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These Predicaments, the latest collection of paintings by David Stoupakis, presents a fairy tale world that is more upside down than ever before. A giant little girl becomes larger than life; a prematurely aged young boy hosts a railroad of memories of events to come; a child is tight up with rope, hair alight, perched precariously on the edge of a tower of books, ready to fall into an abyss. Indeed, these predicaments and dilemmas are more dangerous than merely puzzling. A small piper sees what happens when the piping is too successful; an ice maiden is trapped in her own snow globe; none of the guests look very happy at a macabre last supper.
Artist: David Stoupakis
+ coreyhelfordgallery.com
+ davidstoupakis.com
Editors’ Take
Need we even mention that Hot Chip’s shows are sold out? Didn’t think so. You can still hang with the London lads during their DJ set after Sunday’s show. Admission’s only $5 with a ticket stub!
Maybe you can’t make a show, or maybe it sold out. Whatever the case, you can still revel in the talent of Hot Chip — not with a live set, but a DJ one.
The dudes will be spinning all night.
$5 w/ a ticket stub from one of the shows
$10 otherwise
Get tix here.
Hot Chip began their acclaimed 2004 debut Coming On Strong with heartfelt advice and a warning, “Take care into the home”, before taking you for a musical ride around their own. They begin their astonishing sophomore record with a different kind of warning: “FIRE IS HOT, STEEL CAN CUT /GLASS WILL BREAK IF YOU’RE NOT … CAREFUL!”…Triumphant and gloopy synths begin the frenetic and bewildering Careful , giving way to rave rhythms, war drums, syrupy vocals, computed crowd chants and a song celebrating balloons and physical intimacy; the frenetic opening minutes of this truly adventurous record.
Careful cuts through the listener and represents a more confrontational sound for Hot Chip, usually found only in their visceral live show. The confrontation is echoed throughout the rest of the album, whose musical inventiveness almost pokes fun at the caution in the lyrics. Joe Goddard explains: “The completion of Careful was a major turning point in the process of making this album. I wanted it be a real departure from the first album, but Alexis and I were worried that the music we wanted to make was incompatible. Once we’d managed to complete this track together, though, it re-affirmed our belief that we could find common ground.”
Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard began to work on the album in earnest. Out of the tension of these sessions, with the two songwriters / producers pulling against one another, there eventually emerged some great moments of beauty, laughter, love and slaughter. Where one man cannot talk of his pain, another can record it. And then fuck with it. Then you get Owen in to mash into the guitar like nobody else. And while Felix is pushing synthesizers through a ‘Machinedrum’, quick, record him while he’s not looking, and Al can come over all Eno/Manzanera – he’s got nimble fingers and vocal chords. It’ll work, don’t worry. This became Hot Chip’s ‘creative process’. And it really did work. But be careful, it’s crazy in there…
The Warning is an amalgamation of great songwriting and forward-thinking pop-production. It’s an honest record – emotionally and sonically, made by people exploring sound in the warmth of home, not studio, and it is a brittle pairing of voices which sing of LOVE, COLOURS, LOSS, and WARNINGS. It is the only record you will hear this year, which is brave enough to try and better all of the best records of yesteryear and tomorrow. If you want something which evokes the textures of Aphex Twin recordings, Madlib’s sense of deranged hip-hop holiday, the intimacy of Prince’s fantastically claustrophobic parades, and more than merely the spirit of certain wonderful Paul McCartney experiments in disco, Hot Chip would recommend The Warning . It’s cheaper than buying the Richard D James Album, Madvillainy, Dirty Mind and McCartney II after all.
Of the title track, Joe explains: “ The Warning comes from a real love of 2-step garage rhythms and melodies…the rhythmic devices used in programming garage appear everywhere in Hot Chip, and I still find some garage records to be amongst the funkiest and most soulful.” While The Warning insists that “Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head” over a luxurious garage beat, Look After Me speaks plainly of the growing distance between a couple, and acknowledges vulnerability and the need for unequivocal support between two people. Alexis: “Ever since seeing it on The Box in the late ‘90s I had been hooked on Sparkle’s duet with R Kelly, ‘ Be Careful ’. Eventually I tried to rip off the chord structure, melody and mood to make the beginnings of ‘Look After Me’. For the middle-eight section’s descending chord progression I mimicked the synth-line in Prince’s ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’ almost note for note. Joe heard what I thought was a take on the modern R&B ballad to be more in keeping with an old-fashioned soul classic of the Al Green ilk, and we were soon adding plucked live violins and very soft drumming.”
Somewhere between these unspoken ideas emerges an incredibly personal Hot Chip song, tying the record together at the center and underpinning the album’s mood of caution and warning. But it’s also a song that openly borrows from other records in an attempt to make something new, encapsulating the duality of the Hot Chip sound, at once very “felt”, and very considered.
The bathos of Coming On Strong is more often than not replaced by pathos in The Warning . And I Was A Boy From School , a beautifully melancholy ballad of loss and acceptance, is Hot Chip’s greatest pop moment so far – wonderful in its simplicity; heartbreaking in its honesty: “ We tried, but we didn’t have long, We tried but we didn’t belong…”. But Boy From School began life as a Casio waltz, before looking towards the spirit of Giorgio Moroder. Joe explains: “’I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer was in my mind. I thought if you could combine that rhythmical power with a beautiful chorus then you could make a dance record that would be much better than most. In fact, the sound of the song is still very gentle, and though I now realize that that is something to be proud of, back then I wanted to compete with people like the DFA.”
One of the most unusual aspects of Boy From School , and Hot Chip in general, is the direct contrasting of vocal styles, Alexis often taking the higher ‘female’ lead, and Joe the lower, ‘male’ response, in a world which recalls the classic soul or country and western duets of the past, but is clearly somewhere stranger altogether. And rather than rich harmonies, they create a denser texture, singing in direct unison, leaving the harmony to the instruments; the effect is quite unique.
The androgynous and yearning tone in Alexis’ vocal performances, and the frailty and primitivism in certain drum sounds, have reminded some listeners of Scritti Politti or the Young Marble Giants, as much as the R Kelly or Wookie tracks that inspire some of the music. The space between conception and realization is where you find Hot Chip; and it’s what makes them so distinctive, so fascinating. That and the fact that they are happy to leave imperfections in: “The idea of including the inaccuracies that occur when people play instruments in the song is extremely important to us. It is the antithesis of a lot of modern record productions, where every mistake is ironed out digitally. When I think about the producers and songs that I really cherish, I think that certain rash decisions or mistakes in the playing or mixing are often the very things that I love.”
Hot Chip have made quite a leap with The Warning , in terms of sophistication and clarity. A deliberately simple tune and lyric, such as Colours , transcends its initial child-like innocence to seem gorgeous and, somehow, profound. “I wanted to write lyrics as direct as the ones you’d find in Kraftwerk songs. We’d just seen them at Brixton Academy and I was struck by how well they said something about motion or light, or radioactivity, in so few words.” (Alexis) “For a while I wanted this album to sound a lot like Can or Neu – I wanted the propulsive force of the song to be powerful but seem effortless and for the keyboard sounds to be glistening and beautifully sculpted, in the way that Kraftwerk make their instruments sound. We were after simplicity and directness.” (Joe)
When Hot Chip started their album with a chorus that confides: “The stories you told were awful /I hope that they weren’t just artful, /I hope that you will be careful”, you would be forgiven for thinking they could be writing about their own music, giving you a new warning. People have often mistaken what is at times an opaque, and other times a transparent honesty for something more sinister or ‘artful’ (God forbid, a sense of humor !), and the irony of this is not lost on the songwriters. But that is Hot Chip in a nutshell: musical perverts who know how to tease you just right, who are tender when you are just getting used to their brashness and confidence.
As The Warning says, ‘LET ME SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU’. This time round, you may be able to tell that Hot Chip’s tongues are deeper inside your cheeks than they are embedded in their own.
Hot Chip also play live, they have toured with people like LCD Soundsystem, Mylo, Stereolab & recently Goldfrapp and played their own shows/tours too of course. They will be doing stuff like that all year.
The Warning was recorded by Hot Chip at home.
Artist – James Homer “Alone” via Art MoCo
James Homer, a member of the Unseen Photography Collective, features a series of photographs entitled Alone as part of the group website. In a “Where’s Waldo?” type of way, the viewer tries to locate a sole figure dwarfed by his or her surroundings. The person is very much part of the scene, but it is clear that the scene exists with or without the presence of that individual. Big picture thinking, but the scenes are captivating on their own, so that no one feels as though a message is being served up. Also interesting is Homer’s Nation of Shopkeepers series.
Artist: James Homer
+ unseenphotography.co.uk
Emily Svec Body Paint – Des Moines Iowa – Original Post @ ambushU.com
Emily Svec discovered the body as a canvas about two years ago and began to experiment with the concept of creating walking pieces of art. Svec has lent her art to many different facets of the Des Moines art base, creating individual portraits for photographs, directing performance pieces and has provided painted ladies for different events around town. Painting all shapes and sizes, Svec is indiscriminate to the human figure, refusing to believe that anyone would fail to become something beautiful. Her goal, quite simply, is to have her models look in the mirror and have them realize their flawlessness with or without the paint.
Svec has participated in the Sunshine Provacouture, Fashion Midwest Runway Revue, Felis Picturatus, Redesign Fashion Show, Fall of Humanities Charity Event, 80/35 festival plus more. She’s worked with photographers such as Ace Foto, MG Photography, SageMaven Design, Billy Dean Photography, Emilia Gaps, Brinny D Photography, plus takes photos herself. Svec has also been featured in Juice Magazine and Core Magazine.
Emily Svec Body Decor can be reached at emilysvecbodydecor@gmail.com.
(click images to see details)
Most Expensive Living Artist – Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud has become the most expensive living artist at auction with his “Big Sue” painting. The large naked woman painted on a couch is called “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” and sold for $33.6m or £17.2m at Christies last week. The sitter is Sue Tilley and she sat for Freud over a four year period.
I’m so glad that a painterly painter now holds the title of the most expensive living artist at auction. Big shiny hearts and pill cabinets might be interesting but how can they compare to a painting by a living master?! Of course I’m biased as I’m a painter too, but who isn’t biased?
The London based Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich is said to be the buyer of Lucian Freud’s Big Sue and Francis Bacon’s triptych (which sold for $86.3 million or £43 million)
>> Lucian Freud News, Art Collecting, Art Auctions
Stephen Perry – Photography
Very sexy photography work by Stephen Perry
http://www.stevenperryphotography.com
Special thank you to Mark at ObsessionArt.com…
Noticed that you post on art, culture, etc and wanted to introduce you to my website. Feel free to browse around .We represent some great artists, who you may like to feature.
Best wishes
Mark
Mark Davis
ObsessionArt Ltd
London . England . Worldwide
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Web: www.obsessionart.com
Artist – Matt W. Moore – Ilustrations & Graphics via Art MoCo
Matt W. Moore has taken doodling to a new level with his various series of eye-catching illustrations and graphics. Vectorfunk 2 is a series of posters that combine line, form and colour in ways that pop – all of which contribute to a sense of action and movement within each piece. The Geometry posters incorporate symmetry, which does not take away from the excitement, but rather adds a kaleidoscopic aspect to MWM’s work. Looking at these pieces feels like being a kid at an amusement park, with access to all the rides, carny games and candy.
Artist: Matt W. Moore
+ mwmgraphics.com
Elisa Lazo de Valdez
A small but engaging collection of art photography by Elisa Lazo de Valdez
Labels: contemporary art, figure study
Chicago Artist: Chad Kouri
Chad Kouri Collage via Art MoCo
Chad Kouri is an artist who scours the alleys of Chicago in search of found objects for his collages. While the style of Kouri’s work will vary on the basis on the different cut-outs, it is safe to say that there is a mix of old and new, with a leaning towards vintage or retro photos, patterns and images. Paper of all kinds, clouds and waves, deer and birds, adults and children from different eras – all this and more in Kouri’s work.
Artist: Chad Kouri
+ longliveanalog.com
Shuli Hallak – “Post Panama Cranes, New York”
“Post Panama Cranes, New York” via Art Moco
Shuli Hallak examines cargo and its transport in a series of photos that allows the viewer to see the beauty and glamour in the shipping industry. Hallak documents bright lights, big cargo and the journey from production to consumption where port and sea set the stage for everyday drama that affects us all as consumers. How much of what surrounds us has never been in a container?
Artist: Shuli Hallak
+ motihasson.com
Banksy, Banksy who the fuck is Banksy?
You should know by now…
via Art News Blog
Who is Banksy?
Banksy, Banksy, Banksy.. this guy seems to be everywhere. The mainstream media love publishing stuff on this guy. Andy Warhol would be proud of the inches published on Banksy over the past 18 months.
He has an official website, where I stole the image to the left of this post (it’s a detail of a larger work). There’s no links on his homepage, but he does have more pages to his site. I’m not sure how you are meant to find more pages of his site if you don’t know about them, but here’s some outdoor works, indoor works, and a Banksy manifesto.
“The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product of making something that means something. You don’t go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit.” Banksy Quote
Coxsoft has a few Banksy posts on his art blog. He points to a piece on the BBC website where they say that the notoriously secretive artist is the thirty-something year old Robert Banks of Bristol in the UK. They also say that Banksy has no formal art education, started painting grafitti at 14, he used to bootleg rock memorobilia, and has spent time in detention for petty crimes.
His name and art may be familiar to millions of people of worldwide, but there are very few photos or details known about the actual artist. Simon Hattenstone of the Guardian has been one of the few journalists to interview the artist. Hattenstone says..
“Banksy is Britain’s most celebrated graffiti artist, but anonymity is vital to him because graffiti is illegal. The day he goes public is the day the graffiti ends.” Guardian Interview with Banksy
See a video below of Banksy at work in Palenstine, where the artist has this to say about the “segregation wall” seperating Palenstine and Israel..
“The segregation wall is a disgrace.. The possibility I find exciting is you could turn the world’s most invasive and degrading structure into the world’s longest gallery of free speech and bad art.” Banksy
Elbow-Toe via Wooster Collective
For us, one of the best aspects of the Wooster Collective project is that over the years we’ve met – and continue to meet – an amazing group of people. One of those people is the artist, Elbow-Toe. If you’re not yet familiar with his work, be sure to check out this interview on the terrific blog, my love for you is stampede of horses.
Adam Neate On The Streets Of Brazil
Fresh Stuff From Adam Neate On The Streets Of Brazil via Wooster
Tonight: Nuclear Fairy, IRLO and Omar at New York’s Romanian cultural institute
While gentrification in New York City and the politics of cleansing tend to erase legendary traces of graffiti that inspired artists all over the world, street art flourishes in Eastern European cities. One of these spots is Romania. New York is lucky to have three artists from this former East Block country visiting to paint the walls of the Romanian cultural institute. These three young artists, Nuclear Fairy, IRLO and Omar work as a collective and independently and will translate their unique cultural view into an installation across three rooms.
On Wednesday night there will be an opening of their work and Wooster Collective will be conducting an informal interview with the artists to understand their sources of inspiration, discuss their style and capture impressions of their first trip to NYC.
Please join us for drinks and festivities as well as the opportunity to meet these intriguing artists.
Cristian Crisbasan Photography via Unscathed Corpse
LINK quote [Author of "digital_sessions" compact photography book published worldwide by DAAB - Koln, Germany - in 2005. Included in the anthology "The New Erotic Photography" (editors: Dian Hanson & Eric Kroll) published by TASCHEN. Enjoying the privilege of having a few but TRUE friends].
Sunshine ProvaCouture – Website
Music from the Fashion Show – Ambush/So Gold Collabo
Sunshine ProvaCouture Promo Video 1
Sunshine ProvaCouture Promo Video 2
DJ Diverse Sunshine ProvaCouture Mix
Iowa Nightlife Photos
To Purchase Photos click below:
maggiegullingphotography.dotphoto.com
user name maggiegulling
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SIGUR RÓS – Gobbledigook via Sex in Art
Checkout the new music video for SIGUR RÓS – Gobbledigook.
Inspired by, and made in collaboration with, Ryan McGinley, this music video contains the photographer’s signature style with naked teens running through forest, falling from the sky, having sex, dancing, being human and being raw.
Music
~
ambushUUU.com
Thymann
June 26, 2008 in ambush | Tags: art, Artist, commentary, culture, image, imagery, life, nude, photo, photographer, photography, photos, social, society, Thymann, website | by ambush | Leave a comment
Thymann
Thymann via Sex in Art
Thymann – WOW. Crazy site. Crazy work!