John Stezaker, Marriage - 2006 Collage 23.5 x 28.5 cm (Photo courtesy of: saatchi-gallery.co.uk)

The British artist John Stezaker has a retrospective of his photographic collages in London at the Whitechapel Gallery and newly commissioned works on display at the Louis Vuitton Maison. Stezaker appropriates iconic imagery from the past, landscapes, vintage studio headshots of forgotten film stars, those that show up in old shoe boxes in antique shops collecting dust along with nostalgic memorabilia, waiting to be picked through, rediscovered.

What is unusual in Stezaker’s use of these images for his collages, is that his manipulation of them is minimal – often a single incision slices and splices two photographs creating uncanny symphony. Or a composite of just two images, a poster shot of a generic waterfall placed over a face, creates a window of such powerful reflection, that the simplicity in technique seems astonishing in the context of today’s excessive digital doctoring.

Mask XXXV, 2007 Photograph: © John Stezaker/Courtesy of Bona Montagu, London

© John Stezaker, Betrayal (Film Portrait Collage) XI 2007-8 collage unframed: 10.75 x 8.27 inches/27.3 x 21 cm (photo courtesy of: www.petzel.com Petzel Gallery)

Stezaker makes no effort to conceal his cuts or mitigate the edges, because here, it is the artist’s clever hand that is on display. In most cases Stezaker uses the two photographs, one juxtaposed to mask the other, or uses a continuous cutaway that reveals the second underneath. Despite the obvious edges, it takes a conscious effort at dislocation to see them as two separate halves. The perfectly poised studio portrait is turned into something more sinister with a skilled slash that imbues new meaning to the figure’s gaze. Sometimes the faces are mismatched between male and female leading to an androgynous gaze, penetrating beyond gender.

© John Stezaker, Marriage (Film Portrait Collage) XXVIII 2007 collage 29.6 x 23.8 cm (Photo courtesy of: saatchi-gallery.co.uk)

John Stezaker, Pair IV, 2007, Collage, Private Collection, © John Stezaker

Stezaker was in a bicycle accident in 2006 which injured the left side of his face, during which time he was inspired to make many of his collages. The broken symmetry of the composites, two perfect halves seem at times to make a grotesque whole. But for me, it is not the distortion created by the two that is the focus, (that would be too easy) but their unexpected resolution.

Stezaker has said about his process, “The image starts in some way to commune, which is to do with fascination. A state of unconsciousness. A sort of trance. I am interested in the way that images create trances, how they entrance and how one is seduced into them. And where one is taken if one follows.”

The ‘celebrity-style’ of headshots often have an illusory effect on the subconscious, feeling at once familiar to us – not just from their standard take on movie portraiture – but often from a trance-induced recognition, which sidesteps clashing details, and renders a single impression on our visual cortex. We see something recognizable and familiar – the nuances of a human face are psychologically inscribed, intuitive and timeless regardless of whether they are historically rendered or otherwise. Future viewers who will have access to an increasing archive of visual iconography from movies, films, photographs of the human face will perhaps find that celebrated figures of the past often reappear in likenesses, repeating themselves upon the human race, in the media, and in our subconscious.

How easily identity is tampered with. How differently we respond to an expression as it transitions into something unexpected from what we had assumed to be its natural completion. Symmetry is skewed, a smile warps into a sneer, the amalgam of the two unmasks a new potential.

Untitled, 1977 Photograph: © John Stezaker/Courtessy the Approach, London

The shot above is simply turned upside down to create a new perspective. Many artists work with appropriated images, but often the work has to be substantially altered to be justified as a new work of art as the Shepard Fairey lawsuit case illustrated. Today’s copyright laws regarding image appropriation might be limiting to many artists who might work along Stezaker’s principles of incorporation. Stezaker’s work makes an interesting point – not only does the artist work with found photography, but it is the simplicity of his alterations that carry the transformative force of generating new art.

The show at Whitechapel is supported by Louis Vuitton and they have also commissioned new works by Stezaker at their Maison on New Bond Street. At their Librairie bookstore, one can browse through Stezaker’s “Curated Shelf” – works that have inspired the artist.

John Stezaker, Marriage (Film Portrait Collage) XXXII, 2007 Collage Private Collection © John Stezaker

John Stezaker Marriage (Film Portrait Collage) LXI 2010 Collage Courtesy of the Artist and the Approach, London © The Artist

VICTOR SKREBNESKI (B. 1929) portrait of Dennis Hopper, 1990 gelatin silver diptych signed and dated in ink (on the recto) overall 19¼ x 29¼ in. (48.9 x 74.3 cm.) Sold: $9,375

Dennis Hopper (R.I.P.) began his art collection in the 1960s after actor Vincent Price, who was an impressionist art collector himself, had encouraged him, telling him it was where he needed to put his money. Dennis Hopper’s four children auctioned off their dad’s collection of 300 works of art at Christie’s today. Alex Hitz, a close friend and trustee of the estate told Associated Press, “it was Dennis’s wish to sell everything. How do you cut a Warhol and all those other wonderful pieces by four?”

One of the more notable pieces in this collection was Warhol’s Mao, a framed screenprint of Mao Zedong with two bullet holes, resulting from a wild night of partying when Hopper mistook the portrait on his wall for Mao himself and shot at it. When Hopper showed the bullet punctures later to Warhol, the pair agreed to call it a work of collaboration, with Warhol drawing circles around the two holes and labeling them “warning shot” and “bullet hole.” The mystique obviously added to its value as the screen print, which was estimated at $20-$30K, fetched quite a bit more: $302,500

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ (B. 1947) Portrait of Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken at Chateau Marmont, 1995, Estimated at $3-5K sold for $12.5K

Andy Warhol’s Mao, with Dennis Hopper’s bullet holes

JOEL-PETER WITKIN (B. 1939) Portrait of Nan New Mexico 1984

Meanwhile today at Bonham’s in London, the Urban Art Auction cleaned house today. Shepard Fairey’s ‘Change,’ (2008) Obama poster, one of an edition of 5000, which was signed, sold for £4,560. Banksy’s ‘Rude Copper’, (2002) sold for £9,600, and ‘Everytime I Make Love To You I Think Of Someone Else’, (2003) sold for a nice £42,000.

©Banksy, 'Everytime I Make Love To You I Think Of Someone Else', 2003

Christian Awe working on the pictures for Wynwood Kitchen and Bar October 2010, photo by Bernd Borchardt II

This year, during Art Basel week at Miami Beach, NYC-based gallery – The Hole’s Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman – curated new sets of sculptures and murals at Wynwood walls by artists including Ryan McGinness, Ben Jones, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Ron English and Kenny Scharf. The wall art covering the Wynwood District is becoming a refreshing alternative to the white-cube confines of more conventional gallery spaces in which art is traditionally sanctified. The labyrinths of walls at Wynwood are sponsored by Goldman Properties who benefit from the revitalization of the district, and these murals without a doubt enhance the aesthetics and property values of the flat-roofed run-down warehouses. The artworks from previous years by Shepard Fairey, Futura and Kenny Scharf have weathered well enough to become part of the Wall’s growing ‘permanent collections.’

Shepard Fairey Murals at WKB restaurant in the Wynwood District, photo by Martha Cooper

Additionally, Goldman’s restaurant on NW 2nd Avenue, Wynwood Kitchen & Bar (WKB), has been transformed from floor-to-ceiling with murals by Shepard Fairey and Christian Awe, magnifying the neighbourhood’s appeal as a watering-hole and cultural nexus for artists all year round.

Gallerist Jonathan LeVine contributed with an exhibition titled Urban Alchemists within the Wynwood complex, showing works from his stable of artists, including those by Dan Witz, Jim Houser, Doze Green, Invader, Jeff Soto, and WK. Tony Goldman and his daughter and partner Jessica Goldman Srebnick kicked off the event with more than 2000 people attending the live performances and dancing to DJ’s Andrew and Andrew. Jeff Soto painted a mural and Invader created a pixilated mosaic on one the walls of Levine’s space.

Friendswithyou, one of the exhibitors at Wynwood also created a playful field of fun inflatable displays at the Paper Mag/AOL event held in the Design District the same night with Pharrell perfoming live and Shepard Fairey attending. And Ryan McGinness later showed up at Club Madonna, a strip club, where he airbrushed and painted nude dancers during a night of rather dubious artistic events.

Ron English at Wynwood Walls by Martha Cooper

Stuck-Up sticker wall at Wynwood Walls Miami 2010. Photo: Martha Cooper

Stuck-Up sticker wall after opening night. Photo: Dale Posner

Shepard Fairey and friends

SPREAD|Artculture magazine co-hosted a party with The Supper Club in honor of iconic artist Shepard Fairey at the H.Wood Tea Room. Party-goers were treated to bespoke Bombay Sapphire tea-based cocktails that were paired with sumptuous Indian food from Deep Sethi, owner of Bombay Palace and Nirvana in Beverly Hills.

Shepard Fairey is the founder of creative agency Studio Number One. At the after party, Studio Number One’s animated art became part of an interactive texting experience where guests were invited to text their answers to the question “The secret of happiness is…”. Answers were displayed throughout the night for everyone to see.

The Txtual Healing installation, the beautiful table setting at H.Wood Tea Room

SPREAD|Artculture Managing Editor Louisa St. Pierre, Supper Club's Tamsin Lonsdale, Amanda Fairey, and Shepard Fairey

To view more pictures from the event, visit PatrickMcMullan.com

Mr. Brainwash, aka Thierry Guetta, holding court over his maze on West 13th Street

“If you do something you love, you become an icon, because you do it so well that in one moment, everybody appreciates it,” says Thierry Guetta, leaning back in a paint-splattered Eames lounge chair in the middle of his newest exhibition, Icons. The street artist-turned gallery sensation went on to talk about his time spent decorating the walls and sidewalks of New York: “The street is just a large gallery to me. Even the people that don’t like it are obligated to see it. There are no rules on the street, there is just freedom. Thousands of people can see it.”

During the first week of his debut New York show, it’s safe to say that no one could have anticipated the turnout that the gallery at 415 West 13th Street has seen. “People started lining up at five o’clock in the morning to get into the gallery, because they knew they were going to get a screen print.” In the few days since the show has been open, it’s received an incredible amount of foot traffic, attributed directly to the marketing phenomenon behind Guetta’s show, his alter ego, Mr. Brainwash.

Mr. Brainwash's Street Art in the Meatpacking District

A highly excitable man with a wild nest of black and gray curls sitting underneath his signature fedora, Brainwash spoke to me through an old pair of aviators, their lenses splattered with paint. I questioned their practicality, but it just adds to the “Mr. Brainwash starter kit,” complete with a pair of old sneakers and jeans so thoroughly covered in every shade of paint imaginable, it almost seems contrived. Almost. Until he starts speaking about his art, frantically moving around the 15,000 square foot gallery. “So the other day I was hanging this painting of Madonna and I thought that I would like to color her face more.” He reached up to said painting and recreated smearing paint on his hands and rubbing it across her eyes and mouth. I said I liked it. “I’m always added to my work, even years from now, I will look at something and want to change it. I’m not a guy who gets mad when someone is carrying one of my paintings and he drops it. I’m not going to run up to him and yell at him about how he destroyed it and it’s worth so much money. I’m going to say ‘You know what, it looks beautiful.’ Accidents can improve work. I accept everything that happens to me in a good way. It’s always enjoyment to me.” I considered testing this theory by reaching up and ripping a piece of vinyl off the broken-record collage on the canvas that we stood admiring, but knowing what I do about how much his work has been going for since his first show, I decided against it.

From Mr. Brainwash's "Icons"

As we strode through the gallery, the door never stopped opening. People were in and out all day, some staying for hours at a time and reclining on the furniture with friends. The look on their faces was a calm, satisfied one. They could understand the art they were seeing and enjoy it. It’s wasn’t overly cerebral for the Sunday afternoon browsers, tire kickers, and tourists.

Amidst the chaos, SPREAD ArtCulture was able to get him to sit down (not an easy task) and give us the details on his new work and artistic philosophies.

SPREAD ArtCulture: Tell us about your show. What makes someone an icon?

Mr. Brainwash: It’s people who really give deep effort in life and make something out of it. And what I like about icons, there are some people who come from nothing. Take Jimi Hendrix: I’m sure he came from a poor family and things, but he had the passion in life and he had something he wanted to do. He was not just about money or success but it was about believing in something he loved. If you do something you love, you become an icon, because you do it so well that one moment everybody appreciates it. It’s like the guy from Twitter who is twenty-five. To do something so giant that everybody in the world are using what he did and he’s twenty-five! It’s for me to show the people that you can do it. There’s a possibility you just have to do what you love in life. All of the people (in this exhibit) they’re just normal people, just like everybody else. Somewhere it’s like giving a message to the ordinary people that you can do it. Just go for it.

SAC: Your work is influenced, quite clearly, by some of today’s commercial art frontrunners: Shepard Fairey, Banksy, and Warhol’s ubiquitous pop art portraits. How is what you’re doing different from what they’ve already done?

Mr. B: When I did my first show, a lot of people said, “He looks like this, it looks like this guy’s,” but somewhere, it’s like I’ve said, you cannot judge somebody by their first show. You have to let them evolve. Like my new show, “Icons,” I don’t see any resemblance of any other artists today. You couldn’t say that you see Shepard (Fairey)’s work. I don’t see it. You couldn’t say, “This looks like a Banksy.” Little by little, I’m finding my way of being my own artist. I don’t believe that nobody doesn’t look at someone else. That’s what the recycle of the world is. It’s like me putting a taxi in a box. I’ve never seen it before and it’s something that I wanted to do.

SAC: What are you doing to further culture?

Mr. B: I don’t think too much, the only thing I do is try to do something that will make people happy. I’m not here to judge myself or what’s going to happen to me in my life. You can’t judge someone without knowing him, you need to give him time to do his own thing. During my first show, they were trying to judge me and I asked them to “Let me go, it’s my first show. You’ll see if I’m a copycat or if I’m good or bad.” You cannot get away from talent. If you have it, you have it.

SAC: Do you have talent?

Mr. B: Talent is something that is a judgment. I just work. My talent is just to work. Every single day is another life to me. One life, one day. The next day is another life. You have to be in the moment. I do everything with passion. You can have talent, but not use it. There’s a million people who are more talented than I am, but maybe they don’t work to get it all out.

SAC: Are you going to keep filming?

Mr. B: I don’t know. I’m so involved with making art now, I don’t have the time. I did it for so long: twelve years non stop. I have more than thirty-thousand hours of footage. I’m going on another path.

SAC: What do you want people to think and feel about your art when they come into this exhibition space and see your work for the first time?

Mr. B: I want people to have fun. I want for them to be able to do something with it, to get influenced by it and maybe go home and start doing some art of their own. Right now, sitting here with you, I hear kids running around and to me, this is the best thing possible. I didn’t do anything wrong with this show. It would come with too strong a message, because maybe a kid would see it and not understand it. You can bring people from two years old to seventy-five years old and they can enjoy the show. I will let the other artists be controversial. I just want people to smile.

"There are no rules or judgement in the world of art for me." -Mr. Brainwash

Nothing could stop Art Basel from having another successful year in Miami. Not a recession, not adverse conditions—though heavy rain and flooding destroyed a few works of art—could keep the droves of people from returning to south Florida and jamming the aisles of all participating spaces and the streets of the Design District.

What felt like most of Miami—and New York, LA, and Europe’s art communities—flocked mostly to the Miami Convention Center in search of fine art and design. The more adventurous patrons made their way across the causeway and back to the mainland.

Comparing SCOPE to Art Basel at the Convention Center is like comparing the Uptown and Downtown scenes in New York; they’re total opposites. For those who have never been, Art Basel is made up of several different parts: Art Basel, SCOPE, Pulse, Art Asia, and the bevy of neighborhood galleries that fling open their doors during the week and curate exhibitions of their own. Truth be told, these are often the most interesting shows to experience, as they have no preconceptions and are akin to Dash’s old shows at Deitch circa 2005: completely uninhibited.

New York Street Artist Judith Supine's Newest Work

One such show was “Art Whino,” which was held at Charcoal Gallery on 1st Avenue in Miami. A somewhat industrial and raw space, the exhibition was curated with the likes of Barry McGee and early Shepard Fairey in mind. Silkscreens as far as the eye could see, paired with stencils on canvas…on top of other stencils on canvas, chunky oils, and collages. Paired with knowledgeable curators and the artists themselves mixing with their constituents, it had a refreshing absence of the structured art-fair feeling.

"It's Better to Burn Out Than to Fade Away," at Charcoal Gallery's Art Whino

In the big top, Gagosian and Deitch were the undisputed heavy-hitters. Jeffrey brought out his customary big guns—Julian Schnabel, Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Keith Haring, Swoon, and Ryan McGuiness—while Gagosian countered with the likes of Richard Prince, Basquiat, Warhol, and Jeff Koons.

Barry McGee's "99 Bottles on the Wall"

"Aung San Suu" by Shepard Fairey at Deitch Projects

Jeff Koons at Gagosian

Stay tuned for more Art Basel updates throughout the week.

True Self: A Group Exhibition Curated by Gary Baseman

Saturday marked the opening of Gary Baseman’s newest oeuvre, True Self, at Manhattan’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery. The group exhibition brings together the work of 40 artists, including Baseman, Ron English, Boris Hoppek, Eric White, Mark Todd, and others. Baseman left the theme open to encourage individual interpretation and there are no size or medium restrictions, so that each participating artist has complete creative freedom on the subject at hand.

"Temptation" by Gary Baseman

In his own words, Baseman elaborates: “In this exhibition, I have invited a group of painters, photographers, and sculptors, to look deep inside themselves and create an image that they feel represents their own passion or obsession. They might imagine themselves as anyone or anything—a wolf, a cupcake, a mermaid, even a skyscraper. I am requesting each artist to create an artwork that represents his or her true self. I am not asking for (nor do I want) a self-portrait. Rather, I’m requesting that the participating artists pick an icon, metaphor, or symbol that they feel represents their true essence. The desired result is a breaking of boundaries to allow a space and time where we can discover, accept, and love our true selves, feeling nirvana and heaven on earth.”

"Good Grin" by Ron English

Sharing the LeVine Gallery space is Make Room For The Emptiness, a solo exhibition of new works by Philadelphia artist, Jim Houser. Consisting of paintings, sculptures, and a musical score to accompany the exhibition, this is Houser’s third solo show at the gallery.

Make Room For The Emptiness marks a subtle departure in style and sophistication for Houser, resulting in a cleaner, simpler, more mature approach to his installation. For the past several years, his work has been heavily influenced by intense physical and emotional pain due to a congenital health problem and grief suffered from personal tragedy. Honoring the memory of his late wife, while also suffering from health issues, Houser’s work has often been a practice in cathartic meditation, driven by memory and mourning.

"Doses" by Jim Houser

Shepard Fairey says of Houser’s work: “When I think of Jim houser and his art, I’m alway struck by the bond he consistently forges with his audience, the way every work of his shows me a piece of myself while at the same time reflecting his own catharsis. Jim’s paintings and installations span the entire spectrum of human emotion, but he never seems to pass judgment, leaving the bias up to the viewer’s discretion. Being Jim’s friend is synonymous with being a collector of his art – no one is more generous when it comes to requiting the admiration he gets from the people around him. The pieces in my collection all stand out individually, but there’s something about the gestalt of his installations, the way that each compartment melds seamlessly into the integrated whole, that creates an atmosphere of a bigger picture. Maybe that’s just my interpretation of it.”

"The Hit Taker" by Jim Houser

Both shows are running through November 21st.

By JRS

Manny Garcia’s photo for the AP (left) and Shepard Fairey’s exegesis “HOPE”

Shepard Fairey’s claim that he had the right to use a news photo to create his famous Barack Obama “HOPE” poster became a widely watched court case about fair use that now appears to have nearly collapsed. By Friday, October 16th, his attorneys—led by Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University—had withdrawn from the case and said the artist had misled them by fabricating information and destroying other material.

Fairey himself admitted on numerous accounts that he didn’t use The Associated Press photo of Obama seated next to actor George Clooney he originally said his work was based on, which he claimed would have been covered under “fair use,” the legal claim that copyrighted work can be used without having to pay for it. Instead, he used a picture the news organization has claimed was his source—a solo picture of the future president seemingly closer to the iconic red, white, and blue image of Obama, underlined with the caption “HOPE.” Shepard said that he tried to cover up his error by submitting false images and deleting others.

“Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used,” said AP vice president and general counsel Srinandan R. Kasi. “Mr. Fairey has also now admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions.”

Kasi said Fairey’s admission struck “at the heart” of Fairey’s defense that he was protected by fair use.

Shepard Fairey during a court appearance in Boston

Fairey, 39, had claimed he based his “HOPE” drawing on a photo of then-Sen. Obama seated next to Clooney. The photo was taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia, on assignment for the AP, at the National Press Club in Washington. Fairey now says he started with a solo photograph of Obama—taken at the same event, by the same photographer (The AP has long maintained that Fairey used the solo shot for the poster).

Fairey sued the not-for-profit news cooperative in February, arguing that he didn’t violate copyright law because he dramatically changed the image. The AP countersued in March, saying the uncredited, uncompensated use of an AP photo violated copyright laws and signaled a threat to journalism.

Fairey, a Los Angeles-based street artist with a long, often proud history of breaking rules, said in a statement Friday that he was wrong about which photo he used and that he tried to hide his error. ”In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images,” said Fairey. “I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone.”

He said he was taking steps to correct the information and regretted that he didn’t come forward sooner.

Attorneys for Fairey have withdrawn and, in papers filed Friday in federal court in Manhattan, stated that he misled them. They also amended the original court documents, reflecting that Fairey used a different picture. Although he said he was “very sorry to have hurt and disappointed colleagues, friends, and family,” Fairey said that the real issue was “the right to fair use” so artists can create freely.

“Regardless of which of the two images was used,” he said, “the fair use issue should be the same.”

The dispute between Fairey and the AP has led to a strong debate between artists and free speech advocates defending Fairey and photographers and journalism organizations citing the need for copyright protection.

Art for Obama: Creating Manifest Hope and the Campaign for Change, Edited by Shepard and Jennifer Gross, 2009 Abrams Image

SPREAD ArtCulture welcomes readers to submit their thoughts on this issue below, as it has been a hot-button item in the art world for the past year.