Event: Tight Spot Reception

Tight Spot by David Byrne

Starting September 15, underneath the New York City High Line the outdoor installation Tight Spot will be exhibited by The Pace Gallery. The installation features “a 48-by-20-foot inflatable terrestrial globe” pinned and crushed by the High Line. The installation will be open from September 16 through October 1, 2011 at 508 West 25th Street in New York City, after which I imagine it will be too damn cold outside for anyone to care one way or the other. The inaugural public reception will be held September 15, 2011 between 6 and 8 PM.

A low-frequency vibration will emanate from speakers placed deep within the globe. The sound is meant to be heard from the surrounding streets and elevated park, enticing passersby to discover the installation. “I knew what I thought that sound should be, and rather than using instruments, synthesizers or samplers to make the sounds that I imagined, I simply made them with my voice,” said Byrne. “It was the easiest and fastest way of creating what I was hearing in my head. I filtered and processed my voice so that it wasn’t recognizable.”

Source: New York Magazine

In the Media: 9/11 Tribute

Cartoonists remember 9/11

 In respect of the 10th anniversary of 9-11, the major comic syndicates rallied their cartoonists to pay homage to one of the darkest days in American history through their September 11, 2011 Sunday comic strips. All of the nearly 100 participating strips, which may be viewed in the online gallery below, have an overarching September 11 remembrance theme. Some convey sadness, while others embody hope, fortitude and faith. All are sensitively crafted and beautifully poignant in their own unique, thoughtful and appropriate way.

Event: Lightsaber Battle NYC 2011

Photos by Patrick Shyu

Lori Kufner and Kevin Bracken, co-founders of urban art events collective, Newmindspace, will once again be hosting the geektastic Lightsaber Battle NYC, September 24, 2011 in downtown New York City.

The event started out using dayglo painted cardboard tubes but has now graduated to color-changing LED lightsabers. These Lightsabers can be reserved prior to the event for $5.00 each. The event is free but the organizers warn that the lightsabers sold out before the event last year. If you’ll be in the area, be sure to RSVP at their Facebook page.

Event: The 5K Zombie Run

Run For Your Lives is a zombie-themed 5k/obstacle course starting in Baltimore on October 22nd that will allow participants to pit themselves against a zombie horde as they try to complete the course without “dying”, which sounds exactly like the beginning of a zombie movie where the fake zombies somehow turn into real zombies and actually try to eat the unknowing participants. Here’s how the race will work:

Event: Harry Potter Tribute

"Harry"

It was inevitable, especially with the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows coming out soon. On July 9th, the Nucleus Gallery will be hosting a tribute group show with a huge list of artists scheduled to participate and do their best interpretation of characters and scenes from the popular series. And for the true potterheads out there, there will be butterbeer, contests, giveaways, and more.

You can follow all the festivities and information leading up to the show on a special blog the gallery set up here.  Also, take a look at more preview images after the jump, and check out the Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition flyer we previously posted.

Event: Camp Firewood

By Aaron Jasinski

Created for the Camp Firewood, an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of Wet Hot American Summer at Gallery 1988, which opens June 10th with a reception to be held from 7 - 10pm

Event: Harry Potter Art Exhibition

Gallery Nucleus has released a flyer for its upcoming Harry Potter show

Hot off the digital press! Our Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition flyer is officially completed and ready for print! Designed by Nucleus's very own, Ben Zhu, this flyer seems to capture just about every iconic presence that is Harry Potter!

Event: Enchanted Forest

“The Enchanted Forest” by Tom Bagshaw

On May 13th, the Strychnin Gallery in Berlin will present The Enchanted Forest group show, featuring forest inspired imagery.  The show benefits the WWF and is being presented to celebrate the United Nation’s International Year of Forests.  Artists on exhibit will include Luke Chueh, Mia Araujo, Travis Lampe, Lindsey Carr, Tom Bagshaw and many more. Here's more info on the piece above.

Papercraft: Minecraft in Real Life

Meatcraft is a real world art installation shown in March at San Jose State University.  Created by Jeffrey Kam and Cody McCabe consisted of a minecraft themed gallery, two crafting tables, tools, working 8-bit LED torches, and a fully interactive grass block world at the center of it all.

The centerpiece of the gallery is a to-scale grass block, filled with 1500 smaller cubes. Each cube is 6.25cm, or 1:16 scale (The default Minecraft texture is 16x16 pixels, so at 1-meter scale, each pixel is 6.25cm, hence the 1:16 block scale)

Coverage of the installation has already been featured on rockpapershotgun, KOTAKU, and Joystiq, and theminecraftforum.net thread. Check out more details at the Real World Minecraft website.

Event: Art in the Streets

Banksy's 23-foot high Stained Window piece is a collaboration with the City of Angels public school in Los Angeles. Students were encouraged to write tags on panels erected in their schoolyard before Banksy adapted them.

MOCA is opening the very first major U.S. museum exhibition of graffiti and street art, “Art in the Streets,” opens to the public this Sunday, and it will remain open through August 8.

My Modern Met took some photos during yesterday’s press opening which you can see here.  It includes some really amazing pieces.

Event: Edward Scissorhands Show

By Denny Khurniawan

Here are a few highlights from the Edward Scissorhands anniversary show at Gallery Nucleus. The show begins today (April 16th) and runs through May 9th. Here's a description of the event:

In collaboration with Sebastien Mesnard, Gallery Nucleus will be showcasing a selection of original works from the Scissorhands 20th blog. The exhibit will highlight the works of over 40 artists, including paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, etc. and unite enthusiasts and fans in celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tim Burton's classic love story and its unforgettable characters; Edward, Kim, Peg and a band of colorful suburbanites.

Event: Star Wars Miniland Grand Opening

The Star Wars Miniland exhibit at Legoland California opened this week.  If you live too far away to see it in person, make sure to check out the live webcam they've set up at the Model Shop.  I guess if I lived in L.A., I'd drop by to check it out, being an AFoL (Adult Fan of Lego), but it doesn't look like there's anything on exhibit that can't be captured in a few snapshots.

To that end, I dug up an awesome Flickr gallery of photos of the exhibit taken by Amy Ratcliffe of Geek with Curves.

Artist: Brian Despain

Tin Machines and Mercuric Dreams by Brian Despain

Brian Despain will be exhibiting his work at the Seattle-based Roq La Rue gallery next month. Opening Friday, February 11th, Tin Machines and Mercuric Dreams will highlight the artist’s expertise with the brush, with a new series of brilliantly rendered oil paintings of his signature whimsical robots amidst desolate landscapes. This exhibit will also feature a range of three-dimensional working, including his first two bronze sculptures. I've posted some of his work below, though the painting above is the only piece that I can verify will be on display at the show

See more of Despain's work and join the discussion at The Artchival forums.
See one of Despain's previous gallery exhibits.

Event: In the Nursery Show

"The Long Walk" by Tom Bagshaw

Here's a preview of the upcoming In the Nursery Show at the Corey Helford Gallery. The show starts on the January 29th and looks like it's going to be another great one for the gallery. Some great artists are participating.