Diane, A Shaded View on Fashion

Jan Fabre L'Ange de la metamorphose" runs till July 7 at the Louvre

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I needed a change of pace today so I met up with my friend the singer/composer, Sayoko Paris for a lovely Japanese lunch in a market in le Marais. On route I ran into the ever so handsome and extremely fit, not to mention talented, Rick Owens, believe it or not, on the metro. He was on his way to the gym. We had a nice little chat. All of you Rick Owens fans in New York only have to wait a few more months until his new boutique opens there in August. There is plenty more good news in store for him but my lips are sealed.

Sayoko Papillon at the Japanese resto in the Marche des Enfants Rouges Market 33 bis rue Charlot

After lunch we went to see the Belgian artist Jan Fabre's exhibition at the Louvre. Jan Fabre is a conceptural artist known for his blue "Bic" ballpoint pen drawings and is showing 40 works among the Louvre's "Paintings of the Northern School" collection as part of the museum's efforts to juxtapose modern and classical art. This exhibition is the third installment of Counterpoint, the Louvre's contemporary art installation program. This is the first solo show by a living artist and the Louvre has given him the entire Northern School wing-40 rooms containing van Eycks, Bruegels, Rembrandts, Rubenses and Vermeers to play with. He was allowed to move pictures and rearrange rooms to place his work among the Old Masters.

"Self Portrait as the world's biggest worm", a meters-long silicon worm crawling on a carpet of 470 granite tombstones. The giant worm's face vaguely resembles Fabre's and although this is supposed to be the masterpiece I must admit I was not terribly impressed by the worm it looked more like a draught-excluder. I thought that I'd taken a close-up but I must have been dreaming.

Not shown here are his pencil and sperm drawing "AIDS bullet". Some of his sculptures are made entirely out of iridescent, blue-green scarabs.

A full size coffin is covered with blue-green beetles with a peacock's head, tail and wings sticking out, which he describes as 'a reflection on death, night, absence and the materiality of the body'.

70 Murano glass pigeons painted in bic blue bares the title: "Shitting rats of heaven and doves of peace' they are all defecating all over the stairwell.

As Sayoko and I were leaving the exhibition a beautiful young Brazilian woman came up to me and said, "A Shaded View on Fashion"?, I said yes and she told me that she was on holiday in Paris and she wanted me to know that she read my blog everyday. I left the museum with a smile.

Later,

Diane

Saint Gael opening tonight at Miss China Beauty

St.Gael
In one predatory glance, ripping his image form the magazine, (thought) the most beautiful mouth I had ever seen. That’s the startling statement from artist Vincent Gagliostro’s new show about his obsession with Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal (Y tu Mama Tambien, Babel, Motorcycle Diaries). Gagliostro reveals his predatory nature as an artist (his contention, that all artists are somewhat predatory) exploiting this particular subject through his particular brand of gay politics and activism. Artist Susan Shup curated this highly charged installation of videos, paintings, and photomontage.

Vincent Gagliostro at his opening tonight at Miss China Beauty

Saint Gael
Miss China Beauty
May 15 to June 9
3 rue Francaise, near Etienne Marcel, 1er
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 1:30PM –6:30PM
01.42.46.28.22
Metro: Etienne Marcel
www.gagliostro.com

Later,

Diane

Robert Rauschenberg: the erased image of de Kooning by RR and love skeletons crying for him

``He believes in unfettered creativity, the importance of instinctive responses, and the power of the moment; censorship and editing are anathema to him,'' art historian Robert S. Mattison wrote in his 2003 book, ``Robert Rauschenberg: Breaking Boundaries.''

Erased image of de Kooning by Robert Rauschenberg

"I'm curious," he said in 1997, in one of the few interviews he granted in his later years. "It's very rewarding. I'm still discovering things every day." Robert Rauschenberg


love skeletons crying for him

"I feel as though the world is a friendly boy walking along in the sun." Robert Rauschenberg
Images and quotes thanks to Boudicca www.platform13.com

YouTube video of Rauschenberg discussing one of his most controversial works, the erased Willem de Kooning above.

Considered one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, Robert Rauschenberg died on May 12 at the age of 82.

Later,

Diane

SIROUS NAMAZI AT GALERIE NORDENHAKE, STOCKHOLM

Untitled (Modules), 2008, water-cut steel, lacquer, 126.7 x 125.2 x 130.4cm

Dear Shaded Viewers,

SIROUS NAMAZI
Opening: May 15, 2008, 17.00-20.00
Exhibition period: May 16 – June 20, 2008

Galerie Nordenhake is pleased to present Sirous Namazi’s second solo exhibition in Stockholm. In 2007 the artist represented Sweden at the Nordic Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennial. A new catalog on Sirous Namazi, including an extensive text by Fredrik Liew, will be released on the opening night.

In this exhibition Namazi ties together some of the main themes he has been addressing throughout his production: minimalism, architecture, interior/exterior, waste and failure as well as social structures and Outsiderness. At the same time he extrapolates the series that have occupied him over the last few years, namely, Container, Untitled (Modules), and 1:1.

Container II is a new work in a series of disassembled garbage containers, laid flat against the floor. Namazi draws to the fore the formal elements of the container’s form and colour. The ready-made also has strong conceptual aspects concerning consumption and globalization. In its interplay between the interior and exterior surfaces it fails in its attempt to contain the world.

Works in the Module series are composed of a down-scaled prototype of an architectural unit. Reminiscent of Sol LeWitt’s objects, Namazi’s spatial studies are visualizations of an architectural standard, both structural and social. The skeletal rooms, industrially lacquered using the RAL colour system, address themes of architecture, minimalism, transparency and volume.

Untitled (Interiors) is a suite of 7 photographs depicting an empty quotidian apartment in the dark. This photographic work relates strongly to painting: shadow, light, colour and perception. Initially the images look like formal black monochromes but after a few seconds a room appears out of the darkness. The work deals with an existential tension between seeing and blindness.

A four-panel Untitled pixel painting depicts a rubbish dump. The enamel painted pixels only reveal their motif at a distance, putting the surface of the painting in a constant negotiation between abstraction and representation. The enamel surface has the same qualities of the ready-mades in Container II and Modules – both painterly and industrial. As in Patterns of Failure, Namazi’s pixel paintings deal with issues of consumption, waste and failure.

Sirous Namazi was born in 1970 in Kerman, Iran. Namazi completed his MFA at the Malmö Art Academy, Sweden, in 1998. In 2007 Namazi represented Sweden (with Jakob Dahlgren) at the 52nd Venice Biennial in the Nordic Pavillion. He has received awards from the Ljunggrenska Konstnärspriset in 2003 and the Carnegie Art Award in 2006 (Best Emerging Young Artist). The Carnegie Art Award exhibition toured extensively internationally over three years. Namazi has exhibited at Moderna Museet, Stockholm solo in 2003 and group in 2006. Later this year he will exhibit solo at Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany, in spring 2009 at Lund’s Konsthall and in a group show at Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy.

Opening: May 15, 2008, 17.00-20.00
Exhibition period: May 16 – June 20, 2008
Opening hours: Tuesday - Friday 11.00–18.00, Saturday - Sunday 12.00–16.00
Installation views are available after the opening at www.nordenhake.com
Please contact the gallery for further information and press images

CHRISTIAN ANDERSSON MIROSLAW BALKA ANN BÖTTCHER JOHN COPLANS JONAS DAHLBERG ANN EDHOLM SPENCER FINCH HREINN FRIDFINNSSON ANTONY GORMLEY FRANKA HÖRNSCHEMEYER GUNILLA KLINGBERG EVA LÖFDAHL INGO MELLER MEUSER ESKO MÄNNIKKÖ SIROUS NAMAZI WALTER NIEDERMAYR MARJETICA POTRČ HÅKAN REHNBERG ULRICH RÜCKRIEM KARIN SANDER MICHAEL SCHMIDT LEON TARASEWICZ JOHAN THURFJELL ALAN UGLOW GÜNTER UMBERG MAGNUS WALLIN RÉMY ZAUGG

Later,

DIane

CO-conspirators - new artists film and video commissions for the Fashion in Film Festival

Joanne Robertson at Blow de la Barra Opening today

Joanne Robertson, Paintings at Studio, March 2008

Also showing:

Matthieu Laurette, I AM AN ARTIST series, (1998 - ongoing), pen on hotel stationary

JOANNE ROBERTSON
“CLAP TRAP”

Private View: Thursday May 8th, 2008, 6:00 to 8:30 PM
Afterwards join us at the Centre for the Aesthetic and Intellectual Revolution, The Red Lion Pub, 14 Kingly Street W1

The exhibition will remain open until June 14th, 2008
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM

Praticello Gay

St. Gael by Vincent Gagliostro

Dear Shaded Viewers,

www.gagliostro.com

St.Gael
In one predatory glance, ripping his image form the magazine, (thought) the most beautiful mouth I had ever seen. That’s the startling statement from artist Vincent Gagliostro’s new show about his obsession with Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal (Y tu Mama Tambien, Babel, Motorcycle Diaries). Gagliostro reveals his predatory nature as an artist (his contention, that all artists are somewhat predatory) exploiting this particular subject through his particular brand of gay politics and activism. Artist Susan Shup (April’s Parisian of the Month) curates this highly charged installation of videos, paintings, and photomontage.

Saint Gael
Miss China Beauty
May 15 to June 9
3 rue Francaise, near Etienne Marcel, 1er
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 1:30PM –6:30PM
01.42.46.28.22
Metro: Etienne Marcel

Read more on http://ipreferparis.typepad.com

Richard Serra Monumenta 08 - a private experience in a public space

Richard Serra at the Grand Palais

Dear Shaded Viewers,

"It's not about the oeuvre, it is about the experience." Richard Serra

The American sculptor Richard Serra is the second artist to accept the challenge of the Monumenta which is to create a group of new work that treats the 13,500 m2 glass palace, the Grand Palais. Richard Serra took on the challenge with great success.

"Form in itself does not have a value. I am interested in how forms metamorphose into other forms." Richard Serra

In 1965 when Richard Serra was a student at Yale he came to Paris and discovered Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957). Today at the opening of his exhibition Richard Serra stated that if it had not been for Brancusi he would have never became a sculptor.

The five steel plates that vertically fill the volume of the Grand Palais measure 4 m wide, 17 m high and 5 1/2 inches deep. The nave of the Grand Palais is 45 meters high at its center. Even though Mr. Serra built a scale model of the plates he said that he knew that he was taking a great risk.

"My anxiety was could the 5 plates hold the space? Until the first plate went up it was a great risk. I could only take a deep breath once the 5th plate was installed. One cannot predict scale in relation to context until the scale actually arrives in the context." Richard Serra

"A difference between architecture and sculpture - gravity has a force which every sculptor has to contend with." "Gravity is a force which I've employed ever since I built a house of cards."

"I do not subscribe to Formalism, form is an evolving language, invention of form allows us to perceive." Richard Serra

Your private experience in a public space will never allow you to see all 5 plates at the same time.

"The subject matter is your experience walking in and around the plates. No content, the real content is the walking experience." Richard Serra.

Richard Serra was emotionally moved when he received a medal of honour. He admitted that he feels this is his greatest work.

Highly recommended by A Shaded View. Mr. Serra suggests that you experience the installation at night.

Monumenta 2008:Richard Serra
May 7 till June 15
Grand Palais
Ave Winston Churchill, 8th arr.
Metro: Champs-Elysees-Clemenceau
Monday & Wednesday 10AM-7PM
Thursday to Saturday 10AM-11PM

http://www.monumenta.com

Later,

Diane

Richard Serra wearing his newly acquired medal, it is not his first but he told fellow journalist, Alexandra Marshall, that he will be happy to wear it.

Jan Fabre at the Louvre in Paris.

Dear Shaded Viewers,

Jan Fabre is the first contemporary artist that has been given carte blanche by the Louvre to make an exhibition.

His works can be seen in the exhibition space together and in confrontation with famous flemish, dutch and german school painters.

Imagine glass pigeons and glass pigeon shit in the hallway of the louvre :-)
the expo is till running until 07/07

All images thanks to David Flamee Flanders Fashion Institute
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/exposition/detail_exposition.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674082998&CURRENT_LLV_EXPO%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674082998&pageId=0&bmLocale=en

Later,

Diane

NVU with Angelo Flaccavento

Dear Shaded Viewers,

DP: Can you tell me a bit about your background?

AF: I was born and raised in Ragusa, Sicily. I was a fat child, and I always liked going to school and learning. I went to grammar school and graduated with full marks. At 18, I decamped to Pisa, Tuscany, to study Art History at University. That was a long time ago: I’m 35 now! Anyway, I lived in Pisa for eight years, as I worked in a museum for a while after University. Then I decided to come back home and focus on what I really like: fashion. That was 2000. A chance meeting in Paris with the wonderful Rebecca Voight kick-started my career in fashion writing. That’s what I do today. I still live in Sicily, with my mom, as any good Italian bamboccio. I’ve been drawing my whole life. My mom told me I started playing with pens and pencils around 3 or 4. My father, who had a furniture shop but was an art lover, pushed me a lot in that direction. He passed away 22 years ago.

DP: What did you dream to do when you were a child?
AF: First it was an architect, then a painter, then a fashion designer. But I soon discovered that I was more interested in drawing clothes rather than making clothes. 2D fascinated me more than 3D and movement, so I would have never been a good designer. Writing can be a bit intense and frustrating at times, but it fits my loner, shy and melancholic persona a lot better.

DP: How does where you live effect what you do?
AF: Well, it does, but not in a direct way. I need a place with no stress and lots of sun, and Ragusa has both. The sea and the beach ten minutes away is another big plus.

DP: Where did the idea for the Sex Clowns come from?
AF: I’m not a circus fan, but I do love flamboyant costumes. Also, there’s always been a tribal side to my drawings, as I’m really fond of African masks and the like. My idea of heaven, if I have to tell you, is being locked in the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris. Anyway, when I saw Walter Van Beirendonck’s show last July, something clicked, and I just went bonkers and started drawing like mad.

DP: Did you get any reaction when IQONS published your page in the magazine?
AF: Yes, I did. Most people were amused. Someone proposed to use the graphics for t-shirts or prints. Some others got offended, but I think it’s because they missed the tenderness and deep melancholy of the clowns. I do only get upset when someone tells me the clowns are vulgar. Because, honestly, I don’t think they are. For the rest, I perfectly know the truth is always in the eye of the beholder.

DP: What is the message behind the Sex Clowns?
AF: I don’t think there is any message, really. But the idea I’d like to convey is that perversion, if what I do is actually perverse, can be tender. My characters are funny and lovely: my favorite is Illo, or Superminchietto, the short one in the minicape. My sex clowns are hairy little freaks with flashy costumes, big dicks and a bigger need for a hug. They’re about sweetness, not kink. But they do look kinky, I know. I’ve also been told that, physically, they recall me a lot. Minus the round belly, I hope. And minus the bulge, sadly…

DP: How do you like to work?
AF: Alone, in my room, or in the kitchen. I need a large, empty table. I always use the same pens – Pilot G-TEC-C4 – and the same Fabriano 100 % cotton paper. The drawings are very small. I do often have an hard-on while drawing. I draw at night, or in-between articles. The idea comes, and I just have to rush!

DP: How would you define your style?
AF: Angular, detailed, obsessive and repetitive.

DP: Do you have any illustrators or artists that you particularly admire or who have inspired you to do what you do?
AF: There are many artists that I love, but I don’t know if there is any direct influence. For sure, I’d love to draw like Egon Schiele or paint like Paul Klee. I love Edward Gorey and Tim Burton’s illustrations. And Saul Steinberg is an all-time fave.

DP: Why did you decide to start a blog and what would you like it to do for you?
AF: After seeing people’s reaction to the IQONS page, I thought about making a gallery. As I draw on a daily basis, the blog seemed to fit well. I’m simply offering a glimpse of my secret world. In fact, one day, I could decide to remove the blog from cyberspace for good. poeticallypunk.blogspot.com

DP: I've never seen a book on Sex Clowns, could be a good idea to make one, what do you think?
AF: I’d love to do one: something like a repertoire of characters, each one with an accompanying short text. But I’d need some models. Actually, I’m desperately looking for models. The body type is quite specific, as you can see. They should agree to pose naked, of course. Anyone interested, please email me on angelo.flaccavento@gmail.com.

DP: Aside from your mother, have you gotten any strange reactions to your work? People always see you wearing a suit and tie at the shows, I imagine this was an opening into the other world of Angelo Flaccavento, what do you think?
AF: That’s exactly what I like: the contrast between my super-serious appearance – and writing – and the drawings. I can’t stand categorization, and looking like a teacher doesn’t mean I have no dark or naughty side. I get really, really amused when people see the clowns – the one with the big dicks or the couples in love, in particular – and then look at me: they can’t believe it. I’d actually like to have “writer & pornographer” written on my card. Jokes apart, I’m actually quite double: I’m a full-blown Gemini after all. Anyway, yes, I got strange reactions. My mom, who always collects my drawings, asked for underwear on all of them. Then, the other day, I was wearing my t-shirt – I did some with THE/END magazine – to the gym. I always go in the morning, when all the middle-aged ladies are there. I was running on the treadmill and the lady at my side kept looking and looking at the furry beast printed on the tee. At one point I told her “Yes madam, that’s exactly what you think: a furry naked man with his appendage out”. She nearly fainted.

DP: What are your dreams?
AF: To do a gallery show and performance with the clowns. I’d like to create a forest of drawings dangling from the ceiling. And to have some real clowns, dressed in costumes taken from the drawings, making out in the window of the gallery. Black, white and pink would be the only colors allowed for the whole thing.
Other dreams? Joy and peace for all the people I love. This includes you, Diane.
Also, I’d love to move to an even more remote island, and eventually disappear, leaving only the drawings and the writing to speak for me.

Angelo Flaccavento

Thanks a lot for everything
angelo
poeticallypunk.blogspot.com
_________________________________________________________________

Hussein Chalayan on Arte tomorrow

www.mosign.fr

DYSFASHIONAL
12.03 - 08.06.08 Mudac, Lausanne (CH) www.mudac.ch

Later,

Diane

TWIN BED

TWIN BED
BRADLEY & ELIZA SHAW
April 4th - May 4th 2008
Tuesday to Saturday 10am-6pm, spooktacular events on Sundays
Opening Friday April 4th, 6pm.

Bianca Casady is pleased to invite you to
Twin Bed by Bradley and Eliza Shaw
at Mad Vicky's Tea Gallery, 3 rue Nicolet, Paris 18eme.

Eliza and Bradley Shaw were born in Trinidad, Colorado on April 26, 1984.
Most of their childhood was spent living with their mother in Colorado Springs, Colorado. To entertain themselves they would make puppets and costumes out of common household materials such as tin foil and paper towels. Even at a young age, the twins were never afraid to utilize technology when it came to their art
making. At age eight they were given a Fisher Price pixel-vision camera, which they used to make 'presents' for their mother. In the videos the twins would often try to trick her by switching roles and playing each other to see if she would notice. Their fluency with computers meant they were often hired as a computer technician team, and would fix computers in companies, homes and sometimes the local hospital. One summer they sought out more colorful jobs, Bradley's talent in drawing got him a job as face painter at the zoo with the junior zoo crew, and Eliza was a tour guide at the Cave of the Wind. From an early age the twins were enamored with goth culture which has remained a strong influence in their work ever since. After graduating from high school the Shaw's moved to New York City where they make clothing, videos, play in their band. The twins live a very introverted life connected to the world through the screen...but with the help of their friend Vicky they have decided to invite the world into their own reality.

Take your time: Olafur Eliasson at MoMA and P.S.1

Dear Shaded Viewers in New York,

Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist based in Berlin. His work is about the relationship between individual people and their surroundings. Take Your Time is the first comprehensive survey of his work in the United States. THe exhibit spans 15 years of his life.

Olafur Eliasson - image courtesy of MoMa - Your strange certainty still kept

Take your time: Olafur Eliasson
The Museum of Modern Art
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
April 20–June 30, 2008
www.moma.org/press.
http://www.olafureliasson.net/

Later,

Diane

Impermanence, the time of man

Added: December 24, 2007 (Less info)
"Impermanence: The Time of Man," is a video installation that explores the temporal nature of life. Developed for "The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama," it marked one the the first artistic uses of video iPods.

The installation is based on 122 interviews taken with people, who answered questions about their thoughts on Impermanence. These videos were edited down into short films that are shown simultaneously in the iPods. David and Hi-Jin choreographed the installation by changing the mood, tempo, rhythm and method of delivery at specific intervals during the exhibit. At some points there are many speakers, each on a separate iPod, taking about a single subject. At others a single speaker appears on all 16 iPods speaking on a broad topic.

As viewer circle the room, they often find a face, a person, or a topic that resonates with them. Some viewers may choose to circle the room for a few minutes, taking in only a small sample of each speaker. Other may stay much longer. In the end, most leave with a deep impression about how impermanence has touched their lives.
Category: Film & Animation

Leila Abu-Sabba may your Dad go on forever. Thank you for the link. (Please read the comment posted by Leila) "PS -a personal note on video installations - my late father appeared in a video I-pod installation devoted to the Dalai Lama and the subject of "impermanence." Dad was friends with video artist David Hodge, who filmed him talking about impermanence one day; then a few months later my father died suddenly. Two months after his death, my mother casually mentioned this video installation. I went to the internet, looked it up, discovered that it was in a mega show with Laurie Anderson and Bill Viola, and was going from L.A. to NY, Chicago, San Francisco, Berlin etc. In NY it was at the old Barney's building. So my Dad is spending the afterlife in a touring show with all these famous video/conceptual artists, and Dad, who loved to talk, gets to talk on an endless tape loop. Circling the world. "

Leila Abu-Saba
http://bedouina.typepad.com
Dove's Eye View - An Arab-American woman sees signs of hope

Later,

Diane

SOPHIE CALLE: ‘PRENEZ SOIN DE VOUS’

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I've been glued to my computer for weeks, finally finished all of my articles and leave for Hyeres tomorrow so today...was my first free day in what feels like months, I called my friend Vincent Gagliostro to see if he wanted to meet for lunch and maybe see some art. He'd already seen the Sophie Calle Prenez soin de vous show at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in the magestic Labrouste room but it was pretty easy to convince him to come back with me and see it again.

The last time I was in that room, I hate to say, was for a Dries Van Noten fashion show more than ten years ago. It was lovely then and was the perfect setting for Sophie's exhibition that was shown last year at the Venice Biennale. I've enjoyed Sophie Calle's work since I saw her film years ago No Sex Last Night. Calle is a writer, an artist, photographer and filmmaker and she uses her personal experiences as inspiration for her work which spans more than 3 decades. This particular exhibition is based on an e-mail that she received from her lover, telling her that their relationship was over. I think that if she ever ended up in a happy relationship that might be the end of her work... His last words were 'look after yourself" (prenez soin de vous)...Calle asked 107 women to interpret the letter from a professional viewpoint. "I wanted them to analyse it, give their comments, act it, dance it, sing it. She then asked these women to reply to the letter instead of her. It was what she needed to distance herself from the breakup at her own pace and 'looking after herself. The show will be up until June 8th and I highly recommend a nice long visit. The way the installation is set up there are different video screens on the reading tables and chairs, they are placed quite far one from the other so that the audio, although quite low, is possible to understand.

Victoria Abril

One of Fassbinder's fetish actresses, Ingrid Craven and Jeanne Moreau
When you are finished the exhibition you can pick up a copy of the letter. While I was reading it, Vincent thought that I should have participated in the exhibition so ...although Sophie never asked,

Me faking it and Maria de Medeiros.

The letter

all photos taken by Vincent with his iphone.

Later,

Diane

This has nothing to do with art, but did you know about www.surfthechannel.com?

The Bird Collection by Dutch artists - Idiots

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I discovered the work of Idiots, Afke Golsteijn and Floris Bakker, in the window of Kokon To Zai in Paris about 5 years ago and have been following it ever since. The materials are dead animals in combination with embroidery, glass, pearls and gold. The poetry of their work also questions the state of a society that revolves around marketing.

Fantasy vs Reality and their industrial revolution fairy tales put the focus on the borderline between life and death. Animals become the memories that remind people of the life that they have lived.

"I wanted to make a piece dedicated to Nature and it's inevitable death. A collection somewhere between religion and superstition. " says Afke Golsteijn. "We started for really practical reasons, we got more and more tragic (old) looking creatures of taxidermy animals that were made by someone’s grand pa, or found in attics, etc. In the beginning I did not want them but they were so sad and dusty and ridiculous looking that I decided to “adopt” them, most birds were damaged or cross-eyed or had only one wing. I cleaned one at a time in my small space that is where the small collection started.

The black one is number one and this serious black bird (one of the first birds that my taxidermist made) was not so good. Transformed (and drowned) into a relic of nature and capitalism. The serious black bird reminded me of you. I thought that you and him belonged together (it just happened).

Visit their website to see their archives. Ophelia is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Oslo, and Jonathan Livingston seagull is in the permanent collection of De Kunstkas Verbeke Foundation Antwerp.

A small piece like ‘a wing broche’ is about 2,500 EUROS, A necklace which is like a miniature installation sells between 3,000 – 4,000 euros. Like any piece of art, they are all one of a kind.

Later,

Diane

www.idiots.nl

Life Ball - Love is Infinite Life is Universal

Mario Canal: Angus Fairhurst.

Dear Diane, dear Shaded viewers,
Angus Fairhurst -well known member of the YBA's- died a couple of days ago at the age of 41, ten days after the end of his latest exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ.
Apparently, following the title of the catalogue of a show he held in Switzerland, he knew how all this works.

best>>>m<

Galerie Anne de Villepoix

Take your time: Olafur Eliasson at MoMA and P.S.1

Two artists from Moscow - Danila and Anja Titova

Dear Shaded Viewers,

When I was in Moscow with Robb Young we met Konstantin who sends news on two young artists that just had exhibitions in Moscow. Danila, with the beautiful long red hair, we met him in Moscow at a party and enjoyed spending time with him. He's the shining star of Moscow and a sweetheart in high heels.

The two artists represent two different groups in Moscow.

Danila, more dyonisian with his background in show business and modelling.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=24982 - a review

http://community.livejournal.com/danila_vanilla/21101.html

anja titova noninvolvement

Thank you Konstantin.

Later,

Diane

blog-Mode at the Metropolitan Museum and more from Florent by John Rynski

Dear Shaded Viewers,

My friend John Rynski just sent me a few images from the Metropolitan Museum and also from the end of our night at Florent and beyond.

Our blog-Mode panel and the audience

with Harold Koda and alone on stage, I followed Harold's opening introduction.

Roxanne Lowit and Pat Kurs and John Rynski, we all know each other for decades.

This one has me rolling on the floor in laughter, Graham Tabor as Toulouse Lautrec.

Later,

Diane

All photos by John Rynski

The Met, Tribeca Grand and Florent - NYC Day 4

Dear Shaded Viewers,

I should have taken a shot from the podium at the Grace Rainey Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum yesterday, but I did not. You will have to wait till someone sends me a few images to post. Harold Koda, the curator of the fashion museum at the Metropolitan gave me a warm welcome and a lovely introduction, I forgot all of my bullet points for what I was going to say but everyone told me that it went very well so I will take their word for it.

After a tea around the corner from the Metropolitan we went to see New Video Work by Jeremy Kost "Not Yet Titled (Making Faces)", 2008
showing Hosted by Terence Koh & Shamim M. Momin Music by Geordon & Jackson (Misshapes) at the Tribeca Grand.

Jeremy Kost at the Tribeca Grand -Jeremy Kost is in the middle next to Laine

Zane Lewis and Miguel Villalobos and John Rynski kissing Laine

This was the funniest, I ran into all of my old neighbors we lived at 290 West 11th Street in the 80s in New York. I knew them when I started out as a fashion designer.

John Rynski and Paul and Rene Laster. Paul edits Arkrush. I also ran into Alan Brown who wrote the book Audrey Hepburn's neck, he lived a few doors away from me is now a filmmaker and we used to study Japanese together. I dropped out because I could not handle a Japanese class when I was trying to prepare for a show. Alan moved to Japan.

Mathias Ohrel and Tommy Salah from the Tribeca & Soho Grand

A Shaded Viewer who attended the Met-Blog panel came up to me at the Tribeca Grand to thank me for coming to NYC for the Metropolitan and for my site. I am always happy to meet my Shaded Viewers.

Miguel Osuna and friends

Florent, the resto that started the whole move to the meat market 30 years ago is closing in June because they are tripling the rent. I always used to go there when I lived in NYC and so we all decided that was where we wanted to have dinner.

Florent and John Rynski and Graham Tabor

Florent told us that for the last 5 weeks before the closing of Florent he will have themes: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, depression, acceptance -closing on Gay Pride Day.

Miguel and Laine and Miguel and Florent

Later,

Diane

Armory Show New York

Dear Shaded Viewers,

My friend Vincent Gagliostro and I decided to take in the Armory show at the Piers. I only took a few images.

Vincent Gagliostro and I and I could not resist this art dealer from the back.

I only thought about taking photos near the end but there was a definite fish theme going on, there were ones with flesh and others with only their skeleton left, they were painted or appeared as sculptures and here as a menu.

I ran into an old friend, Ophra Shemesh who was having a show I AND THOU at the Freight Volume Gallery on 542 West 24th Street, so after the Armory, Vincent and I went there. The show ends on the 29th. Ophra is a good friend of the director Amos Gitae, she was the art director and the actress in Golem l'esprit de Exile. I did the costumes for the two principle actors and Ophra was in every seen, her husband in the film was played by Samuel Fuller. It was my first job in Paris and Ophra was a client of mine when I was a designer she says she still has and wears my clothes.

Ophra Shemesh and one of her paintings from I and Thou, the theme of her show was submission.

Ophra Shemesh and Yayoi Kusama

In the show I saw John Waters, we both smiled. I was thinking, I should have taken a photo for the blog but I did not...then when we left, John was first in the taxi line, I should have invited him to Glenn's party for me tonight....

John Waters

Later,

Diane

AI WEIWEI -Illumination: MARY BOONE GALLERY, NEW YORK.

Dear Shaded Viewers,

After a trip to the Armory Show we decided to visit a few galleries. I totally enjoyed

AI WEIWEI
This is the first major exhibition in NYC by this Chinese contemporary artist who, through his work distills that nation's restless cultural, social, and political order.

As the centerpiece of the show, Al Weiwei has created "Descending Light." an adaptation of his iconic chandelier form that here appears buckled by the violent impact of its fall. Lying askew on the ground the fixture's colossal structural rings remain festooned with strands of red crystals illuminated from within. The red, emblematic of China, the work at once conveys the toppling of established order and the burning promise of the future.

AI WEIWEI
“Descending Light”
156” by 180” by 268”
glass crystals/stainless brass, electric lights
2007
COURTESY: MARY BOONE GALLERY, NEW YORK.
541 West 24th Street on view through 26 April.

Ron Warren
Mary Boone Gallery

Later,

Diane

JONAS DAHLBERG AT GALERIE NORDENHAKE, STOCKHOLM

Dear Shaded Viewers,

ONAS DAHLBERG
THREE ROOMS
VERNISSAGE 3 APRIL, 5 – 8 PM

Galerie Nordenhake is pleased to present Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg’s new video installation, Three Rooms. This new video work is a 3-channel monitor presentation, depicting three rooms in a home: bedroom, living room and dining room. Over the course of 27 minutes all the objects and furniture dissolve, leaving an empty, lit void with no defining features. Dahlberg has found a way to eliminate objects that is slow and resembles a natural, organic process.

The work again uses archetypal spaces to address a psychological state of being. Through the decay of these spaces the work eliminates the viewer and his/her identification with the rooms. Essentially they suggest the disappearance of the viewer.

The 3 screens work with a narrative structure more closely connected to architecture than film. The viewer moves from screen to screen as moving through rooms in a building. Though the rooms remain mute and escape closer identification they bring time to a point and let it linger there.

Jonas Dahlberg was born in Uddevalla, Sweden, 1970. He has exhibited widely in many prestigious contexts. In 2005 Dahlberg exhibited his solo show ”Invisible Cities” at Moderna Museet. He represented Sweden at the 26th Bienal de São Paulo and has participated in the Busan Biennial in 2004 and in both the 50th Venice Biennial and Manifesta 4 in 2002. Other exhibitions include Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul Korea (2007), Artsonje Center, Seoul Korea, Taipei Biennial, Taiwan, Calle Alcala 31, Madrid Spain, Neue Kunsthalle St. Gallen. St Gallen Switzerland (solo with Jan Mancuska), Frac Bourgogne, Dijon, France (solo) (2006), Marian Goodman Gallery Paris, France and Bonner Kunstverein. Bonn, Germany (solo with Jan Mancuska) (2005).

Opening: 3 April, 2008, 5 pm – 8 pm
Exhibition period: 4 April – 11 May, 2008
Opening hours: Tuesday - Friday 11 am – 6 pm, Saturday–Sunday 12 pm–4 pm
Installation views are available after the opening at www.nordenhake.com
Please contact the gallery for further information and press images

Patti Smith at Fondation Cartier with her Land 250 exhibition

Dear Shaded Viewers,

"Art gives us the opportunity to animate the greatest freedom that we have." Patti Smith

Paris loves Patti and Patti loves Paris. All were smiling today when Patti Smith held a press conference the eve of her exhibition which opens at the Fondation Cartier on the 28th. The source of much of her inspiration has been key figures of French culture, including Arthur Rimbaud, Nicole Stéphane, Jean Genet, Antonin Artaud and René Daumal. Paris echoes throughout, from drawings executed in the Montparnasse district, where she lived during her first Parisian sojourn in 1969, to recent photographs taken in the garden of the Fondation Cartier, situated nearby.

With this exhibition, Patti throws open the portal to 40 years of her life. She shows you not only her vision but the vision of the artists that have inspired her. "It is the beginning of a dialogue, not the end."

"I was a sickly child and I decided at an early age that I wanted to live. You have to have a healthy mind if you want to create." All films are film not video.

In 1979, she left New York City and career behind, and moved to Detroit, Michigan to marry musician Fred Sonic Smith from the group MC5. They had two children and recorded Dream of Life, which included the anthem “People Have the Power.” In 1995, after the untimely death of her husband, she returned with her children to New York City and resumed her public life. In 2005, Patti Smith was awarded the Insignes de Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Republic. In 2007, she was inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame, the highest accolade awarded to contemporary musicians.

Visit Patti Smith's official website : pattismith.net

At the end of the press conference, Patti sang one song while her son, Jackson held the mic. The song is entitled 'Greatful' and weren't we all.

To reflect the multitude of fields explored by Patti Smith, the exhibition is intended to be a comprehensive project that expands beyond the exhibition space. The Fondation Cartier is giving free rein to Patti Smith to oversee the programming for the Nomadic Nights as well as performing herself, offering solo and band performances as well as informal poetry readings. The Fondation Cartier’s bookshop will, for a time, become the artist’s personal library. Her choice of books, CDs, films and objects will enable visitors to further penetrate the rich universe
of this iconic artist.

If you are in Paris over the next few days, Jackson, her musician son will play music and exchange ideas sitting around the comfy couches on the lower level of the museum. The exhibit continues until June 22nd.

Later,

Diane

“TIME EXPOSURE” Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague-Ioana Nemes

“TIME EXPOSURE” is an 8 sculpture series that represents the concentrated and visible time of the 8 days selected for this series. The works are part of the ongoing conceptual project “Monthly Evaluations” that Ioana Nemes began 4 years ago.

"five departments have been chosen: physical, psychical, intellectual, financial and fortune department. A color is chosen at the end of each day that would best represent it, as well as a text. Depending on the context , the artist chooses – just like a DJ sampling– days form different periods that together could form a new perspective. "

"I’m amazed that we always seem to notice its existence in the past tense, by the marks it leaves in nature or on our bodies, but never as it is unfolding. I’m interested in any topic that attempts to decompose time, regardless of the field: literature, sport, film, music or art. " Ioana Nemes.

What it is like to be an artist in Romania? And what is the status of artist in this post-communist country?

It is very frustrating indeed, for various reasons. First of all, the lack of galleries and exhibition spaces specialized in contemporary art. There are only two important private galleries, counterbalanced by the Museum of Contemporary Art, unhappily based in a wing of the House of the People (the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon). In-between these two extremes there are no alt