Cool Hunting
One of the standouts at last month's Scope New York, Graham Dolphin’s art, employing seemingly-compulsive writing as the centerpiece, simultaneously recalls Fluxus, Marcel Duchamp and the back of a notebook owned by a girl in junior high. With meticulous, miniature penmanship, Dolphin makes dense, obsessive, lovely formations of words using lyrics from pop songs as his mundane-born muse.
"White Lyrics" indents the complete lyrics of the Beatles’ White Album on the record’s cardboard sleeve. Others works ‘engrave’ lyrics right onto the vinyl in a circular, almost runic formation. Krafwerk’s The Model and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds are just two of Dolphin’s canvases for this. In art paper, Velvet Underground Lyrics cascades the text into a violet spectrum, part Ed Ruscha, part Mark Rothko.
One could argue Dolphin’s work is entirely about economies—both personal and monetary—and the tools we use to negotiate between these realms. Lyrics have no gold weight worth, just an imbued personal value. Each record probably cost $7 when it was purchased. Sentiment scribed on top, these are the silver pieces of personalized currency. By using a garden-variety felt-tipped pin to make the marks, Dolphin’s work also discusses hierarchies of value in the art market.
Our world is one filled with fine print and it’s rarely used to express anything celebratory. Looking at 25 Neil Young Songs (pictured above), concentric circles of pharmaceutical-disclaimer-sized writing, one begins to realize fine print has become part of our subconscious visual vocabulary.
More images after the jump and at Dolphin's gallery, Seventeen.
|
previous entry adicolor Podcast: Green |
next entry Alternative Apparel |
The Tate Modern always does an incredible job of reinventing their Great Turbine Hall with large, encompassing installations and with Doris Salcedo's "Shibboleth" they may have outdone themselves. Stretching imagination and the definition of sculpture and installation itself, Salcedo created a subterranean crack in the floor that stretches 584 feet across the entire length of the Hall. The upshot is a jagged abyss that...
Many regard Shepard Fairey as one of the godfathers of the modern urban art scene and he's widely known as one of the hardest working men in the business. His Obey Andre the Giant figure can be found all over the world, oftentimes in some surprising locales. Unique stencil, collage, photography and painting techniques have made him possibly the worlds most well-known street artist....
The London-based hyper-realist sculptor Ron Mueck's recent intriguing work, "In Bed", is hard to resist. Commentary on scale in architecture is common in a spatial sense, with much of our education revolving around it. Yet as humans, the scale between ourselves seems to be ever increasing. In our own office there is a 50 cm difference in height between the tallest and shortest, a...
Stephen Earl Rogers is a young British artist who's becoming well known for his portraiture and realism. He has a unique way of capturing a person's character by depicting the emotional presence of the figure. Technically stunning, his works have just the right level of realism without trying to be photographic. He's exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London, amongst other major galleries...
This is how public transport should be done. Unveiled Monday and travelling back and forth between London and Manchester, this tricked-out locomotive from Gorillaz aritst Jamie Hewlett is to promote the forthcoming circus/opera he's involved with called Monkey: Journey To The West . It's based on an ancient Chinese legend and the music has been composed by Hewlett's partner in the cartoon band, Damon...
I love this idea. Eighteen artists based in London were asked to design a dartboard with the thing they most hated on it for an exhibition curated by Garudio Studiage that starts at the Dazed & Confused Gallery this week. From left, Bono, moths and drivers on mobile phones were most hated by artists Miles Donovan, James Hollingworth and Annabelle Hartmann respectively. (Click images...
The Pharos Project
Hank and Matlok
Neon Shoes
Radio Village Nomade
Ghostly Swim: Interview with Sam Valenti
Creative Index
Interview with Maarten Baas
A Paper Tiger
Von Totebags and T-Shirts
