HOLIDAY SHOPPING FOR 2009
Well, if you haven’t done your holiday shopping by now, you’re probably such a mess that you’re not reading the Artnet News. Nevertheless, with a genuflection to the saint of lost causes, we offer here a cursory list of possible art gifts, including some suggestions from Artnet Magazine contributors. Avid art vendors seem more numerous than ever, featuring all kinds of cut-rate items for the thrifty. Could it be the economy?
|
|
* Artnet Auctions is always worth a look, especially since it’s right next door, here. How about Bernard Faucon’s innocently homoerotic David (ca. 1990), with a starting bid of $1,000, or Lucien Clergue’s even-more-erotic Nudes in Prayer (1999), with an opening bid of $800? The holidays are a celebration of life, no?
* Printed Matter is another deep resource for frantic art-gift givers, with hundreds of artists’ editions on its website and a special show, "Gifland X: Happy House," currently on view at the 10th Avenue store. One of Printed Matter’s own fundraising exhibitions is Tauba Auerbach’s Untitled (Fold), a duotone screenprint in an edition of 150 ($150).
* White Columns editions are always a hot collectible, as witnessed by the sold-out Xerox editions by Adam McEwen, Anne Collier, Wade Guyton and other avant-gardists. Still available at press time is a Josh Smith Xerox print (an image of a leaf) in an edition of 60 ($150) and White Columns director Matthew Higgs’ own work, a text piece that reads, "Artists say the silliest things," also $150. See www.whitecolumns.org
* The Degenerate Craft Fair, a "roaming party" of artists and designers, makes its final stop at BravinLee Programs at 526 West 26th Street on Friday, Dec. 18, from noon to 9 pm. On offer is an assortment of stickers, jewelry, art and oddities by 20 artists, most priced under $50.
* Bruce High Quality Foundation Notebooks from Creative Time, billed as "fresh off the boat from Miami," are custom-drawings on pieces of sheetrock, designed to resemble writing pads and composition books. "Definitely the hot gift item right now," said Creative Time’s Lydia Ross. Single notebooks are $500, contact lydiar@creativetime.org.
* Doug & Mike Starn "snowflake prints" from venturesome SoHo dealer Jen Bekman, priced at $50 for an 8 x 8 in. version and $500 for the 16-in size, had already sold out to her list subscribers even before their mention on a few finance blogs. But never mind that, browse Bekman’s online 20 x 200 project, featuring colorful art editions that start at $20, here.
* Paul Chan’s Sade for Fonts Sake, a data CD containing 21 computer fonts inspired by the Marquis de Sade and exhibited at the 2009 Venice Biennale, can be had from Amazon for the suggestive price of $69.69.
* Some Los Angeles Apartments by artist Eric Doeringer is a 2009 version of Ed Ruscha’s pioneering 1965 artist book, with the locations remaining the same, only the buildings coming down and going up. Price: $30, at www.ericdoeringer.com
* Mr. Toast, a soft plush slice-of-toast-cartoon character by comic artist Dan Goodsell is $6 from the LACE online shop at www.welcometolace.org, only one of several attractive items for sale -- how about a yellow T-shirt with a picture of a banana and the slogan, "Are you happy to see me?"($20).
* Tom Otterness t-shirts featuring his popular image of an alligator creeping out of a sewer to snatch a man with a money-bag head -- anyone you know? -- are $20 on the artist’s website, www.tomostudio.com.
* I Like Your Work, the art-and-etiquette guide published by the art journal Paper Monument, is $8 on the mag’s website.
* Books are a favorite gift of Artnet Magazine contributing writers, including Who Shot Rock and Roll ($40), recommended by Reverend Jen; R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis ($24.95), recommended by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp; and Tracey Emin’s One Thousand Drawings ($75), from Michèle C. Cone. All are available on Amazon at a considerable discount!
* Last but not least, a DIY suggestion from Charlie Finch: "Make your own Gabriel Orozco for free, just put a golf ball on top of a can of cat food, and, voila, Orozcosity! Call it Tiger."
Happy shopping everyone!
contact
