Kevin Ledo: The Guiding Light

by Mike Giles

In his latest show Montreal based artist Kevin Ledo references images from highly visible fashion advertisements such as Dior, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. He aims to draw parallels between modern fashion advertising and iconic Christian art of medieval times by transposing methods of religious paintings into an advertising context.

Kevin's paintings have been on display to date in both Taiwan and Canada. He is represented by Ayden Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia. If geography allows ,check out his latest exhibition at Station C in Montreal.

The Guiding Light
27 February-26 April 2008
Station C
5369 Saint-Laurent #430
Montréal, Québec H2T 1S5 map
Canada

Color Chart

by Seth Brau

"Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today" opens this Sunday, 2 March 2008 at MoMA. On view through 12 May 2008, the exhibition explores artists' use of readymade color—from car paint to colored tape—featuring works by 44 modern and contemporary artists including Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, and Angela Bulloch.

"Color Chart" takes as its point of departure the commercial color chart, an item that openly attests to the status of paint as mass-produced and standardized. The exhibition examines two separate but related meanings of readymade color: color as store-bought rather than hand-mixed, divorced from an artist's subjective taste or decisions; and color found and appropriated from everyday life—fluorescent bulbs, car color, or computer color, for example.

Also, this Saturday, 1 March 2008 from 9pm-1am, PopRally, the ongoing event series for young New Yorkers at MoMA and P.S.1, in conjunction with the "Color Chart" exhibition, presents a dance party with a lineup of deejays from DFA Records. That's right, a dance party at MoMA. The evening includes an exclusive preview of "Color Chart" before its official opening to the public. The deejays to be featured are Juan Maclean, T&T (Tim Goldsworthy & Tim Sweeney), Holy Ghost!, Justin Miller and Jacques Renault.

Attendees are encouraged to wear bright and bold colors. There will be an open bar and guests will receive a colorful custom-made gift designed by PopRally and DFA. Unfortunately, the event is sold out, best use those connections.

Color Chart
Opening Reception: 1 March 2008, 9pm-1am
2 March-12 May 2008
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019 tel. +1 212 708 9400

Porsche Design Studio for Fearless Yachts

by Jacob Resneck

Fearless Yachts of Miami Beach offer some of the sleekest, most attractive watercraft we've seen in quite some time. It's probably no accident that these speedboats—Models 28 and 68 we find most appealing—are something a worthy of Sonny Crocket or a James Bond supervillain.

Designed by Porsche Design Studios, each vessel is built for speed and control and worthy of the moniker yacht (which in itself is derived from an old Norse word that means to hunt or chase). Technology like seamless carbon hulls, engines maxed out for power and silence, docking assistance and integrated bow thrusters make for a vehicle enabling its user to tool around, well, fearlessly.

The website provides contact information to the dealership which provides pricing information.

Also on Cool Hunting: Hawley F140 Racing Yacht, Vertical Limit

Nedko Solakov

by Doug Black

Last fall, we were impressed by a series of 99 ink-and-paper drawings at the Documenta 12 exhibition in Kassel, Germany. Each drawing depicted an acute fear and included a short, handwritten explanation (like, "A man is already in heaven. It's kind of nice and calm although he still keeps his life-long fear of dying one day," at left) scrunched in the bottom. The concise stories were often funny, occasionally poignant and represented a welcome diversion from the otherwise dull, contemplative exhibition held in one of Central Europe’s more dreary enclaves.

The work in question is "99 Fears” by the Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov. His work ranges from sculpture to drawing to installation, along with conceptual pieces like 2001's "A Life (Black and White)," where he hired two workers who simultaneously painted the walls of a gallery space white and black, respectively, for the duration of the exhibition. To some, he is best known for representing his native Bulgaria after they were belatedly included in the 1999 Venice Biennale after a three-decade absence. His lone offering for the national pavilion was a single postcard bearing the Bulgarian flag that read, "Very Important Announcement. After nearly 30 years of absence from the officially participating countries at the Venice Biennale, The Republic of Bulgaria is proud to announce that it is prepared to properly participate in the next Venice Biennale in the year 2001."

We were able to speak with the artist as he prepared for a marathon year, including the impending publication of a pair of books and exhibitions in a number of global cities spread across three continents. Read the interview and see some additional images after the jump.

Sugar Army

by Lost At E Minor

Sugar Army are four guys who've spent their lives in the dreamy slumber of West Australia, with their only savior from terminal boredom being music. With the lengthy titled opener, "And Now You're Old Enough, I Think That You Should Know," earning these indie rock purists high rotation on Australian radio network Triple J and community radio, the cheeky quartet have just added a slot at the Big Day Out music festival to their list of accolades. With raw bone bass lines and insanely addictive beats, this EP needs more than just kitschy multi-colored teddies littered across the cover, it needs their trademark disclaimer—diabetics beware.

Pick up the EP from their site or 78 Records.