The first version of Alexandre Cabanel’s The Birth of Venus created a sensation at the Salon of 1863, which was dubbed the “Salon of Venuses” owing to the number of alluring nudes on view. Embodying the ideals of academic art, the careful modeling, silky brushwork, and mythological subject of Cabanel’s canvas proved a winning combination: the Salon picture was purchased by no leas that Napoleon III for his personal collection. In 1875 , Jon Wolfe commissioned the present, slightly smaller, replica from Cabanel.
Photographed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC
A group of nine naked male mannequins has appeared in an empty Gramercy Park storefront. I noticed them for the first time a couple of weeks ago, when I was on my way to a dentist appointment in the area and happened to exit the 6 Train on East 22nd Street — directly adjacent to the storefront. Continue reading Anatomically Correct Male Mannequins in Park Ave South Store Front→
Death From Above: The End Is Nigh (All Photos By Gail)
After a leisurely, scenic walk on the High Line, Geoffrey and I showed up fashionably late at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery for the opening reception of Erik Jones‘ new exhibit of collage paintings, Twenty Sixteen, which is the name of the year that we are in right now! By the time we got there, the place was really packed. Scroll down to see a photo of the hot crowd action! Continue reading Erik Jones, Twenty Sixteen at Jonathan LeVine Gallery→
ClampArt Gallery is currently hosting an exhibit of homo-erotic self-portraits from the ’70s and ’80s by the infamous gay icon, Peter Berlin. The reason there are only two photos in this post is because these were two of the few in which Berlin’s very impressive junk is not fully on display. Here is a bit of background on the photographer and model: in his 20s, Berlin worked as a celebrity portraitist for German television. Around this time, that he began designing and sewing his own skin-tight clothing, which he would wear as he cruised the parks and train stations in Berlin, Rome, Paris, New York, and San Francisco. Continue reading Peter Berlin, Wanted at ClampArt→
Driscoll Babcock Galleries is currently hosting a collection of very personal and provocative paintings by Jenny Morgan, entitled All We Have is Now. The artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, All We Have is Now is an investigation of darkly charged psychological works in intense hues. This new series of paintings present amorphous, yet graphically stark figures (Warning for the Prudish: Full Frontal Female Nudity) rendered in a richly saturated prismatic array of colors. Centered on themes of life, death, and rebirth, Morgan’s works question how we relate to our past and challenge us to live in the present. Continue reading Jenny Morgan, All We Have is Now at Driscoll Babcock Galleries→
