E.V.Day Photographed by Bobby Fisher at her studio © Bobby Fisher 2012

In the summer of 2010 E.V. Day was invited as artist-in-residence at Monet’s estate in Giverny, France. Her collaboration there with performance artist Kembra Pfahler, (of the band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black) is the focus of an exhibition that constructs a faux Giverny-like habitat at the Hole gallery in NYC.

A hot pink nude Kembra Pfahler, evil Barbie incarnate, appears as a toxic garden-nymph clashing with Monet’s manufactured serenity – and yet lives in harmonic tension with its Edensque backdrop: Like fleurs de mal, Kembra sits poised on the bridge, waiting bait, much like the garden’s radiant blooms that seduce pollinators with vivid sexual displays.

While at the Giverny estate, the artist collected and dried some of the more spectacular flower specimens, exposing their bio-symmetries and vulvic plumbing.

Seducers I (Suite of 6) - Chromogenic archival prints 32 x 32 Crystal Archive Prints Editioned by Carolina Nitsch © E.V.Day

Untitled 21 - Giverny, 2012 a Collaboration with Kembra Pfahler © E.V.Day at Hole Gallery, NYC

Bobby Fisher photographed E.V. Day at her Brooklyn studio spotlighting some of the artist’s ongoing projects, including her mummified Barbie series in which she wraps the dolls into totemic artifacts, referencing current cultural obsessions in preserving and fetishizing female beauty while creating a link to archeological Venus figurines of the past.

E.V.Day's Studio - Photograph by Bobby Fisher © Bobby Fisher 2012

E.V.Day's Studio - Photograph by Bobby Fisher © Bobby Fisher 2012

E.V.Day's Studio - Photograph by Bobby Fisher © Bobby Fisher 2012

Seducers II (Suite of 6) - Chromogenic archival prints 32 x 32 Crystal Archive Prints Editioned by Carolina Nitsch © E.V.Day

More Information:

GIVERNY By E.V. Day and Kembra Pfahler

March 30th – April 24th, 2012

at The Hole gallery 312 Bowery, NYC

EV Day website

Bobby Fisher

Werner Herzog in CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, directed by Werner Herzog. A Sundance Selects Release

The new Werner Herzog 3D film Cave Of Forgotten Dreams documents the most enigmatic ancient drawings ever found, drawn by human hands, on the walls of the Chauvet Cave in France. These 30,000 year-old cave drawings of the first ever human art were discovered in 1994, but since their exposure to the general public, the stale breath of human hordes and the stampede of foot traffic, had caused moulds to appear on the walls of the caves, and subsequently, access has been extremely restricted.

The film explores the first tangible evidence in the human instinct to make art. Hand prints of the artists immortalize the most basic human signature, and suggest a universal longing to be remembered. Some of the etchings were overdrawn with others 5000 years later, which indicates the walls were used for graffiti and art through many later generations of humans, and perhaps these ancient art galleries inspired communal and spiritual gatherings.

Werner Herzog in CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, directed by Werner Herzog. Photo Credit: Marc Valesella A Sundance Selects Release

Werner Herzog was only permitted to enter the caves for one week of filming. Photo Credit: Marc Valesella

The 3D viewing enhances the experience of being inside the cave for these ancient artists took advantage of the flow and movement of the interior walls. Herzog says in an NPR interview, “When I saw photos, it looked almost like flat walls — maybe slightly undulating or so. Thank God, I went in there without any camera a month before shooting. What you see in there is limestone, and you have these wildly undulating walls — you have bulges and niches and pendants of rock, and there’s a real incredible drama of information. The artists utilized it for their paintings… So it was clear it was imperative to do this in 3-D, in particular, because we were the only ones ever allowed to film.”

Still from CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, directed by Werner Herzog. A Sundance Selects Release

The score by Ernst Reijseger lent the film a slightly mawkish sense of drama, but when Herzog observed stillness and silence instead, the experience was far more awe-inspiring and exalting. The shading and fluidity of the drawn lines appear incredibly sophisticated and brings to perspective the arrogance with which we choose to view ‘caveman’ art as ‘primitive’ culture. A drawing of a bull which appears to be mounting a lion with female genitalia, could be ancient erotica or some kind of shaministic allegory that predates the Cretan myths, but more importantly, these ancient drawings capture the more universal human instinct to create, and the inchoate urge for transcendence.

Looking at the voluptuous Venus figurines - Nicolas Conard and Werner Herzog in CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, directed by Werner Herzog. Photo Credit: Marc Valesella A Sundance Selects Release

Cave of Forgotten Dreams can be seen in 3D at IFC Center, 323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street

Photo: Nick & Chloé/Bernstein & Andriulli

Photography duo Nick & Chloé take you into a dark world inspired by Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet for their photo-story “Elsinore” in the latest issue of SPREAD|Artculture magazine. The setting of the play is Elsinore, the Danish royal castle where the young prince Hamlet struggles with the recent passing of his father, King Hamlet, and the many deaths that ensue in his desire for revenge.

Nick & Chloé’s modern interpretation takes place in a Paquebot-style machine factory built in the 1960s in the French suburbs. Notes the photographers, “We thought it was the perfect location to echo Hamlet’s home, Elsinore. The map is a clue, indicating capitalism and industry. We also wanted to echo the end of an empire, a feeling of crisis.”

Hamlet is portrayed as a lost prince in “a time of decay and abandon,” explains Nick & Chloé. Hamlet’s expressions, offset by his pale skin, reflect the somber and nostalgic mood. Objects placed in the vacant office such as the veal’s feet and the butterfly symbolize decay and death.

The prince must deal with betrayal, corruption, loneliness, and madness until he meets his untimely end. To see the full story, flip to page 148 of SPREAD|Artculture magazine.

Photo: Nick & Chloé/Bernstein & Andriulli

Photo: Nick & Chloé/Bernstein & Andriulli

Photo: Nick & Chloé/Bernstein & Andriulli

Nick & Chloé intend to continue the series with Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother.

Story: Elsinore
Photography: Nick & Chloé
Styling: Ines Fendri
Art Department: Patricia Clairet
Model: Benoit Barnay@ Nine Daughters and Stereo
Make-up: Eva M’Baye @ B-agency
Retouching: Lee Hickman @ Happy Finish

Rob Pruitt and the Delusional Downtown Divas

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum recently announced with event partner Calvin Klein Collection a new art event premiering in 2009: Rob Pruitt’s The First Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Association with White Columns, to be held on Thursday, October 29, 2009.

Artist Rob Pruitt, whose conceptual practice is rooted in a pop sensibility and a playful critique of art world structures, has conceived the event as a performance-based artwork which follows the format of a Hollywood awards ceremony. The Art Awards will be an annual celebration of select individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant impact on the field of contemporary art during the previous year, specifically, for this year’s ceremony, from January 2008 to June 2009.

According to Mr. Pruitt, “This annual gesture will function as a community-building and philanthropic event for the Guggenheim Museum, White Columns and, in 2009, Studio in a School, while simultaneously mobilizing the wide ranging talents and energies of the international arts community, focusing on our mutual admiration and support for one another’s unique endeavors.” Mr. Pruitt continued, “With one eye on supporting our great institutions, and the other on injecting our community with a renewed sense of energy, spirit, and a dash of showbiz glamour, we are pleased to announce this very unique event.”

Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum, stated, “As the impresario behind the First Annual Art Awards, Rob Pruitt presents a daring new event model injected with the humor that underscores his work. Pruitt’s orchestration of this performative piece—with the rotunda as center stage—is aligned with the Guggenheim’s mission to continue to engage and present contemporary artists.”

“The First Annual Art Awards, held at the Guggenheim Museum, will celebrate today’s most interesting and respected artists, in an entirely innovative way,” said Malcolm Carfrae, EVP Global Communications, Calvin Klein, Inc. “Calvin Klein, Inc. has always been a huge supporter of the arts and we are thrilled to be a part of such a groundbreaking event that celebrates the arts community and gives it the recognition it deserves.”

Pruitt has invited the Delusional Downtown Divas to preside over the event as Masters of Ceremonies, and Glenn O’Brien will step in as the Announcer, or, as Pruitt describes his role, as “the Voice of God.” An additional distinguished list of presenters will participate in distributing the awards, created by Pruitt to resemble a celebratory bucket of champagne that also serves as a fully functional lamp. The presenters will include Cecily Brown, Sofia Coppola, James Franco, Knight Landesman, Nate Lowman, and Mary-Kate Olsen, among others. Original music has been composed by Matthew Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, who will perform at the event. Christine Muhlke, food editor of the New York Times Magazine, is curating the cuisine for the seated dinner.

Lifetime Achievement Awards, determined by Rob Pruitt along with organizing partners the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and White Columns, will be awarded to Joan Jonas and Kasper König. In addition, a group of more than four hundred art world professionals has been invited to form a Nominating Council that will select four nominees in nine categories that focus primarily on exhibitions and projects that took place over the preceding eighteen months (January 2008 to June 2009), in the United States, as well as one category recognizing an international exhibition. The Rob Pruitt Award is being decided solely by the artist. Of the following list of nominees, a larger group (including the Nominating Council) will establish the eventual winners, who will be announced at the live awards ceremony on October 29. The ten categories—in addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award—and the nominees for each category are:

Artist of the Year
• Louise Bourgeois
• Urs Fischer
• Dan Graham
• Mary Heilmann

Curator of the Year
• Klaus Biesenbach
• Daniel Birnbaum
• Connie Butler
• Massimiliano Gioni

Exhibitions Outside the United States
• Francis Bacon, Tate Britain, London
• Jeff Koons, Versailles, Château de Versailles, France
• Mike Kelley: Educational Complex Onwards: 1995–2008, Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels
• Wolfgang Tillmans: Lighter, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin

Group Show of the Year, Gallery
• A Twilight Art, Harris Lieberman, New York
• Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns? Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
• Your Gold Teeth II, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
• ZERO in New York, Sperone Westwater, New York

Group Show of the Year, Museum
• After Nature, New Museum, New York
• The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• The Quick and the Dead, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
• WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York

New Artist of the Year
• Elad Lassry
• Daniel McDonald
• Marlo Pascual
• Ryan Trecartin

The Rob Pruitt Award
• To be announced the evening of October 29, 2009

Solo Show of the Year, Gallery
• Cindy Sherman, Metro Pictures, New York
• Manzoni: A Retrospective, Gagosian Gallery, New York
• Paul Sharits, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
• Picasso: Mosqueteros, Gagosian Gallery, New York

Solo Show of the Year, Museum
• Dan Graham: Beyond, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Lawrence Weiner: As Far as the Eye Can See, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton, New Museum, New York
• Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Museum of Modern Art, New York

Writer of the Year
• Tim Griffin
• John Kelsey
• Walter Robinson
• Jerry Saltz