Monthly Archives: October 2014

On the Scene … At the Maya Hayuk Opening at Cinders Gallery New York

Last night we checked out some fresh artwork from Brooklyn-based artist Maya Hayuk at the opening of her new show “Light Heavy” at the Cinders Gallery‘s pop-up space in New York’s Lower East Side. Most of the works in this show are her colorful cross-hatch paintings. These are similar to some of the murals — though on a smaller scale — that she’s been putting up at museums and walls around the world the past couple of years or so. It’s stellar work. “Light Heavy” is on view through November 29th. Check it.

Street Art … Portrait of Karl Lagerfeld and His Kitty, Mott Street, New York

One of artist Bradley Theodore’s recent street art additions to the downtown New York CIty landscape is this diminutive full-body skeletal portrait of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and his Birman cat Choupette. The iconic Lagerfeld, currently serving as creative director for Chanel, has made many public appearances with Choupette that the kitty herself has become something of a fashion icon. The painting can be found outside L’Asso, a pizza joint on Mott Street in Nolita, and continues Theodore’s series of portraits depicting various celebrities from the fashion world.

Interiors … Graffiti Art in the Ad Agency Offices

In New York … Fresh Artwork by Taek & Ozmr at the Woodward Gallery Space, Lower East Side

Moleskine Notebook Project … Plastic Cup

The $3.2 Million Comic Book Sold on eBay …

A copy of the first issue of the comic book Action Comics — in near mint condition — recently sold on eBay for $3.2 million. The issue was published in 1938 and purchased for 10 cents. It was in the pages of Action Comics where Superman first appeared. See the video below for more.

You can check out all the pages of the comic book in digital form online.

In New York … Che Guevara by Bimiry, Rivington Street

King of Spades by Cost, New York

This king of spades street art on Great Jones Street in NoHo, in downtown New York, is by the incredibly prolific artist Cost, and it’s one of the few pieces by him that rely on graphic images rather than on text alone. The King if spades is much less cryptic, but visually way more compelling and arresting than his usual works.

Speaking of “arresting”… Cost, whose real name is Adam Cost, was recently arrested by NYPD on charges of vandalism. It seems like Cost’s wheat-paste posters are everywhere in New York City, and this had made him a high-profile vandal high up on the wanted list of NYPD’s graffiti-vandalism crime unit.

Good Morning, NYC

The Mysterious Discarded “I Love You” Mattress

Artist Urs Fischer’s Giant Teddy Bear at the Airport in Doha, Qatar

New York-based Swiss artist Urs Fischer‘s famous giant yellow teddy bear and lamp has been installed at the recently opened Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. Our Tokyo editor Mayumi Ihara was recently there and took a few quick pix (below).

The artwork is officially titled “Untitled (Lamp/Bear),” and it’s a 23-foot tall painted bronze sculpture that weighs nearly 20 tons. It’s one of three by Fischer that have been on view throughout the world, including a five-month stint in New York City in 2011 when the work was installed in the plaza of the iconic Seagram Building on Park Avenue.

Its exhibition in Qatar is symbolic of a larger, broader trend underway the better part of the past decade in which the international art world has been establishing a firm presence in the Middle East, particularly in the wealthy Gulf states cities of Kuwait, Doha and Dubai.