Madonna In Wax @ Madame Tussauds

London's Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum unveiled their version of Madonna's "Hard Candy" album cover. The singer is shown in a boxing ring in a similar position as the image on the album - coming out April 29Th in the US. I am surprised that they did not go all the way to reproduce it exactly like the original photograph though if does look like the Goddess is really there in person.


Via G1

More Murakami @ The Brooklyn Museum

A few more images of the Takashi Murakami show at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. I have no immediate plans to go to NYC, as I am all the way down in Florida now, but was I still living in Boston I'd hop on an Amtrack and be there for sure.

Via The New York Times

Murakami & Louis Vuiiton @ Brooklyn Museum

Eva Herzigova and Marc Jacobs by a stall of Louis Vuitton bags outside fake street displays at the Brooklyn Museum during the gala opening of the Takashi Murakami retrospective.

Takashi Murakami's authentic Louis Vuitton bags outside on street displays at the Brooklyn Museum. The artist himself, below.

Via The New York Times

Murakami & Louis Vuitton @ Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum has finally confirmed it will host a pop-up Louis Vuitton shop to coincide with its Takashi Murakami exhibit starting next month. They've also put select items online to whet your appetite until the exhibit kicks off on April 4, like the super-adorable cushions and T-shirt above. But the real stars of the store will be the "monogramouflage" Vuitton handbags, which will sport a new monogram pattern created by Murakami. Images of the collection haven't been released, but we're kind of hoping the flower products online are a sneak preview.

Via NY Magazine

Cute Alert: Ginger Bread Man @ Madame Tussauds

Ginger Bread Man is the newest - and smallest - addition to London's Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The character from the Shrek movie series, along with the Shrek-meister himself are on now immortalized in wax and on display for everyone's delight. I was not a big fan of the series last installment "Shrek the Third" as it was far from the witty-ness of the earlier films, but I guess that goes with most movies that add a number to the end of their titles.

Via O Globo

Yue Minjun @ Queens Museum of Art

“Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile,” at the Queens Museum of Art, is the first American museum exhibition of Yue’s work and further evidence of his remarkable rise in the super-heated field of Chinese contemporary art. The work at the Queens Museum ranges from a grouping of 20 life-size terracotta soldiers grinning cast bronze versions of the famous statues unearthed years ago at the tomb of China’s first emperor, to a painting of a laughing version of himself holding another aloft in front of the Statue of Liberty. A few years ago, Yue was eking out a precarious existence in one of Beijing’s artist colonies, trying to figure out a way to weave China’s tumultuous experience into his works. Now, largely on the strength of his signature grin, he has achieved stardom internationally. The mesmerizing enigma of that reddish face painted over and over again, with the wide laugh and the eyes tightly shut from the hilarious strain, is subject to a multitude of interpretations. The smile has been variously interpreted as a sort of joke at the absurdity of it all, or the illusion of happiness in lives inevitably heading toward extinction. “There were also paintings during the Cultural Revolution period, those Soviet-style posters showing happy people laughing,” Yue explained. “But what’s interesting is that normally what you see in those posters is the opposite of reality.” He said his smile was in a way a parody of those posters. But, since it’s a self-portrait, it’s also necessarily a parody of himself, he added. At the Queens Museum, there is also a series called “Hats,” in which Yue has painted himself in all sorts of headgear, from an American football helmet to a peaked cap of a soldier in China’s People’s Liberation Army, with that unvarying laugh on his face. Mr. Yue was born in 1962 in China’s far northern Heilongjiang Province and moved to Beijing with his parents as a child. He studied oil painting at the Hebei Normal University and graduated in 1989, when China was rocked by student-led demonstrations and their suppression on Tiananmen Square in June of that year.

From Oct/14/07-Jan/08/08 at the Queens Museum of Art

Via The New York Times

Takashi Murakami @ MOCA Los Angeles Exhibit

Arguably the most internationally acclaimed artist to emerge from Asia in the postwar era, Takashi Murakami effortlessly navigates between the worlds of fine art and popular culture and is best known for his cartoon-like, “superflat” style. This large-scale retrospective includes key selections that span the early 1990s to the present. More than 90 works in various media—painting, sculpture, installation, and film—will be installed in three sections, occupying over 20,000 square feet of exhibition space at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The first portion will be an immersive, theatrically lit environment, recreating the annual “Wonder Festival” comic market convention. It will feature many of Murakami’s acclaimed large-scale otaku-inspired figure projects of the late 1990s, including a new version of Second Mission Project Ko2 (2000-07). The second section will comprise a grid-like shelving display of all of Murakami’s merchandise, including multiples, collectibles, and maquettes, among other items. The final section will trace Murakami’s artistic development since 1991, including early works that engage branding and the evolution of his signature character, DOB. Of particular importance will be the premiere of a new animated film, kaikai & kiki, and the debut of Buddha Oval, an enormous self-portrait sculpture in the guise of a Buddha. The exhibition is organized by MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel with Project Coordinator Mika Yoshitake and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

From 10.29.07 - 02.11.08 at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles

Go to MOCA's website for more info

Vivienne Westwood @ Palazzo Reale - Milan

British designer Vivienne Westwood's first official collection was in 1981, during London's Fashion week. Since then her collections have been the fountain of inspiration for countless other designers, by adapting her original punk/new romantic/sartorial ideas into every day fashions. Many people may credit Gaultier as the underwear-as-outerwear originator but Westwood had lime-green satin bras worn over white T-shirts in her fashion shows all the way back to her earlier collections. Along Malcolm McLaren, she invented the punk rock look, famously dressing the Sex Pistols in the late 70's. Nowadays she keeps an eye in tradition, exploring Saville Row, Scottish tartan country plaids & Victorian patterns, but unafraid of the frayed hems and torn seams of her punk past.

Starts today at Palazzo Reale in Milan, Queen Viv's retrospective spanning over 30 years of her influential fashion career. Launched in the 2004 at the London Victoria & Albert Museum, the exhibition is the largest display the museum ever dedicated to a British designer. The Retrospective features designs selected from both the V&A’s collections and Vivienne Westwood’s personal archive. The Palazzo Reale in Milan is the only Italian venue and is the climax of a tour that in four years has visited nine European, Asian, American and Pacific venues. The work encompasses styles from the street fashion of the 70’s to grand ball gowns influenced by historical art and dresses, to the more recent exploration of pattern-cutting techniques and socio-political critic.Film and catwalk footage on Vivienne Westwood’s life and career will be shown throughout the exhibition.

From September 26 2007 to January 20 2008. Via Style.It

Julian Opie's Digital Art

I've never been a great fan of digital art, as my attention spam is ususally too short to sit through video installations. When at museums, I tend to take a peek at those darkened rooms, wait a few seconds and walk out. It seldom grabs me to the fullest. There are a few exceptions here and there, but to me they are usually too hermetic and boring. You know, that kind of art that you're suppose to say it's brilliant but deep inside you think "WTF?!" I don't pretend to be a highbrow art critic, who can wax-poetic about "the complexities of human existence", or stuff like that. I just tend to glance quickly at "TV monitor art" and keep going.

But there's something about Julian Opie's work that seized me at first glance.

The first time I really paid attention to the British artist's work was at the ICA, in Boston, earlier this year. The piece was one of his "walking supermodels", as I call them, and it's part of the museum's permanent collection. It shows a black & white video of a female cartoon-doll, side view, with a hypnotizing hip swagger. I couldn't get enough of that!

In his work, photographs and short films, are computer-altered to highly stylized, minimal figurative reproductions. In my simple words, I would say a "paint-by-numbers" quality, with thick black outlines and flat colors. You see idyllic landscapes where water subtly ripples. Face-on portraits, staring at you with little beady eyes, then a sudden blink. Spellbinding!

I selected a few of my favorite pieces to share on the blog. To see more of his fascinating work click here for his personal site.

Religion & Politics vs Artistic Freedom or Bin Laden as Jesus

In the 56 years since it was first awarded, the Blake Prize for Religious Art, In Sydney Australia, has not been noted for controversy. But this year's entries for the coveted £6,000 award have caused a chorus of outrage from Christians and Muslims alike. They include a portrait of Osama Bin Laden which, viewed from an angle, morphs into an image of Christ. And just for good measure there is a figure of the Virgin Mary, hands clasped in prayer, with an Islamic burqa concealing her upper body apart from the eyes.
While such exhibits might merely cause raised eyebrows if entered for Britain's always-controversial Turner Prize, the decision to place them on show at the National Art School in Sydney has caused deep upset in Australia, whose 20million population is predominantly Christian.
"The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians," said Prime Minister John Howard. And Labour Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said: "I accept people can have artistic freedom, but I find this painting off, off in the extreme. I understand how people would be offended by it." Glynis Quinlan, spokesman for the Australian Christian Lobby, said: "It's really unfortunate that people take liberties with the Christian faith that they wouldn't dare take with other religions." She described the Bin Laden/Jesus picture as a "big mistake", adding: "Jesus brought a message of love and forgiveness that has nothing to do with terrorism."

Sydney artist Luke Sullivan, creator of the Virgin Mary entry, entitled "The Fourth Secret of Fatima", said his work was intended to pose the question of what was the future of religion.
Queensland lawyer Priscilla Bracks, who painted the Bin Laden portrait entitled "Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross", said it was not meant to compare Jesus to the terror leader but was a commentary on the way Bin Laden had been treated in the media. She was concerned, she said, that Bin Laden would be unintentionally glorified in years to come.

In an astonishing defence, the chairman of the Blake Society, the Rev Rod Pattenden, denied that they were likely to cause harm because "the Christian community doesn't look at art a great deal". (!?)

As always, politicians being politicians. If a controversial subject is on the table (religion, gay weddings, abortion) it's always safer to play conservative and guarantee future votes.

The Blake Prize @ The National Art School in Sydney, via The Daily Mail.

Theo Fennell @ Royal Academy of Art

One of Britain’s most revered jewellers, Theo Fennell, is hosting an exhibition by arrangement with the Royal Academy of Art in London this September. The title of the exhibition is "Show Off!" and will consist of installations, dioramas, paintings, presentations and sculptures each showcasing a piece of Fennell’s jewellery.
The idea behind the exhibition is to herald a return to the halcyon days of jewellery, when our hardware was less status symbol or fashion tag and more precious, perennial and personal. Advocating jewellery and silverware made with skill and traditional craftsmanship, Fennell has conjured-up a series of extraordinary vignettes, both thought provoking and amusing and all the while, driving home the timeless qualities and attitudes our forebears felt about jewellery.
Fennell explains his venture:

‘So much jewellery nowadays is badly conceived and made – be it huge, expensive stones strung thoughtlessly together or ‘branded’ gee-gaws put together with no heart. I wanted to show that great craftsmanship is still alive and thriving and, if combined with emotion and design, jewellery can be something magical and engaging; something talismanic and precious to its owner in a lasting way, not at the ephemeral whim of fashion: it can be truly owned.’

Via Wallpaper.