on the Shore of Lake Pujon”, oil painting “Echo in Ulsa Year (1905)”, woodcut “Sea of Blood in Northern Jiandao” and poster “Brigandish Japanese Imperialists Who Forced Koreans to Change Their Names to Japanese Ones!”, which expose the hair-raising atrocities committed by the Japanese imperialists.

Was the Thursday opening well-attended? This is the best we’ll get: “Officials concerned, artists and working people in the city went round the fine art works on display.”

[photo by yeowatzup via Flickr]

Stalin hated nude male art

by Sean McLachlan on

Joseph Stalin didn’t like seeing men nude.

A new exhibition at the Marat Guelman gallery in Moscow features a series of drawings of male nude models that the Soviet leader defaced with rude comments.

The comments include such philosophical gems as “Don’t sit with a bare ass on stones.” and “One thinking fool is worse than 10 enemies.”

Other images bear chatty, mocking comments to ex-comrades of the Communist Party. One drawing of a slim, older man says, “Why are you so thin, Mikhail Ivanovich? Do some work. Masturbation is not work. Try Marxisim!”

This may have been a reference to Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, a member of Stalin’s inner circle who had died in 1946 and who actually looks a bit like the guy in the drawing.

The prints come from a series issued in the late 1940s, when Stalin was aged about 70. They were preserved by members of the KGB who worked with Stalin and the handwriting has been authenticated by the Russian Interior Ministry. Many of the images bear Stalin’s signature.

Just why Stalin felt compelled to write these sayings and chat with his dead comrades on pictures of nude men is a but of a mystery. Perhaps it was his way of relieving the strain after helping to defeat Hitler and killing millions of his own people.

The exhibition is only on for one week, so if you’re not passing through Moscow at the moment check out this series of photos.

House-sized art exhibit in Texas features house

by Jerry Guo on

In the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas, is a curious sight: a house being sucked into a wormhole. It’s the handiwork of two artists, Dan Havel and Dean Ruck. From their press release:

Havel and Ruck will create a large funnel-like vortex beginning from the west wall adjacent to Montrose Blvd. The exterior skin of the houses will be peeled off and used to create the narrowing spiral as it progresses eastward through the small central hallway connecting the two buildings and exiting through a small hole into an adjacent courtyard.

More photos here.

Beautiful Cities in Dreams

by Adrienne Wilson on

Isn’t funny how our dreams can
capture places we’ve never been, yet only seen on TV or in some glossy magazine with such detail and color, that you
would wake having sworn you had been? For some of you, your journey to Paris or Prague will only take place during the
dark hours of night, while others will twirl pencils for moments on end, daydreaming about being anywhere, but in the
office. Then there are the very lucky few who will one day be actually strolling down a bustling Tokyo street on a
beautiful morning to later stumble into the Watari Museum of
Contemporary Art. Photography, sculpture and installation enthusiasts will be happy to find and to know that they
are neither sleep walking or in the Twilight Zone, but at I Love Art 8’s "Beautiful Cities in
Dreams" exhibit running for another 52 days in Tokyo.

Over 100 works by 13 photographers will
allow visitors to the museum to encounter cities from which they’ve probably dreamed about at least once or twice and
if they haven’t before they’ll be dreaming about afterwards. Some of the artists include August Sander, Man Ray, Diane
Arbus, Robert Frank, Andy Warhol, Olaf Nicolai and more.Sounds like an awesome little event to explore while in Japan
and if you’re hip to the lingo you’ll find more details available at the museum
website, but only in Japanese. Check out Tokyo Art Beat
for a few more details to better help you if you’re around the town.

via Tokyo Art Beat