Hey do you remember back in 2011 and 2012, when the Moustache Man was all over the city, writing the word “Moustache” in the shape of a moustache on the upper lips of models in ads in the subway and everywhere? I sure do. Well, the mad Moustache Tagger has returned, as evidenced by a tagged a row of Revolve Clothing Ads all along East 14th Street, where they are getting ready to demolish everything to put up luxury housing that no one in this neighborhood can afford. Moustache!
Pop Surrealism is a genre of painting that never gets tiresome for me. Connecticut based Artist Robert Deyber paints realist-style visual renderings of clichés, euphemisms and popular sayings or phrases, to create surreal, dreamlike tableaus that really take the viewer elsewhere. I love his work.
Club House
Despite his keen sense of humor and the visually absurd, Robert Deyber is a seriously skilled painter. Much like solving Rebus Puzzles, the fun in observing Deyber’s paintings is trying to deduce the title from the images on the canvas. Sometimes it’s really easy and obvious, and at other times quite confounding. You can even make a game of it with your friends!
Fire Arms
Here are some of my favorites from Thursday night’s opening reception, where I had the chance to meet Robert, and he was very nice!
Lion of Coke
Think Tank
Baseball Bat
Chick Magnet
Martin Lawrence Galleries is located at 457 West Broadway (Between Houston and Prince) in Soho, NY.
It’s been a true pleasure to discover the art and follow the career of Lego Brick artist Nathan Sawaya over the past few years. I’ve enjoyed Nathan’s Brick by Brick and Red exhibits at the Agora Gallery in Chelsea, and now he has collaborated with photographer Dean West for In Pieces — something completely different indeed!
Geoffrey and I attended a private opening reception for In Pieces on Thursday, February 28th and were blown away by this series of minimalist tableau photographs by Dean West, which digitally incorporate Sawaya’s playful but realistic Lego sculptures. Please enjoy my photographs from the exhibit accompanied by narrative from the show’s official press release.
Train
Lego Track Sculpture
Nathan Sawaya!
The project is a series of tableau compositions based on ideas about nature, culture, society and, more specifically, identity. Identity as a cultural creation has been heavily commercialized and manipulated, and we prominently portray this through a highly stylized representation of contemporary life. The integration of Sawaya’s unique sculpture is key to the series’ narrative and aesthetic.
Bus
Lego Mannequin from Store Window
Lego Dog
The images have been constructed using modern photography techniques, combined with specially sculpted LEGO® objects placed within the scenes. The combination not only builds on and accentuates the images’ aesthetic, but also compels the viewer to deconstruct each tableau, thereby exposing elements of the construction of cultural identity itself.
Pool
Lego Flip Flops and Towel (Nathan Sawaya at rear of photo on his Smart Phone)
Isolated individuals stand in recognizable but chillingly empty minimalist scenes with geometrical design, derived from common features of the American landscape. Their averted eyes gaze into nothingness, and a strange feeling of aloofness and displacement reverberates. Unique talent has been incorporated into the tableaux, with elongated limbs, referencing society’s idealized bodies.
Dress
A dress made of LEGO bricks looks more like pixels breaking off into the blowing wind. Juxtaposed against a desolate, American realist environment, the images are appealing, yet eerily ambiguous- a very engaging and unforgettable effect.
Dress Close Up
Lego Red Dress
Referencing the aesthetic of the American Postcard in both the style and content- the series has been color graded with pastels such as warm yellows and pale blues. The imagery, from a distance, appears entirely photographic. However, as the viewer begins to digest the images, the series reveals its brick by brick fabricated construction. The [layered] process also represents the direct processes involved with digital photography today. Clear references to pixilation and technology are apparent through stylized manipulation and digital enhancements.
Hotel
Cloud Constellation from Hotel
Cloud Detail
In Pieces by Nathan Sawaya and Dean West will be on Exhibit at Avant Gallery (at the Openhouse Gallery), Located at 201 Mulberry Street (Between Kenmare and Spring) through March 17th, 2013. The exhibition will be open daily from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM.
Lasts night, after innocently clicking on a way old picture of 1980s UK dance band Kajagoogoo (I very much enjoyed their hit single, “Too Shy”) I accidentally discovered the website, Don’t Judge My Hair, and had to bookmark it immediately. This is a hilarious picture-based blog dedicated to poking the fun at (often clueless) people who have outrageously ridiculous hairdos. I can get on board with that. Enjoy!
Update: Sadly, this site is not longer online as of 10/24/11 – Bummer!
