Exit Art, the 28-year-old Manhattan-based cultural center, will celebrate Monday June 7, 2010 with the highly anticipated benefit auction ECSTASY.

This year’s event will be led by artist Co-Chairs, Ida Applebroog, Kate Gilmore and the Bruce High Quality Foundation. In addition, Exit Art welcomes special guest, actor and activist Michael Douglas - a visionary artist who stands for causes and progressive views that Exit Art champions.

The 2010 gala includes artwork by a range of artists from Exit Art’s impressive history. More than one hundred distinguished artists are donating work to this occasion, including Vito Acconci, Ida Applebroog, Bruce High Quality Foundation, John Baldessari, Kate Gilmore, Yoko Ono, Roxy Paine, Lorna Simpson, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Bill Viola, among others.

Public Consumption
Posted 27 May 2010 | by Justin Solitrin  

OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday May 27th
General Public: 6-10PM
Press/VIP: 5-6PM
Please RSVP to Hanaleigh.production@gmail.com

Curated by Tanya Rosenstein, Jillian Leigh Federman, and Kevin Bourgeois

FEATURING:
Adam Wallacavage, Alex Rickard, Alliah Sophia Morad, Andreas Laszlo Konrath, Bob Geile, Brandee Brown, Brian Ermanski, Buddy Nestor, Curtis Kulig, Casey Neistat, Chaw Ei Thein, David Komurek, DAZE, Edda Hansen, Edouard Nardon, Elisa Jimenez, Gordon Stevenson, Harry McNally, Heidi Hartwig, Jake Cohen, Jake Lavin, Jeffrey Robbins, Jeremiah Mandel, John Kolbek, Jordan Seiler, Justin Solitrin, Kevin Bourgeois, Maripol, Mint and Serf, Niki Sabet, Pasha Radetski, Pork and Spam, Robert Waltzer, Sebastian Black, Shawn Regurto, Suzette Lee, Tristan Eaton, Van Neistat, William Robbins, and Yuri Shimoj

THE PUFFIN ROOM,
located in SoHo
435 Broome St.
NY,NY 10013
212-343-2881
www.puffinroom.org

Wednesday to Sunday from 12PM-6PM

Hanaleigh Productions is pleased to present “Public Consumption”, a group exhibition curated by Tanya Rosenstein, Jillian Federman, and Kevin Bourgeois. This exhibition will be examining and exploring the rise of voyeurism in popular culture, the violation of the individual and by extension, the artist, and the potential cause and effect of its prevalence on our generation. Opening May 27th, 40 New York City based artists will explore the notion of voyeurism in our society using various mediums ranging from video to photography, painting and sculpture.

We have become a world of voyeurs, a voyeur generation. We like to watch others intimate moments revealed, and compare those moments to our own. Although spectatorship is far from new phenomena, today a confluence of factors – legal, social, political, and technological – has pushed voyeurism to the forefront of our image-based society. What will the lasting effects of societies increasing need to reveal and compare be?

Much of our social reality today is generated through mass-media and public content, such as television shows, video games, inter-web communication and motion pictures, rather than by direct first hand experience with people, places and practices.

Today’s fascination with peering and gazing into places, from which we typically are forbidden, has created a society of self-voyeurs. We engage in activities where we volunteer ourselves to becoming the subject and object of spectatorship.

The Puffin Room invites you to see our take on the cause and effect of the voyeuristic nature of our generation that will undoubtedly have a lasting effect on generations to come.

Stare at us staring right back at you.

Related Links:
Puffin Room : http://www.puffinroom.org/

Even Teens Know Damien Hirst Can Print Money
Posted 01 May 2010 | by Jennifer Nies  

Damien Hirst's place in the art world continues to spawn absurd and entertaining new dynamics in the relationship between art and money. Last week, an on the fly drawing Hirst doodled as a tip for a cab driver sold for close to $16,000. The uber crude sketch was dedicated to the cab driver's 15-year-old son, who had encouraged his father to request it the next time he picked Hirst up. The boy immediately turned around and sold it at auction. The buyer was a "private UK collector" according to the Bloomsbury, the auction house where the piece was sold.

Workin' the Wood
Posted 22 April 2010 | by Jennifer Nies  

Everyone loves a secret compartment and Onitsuka Tiger's five amazing Tansu shoes sculptures have got them. The most inconspicuous of nooks, hidden in the most conspicuous of shoes.

The five unique chests were constructed, shaved and finished to perfection on the floor of Ogura Tansu Ten, a 226 year old Japanese wood shop. The iron accented chests were commissioned by Onitsuka Tiger to help expose the world to Tansu, the Japanese woodworking tradition.

Like all good shoes, the five chests weren't crafted to stay in one place. They'll be trotting the globe so catch the exhibits if you can at special events this spring/summer. Or take a photo animated tour of the art pieces here.

Related Links:
Onitsuka Tiger : http://www.asicsamerica.com/
Onitsuka Tiger : http://www.asicsamerica.com/onitsukatiger/

Kelis Brings It
Posted 22 April 2010 | by Alex Catarinella     | by Sheena Beaston  

Yes, Kelis brought her milkshake to Santo's Party House last night for an intimate performance. And so much more: a kick ass entrance with water cascading from the rafters, a glow-in-the-dark tambourine, a light-saber like microphone stand and even a bubble machine. More importantly, the NYC-native showed off those brassy pipes by singing new tracks from her forthcoming album, Flesh Tone, and mixing up past hits. (My gayness came out in full force when she went from Madonna's "Holiday" into "Milkshake.") And she did it all in a white lace unitard and a floor-length fringe cape while whipping the shit out of her braid and playfully backing it up to the packed crowd who bounced in their skinny jeans like it was a pre-Giuliani rave. Kelis told the crowd, "I didn't come just for your enjoyment—I came for my enjoyment too." Shout out to the shit-show security staff situation outside Santo's who made me miss opener Maluca—she sounded like she killed it from what I could hear outside. And a big hells yeah to Skeet Skeet who played a little Aaliyah. Maybe it was that I felt pretty contact high from the ganja-smokers in the claustrophobic party house, but as a red confetti explosion rained down while Kelis sang crowd favorite "Acapella," I started contemplating: Why is Kelis still underrated as a performer in America while clowns like Ke$ha try to recycle her costumes from last season? And then she came out for a stripped-down encore and let that smokey voice of hers soar and I thought, You can have the sold-out stadiums with Beyonce and 30 dancers. I wouldn't mind keeping Kelis to myself after all.

Related Links:
Photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheenabeaston/sets/72157623784633323/
Kelis Website : http://www.iamkelis.com/acapella/