All posts filed under: Art

10 of the Best Indie Art Galleries in New York

Published by Fernando Lahoz

New York is home to some of the most impressive and innovative art galleries in the world, and it’s no surprise that many of them are independent and upcoming. From established galleries to newer ones that are just beginning to make their mark, here are 10 of the best New York indie art galleries. 1. The Hole is an independent art gallery in the Lower East Side of New York City. Established in 1998, it is known for its wide-ranging exhibitions, including work from both emerging and established artists. 2. No Longer Empty – This non-profit organization creates innovative exhibitions in unconventional spaces, with a focus on social and political issues. Their aim is to bring art to the public by creating accessible and interactive exhibitions, and they have been doing so since 2009. 3. The Knockdown Center — is a sprawling, multi-disciplinary independent art gallery located in the heart of Williamsburg. It offers an expansive selection of visual art, music, and performance, making it a great place to discover new and exciting artists from …

How to Start Collecting Art

You Don’t Need to be Rich to Start an Art Collection

Published by VAGA Editor

Let’s put it bluntly. For most of us, starting an art collection sounds intimidating. Art galleries can be a bit pretentious and the idea of getting into some of these places with a not-so-full-wallet is daunting for the majority of us living simple lives. You don’t need to be wealthy in order to start an art collection. Many of the art collectors I know started collecting art on a small budget, including very notorious ones. Remember, art galleries function in a similar way to high-end retailers so, ultimately, they need to generate sales. Collectors are needed by gallerists and artists and they don’t expect you to start with a big purchase. Top-notch galleries also sell younger, emerging artists alongside bigger names. Investing in works of art by both existing and lesser-known names is a good way of beginning to gather and kicking off your art collection. Learn and follow your intuition investing in emerging artists Building a stunning collection of art is like having style. It is a mix of taste, knowledge, and intuition. It …

6 Cutting-Edge Barcelona Art Galleries

Published by VAGA Editor

Beyond Barcelona’s main museums and attractions, there is a gallery world and scene emerging throughout the city.  For instance, since 2015 Barcelona Gallery Weekend has offered gallerists and art lovers a meeting ground and a place to discover new artists and openly talk about works of art. Galleries that understand the power of direct communication with their audience with a down-to-earth artistic attitude are in the cutting-edge of today’s art scene. Below a few of Barcelona art galleries worth skipping a museum: Marlborough Barcelona Art Gallery The Marlborough Gallery has acquired considerable prestige as pioneers in the display of works by German expressionist artists, holding significant exhibits featuring works by important artists, such as Francis Bacon or Henry Moore. Actually, the network has spaces for exhibits in New York, London, Tokyo, Rome, Florida, Madrid, and Barcelona, which opened in 2006 and was presented in partnership with several other galleries, museums, and public and private organizations. The scope of their exhibitions includes both national and international consecrated and emergent artists, to whom they give great creative …

Art Tech Startups

Art-Tech Startups Disrupting Collectors and Curators

Published by VAGA Editor

While art and technology industries continue to live in different orbits, both of them are closer to collide due to the meteoric rise of e-commerce, blockchain art networks, and disintermediation. As a result of this art-tech clash, today’s art collectors are more active, and artists may interact digitally with galleries or museums, showcasing their work through multiple channels. On the other hand, new technologies simplify the workings of the art world, offering solutions and tools that art tech startups are providing to this new audience and clientele. The spraypainter robot. A spray painting by art-tech startup Robot Muralist Immutable ledgers as blockchain transactions can be used in a particular work of art to trace their journey from the artists to the owners. A new cryptocurrency with its own exchange rate and tokens is provided by the system, making it a groundbreaking resource for the art world. Dealing with art pieces in a completely different way in which prices are set by AI blockchain processes. Think of it as a cryptocurrency specifically for art transactions. The …

KAWS auction house art for sale

Phillips Inaugurates 2020 with Banksy & KAWS Art Sale Show in New York

Published by VAGA Editor

“Ten Monkeys and a Dolphin: Banksy & KAWS.” the auction house opens with a show of 19 pieces by the last decade’s most celebrated street artists. —January 14th at PHILLIPS X in New York. The story of KAWS begins in NYC, Brooklyn and its surroundings packed with skateboard and street art crews. During the early 1990s, Brian Donnelly selected KAWS as his nickname to cover city streets and it wasn’t too long until he became a recognized star in the urban art and graffiti scene. A long way since trading spray paint for fine art, explorations spanned through sculpture, painting, and collage. The exhibition brings together two of the last decade’s most celebrated street artists. Banksy and KAWS art for sale, including rare paintings, screen prints, and sculptures. The show aims to create a dialog between these two controversial artists, through their own disruptions and interpretations of the current social and political climate.  KAWS, which exhibits and sells internationally and most often in Asia, Europe and the United States, has attracting mass media appeal and …

“Touching Color” 98 disruptive pastel paintings by 68 artists at the art gallery Fundation Mapfre Barcelona

Published by VAGA Editor

The show “Touching Color. The renewal of pastel” highlights the critical moments and key figures in the revival of pastel paintings in the first half of the 20th century, a period when this technique came to be considered an art of its own. Certainly, the history of art is also the history of the techniques and the materials. This exhibition focuses on one of its most important, pastel paintings, as its rebirth as an art form at the turn of the beginning of the past century. From a global perspective, ‘Touching Color’ analyzes the importance that pastel had compared to the most venerated oil paintings, especially during the 19th and 20th  centuries. There were many reasons that pushed different artists to use this medium as a way to lead their own mark. The show highlights specific moments and notorious figures in the rebirth of pastel. During the initial modernism, the moment in which this technique acquired the level of art itself. Pastel is a historically associated technique with female artists. Conscious of being confined to academic …

Leo Peralta at La Fresh Gallery in Madrid

Published by VAGA Editor

Málaga-born artist Leo Peralta is currently showing at La Fresh Gallery in Madrid. One of the most-acclaimed and forward-thinking galleries in Madrid. Peralta is the second malagueño to be shown at La Fresh after fellow Marbella-born fashion designer the late David Delfin. This exhibition works as a homage to the darkest, most melancholic and unapologetic side of pop culture. The artist mixes different elements from the 80s and 90s. Reinterpreting icons from the entertainment industry and pop culture into a whole new surrealist scenario. Peralta’s work is well-known by Madrid fellows for its transgressive and forward thinking background. Among his numerous exhibitions, Peralta has been recently feature on the group show VIVOS at the Museo Carmen Thyssen in Málaga. This is the 2nd exhibition of Peralta’s work at the La Fresh Gallery after “Remixed”. The artist will develop this year’s poster for the upcoming Gay Pride Andalucía. —“50 years of fights, challenges and conquers.” —commemorating the 50th anniversary of the events at Stonewall Inn in NY. Leo Peralta was born in Malaga 1976, the city of Picasso and many other …

Interesni Kazki Ukraine

Street Art in Kiev, the Ukrainian City as A Future Art Capital

Published by liza

After the heartbreaking events of the past years during Ukraine’s crisis and revolution, Kiev needed a revival more than ever. The capital as well as its dwellers craved for the renovation not only in a social and political field, but also in a city landscape that still carries scars of the past. The solution local authorities came up with might not be the most obvious one. The decision was to turn Kiev into a street art capital, reconsidering urban spaces and inviting local and foreign  artists to partake. “This world is but a canvas to our imagination,” as said by American author Henry David Thoreau; for street art every wall is a canvas full of possibilities. The aim was to turn this crisis into a productive and relevant force reinventing the city, lightening it up with the power of art. It might seem an easy task, but there were some pitfalls, as usual. Being part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was isolated from all external influences and trends, just as many other countries of the USSR were. But during the Perestroika …

Time Square - Emilio

Artist Emilio Pérez Takes Times Square on a Visual Trip

Published by VAGA Editor

NY based artist Emilio Pérez creates is taking over Times Square with a unique visual vocabulary of sinuous and spontaneous shapes in his precise drawings. They are infused with his fascination for classical paintings, music and nature. Style Curator, Natalie Kates sits with the artist to learn about his latest project “Dream Season” part of Midnight Moment, a Times Square Arts initiative in which the artist will take the public on an abstract, visual road trip from 11:57 p.m. to midnight every night in November. Natalie Kates: When did you realize you wanted to be an artist? Emilio Pérez: I’m pretty sure that I was an artist all along. It just took time for me to understand what that meant and how I would apply it to my life and pursuits. Your paintings have been described as abstract, organic, fluid forms and otherworldly. To achieve this you paint layers of pigment and carve out the layers with an X-Acto knife to create the artworks. How did you come to use the X-Acto knife in your paintings? I …

Street Heroines - Alexandra Henry - Magrela

Female graffiti and street artists —”Street Heroines” a documentary by Alexandra Henry

Published by VAGA Editor

There are still areas that remain male-dominated; situations in which women aren’t as widely represented as their male counterparts. When it comes to the fascinating world of graffiti and street art this is an issue that is all-too familiar to female artists. Alexandra Henry is an American photographer and producer who aims to bring the struggle of sexism in art to life through her first documentary: “Street Heroines“. Not only does she get to share her own story, but also those of 25 other female street-artists. The film is a documentary piece on the courage and creativity of female graffiti & street artists from around the world. Throughout her travels between São Paulo and NY, Henry became fascinated and influenced by Brazilian street-art and its culture. She is inspired to readjust her focus by getting to know other women; all with different back-stories, but all sharing the same similar interests and love towards street-art and graffiti. It was also through this filming that Henry became more involved in the political activism that existed among the South American female …

An interview with Taylor Mead—last Andy Warhol’s superstar

Published by Fernando Lahoz

The artist died at the age of 88 on May 8, 2013, after being on the stage for over 70 years. The spunky, wry and sometimes irreverent actor, performer, playwright, poet, and painter was still performing every week.  Only disrupted last April when, after a long battle with the landlords, he agreed to leave his tenement apartment in LES. The following interview was originally published in our 3rd issue in March 2012. New York, December 2011 –Born into and hated by a stuffy, affluent family, Taylor Mead, whose self- described dramatic debut went down at Grosse Point High School in 1930s Michigan, went on to work and party with such greats as Andy Warhol, Frank O’Hara, Dennis Hopper, and Jim Jarmusch. His roles in such films as Lonesome Cowboys (1968), The Queen of Sheba meets the Atom Man (1968), and Tarzan and Jane Regained…Sort Of (1964) were key contributions to a dynamic era of film in the ‘60s led by Andy Warhol, his collaborators, and his contemporaries. Sheet 8 from “Fairy Tale Poem,” Taylor Mead, 2012 …

One or the other Jared Flaming Eric Helvie art 1

“One or The Other”: Jared Flaming and Eric Helvie Exhibition on view through May 21

Published by VAGA Editor

“One Or The Other”, on view from May 17 – 21, 2016 at The Highline Loft at 508 West 26th Street, brings together the two artists Jared Flaming and Eric Helvie, in a pairing of photo-realistic works that focus on the ideas of pop culture, media and storytelling in an effort to dig deep into the subconscious mind to find inspiration and artistic creativity. Curated by Anne Huntington and Natalie Kates, both artistsʼ photo-realistic works, juxtaposed by color, black-and-white metaphor and iconography, embrace the psychoanalytical idea of unconscious desires via subliminal images. In concert with the 4-day show, Huntington and Kates will present a series of experiences to enhance the exhibition, including a Panel discussion with the artists (May 18th) and VAGA hosted opening (May 19th) Q&A with artist Jared Flaming Tell us a bit more about you and your beginnings as an artist. Well I am a born and raised Oklahoma boy. There wasn’t much art around growing up but there was a lot of craft and I always enjoyed that and spent a lot of …