Cash Brown, George, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches. Originally via: Daily Serving. Link tip: S. Chernick

Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World has inspired a great number of paintings since its execution in 1866, Australian artist Cash Brown amongst the most recent. “I have been thinking a lot about the concept of originality and the derivative nature of so much contemporary artwork”, says Brown, going on to explain, “This led me to think of the beginning of Modernism. Origin, original, beginning, it all seemed a bit obvious…but I liked that about it.” In other words, the root concept lies in the connection between the meaning of the word origin, Courbet’s titling, and contemporary interest in appropriation. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about this project’s depth, and point to a few other variations by the artist here.

On that same note, a google search on the subject provides additional fodder below.

An animation of photo graphics and chanting monks inspired by Courbet’s Origin of the World. This may not even be bad in an interesting way.

Tanja Ostojic, Untitled, 2004

It’s probably unfair to contextualize a mature work commenting on the EU’s politics of non-integration with the rest of these paintings, but I can’t help but find this brand of underwear amusing. Thus, the picture stays.

UPDATE:

Filip Noterdaeme, The Birth of a New Museum, 1991

Filip Noterdaeme of HOMU sends us a painting [above] executed during his final MFA year at Hunter College. The work marries Courbet’s, L’origine du Monde , with Rene Magritte’s generative 1929 painting, La Trahison des Images . This particular piece has quite a bit of history behind it, so I’ve posted the write up from the artist’s website below.

Birth of a New Museum has an interesting history. In the early Nineties, when he was an art student at Hunter College, Noterdaeme invented an eccentric alter ego for himself, a certain Marcellus Wasbending-Ttum, a painter and self-proclaimed “Homoplagiarist.” Under this alias, Noterdaeme created multiple works, some of which he painted himself, some of which, like Birth (originally titled Self-Portrait), were executed to his specifications by a hired professional. When Noterdaeme, acting as Marcellus Wasbending-Ttum, presented the Hunter faculty with this “Self-Portrait,” he found himself accused of plagiarism and was prematurely expelled from the MFA program. Embittered, Noterdaeme destroyed all his artworks - with the notable exception of Self-Portrait - and, for the next ten years, abstained from making art, working as a museum educator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum. In 2002, Noterdaeme created his own museum, the Homeless Museum of Art (HoMu). When he eventually turned his rental apartment in Brooklyn into a showcase for HoMu, he gave the painting a place of honor in the apartment’s High Gallery and renamed it Birth of a New Museum.

Postmasters delivers my favorite press release of the month, beginning benignly enough with a standard format sheet listing show details, and describing the baroque Internet based collages of Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung, [editors warning: this link will do annoying things to your browser]  A snippet of the ordinary below,

Born in Hong Kong and now living in New York Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung creates explosive political spectacles in a form of dense, psychedelically flavored video animations, sculptures and digital collages…

This is followed by a description of a portion of the final scene in one of the artist’s videos, which features a man masturbating with a ballet box covering his cock, his head wrapped in an American flag, and his hand on a tv remote control shaped like a gun.  When the man reaches his climax he turns the screen in to a Washington Monument that explodes red white and blue from it’s tip.  The end, (or so says the press release).  Press clips and recent exhibitions are then noted, before closing with this final jewel;

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung’s work is not about “lessness”.

An understatement to say the least, and most amusing opposition to the Whitney Biennial’s “unofficial theme” I’ve read to date.

David Dupuis, When You’re Smiling, The Whole World Smiles With You, 2007, color pencil, graphite, and collage on paper, 5.5 x 7.5 inches. Photo copyright Derek Eller Gallery

I’m so sick of skull art. The object bores me, and every male artist in the Western world seems to be fascinated by it these days. Chelsea’s resident skull dealer, Derek Eller current display, Lost on the Frontiers of Heaven in Hell by David Dupuis includes one or two reasonable drawings, (I surprised myself by liking his eye-in-the-sky collage Bodega Bay) and countless forgettable skull works. To be fair, by countless I really mean two, but the dealer has at least four other artists in his stable who have an affinity for the skull, which seems excessive to me.

Angelo Filomeno, Shitting Baroque, 2007, Photo B.

So does the fact that there are three skulls currently on display at PS1. Probably my least favorite amongst these, an embroidered double skull set by Angelo Filomeno that took the form of butterfly wings , ran with the title Shitting Baroque. In addition to being tired of skulls I’m also burned out on easy and ineloquent expressions of our falling Rome-like empire.

Damien Hirst, For the Love of God, 2007 Image via Iainclaridge.net

Probably the most well known recent example of skull art working with this message comes from Damien Hirst’s For The Love of God, a diamond encrusted head he tells us is about death, even though it speaks to little more than the amount of money it will sell for. Speaking of which, trying to find a review on the actual piece through google results is a unique torture I’ve decided I’m no longer willing to endure. As a result, my superficially researched, haven’t seen the piece, opinion on the work is that it resembles NYC Peach products. “Join the Style Revolution” reads their slogan, the words perfect matching their reputation as the bling provider to the stars. If the parallel means anything, the revolution lasted two short years before the company went out of business.

Update: This just in via Boing Boing. Ugh.

Corey Arnold, Swans are Evil, 2003

I’m not going to suggest a larger external trend of increased middle finger use simply because I’ve happened to notice a few around here lately, but I will say we’ve seen an increase around these parts. Between Even Roth’s AFC special (a response to our less than positive review of the piece The White Glove Tracking,) our Fresh Link to the work of Corey Arnold (seen above), and Gawker’s Emily Gould’s vanity photo, it’s safe to say a rich culture of “fuck you” expression in the form of the finger exists. Now if only the web could harness this power. Rhizome commission anybody?

I don’t know if anyone thinks the goblets and dwarfs are subject matter that the Fine Art world embraces, but I got to thinking yesterday that someone should really make a list that outlines the subtle distinctions between acceptable subject matter, and that which will get you laughed out of the gallery. Consider this post a public resource of sorts.

A rare example of acceptable dolphin use in art. GIF by Ryuko Azuma. Originally via Tom Moody.

With a few exceptions, undersea creatures have been acceptable for several years, so if you’re thinking about using jelly fish in your paintings, the art world will certainly accept them. However, artists who find affinity with starfish and seahorses are clearly pushing their luck. Undersea mammals also tend to be problematic. Meant to be inked onto the shoulders of 18 year old girls everywhere, dolphins and orca’s do not receive a warm welcome in any fine art community…except unfortunately for this one. Neither do other popular tattoos such as geckos, four leaf clovers, and yin and yang signs.

Sometimes however, artists manage to subvert the iconography above with irony. While admittedly I have yet to see the satirical clover grace the surface of a canvas, its over use and facileness as problem solving technique, makes me much more interested when an artist manages to reclaim cliché through other means. Robert Longo’s most recent exhibition for example, The Outward and Visible Signs of an Inward and Invisible Grace, at Metro Pictures featured a number of planet drawings including one of Saturn and its many gas rings while managing to avoid looking like a science center display. Frankly I’m amazed to have just typed these words since so much of his work ends up crossing the cheese ball line.

While Longo draws from photos, his charcoal works have little in common with how photography itself functions in this regard. The medium really needs to be considered separately, since the easily picked upon faery art doesn’t translate, nor does the excessive use of irony. I haven’t seen much in the way of sardonic National Geographic shooting, sepia toned portraits of brooding geniuses, and spot colored photographs of children, for instance, a stone yet to be turned in Chelsea. However, I guess if I saw a shot of motel, near a gas station, with a shopping cart in the parking lot, and an empty swimming pool in the back, I’d be convinced that irony has a richer life than I knew in the photography world.

I know we are little late to the table with this news, but if you haven’t already seen it, dealer Edward Winkleman discusses the Andy Warhol painting Green Car Crash that sold for 71.4 million last week at Christies on CNBC. It’s hard not to find Winkleman’s commentary compelling as he is incredibly articulate, though I have to say that unlike him I don’t think that the 71 million dollar Warhol painting is a good price. As was stated several times during the interview, a work is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay for it, but these really aren’t the answers people are looking for when they ask whether a painting is “worth” it. All we really want to know is whether the painting will maintain or increase in value. In short, my answer to this is no, though I don’t have more insight than anyone else on when these prices will level/drop off. Warhol was expensive last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. In fact, it was only three years ago that I worked at a blue chip gallery that got out of the Warhol market due to the belief that the work was over valued, so I can tell you I’m not the only one in the city who thinks these prices aren’t sustainable. If the business practice of at least a couple galleries in this city reflects this thought, my advice to buyers can only be to proceed with caution.

Update: See Edward Winkleman’s response here.

Inspired by Personism’s post on The Speedies, a mediocre power pop band formed in the seventies whose members included the now famous photographer Gregory Crewdson on guitar, I plugged the name into youtube to see what I could find. Not surprisingly I came up with something as their site discusses their “quiet resurgence” in 2005, (which as far as I can tell means releasing two archived videos and a compilation CD.)

As far as canonical music goes, I’m not convinced The Speedies are the great long lost treasure now found that their site suggests, but it does lead me to wonder whether Crewdson’s background introduced him to Yo La Tengo  prior to his artistic contribution to their 2000 album And Then Nothing Turns Itself Inside Out. As recent history suggests, Crewdson and Yo La Tengo collaborated at exactly the right moment in their respective careers, as that album represents some of my favorite work of each artist. I have little good to say about Crewdson’s latest overly cinematic photos and Yo La Tengo’s disappointing album of 2006 I’m Not Afraid of You and Will Beat Your Ass.

I feel like a bit of jerk for not immediately recognizing the glory of Buzzfeed, but what can I say? It’s hard to judge a site without any archives. Of course, interestingly enough, this would turn out to be amongst their better features (as T.Whid mentioned over at MTAA a while ago.) The site uses a calendar function that allows you to see virtually anything you would be looking for at a glance, (kudos to Jason Kottke Chris Johanesen for coming up with such a great the design).

Now we all know nobody is going to read a site just because it has a handy calender, but you’ll definitely read it for the same reasons you go to the Onion. The headlines are fantastic. For example:

Saddam

Political Buzz People are responding empathetically to Saddam Hussein’s execution. Totally crestfallen over Saddam Hussein’s death? You’re not alone.

Stickam

Tech Buzz New uncensored webcasting site is attracting a lot of MySpace users MySpace is fine for stalking from afar, but ever noticed how MySpace instant messaging barely works? With Stickam, its myriad of uses include video-conferencing with naked 15-year-olds and spying on your dog when you’re not home. Web 2.0 has never been so versatile!

and this jewel from December’s archive,

Come on. Clearly, if animal porn doesn’t win you over, I don’t know what will.

I suppose the term DIY is being applied rather loosely here since generally speaking the following is a survey of old art making trends that have both nostalgia and craft value as opposed to being inherently Do-It-Yourself, but I think the term will suffice. Here are a few of the more obvious discontinued trends I’ve noticed recently

LiteBrite Art

As far as I know, artist Steve DeFrank is best known for this kind of work, though I recall there being an awful lot of it more of it than around than the few bits I was able to find at Cool Hunting, which seems impossible given the fact that the Internet is basically run by the nerdocracy.* I suppose for artists who reveal in the glory of limitations, the medium of back lit plastic plastic nobs would be a great challenge to take up, but it is hard to imagine how anyone could get beyond its inherent LiteBriteness. Of course, the challenge of art making is always transcending and/or subverting the medium in some way, so in theory this is a method of art making that has greatly gone unmined.

Paint by Numbers

I’d like to say that the rise of paint by numbers can be seen to parallel that of hard edged, tapey paintings that were so popular in 2001, but the timelines don’t actually match. Canadian conceptual artist Mary Scott made paint-by-numbers works by applying acrylic with a syringe as early as 1981 (the above image is not a paint by number but the best I could find). At the time, the practice was viewed as one that expanded the field of painting, though if done today would probably just seem trite. You can no longer make an ironic paint by number…which is clearly a huge loss to the art making community.

AstroTurf and Flocking

This is a material more than method of art making, but a couple years ago it was nearly impossible to walk into a gallery without viewing some lawn green flocked armature, or AstroTurf with some plastic-something-or-other sitting on top of it. As a lover of the rich valor feel that flocking gives to any object, I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a little more of this material. This is decidedly different than my views on AstroTurf, which I’m not that interested in, unless your name is Matthew Ronay, (who is, as we speak, probably trying to figure out how to make synthetic cum out of MDF fibers to accompany the material.) I don’t have any good reasons for my dislike of AstroTurf, other than the usual, “I’ve seen enough of this material to last me a lifetime”, sort of sentiment.

*Nerdocracy: A term coined by Christopher Weingarten, senior editor of Paper Thin Walls

I have noticed that is an increased number of artists making life sized cars out of unconventional automobile materials. This week at Freight and Volume, the gallery opens Pussy Galore, which showcases Chris Gilmour’s latest masterpiece in cardboard, a carefully rendered Aston Martin DB5 (as seen above). I have always wondered about the archival qualities of such works, but if Frank Gehry’s cardboard chairs have managed to make it through thirty years of being sat upon, I figure this piece has at least a century before the detailed engine work starts to show a little wear and tear. This beats the life span of a car, and I’m betting the model beats the price as well.

Probably my favorite recent hand rendered car was shown at Rare Gallery in 2004-2005. Pause, by Chris Lawson, was the most successful work in a series (of at least two) wooden sculptures he created of mechanical objects crashing into architectural forms. Unfortunately, since this time, Rare has dropped this artist, and he hasn’t been picked up by another gallery. It’s a real shame since his work is incredible, successfully conveying movement within static forms, (which is no small accomplishment.)

The under performer in this group is director Michel Gondry’s cardboard car, which as you can see from the photo above is already coming apart at the seams. The car was used in Gondry’s latest movie, The Science of Sleep, a film I have not yet seen, so I don’t get to have an opinion on the performance of the object beyond how it functions in a window display at Deitch. The fact that it is the worst of three life sized cars made from modest materials over the course of two years though, is an indication that this object is not quite as innovative as we are meant to believe.

UPDATE:

On The Cusp alerted me to above piece by Conrad Bakker which was recently on display at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. It is no secret that Art Fag City focuses on the New York art scene, but that isn’t to say we aren’t interested in what’s going on in the rest of the country. I haven’t seen the work in person, but it still looks like Gondry is the dog of this bunch.

UPDATE:

Carl Sholtz, Cherry, 2003

Blogger and artist Tom Moody sent me a link to a car made by artist Carl Sholtz in 2003 and exhibited at Momenta Art in Brooklyn. Unlike the previous automobiles posted, this model began as a functioning vehicle and was then given a body job that rendered it inaccessible.

UPDATE:

New media artist Cory Arcangel sent a link to this recent article in the Pheonix New Times about photographer Liz Cohen. According to the New Times, “the artist is turning a Trabant, an East German car popular before the Berlin Wall fell, into a hybrid lowrider that transforms into a Chevy El Camino. At the same time, Cohen is transforming herself into a bikini lowrider model.”

UPDATE:

Reader Tim Paul directed me to this artnet link. I guess there is a market for everything.

UPDATE:

Reader Tim Paul just sent a new link to this gimicky car, which was shown at Pierogi last spring.