Online gaming has now become a significant aspect of popular culture. The fact that most of the people on the planet have access to a smart mobile device, and games are now predominantly made for mobile, means that it’s a natural and logical progression that such games have exploded in usage and popularity. They’ve become the leading form of entertainment in this era, making them one of the main aspects of our popular culture. Continue reading How The Online Game Has Become Part of Global Pop Culture→
If you happen to be a fan of character-based, pop culture collectibles — which includes dozens of items encompassing such must-haves as enamel pins, plushies, art toys, limited edition / designer vinyl toys and action figures, monsters, model kits, art prints, novelties and seemingly endless subcategories of amazing swag — then the Five Points Festival, which took place in Greenpoint, Brooklyn over the weekend of June 2nd and 3rd, 2018 is the only place you want to be. There’s a lot to distill in this recap, so we are going to get right to it. If you weren’t at Five Points Fest, here is just some of what you missed!
You can’t really talk about Five Points Fest without at least mentioning Kidrobot, acknowledged worldwide as the premier manufacturer and retailer of limited edition art toys, signature apparel and lifestyle accessories. Their booth was crammed full of goodies like these pocket collectibles.
Andy Warhol Dunny Series 2
Andy Warhol Brillo Box Object Series
Post Continues, With Hundreds More Toys and Cool Things, After The Jump!
“More than anything, people just want stars, Andy Warhol once remarked. In Myths (1981) he depicts Superman, the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz, and other heroes and villains of American culture (including, on the far right, himself). Silver paint alludes to the “silver screen,” and the vertical rows of mechanically reproduced head shots suggest filmstrips or contact sheets, the sources feeding our obsession with celebrity. Yet Warhol’s title is more complex: “myths” could refer to the “mythic” status of movie stars but it also connotes falseness, the distortion of truth, and the fleeting nature of fame.
David Lyle Lampoons the Works of Pop Artist Jeff Koons in The Creative Process (All Photos By Gail)
Lyons Wier Gallery is currently hosting Everyone’s A Critic, a new body of work by artist David Lyle. Working from found vintage and vernacular photographs, Lyle seamlessly composes works that harken back to 1950’s and 1960’s America – not as they were, but skewed and reimagined by the artist.
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Lyle’s painstakingly reductive painting process is a very crucial element to the evolution of his final images. Each piece is rendered using only black paint and turpentine. He begins his process by priming a panel with white gesso. Lyle then paints a thin, rich, oily black veneer over the primed panel, slowly and systematically developing his images by removing some of the black paint with a cloth. In doing so, he renders layer upon layer of various values of black paint resulting in his signature-style of luminescent works.
The Forgery
In Everyone’s A Critic, we see how the artists’ methodology, combined with his acerbic wit, creates an altered reality rife with cynicism and bursting with humor. Lyle is impeccably faithful to the vintage photographs that inspire his work – until a point in which he instills a cultural reference so familiar, yet iconoclastic, as to leave the viewer wincing, laughing, or really thinking – often it is all three.
The Genius
This series presents a wonderfully caustic commentary on the art world. Lyle, who is one part voyeur and one part participant, creates images that embrace much of what mystifies the public about the art world – art that is not made by the artists’ themselves, money as an end game, art-speak, etc.
The Masterpiece
David Lyle’s Everyone’s A Critic will be on Exhibit Through March 14th, 2015 at Lyons Wier Gallery, Located at 542 West 24th Street in the Chelsea Gallery District.
Well, it’s June 10th again and that means it’s time to chalk up another banner year here at the Worley Gig, where today we are celebrating Eleven (11!) solid years of Web Dominance! Hurray for us! This past year has seen The Gig give pause to its competition with our unequalled coverage of Art, Bacon and Things that are Pink, as well as Food and Restaurant Reviews, consciousness-expanding coverage of Design and Lifestyle topics and our wildly popular new music series, Video Clip of the Week (which just turned one year old)! I can’t believe how much we rule!
Of course, we could not have achieved this level of success without all of our dedicated and enthusiastic readers. Thanks as always for all of your support, your faithful readership, for Tweeting and Posting our links via your social media outlets, and of course for your fun and insightful comments. Cheers to another great year!
