David Byrne's How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic exhibition runs at Pace Gallery Feb. 2-March 19.
David Byrne’s How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic exhibition runs at Pace Gallery Feb. 2-March 19.On the wall, Human Content.
David Byrne, lead singer/songwriter for The Talking Heads, and currently starring on Broadway in the smash musical American Utopia, continues to keep busy, exploring different art mediums. During the pandemic, Byrne created a series of drawings, that are featured in a new book out Feb. 16, A History of the World (in Dingbats): Drawings and Words (co-authored with Alex Kalman) . In conjunction with the book release, Pace Gallery presents a collection of Byrne’s work in a new exhibit, How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic, open Feb. 2-March 19.
David Byrne, Hot Bread Delivery, 2020.
The exhibit incorporates Byrne’s pandemic doodles, along with a collection of playful, thematic tree drawings from the early 2000s, and a selection of chair drawings from 2004-2007. The ‘dingbat’ doodles made during quarantine, were a means for Byrne to cope with boredom, anxiety, and isolation, offering a way to express hope, desire for connection, a bit of wicked sense of humor, and the power of community.
Of his tree drawings, Byrne has described them as ” faux science, automatic writing, self-analysis, satire, and maybe even a serious attempt at finding connections where none were to exist. And an excuse to draw plant-like forms and diagrams.”
David Byrne’s Girl Head Chair drawing.
Of his surreal chair drawings, Byrne has said, “Maybe they are portraits, maybe self-portraits, maybe portraits of my interior state. Maybe they are also possible practical furniture design. Maybe all of the above at once.”
On Monday, Feb. 7, at 7pm, Byrne with speak with documentary filmmaker John Wilson at Pace Gallery. The conversation will later be shown on HBO. Tickets to the event are sold out, but it will be live streamed. See more details about the program here: https://www.pacegallery.com/events/how-we-learned-about-non-rational-logic/.
Pace Gallery is located at 540 W. 25th Street. For more information, visit pacegallery.com.
BEYOND THE STREETS has packed its bags from the streets of Los Angeles and traveled to the East Coast to make its debut in one of the art capitals of the world, New York City. Known as the premier exhibition for graffiti, street art, and everything in between, BEYOND THE STREETS decided to take over the city as it’s the epicenter where this art form prevailed. Taking over 100,000 square feet and two floors in the new 25 Kent building in North Williamsburg, the exhibition showcases original artworks, paintings, sculptures, photography, and installations from more than 150 artists from around the world, including the likes of Shepard Fairey, Vhils, Takashi Murakami, MADSAKI, Maya Hayuk, Lady Pink, among others.
DABSMYLA, an Australian husband-and-wife visual artist duo, partnered up with Amelia Posada from Birch and Bone, a floral company in Los Angeles, to do a breathtaking floral installation at BEYOND THE STREET’s exhibit in Los Angeles last year. This year, the couple decided to partner up with Posada to create another floral installation, but this time with a specific theme – unintentionally perfect in time for Pride month.
Artwork by DABSMYLA. Images provided by BEYOND THE STREET
Artwork by DABSMYLA. Images provided by BEYOND THE STREET
“We’ve been working on a series of paintings that are a rainbow series like this, with the painting, it’s like gradient, yellow down to blue. And so we wanted to make this installation, something similar to that. First, we collected all the flowers we had, counted them all together, and then worked a mathematical equation on how to add more flowers so that it would make the gradient. We got all the flowers in L.A. prepared and then we were in New York to set up the installation.”
Artists such as MADSAKI and Maya Hayuk talked about their humble beginnings in discovering their connection with art. MADSAKI, a Japanese-American, was born in Japan but moved to the suburbs of New Jersey around the age of six. Upon arriving and growing up, he couldn’t speak much English, partly because he didn’t understand what was happening around him. It wasn’t until he made the connection of drawing as a form of communication.
Artwork by MADSAKI. Images provided by BEYOND THE STREET
“I started to pick up the pen or crayon or whatever, and draw anything. If I wanted to tell the kids to look at the airplane, I can’t say airplane. So I drew an airplane. That’s how I really picked up drawing because I never drew before. But when I learned that I can communicate with drawing to people without speaking the language. I was like ‘Oh this is cool, I don’t even have to talk.”
By his mid-twenties and beyond, he’s worked with painting and focusing on working with cartoonish images from his childhood and a combination of words, some containing profanity.
Hayuk, on the other hand, start diving into street art when she was hanging around New York and the SoHo area was just beginning to be built and look promising. She always enjoyed working with large wax oil sticks. “We were painting like weird words and clowns and whatever, so I wouldn’t call it street art. It was more, ‘I’m bored, let’s go painting’,” she said.
Artwork by Maya Hayuk. Images provided by BEYOND THE STREET
However, one thing that Hayuk is very adamant about is refusing to use the term ‘street art’ or putting any descriptive word before ‘art.’
“I mean when you call art, art then it’s art. And you don’t have to put the word street in front of it necessarily. If you look at a group show, it doesn’t say street art on it. It’s just a group of artist names and then you see the association between them.”
One thing that Hayuk pointed out was the differences and dynamics of the actual exhibit. As BEYOND THE STREETS New York promotes itself as a graffiti and street art show, many of the artists don’t fit that particular mold, which is probably why the insert an “and beyond” in the advertising of their brand. She did joke around at the end and inserted that she hates the term ‘urban art’ even more.
There were many other standout pieces at the exhibit, including an honorary Beastie Boys section with archival pieces designed by Cey Adams and small toy-size rail carts repurposed with graffiti plastered on them. An additional bonus to the show was a pop-up shop on the second floor that featured refreshments and merch by many of the artists featured at the show.
BEYOND THE STREETS made its mark on extending the expectations of any art exhibit you’ve ever been to.
As New Yorkers, when we think of the word ‘snark’ we think of attitude. Snark is bold, and so are we. It’s difficult to believe that there’s more than one meaning to the term, but one local organization has built its whole philosophy around the alternative. In Lewis Carroll’s ‘The Hunting of the Snark’, it referred to an inconceivable creature hunted by an unlikely crew in what seemed to be an impossible task.
For 10 years, Snarkitecture has been the collaborative design practice hunting for the undiscovered. Their pursuit of the fantastical led them to reinterpret the ordinary world and create engaging, unforgettable moments. So on Friday, March 15th, 2019, Snarkitecture will be ready to show New York their next big foray into this sensory frontier: Snark Park.
Immersive Installations Rotating Through Hudson Yards
Hudson Yards is largest private real estate development in U.S. history. It’s also the largest development in NYC since Rockefeller Center. The project aims to be the next up and coming neighborhood in Manhattan. Because it’s a mix between residential and commercial space, a permanent exhibition area is just what it needs to really pop.
Snark Park will be located in the Shops and Restaurants at 20 Hudson Yards and will host museum level installations and a cycle of powerful partnership programming. With a tri-annual exhibition schedule, Snark Park will bring the world of design to a wider audience by introducing playful and thought provoking environments. By rearranging the everyday into something exceptional, Snark Park aims to challenge viewers to rethink and explore the ordinary.
High End And Exclusive Partnerships
The partners behind Snarkitecture
Building on the buzz of their prior installations THE BEACH (2015), and FUN HOUSE (2018), Snarkitecture has plenty going for them. That momentum has brought them together with cutting edge collaborators like Calvin Klein, COS, Design Miami and more that they will continue to work with in their new New York space.
Progressive retail establishment KITH Treats is entering an exclusive partnership with Snark Park to provide limited edition objects. KITH TREATS is just one of many brand deals that bolsters the diversity of Snark Park. And with an online presence created and powered by Squarespace, it’s only a matter of time until Snarkitecture pulls in the rest of the world.
Snark Park’s Future At Hudson Yards
Snarkitecture Partner Daniel Arsham says “Our aim has always been to create architecture that performs unexpectedly, to explore the edges of art and architecture. With Snark Park we hope to encourage visitors to reconsider their built environment with childlike wonder.” With food and drinks on-site, a compelling lineup of partners and the pedigree that comes with Snarkitecture, Snark Park is poised to exceed Arsham’s expectations and become the next big thing in Hudson Yards.
The wait until March may seem like forever now, but tickets for timed entry go on sale on Thursday, Janurary 31st 2019. Until then, you can sign up for updates at their website. So open your eyes to the possibilities Snarkitecture can show you and sign up today!
The Rolling Stones’ first ever major exhibition, Exhibitionism, delivered by DHL, will make its North American debut in New York City on Nov. 12. Following its star-studded opening in London, which garnered rave reviews and drew huge crowds, Exhibitionism will come across the pond to the iconic Industria — as located 775 Washington Street — in the West Village.
Exhibitionism is the largest touring experience of its kind ever to be staged, and the first time in history the band has unlocked their vast private archive. The show was originated and produced by Australian-based iEC Exhibitions!, with the full participation of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood. Exhibitionism will run in New York through Mar. 12, 2017. Tickets for Exhibitionism are now available at StonesExhibitionism.com.
Celebrate rock music tonight at the unveiling of the iconic Bob Gruen’s newest photography exhibition, “Rock & Roll Exposed – the Photography of Bob Gruen” at the POP International Galleries in SoHo (473 West Broadway) from 7-9pm.
Gruen, a native New Yorker, spent the majority of his career photographing rock stars like Bob Dylan, New York Dolls, The Clash, Ramones, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, Led Zeppelin, The Who, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John, Aerosmith, Kiss and Alice Cooper. Most notably he served as John Lennon’s personal photographer during which he shot the iconic photograph of Lennon wearing a New York City T-shirt. Gruen’s career spans over forty years where he mastered being at the right place and time and is one of the legendary documentary photographers of the time . He has published several books of his work such as his newest, “Rock Seen” (2013, Harry N. Abrams), “John Lennon-The New York Years” (2005, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) and “The Clash” (2002, Vision On).
The exhibition will run from April 4 to May 4 and will feature 100 of Gruen’s finest prints.
The POP International Galleries founded by Jeff Jaffe in 1997 specializes in Pop Art, Urban Art, and art and photography that is derived or influenced from pop culture.
