Category: Art
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SFMOMA in 3
Seasoned arts professionals who visited San Francisco last Thursday for a press preview of the magnificent new Museum of Modern Art also ambitiously popped over to the new Gagosian space, the Wattis Institute or Minnesota St Projects all in the same day. I am far from seasoned. After my day at SFMOMA I stumbled into the bar at 111…
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Why Are We Asking the Same Questions About Lemonade?
I promised myself I was not going to write about Lemonade, but here I am shaking my head. Why is everyone asking the same questions about Lemonade? Who is Becky? Did Jay really cheat? Is Beyoncé paying homage to Pipilotti Rist? Ok that 3rd one is pretty esoteric, but that’s what the art world is…
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Mural Buffings Confirm Fears of Runaway Development in DTLA’s Arts District
Early on in my career I was given a small piece of advice that dictated how I presented myself professionally: “Dress for the job you want.” In the intersecting space between gentrification and street art, developers have applied that age old career advice to the neighborhoods they invest in. When it comes to street art,…
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Art + Practice Re-Visits “Bad” Painting
“Not Bad Meaning Bad, but Bad Meaning Good.”-Peter Piper, Run DMC In 1978 the New Museum opened “Bad” Painting, an exhibition featuring artists that eschewed conventional artistic practices to create work that challenged precepts of high culture and countered Minimalist/Conceptualist art. “It is figurative work that defies, either deliberately or by virtue of disinterest, the classic…
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Unmentionables: Zoë Buckman at Papillion
Peering through a gallery window at lingerie hanging from the ceiling made me feel like a voyeur. Catching a glimpse of Papillion while closed was probably the best way to experience their latest exhibit by Zoë Buckman called Every Curve. In this body of work the artist explores the polarities between feminism and hip hop and the cultural dynamics of both existing within…
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The Ghost in the Machine: Mark Bradford & Robert Glasper Combine Creative Forces
Art and music collide in a beautifully explosive Steinway & Sons collaboration that showcases the Spirio piano in a new light. The Steinway Commission pairs visual artists with Steinway musicians to create unique works of art that reflect their collaborative vision and process. This three year project makes its debut with a Steinway Spirio piano that…
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The Veiled Genius of Ruth Asawa
Ruth Asawa’s art celebrates diversity of style and technique. Drawing from illustration, painting, dance, basket weaving, music and pottery, her multi-disciplined approach to art was nurtured as a student at Black Mountain College in the late 40’s. Her introduction to art however, came to Asawa under less than auspicious circumstances. During WW II Asawa’s entire…
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Artist a Day Challenge 2016-28: Shinique Smith
When I started Culture Shock Art in 2010, my goal was to explore street art and graffiti in Los Angeles, after I stumbled upon street artist JR’s work completely by accident. The process of discovery through investigating the origins of one of his murals led me to his 2010 TED talk after which I purchased one of his lithographs. That…
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Artist a Day Challenge 2016-27: Ebony Patterson
Last year I took a class with the Sotheby’s Institute of Arts where a fellow student shared the work of Ebony Patterson, and I have not forgotten their work since. One particular piece stands out to me as one that honors the past while challenging the viewer to see the present. In Patterson’s 2014 performance…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 