Dennis Hopper dies aged 74

Julian Schnabel, 'Dennis Hopper', 1991

Dennis Hopper died today after a ten-year battle with cancer.   An established visual artist (and collector) as well as an actor and director, he was the subject of the recent exhibition, Dennis Hopper and The New Hollywood at ACMI in Melbourne.

Dennis Hopper, 'Double Standard', 1961

MOCA LA is embarking on a major survey of Hopper’s work entitled Dennis Hopper: Double Standard, curated by his friend and fellow artist/director Julian Schnabel.  It will be MOCA’s first exhibition under the directorship of former gallerist Jeffrey Deitch and was fast-tracked to open on July 11 to ensure Hopper’s full involvement.  While Hopper was able to participate in the selection of works, the show will now become a bittersweet memorial.

Dennis Hopper: Double Standard, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 250 South Grand Avenue, July 11 – September 26 2010

Hot Photo Friday – William Eggleston

William Eggleston, 'Untitled', 1975

Sally Mann’s Immediate Family

Sally Mann, 'Hayhook', 1989, from the series 'Immediate Family'

Long before Bill Henson’s photographs started ruffling feathers, American photographer Sally Mann’s images of her own children were causing a stir. The artist saw her 1992 photographic series Immediate Family as a loving, intimate collaboration with her family, but critics accused Mann of exploitation and were upset by her depictions of child nudity.

Sally Mann, 'Jesse at 5', 1989, from the series 'Immediate Family'

Using a 100-year-old camera, the artist’s soft focus portrayals of childhood recall the romantic style of photographers like Julia Margaret Cameron, but they are also confrontingly honest, and for some this is the problem.

Sometimes Mann’s kids present themselves in ways in which adults don’t want to see them.  The artist conveys the process of ‘growing up’.   A combination of fantasy and reality, her photographs are often sensuous, sometimes disturbing.  She says: “Many of these pictures are intimate, some are fictions and some are fantastic, but most are of ordinary things that every mother has seen”.

Sally Mann, 'Last Light', 1989, from the series 'Immediate Family'

Sally Mann will be giving a talk at The National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, on Friday the 18th of June at 7pm.

Yvonne Todd in conversation with Robert Leonard

Work by Yvonne Todd is included in Unnerved: The New Zealand Project, a largely collection-based exhibition of New Zealand artists at Queensland Art Gallery that runs until July 4.  You can watch the rest of Yvonne Todd’s interview with IMA Director Robert Leonard on Queensland Art Gallery’s YouTube channel here.

Some work by Daif King

Wild Billy Childish

Billy Childish and Tracey Emin, n.d.

Leg of Lamb watched Billy Childish is Dead last night, a no-frills documentary about the mustachioed rocker and prolific poet and painter who flatly refuses to become ‘famous’.  This might explain his split with old girlfriend Tracey Emin.   Her self-obsessed artwork draws heavily on the work of Childish and even includes him – Emin’s infamous appliquéd tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With (1995) contains the muso’s name front and centre (below).

Detail of Tracey Emin's work 'Everyone I have ever slept with', 1995

It was Emin who allegedly coined the term ‘Stuckism‘, an art movement Childish was associated with until the early 2000′s.  Eschewing the ‘pretensions of conceptual art’ promoted by the Tate – and often protesting outside the gallery’s annual Turner Prize – the Stuckists favour a return to figurative painting.

Woodcut by Billy Childish, n.d.

Unfortunately Childish’s paintings are somewhat derivative, they reference expressionists like Van Gogh and Kirchner.  The energy and confidence evident in his woodcuts is more interesting.  But it’s when he’s performing that Childish comes into his own.  His spoken word is sincere and his music is raw and LOUD!  He’s released over 100 albums with bands including The Milkshakes, Thee Headcoats, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Buff Medways (below) and The Musicians of the British Empire so take your pick…

Hot Photo Friday – Nuno Cera

Nuno Cera, 'A room with a view #1 (Park Inn, Berlin)', 2007

Kaikai Kiki is taking over the world – the branding of Takashi Murakami

Japanese über-artist Takashi Murakami’s art production company Kaikai Kiki puts Warhol’s Factory to shame.  The company employs over 70 staff in offices in both New York and Japan and also represents young visual artists including Chiho Aoshima, Mr., Aya Takano, Chinatsu Ban, Mahomi Kunikata, and Rei Sato.  The animation department has created footage for egotist extraordinaire Kanye West and Louis Vuitton (above) and the company even has its own merchandise wing.  Murakami loves merch.  He created a sell-out range of handbags for Louis Vuitton and included a fully functioning Vuitton boutique in his 2007 retrospective at MOCA.

There’s no pleasing Miranda Devine

Bill Henson, 'Untitled #25', 2008/2009

Back in 2008, Sydney columnist Miranda Devine was intrumental in igniting the media frenzy that surrounded Bill Henson’s now infamous exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.  Her inflammatory article published in the Sydney Morning Herald the day the show was due to open used Henson’s new work as an introduction to a general discussion about pedophilia and the sexualisation of children.  The rest, of course, is history.

Now, Devine’s accusing the artist of  ‘losing his mojo’.  In her snide article regarding his current exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (his first since the 2008 fiasco), Devine complains about the presence of body guards – necessary in light of the previous threats made to the gallery - and insinuates that there aren’t enough nude photographs in the show.

Obviously Devine hasn’t bothered to do much research.  Henson’s work consists of a complementary mix of figures and landscapes.  This is the case with his current exhibition and the 2008 hang that sadly very few people saw.  Given that the columnist is capable of describing Henson’s work as ‘kiddie porn’ and ‘exquisitely moody’ in the same breath, it’s probably best to just ignore her completely.

Bill Henson, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 8 Soudan Lane, Sydney, until June 5.

Hot Photo Friday – Katy Grannan

Katy Grannan, 'Danielle, Vacant Lot, Burleigh Road, New Paltz, NY', 2003