Portfolio Noir: Photographer Buki Koshoni

About:
Freelance Art Director. Qualification in Art Directing, Central St Martins. First Fashion Shoot chosen for publication in Noise Magazine, due out this month.(July)

Marketing degree, coupled with an extensive fashion retail background, working for company's such as Gucci, Austin Reed, Evisu and French Connection.

Always developing portfolio. Photographers and Stylists looking to collaborate, feel free to get in touch.

Looking to continue to produce work for submission to suitable magazines.

Credits:
Buki is one of the brightest new Art Directing talents to hit the London scene. His background was in production working for the likes of Godman, Optomen and Vertigo Films.

Buki made the move to Art/Video Directing some time ago and was rewarded with his first short film becoming an award-winning piece. Buki has directed a number of short films since, his most recent directing credits including

Young Office People - Short Film, Winner of the Guerrilla 48 Film Competition, Adidas Test Commercial, Kilonshele Music Promo

His fashion led Art Direction has seen him published in various magazines, including Noise and WIG magazine and is currently in talks with a number of magazines on collaborative projects.

Buki's enthusiasm and love for film and fashion make him an ideal choice for any production/publication and we urge you to build a relationship with him now.

CHRIS HORTON - Producer

CHRISHORTONFILMS.COM

INFO@CHRISHORTONFILMS.COM

TEL: 0208 8741 3337
FAX: 0208 8741 9996
MOB: 07802 717155

SOURCE: MM

Mark Jenkins "The Golden Ass and Other Stories"

Stricola Contemporary
3 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10013
www.stricola.com
917-744-3437

The Golden Ass and Other Stories
New work by Mark Jenkins
3.21.09 - 4.25.09

Reception 3.21.09, 2pm – 9pm

Stricola Contemporary is pleased to announce the opening of Mark Jenkins’ new show, The Golden Ass and Other Stories on display March 21st through April 25th, 2009.

Mark Jenkins is a Washington D.C. based artist most widely known for his realistic human sculptures and packing tape street installations. Jenkins and his sculptures migrate indoors for this, his first solo show in New York City. He presents a medley of new works including the premier of a series of collages that transport his usual 3 dimensional figures into new and incongruous scenarios.

Documentary photographs of characters, such as the The Golden Ass, are extracted from their usual street environment, then montaged with found and altered landscapes. Jenkins sources his background environments from Google, which are then layered to create landscape 'mashups'. In re-contextualizing his characters and their environments, Jenkins creates 2 dimensional versions of the absurdist visions dramatized in his street work. By sampling and remixing his own work in this way, Jenkins moves from street illusionist to story teller. At the same time, he extends the themes first seen in his 2006 Embed Series, merging his packing tape world and other hybridized figures into a physical-mythological composite.

The Golden Ass, a figure from Lucius Apuleius’ ancient Roman novel of the same name, is one of Jenkins’ reoccurring characters. The book relates the adventures of Lucius, a virile young man whose obsession with magic gets him transformed into an ass. Originally Jenkins’ Golden Ass statue appeared on a street in Barcelona, populated by tourists and living Statues, or people who pretend to be statues in hopes of earning a few euros. The irony of having a real statue competing for tips with false statues becomes completely absurd as pedestrians gather to ogle the Ass. (The Golden Ass, Embed Series video, 2009) This character now appears in Jenkins’ collages, silently watching as a giant women perform felatio on a rainbow (Under the Rainblow, 2009). In the ancient novel and in Jenkins’ work, the Ass, like the Artist, stands as witness and commentator to humanities strange machinations.

Jenkins has shown on the streets and in the galleries of Tokyo, London, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and his native city, Washington DC. His works have been featured in the book Hidden Track: How Visual Culture Is Going Places, Juxtapoz Magazine, and many other publications. In addition to his own art, Jenkins conducts workshops to teach his casting and installation techniques.

SOURCE: Stricola

SheOne Exhibition at Garageworks Industries Hong Kong

Garageworks Ind.
257 Des Veoux Rd. West
Kush, Hong Kong

March 27,2009
8:00-11:00PM

www.garageworksindustries.com

"SILENCE AND DREAMS" at Oslo's Stenersen Museum

From a distance the eight figures that form Nandipha Mntambo’s installation entitled “Silence and Dreams” look like disturbing charred human bodies, limbs missing, and legs slowly but relentlessly melting away. Upon closer inspection, though, the figures reveal a sort of secret beauty as they are actually made of stiffened dark brown and black cowhide and cows’ tails. Mntambo’s installation, set to question and challenge stereotypical ideas of femininity and the female form, is just one of the works showcased at the exhibition ”Beauty and Pleasure in South African Contemporary Art” that recently opened at Oslo’s Stenersen Museum.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Avant-garde film director Chris Cunningham Photographs Grace Jones

“It’s not fashion, it’s an anti-fashion shoot," Jones tells Tim Noakes in the cover story. "He’s shooting me like art.” Chris Cunningham’s inspiration came from his 2005 short film “Rubber Johnny”: ‘When I made the images for Rubber Johnny, I wanted to make some Nubian versions to accompany them. For me, Grace has the strongest iconography of any artist in music. She’s definitely the most inspiring person I’ve worked with so far.”

Walrus TV Artist Feature: KOSTAS

Photographer Ricky Powell interviews Kostas Seremetis about his paintings. Enjoy!

Art Crowd Party with DJ Sun-The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

ART CROWD EVENT

Friday, March 20, 2009
7:30 p.m.- 9:30 p.m.

Music from DJ Sun
Complimentary cocktails and bites

Private access to the exhibition
Color into Light:
Selections from the MFAH Collection

FREE FOR ART CROWD MEMBERS
$20 cover for guests (drinks and bites included!)

RSVP to add your name to the guest list at artcrowd@mfah.org or 713-639-7552.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1001 Bissonnet Street
www.mfah.org

Georg Baselitz "More Blondes"

Harsh finger and brush strokes have been used to depict this upside-down female nude, imprisoned by a heavy black border. The strong impact of the thick black paint was achieved by the artist actually walking on the canvas. Baselitz has portrayed the woman crudely, without compassion or subtlety. Muted in colour, her image is stark and simple, with no distracting detail.

This avant-garde artist likes to paint theatrical sets with a shouting or gesticulating figure which is repeated from canvas to canvas. He paints violently and distinctive images with topsy-turvy figures and colorful and liberated brushwork. He also makes sculpture by fiercely cutting away at a massive chunk of wood leaving a hacked figure, which he often daubs with red pigment. Baselitz's work is aggressive and expressive to the extent that one of his paintings was seized by the public prosecutor who claimed that it might 'arouse sexual desire among certain kinds of viewers.'

Phaidon (2001). The Art Book (pg. 28). New York: Phaidon Press Inc.

Real Talk: 03.15.09

A painter paints the appearance of things, not their objective correctness, in fact he creates new appearances of things.
::: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner :::

BACKGROUND CHECK:
born Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Aschaffenburg, Germany - 6th of May, 1880 / Died 15th of June, 1938 Germany
Famous Ernst Ludwig Kirchner paintings included expressive figurative works using bold colors. Kirchner was a leading artist of the Die Brucke or The Bridge group of 20th century painters. His art was labelled "degenerate" by the Nazis.

Cheekwood Museum of Art opens " William Christenberry's Art of the South"

NASHVILLE , TN – Passing Time: The Art of William Christenberry will be on view at Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art from March 14 through June 14, 2009. This exhibition, a survey of past and present work, features more than 52 of Christenberry’s photographs, drawings, paintings, sculptures and building constructions. William Christenberry (b.1936) looks for the spirit of Southern culture in the landscape and architecture of rural Alabama. Drawing from his formal training, family traditions and a lasting relationship with his boyhood home in Alabama, Christenberry has spent the past 50 years creating a remarkable body of work that explores all aspects of life and experience.

To read more, click here.

OPENING RECEPTION/ ERIKA KAPIN AT Chair and the Maiden Gallery

ERIKA KAPIN
CHAIR AND THE MAIDEN PRESENTS ERIKA KAPIN
Curated by: David Zell
Chair and the Maiden Gallery
19 Christopher St
New York, NY 10014


March 19th - April 19th
Opening:
March 19th 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
rsvp@chairandthemaiden.com

www.chairandthemaiden.com


info@chairandthemaiden.com
212. 255 0562
Tuesdays - Saturdays 12-7; Sundays 1-5; Mondays closed

SOURCE: CNM

LA's Most Infamous Graffiti Artist Chaka Is Back!

Mid-City Arts Presents The First Solo Show From Chaka, Los Angeles’ Most Infamous Graffiti Artist

Los Angeles – March 2009 - Mid-City Arts is pleased to present the first solo show ever from the infamous LA graffiti artist, Chaka. Resurrection opens April 25th and will feature highly anticipated new work from the mysterious Chaka.

Daniel Ramos, AKA Chaka, was 18 when he was arrested and charged in 1991 with 48 counts of vandalism, trespassing and causing $500,000 in property damage. Chaka’s signature tag had appeared in a staggering 10,000 locations from Orange County to San Francisco. At the height of his notoriety Chaka was demonized by mainstream media and culture as being little more than a prolific vandal. At the same time he was celebrated by street artists who admired the ability of a teenager from the projects to literally make his mark on the vast, glitzy LA cityscape in such a ubiquitous manner. He is credited with breaking away from the New York “wildstyle” popular at the time and introducing clearer, more blockish lettering into tagging. Chaka was one of the first to create a reputation as a recognizable individual tagger, and spawned many imitators. However Chaka was not just a lone operative. He was part of the LOD crew and as such, his work in reclaiming hard to reach places of the cityscape (freeway overpasses, walls, trains etc) on behalf of his crew is recognized by fellow taggers as a selfless achievement for LA’s graffiti scene as a whole.

After spending a year tracking down the once unavoidable Chaka, Mid-City Arts presents his first solo show. For Chaka’s fans as well as street art collectors, this will be a rare opportunity to revisit the nostalgia of the early 90’s, and own a piece of LA’s cultural history. Chaka himself will be in attendance and there will be a limited number of signed posters in addition to his works available for sale. The opening reception will take place April 25th, 7:00-9:00pm at Mid-City Arts, 5113 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90019. For more info visit: www.chakaone.com

Mid-City Arts was established in September 2009 as an extension of the store 33third – LA’s premier source of graffiti art supplies, streetwear apparel, and related books and magazines. The gallery was established with the purpose of showcasing local, national, and international artwork by up and coming and established artists with a focus on (but not limited to) graffiti / street / urban art. Mid-City Arts offers a show space that interacts with other artists and events that surround the 33third Los Angeles location. The gallery’s artwork is available to view by the active customer base of 33third, which includes graffiti artists and fans of graffiti art. Mid-City Arts is open Monday through Sunday 12-8PM. For more information, visit: www.midcity-arts.com

SOURCE: Lucy Beer/Elemental Consulting

When The Checks Stop Coming In: Metropolitan Museum Cuts Staff, Closes Shops as Visitors Drop

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art said it’s cutting 10 percent of its staff, about 250 jobs, as its endowment and gift-shop revenue shrink.

The museum also said yesterday that it’s firing 74 retail workers immediately and closing seven of its shops nationwide. In recent months, it had already closed eight stores and eliminated 53 retail jobs.

“The decision acknowledges significant recent downturns in its merchandising sales, but also represents an effort to restructure this department so it remains competitive in the future and can continue to support museum programs,” the Met said in a statement.

The museum-wide layoffs, which will be completed before July 1, are the Met’s first since New York City’s fiscal crisis of the early 1970s, Met spokesman Harold Holzer said.

With an annual budget of about $220 million, the Met is facing financial pressure in several ways. The value of its endowment has fallen about 25 percent to $2.1 billion since June 2008, Chairman James Houghton wrote in a letter posted on the Met Web site. Endowment income supplies 30 percent of annual revenue.

Membership renewals and gifts also are down. There are fewer visitors and those who come are paying less (the Met’s $20 adult admission is “suggested”).

Houghton wrote that “tourism to New York is projected to fall throughout 2009, which will unavoidably lead to further declines in attendance -- more than 35 percent of Met visitors come from abroad -- and with it, inevitably, further reduced patronage of the shops and restaurants.”

The Met is not reducing its hours. The museum will continue to be open six days a week and 11 1/2 hours a day each Friday and Saturday. The job cuts include full-time and part-time workers. Holzer declined to say whether more is in store.

“It’s difficult enough today,” he said yesterday. “No budget is set in stone.”

SOURCE: Bloomberg

The Art of MASSIMO GAMMACURTA-The Candy Boy

Created by conceptual still life photographer, Massimo Gammacurta, these lollipops have been seen at various fashion runways from Paris to Italy and beyond. The collections includes everyones favorite brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent (my fav) and Chanel.

The Art of LA PRAIRIE-Midnight Rain

Last night I was visiting my next door neighbor for our series of weekly dinners and I asked her if she had purchased the La Prairie fragrance. Her reply was yes but had forgotten where she had placed the purchase. Upon remembering she retrieves it and allowed me to open the box. Well, to my surprise, I opened the box and was found holding the most exquisite piece of artwork I had ever laid eyes on. The fragrance itself is gorgeous olfactory sensation boasting of delicious florals, sensual woods and an array of other notes that blend to form a sensation of richness and opulence. But the real attention is given to the bottle design. It is shaped like a sharp teardrop in jet black drizzled with iridescent sprinkles of morning dew that one finds on a spring morning. This piece of art deserves to be placed in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs but for now it will serve on my bureau. This hot piece of ass retails for $135USD and can be found at La Prairie, Saks, Bloomingdales so make sure you pick it up if not for the scent then for the art of it all.

Kalup LINZY for INTERVIEW MAGAZINE

Perhaps the best way to understand Kalup Linzy’s brand of performance art is to stay home on a weekday and watch television. Soap operas in particular play a large role in the Linzy oeuvre, with many of his videos and stage shows built around dramatic characters and episodic conceits. Linzy writes, directs, shoots, and performs in all of his videos, and even composes the music. One of them, All My Churen (2003), chronicles the intrigue and tragedy surrounding the Braswell family, who appear as characters in several of the artist’s pieces, with all of its members—male and female, grandmothers and gangstas—played by Linzy himself. He pulls similar double-, triple-, and quadruple-duty in his MTV-style musical clips, assuming the guises of hoary pop divas and baritone R&B cats singing songs about chewing gum and assholes (Linzy originals) with surprising aplomb. His stage work is no less memorable: For a performance produced by Art Production Fund at the Prospect.1 New Orleans Biennial last November, Linzy took the stage in a flat-ironed wig and a shiny Beyoncé-style black bodysuit to perform a rendition of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Members Only,” showing off his soulful, honeyed voice, along with a considerable amount of thigh. But what distinguishes him from the maw of other one-man showmen, stand-up hacks, drag queens, and viral videomakers is both the sharpness of the axe that he swings at issues of race, sexuality, gender, class, and performance art itself, and the purely committed, unbridled humor with which he does it. The former has earned the 31-year-old Florida native multiple fellowships and grants from the art establishment, including aGuggenheim fellowship for the 2007–2008 year. And, the latter, of course, has caused the entertainment industry to come calling.

Te read the article in its entirety, click here.

Flick of the Week: Man Paints With Tongue

'BOWERY BOYS" by Keiichi Nitta

Japanese photographer Keiichi Nitta teams up with O.H.W.O.W. to release the “Bowery Boys” book. The 120-page hardcover book will be coming out on April 15th and creative direction was done by Al Moran and Aaron Bondaroff.. Click here for an inside peek.

The Art of CHANEL-Perspex Briefcase

The execution and concept are on point for the Chanel Perspex Briefcase. Personally I would not be able to place my large drawings but perhaps a few tubes of paint, a small sketchbook, a package of pencils and that's about it. But what the hell! It is Chanel and nothing else has to be said.

Ambach and Rice Presents Joseph Mills: ANARCH

AMBACH & RICE PRESENTS:
JOSEPH MILLS-ANARCH
MARCH 14-APRIL 19, 2009
OPENING RECEPTION: APRIL 14TH, 7-9PM



WHERE:

AMBACH & RICE
5107 Ballad Avenue, NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206.789.6242
ambachandrice.com