All Photos By Gail
I spotted this D*Face mural of a lovely blonde on Broome Street between Crosby and Lafayette Streets in Soho, NYC. These photos were taken around 5 PM, when the position of the sun makes it look pretty washed out. This mural, entitled Double Crossed, is part of the Lisa Project.
Photo By Gail
Oh, My God. This buff Ronald McDonald, wearing an American flag speedo with a bunch of french-fries stuffed in his crotch; you cannot un-see it.
Photographed on Harrison Place in Buskwick, Brooklyn.
Photo By Gail
Street artist Ivan Orama is at it again, depicting polarizing celebrities and controversial public icons as McDonalds Restaurant’s clown mascot, Ronald McDonald. Previous victims have included Kim and Kanye, Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson, so it was only a matter of time until candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination, Donald Trump (a clown if there ever was one) received the Ivanorama treatment. Of course, Mr. OneTeas mines a similar vein of social commentary with his Wack Donald’s Project, but we say, the more, the merrier!
I only wish I had gotten to this poster before it had been defaced by one or more of Trump’s innumerable naysayers, but what can you do. At least Donald McTrump appears to have better hair! People were lined up to get this thing into their Instagram feed.
Photo By Gail
It looks like street artist Mr. OneTeas is at it again with his very fun Wack Donald’s Project, in which he paints the clown face of Ronald McDonald on various pop culture icons. I spotted John Lennon and Alfred E. Newman side by side on a traffic barrier at 26th Street and 11th Avenue in the Chelsea Gallery District.
Brittle House By Will Cotton, 2000 (All Photos By Gail)
Like Paul McCarthey’s ill-fated Butt Plug Tree, I like art that pushes boundaries. That’s what I found in abundance when Geoffrey and I made the scene last Saturday at Flag Art Foundation in Chelsea for the opening reception of a group show they call Disturbing Innocence. It was definitely disturbing.
Mummified Barbies by EV Day
Curated by Eric Fischl, Disturbing Innocence features over 50 historical and contemporary artists whose use of dolls, toys, mannequins, robots, and other surrogates forms a deep and powerfully expressive genre. The exhibition poses profound questions surrounding social constructs of youth, beauty, transformation, violence, sexuality, gender, identity, and loneliness.
Amy Bennett, Property Line, 2007
Inspired by Fischl’s own childhood in suburban Long Island, NY, and his early career as an artist working in New York City in the 1980s, Disturbing Innocence presents a subversive and escapist world at odds with the values and pretensions of polite society. Ninety percent of the art on display is not for the easily offended, but if you are open minded and appreciate stuff that is a bit — or a lot — twisted, then this will be your thing.
Let’s take a look at some highlights from the show!
This snow globe features the serene, wintery scene of one clown standing on the back of another clown in order to commit suicide by hanging himself. Because clowns are scary!
I call this one Nude Rapunzel, because none of the names of the art/ artists were posted adjacent to the works, which is just lazy if you ask me. Or, rather, it makes me feel lazy for not scouring the interwebs thoroughly enough to glean the name of the artist/piece.
Here is one of the less disturbing pieces in the show: it looks like an exploding plastic bag trapped inside a cage.
Here is a closer look. I like it.
Playdate by John Waters, 2006
Look! It’s baby Michael Jackson post-plastic surgery disaster. Let’s find out who his playmate is.
Why, it’s baby Charles Manson! Oh, the cuteness.
This one is just insane.
I did a Google image search of “Sculpture made of breasts” to try to find the name /artist of this piece and got about 100 hits, none which were this sculpture.
This piece, which is a video of a talking head projected against a split sphere, really reminded me of the talking statues in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. It’s the same technique used to give the mannequins expressive faces at the Brooklyn Museum’s Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit last year.
Jennifer Rubell, Nutcracker Doll
This functional Nutcracker Doll might be a bit big to keep on hand in your kitchen, but it sure would be a hit at your holiday party!
This sculpture of Siamese Twin Girls was the most disturbing piece in the show, for me. I wish I knew more about it.
I think that all of these sculptures and tableaus, such as the one-armed child above, are perhaps meant to make us more comfortable with seeing and being around people that look different from ourselves. I don’t know that there are any definitive answers, but Disturbing Innocence at the very least aims to start a conversation.
Find out more about Eric Fischl and artists involved in Disturbing Innocence by visiting This Link.
Disturbing Innocence will be on Exhibit Through January 31st, 2015 at Flag Art Foundation, Located at 545 West 25th Street, 9th Floor, in the Chelsea Gallery District. Gallery Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
There Goes The Neighborhood: Peter Drake, Siege of Syosset, 2007
All Photos By Gail
The idea of “repurposing” — taking something old and giving it a new life — is an exciting concept that creates a world of possibilities. Sacred Gallery explores those possibilities (with an inclination towards the darker side of imagination and reality) with a highly amusing new group exhibit entitled Re-Thrifted. To create Re-Thrifted more than two dozen artists started with Thrift Store art finds and recreated the original piece as a new work of art. There are both paintings and sculptures in the exhibit and it was so much fun to view the show and compare the new artworks to their more humble beginnings, as many of the pieces are hung alongside tiny prints showing the pieces that inspired their genesis.
Three Cherubs Get a Visit from The Jetson’s Rosie the Robot
Virgin Leia
An excellent example of this type of work in its simplest form is Virgin Leia, a kitschy painting of the Virgin Mary recreated as a portrait of Princess Leia from Star Wars. Appropriate!
Above, a group of picnicking Renaissance children become flesh-eating members of the Undead.
The painting above features a picturesque Parisian Street Cafe that has been infused with images from pop culture, turning it into a surreal nightmare. Check out some of the cool details from this work in the shots below.
Walter White from Breaking Bad
Pennywise The Clown Peering from the Sewer
Note that this Herd of Zombies includes Michael Jackson as he appeared in the Video for “Thriller.” So clever! If this awesome painting wasn’t already sold I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat!
What was once an angelic choirboy has transformed into a demonic embodiment of the proverbial principle to “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.”
A menacing, medieval Dragon invades an otherwise idyllic forest scene in this painting by the artist Gothic Hangman.
You can tell that the participating artists were very inspired and that everybody had a blast creating their art for Re-Thrifted. Kudos to Kevin Wilson at Sacred Gallery for hosting yet another very cool show!
The Re-Thrifted Group Exhibit is on Display only Through November 3oth, 2013 at Sacred Gallery, Located at 424 Broadway, 2nd Floor (Between Howard and Canal Streets), so be sure to add it to your list of “Must See Art” while you can!
