You’ll note I have not posted about the #ALS #icebucketchallenge here. I was looking at videos last weekend with my pal Susan and had thought I would post on Monday morning but I was moving houses (long story) and I didn’t get to it. Then the deluge of ice water came – all week long... and by Wednesday there was lots of moaning and fatigue. (If anything last longer than 24 hours these days there is ALWAYS a backlash.) I watched on social media as people complained and asked if people could NOT write checks without being an exhibitionist about the whole thing. I wondered if those complainers had actually written checks themselves or just like to bitch. In just a few short weeks, this “stunt” has topped $50 million for the ALS Association, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. I’m not going to go into it but it is a TERRIBLE disease that deserves the research funding. Yes, there ARE other terrible diseases that deserve our attention as well, it’s true – and this has certainly spawned a new fundraising trend we’ve not seen the last of. I say good. And the videos that we got (for free) were HIGHLY entertaining. Oprah, Gaga, Anna, Bill Gates and so many more. Now I offer, as a finalé to this week of ice water, two Brits; the excess, wit and NUDITY of Benedict Cumberbatch and the minimalism, elegance and restraint of Patrick Stewart. To donate you can go here. It’s super easy. I'm dry as a bone and I just donated with just a few clicks now with my delicious iced coffee in hand. (Tweet me if/when you donate @treynyc) Cheers!
JEFF KOONS RETROSPECTIVE VANDALIZED BY NEO-NUTSY ARTIST
An artist named Monty Cantsin, disrupted the Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney Museum yesterday afternoon, splashing what looked like red paint against a wall and signing his name. He didn’t vandalize any art, though. Artist Laura Higgins Palmer, who was there, told Hyperallergic that the man threw red "paint" against the wall in the third floor gallery while she was taking a selfie of her reflection in Koons’s silver bunny. She noticed a man walking by with a black bag and when she turned around, he was splashing “paint” on the wall, in what appears to be a kind of double X shape. He managed to sign his name in marker underneath before being led away by security. Palmer says everyone was then evacuated from the third floor so that the wall could be repainted.
The Whitney offered the following statement:
An isolated act of vandalism occurred this afternoon at the Whitney Museum of American Art involving a blank gallery wall on the third floor of the Jeff Koons exhibition. No artwork was affected or damaged in any way. Guards quickly apprehended the individual responsible. The police were called and they removed the individual from the museum. Following standard security protocol, the third floor of the museum was closed briefly and reopened within two hours of the incident.
The artist, Monty Cantsin Amen, according to Wikipedia, is “a multiple-use name that anyone can adopt,” allegedly invented in 1978 by an artist named David Zack. “In a philosophy anticipating that of free software and open source, anyone should perform in his name and thus contribute to and participate in his fame and achievements.” The name, associated with Neoism, is a kind of subculture of parody and hoaxes; the NY Times calls it “an international anarchist art movement.”
One of the founders of Neoism, and a user of the name Monty Cantsin, is Hungarian-born Canadian performance artist Istvan Kantor. The man in the Koons photo looks a LOT like Kantor who likes to make X’s with his own blood; he’s been banned from Museum of Modern Art in New York and a host of other institutions for doing this. If so, then the vandalism at the Whitney is meant to be an X — done in blood, not red paint. According to the BBC, Kantor “tried to squeeze a capsule of blood onto Jeff Koons’ Michael Jackson and Bubbles sculpture at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof gallery” in 2004. Kantor denies the accusation that he was trying to vandalize the sculpture, but he doesn’t deny his crimes.
“I have always been breaking the rules of art. I call myself a ‘subvertainer’ and I consider my criminal activities the most creative part of my work. My art was always anti-establishment and anti-institutional. My attitude always questions what is the relationship between artists and the institutional art world and the need for institutions. The whole ‘Blood Campaign’ is basically an ongoing anti-institutional project.”
Kantor’s Facebook account is under the name Monty Cantsin Amen, where he wrote the following to a friend.
“I just came out of mental hospital where the police took me after the Whitney I was discharged I am free I’ll put out my Supreme gift manifesto that I handed to the museum after the intervention tomorrow now I go out for a drink in the lower east side thanks for your support Monty”
Okey dokey, so there you have it. Disruption is disruption and so is “art vandalism”. I’m not passing any judgement here, just reporting the incident. I actually share 20 friends in common with this guy on Facebook. We’ll see when I post this later, if anyone really knows him in the “real world”. Gotta go, I’m due back there now.
GREAT ART IN UGLY ROOMS, REVISITED
The fantastic Tumblr Great Art in Ugly Rooms, which I’ve posted about in the past, has been around over a year now. I like to go back a visit every so often to see what they’ve been up to. If you are unfamiliar, GAIUR is literally great art photoshopped into hideous or unremarkable spaces, but with irony, wit, humor and sharp knowledge of art and the art world. Lately, they’ve starting using less familiar work to great effect. But no more words, just look (…and enjoy more here.) You may need to Google a few names, if art history wasn’t one of your strong subjects.
WARHOL'S FILMS ENTER THE 21st CENTURY
It was announced this week that hundreds of Andy Warhol’s films are be converted to digital format. In a partnership between The Warhol, The Museum of Modern Art, and MPC (the VFX studio who recently turned van Gogh still lifes into animated paintings) This project will be the largest effort to digitize the work of a single artist in MoMA’s entire collection. (FYI, early in his career, Warhol tried to donate a shoe drawing to the museum and was rejected. They now have over 150 of his works in their permanent collection. According to the press release:
“The project will once again make accessible approximately 500 titles that Warhol made between 1963 and 1972, then withdrew from circulation more than 40 years ago. Nearly 1,000 rolls of original 16mm film will be digitally scanned, frame by frame, and converted into high resolution (2K) images. The process will begin in August and will take several years to complete as the process of scanning is delicate. However once completely digitized the entire collection of Warhol films will be available for public screening.”
MPC will scan and restore all the film, so in the near future anyone will be able to watch his famous Sleep, Blow Job or Empire. Below is a montage of some of the more famous ones.
IF BOOZE LABELS TOLD THE TRUTH
This doesn’t need a lot of explanation – but surely, sales would be down for all these brands if they advertised their real effect on the label, right? (Don’t call me Shirley… hick.)
RIP BETTY BACALL: MY BRIEF ENCOUNTER WITH A LEGEND
Her friends called her Betty. As you may already know, Betty (Lauren) Bacall died today in New York City of a massive stroke. She was 89. Born Betty Joan Perske, she wowed audiences in the forever-after-famous “you know how to whistle” scene in the 1944 romance, To Have and Have Not. Her co-star Humphrey Bogart was impressed. They were soon married and remained devoted to one another for the next 12 years, until his death in 1956. Her gravel-voiced immediately transformed her into a star – that and her otherworldly beauty. Her life is the stuff of Hollywood legend. She has even expressed surprise at her own career;
“It’s quite amazing the people I worked with — some of the all-time all-time greats.”
In 1997, she received a Kennedy Center Honor; in 1999, the American Film Institute voted her one of the 25 most significant female movie stars in history.
About four years ago, my pal Allegra Huston (sister of Anjelica) was being celebrated at the home of John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck, Doubt, etc) for her new autiobiographical book, Love Child. The event was star-studded to say the LEAST, but just after arriving I was introduced to Betty by Allegra, and suddenly all the other celebs became "just people". Betty had know Allegra since she was a kid and they hugged and reminisced (I shot a picture that I can’t locate...) Then, Bacall proceeded to tell a story about being on the set of the African Queen, a John Huston film starring Bogey and Katherine Hepburn, and going with Bogey & Huston to share a suite the Ritz in Paris on a break during filming. There was drunken-ness, shopping by Huston, etc. – I cannot recount all of the details and anecdotes here, but suffice it to say that it was TOTALLY ENTHRALLING. There was a casual buffet dinner layed out in front of us and Betty couldn’t see too well in the dim light, so I made her a plate of food and she went off to eat. I made myself a plate and low and behold, there was a spot right next to her in the living room and we began to chat – about Hollywood, the Hamptons, being directed by Streisand, movies, New York real estate, roles for aging stars, Bogey, etc. I swear we talked for 30-40 minutes… I get chills thinking about it now. I did pretty well pretending I was talking to any 85 year-old and not this ICON. I did OK not acting like a total freak. The night went on and as I said, there were many more famous faces at this party of maybe 35-40 (Jeremy Irons, Roger Waters, Harvey Keitel, Robert Wagner, Jill St. John, Angelica Huston, to name a few…) There was a baby grand being played in the middle of the loft-like apt and at one point, Betty went up to it, leaned in and started to sing! I can’t remember what it was but it was sweet and low-key… I went near, to hear. Anyway, that was my unforgettable encounter. And now she’s gone.
She made a cameo on The Sopranos as herself in 2006 and in our little talk she complained about being forgotten by the younger generation, but in the end she didn't really care, continued to work and live her life as she wanted. It’s a dumb cliché but they REALLY don’t make ‘em like this one anymore. Here she is with Bogart in The Big Sleep. Watch.
ART TOYS FOR GROWN-UP COLLECTORS
Some people never outgrow toys and continue to accumulate them. Others like to collect editioned 3D objects by big-name artists that are more affordable (I might fall into this category.) Still others scratch their heads and say, “I don’t get it.” (See next post, Jeff Koons balloon dog.) The auction site Paddle 8, is featuring a sale called Club House now with just such work. You can check them all out here. Auction ends August 13.
HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGY IN THE WHITNEY? NEVERMIND. GET YOUR OWN BALLOON DOG SCULPTURE
First, I missed out on buying a balloon dog edition from the New Museum gift shop a dozen years ago. It was $500 then and now sells for $5000+ – if you can find one. Target sold a plastic balloon dog lamp, which I missed the boat on as well, and then I didn’t hop on H&M’s recent authorized Koon’s balloon dog purse ($49.95) bandwagon fast enough and now THEY are sold-out. (They’re already resurfacing on eBay.) Coulda, shoulda, woulda, Prada. But now a Chinese company called VLA Sculpture (Vincent Landscape Architect?) is supposedly selling stainless steel and resin balloon dog sculptures on Alibaba, a massive Chinese e-commerce site. There are various actual Koons Balloon Dog sculptures, the most famous being the orange one, which set a record at auction for a living artist. $58.4 million. (The orange was always my fave, anyway.) The VLA list offers eight options of pricing based on material and dimensions. The largest size offered are $5,850 for stainless steel, but just $2,925 for resin. I emailed the company rep, Rebecca, to find out if they are still offering these, but so far, no response. I’ll update this post, if and when I get an answer.) If you don’t have an extra $6K sitting around, artist Rob Myers has offered another solution. He’s posted files to 3-D print your own balloon dog to Thingiverse which is connected to the Makerbot 3-D printing site.Arnet reached out to the Koons Studio to ask if the artist plans to take any legal action but they have not received any response to date. (Come to think of it, maybe this is why Rebecca hasn’t gotten back to me…?)
NOTE: So, I JUST got a reply from Rebecca. It looks like the deal is on. "Yes, we produce stainless steel balloon dog, but may I have your usage of the statue? In your website, there are so many artworks. I wonder is this dog for your showroom? Sorry that we don't sell for showing. As you know this dog is Jeff Koons', he's very famous now, if for personal Enjoyment, it's ok." She was referring to my own paintings on my website, I think, and yes, it's for my own "personal enjoyment".
GOOD TRIP: PRIVATE YACHT CRUISE IN BALI
Doesn’t this look like heaven? The question is, if you aren’t in a relationship, would it be as much fun with a friend? Looks like one bed, so, I’m thinking no. But otherwise, this fantasy has me seriously considering cashing in an IRA. It’s $2500-2800 (on sale) per night, three night minimum – and you have to get to Bali too, so easily $10,000 – but THIS is the way to be on the sea. The 101-foot Alexa can be customized to your own preferences. Komodo, famous for its impressive mountains and secluded beaches as well as Raja Ampat, apparently, an AMAZING diving spot, are among the most popular destinations. There are seven multi-lingual crewmembers including a cruise director, doubling as certified PADI Dive Instructor, your private chef and an on-board spa therapist too. The air-conditioned master bedroom has a private balcony and next to your living room at sea. The lower deck has a kitchen, lounge, bar and library, and the upper deck opens up to your own outdoor dining area. You can have the staff catch lobsters and the chef will prepare dinner by candlelight with a bonfire on a private beach. OK. I’m doing this. Working on the boyfriend, which will complete the picture.
(via Vacationist)
WHAT MY INSTAGRAM FEED SHOWS ME...
Derek Blasberg: Don’t hate on him because he’s cute & connected & is at the parties you WISH you were at… (he works for Vogue, among others, and apparently knows everyone. But me.) And here he is with Zac & Jared at Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci’s birthday party in Ibiza. Franco was on Fallon and posed with Iggy Azalea & Seth Rogen. Gaga went swimming and sent up an airplane message for Tony Bennett’s 88th birthday. Jeffrey Slonim was Karbombed by Kenny Scharf at The Surf Lodge and Susanne Bartsch was out all hours at Kunst, as usual. Ru will be on Skin Wars in a week (can’t wait – hey WAIT, I’m just remembering that I saw Ru on the street trying to get a cab last night IN MY DREAM…? No joke. What does that mean?) Us Weekly‘s Sasha Charnin Morrison went mental at Lisa Lisa’s feet and along with Stevie Journey, was even happier to be home in NYC. Me? I stayed in and painted “Welcome Home” all weekend. Hank Willis Thomas got the shot of the week (along with at least two other folks) of the full-ish moon over the Freedom Tower last night. Hey, get out there and soak up the rest of summer, kids! Follow me @treynyc.