A Milan art venue’s makeover and new partnerships with fellow institutions One of the most interesting contemporary art spaces in Milan, the newly-renovated HangarBicocca is a massive venue featuring site-specific installations from both renowned and emerging international artists. The re-do marks the beginning of a new partnership between HangarBicocca and two other colossal art spaces—Paris’ Grand Palais and The Armory in NYC—that kicks off with artist Christian Boltanski’s ” Personnes .” First shown as “Monumenta” at the Grand Palais, Boltanski’s work was transported and adapted for the Milan location specifically, before it moves on to New York. Apart from large-scale artistic installations, HangarBicocca now offers the HB Art Bookstore and the HB Bistro. Both areas are furnished by Contempo , a group of artisans who recover and reinterpret industrial equipment, known primarily for their work on Diesel Stores around the world. The HangarBicocca’s permanent collection includes Anselm Kiefer’s reputed Seven Heavenly Palaces as well as newly-acquired works like La Sequenza by Italian maestro Fausto Melotti (designed in 1971 but realized in 1981) and Stefano Boccalini’s Melting Pot 3.0 .
Mathematician Jason LaFerrera’s digitally-manipulated maps depicting birds and beasts Combining two of the nerdiest disciplines out there, ornithology and cartography, former music producer Jason LaFerrera creates curious collages of birds and beasts by recasting old maps into quaintly colorful still-life—of the kind more commonly seen on postage stamps. “I digitally manipulate cartographic materials to create fauna, mostly birds, in poses reminiscent of field guides from a similarly early era of publication,” the Richmond, VA native’s site explains. “The patterns of forests and shores often become an animal’s feathers or fur, while the rings of topography often trace out wings or antlers.” By posing the beauty of maps themselves with idealized depictions of nature, LaFerrera (who currently studies Mathematics at Columbia) is a kind of eco-Duchamp, drawing on readymades, upcycling and clich
CH exclusive: The making of Kanye West’s newest music video “Power” with its artist/director Kanye West has been kicking up controversy right and left recently—showing up at both the Facebook and Twitter HQs, turning his teeth to diamonds and engaging the public with his crude and prolific Tweets . After noticing Marco Brambilla ‘s “Civilization” video installation in the elevators at The Standard New York Hotel in 2009, Kanye not only wrote about it on his blog , he commissioned the experimental filmmaker to collaborate on the video for “Power,” his new single. We’re premiering the behind-the-scenes video with the artist created by The 88 (above) and directed by Jenna Elizabeth, which starts by introducing “Civilization” and then shows how “Power” was made. We’ve also got an exclusive interview with Brambilla below. Cool Hunting: What is the concept and how did it come about? Marco Brambilla: To me “Power” was about a symbol, an icon of power about to fall, like an emperor about to fall. That’s when I thought I’d like to do a sort of moving portrait, a video portrait of Kanye as an authority figure in a moment when everything is about to collapse. I wanted to make it really sensual and use a lot of baroque imagery that I had used in “Civilization” and create this kind of decadent imagery around him and have all the decadence and sexuality and excess conspire against him. By the end of the video there’s a change in his position. So his position is compromised at the end of the video. CH: Are you interested in doing more collaborations in the future? MB: Kanye is more connected to the art world than other artists, so I thought this would be an interesting opportunity to work with someone who really understands how far you can push things and how experimental you can be. A lot of people will tell you they want to do something experimental but it becomes commercial. I thought Kanye would let me be true to my vision. I’ve never done a music video and one of the first things I said to Kanye was that I’m not interested in making a music video, but if we want to work on something that’s experimental, I can definitely do that because I really connected to that song. CH: Is it strange that a celebrity would depict their fall from power? MB: I think he’s a true artist—he doesn’t react to what people think of him. He’s aware, but he’s not the type of person who’s going to react to things in a way that is better for marketing. He wants to push the limits. I think using part of his public image as part of the way of illustrating his new album will resonate. CH: What was the production process like? Once we locked in on that concept it was pretty fast; essentially a three-four week process. The post production was pretty intense because there’s about 22 layers of video in the piece and each piece has to be choreographed—it’s almost like a very complicated matrix. The shoot itself was shot in extreme slow motion on a Phantom camera. The characters come to life, but they’re moving in a very stylized way. I knew exactly what I was going to shoot the day we went on stage. I actually shot images of the models at the casting and then I put the models together in Photoshop, so we had it pretty well figured out. CH: Are video collages your signature now? MB: One of the reasons I took this project is because conceptually it made sense to explore celebrity, sexuality, self-consciousness, self-destruction. This idea of being in the center of the universe becomes a little intimidating to people. I’ve explored it in my work before. Regardless of whether I do a video work based on sampling or based on collage, those themes come through in my work. Marco Brambilla and the Christopher Grimes Gallery are currently working on a show called “Evolution” that will open in 2011 at the Santa Monica Museum of Art .
NYC’s latest food truck serves up a dose of zany pop art Luz Azul, the NYC-based artist who goes by Marco , recently moved his gallery from the Lower East Side to the open road. Deciding to jump on the mobile vending movement to reach out to his customers rather than wait for them to come to him, the enterprising artist purchased a former food truck through Craigslist and for the past few months has been rolling around greater New York City hawking his works. New Yorkers will already be familiar with Marco’s ubiquitous murals and pop art portraits of original fictional characters in slapstick situations. His illustrations mostly feature a protagonist octopus named Ollie, but one that stands out includes a cartoon cop confronting a peanut with the phrase “Bust A Nut.” Marco’s works span $20-$500, depending on size, and come in hand-painted wooden frames. In addition to his mobile gallery, Marco works with various charities and often throws children’s painting parties with proceeds also benefiting charitable organizations. We caught up with Marco at one of his stops where he explained he will soon launch a series of webisodes featuring celebrity interviews and paintings based on his interpretations of them, which he will also donate to charity. To take a peek into Marco’s whacky and feel-good perspective towards life, track his whereabouts via his Twitter, marcoartmobile , or check out his online gallery .
