Wet dreams now has a new meaning as two photographers and fiveartists set their sights on exploring the liquid landscape that covers the majority of the planet we live on.

For humans water has a timeless fascination. Covering 2/3 the surface of our planet, water nourishes, cools, cleans, entertains, and inspires us. And no wonder, as is commonly known, 96% of our bodies is comprised of water, we are literally made of the stuff. In our embryonic state we develop while floating in a sort of inland sea, sporting the gills that suggest our own distant evolution from the enveloping oceans. As a subject for artists, water is an endlessly fluid metaphor presenting an ever-changing surface of reflection, complex color, and translucent mystery. Its’ varied nature can be seen as a mirror to our own mercurial moods. Rain can be soothing or pelting, a stream can murmur gently or roar with destructive force. Water is the only element that we know well in all its’ different states frozen, liquid, and gas, but it is the liquid state flowing, turbulent, or still that most attracts us. In Slippery When Wet, 5 painters and 2 photographers explore this liquid realm bringing the stillness of art and a variety of sensibilities to bear on the the restless motion of this most common yet still elusive element.

The exhibition is being shown at Metaphor Contemporary Art. There’s two months left for this exhibition so make sure to get there if you’re in the New York area, it’s definitely worth a visit.

Timeline: 2009-09-18 To 2009-11-22 Opening Reception on 2009-09-18 from 18:00 to 21:00

Artists: Suzan Batu, Susan Homer, Joanne Mattera, Nancy Manter, Andrew Mockler, Don Muchow, Peter Schroth

Website http://www.metaphorcontemporaryart.com/Ex_SlipWet.html

Price: Free Venue Hours: 12:00 To 6:00 Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Holidays

Directions: Between Hoyt and Bond St. Subway: A/C/G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn, F/G to Bergen Street 382 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217

Phone: 718-254-9126

Somewhere between found art, Picasso, and industrial design is where Object Factory’s newest US based installation takes place.

Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics is the first major U.S. museum exhibition to survey contemporary innovation in industrial ceramic production and the renaissance of ceramics in art and design today. The exhibition explores how artists and designers are reviving interest in ceramics through collaborations with industry that enhance and sometimes subvert the industrial process. Object Factory presents works created for leading manufacturers as well as artworks by independent artists and designers. Both non-functional and functional works are highlighted, as are important technological advances in ceramic material that allow for its use in electronic appliances, cutting implements, and other surprising products.

Object Factory has more than some 200 works by over fifty artists, designers, and industry manufacturers. This large collection features work by some of the greatest American, European, and Russian designers. The exhibit runs from May 6 to September 13th and it can be found at the Museum of Arts and Design

By train: A, B, C, D or No. 1 to Columbus Circle at 59th Street; N, R, Q or W to 57th Street and 7th Avenue F to 57th Street and 6th Avenue By bus: M5, M7, M10, M20, M30 and M104 to Columbus Circle at 59th Street or 57th Street and 8th Avenue

Museum Hours Tue. – Sun. 11:00 am to 6:00 pm Thurs. 11:00 am to 9:00 pm Closed Mon. and Major Holidays

SUMMER HOURS: Due to popular demand, the Museum will be open on Tuesdays from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm throughout the summer.

An icon in the history of fashion photography, the works in this collection span his career of capturing cultural changes with the same vitality of the time, breaking the mold of what was a more reserved world of simply showing clothes. The Richard Avedon exhibition runs until September 6th [more information here], but while its appearance is an unusual occurrence in a formal exhibition setting, fashion seems to have spread beyond the ICP.

“The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of art is also exploring fashion, offering a look at the changing silhouettes and beauty ideals in relation to the changing times and culture of the times as shown in fashion photography, videos, and the fashions on display. The exhibition is surprising for what is traditionally expected from The Met, and is definitely a must-see exhibition before it ends on August 9th for those interested in fashion as a whole. [More information about the exhibition at the met here.]

[Images via http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.5079531/k.9571/Avedon_Fashion.htm and http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={EB2C67EF-1CCB-4EB2-9329-A955A7EDFBC2}&HomePageLink=special_c3b]

Isao Takezawa

The first of which is the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, otherwise known as ICFF (http://www.icff.com/page/home.asp). Going from May 16, 2009 – May 19, 2009, the show will present a great number of wonderful designs from around the world. While, it does last 4 days, it is unfortunate that only one day is available to the general public, and that is Tuesday the 19th. Among the designers is a group of RISD students, with such beautifully unique pieces as featured in a recent Fast Company article (which you can find here).

Another exciting event is the National Stationery Show (http://www.nationalstationeryshow.com/), beginning the 17th, another trade show, but without an opening to the general public. But if you are able to register with the needed requirements, it is yet another show that I would recommend, just from my sheer obsession with stationery goods.

Those who don’t qualify for the trade shows, Tuesday’s furniture show for the general public may be the only opportunity to get into one of these events, but in any case it promises to be a great show (with a high likelihood of being extremely crowded).

[Image from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/kids-are-alright-risd-exhibition-icff]

A fun new exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, that opened last week, offers a look at the versatility and creative opportunities that come with working with felt. The exhibition, “Fashioning Felt”, includes the work of over 20 designers spanning products, furniture, fashion, and even architecture.

If you were wondering how to bring more felt into your life, this is without a doubt the exhibition for you!

But in all seriousness, the exhibition offers the opportunity to see how felt-making techniques are transformed into surprising results. Like the exquisite felt necklace with coral beads by Brigit Daamen, a necklace that shows both the durability and fragility of felt… or the very surprising Felt Rocks by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen that will give your pet rock some competition.

The exhibition can be found at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, in New York City:

2 East 91st Street
New York, NY 10128

More information is offered on the Cooper-Hewitt’s website for the exhibition: http://exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org/Fashioning-Felt/

[Images from http://exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org/Fashioning-Felt/]

Today, as many of you might know, is René Magritte’s birthday; he was born November 21, 1898. His paintings both witty and thought-provoking are known all throughout the world.  René Magritte was an extrodinary surrealist painter, although like many artists, it wasn’t until the near end of his life that his art was truly recognized.

Many of the paintings in this event come from the massive collection stored in Belgium’s Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts, the exhibition will host  Magritte’s best-known works from the 1950s onwards.

The Son of Man by Rene Magritte

Magritte is great in the way he uses the  contrast between day and night for realistic objects in odd settings, unlike other surrealist artists, who twisted the objects themselves. In addition to his famous paintings, this event will  “explore the role of nature in Magritte’s lesser-known earliest pieces, when he toyed with futurist ideas, as well as forgotten works from the inter-war period.”

Many of the great modern and contemporary artist of today have been influence by Rene Magritte. Some of these artists include John Baldessari, Sherrie Levine, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Marcel Broodthaers and Martin Kippenberger. Many of these artist either include direct references to Magritte or clearly show many surrealistic representations that were used by him.

As said before the exhibition will contain hundreds of great paintings, if you happen to be passing through Milan, it will definitely be worth a visit.

When questioned about the exhibiton the shows curator Michael Draguet had this to say:

”Nature is omnipresent in Magritte’s artistic voyage, on the one hand it provides a myriad of themes, which the artist explores and combines at will, while on the other it is a framework for everything, a container that shapes every form of understanding.”

Speaking on Friday (tomorrow), at 10:00 AM at the New School at Wollman Hall, 65 W 11th St., will be media artist Victoria Vesna. After doing a little more research I found her projects extremely interesting and I was actually surprised at myself that I had never heard of her prior to this circulating email from the New School. Vesna’s design background holds a huge number of projects and exhibitions involving identity, technology, and systems.

Below, an exerpt from her biography describes the nature of her work:

“Victoria Vesna is a media artist, professor at the department of Design | Media Arts at the UCLA School of the Arts. She is also director of the recently established UCLA Art|Sci center and the UC Digital Arts Research Network. Her work can be defined as experimental creative research that resides between disciplines and technologies. She explores how communication technologies affect collective behavior and how perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation. Her most recent installations — Blue Morph, Mood Swings and Water Bowls, all aim to raise consciousness around the issues of our relationship to natural systems. Other notable works are Bodies INCorporated, Datamining Bodies, n0time and Cellular Trans_Actions.”

Though I’m not sure if non-New School Students will be able to attend tomorrow, Vesna is definitely a designer worth looking up, as she deals with issues beyond the visual realm of art and design. If any of this sparks interest in you more information and images are available at http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/

For those of you who have not yet seen it, the MoMA in NYC is providing the public a look at what great communication design really is. George Lois: The Esquire Covers exhibition is a collection of the most though provoking, controversial magazine covers designed by Lois. For anyone interested in the communication arts, or just politics or subjects that are… well… controversial, this is an excellent exhibition to see. And though it’ll be around until March 30th, it’s always good to beat the closing-exhibition crowds.

George Lois: The Esquire Covers

[Photos from: http://www.lostateminor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/george-lois-8.jpg, http://www.thenewyorkcitytraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/6804-esquire-ali-stsebastian.jpg, http://media.newtimes.com/2175166.47.jpg, http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/04/22858553.jpg.]

Through January 4th visitors to the Whitney Museum of American Art can peer in on Corin Hewitt’s “Seed Stage”, a performance piece that exhibits the artist himself making the art that will populate the gallery walls. Hewitt’s processes (including not art-related processes) are made transparent to viewers, while he inhabits the space, not only creating artwork but doing his everyday things, many things food related, from the stash of vegetables grown by him earlier in the year to even including composting…yes, composting.

“His methods include cooking, sculpting, heating and cooling, casting, canning, eating, and photographing both organic and inorganic materials. The result is an intimate examination of the cycles of transformation and transience.”

- Whitney Museum of American Art, “Corin Hewitt: Seed Stage”

An interesting display, I would say that it is worth checking out while in the city (though I do have a little more motivation having taken a food and sustainability class). More information is available on the Whitney Museum website: http://whitney.org/www/exhibition/hewitt.jsp

[Photos from http://whitney.org/www/exhibition/hewitt.jsp]

“Works on view will include papers illustrated with nursery rhymes and designs inspired by works of fiction and adventure, such as Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella. The exhibition also will trace the evolution of children’s books from instructional to fictional and include developments such as movable and pop-up books, which added an interactive element to children’s reading.”

For anyone interested in designing or illustrating, or writing children’s books this is a good exhibition to see. Read more about Wall Stories and get more exhibition information at http://cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/wallstories/