Art Fag City

Lady Gaga’s Bluffin’ With her Muffin

2009-11-21T19:12:50Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON
LEFT: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance in Gossip Girl, 2009 RIGHT: Dana Karwas and Karla Karwas, Party Dress, January 30, 2008

Vagina lying (aka muffin bluffin) is a probably a strong way to put the variety of uncredited art influences that appear in Lady Gaga videos, but artists aren’t always happy to see permutations of their work show up on TV without their permission. Dana and Karla Karwas, for example, contacted me earlier this week, complaining that Gaga’s recent performance for Gossip Girl clearly drew on their Beverly Semmes like party dress with three ladders. This fall, Party Dress piece was exhibited at the Dumbo Art Under the Bridge Festival, amongst other venues.

I spotted at least a couple of less obvious Matthew Barney influences in the Bad Romance video itself, which made me think that a post about art inspired pop culture imagery was in order. A few highlights below:

LEFT: Twelve Monkeys still, RIGHT: Photograph by Lebbeus Woods. Image via: Life Without Buildings

Dana Karwas pointed me to the two part image above. According to Life Without Buildings blogger Jimmy Stamp, Lebbeus Woods sued Universal Pictures for their unauthorized use of the image and won. He allowed the studio to use the image, but took the financial settlement, which Stamp suggests was significant.

RIGHT: Showgirls, LEFT: Tono Stano, The Sense, 1992

There’s no controversy to this story: MGM Studios bought Tono Stano’s image and then used it in their cult classic film Showgirls.

RIGHT: Robert Longo, Untitled, (White Riot), from Men in The Cities, 1982, LEFT: Britney Spears, Womanizer, 2008

So far as I can tell there’s no real copyright issue here, but obviously an influence. I would guess Spears’ producers aren’t the only creatives who have drawn from Longo’s Men in The Cities.

LEFT: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance, 2009, RIGHT: Eve Sussman/The Rufus Corporation, Rape of the Sabine Woman, 2007, video

Speaking to the subject of the influence of waring figures in suits, given the number of images I’ve seen exploring this subject, I’m inclined to call the phenomenon a genre. I’m sure there are at least a few scenes readers could add to the list.

Best Link Ever! Stock Photo Fantasies: Pedo-Spouts and Funeral Parties!

2009-11-21T19:18:27Z

POST BY KAREN ARCHEY

Image via badstockart.wordpress.com

Stock photography is a strange bird. Not only do agencies frequently create bizarro scenes like the free-for-all-funeral above, but they’ve also somehow figured out way to turn a profit from it. This week’s Best Link Ever badstockart.wordpress.com presents a slew of entertaining stock images showcased with their corresponding search terms. (For example, the phrase that brought image above is “church fun.”) Also of note is Humble Arts Foundation’s well-organized series “This Week in Stock Photography” featured on their newly launched blog. [Disclaimer: I'm a contractor with Humble.] Highlights include badstockart’s search for “businesswoman” and Humble’s pedophiliac rain spout.

Best Link Ever is a weekly column posted on Fridays culling gems of the Internet, maintained by Contributing Editor Karen Archey.

Tonight Only: Eyebeam’s World Series of Tubing!

2009-11-20T21:02:33Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Angela Lansbury masturbates in a tub. from Everything Is Terrible on Vimeo.

Screw video artist Cyprien Gaillard and Koudlam’s live performance tonight at the Kitchen — I’m going to the World Series of Tubing at Eyebeam! Granted, I’m a participant, so I’m contractually obligated to go, but I encourage those interested in losing a few brain cells to the Internet to join me. I’m looking to break my four time consecutive losing streak!

A project by Jeff Crouse + Aaron Meyers. Tickets: $10.00

I Spelled Jeanne-Claude’s Name Wrong Yesterday

2009-11-20T20:59:23Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON
The Reichstag in Berlin in 1995, wrapped in polypropylene fabric by Jeanne-Claude and Christo (Image and caption via: NYTimes)

I accidentally spelled Jeanne-Claude’s name wrong over twitter yesterday (it’s not Jeanne-Claude not Jean-Claude ), ensuring that the woman would turn over in a grave she’s likely not even hit. The New York Times and their ArtsBeat blog both have full obituaries on the newly deceased the artist, who is best known for wrapping public monuments with partner Christo. Given the amount of pre-existing coverage, I won’t be writing to much on the subject here, though a few anecdotal comments prompted by my misspelling on facebook are worth posting.

James Westcott: I made the same mistake when interview her once, pronouncing her name “jon” instead of “jaan” [don't know how to spell that phonetically, but you know what I mean] and she got mad. She was a firebrand, and in that interview, a couple of years before The Gates, gave me a great quote: that the Central Park Conservancy “blackmailed” her and Christo into giving a $3 million donation in order to get permission to do the Gates. But she was also a diplomat, and quickly requested that I change the quote to the slightly softer “extorted”. Somehow I couldn’t refuse her.

Dave Harper: a fond memory: i one sent a letter to christo and jeanne-claude, spelling her name as above [jean-claude], in the masculine. she faxed it right back to me with big, angry circles around her name and a note. i still have it hanging over my desk and will never misspell “jeanne” again :)

Fresh Links!

2009-11-20T20:07:03Z

Current Exhibition

Looking for an early valentines day gift? How about a bouquet of phallus’ for your loved one.

Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Dave Choi Deserves Your Attention

2009-11-20T20:58:19Z

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON
Dave Choi, Pig, 2009, Mason jars, colored hot glue, coins. Image via: Hogar Collection

My latest review is up at The L Magazine. The short of it: Go see Dave Choi’s exhibition at Hogar Collection. The teaser below,

Why do some artists become famous while others are passed by? I used to ask this question all the time while visiting artMovingProjects, a Williamsburg gallery that specialized in exhibiting wildly talented mid-career artists, who for one reason or another had been passed over by the Chelsea community. The gallery sadly closed its doors last year, but Dave Choi’s exhibition “If A Lion Could Speak We Could Not Understand Him” at Hogar Collection could be a sign that there are more spaces in that neck of the woods taking on the job.

It’s not clear to me why the 40-year-old artist doesn’t have a long, blue-chip exhibition history, particularly when his virtuoso handling of discarded and mass-produced materials can be gleaned immediately when entering Hogar Collection. Among the more prominent sculptures, a slotless, hot-glued piggy bank [above] made from broken mason jars sits at the back of the gallery while a large wall-mounted, mixed dirt and glue tondo fills the entire far wall. Naturally, there’s less representational rendering in the latter work, but it does include a strangely small pair of skeletons embracing in the gallery’s center, surrounded by carefully laid garbage found on the streets of Bushwick. Hilariously, the detritus includes a lone chicken bone, which is about the same size as any of the larger parts in the skeleton.

To read the full review click here.

Fresh Links!

2009-11-20T19:14:16Z

the SUPERNATURE: Intangible Gets Tangible Over New Museum Controversy

This week in regrets: MISSING THIS PANEL DISCUSSION

Fresh Links!

2009-11-20T13:10:06Z

YouTube - HD Vision Wrap Arounds

Sunglasses that magically brighten colors while shading the sun?

Posting Notice

2009-11-19T19:33:20Z

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Gates, Central Park, 1979-2005, Image via ashevilleart.org

We’re a little more behind than we expected today, so posting will have to resume tomorrow. We were sad to read that Jeanne-Claude died today at the age of 74. More on this tomorrow.

Fresh Links!

2009-11-19T17:56:04Z

Plastic Bag Art, 2009

Oh market critique art. I can only assume this is a joke since Peer Dassow is not a Gagosian artist and pricing on these works makes no sense.