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Sarah Zahran is one of few people that I've met that isn't afraid of deeper truths.
Not in the Sylvia Plath Fight Club My Teen Angst Is ImPoRtAnT kind of way, but more in the 'I get it, let's have a beer' kind of way. Sarah and I went to high school together and she has always had the ability to see shapes and colors beyond my own capacity, but in a totally unique, purposeful and still stylistic way. They say people are just a mash of everyone they learn from and surround themselves with, and I thought if that was true I'd really be missing out if I didn't try to learn from the cool girl making art beyond what I'd seen before in high school classrooms. Before bonding in high school, I lowkey stalked her art. Okay, highkey. But only because she'd churn out consistently incredible work, maintained a distinct stylistic voice, and made me feel like the hard projects were worth it. Simple gestures created worlds on her pages and I would use little tidbits I stole from her, like how to see the shapes in noses (that I definitely struggled with. Sometimes people can be sources of inspiration and I find that Sarah can pull the most creative forces out of me, change my perception, and smack some sense into me; all through her work. We connect to art in so many ways, but her work has always left me with a deep appreciation for humanity in all it's guts and glory. Though so many lenses, art will always be radical and raw at the core, and selfishly as a friend, it's been completely nuts to watch Sarah fearlessly continue to create. Art is hard, life is hard and making time for art in life is probably the hardest of all for me. Sarah's been through some shit lately, dealing with Chronic Lyme Disease and through the crap, she's revitalized the creative outlet. Sarah has been knee deep in Instagram, art and dogs lately and her new art Instagram is definitely proof. With openings for commission work and passion projects on the side, the page bubbles with the faces of humanity, Eyes sparkle with hope, and she continues to generate not only technically accurate, but also soulful, balanced renderings. Follow@sz.portraits for a little colored pencil humanity. 
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This is the culmination, the very epitome of artistic creation, the highest fulcrum of human accomplishment to only which vantablack could do justice. A watch. Specifically the MCT S110 EVO Vantablack, just in case you want to look into the deep void of nothingness— that will be your pockets a cool $95,000 emptier. Stuart Semple posted a similarly sarcastic response to his Facebook page on January 18th. The watch was announced last year, and has been produced in an edition of 10. Caroline Winter of Bloomberg Pursuits has this to say of it: “Of its 471 components, 81 are rubies, and it comes with a 40-hour power reserve. On the dial, hours are indicated by four modules, each composed of five prisms that flip. As the minute hand rounds the :00 spot, a 270-degree sector rotates to reveal the next hour, with tick marks now lining up to denote the appropriate minute. If that sounds like a trip, the video just below should help”  Many might have assumed, (me included) that Kapoor was using Vantablack in this commercial setting as a spark plug to further ignite his kegs of Vantablack. To onlookers this cord has sadly malfunctioned. Artists do team up with well known brands to offer official merchandise, especially in the fashion industry. An edition of 10 super luxury watches is profitable, but not commercially viable. This keeps the S110 Evo Vantablack firmly in the realm of functional art object, and Kapoor safely outside of the sell out circle. For now. In other news, my purchased pigments have shipped via Royal mail on the 25th and should be here in several days! My artistic cohorts will be running them through their paces alongside of me. Because sharing is nice.  UPDATE: Artist Stuart Semple’s PINK saga continues. As a reminder, this is the ‘world's pinkest pink’ and a dig to Artist Anish Kapoor. Semple legally barred Kapoor from obtaining the pigment, in retaliation to Kapoor not sharing Vantablack, claimed as the world's ‘blackest black’ material. Anish Kapoor has responded. Here is a rundown of the following petty party. December 20th Kapoor on Instagram “Up yours #pink”  December 20th Semple on Instagram: Diamond Dust “The world's most glittery glitter” is announced. Reportedly 98.8% clear, it is comprised of actual flakes of glass. Developed with an industrial chemical company for artist use, it is new to the art world. Semple’s Shop culturehustle has this to say: “Unlike normal diamond dust, Stuart's 'super-shards' are larger and in random, irregular shapes meaning they reflect more light from more angles.” Naturally, it is not available to Kapoor, nor could he stick his finger in it if he tried. December 29th Semple on Facebook: “100 lines! 'I will be good... I will share my colours' #sharetheblack” Semple posts a video on facebook picturing a hand writing this sentiment over and over on a chalkboard, grade-school style. His humor lightens and adds comedy to this ridiculous series of events. Let's keep in mind that these are two world renowned artists, well into their careers and professional lives. December 30th Semple releases YELLOW and GREEN released on culturehustle.
January 4th Semple on Twitter: “And the NARC IS: @Lisson_Gallery OH MY DAYS!!!!” With corresponding unconfirmed snapchat
Find Semple’s letter here
It is unclear how Semple discovered that the Lisson was to blame for the breach of contract. However he fires back with the assertion that in doing so have breached culture hustles terms of service unlawfully. The Lisson Gallery has not responded. Introducing themselves on their website; “Founded in 1967, Lisson Gallery is one of the most influential contemporary art galleries in the world, showing 45 innovative and international artists.”, they are located in London, Milan, and New York. On the bottom of their contact page, they also state: “In solidarity with the gallery's artists and our friends and colleagues at various arts organizations, Lisson Gallery New York will be closed on 20 January, the U.S. Presidential Inauguration Day. We join in this act of non-compliance as part of #J20ARTSTRIKE.” Seems that Lisson is not afraid to speak and act their minds. It produced some great headlines and commentary: Can’t touch this! Anish Kapoor Barred from purchasing the pinkest pink - Mojarto This bizzare fight between two artists couldn’t get more colourful - Hindustan Times Anish Kapoor Instagrams Surly Holiday Message to the Artist Who’s Trolling Him - artnet News I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is the most entertaining thing to happen in the art world this century -Roselyne Grieve of The Triangle, A Drexel University Independent, this article also appearing on Semples Facebook page, perhaps due to the scientific content and the author's assertion that he should relate more of this information. SO, where exactly does this land us? With no response from the gallery as of yet, the waters are calming, with all ears are open of course .The pinkest pink is currently sold out, and will be shipping out on the 21st from Amazon UK. The glitter, green and yellow pigments are all in stock. So friends, I have naturally ordered these pigments and plan on seeing if all the hullaballoo is worth it. Stay tuned! Original Bruised Knuckles Coverage Here After driving past the eye-catching sign at the Mansfield Art Center for roughly four years, I finally had an opportunity to stop by and see what it was all about, and I was extremely upset that I had not gone in sooner! This extraordinary gift shop is full of internationally sourced goods, gifts, jewelry, instruments, textiles, and essentially everything you could think of. As if the gifts and crafts themselves weren’t good enough, they are all purchased from the craftsman by the shop owners directly, cutting out any middle man on shipping costs. The couple who owns the shop travel to countless countries to procure these goods, and the owner’s wife was just arriving from Ecuador during my last visit to the shop. We were also given a bit of insight within the shop’s past, and certain goods. The Art Center opened about 26 years ago, originally as a gallery, and after owners began traveling 25 years ago, it “morphed into international crafts”. I was also informed that the scarves sold at the shop are made in Quito, Ecuador, and are only made for the Mansfield Art Center and Eddie Bauer. This unique gift shop has every gift you could possibly need, and based on personal experience, you will not be able to resist buying for yourself as well. Learn more about them here and check out some photos below!
Ruddy Roye was just named TIME’s Instagram Photographer of 2016. The 20-year is a self-proclaimed humanist/activist, a “photographer with a conscience” with more than 263,000 followers. Roye uses photography to share the stories of black Americans, taking a stand against racism, hate crimes, and police brutality.
In an interview with TIME, Roye said he joined Instagram because he wanted to, “open my veins. I felt like I was hurting, and I wanted to talk about my hurt. So I started to look for stories that were my stories. It was easy to just sit down with somebody and talk about them being disenfranchised or being unable to feed their family. I found those stories to be real. They were my stories.” To read the full interview between TIME and Roye, click here! Follow Roye on Instagram, and check out his website for more portraits. London based artist Stuart Semple has developed a powdered pigment that is nothing short of shockingly pink. Not to disappoint, ‘the world's pinkest pink’ is available for purchase from the artists online store. Unless you are Sir Anish Kapoor that is. Semple specifically embarked on this quest of pink to retaliate on Kapoor's exclusive rights to Vantablack. Kapoor, a London based sculptor, is the sole artist with the right to use Vantablack, a powdered pigment comprised of nanotubes. Very high tech. As a substance created by Surrey NanoSystems, Vantablack has the capability to be withheld from the public. It cannot be re-created outside of a lab environment, as it has specific properties and characteristics, such as ts claim to fame: absorbing 99.96 % of visible light. Or so you would think. Turns out that another artist, Frederik De Wilde, claims to have worked with his own scientific counterparts for a decade, and NASA for two years to develop a blacker substance even before Vantablack. This substance is still reported by De Wilde as the the ‘blackest black”. De Wilde talks about his motivations for creating such a pigment; “For Yves Klein it was the blue sky, for me it's deep space. The blackest-black is an artistic concept, research project and a poetic thought which is "born" out of necessity, reactionism, subversiveness”. Before embarking on legalities, this situation brings up many cultural issues, such as who can own a color, or pigment? Very specific colors used for company logos are often trademarked, and as De Wilde mentions above, can be coined by artists like Yves Klein. But is this any different? Should a material that can embody such a meaning be withheld? Should it be the artist’s role to fight for what they and the public might be missing? Stuart Stemple is, that’s for sure. Along with his pinkest pink, Semple has pushed the hashtag @anishKapoor #ShareTheBlack, and requests of users upon purchasing the pink: “you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor. To the best of your knowledge, information and belief this paint will not make it's way into that hands of Anish Kapoor.” Stuart Semple fights withheld creative wealth with pink. Do you?   The Galerija 11/07/95 (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is the first memorial gallery in the country. The entire gallery is dedicated to the July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, where more than 8,300 Bosnian Muslims were slaughtered by the Serbian army. The museum employs powerful photographs and documentaries of the genocide to educate guests of the atrocities committed during the month of July. The gallery also features different rotating exhibitions. During my visit, the “Greetings From Sarajevo 1993” exhibition (above, or here) was on display, featuring the work of Trio (Dalida and Bojan Hadžihalilović). The exhibition consists of thirty-six postcards parodying different icons and artists designed to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Sarajevo Olympics in 1994. You can read more about the exhibition here and here. The below image was taken from here.  Juno Calypso's refreshingly interesting and vaguely futuristic photo series titled 'The Honeymoon' documents a one-woman honeymoon with great emphasis on the colors blue and pink. The series is beautiful, cohesive, striking, and the syrupy, shiny textures add a really cool vibe to the work. George Nebieridze's photo series '15 spans a year in Berlin. The photos paint a beautiful picture of youth. The colors, architecture, beauty bring us into a world of edginess and great angles. The photos below are all incredibly striking, and they all have their own particular brand of lovely weirdness. |
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