When we finally got a glance at Salma Hayek’s hotly publicized photo shoot for T, only one thing went through our mind. And that of course would be Josephine Meckseper’s startling and haunting Pyromaniac 2 (2003) that is so clearly referenced in the magazine by the photographer Cass Bird. When does the ‘inspiration foundation’ crosses the fine line of artistic plagiarism? Especially the original, famous source is only seven years old? We’d love to hear your thoughts…

While Richard Phillips has been in the news a lot lately thanks to his White Cube Most Wanted spectacular in London, he also managed to quietly complete two more mesmerizing, pop culture rich works that are actually not part of that show. First, is a commission work that depicts Lindsay Lohan is all of her extension heavy, restylane loving, self destructive glory. It’s a brilliant, live commentary on an actor whose, K-Mart bound biography is still evolving as we speak. The other piece is entitled Into the Dark, and is 64 x48 oil work that’s part of upcoming Black Swan group show. And this gorgeous, now Oscar winning theme work pretty much speaks for itself. Into the Dark 64 x48 Oil, wax oil emulsion with graphite on linen 2011

Josephine Meckseper is one of the boldest and most assured artists worldwide today, and her brand new self-titled show at the FLAG Foundation (that runs through May 26) just proved why. Straying from her signature video work (apart from one work that concluded this show), Meckseper instead focused on beautifully edited and hardened mixed media to easily salivate her collectors and fans in an instant. She used sleek glass, steel, industrial photos, and painstakingly assembled vitrines to get her point across on modernism and foundations of essentialism. But beyond the big ideas, the pieces were just plain visually brilliant. Our favorites were the monumental car rim heavy Negative Horizon and black crow and jewel enriched African Spir, which of course paid tribute to the revolutionary 19th century Russian philosopher. [nggallery id=15]