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Q&A With Kenny Scharf!
05 April 2013 by
Kenny Scharf opened his exhibition 'Kolors' last night at Paul Kasmin Gallery. It was a colorful affair complete with a particularly delicious collaboration between Scharf and The Doughnut Plant. Known for his colorful paintings, murals, and close friendships with artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat during the East Village art scene of the 1980s, Scharf was one of the first artists to inject street culture into mainstream contemporary art. He continues to incorporate imagery from cartoons and pop culture into his exuberant painting and sculptures. Scharf took some time out of his day to answer a few questions about his work and new exhibition.
Let's start from the beginning. How did you get your start making art?
My earliest memory was finger painting in nursery school. I can remember vividly the excitement I felt and the visuals like it was yesterday.
You're from LA - do you think being from there influences your work?
Growing up in LA definitely influenced my art. I was constantly being bombarded with imagery that spoke of the space age in cars, architecture, and media. The colors and imagery are still fresh in my mind.
Then you came to New York and became friends with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. What drew you to each other?
Fate - they were some of my first friends I made immediately upon arrival.
With Keith you made blacklight installations called 'cosmic closets,' which eventually caught the interest of the Whitney, who then asked you to recreate it for their Biennial. How did that come about and what was that like?
Keith and I lived in a decrepit townhouse near Bryant Park - I converted an old large closet into an installation after I came upon a blacklight and began to put items from the street garbage into the room and painted them florescent. It began to grow and became the "closet," and then the "cosmic cavern." It became the site of a lot of fun parties!
A lot of your work prominently features cartoons characters and pop iconography. What about that interests you?
That I own these icons because they are personal to me, yet they are also shared by millions!
You have a series of doughnut paintings. What about doughnuts interests you?
They look good, taste good, yet are bad for you. They have a hole in the middle and resemble the universe. Some scientists think the universe is shaped like a doughnut. They are the ultimate good-to-look-at, bad-for-you consumer object. They're fun to paint.
Through your work you have developed a fully formed world with characters. You've translated this into animation in the past - will you be making more in the future?
I would very much love to make more animation.
You've made a few sculptures: one for your show at Honor Fraser and your sculpture at the Standard Hotel. What is it like seeing your characters move from the 2D realm to 3D?
Ive actually made many sculptures over the past 30 years, but these new ones are different and I think more successful in their bright, colorful, shiny boldness. It is natural for me considering all the paintings incorporate imagery that has a "3D" look.
You often refer to yourself as a customizer and have transformed objects ranging from household appliances to Cadillacs. What about that interests you?
Taking everyday usable objects and turning them into art is a great way of incorporating the everyday task and transforming it into a magical art experience, thereby uplifting the banal into beauty and experience.
Tell me about your collaboration with Kiehl's - what was it like to make over a product as iconic as the Crème de Corps? How was that process?
It was great to work with Kiehl's as they have such a good graphics team - they made it super easy for me!
What are some of your new inspirations and what are you looking forward to?
I am very exited about the present and future. Besides my show opening next week, I am about to make another mural in NYC on Hudson and 14th Street, I'm showing in a "futures" exhibit in the museum in Mobile Alabama in May as well as painting a mural there, and I am also customizing a 70s Pontiac in a new and very exiting way as well as some other fun stuff that I can't mention yet!
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Staff Pick: Kylin O'Brien - Amo Legomandala
28 March 2013 by
This post has been updated to include the time-lapse video:
amo legomandala 2013 from Kylin on Vimeo.
I wish that after writing this post, I could encourage readers to head to Feature Inc. to witness Kylin O'Brien's ethereal creation, Amo Legomandala, but alas, the experience lasted for just three days and now lives on in photo and video documentation.
Drawing upon the tradition of Tibetan sand mandalas, Kylin created a mandala entirely of LEGOs on the floor of the 131 Allen Street gallery. The Tibetan Buddhist ritual of creating and subsequently destroying an ornate sand mandala after careful construction was playfully redone with children's construction pieces. Using a medicine mandala as inspiration, Kylin and her assistants (which included our fabulous intern, Jillian) mapped out the mandala over the course of several months, meticulously measuring and structuring the piece. Finally, the LEGO mandala was constructed on the gallery floor over a three-day period.
Kylin's mandala was unveiled at the opening reception on Friday, March 22nd, during which attendees carefully walked around the massive structure, maintaining several feet between themselves and the freely-lying blocks on the ground so as not to disturb the structure. (When a woman walked into the gallery with a dog in her arms, Jillian and I both had momentary heart palpitations as we imagined the dog streaking through the center of the piece...a recurring nightmare of Jillian's in the days leading up to the show!)
After a full-day viewing on Saturday, all were invited back on Sunday the 24th to transform the piece and assist in its disassembly - or reassembly, depending on how you view it. Viewers took an active part in changing the entire structure of the piece, experiencing what Feature Inc. called an "opportunity to become aware of our contribution to collaborative change."
Jillian commented that the finished, modified product was reminiscent of a "futuristic space station." The atmosphere during Sunday's reconstruction was quiet and calm as participants fell under the spell of the thousands of colored blocks.
The full process - from the build-out of the original piece to the ultimate deconstruction - was recorded with an overhead camera in the gallery; a time-lapse video will soon be released to document the experience.
In the meantime, here is an installation shot from the calm before the storm at Friday night's opening. Congratulations to Kylin on a beautifully whimsical and innovative installation.
Photograph by Morgan Jacobs -
Get Ovation Back on Time Warner Cable
22 March 2013 by
Shortly before the Christmas holidays, Ovation TV was alerted by Time Warner Cable that they would be dropped from its channel line-up effective January 1, 2013. As the only channel on Time Warner Cable completely devoted to the arts, Ovation is perhaps the best way for nationwide viewers to access world-class ballet, orchestral performances, musicals, and contemporary arts and music. For almost three months now, that access has been removed.
In an economic climate in which arts and music programming are being cut from our nation's public schools, more and more students have turned to arts programming on the most accessible of all media: their televisions. Ovation allows those without the economic means to purchase tickets to Broadway, visit museums, and go to the opera, for example, to enjoy those pleasures for free (or for the cost of basic cable). Perhaps most troublesome is that Time Warner Cable has a monopoly in parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens - areas that are widely recognized as the more underserved and economically challenged boroughs of New York City. With no ability to switch to Verizon Fios, Comcast, or Dish, (all of whom still feature Ovation in their channel line-up), those viewers who are most at risk of not having access to art in their own cities are left with no alternative way of viewing exclusive arts programming at home.
More than just a television channel, Ovation has donated enormous sums to arts programs around the country; approximately $14 million has been allocated to such causes. RxArt, like so many other arts non-profits, has benefited enormously from Ovation's support since they came on the air in 2007. Ovation produced public service announcements and short films for RxArt, disseminating our message across the country and helping raise awareness of the work we do. Like Ovation, RxArt believes that art should be available to everyone - in the most unexpected of places, like in a hospital waiting room or on a CT scan machine, art can serve a vital purpose, ease tension and inspire thoughts beyond that of fear. To see a channel dedicated so tirelessly to promoting arts and culture cut from millions of households is a tragedy.
Time Warner Cable cannot rationalize their cutting of Ovation by a drop in ratings or viewership. According to Nielsen, Ovation is the sixth fastest growing network: it has grown from a presence in 5 million homes five years ago to over 51 millions homes prior to the January 1st drop. Furthermore, Time Warner Cable has violated its franchise agreement in New York by not giving Ovation proper notice of its termination.
RxArt has joined forces with other arts groups around New York City and, with Gotham Government Relations, has attended and spoken at public rallies at City Hall and Brooklyn Borough Hall. With the support of elected government officials, Brooklyn-born and Queens-raised actress Rosie Perez, Bertha Lewis and The Black Institute, and Urban Arts Partnership, among others, we have brought this issue to our city council and are calling for a joint hearing before the Zoning & Franchise, Cultural Affairs, Education, and Consumer Affairs Committees, all of whom are involved due to both the legal and ethical considerations at hand.
Yesterday, we presented Speaker Christine Quinn's office with 45,000 signatures of Ovation supporters. We are anxious to resolve this, get Ovation back on the air with Time Warner Cable, and prove that the arts deserve a place on our television as much as the sports games and sitcoms currently filling our dials.
To show your support, please visit Ovation's Take Action page and add your name to the tens of thousands of others who are dedicated to preserving our culture and our nation's access to it.
RxArt's Morgan Jacobs at City Hall Rally, December 19, 2012. Courtesy of Citizens for Access to the Arts.
Rosie Perez at the Brooklyn Borough Hall Rally, January 10, 2013. Courtesy of Citizens for Access to the Arts. -
Fountain Art Fair 2013: Unconventional and Awesome
14 March 2013 by
Founded in 2006 by David Kesting, Lincoln Capla, and John Leo, with roots deep within the independent Williamsburg, Brooklyn art scene, Fountain Art Fair has grown to represent sixty of the most avant garde, edgy, and experimental international galleries. Fountain was created in an attempt to leverage support for smaller independent galleries, collectives and artists who wish to gain access to a larger audience of collectors and critics. The fair’s alternative model and genuine dedication to the galleries and artists is inspirational and exciting. Artists and galleries are accessible and enthusiastic as they engage the global art market on their own terms.
This year, Fountain Art Fair was held in the location of the original 1913 Armory at the 69th Regiment Armory. Packed with art and featuring live music and performances, the lively event was bursting with artistic vision forging the way for contemporary art.
View some of the highlights below.
Boat by Dennis McNett at Republic Worldwide. Photo Courtesy of Paper Magazine. 
Performance artist Mideo Cruz at Grace Exhibition Space. Photo Courtesy of Hi*Fructose
Vicki DaSilva. Photo Courtesy of Fountain Art Fair
Nina Sky performing at Fountain Art Fair. Photo by Kendra Heisler. Photo Courtesy of Fountain Art Fair
Performance artist and director Willard Morgan of Ideal Glass at Republic Worldwide. Photo Courtesy of Hi*Fructose
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Free Pickwick & Weller T-Shirt for PARTY ticket purchasers!
07 November 2012 by
Our friends at Pickwick & Weller have generously offered to give a free t-shirt to anyone who purchases a ticket to the RxArt PARTY between now and November 9th!
Check out their line at pickwickweller.com - RxArt loves their great designs, amazing quality and perfect fit, and we are thrilled to have their support!
Contact support@pickwickweller.com with your ticket confirmation, and purchase your PARTY tickets HERE!
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Cynthia Rowley Summer Band-Aids!
03 July 2012 by
We're loving Cynthia Rowley's Band-Aid Brand Beach Sport Kit! Perfect for summer and any cuts and scrapes you may get while lounging at the beach or poolside, each box comes with eight limited-edition prints.
$12, cynthiarowley.com
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LittleCollector To Host Tour of Tom Sachs' Space Program: Mars
07 June 2012 by
On Saturday, June 16, LittleCollector will be hosting a tour of Tom Sachs' latest installation at the Park Avenue Armory, "Space Program: Mars." Kids ages 5-10 are invited to participate in an interactive tour of the exhibition and learn what it takes to become an astronaut on a mission to Mars.
For more information, visit LittleCollector's blog here. Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to take part in a space adventure right here in New York City!
WHEN: Saturday, June 16, 11:30am - 12:30pm
FOR: Kids ages 5-10
WHERE: Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, New York
RSVP to rsvp@littlecollector.com as space is limited.
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SNAPS: Ian Bradley and Ryan McGinley at The Hole
30 May 2012 by
WHO: Ian Bradley and Ryan McGinley
WHAT: Hanging outside the opening for iO Tillett Wright
WHERE: The Hole
When: May 30 -
Shop Highlight: REED SPACE
11 May 2012 by
RxArt's beloved coloring books are carried in some fantastic stores and museum shops around the world, and we were recently picked up by New York's REED SPACE.
Located on the Lower East Side, the store carries an eclectic mix of independent fashion, art, footwear, books, publications, music, and accessories. Between the Lines Vol. II and Vol. III are both available at the store. We are excited to be represented alongside their amazing merchandise!Check out their store online here or visit them at 156 Allen Street (between Stanton and Rivington).
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Rotary Connection at Casey Kaplan
09 January 2012 by
In the first group show of the year, Casey Kaplan brought together 13 artists for the group exhibition Rotary Connection, organized by gallery director Loring Randolph. Artists include RxArt friend Andrew Kuo, Julia Dault, Benoit Maîre, Marlo Pascual, and Isabelle Cornaro. The result is a fun multidisciplinary show exhibiting the diversity of the New York contemporary art scene.
Golden Girl, Julia Dault
Self-Portrait, Andrew Kuo
Blog
Categories
Associated Press
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With Paris on Her Mind
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RxArt In Color
01 December — For children, coloring between the lines is a challenge of visual dexterity. To an adult purchasing the new Between the Lines coloring book, the latest in RxArt's annual se...
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Social Shopper
19 December — At this stage in the holiday shopping game, most children have submitted their own incredibly ...
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The Picasso Prescription
30 November — There's some cutting-edge contemporary art going on exhibit - but you might need surgery to see it.Working on the theory that thought-provoking artwork can promote h...
Avant Garde Preschool with Dan Colen
