Art

Kaws — Chum (Black)

12 December 2019 in Art Comment

Stamped ‘:CHUM.. ©KAWS..02 on the underside of the left foot; further signed and dated ‘KAWS..03’ on the underside of the right foot
Painted vinyl, with original 360 Toy Group packaging
35.6 x 21 x 10.8 cm (14 x 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 in.)
Executed in 2002, this work is number 21 from an edition of 500 fabricated by 360 Toy Group, New York.

Phillips

Kaws
American — 1974

To understand the work of KAWS is to understand his roots in the skateboard and graffiti crews of New York City. Brian Donnelly chose KAWS as his moniker to tag city streets beginning in the 1990s, and quickly became a celebrated standout in the scene. Having swapped spray paint for explorations in fine art spanning sculpture, painting and collage, KAWS has maintained a fascination with classic cartoons, including Garfield, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Simpsons, and reconfigured familiar subjects into a world of fantasy.

Perhaps he is most known for his larger-than-life fiberglass sculptures that supplant the body of Mickey Mouse onto KAWS’ own imagined creatures, often with ‘x’-ed out eyes or ultra-animated features. However, KAWS also works frequently in neon and vivid paint, adding animation and depth to contemporary paintings filled with approachable imagination. There is mass appeal to KAWS, who exhibits globally and most frequently in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Untitled, 1982, Jean-Michel Basquiat

10 December 2019 in Art Comment

Untitled, 1982
Jean-Michel Basquiat

Slightly Altered by Synchrodogs

28 November 2019 in Art Comment

Slightly Altered
Synchrodogs

Working on ‘Slightly Altered’ project artistic duo Synchrodogs went into a one-month trip across Carpathian Mountains to discover how far people managed to intrude into the territories that were meant to be wild.

People have always been shaping natural forces around them. But is there a limit of resources the Earth would allow us to use? “Slightly Altered” is a reflection on how much we are intertwined with nature – changing the environment, we change ourselves. The project is about interdependency of humans and nature and the new ways the Earth begins to look as a result of our interventions into the environmental processes.

Over the month of travelling artistic duo had to face a lot of controversial situations: getting to know how thousands of trees are being lumbered by locals weekly, all illegally, for the sake of getting paid, seeing taxidermied animals in every mountain restaurant, hotel or house and never spotting at least one live animal in the forest, stomping out a fire on the mountain valley after some people irresponsibly left a campfire to stop burning by itself.
Witnessing these and other intrusions into nature, Synchrodogs have started reflecting upon how much we, like all life, both alter our environment and are altered by it.
Creating installations meant to live for a single day and photographing them before they decay, Synchrodogs’ images preserve vistas that are—sadly—likely to be irrevocably altered by the next generation.

An abstract reflection on human exploitation of nature, the project is also a visual message about the importance of education – not the one about numerical or verbal literacy but the one that teaches us to appreciate nature and to live our lives with awareness, responsibility, and care.

Synchrodogs
Instagram

The Ring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1981

9 November 2019 in Art Comment

Jean-Michel Basquiat
The Ring

Signed, partially titled and dated “Jean Michel Basquiat “RING” 1981” on the reverse
Acrylic and oilstick on canvas
60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.9 cm.)
Executed in 1981, this work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Authentication Committee of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Hulk (Friends), Jeff Koons, 2004-2012

9 November 2019 in Art Comment

Jeff Koons
Hulk (Friends)
polychromed bronze
71 1/4 x 48 1/2 x 26 in. (181 x 123.2 x 66 cm.)
Executed in 2004-2012, this work is number 1 from an edition of 3 plus 1 artist’s proof.

“They’re there as protectors… but at the same time they can become very, very violent… . The Hulks are like that—they’re really high-testosterone symbols” – Jeff Koons

Antoni Tapies

31 October 2019 in Art Comment

Antoni Tapies (1923 — 2012)

Oil on canvas signed
30 in x19 in
medium: oil – canvas

Spanish painter, Antonio Tapies, studied law from 1943-1946 at the University of Barcelona before taking up painting. He was largely self-taught and his early works had surrealist tendencies, resembling the styles of both Joan Miro and Paul Klee. During the mid 1950’s, Tàpies’ work shifted toward abstraction and he started implementing mixed media into his work. It was with these pieces that he gained notoriety. Tàpies started adding clay and marble dust into his paints and moved on to include scraps of paper, strings, and then more substantial objects like pieces of furniture. He put to words his feelings regarding the commonplace of materials and their value to artwork in his 1970 essay, “Nothing is Mean.”