Fortune Cookie Projects

Going Out with William Wegman

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:07:49 +0000

Departures Destination Asia

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:55:44 +0000

A Contemporary Asian Art Auction

Benefitting Asia Society Museum

Sotheby’s New York
1334 York Avenue (at 72nd Street)

Preview
September 7-13, 10:00am-5:00pm

Auction
September 13, 2011 6:30 pm

For more information on the art, contact:
Mary@fortunecookieprojects.com + 1 917 607 7458
Howard@fortunecookieprojects.com + 65 9382 1700

On September 13, 2011, the DEPARTURES Global Arts Initiative will host an auction to benefit the Asia Society Museum with a rare selection of contemporary Asian artists – each with a unique vision and culture−exploring the history, ancient and recent, of today’s Asia. The collection, organized by Fortune Cookie Projects, will offer an unprecedented viewing of works that range from urban artist Anthony ‘Antz’ Chong whose rise from obscurity to his progressive juxtaposition of contemporary urbanism with traditional Chinese visuals; internationally acclaimed artist Eko Nugroho influenced by history of Indonesian graphic art and woodblock painting; to the irreverent “Pink Man” by photographer and social activist, Manit Sriwanichpoom, and many more. All works will be on display at Sotheby’s for Asia Week, beginning on September 7, prior to the auction event. As part of the new Global Arts Initiative, Asia NOW will be Departures’ first program, and will launch a cultural agenda that includes lectures, studio visits and gallery tours.

The DEPARTURES Global Arts Initiative was created to provide knowledge and insight on the universal language of art, and celebrate the creative energy that is now part of the international stage, through multi-media platforms and experiences.

Daze at CHANGART Gallery, Beijing

admin — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:39:05 +0000

Opening: 3pm, 6th November, 2010 – Blackbook session at 3pm

Duration: 6th November, 2010 ~ 31st December, 2010

Venue: CHANGART Gallery (798 Art district Beijing, No4. Jiuxianqiao Rd, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China)

Graffiti Blackbook session: 6th Nov 2010, 3pm

Panel disccusion about Graffiti Arts: 12:00-2:00pm, 7th Nov, 2010, UCCA ‘From the Bronx to Beijing: American Graffiti in the New China’.

The panelists will discuss the origins of graffiti in NY in the 70s and 80s and explore why the style is not only global, but what particular resonance it has with artists in China today.

CHANGART GALLERY has invited Chris “Daze” Ellis (b. 1962), the pioneer of graffiti art in the U.S., to hold his first solo show in China from November 16 to December 31, offering a chance for the Chinese art sector to further explore graffiti art. Also known as “Urban Art,” Graffiti Art is a one-of-a-kind art movement founded on the strong energy of the youth combined with urban functionality. It began with street and subway murals but has since become a popular art that brings art closer to the urban environment and the general public for better communication between the two. It also has a critical influence on the art, music, and fashion of the 21st century.

Chris Ellis, better known by his nickname, “Daze,” was born in New York in 1962 and has become the center of New York’s urban art since the end of the 1970s. Daze, as the leading graffiti artist of the U.S., gained popularity by creating murals for the New York subways in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1970s, New York was characterized by its infamous dangers and filthiness. Young artists made the streets of New York their canvas and filled the dark backstreets and subways of the city with their unique creations. That was the beginning of New York’s graffiti art. The first generation of graffiti enthusiasts worked at the subways at night to create underground artworks on the walls. Some of the graffiti art worshippers with better insights, however, took those artworks off the walls and into their apartments. (Today, those drawings are even more valuable than several apartment homes). Daze’s first sale was a collaborative work with Basquiat-a refrigerator combining collages and paintings requested by Mud Club, a new performance hall that opened in Manhattan in 1980, which sold for USD200.

In 1980, New York’s “Time Square Show” officially introduced graffiti art as an art genre. It was a massive exhibition with many of Daze’s colleagues, including Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lee Quinones, Alez Vallauri, Andorow, Whitton, and Jetfire. In 1982, Manhattan’s Sidney Janis Gallery (which brought many of the trends and movements of post-modernist art into the mainstream) introduced the first Urban Art showcase in New York, titled “Post Graffiti.” Daze was one of the first-generation graffiti artists who participated in this show. As they attracted greater social interest, these artists left the streets and entered galleries and art museums.

Moreover, there came about a global trend in the late ’70s and early ’80s where underground art intruded the fields of fashion, design, and advertising, drawing graffiti art even closer to the public’s everyday lives. Surprisingly, graffiti art has spread to various sectors of the society, not to mention advertisements and corporate promotions, but it is still considered taboo in some aspects. As a kid, Daze never thought that he would see his works on the walls of Brooklyn Art Museum or other famous art museums around the world. Considering the list of museums in which Daze has held exhibitions, however, there is no doubt that graffiti art has become a major part of contemporary art. Daze has held an enormous number of exhibitions (about 40 solo shows and 250 exhibitions) and has been invited by several countries around the world to showcase his works therein. He has worked with Grand Palais in Paris, Brooklyn Art Museum, Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Cartier Foundation, and participated in an invitational exhibition of the Brazilian government and in Italy’s Tuscany Sun Festival.

Many of Daze’s artworks are already being showcased around the world and have been purchased by famous art museums and galleries, including Cartier Foundation, New York City Art Museum, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Brooklyn Art Museum, Ludwig Art Museum in Germany, and Tate Gallery in England. The artist has not forgotten his works on the streets, though, and has been actively creating murals for the last 20 years. Working with major corporations, such as Chase Manhattan, as well as local community organizations, he is also devoted to improving the environment for the benefit of the people around the world, especially the children. As a successful artist and the pioneer of graffiti art, he is creating many public artworks. It is known that many famous celebrities, such as Madonna and Eric Clapton, are big fans of this celebrity artist and are collecting his works.

The arist will be present, for interview, please contact CHANG ART at info.changart@gmail.com

Daze Live at the Tuscan Sun Festival, Cortona, Italy

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:00:45 +0000

In addition to his solo exhibition at the Palazzo Casali, 30 July-6 August, Daze created three works on site. ’Dreamer,’ a diptych, was donated to the city of Cortona upon completion and will be on permanent view in the same town where Luca Signorelli painted many Renaissance masterpieces. On hand to receive the painting were Tuscan Sun Festival impressario Barrett Wissman and Cortona major Andrea Vignini, accompanied by TV crews from RAI and national and local members of the press.

The fun really began when Niccolo Baldelli-Boni brought his 1969 Vespa 50 Special in for a make-over. ‘Lucia’s Bombshell’ held centre stage in the Piazza Signorelli before press and public. The following day saw the arrival of a 1964 Lambretta Innocenti 150 LI belonging to Massimo Fumagalli for the Daze treatment.

“Lucia’s Bombshell is my 1969 Vespa 50 Special. It was found in 2009 by my friend Stefano Faragli in an old farmhouse in Tuscany in a state of quasi-total disrepair. Through his efforts and those of another brilliant mechanic, Guido Matassi, we painstakingly took the Bombshell apart piece by piece, fixed it, painted it, and lovingly put it all back together. The result was a perfectly restored symbol of Italian lifestyle encompassing a period of sixty years. From symbol of rebirth after the Second World War to symbol of everything “La Dolce Vita”, the Vespa is a symbol of Italy as much as the Fiat 500 or soccer and pizza are.

I was extremely fortunate to meet Daze, Mary Dinaburg and Howard Rutkowski this summer in Cortona, where they took part in the Tuscan Sun Festival where Daze had an exhibit…and excited when during a brainstorm the idea casually came to us to ask Daze if he would like to paint my Vespa. Daze said yes. After that, through the use of creative thinking and a significant number of Negroni cocktails, the idea took shape…

The result is absolutely thrilling.

Now I am no great expert of art, but I have a feeling that when Graffiti met Vespa both the scooter and the art form emerged somewhat influenced by one another in great harmony. I am incredibly grateful to Daze for what he has done and hope this may be a new form of expression for his art.

Finally I would also like to thank Lucia…mille e mille baci.

–Nicholas Baldelli-Boni”

The site of two icons of Italian scooter history in full New York regalia under the Tuscan sun in the center of one of Italy’s oldest cities was rather unique, causing the Corriere di Arezzo to hail Daze as ‘il Caravaggio delle Subway.’

Clifford Chance: Modern Eyes

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:21:21 +0000

Projects at Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance: Funny Shadows

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:20:01 +0000

Projects at Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance: Frame of Reference

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:18:32 +0000

Projects at Clifford Chance

Hines: Abstract Action

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:14:19 +0000

Exhibition at Gallery W52

Hines: Face Forward

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:13:19 +0000

Exhibition at Gallery W52

Hines: Picturing Pixels

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:12:15 +0000

Exhibition at Gallery W52