Contemporary Art

Tonky Commission: Tree & Owl @ Hayden-Harnett | NYC

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | Contemporary Art, Tonky Limited Editions | No Comments

Comrades,

If you find yourselves in Nolita with a few minutes, go visit Hayden-Harnett’s new retail space and feast your eyeballs upon a custom Tonky tree they commissioned. It is cut from a fancy chrome foil film and applied to a mustard seed yellow wall.

While you are there check out their Spring 2009 “Muse” collection. Handbags, shoes, accessories, and apparel. This collection’s colors are mouthwatering, the cuts are virtuosic, and everything looks really comfortable to wear too – uh not that I know anything about wearing dresses….

Toni the company’s co-owner and designer has a major interest in all things owl, so she encouraged me to concoct a feathered friend to sit on her shelf.

The tree and the chrome version of the owl are one-of-a-kind originals.

The Tonky Great Horned Owl is available for purchase in 14 vivid colors (LARGE $55 – Small $35). click HERE

Hayden-Harnett’s Nolita address is 253 Elizabeth just below Houston. <MAP>

Bye, thanks for stopping by.

-Tonky

New York Times Hoax: The YES MEN See Our Future

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 | Contemporary Art, Pop Culture Notions, Power & Politics, Public Art/Interventions | No Comments

Thankfully I got my hands on a hard copy of the document at the center of the elaborate hoax reported to have been staged by The Yes Men today in NYC and apparently across the county.

According to Steve Lambert -who responded to my email query addressed to the hoax website’s owner registration on the WhoIs- told me that other groups involved in planning include: the Anti-Advertising Agency, CODEPINK, United for Peace and Justice, Not An Alternative, May First/People Link, Improv Everywhere, Evil Twin Publications, and Cultures of Resistance.

The Pranksters handed out thousand of fake New York Times in subway stations across the city and over 1.2 million copies nationwide.

The Yes Men is a group of performance artists that stages interventions of the mainstream media in order to expose and elucidate topics pertinent to social justice. Or in their words, the Yes Men takes pride in, “Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.”

The Yes Men’s fake NYtimes “special edition” is dated Saturday, July 4th, 2009 and features such headlines as IRAQ WAR ENDS and advertisements such as the one from Exxon Mobil that takes responsibility for the Iraq War. The issue is printed on genuine newsprint and it is remarkably detailed and well crafted.

For those who didn’t get to see the analog version of the hoax, I have scanned the whole damn thing for your viewing pleasure. There are hidden gems throughout.

View gallery by clicking below.

or

Download 14 page Hi-Res PDF (12 MB) <CLICK HERE>

also

Visit the NYtimes Hoax Website Here

&

Thomas Hirschhorn: One Irrelevant Man

Sunday, October 26th, 2008 | Contemporary Art, Power & Politics | No Comments

I value and admire the work of a man from Switzerland named Thomas Hirschhorn, yet I wouldn’t be Tonky if I did not consume his presumptive statements about the divine importance of art during his lecture at Cooper Union Art School this Friday with at least a few grains of salt.

Hirschhorn’s lecture was part of Cooper Union’s programming series titled Art and Politics as Usual which culminates this week with a solo exhibition of Lene Berg called Stalin by Picasso which “reflects on political portraiture and the power of drawing.”

(October 29, 2008 | 6-9pm: Opening Reception of Lene Berg’s solo exhibition)
http://www.cooper.edu/

Thomas Hirschhorn: Art DO-er or Barbara Gladstone’s Bitch?

Hirschhorn’s lecture was titled Doing Art Politically. (see photo) as opposed to “Making Art Politically.” DOING in this context evokes a heroic notion of artistic practice, one that values political process, engagement, and action. Alternatively, MAKING evokes a baser understanding art as commodity, one in which the artist MAKES a painting or object and their dealer MAKES money by selling it to wealthy and gullible Oil Barons and Arms Dealers.

Easier said than done huh Thomas? True, there is a lot of DOING in Hirschhorn’s work and I love him for that. Nonetheless, a blue-chip gallery like Barbara Gladstone that sells Hirschhorn’s art cannot stick a 6-figure price tag on DOING. In other words, Hirschhorn MAKES work and Gladstone sells it.

More power to you homeboy, no shame in getting paid and getting laid!

Hirschhorn Wears a Hirschhorn Mask

Hirschhorn’s apparent lack of self-doubt is inspiring. When asked by an audience member whether an artist ought to ask permission to use graphic images of victims of violence, he flatly responds “no.”

I agree emphatically. A healthy democracy respects the artist’s right to explore a wide-latitude of often controversial subjects. Images belong to everybody. We the public – or “the other” as Hirschhorn identifies his audience – needs to be confronted with the true face of violence, not the sterilized versions we are fed by the mainstream media. Understanding its ugliness is the first step towards us eliminating it.

However, I encourage Hirschhorn to consider what he would say to the mother of a mutilated landmine victim or a slain U.S. Marine whose images he has appropriated. Of course his lifestyle does not confront him with such inconvenient doses of reality, but it is worth thinking about.

Thomas Hirschhorn’s Flow Charts and Diagrams:

Take a few moments to peruse Hirschhorn’s diagrams below. Of particular interest is his distinction between art world “evaluators” and his intended audience “the other.” ( I gather this is Hirschhorn’s own personal “other” and not the post-colonial other we hear so much about)

Thomas Hirschhorn: Prolific Double Thinker

I admire Hirschhorn’s ability to believe two diametrically opposing thoughts at one time. During his lecture on Friday he proclaimed that the “artist has an even greater responsibility than the social worker.” Simultaneously he refuses to take ANY responsibility for the things he does and the images he uses as an artist.

Thomas Hirschhorn: Composer Pack Rat

I mustered the courage to ask Hirschhorn whether he also considered the people whose political street art he borrows (meaning stole or appropriated) as his own personal “other.” (see pictures of street protesters with baby seal coffins and Hirschhorn’s own baby seal coffins in his project “Das Auge” (“The Eye”) at the 2008 Wiener Secession – http://www.secession.at/kunst/08_hirschhorn_e.html )

Hirschhorn corrected me by asserting that he did not borrow anything, rather the protesters with the baby seal coffins were showing “his work” and he was simply reclaiming it.

I suppose the artist here could be interpreted as a supremely arrogant colonialist (think Picasso’s use of African masks telling the whole continent that it takes a exiled Spanish misogynist to really “get” their art)
However, Hirschhorn’s art is that of a highly calculating pack rat. Sure he steals political street art, but his projects are giant 3D orchestras, collages that resonate in a sort of visual tone poem greater than the sum of its tonal parts.

Thomas Hirschhorn: Doing No Harm

To an observer who might complain that Hirschhorn is reckless in his use of violent images and delusional in his assumption that a blue-chip artist can truly reach a broader public than your standard martini sipping art-collector or sycophant art-world hipster I say: Maybe you are right, but ask yourself if he is doing us harm. I think not.

During the questions following his Friday night lecture, Hirschhorn unapologetically apologized to audience evaluators who see his work as a failure. His self-image as a humble singular artist that strives to contribute to the human race is endearing.

At best I believe Hirschhorn’s work might incrementally influence our global civilization toward a more just and sustainable mode. At worst Hirschhorn’s work will prove irrelevant. At least we will be no worse off because of him.

Times Square Evangelizers: The End is Nigh – But seriously they might be right

Monday, October 20th, 2008 | Contemporary Art, The American Diorama, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments

I snapped these two pictures over a year apart on the same corner of Times Square in NYC. The images are part of an ongoing series I’m calling “The American Diorama” that looks at contemporary Americans through the fictional lens of 19-20th century colonial sociologists.

So, I saw the guy with the yellow sign this Friday and he announced, “People! Your money isn’t real. Get smart to what’s important in this life.”

While I don’t insist that choosing Jesus as one’s personal savior is the best way out our society’s many problems, we should listen to this guy. Money is the ultimate abstraction and the current economic turmoil/bubble burst resulted from us humans and particularly the ones working in downtown Manhattan worshipping our own financial inventions.

Let us all get back to the real world. Take 10 deep and measured breaths and focus on the analogue. This rallying cry from your humble narrator who just spent an hour crafting a digital blog post. <sigh>

love,
Tonky

A.G.A.S.T. studio tour (Weekend Fun Activity) Visit TONKY’s World Headquarters

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | Contemporary Art, Tonky Limited Editions | 1 Comment

Dearest You,

Come participate in A.G.A.S.T [ Annual Gowanus Artists Studio Tour this weekend.

I have a ton of new work to show you:

-New paintings and photographs
-Limited edition Tonky Regalia
-Great deals on Tonky Stickers
-Octopus T-Shirts for lad and lassies.
-Gold, Silver, Nickel Plated Octopus necklaces

Just hop on the F train to Smith/9th Street and you'll be within a throw of a stone from over 150 artist studios.

COST: FREE to see, FREE to touch, Take something home for $1-$999
WHEN: This Sat & Sun (Oct. 18-19, 2008) 12-6PM
WHERE: Tonky's World Headquarters - 75 10th Street | Brooklyn, NY | 2nd Floor
MAP: Google Maps

MORE INFO: www.agastbrooklyn.com

Can't wait to see you there!

-Tonky
info [at] tonkydesigns.com

Julian Laverdiere: Obelisk Erector [a.k.a. Prime Mover]

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Contemporary Art, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments

NYC based artist Julian Laverdiere generously beamed over some images of his own investigation of the obelisk trope.

The piece shown above is a diazo print of a graphite drawing depicting Prime Mover, a fictitious cultural siege device that transports an obelisk and erects it where it is needed.

While working for Julian as a studio assistant, he explained how the Romans hauled artifacts like obelisks from Egypt and plopped them down in the middle of public squares and built fountains around them. A very curious way of adopting a sense of history for one’s own culture.

More work here. Click the link now: http://julianlaverdiere.com/

-Tonky

UW Football Obelisk – A Phallus for the Ages

Friday, October 10th, 2008 | Contemporary Art | 2 Comments

I’m visiting my home town of Madison, WI for the weekend and snapped a few pics of this bizarre and oddly compelling 48 ft. tall obelisk made from a pile of concrete footballs. The towering phallus is titled “Nail’s Tales,” by artist Donald Lipski and it stands outside University of Wisconsin’s Camp Randall football stadium.

Lipski is a prolific artist, his work influenced my thinking early on and it is worth spending some time with. If the obelisk were my creation I’d have been giggling at its unveiling as the gregarious football masses admired my phallus of balls.

The U.W. Badgers r.#33 face off against Penn State r.#6 tomorrow night (10/11/2008 7:00 PM) You can watch the game on ESPN.

Take a moment to peruse a few pics of obelisk related images. The Washington Monument, The obelisk outside the tomb of lady pharoh Hatshepsut, 16th Century Romans erecting an obelisk they stole from Egypt, and more!