Lucky Italy. Opening at Marella Gallery in Milan this Thursday the 21st is Something Old, Something New, something Borrowed, Something Blue. Curated by Aaron Rose the show features a line-up of Heavy Hitters with the likes of Barry McGee, Ryan McGinley, Ed Templeton, Clare Rojas, Mike Mills, Phil Frost, Matt Leines, Raymond Pettibon, Deanna Templeton, and Ari Marcopoulos. We need more shows like this stateside.

Swoon came off on two sides of the World over the weekend. First, there was her solo show at New Image Art in Los Angeles. On the same day, 8 hours ahead, she was included in Black Rat Press' Print Show, where it could be said that they were printing money. From that show is where this gorgeous two-plate etching and screenprint, Argentina, came from. Retailing at £600 in a signed edition of 95, the print is a must have for any SWOON collector.
Buy the print here

See photos from SWOON's solo show here

And a couple videos of the Black Rat Press event and New Image Art show after the jump.

A couple interesting articles for your perusal today.
If Ebay is an indicator, Obama will win presidential race.

And, Shepard isn't the first artist to dabble in presidential campaign design. A brief history.

On a random tip, a question. If Obama was to be elected, would Shepard Fairey be called upon for the presidential portrait?

Your local hardware store is offering a little more than just nuts and bolts. You probably spend most of your time at Crest buying what you need to make the art. Now you will be able to show what you made. Back in the late 90's the Store became the home to a few art exhibits and, it was also featured on a PBS special. This summer Crest will host its first in a series of art exhibits. Stay tuned, we will bring you all the details.

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Opening up tomorrow is Michel Gondry's installation for his upcoming movie Be Kind Rewind. Luckily, the installation is in the bigger Deitch space on Wooster, which means the creator's imagination has more room to run free.

So while some of you were out romancing and others were getting black out drunk, the upper crust was spending money on art and laughing at the plebeian recession. Thankfully they spent their money well, bidding up Banksy well over his estimates. RUINED LANDSCAPE (above) sold with a hammer price of $385,000 briskly passing the high estimate of $300,000. That was the smallest margin between estimate and hammer price. The outstanding VANDALISED PHONE BOX more than doubled its estimate of $300,000, selling with hammer for $605,000. The star of the show however was Banksy's defaced Damien Hirst painting, KEEP IT SPOTLESS, which set an auction record for the artist weighing in at $1,870,000, well over the $350,000 estimate it was given. Now watch the secondary market prices rise once again.

We saw this one on Search and Destroy and we were immediately inspired. A simple idea with a big message. As the kid from AI or was it I.A. said in that other movie Pay it forward.

Our version.

Over on the Art Market Blog, Nicholas Forrest describes to readers how he doubled his money overnight. Nice one guy!

What more can be said about this epic group of artists? Not much, except that they will only get better and their work, more unattainable. The movie/documentary about them slated for release this Spring should solidify any doubts you may have had. So why not take the easy way out, and get pieces of their work together in one bundle? The easiest and most affordable way to do this is by purchasing The Beautiful Losers Catalog (Boxed Edition). Available in an edition of 100 and costing $1500, the "Custom slipcased First Edition / First Printing catalog is packaged in custom military grade wood box with limited editions and original works of art by the Beautiful Losers artists." For a full rundown of the goodies inside check the site. Here are some of my faves, Cynthia Connolly - Page, Arizona [from the portfolio Ice Machines featured in the Beautiful Losers exhibition], silver gelatin print, 4 x 6 inches, printed and signed by the artist, edition of 100, Barry McGee - Untitled, marker on various sticker papers, dimensions variable, signed by the artist, James Jarvis - The Thin Blue Line, action figure, approx. 6 x 3.5 inches, signed edition of 100.

A big happy VDay from YoPeace, check out their holiday contribution.

Before today, I hadn't a clue who Leslie Minnis was. Truthfully, I still don't, but what I do know is that her paintings are sick. Available now for purchase through Andenken Gallery is a print on canvas of what I believe to be her strongest work to date. Signed in an edition of 10 and measuring 20" x 30" the print costs $400. If interested, contact the andenken shop.

Artist Golan Levin created Opto-Isolator a artwork that's realistic-looking eyeball actually responds to an onlooker's gaze with a bunch of human-like movements, including coy side-glances and blinks. For more images and background check out gizmodo.

More than excited about this opening on Saturday at New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles. SWOON baby!

New Image Art is pleased to announce the first Los Angeles solo exhibition by SWOON, "Drown Your Boats." Partially inspired by Angela Carter's "Burning Your Boats," this show, and much of SWOON's work is not only a momentary glimpse in contemporary life; her work speaks of tales, legends, and variations on mythic themes, sparked by great vitality, inventiveness, and a deeply macabre imagination. Having recently participated in an armada of sorts SWOON along with other fellow Pittsburgh "boat punks" constructed their own flotilla and sailed down the Hudson and Mississippi Rivers. For this new exhibition SWOON will be executing a canoe as her central installation piece that will later become part of a Deitch Projects show this Fall.

SWOON's worlds are often populated by realistically rendered-- and evocatively cutout street people, often her friends and family. Riding bikes, talking on a stoop, going grocery shopping-- these people traverse a cityscape of her own unique invention. Bridges, fire escapes, water towers and street signs create crisscrossing shadows and spaces through which her figures move. Inspired by both art historical and folk sources, ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian shadow puppets, SWOON is a master of using cut paper to play with positive and negative space in a conceptually driven exploration of the experience of the streets.

Sebach Potties, take a shit in a masterpiece.

Via, eternallycool

You might have missed Esao Andrews, Jonathan Levine show, if so check out his work here.

Opening this Saturday night at Giant Robot in the East Village is William 'RotGut' Buzzell's Class Action.
From the press release...

"Working almost entirely with found wood or metal and common latex house paint, Buzzell's pieces are characterized by a surface of intricate brushwork and often feature three-dimensional elements. William Buzzell dips into the mundane, the practical world and a deep well of popular culture, often using maps, logos, charts, text, and familiar cartoon characters or TV icons to fill every inch of his paintings. A native of Providence, RI, much of Buzzell's early work was installed on the streets of his hometown and New York under the alias Rotgut."

image from thegiant.org

This Friday, after a busy four years, Jason Filipow, Shepard Fairey's primary assistant/man behind the scenes will set down his Andre stencils and leave the operation and artist behind to pursue his own work. We at The World's Best Ever wish him much fortune, success, and longevity in his future ventures.

From his Blog.

"I am very proud of all that I have accomplished while employed by my long time friend and mentor, Shepard Fairey. His sustained ambition, motivation and work ethic is nearly unmatched and I hope I have been able to absorb some of that in the 4 years working with him. He has provided me with amazing opportunities and introduced me to countless pop culture heroes and I am forever grateful.

2008 will see me branching out on my own as a creative free agent and I will continue to live and work here in LA. I will be devoting much more of my time to personal work as well as developing some long-simmering projects. I will be launching my own website as well as a detailed and frequently-updated blog. I will be exhibiting my work in galleries, doing some short film projects, commissions, commercial work/design, etc...I am very excited to start this new chapter in my life."

From the mid-90's featuring interviews with Futura, Blade, Espo, and Reas

Check out artist Miel-Margarita Paredes. Feature work from 2005 "Dachshund Stilts". Her work has this "soft" disturbance, where its not too uncomfortable but there is something there that is dark.

Here's to all the graff writers doing time occupying the Middle East. Read more here.

via, c-monster

The new issue of Swindle is out now. Number 15 features Cheryl Dunn, Painters in the Congo, and more.

A frequent subject of posts on this site, Banksy has updated his own website with a nice Q & A session plus some new pictures and words from the outdoors. Enjoy!

Get tipsy in a museum with Cannonball Press and Space 1026. PopRally coming through for the single set.

Fashion imitates art. Or lets say pays tribute. Photographer Paco Peregrín, photographed the editorial spreed titled" The Blood Show" for Ae Magazine. For more images from this spread check it out here.

GAME OVER is one of the art projects developed by the Swiss artist Guillaume Reymond. It consists of a series of collaborative animation movies which revive some of the very first video games. The project started with video performance of Pong. The second video was Space Invaders on June 24th 2006, followed by Pole Position on February 11th 2007, and Tetris on November 24th 2007].
Check out Poll Position and Space Invaders after the jump.

In the words of the man himself, "GET SPRUNG THIS SPRING!" Look slick in a slicker with a fashionable price tag.

Buy it here

Check out a special Juergen Teller show tonight. The show will also feature some fashion-week-appropriate snaps like his Victoria Beckham-starring ad work for Marc Jacobs and candid, previously unseen portraits of MJ with Teller's kids. For one night only, hot dog cart legend Rolf Babiel (a fellow Teuton) will be dishing up sausages on the street outside the gallery.
Juergen Teller: Ukraine, tonight through March 15, Lehmann-Maupin Gallery, 540 W. 26th Street, NYC, (212) 255-2923, lehmannmaupin.com

Via Material Interest

For his Fall 2008 lookbook, designer Adam Kimmel enlisted the help of his downtown friends to show off the the new duds. Included in the lookbook are Ryan Mcginley (above), Ear Snot, Dan Colen, and Telly from that movie Kids. More at Men.Style.Com

In the spirit of all the politics in the air, rising art star Brandon Friend sent me over an image of his newly finished work.

Pledge of Allegiance
36" x 54"
Acrylic / Mixed media
2008

A great video by incredible artists, Cern and Space, accompanied by a dope soundtrack. YMI crew

One of the most amazing young female artists of our time. Swoon speaking at MoMa. Watch these with your morning coffee.

I caught this little blurb in Page Six yesterday "44-year-old supermodel Elle Macpherson is dating Vito Schnabel, the sexy 21-year-old art dealer son of acclaimed director Julian Schnabel." Fuck. Seriously, good for this kid. See the opportunities you are given when you are born into some type of celebrity household.

via, page six

The new issue of The Journal is out on newsstands now. Issue 21 features Helmut Lang, Miranda July, Juergen Teller, Tomoo Gokita, Mark Borthwick, Beirut, Kenneth Cappello, Kon Trubkovitch, Kazumi Asamura, Julia Burlingham, Andrew Kuo, Tim Barber, Kathy Lo and others. As always it is an entertaining read.

Kehinde Wiley. Modern master and all around nice guy. Al Gore Tv brings him into focus.

Just as the Enablist did weeks ago, Shepard now advises you to buy a print by Cleon Peterson. Listen up, the man is that good and maybe if we are lucky he'll produce 5 more prints to mimic his installations.
Back to Shepard. Today is Super Tuesday, and for those who vote it is an important day. What will be interesting to gauge is how Obama will fair in California, the state where Shepard unleashed his poster campaign in support of the candidate. If only there was an exit poll asking if their vote was influenced by Shepard's poster. The tally would be something like, 18 - 42 year olds stated yes, while the geezers were still color blind. Whatever will be, will be.

Lot 29 Adam Neate (British, born 1988) 'The Apprentice', 2007 Estimate: £25,000 - 30,000

To critics this may seem like a glorified ebay auction, all familiar faces and names, works that we have seen before. The difference is that this auction is not taking place on the World Wide Web, but in physical space on February 5th, at Bonham's in London. Of the 75 lots up for sale, almost one-third (22) are attributed to Banksy. While the artist is represented by a couple stellar pieces, most have made their rounds in one form or another. But do not let the volume of work available by the living legend throw you off. There are also those other artists who have been unwillingly cast into cold reality of the Auction House. The most interesting lot in the auction at Bonham's may be no. 29 featuring Adam Neate (b. 1988), who still a teenager, is commanding a high estimate of £30,000 for his painting 'The Apprentice'. He is still a kid, and a highly regarded one at that.
What is missing from this auction are the Americans. Sure, Faile is here and there are a couple Harings thrown in for authenticity, but for the most part a lack of Americans. The place where this form of art was born, represented poorly. While this Auction is tagged The World's First Urban Art Auction, there is not much of the world here. And how does Murakami feel about being lumped into 'Urban Art'?

A couple highlights after the jump.

It may be inside, but it is still tight.

I remember seeing Emit's work alongside Gaze and sometimes Cycle down at AUP in Washington, D.C.. I always liked the IMOK (If Mother Only Knew) and SPORTS (Sick People Out Rockin' The Streets) crews and this was only reinforced the more I saw their work. Now I come to find out that Emit is no longer on the East Coast, residing presently in mile-high Denver. Over on Format's Blogs, Scribe does a nice little 3 question interview the man.

image via DF

If this is real, then the voice of Banksy is close to what I would expect. If this is not real, it was a good try indeed. Watch the video here

Banksy must have decided to leave the grey winter of London for a little vacation in Los Angeles. Over the past couple days some new pieces have popped up in the LA area. Only time will tell if the buff is as nice to him here as it is in England. a couple more after the jump.

Photos via Dog Byte Design

Child from blu on Vimeo.

When is Blu going to team up with Michel Gondry? That would be something else.

fantoche from blu on Vimeo.