Art Box
Lovecat, a fascinating model loving magazine founded by Jacob Dekat and Prince Chenoa just celebrated the release of their third issue. And the editors dedicated their newsprint wonder to art, highlighted by a Chuck Close story. The artist memorably celebrated the last issue of the magazine with the founders and Lindsay Lohan at Le Baron. Yes, you read that right! Talended Michael Avedon shot the famed artist in all his glory and Alex Catarinella interviewed Close. Here are the quotable highlights:
On moving to New York..
“..Ironcially, the best time to go out in New York was when the United States was in the worst shape it ever was. Living through the racial events, the freedom riots and the anti-war stuff of the late ’60s. Ironically, that was an amazing time to create art. Every institution was suspect, your government lied to you, the war was grinding on, there were the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy — it couldn’t have been bleaker. But it was also a time of great ferment culturally. It was a time of incredible creativity. We threw everything we were doing away and we tried to figure out a new reason to make stuff.”
On the city’s golden art age:
“You’d leave gallery openings and you’d come back downtown and you’d go to Max’s Kansas City or Spring Street bar, and you’d spend the whole fucking night arguing with each other. If you said you liked the show, somebody else would say “What? You liked that shit? Why?” And you’d have to be able to defend yourself and give good reasons why you liked it. They were unbelievably passionate arguments that often resulted in drinks being thrown at people’s faces. But this was in the midst of all of the horror and the loss. New York was crime-ridden — you couldn’t go to Central Park. Yet there were these islands of sanity and of comradery with other artists and musicians. You know, Andy Warhol had the Exploding Plastic Inevitable around the corner on 8th street so you’d go there. It was an amazing time and there’s nothing like it today. Unless I just don’t know where it is. It’s possible that it’s taking place in Brooklyn, but I don’t know.
On Kate Moss:
“When she walked in the studio for me to photograph her, she was sort of dumpy. She had just had children and she had thickened and broadened in the waist. She said, “Oh, I guess I should have trimmed my bush.” But she was totally comfortable with it. I said, “Sorry, these photographs are really harsh,” and she said, “Oh, it doesn’t matter. I’ve had enough beautiful pictures taken of me.” And she was great. The minute she stepped in front of the camera, the camera loved her. I remember Herb Ritts telling me about taking photos of Marilyn Monroe. He said the same thing — he’d be watching this dumpy woman with short, stubby legs and with this scar on her belly. He’d watch her in his peripheral vision and when she got in front of the lens, he could not believe it was her. The lens loved her.”
On hating Work of Art:
“Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” is so horrible. Sarah Jessica Parker is a friend of mine and she asked me if I would be on the show last year. I said I wouldn’t ever in a million years. They asked me again this year and I just saw Simon de Pury from the auction house for this thing I went to for Clinton. I said, “You know, it’s a guilty pleasure that I watch this goddamn thing. But I knew never to touch this thing with a ten foot pole. How come you didn’t know that?” People will do anything to be on television.”
Photos by Michael Avedon
Big magazine launches don’t happen every day, so it was momentous when Interview Russia’s editor Aliona Doletskaya asked Richard Phillips to collaborate on their debut December cover. The other involved parties were Brigitte Lacombe and a certain A-lister subject named Leonardo DiCaprio. The result? A wonderful rendition with a revived Warholian logo and Phillips’ sharp tribute to Richard Bernstein best Interview efforts.
Phillips successfully paid homage to Bernstein’s pop powers during for his Most Wanted for White Cube series last year and took his knowledge to the next step here. “For Bernstein, Interview truly was his ultimate form of expression,” said Phillips. “Although he made art before, during, and after, it was his involvement in the magazine that propelled him into the pop culture milieu. His images reprocessed and made tactile Warhol’s untouchable veneers of high art celebrity objects. And Warhol created an ever-evolving vehicle that had the potential to humanize and bring life to the celebrated individuals that made up his experiences both in his life, his work, and beyond.”
The collaboration came full circle last week when DiCaprio’s (11.11.11!) birthday present was a signed Most Wanted book by Phillips.
This week, The Red Hot Chili Peppers unveiled cover art for their tenth studio album “I’m With You”. “Damien Hirst did it for us and we’re happy to get this out to ya,” the band announced in a statement. It’s always nice to have Mr. Hirst on your side when it comes to design pre-production, but the British big is hardly the first to join this record industry derby. These are some of previous favorite collaborations.
The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico (1966)
By Andy Warhol
Warhol wasn’t just the band’s art director; he was also its manager. He helped get them a major deal with MGM, suggested than Nico join the group as the primary collaborator and the banana logo on the band’s first LP cover become iconic instantly.
The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (1971)
By Andy Warhol
Andy began his career as an illustrator at Columbia Records so he had a well of experience to rely on before designing Stones’ legendary LP cover during the height of their fame. The cover which is basically a gritty black and white image of tight jeans and suggestive bulge, instantly helped emphasize and celebrate Rolling Stones’ sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll aura.
Dirty Vegas – Dirty Vegas (2002)
By Richard Phillips
The premise was simple enough. The sleeves of the first Dirty Vegas album would before portraits by Richard Phillips, who in turn took collaboration to different heights by creating series of large format paintings that eventually translated to international series of mural and billboards. A Grammy nomination for the duo followed suit.
Katy Perry – A Teenage Dream (2010)
By Will Cotton
“Before I even discovered Will, I was into all things cute and girly and beautiful and edible,” said Katy Perry of the art collaborator behind her most successful album. The duo worked perfectly together: the candy loving artist created a frothy, Vargas inspired image for the cover and then art directed the eye-popping California Gurls video.
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
By George Condo
George Condo had a big 2010 that consisted of a New Museum retrospective and collaboration with Kanye West. West discovered Condo’s painting a year prior to the release of his latest album and the duo eventually decided on not one, but five cover concepts including a banned sphinx induced intercourse. But it was the ballerina image that became the most enduring. “Hey man, I’d like to have a great ballerina painting,” Condo recalled when recollecting early conversations with Kanye. “And I thought of a ballerina toasting. You know, ‘let’s toast to the scumbags.’’
The Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You (2011)
By Damien Hirst
Sure, Hirst does everything these days, even announcing skateboard collaboration this week. But he does them well, and this The Red Hot Chili Peppers design emphasizes that he’s still utterly brilliant thanks to a composition consisting of a fly and a multifaceted pill.
Forget the ultra, super duper VIP preview at the Basel. Nothing gets more exclusive than a Thomas Keller catered party at Jeff Koons‘ West 29th street studio. The mega Chelsea star hosted the event to celebrate his collaboration with BMW, making him the 17th artist to join the illustrious list of Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Alexander Calder, and the latest creative mind to receive a big check: Olafur Eliasson. Sure, Keller’s glittered macaroons were exquisite and this collaboration thing is nice and all but we were just happy to get a sneak peak at Koons’ exciting factory. Art Box and other recognizable faces like Klaus Biesenbach, Yvonne Force Villareal, Ingrid Sichy and Sandy Brant got to see plenty of Bettie Pages and Popeyes, all meticulously organized with color palettes for some of dozens of Koons land assistants. The most colorful and striking image of Miss Page was almost ready to be shipped to a private buyer (perhaps one of the Russian collectors circling the room like an eagle) and the rest are due at Jeff’s next big show that may well be more than sixteen months away. Until then, clear your walls. These canvases are not for amateurs.
© BILLY FARRELL/PatrickMcMullan.com
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