Zatista The premier source for original art online

It’s a classical tale of missing your fame after you’re dead. Vincent Van Gogh, Franz Kafka, Johannes Vermeer, and now Vivian Maier – the New York-born nanny living in Chicago who unbeknownst to all of us, documented the world.

Self Portrait (I think Maier may have been the first to take a mirror "selfie"), by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

Vivien Maier was an American amateur street photographer from New York. She grew up in France and spent her life traveling the world to destinations like Egypt, Bangkok, and Italy. In her early years, Vivian perfected her craft while living and exploring the streets of New York. In 1956, Maier settled in Chicago and spent her later years as a nanny for families in the North Shore neighbourhood.

Undated, Chicago, IL, by Vivian Maier, www. vivianmaier.com

October 14, 1968, Chicago, IL, by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

It’s said that Vivian was never without her camera, spending her free time and her leftover salary on her passion for photography. But for Vivian Maier, the past time was just a hobby. Her photographs were for herself and no one else, until Chicago historian and collector, John Maloof, discovered them in 2007 at a local thrift auction.

Sept 28, 1959, 108th St. East, New York, NY, by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

After Vivian’s death in 2009, the majority of her work was finally developed, and received critical acclaim. The photographs have since been exhibited in the U.S., Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Belgium.

Egypt, 1959, by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

August 11, 1959, Digne, France, by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

What is special about Vivian’s artworks is that she unknowingly captured some of the iconicism of 1950’s urban America. Just as Edward Hopper documented the increasingly alienated society of modern America in the 1920’s and 30’s, Maier captured what can best be described as the societal classes of the American 1950’s and 60’s, and vast and varying gaps in between.

New York, NY, 1959, by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

New York, NY, 1959, by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

December 2, 1954, New York, NY, by Vivian Maier, www.vivianmaier.com

Can you imagine creating a volume of work, only to keep it untouched by light, literally? The bulk of Maier’s images were found amid two (packed) storage lockers of personal belongings that were going to be thrown in the garbage. Most of what was stuffed in these two units was a giant collection of various found objects such as crushed paint cans, railroad spikes and other tchotchkes, but sandwiched between the clutter, were hundreds of rolls of color film which comprises the body of her work.

Undated, New York, NY by Vivian Maier vivianmaier.com

The collection of her work is summarized in a book of her photography, Vivian Maier: Street Photographer. Published in 2011, it showcases just some of the 100,000 works Vivian took worldwide between the decades of the 1950′s and the 1990′s.

For more information about Vivian’s own untold stories her book, and an upcoming documentary about the artist, visit www.vivianmaier.com. Now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge Storage Wars? 

Related articles

• Found at Auction: The Unseen Photographs of a Legend that Never Was
• The Mystery of Vivian Maier
• Vivian Maier: Street Photographer
• Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows

Photo by Jon Wiener for thenation.com with permission from the Venice Biennale.

Via the Associated Press

The art world’s famous Venice Biennale, which opened June 1 and runs thru November 24, features Chinese artist Ai Weiwei whose two powerful solo exhibitions are fiercely political. Roberta Smith of The New York Times called him an “eloquent and seemingly unsilenceable voice for freedom.” Chinese authorities, who had imprisoned him for eighty-one days in 2011, refused to allow him to leave the country to go to Venice to install his work. For the opening, he sent his mother instead.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's mother Gao Ying looks into one of the six containers part of an installation by her son during a press preview of the 55th Venice Biennale Photo: AP Domenico Stinellis

The Associated Press reports, “Weiwei’s mother viewed for the first time a series of dioramas depicting six episodes of intense pressure during her son’s 81 days in detention in 2011. She walked quietly through the exhibit, peering through openings in the 4 1/2-foot high boxes inside which Weiwei reconstructed in great detail scenes of his captivity. His mother did not speak to journalists who documented the moment, but she was moved to tears as she left the exhibit in the church of Sant’Antonin.”

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's mother Gao Ying Photo: AP Domenico Stinellis

The title of the piece, S.A.C.R.E.D., is an acronym referring to the six moments portrayed in the dioramas: Supper, Accusers, Cleansing, Ritual, Entropy, Doubt. The Guardian says, “The strange intensity of the scenes was explained by Greg Hilty of London’s Lisson Gallery – He told The Guardian that for those eighty-one days, Ai had nothing to do but “memorise the minutest details of the tiny, featureless room in which he was kept.”

The six dioramas of Ai Weiwei's 2011 detention drew tears from his elderly mother, who viewed them for the first time Tuesday in Venice. (Domenico Stinellis/Associated Press)

The second Weiwei piece at the Biennale is the artist’s response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, when more than 5,000 children were killed in schools deep in rural China – schools that collapsed because of shoddy construction permitted by corrupt officials. After the government refused to release the names of the victims, Ai Weiwei formed a citizens’ commission, volunteers, including parents, who investigated the disaster and published their findings, including the names of victims and details about the corruption.

ai weiwei straight, 2008-2012 steel reinforcing bars, 6 x 12m installation view,zuecca project space,venice, 2013 courtesy, the artist and lisson gallery

Meanwhile, the government removed the faulty steel rebar from ruins of the collapsed schools and sold it for recycling. Ai Weiwei bought it — 150 tons of twisted evidence of the corruption and the cover-up. He then organized a shop where the steel bars were straightened.

STRAIGHT The Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has premiered three works at the 2013 Venice Biennale. www.fastcodesign.com

These were the events that made Ai Weiwei the world’s most important political artist, and it was at this point that Ai Weiwei was imprisoned. But when he was finally released eighty-one days later, he found that the work of straightening the rebar had continued.

Video still of ai weiwei walking among the rebar bent from the earthquake image © designboom.com

The piece on exhibit in Venice displays 150 tons of rebar recovered from the ruined schools—different lengths and diameters, now rusted and pounded and piled on the floor. Ai Weiwei’s fifteen-minute video tells the story from the beginning—how he went to Sichuan and videotaped the graves of dead children, the demolition of the schools, the sorting of the rebar, and then he shows a dozen workers pounding and straightening the steel.

The collection of metal rebar was salvaged from the sites of schools that collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Photo: artsobserver.com

To learn more about Ai Weiwei, watch Alison Klayman’s terrific documentary “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”, and visit Wei’s website, aiweiwei.com.

Related articles

• Venice Biennale 101
• A Walk in the Park
• Tilda in a Box
• Hospital Art Scene

I am a strong believer in the philosophy that art can be a method of healing and therapy, and repair a wounded soul. Growing up in a new-age-y and spiritual household, others scoffed that this mind set and believed that it was only within the walls of a hospital that one could heal. On Thursday night, tucked away in the heart of downtown Toronto, these two approaches to healing came together as one.

Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Canada

On May 30th, Art Battle Canada literally painted the halls of the recently demolished University of Toronto Women’s College Hospital. As a benefit to raise money for the newly modelled facility, beginning at 8 o’clock, 75 artists from all over the city, country, world even, had 75 minutes to create a masterpiece on the walls of one the abandoned surgery rooms, nurses stations, or patient quarters, all in an hopes to have their mural voted best by the attendees, and awe-struck visitors. It’s safe to say: art was everywhere.

Paint-the-Halls Crowd

Art was even on the doors!

I wish I could adequately express – nay, recreate the atmosphere of this event. The walls of the hospital were the canvas, accompanied by an incredible DJ, wine or your very own drinkable I.V. blood bag (read: vodka and cranberry)!

I. V. Bags full of fun liquids? Unheard of!

Have you ever walked into an O.R. and been overwhelmed by splatters, colours, and splashes? Let me rephrase that: Have you ever walked into an O.R. if you aren’t a doctor? Probably not! I sincerely hope that none of you need to be in an O.R., but what I’m asking is – how often do you walk into a surgery room and just want to dance??

Wall of the surgery room

Artists at Work

The only way I can best describe the artwork that was created is by saying: It was juicy, and I just wanted to sink my teeth into the murals because they were ripe with delicious impasto strokes and color.

Juciy, right??

I thought I would share some of my favourites – who would you vote for? Beware, there are a lot of great works to choose from:

In progress, by Keita MorimotoKeita Morimoto

Artwork by Zara

Creation by NoraTTC Streetcar, by Art

The Surgery Suits

A Creation by Frank Perna

Of course, I could not be around empty walls and palettes full of wonderfully colored paint without finger painting myself. I felt compelled to leave a mark in the spirit of original art on Zatista!

This won honourable mention, of course.

Look out for more Art Battle events. These are creative experiences not to be missed. 

Related articles

• The INSIDE OUT Project
• Straight from the Street: Public Art that Awakens your Environment
• Bringing Art to Your Summer Oasis

Many know that the Venice Biennial is a major contemporary art exhibition which takes place once every two years (in odd years) in Venice, Italy. At the Biennale, scores of superrich collectors arrive in Venice by sea, joined by museum directors, curators, artists, auction-house experts, and plain old art lovers alike.

Female volunteers protect themselves from dropping coins at the Russian Pavilion

Though not all viewers are cut from the same cloth, they all come to see and be seen and to take the temperature of contemporary art today. But amid the glamorous parties and the people-watching — there is also serious talk about the current market for art.

Sonia Falcone's "Campos de Color" installation made up of "various pigments and spices" at the Latin America - Pavilion of the Istituto Italo-Latinoamericano (IILA)

Yet the New York Times reports Thomas P. Campbell, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as saying, “this Biennale is anything but commercial. [The Biennale’s 39-year-old artistic director], Massimiliano Gioni has managed to bring together a surprising and interesting group of artists in an exhibition that is both thought-provoking and engaging.”

A wall scene from the British Pavilion, headed by Jeremy Deller

Each Biennale exhibition year, an international jury is appointed to grant the following awards. The awards ceremony takes place during the official opening of the Exhibition, which will run this year from June 1-November 24, 2013.
- Golden Lion for best National Participation;
- Golden Lion for best artist in the International Exhibition Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace);
- Silver Lion for a promising young artist in the International Exhibition Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace).

Hito Steyerl's "How Not To Be Seen"

The formal Biennale is based at a park, the Giardini. The Giardini includes a large exhibition hall that houses a themed exhibition curated by the Biennale’s director. The Giardini houses 30 permanent national pavilions. Countries not owning a pavilion in the Giardini are exhibited in other venues across Venice.

The Biennale’s Central Pavilion in the Giardini. Image by Giulio Squillacciotti, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia.

With 88 countries participating, 10 of those for the first time, there is a lot of art to see. In the U.S. pavilion, artist Sarah Sze‘s installation, “Triple Point,” comprises thousands of souvenirs of Venice and of her own labor, from color-coordinated postcards and sand to boulders and sawed-off ladders:

A view of Sarah Sze's exhibition "Triple Point," at the U.S. Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 2013.; A view of Sarah Sze's exhibition "Triple Point," at the U.S. Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 2013.

A newcomer this year is the Roman Catholic Church who will sponsor its first pavilion at the Venice Biennale, featuring the Czech photographer Josef Koudelka, the Milan-based multimedia group Studio Azzurro and the artist Lawrence Carroll. The New York Times notes, “the Vatican’s presence at the Biennale is the brainchild of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, an exuberant polymath who as president of the Pontifical Council for Culture since 2009 has tried to build bridges between the church and contemporary culture, two worlds that have often clashed.”

Rendering of part of the Roman Catholic Church’s pavilion for the Venice Biennale, with works from Studio Azzurro Image via Reuters

If you’re like me and you aren’t jet setting to Venice to see the Biennale this year, make a point to read about the exhibition and learn more about the participating artists over the next couple months. These are names you will continue to hear about in the news, read about in art journals, and see in museums in years to come. It’s also a great way to keep track of the trends in art and get a feel for how important art is in our lives and to people all around the globe. 

Related articles

• Prominent pavilions at the Venice Biennale
• Venice Biennale Mixes Russian Gold, US Scrapyard – Bloomberg
• Sarah Sze set to represent U.S. at art’s Venice Biennale
• Tino Sehgal wins Golden Lion for best artist at Venice Biennale

I don’t like to ruin a good surprise, but according to The Huffington Post: Tilda Swinton, the eccentric 52-year-old actress, known for her roles in films such as “Michael Clayton” and “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” surprised MoMA patrons in New York in March and April by appearing in an exhibit called “The Maybe,” in which, the New York Daily News reports, she “slept on an unadorned white pallet in a transparent display case.”

The ‘ Moonrise Kingdom’ actress has had a busy week in art. She helped launched the ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Wednesday. Image: New York Daily News

According to Gothamist, which has photos of the exhibit, the actress will be appearing sporadically all year. “Tilda Swinton will be doing unannounced, random performance art pieces sleeping in a glass box in the museum,” a source told the site. “Today is the first performance. Each performance lasts the whole day the museum is open.”

Tilda sleeping at MoMA image: Jen Chung/Gothamist

The MoMA said in a statement: “An integral part of The Maybe’s incarnation at MoMA in 2013 is that there is no published schedule for its appearance, no artist’s statement released, no no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued. Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real—shared—time: now we see it, now we don’t.”

Tilda sleeping at MoMA image: Jen Chung/Gothamist

Swinton debuted “The Maybe,” a collaboration with artist Cornelia Parker, in 1995 in London, and later reprised it in Rome.

An aptly titled piece of performance art due to its random, unannounced appearances, I’m tempted to ask our readers here on WallSpin, “Is it art?” C’mon, tell us what you think! 

Related articles

• Watch Tilda Swinton’s Hair Blow in the Cannes Wind
• Tilda Swinton Caught Napping In Public… AGAIN!
• Oscar-winning actress sleeps in glass box in name of art