art[+]work[s]

Exhibition A’s Bill Powers on Affordable Art

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:44:07 -0400

art is expensive. we know. we checked in with Bill Powers, a co-owner of online art gallery Exhibition A who is committed to making art buying less intimidating and more accessible. here, Powers talked to us about his first visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, his signature rose-tinted glasses and why you just might find paintings hidden at the back of his closet…

Bill Powers is photographed in Half Gallery, a new uptown space he moved into in February. (It doubles as the office for Exhibition A.) He wears his own custom Mr. Powers cardigan, Levi’s 502 jeans, and loafers he picked up at Dick’s Sporting Goods. “My wife likes to tell people they’re Margiela,” he jokes.

How long have you been involved in the art world?
I opened Half Gallery in 2008 and then cofounded Exhibition A in 2010, but I had been writing about contemporary art since the late ’90s for publications like the New York Times, Details, Paper, Muse and Purple magazine.

Were you exposed to a lot of art as a kid?
My mom took me to see the King Tut show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when I was in third grade. Does that count?

Where did the name Exhibition A come from?
I was thinking about that Andy Warhol book A Novel—Google the cover image—and also the play on words with ‘exhibit A,’ the way they introduce evidence in bad courtroom dramas on TV.

You and your wife, Cynthia, are big collectors. How does that process work for the two of you? Do you both buy what you love? Or is it a compromise?
Cynthia went to art school in Chicago, so that’s her first love, even before fashion. In terms of collecting, I sometimes borrow a page from my friend Andy Spade’s playbook: he buys a painting and puts it in a closet until his wife finds it later…

Is it true that when you launched Exhibition A, one of your goals was to make buying and collecting more approachable, no matter what one’s background was?
Yes, that’s exactly right. Today, auction houses and major galleries often sell artwork off jpegs they email to collectors, which can be scary when you’re talking about a million-dollar John Currin painting, but less so if it’s a five-hundred-dollar print by Rene Ricard. Exhibition A makes art approachable without dumbing it down. We consider ourselves an online art adviser.

How do you approach the network of artists and people you work with on Exhibition A?
We like to mix in established talent with more emerging names to keep things fresh. I find that art fans in general have a deep curiosity, so I like to imagine that our base is down to discover new creative voices with us.

Tell us about a few artists you’ve featured on Exhibition A who have knocked it out of the park.
Aurel Schmidt has a big following already, but when her print of a flower in an empty beer can sold out in one day, I was shocked at the demand was for her work. Ditto with Wes Lang. My biggest honor to date was working on an Exhibition A print with Richard Prince, who’s been an art hero of mine from day one.

How often are you adding new artists to the site?
We do a new print once a week.

Which artists do you have coming up on Exhibition A that you’re personally excited about?
We are doing a multiple with Louis Eisner from the Still House Group. Louis is part of this gang in Red Hook of a dozen young artists who share studio space and really support each other. Louis is doing a paper mobile for us.

Photography by Bryan Derballa.

To learn more about Exhibition A, click here.

(via jcrew)

mariesucco: Paper torso by Austrian artist &...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 10:21:46 -0400

mariesucco:

Paper torso by Austrian artist & architect Horst Kiechle. Downloadable templates allow for personal construction of the torso with removable organs.

“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:04:21 -0400

“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”

Kurt Vonnegut.

(via aconversationoncool)

"I think it’s important to read with a generous spirit. If you’re going to pick up a book and say,..."

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 20:04:20 -0400

“I think it’s important to read with a generous spirit. If you’re going to pick up a book and say, “I’ll never be that good,” well, it’s not about you. Just celebrate the fact that anyone’s that good. When I read something great, I know I’ll never be that good. But the fact that anyone can be that good is beautiful to me.”

- David Sedaris (via chalkdustswirls)

theimpossiblecool: “The main thing is to be moved, to love, to...

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 19:57:17 -0400

theimpossiblecool:

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live. Be a man before being an artist.”

Rodin.

Or woman.

Meghan Howland (via nevver)

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:45:17 -0400

Meghan Howland

(via nevver)

Art on Toast (via nevver) Also, this.

Tue, 28 May 2013 13:30:59 -0400

Art on Toast (via nevver)

Also, this.

Nearly all my paintings are based on photographs I have taken,...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:26:14 -0400

Michael Ward

Michael Ward

Michael Ward

Nearly all my paintings are based on photographs I have taken, primarily of Southern California scenes, over the years. Though it was never my intention to depict nostalgic scenes, many of the images I have painted have disappeared or been radically altered in the ever-changing landscape that is Southern California. Thus nostalgia is thrust upon the works. But what I am really after is bearing witness, and making people stop what they’re doing and pay attention, to something they may have never seen before, but that makes them feel “I know this.” -Michael Ward

(via nevver)

nprfreshair: Surreal Images Made from Elaborate Sets By Sandy...

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:45:14 -0400

nprfreshair:

Surreal Images Made from Elaborate Sets By Sandy Skoglund:

Decades before Photoshop was available, American photographer and installation artist Sandy Skoglund started creating surreal images by building amazingly elaborate sets, a process which took months to complete. Her works are characterized by an incredible amount of objects settled against contrasting colours or on a monochromatic colour scheme.

via Lost At E Minor

Photoshop, Shmotoshop.

"But none of them realized as Dalí did that dreams are actually not indistinct and misty and floaty...."

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:56:57 -0400

“But none of them realized as Dalí did that dreams are actually not indistinct and misty and floaty. They happen in the middle of the afternoon. Crystal clear. …And dreams don’t have a subtext. You don’t think in a dream. The most unusual stuff happens in the most unusal way. All in broad daylight with no shade.”

- John Cooper Clarke, on Salvador Dalí (via nevver)

French Algerian artist Kader Attia’s Mirrored...

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:10:25 -0400

French Algerian artist Kader Attia’s Mirrored Tombstones

(via manufactoriel)

nevver: Rothko toast Most important thing… of the things...

Tue, 07 May 2013 14:33:52 -0400

nevver:

Rothko toast

Most important thing… of the things you eat.

― Patricia Highsmith (via nevver)

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:17:54 -0400

― Patricia Highsmith (via nevver)

Larry Kagan’s shadow sculptures

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:54:13 -0400

Larry Kagan’s shadow sculptures

jason martin - obregon (2012) (via blushingcheekymonkey)

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:34:23 -0400

jason martin - obregon (2012)

(via blushingcheekymonkey)

peternyc: Barbara Kruger on the Supreme vs Married to the MOB...

Thu, 02 May 2013 23:41:44 -0400

peternyc:

Barbara Kruger on the Supreme vs Married to the MOB “Supreme Bitch” $10 mil lawsuit.

Epic.

Trademark law!

Photo

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:19:26 -0400

Cheesy paintings (via nevver)

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:59:54 -0400

mike geno

mike geno

mike geno

mike geno

mike geno

mike geno

Cheesy paintings

(via nevver)

Minimum Wage Machine (Work in Progress) by Blake...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:36:11 -0400

Minimum Wage Machine (Work in Progress) by Blake Fall-Conroy

Tragic, brilliant.

This machine allows anyone to work for minimum wage for as long as they like. Turning the crank on the side releases one penny every 4.97 seconds, for a total of $7.25 per hour. This corresponds to minimum wage for a person in New York. This piece is brilliant on multiple levels, particularly as social commentary. Without a doubt, most people who started operating the machine for fun would quickly grow disheartened and stop when realizing just how little they’re earning by turning this mindless crank. A person would then conceivably realize that this is what nearly two million people in the United States do every day…at much harder jobs than turning a crank. This turns the piece into a simple, yet effective argument for raising the minimum wage.

(via bencrowther)

thisisbandofoutsiders: Ed Ruscha in a vintage polo.

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:18:58 -0400

thisisbandofoutsiders:

Ed Ruscha in a vintage polo.