OCCUPY THIS

 

LETTER FROM PARIS: OCCUPY THIS

BY MATTHEW ROSE

Pssst…Can we talk about money? I keep on getting press releases from Phillips de Pury about all the wonderful things they’ve sold, the auction records they’ve broken – Richard Prince’s “Cowboys and Girlfriends” portfolio fetching $146,500; Andy Warhol’s “Grapes” topping $104,500 – and the next pot of gold waiting in the auction markets in New York and London. And if it’s not from an auction house, the emails chime in from the art fairs in Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Geneva or galleries in India, Hong Kong or some new white cube that just opened here in Paris.

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(Left: Shepard Fairey's Occupy Wall Street design supports the 99 Percent, although we're pretty sure he's a 1 percenter.)

Prints & Posters & Prints & Posters

Check out the Posters And Print Blog, a daily offering of new print and poster releases.  This image: Shepard Fairey's Roy Lichtenstein-inspired Pop piece on power, "OBEY POWER."  The print is about the empowerment of street art, the enduring power of Pop and of course, appropriation.

The Posters & Prints Blog covers it all, though.  Tons of Hello Kitty interpretations, great theater and film posters, and some curiously wonderful pieces culled from the net, like, Saelee Oh's Infinite Path, a laser cut piece that is truly astonishing.

These very nice people also recently posted about my ANGLAIS print offered by Keep Calm Gallery.

Shepard Fairey Does Venice, Silvio

Shepard Fairey, who rose to fame and made his mark with his wildly successful and now controversial Obama campaign poster, has left his mark here in Venice as well. During the June international art orgy known as the Venice Biennale, Fairey was brought to a tiny bar in the San Polo quarter near the Rialto Bridge by two Biennale hostesses, according to Guiliano, the bartender at Boteri Cafe.  Photo: Matthew Rose.

"He was a little drunk, but very nice," says the barman. The Boteri, also known as Al Genovesi (San Polo 1701 Venezia) on the Calle Del Botteri, is a tiny little art hangout covered with Keith Haring inspired drawings. Fairey must have thought the café was ripe for some more American graffiti and so he returned the next day with a fat portfolio of his Obey propaganda and asked the owner if he could paper the back room with his designs. "No problem," said the owner, eager to have some live art to go with the Haring installation and create a wall-sized souvenir from a clandestine Venice Biennale.

Shepard Fairey goes up against a Keith Haring knock-off in the Boteri Cafe, Venice, Italy. (Below).  Below, stylized little girl and big fascist eyes offer Fairey fans a touch of Futurismo with their apero.

The posters fit nearly perfectly and, while not a shrine for Fairey fans, it does give a contemporary glow to the place which is crowded at apero hour with older locals and crowded til one am with students and bohos.

I asked if there were any give-aways, but nothing was left, not even the stickers affixed to doors signaling that Shepard Fairey was here. Sort of retail friendly graffiti that is probably now on its way to eBay and auction sites the world over.  However, you can pick up a new piece on your local newstand...

Fairey's trying to climb back on the sweet roll since his confession about the Obama poster mishagas. His latest foray into political scandal is an Italian love-hate story. The cover of The Rolling Stone featuring the recently clobbered-with-a-small souvenir model of the Milan Cathedral, Italian Premier, Silvio Berlusconi. [See it here].

Meanwhile, on Christmas Eve the Basilica San Marco was both mobbed by Venetian believers and flooded Noah-style from the ever-rising rushing acqua alta. So enjoy these pictures of the Venetian Lagoon waters running rampant over yet another Italian institution and art piece – floods get in your eyes.

Supply & Demand: Shepard Fairey At The ICA Boston

Guns & Roses, Shepard Fairey, 2007.

Fairey, who is enjoying his first museum retrospective at the ICA Boston, brings together elements of the UK street artist Banksy, the factory-and self-obsessed Mark Kostabi, Russian Constructivism and propaganda to great effect.