Zuzu Fridays z10 ———— Tequila + Art = LOVE

Casa Dragones special edition bottle with Gabriel Orozco

I had the opportunity to attend an event Wednesday night where Casa Dragones unveiled their new bottle – a collaboration with Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco (I’m a huge fan of his work).

If you don’t know Casa Dragones tequila, you are missing out!  It is sexy, smooth and delicious.  This is the kind of tequila you pair with fine food……not the kind you mix in a margarita or do body shots with. (what??  Mom, that link is for you….new vocab).

One of Dallas Contemporary’s board members was extremely generous and offered their home for the event.  The house was the backdrop for a killer art collection with a Frank Stella painting (shout out to JonB!), Tony Cragg sculpture, a handful of Damien Hirsts…..just to name a few.  Tequila was served alongside yummy bites from Doug Boster catering.

Casa Dragones brought Pedro Alonzo in from Boston to give a talk about Gabriel Orozco’s work.  It was a special treat to hear from Pedro and learn more about Orozco’s work before seeing the new bottle.

Bertha Gonzalez and Pedro Alonzo

Then Bertha Gonzalez, the co-founder and CEO of Casa Dragones, unveiled the new bottle.  She spoke of her relationship with Orozco, love of his work, the impact he has had on the art world and the way that the collaboration came about.  CD + GO = LOVE.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE…bye bye.

See all the pics from the event here.

Me with the beautiful Roksolana Karmazyn

Me with my dear friend Jon Schwartz

Zuzu Fridays is a weekly post about all things sexy, pervy, vampy, weird…or just plain effed up.

Zuzu Fridays z09 – Linder at Goss Michael Foundation

Linder at Goss Michael Foundation.

Last Friday, I went to the opening of Linder at the Goss Michael Foundation in Dallas. First of all, if you have not been to the GMF, put it on your list of places to go…immediately! It is one of the places in Dallas that we, as a city, are SO lucky to have.

GMF is a non-profit contemporary art center with a focus on British contemporary art. They show new commissioned works by artists but what I often love the most are the works that they show from the stellar collection which belongs to the namesake – Kenny Goss and George Michael (yes, that George Michael).

Regardless of the conceptual side of Linder’s work (feminist perspective on the way the female body is portrayed commercially and in the media….which I love), the pieces are constructed beautifully; both through the elements of their design and collage to the physical construction of the light boxes.  Sexxxxxy all the way around.

The exhibition is up through 31 January 2013.  When you plan your visit, come see us at Dallas Contemporary as well….we are in the same hood.  And if you haven’t heard we also have a couple of spectacular exhibitions up as well.  K8 Hardy: September Issues and Inez & Vinoodh: Pretty Much Everything.

More info below straight from the GMF website.

Love you.  Bye bye.  xxxxoooo

Linder at Goss Michael Foundation. Photo: Kevin Todora.

Linder at Goss Michael Foundation. Photo: Kevin Todora.

Linder at Goss Michael Foundation. Photo: Kevin Todora.

Linder at Goss Michael Foundation. Photo: Kevin Todora.

Linder at Goss Michael Foundation. Photo: Kevin Todora.

Linder at Goss Michael Foundation. Photo: Kevin Todora.

From the Goss Michael Foundation website:

Linder’s show at The Goss-Michael Foundation will consist of a large group of her characteristic collages and new large-scale photographs displayed in light-boxes, each of  which are part of the private collection of George Michael and Kenny Goss.  Working in all mediums from music, to collage to performance and film to theatre and two dimensional art, Linder became known in 1976 as one of the main players in the Manchester punk scene.

In the late 1970’s Linder started using collage to juxtapose porn images with images of house appliances, or other desired objects, sharing the subversive practices of the punk movement.  By mixing up fractured signals and messages out of context, Linder exposed the way social images are constructed.  Her Buzzcocks ‘Orgasm Addict’ single sleeve which depicts a nude female body with mouths at the nipples and a household iron in place of the head is now considered an iconic symbol of the punk movement.

Since the 1970’s, Linder has consistently and uncompromisingly embraced radical feminist perspectives and explored the media treatment of the female body in particular.  In the collages, photomontages and performances Linder has made since this time, she sets about recasting and colliding the ideals of commercially and culturally rendered expectations of gender-specificity and identity.

A major part of the show at the Goss-Michael Foundation consists of large-scale light-boxes with new montages, originally hand-spliced as before and then re-photographed.  The use of the light-box gives these works the lush and tantalizing characteristics of advertising light-boxes, the emblems of our consumerist world that came to dominate the media and the landscape of the western world in recent years.  Linder takes over this powerful tool of mass media and turns it to itself to expose socially and culturally reinforced norms and expectations of gender identity, sexual commodification and representations of desire.

 

Zuzu Fridays is a weekly post about all things sexy, pervy, vampy, weird…or just plain effed up.

Zuzu Fridays z08 – Europe through my iPhone

Last month I made a trip to Europe for work.  I was there for a little more than 2 weeks.  4 countries:  England, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.  9 cities:  London, Brussels, Oostende, Antwerp, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Kassel, Zurich and Basel.

It was amazing and exhausting….and amazing.  Last week I went through the photos I took on my iPhone.  It was interesting (and comical) to see what apparently sparked my interest as I made visits to collections and exhibitions, roamed around documenta13 and Art Basel, made visits to artist studios, or just while I roamed the streets.  There was similar content from city to city….but this wasn’t a conscious thing.  So this is sort of a photo essay…a bit of odd documentation from my trip.

Enjoy.  Love you.  Bye.  xoxo

Zuzu Fridays is a weekly post about all things weird, pervy, vampy, sexy…or just plain effed up.

Zuzu Fridays z07 – Ink in Omaha

I visited Omaha last week — you can see one entry from last Friday…Zuzu Fridays z06 – O! is for Omaha! and I’ll be adding one about THE Bemis next week.

The first day I arrived in Omaha last week, I hung out in my friend James Gilbert‘s studio while he worked.  He had an intern working along side him – her name is Claire.

Once it was time for lunch, we sat down and had pizza together in the studio.  I learned that Claire is from Omaha, is currently in university (interested in Anthropology and Museum Mgmt) and is interning at the Bemis — working with artists and exhibitions, among other things.  I noticed that Claire had a few tattoos so I asked her what the interesting studios were in Omaha.  She named a couple of places.

Then she tells me, oh and by the way, me and my girlfriends are camping out on Friday night so we can get a free tattoo on Saturday.  WHAT??!!  I love it.

Claire with her new ink.

Here’s the skinny…

Liquid Courage (custom tattoo studio) was hosting a customer appreciation day.  If you had been tattooed there in the last 12 months, you were able to show up on this particular day to receive a FREE tattoo.

You did have to bring a donation for the Humane Society which I thought was pretty cool.  So there were bags of kitty litter, dog food and the like.

And this is probably the most interesting part (and the reason that Claire and her girlfriends camped out) — once you arrived, you were given a number.  This was the order you were to be tattooed AND the order in which got to choose the flash that you then got tattooed.

Even though Claire was there at 10:30pm the night before, she was still #9.

So Saturday around noon, James and I made our way over to Liquid Courage.  There was Claire.  She had her flash picked out and was ready to go in.  Once she was in, she and her artist graciously let us hang out for a few minutes while she was getting tattooed.

Thanks for letting me crash, Claire!  xoxoxoxo

Here are some pics…

Liquid Courage

Liquid Courage

her choice…a good choice indeed!

the rules

Claire getting tattooed

Claire getting tattooed

the final product

Zuzu Fridays is a weekly post about all things weird, pervy, vampy, sexy…or just plain effed up.

Zuzu Fridays z06 — O! is for Omaha!

I arrived in Omaha yesterday morning!  A few days ago I wasn’t even certain where Nebraska was…I thought it was east of South Dakota.  What?!?!

My friend James is in a really fantastic artist residency program at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha.  So I decided to visit.

Upon arrival, James gave me the quick tour of the the Old Market area which is where the Bemis live/work studios are.  He needed to get back to work so I decided to go get a coffee and walk around.  Several blocks of the Old Market area have some pretty great antique shops.

This is one that I wandered into — The Fairmont.  It is an antique mall and a candy store.  I walked in and the candy store was a sensory overload with rows of candy, a hot pink car, things hanging from the ceiling, over sized stuffed animals….my nieces would have loved it.

Then as I walked through the antique mall, it was like walking through my childhood.  Themed lunchboxes, board games, cabbage patch dolls, pull-tab beer cans….it was great.  Here are a few pics.

More about Omaha next week!  xoxoxox

Zuzu Fridays is a weekly post about all things weird, pervy, vampy, sexy…or just plain effed up.

Zuzu Fridays z05 – The Prince of Puke

I made a trip down to Houston for a couple of days for work.  It’s warm and weird down here in H town.

Last night I decided to get a little taste of Baltimore via McClain Gallery.  I saw that Baltimore’s darling, John Waters, was opening an exhibition there.

I walked in and the show looked really great.  I even saw “Chesty” – a piece that I spent a lot of time with in Baltimore at C. Grimaldis Gallery.  Oh, Chesty!  How I have missed you!

After taking a look around and mingling with people who had drawn on pencil thin mustaches (yes….there were a lot of them), I saw the gallery director who shares my name.  Said a quick hello to her and then was out the door.

Lucky enough, as I was walking out, so was Mr. Waters.  I said hello, introduced myself and told him that I used to work for Costas Grimaldis.  His eyes lit up and then he said, “God bless him.  He’s still there.”

Not a question, but a statement.  Yep, the ol’ Greek is still there in Baltimore doing his thing.  That city is lucky to have him.

So cheers to John Waters who has made some of the most effed up films I have ever seen (he was way before his time….and it hasn’t lost it’s luster either).  And cheers to Costas who was showing John’s work before he was picked up by the big players in New York and LA.

And cheers to my old (adopted) hometown.  I miss you Baltimore.  xoxo

Zuzu Fridays z04 (Spain edition)

For this Zuzu Friday, I decided to share some images from an exhibition that I saw in Madrid at a contemporary art space called La Casa Encendida.  This was one of the better contemporary art venues I saw while in Spain.  Apparently they do exhibitions but also have a variety of classes that they host.

One of the exhibitions they had up was called Generation 12.  This was an exhibition of young, emerging artists.  One of my favorite projects from the exhibition was a collaboration between Almudena Lobera and Isabel Martínez Abascal.  Delicate line drawings were made, then tattooed on people.  The original drawings then were destroyed and all that is left is the drawing tattooed on the body.

Portadores.  La imagen en el campo ampliado del cuerpo.  (Carriers.  The image on the expanded field of the body.)

This is an excerpt from an essay written by Fernando Castro Flórez

“…Portadores is a playful modulation of that index-conditioned practice that calls into question both the responsibility as well as the conventional notion of the “owner” of a work of art. Destroyed, the original drawing only remains with a skin tattooed and documents of an action that hybridizes, with tremendous clarity, the drawing, the tattoo, the performative dimension, but also the photograph and documentation, proposing a dynamic that has to do with the relational aesthetic.  The drawings-tattoos of Almudena Lobera and Isabel Martínez Abascal do not produce a “perverse space” in some voyeuristic sense, nor a kind of singular extimacy. Rather, they have “certified” the incarnations (never so well described) of the arte hipertélico6: the tatooed bodies outline another idea of architecture in which desire set adrift is crucial, a kind of longing where anything possessed is an illusion.”

Enjoy the photos – even though they are from my iPhone (not the best quality).  More about the rest of my Spanish adventures will come this Sunday.  Te quiero.  xo

Zuzu Fridays z03 – Bone to Marrow

Elm Street Tattoo

As you read in an earlier post, I worked with Shepard Fairey and his crew last week for a city-wide mural project in Dallas.  It was mostly work but we made time for play…

After a fun get-together at one of our Board Members’ homes last Friday night, we took the after-party to the Double Wide.  After a few beers, it was OBVIOUSLY time for a tattoo.

My new buddy, Jon without an H was spearheading the adventure.  I suggested we head to Elm Street Tattoo — a Dallas tattooing institution.

So we did.  And so Jon got not one, but two tattoos.  Check out pics of his tattoos…and also some sexy vintage flash from the shop.

Jon

Before...

After...

Bone to Marrow

And here are some photos of the flash…

And here is the proof that I was there…

Zuzu Fridays z02

I will continue to shamelessly promote the place the place where I work (Dallas Contemporary).

This is one of our newest ads that is currently in the February issue of FD Luxe.

The hot, new look is attributed to the collaboration between our brilliant, creative in-house staff and a few amazing photographers…

For this ad:

Photography by  Mr.Glass with Heels and Candy – check the ladies out on his site…sizzzzzzle.

Design by Alex Curington – if you need design work done, she is a rock star.

And of course….check out the exhibitions that the ad is promoting – up until March 25.

xoxo

Zuzu Fridays z01*

It’s Friday!  Here is a little visual treat before you start the weekend…

Out of another person’s purge for “it’s-the-new-year-get-rid-of-all-this-shit”, I gained this deck of playing cards designed by South African (Belgium-based) artist Kendell Geers.

Geers is known for his performance at the Venice Biennale in 1993 where he pissed into Duchamp’s Fountain.

Anyone down for Texas Hold ‘Em?

From the Goodman Gallery website:

A provocative figure in the South African art world since the 1990s, Kendell Geers is known for work that stakes out a radical position from which to take aim at both the art establishment and society in general, to interrogate our existing moral codes and to suggest new approaches. Working in a wide variety of media, he uses and subverts familiar signs from art history and pop culture. Famously pissing into Duchamp’s urinal in Venice, he rejects the sanctity of ‘the canon’ and the inviolability of history, insisting on a position that poses its own questions and comes to its own conclusions.

Geers’ work, site-specific by nature, is designed to force a physical confrontation with the viewer, and is concerned with power, its relations, and the manner in which it shapes our experiences. Often described as interventions, the relentless physicality of his work acts to shock and disrupt our perception of the status quo – to map the degree to which individual agency is constrained by the existing establishment, and to attempt to explode those borders.

 

*Look for more Zuzu Fridays…this is the first go at a weekly post about all things weird, pervy, vampy, sexy…or just plain effed up.