LOOK INTO MY OWL

Brendan Monroe has just released a new print at his online store. “Circulate” is 8 x 10″ with an edition of only 100. One gets the feeling that if gravity returned there would be a terrible mess.

A little late on this one, but Kati Heck recently concluded her show at Mary Boone. First off, these paintings are HUGE. The piece pictured above, “That’s Not How We Do Things Around here”, is oil on canvas and measures in roughly at 9 x 10.5′. Secondly, I love the way that she didn’t work the piece to a consistent level of detail. This is an old masters trick used to good result in a currently themed work. Lastly, this lack of definition seems to provoke a very three dimensional space.

Kim Simonsson opened her latest solo show at the Nancy Margolis gallery on April 17th. The piece pictured is titled Melting Ear and is composed of ceramic, glass, platinum and car paint. The large scale ceramics featured in the exhibit are horrifically beautiful. “For me the unusual is interesting. Therefore I create my own strange world of characters that comment on everyday life and its weirdness,” says Simonsson. She’s hit the nail right on the head. The show runs through the end of May.

Elizabeth King continues to provide the Willies with a capital W. Her sculptures/animations fall somewhere between a High School Biology class nightmare and the robots that will raise the children of the future.
Her work is part of the Kent Gallery 2008 Exhibition Tour. Couldn’t find anything on the website specific to the tour. Here is a link to some of Elizabeth’s work. The piece above is titled “By Ear” it is bronze with glass eyes and stands only 5.5″ tall.

What can one possibly say about the art of Mitsy Groenendijk? More of her primates can be found at her website. Sometimes the work transcends words. If I owned this piece I’d place it at the end of a hallway.

So this guy rents a helicopter to make a drawing. Sweet. More of Adel Abdessemed’s work can be found at David Zwimer.

Really loving the work of Darri Lorenzen. Excellent spatial mind. More artists should consider leaving the frame. For more of Lorenzen’s work, l00k here.

Kottie Paloma has a thoughtful show going up Thursday April 24. The opening party is from 6-9PM. At the Fecal Face Dot Gallery in San Francisco.

From the gallery:

“The Daily Strangers series is based on the idea of seeing the same person on a daily basis without ever getting to know that person. They are just a face in ones life. An interesting individual kept at a safe distance. To get to know these particular strangers could possibly ruin whatever fantasy one has made up in their head about these people.”

More than 250 5 x 7″ graphite portraits will be on display. What would your wall of strangers look like?

Phillips de Pury & Company are hosting an auction April 26th in New York. One in a long line of coming auctions where “designer toys” are being placed along side more traditional mediums. It seems that the art world is catching vinyl fever.
Sculptural multiples from KAWS, James Jarvis, Tim Biskup etc. will be up for grabs with works from Helmut Newton, Robert Rauschenberg, Jeff Koons & Damien Hirst. The line is getting very blurry. Bravo!

I guess the 60’s never died completely. These new limited edition prints from Naoto Hattori are offset lithos on perforated blotter paper. Four designs can be found at the Naoto’s web store for $50 each. The artist is kind enough to remind us that the prints contain no drug of any kind.

Andy Kehoe has some sweet new prints for tax season. Share with him your tax return at his KEHOE SHOP OF WONDERS.

Cai Guo-Qiang is one of the best out there. It’s fitting that he got this retrospective of sorts at the Guggenheim in New York. “Inopportune: Stage One” has received much attention for utilizing the awkward Frank Lloyd Wright designed building; however, there is much more to Cai than floating cars.
Gunpowder Drawings, Explosion Events earmark this masters latest look at what it takes to be an artist. Here is the online preview of the exhibition. If you are anywhere near NYC make the trip.