Emerge Trends Weblog

RIP Rauschenberg

Emerge Trends — 2008-05-13T13:28:26Z

One of the giants of American art died Monday night at 82 years old. Robert Rauschenberg was among the most influential and prolific American artists working during the 20th century. With work blurring the lines between painting and sculpture, not to mention prints, photographs, musical compositions and even choreography, Rauschenberg was an artistic polymath and a hero to EMERGE. Today is a sad day indeed...

Read more here

Here are some our favorite pieces:

Posted by James Friedman

High Art

Emerge Trends — 2008-02-28T13:02:39Z

In the realm of fashion, Parisian uber-boutique Colette has a virtually untouchable reputation. Groundbreaking, forward-thinking and unafraid to challenge convention, the shop has brought a curatorial mindset to retailing not just clothing, but music, art, beauty products, and accessories. As with much cutting edge fashion, sometimes their choices challenge ideas of propriety and good taste.

For their latest art exhibition, the store invited Comenius Roethlisberger to show large blocks of chocolate embellished with iconic luxury logos including Dior, Chanel, and Ferrari. "Dearest Constellation, Sweetest Invitiation" takes things a step or two beyond postmodern irony and referentialism, ensuring that the logos themselves stand out against the rich, delicious brown of the chocolate thanks to a mixture of sugar and cocaine. Yes, cocaine. Here's hoping nobody does a line of Roethlisberger's work and the police don't bust the store in the middle of Paris Fashion Week.

The artist explains the exhibition on their website in somewhat broken English: "Insolence, fantasy, cynicism, his work incriminates imaging, and fashion or advertising shots, letting no one unconcerned." Any French-speaking readers care to check out the francophone version of the news item on Colette's website and post a better translation in the comments here?

Posted by James Friedman

Serial No 3817131

Emerge Trends — 2008-02-14T16:38:34Z

Ohio-born, Israeli-raised, Brooklyn-based photographer Rachel Papo completed her MFA thesis project in 2005, photographing women serving in the Israeli military. Her interest in this subject began with her own service as a photographer in the Israeli Air Force. The project, named for her own military ID number, is coming out soon as a book published by the always awesome powerHouse Books.

Here's an excerpt from the artist's statement:
The photographs in this collection serve as a bridge between past and present—a combination of my own recollections and the experiences of the girls who I observed. Each image embodies traces of things that I recognize, illuminating fragments of my history, striking emotional chords that resonate within me. In some way, each is a self-portrait, depicting a young woman caught in transient moments of introspection and uncertainty, trying to make sense of a challenging daily routine. In striving to maintain her gentleness and femininity, the soldier seems to be questioning her own identity, embracing the fact that two years of her youth will be spent in a wistful compromise.

Thanks to Zach Korman for the tip!

Posted by James Friedman

Some More Images from Intelligent Design

Emerge Trends — 2008-02-08T12:35:21Z

Looking over yesterday's post, EMERGE realized that some more visuals would go a long way towards illuminating just how incredible Alex Dodge's work truly is. So to that end, we asked him for some images of a few of the paintings from his upcoming show Intelligent Design, which opens next Friday at the Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Millions of Years of Pressure And Heat, oil and toner on linen, 36 x 54 inches, 2008

Mostly Physical Structures, oil and toner on linen, 36 x 54 inches, 2008

Check back with EMERGE next week for an interview with the artist!

Posted by James Friedman

Two Art Openings: Miami and Brooklyn

Emerge Trends — 2008-02-07T12:49:19Z

If you happen to be in Miami this weekend or the New York area next week, EMERGE has a couple of openings to suggest you attend. Granted, both are by certified, official friends-of-EMERGE, but both are hugely talented up-and-comers by all accounts, not just ours. And as you may have heard, emerging contemporary art is a hot commodity these days. Not only will these shows be amazing, but there may be some incredible ~~art~~ investments to be had...

Sean Dack: ECHO/REPEAT at Fredric Snitzer Gallery

In addition to his acclaimed Futuresongs project from last Summer, Dack's latest show features a new series of images the artist has created through "a sheries of conversions from digital to analog.. exposing flaws within the technologically advanced medium, and appreciateing the beauty that lies in chance." Dack is also showing a short film he made called One Seven Nine Two Seven (2006) at the Miami Standard Hotel on Sunday evening at sundown prior to Werner Herzog's Lessons of Darkness.

Alex Dodge: Intelligent Design at Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery

For his second solo show at this small Williamsburg gallery, Dodge has created several paintings, works on paper and a sculptural installation. The sculpture, Study for Intelligent Design, features cast silicone body parts, "discarded android appendages, including a face, hands and ear, that incorporate synthetic colorless hair and technological fragments for sub-dermal viscera. The innards revealed by the torn away silicone flesh are comprised of a range of mechanical and electronic parts that span technologies of the past 50 years including typewriter parts, both old and current computer components, wires and fiber optic filament." Two of the paintings are based on the Playstation game Katamari Damacy. Dodge often explores the space between humanity and technology, a tension evident in his methodology, which combines traditional mediums and techniques with "computer-aided drafting and materials whose origins range from obsolete technologies to the most current.

Posted by James Friedman

Damn We Want To Go To Paris

Emerge Trends — 2008-01-31T12:51:49Z

Last Spring, EMERGE had the rare and special opportunity to meet the graphic geniuses behind M/M (Paris) while visiting the City of Lights for an art opening. We were struck not only by the work we saw, but by how cool and interesting they were over a mindblowing meal. The next day we returned to New York and saw this article in the New York Times, and were totally blown away by how utterly rad these guys are.

That's why we are dying to head back to Paris to see the two new shows of M/M (Paris)'s work.

The first, Vision Tenace (Relentless Vision) is currently on view in the Centre Pompidou (through February 18) and the second, L'ile au Tresor (Treasure Island) is at the hot-shit gallery Air de Paris through March 8.

While we were able to find some images from Relentless Vision, we couldn't find anything large enough to include in this post from the Treasure Island show, which apparently involves a book created from found texts as well as accompanying installations including a reading cabinet complete with reading nook, printed carpets and heat-molded plexiglass frames containing "engravings alluding to the nomadic pleasures of reading." We have no idea what all of this means, or even what it looks like, but we're completely fascinated.

Here is an installation view of Relentless Vision:

Here is an image we found on the We Love Paris blog in a post about the show:

Posted by James Friedman

Highmath

Emerge Trends — 2008-01-24T16:21:08Z

If you happen to be in Berlin on January 30th, be sure to check out Highmath, Nike's latest exhibition, which is presented in partnership with Arkitip and Wood Wood. Part of Nike's Be True Dunk campaign and commemorating issue 0044 of Arkitip, the show features art work by Ed Templeton, Jo Jackson, Kaws, Parra, Evan Hecox and more at the always ace Pool Gallery.

Contact Bianca Richter at binaca.richter@nike.com for info

And afterwards, there is a party featuring DJ sets from skate legend Damon Way, Busy P (Ed Banger), Kaos (Kitsune, Rong, TNT), Karl & BSS (Wood Wood), and Saltomortale (F:U:N)

Posted by James Friedman

Art And The Streets

Emerge Trends — 2008-01-07T15:29:53Z

Earlier today, a colleague sent me a press release for the latest episodes of BOOSTED FILMS, a periodic podcast series from the fine folks at Boost Mobile. While EMERGE has nothing bad to say about either of the featured artists (Revok and Saber), we do feel like the urban marketing/graffiti thing has ceased to be particularly exciting or even interesting. It just feels like cliche. Perhaps it's not meaningful as marketing at all, but remains culturally significant? One could certainly argue that point, but we think that these sorts of tie-ins aren't even culturally relevant. Sure they offer exposure and a paycheck to the artists involved, but what does it do to add to the culture of street art, fine art, or even full-on illegal graffiti? What legitimacy that world has obtained in recent years seems to have come much more from the realm of fine art (think Beautiful Losers, Aaron Rose, etc) than the simple burner paid for by brand...

Saber clip

What is more interesting- in our opinion at least-from both a cultural and marketing standpoint is this article critiquing the art and commerce of vanguard graffiti kid made good Shepard Fairey. His iconic work is world renowned and his clothing brand Obey does big big business, but it seems that much of his work may in fact be plagiarized. Read and judge for yourself...

Posted by James Friedman

A First EMERGE Reader's Challenge

Emerge Trends — 2007-12-18T15:04:25Z

So this morning EMERGE was poking around Billboard Magazine's website and we stumbled across a slideshow of the 25 Best Rock Posters which we thought could have been a whole lot cooler.

Since when is Thelonius Monk considered rock n roll anyhow??? Where are the punk rock posters made with xerox machines? No Kozik?

So we figured we'd open this one up and see if any EMERGE readers cared to submit some links to great rock show posters or flyers to give a better picture of the variety of graphic styles taken to promote concerts and performances.

We look forward to seeing some interesting comments on this one!

Posted by James Friedman

Peter Sutherland Has A New Website

Emerge Trends — 2007-12-12T19:38:29Z

About a week ago we saw that a friend-friends-of-EMERGE had updated his online presence. Behold our scintillating write-up:

Peter Sutherland is a New York based photographer, filmmaker and all around talented dude. With work ranging from portraits of graffiti writers, subcultures and some outrageously dope nature shots for a Casio campaign last year, he utilizes a documentary approach that lets the subjects do the talking. His nature shots have a stark, serene, mysticism to them, embuing the locations with a new, previously unrecognized significance. His portraits evince a sense of humor, optimism, and wonder. Overall, his work can be summed up as rural idealism contrasted with urban blight and mishap. Bottom line, the dude gets out and we're all better off because of it.

Cop his stuff here:
Buck Shots
Game
Home And Away
Pedal

Posted by MB

Gordon Hull

Emerge Trends — 2007-12-06T19:37:28Z

It's been a long time coming but finally good-friend-of-EMERGE Gordon Harrison
Hull has his own website. A repository and showcase for the myriad projects he has outside of his already hydra-headed work with Surface To Air, Beyond The Vanishing Point collects Hull's drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, collages, music and video work and presents it all in a simple and easy to navigate format. But don't let the low-tech website fool you. There is a lot more going on than may immediately meet the eye. For more on Hull, look at last week's T Style Magazine and keep an eye for a book of his drawings to be published soon by Tiny Vices and the New Museum.

Posted by James Friedman

Nishimoto in Japan

Emerge Trends — 2007-11-26T12:17:24Z

About a week ago, EMERGE got an email from our bro (and designer extraordinaire) Steve Nishimoto, who had just returned from Japan... In addition to hyping a recent interview he'd done on Josh Spear's blog and linking to his own rather awesome blog, Nish mostly wanted to tell us about a little slide show he put up on his website documenting what looks like an unbelievable trip to Tokyo and beyond. He prefaced the slideshow with a short preamble, which I'll simply quote rather than paraphrase:

"I just came back from an epic trip to Japan (Five B's - Bros, bikes, boards, backpacks, and beers.) I'm 100% Japanese, and have never been there. I shot over 4000 photos, many riding no handed in traffic on a brakeless fixed gear bike."

Do yourself a favor and check out Nish's slideshow HERE. His photos taken no handed while riding a bike through Tokyo traffic are world's better than most...

Posted by James Friedman

I Will Be Alright

Emerge Trends — 2007-10-25T16:12:08Z

Usually, EMERGE doesn't like to just take a press release that's sent to our inbox and just slap it up on le blog, but when said bit of spam comes from the folks from Iconoclast, we'll make an exception. So it is for this interesting group show, which inaugurates Cincinnati's new Country Club Gallery, a new project space founded by Iconoclast's Christian Strike and Matt Distel, former curator of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

"I Will Be Alright explores utopic/dystopic themes with a sense of cautious and/or conflicted optimism. The exhibition title itself suggests a hopeful look into the future while simultaneously implying that some type of troubling event or impending trauma must first be overcome. The show features artists investigating the theme in a wide array of strategies and media. Kamrooz Aram, Beth Campbell, Jacob Dyrenforth, Jo?o Paulo Feliciano, Harmony Korine, Aaron Morse, Shana Moulton, Kambui Olujimi, John Pilson and SIMPARCH complete the roster of artists participating in the premier exhibition."

Posted by James Friedman

Wild Choir

Emerge Trends — 2007-10-15T16:28:48Z

Here in New York, there was a lot of speculation and rumors about the circumstances leading up to the suicides of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake a few months ago. While EMERGE didn't know either personally, we knew of them both and their deaths were a terrible shock to many of our close friends in the creative community. Rather than joining in the dialogues that have been carrying on even to this day regarding the why's and how's of it all, we'd rather celebrate the remarkable work these two left behind.

To that end, it's gratifying to hear that the Corcoran Gallery in our (and Blake's) hometown of Washington, DC is paying its respects with Wild Choir: Cinematic Portraits by Jeremy Blake, which opens October 27 and runs through February of next year.

Always innovative in terms of his technologically forward technique, Blake combined elements of the handmade with digital processes and media to create stunning video art. His "Cinematic Portraits" of Ossie Clark, David Berman and Malcolm Mclaren are presented in this show as "the final development in a career that consistently challenged distinctions between painting, photography, and computer and video art. In his last works, Blake turned to portraiture, plumbing the life, imagination, and aesthetic vision of three extraordinary artists. He honored his subjects’ achievements through an innovative new form that is its own contribution to the history of art."

Sodium Fox, A Cinematic Portrait of David Berman

Posted by James Friedman

I Would Gnaw On MY Hand

Emerge Trends — 2007-09-18T16:15:17Z

We're not sure what's going on here but after two computer crashes that took our most recent post with them, EMERGE is going to keep it short and sweet this time around:

Jim Drain: I Would Gnaw On My Hand at Green Naftali Gallery

This is the second-ever NYC solo show for this celebrated artist whose best known works involve the decidedly low-tech mediums of knitting(!?) and cut-n-paste collage. Low-tech or not, Drain certainly coaxes the maximum impact from whatever he does, really turning out some mind-meltingly psychedelic assemblages in his latest show, which the gallery website says:

Drain considers Iggy Pop; his animalistic energy and pop cliches serving as the formal and conceptual basis for four large-scale sculptures, collages, photographs of Iggy?s old clothes and specific formal interventions to the gallery space?a net that cages half of the gallery, toilet seat furniture and a wallpaper installation.

EMERGE has no clue what that really means. But we do know that we really like the way this stuff looks. Oh, and we're also pretty fired up for the dance performance scheduled for tomorrow evening at 7pm when Drain and Brooke O'Harra of the La MaMa Experimental Theater present "Gonna Dress You Up," a dance performance based on the punk kabuki performance Drums of the Waves of Horikawa by the Theatre of the Two-Headed Calf.

Posted by James Friedman