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On March 22, artist Josiah McElheny presented a lecture at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City called "Artists and Models" to discuss his investigation of models and how they operate in relation to sculptural thought rather than direct function or information. McElheny is interested in the idea of a model as an "aesthetical utopia that could never be built." In a 1929 conversation between sculptor Isamu Noguchi and architect Buckminster Fuller, the idea of an experimental environment containing no shadows was determined feasible if a totally reflective form was constructed in a completely reflective space. While never completely realized by Fuller or Noguchi, McElheny, who is known for working with glass, used this reflective principle to create a series of sculptural models, both large and small, called "Extended Landscape Model for Total Reflective Abstraction," which contained a mirrored glass table with hand-blown mirrored glass objects placed directly onto the table. These works were eventually, over a period of about four years, extended into other works that illustrated the same principle through other environments and models. Many of these examples can be viewed currently at the Donald Young Gallery in Chicago in "Josiah McElheny: Cosmology, Design, and Landscape Part Two," while other projects and ideas are discussed in season three of the ART:21 series. | |||
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 The recent silk-screened wallpaper works of artist Shannon Wright depict a healthy human urinary tract. The series was inspired by a comment made by one of the artist's friends: "You should really make art about your hypochondria. You've got a gold mine there." The artist has been exploring systems, diagrams and the phenomena that they attempt to represent through a range of media during the past 15 years, using sculpture, video and vector-based drawing. Consistent throughout all of Wright's projects is a biting dry humor that helps to offset the scientific tendencies in the work that is inspired in part by the 18th century Utopian architect Etienne-Louis Boullee, the Scientific Management movement and the "Cabinets of Curiosities" museum display. Wright received her M.F.A. in the time arts department of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her B.F.A. in sculpture from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. The artist has exhibited nationally with shows this year at the ADA Gallery in Richmond and Scope New York and is currently an assistant professor in the spatial arts program at San Jose State University. | |||
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 The photographic process employed by California-based artist Noah Wilson includes traditional gelatin mono-print photography with direct applications of charcoal. The artist's main interest lies in the process of development and the possibility and interpretation of uncertainty. Wilson illustrates feelings of tension, isolation and the unknown by rendering portions of a scene, while allowing the remaining sections to be ambiguous and undetermined. The work provides questions rather than solutions, allowing the viewer to connect to the image from popular symbols while remaining free of direct conclusions. Wilson graduated from San Jose State University with his M.F.A. in 2005 and received his undergraduate degree from Humboldt University in 2001. Since, the artist has completed residencies with at the San Francisco Recycling & Disposal. Inc and has exhibited with Manoux Gallery in Berkeley, Calif., Callisto Press Editions Gallery in Yountville, Calif., and in 2005 produced his M.F.A. thesis exhibition in Gallery 2 of San Jose State University. | |||
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 The landscape photography of artist Kevin Cooley often examines two types of environments: the frozen and the suburban. Many of Cooley's frozen landscapes are captured in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, an archipelago of Norway. The artist also completed a series of photographs near airports such as Los Angeles (LAX), which illustrate glowing streaks cast in the dark night sky, created by planes taking off and landing. The artist earned his M.F.A. in photography from the School of the Visual Arts in New York City in 2000. Cooley has exhibited nationally in shows such as "Night Shift" at the Massimo Audiello Gallery in NYC (2007) and "Bateaux Mouches" at Ambrosino Gallery in Miami (2005). In addition to Cooley's fine art, he has also developed an extensive body of work as a commercial and editorial photographer, shooting for clients such as The Los Angeles Times, New York Art World and the Miami Herald. | |||
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 The recent works of Los Angeles-based artist Vincent Johnson expound upon his research of the American Cold War Civil Air Defense Program. Johnson focuses on forms related to the mechanics of this period. For example, the artist has a new site-specific sculptural installation currently on view at LAXART in Los Angeles called "Civil Air Defense Project #1." For this installation, Johnson took the form of a Cold War Chrysler Air Raid Siren that was used in the '50s to warn the public about upcoming air raids and used the device for formal experimentation and as a deceptive tool to comment on current social, political and military relations. Johnson's photographic work has been exhibited in museums and art spaces internationally, such as at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York City and the Adamski Gallery of Contemporary Art in Aachen, Germany. The artist received his M.F.A. from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena (1997) and participated in a collaborative project at the Studio Museum in Harlem. | |||
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 In the recent "Lost Edge" series, artist Dimitri A. Kozyrev experiments with fragmenting, constructing and rearranging pictorial space. The artist says that the abstracted series is a contemplation on the Avant-garde artists of the early twentieth century Soviet Union, such as Malevich, Rodchenko and Lissitzky. The artist explores the role of these artists and uses the events of that time period to better understand the current state of military and artistic affairs. Kozyrev attended the Ohio State University for his B.F.A. in painting and received his M.F.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. The artist has completed solo exhibitions at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, Florida, the Cirrus Gallery in Los Angeles and the Scope Art Fair in New York City. Kozyrev also attended the Art Omi Residency and is the recipient of the Levitan Fellowship at the University of California. | |||
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 Dysfunctional Americana that uses familiar imagery to tell stories is how Michael Paige Glover describes his new body of work. Glover uses adults and children that are placed against backgrounds of anarchy, destruction and uncertain imagery that he relates to past memories and self-awareness. Pulling inspiration from '20s to '50s photos, films, magazines and personal photographs, the artist spends months combining, arranging and decoding metaphors that unravel a specific feeling contained within each piece. In the end, Glover creates personal symbols using iconic imagery that aid in the discovery of his process. After traveling to Vance, France, to apprenticeship alongside Nall Hollis at the N.A.L.L. Art Association and then to Florence, Italy, to study with Andrea Spinelli, Glover received his M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art. The artist also received a one-month fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center and was recognized by the Queen Museum of Art for the Queen Artist Registry. | |||
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 In a recent solo exhibition at the Jack Tilton Gallery, French artist Delphine Courtillot created a series of new paintings, gouache on paper, that highlight the fantastic within the ordinary. This was the Amsterdam-based artist's first solo exhibition in New York City, and she presented all-night scenes that were derived from her own carefully staged photography, often containing somewhat mystical characters such as maids and nuns. The artist allows the camera to possess authorship over the final painting, in that the artist's marks are driven solely on the information captured in the photo. Coutillot was born in Paris in 1972, and she studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts. The artist has been included in other galleries and exhibitions in the U.S., including works with the Roberts and Tilton Gallery in Los Angeles and The Armory Show in NYC (both 2005). Courtillot has recently completed several international residencies, including the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen, China, and the United Sardines Factories in Bergen, Norway. | |||
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 Five female artists working in the mediums of film and photography have been selected for the exhibition "Strange Magic," on view now at the Luhring Augustine Gallery in New York City. While each of the artist's ideas varies immensely, they are all unified through their interest in furthering the medium's formal and expressionistic potential through collection, assembly and manipulation. The photographic works of Anne Collier (whose image is shown above), Liz Deschenes, Amy Granat, Eileen Quinlan and Sara VanDerBeek will be on view until July 28. A review posted in The New York Times Magazine today mentions the show as No. 3 in an article titled "An Afternoon in Chelsea-Which Shows Are Worth The Sweltering Slog?" The exhibition was curated by Natalia Mager Sacasa, director of the Luhring Augustine Gallery. | |||
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 The OKOK Gallery in Seattle is currently presenting "I Have Been Remembering: Half-Lives & Half-Truths," new works that include a site-specific installation by Minneapolis-based artist Gregory Euclide. The exhibition is a continuation of the artist's interest in the implicit psychological layers of landscape and included a live sound performance and composition by Kamran Sadeghi on opening night. The exhibit also contains hundreds of one-inch drawings made from memory during the artist's trip from Minneapolis to Seattle. The circular drawings are each installed behind a single piece of bubble wrap and then displayed across the gallery walls, eventually breaking down and spreading across the floors. Additional pieces of bubble wrap are injected with water from Euclide's paintings and various other outside sources. Next year, the artist will receive his M.F.A. from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Recently, Euclide was featured in New American Paintings' Midwest Competition, which was curated by Elizabeth Dunbar, the curator of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. OKOK Gallery conducted an interview with the artist that discusses the ideas and processes of his new work. | |||
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 Gelitin, the Austrian-based group of four collaborative artists, is participating in the group show "Das Hamsterrad" (the hamster wheel) this year at the Venice Biennale. For the exhibition, Gelitin built a wooden construction of embracing arches that tower in the gallery space. A smaller and slightly less complicated version of the structure was also presented this year with a performance called "Bunter Abend" at Deitch Projects in New York City. These are just a few of the projects that the group has accomplished this year. Others include "The Dig Cunt," a multi-day performance produced by Creative Time held on Coney Island, and "Das Kakabet," an exhibition with Galerie Nicola von Senger in Zurich. The artists have been exhibiting together internationally since 1993 and are currently represented by Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris and Miami and Gagosian Gallery in London, among others. Gelitin was a previous DailyServing feature, included for their 200-foot-long and 20-foot-high pink bunny sculpture constructed in the hills of Artesina, Italy. | |||
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 "Bring the War Home" is an exhibition presented by QED in Los Angeles and the Elizabeth Dee Gallery in New York, organized by Drew Heitzler, artist and co-founder of Champion Fine Art, a two-year gallery project of 21 artist-curated exhibitions. The title of the exhibition not only refers to the current military situation in Iraq and abroad but goes further to reveal truths about the current social, political and economic state of affairs that drive the art world. The purchasing of art is a luxury and is most often held by an elite concentration of patrons, who, by default, benefit from President Bush's tax cuts and the luxury of life in the top income bracket. As a result of an art world dominated by market concerns, many shows are thought to be too conservative and safe and are actually self-censored by the artists themselves as a means of achieving greater sales. The artists chosen for this exhibition understand the paradoxical position from which they operate and carefully consider art created for profit and art made for the uncompromising idea. Countless artists will present new work in both exhibitions that investigates these ideas, including Craig Kalpakjian, whose image is shown above. | |||
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 Currently on view at the James Harris Gallery in Seattle is "Dark Matters," new works by Rashid Johnson. The artist creates work through a variety of different media such as photography, video, sculpture and painting, all centered on ideas of race, identity and sexuality found in contemporary culture. For "Dark Matters," the artist is exhibiting the large-scale photographs of a nude white woman that hangs opposite a photo of a famous African-American physicist. Both photographs examine notions of identity, race and the art historical roles of portraiture, the female nude and the male gaze. Johnson is currently preparing for solo projects with the 404 Arte Contemporanea in Naples, Italy, as well as the Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago, in which he is currently featured in a group exhibition, "How do I Look." The artist is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute and Columbia College, both in Chicago. Recently, Johnson was featured in "The Production of Escapism" at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art and in the LISTE, The Young Art Fair in Basel, Switzerland. | |||
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Recent Boston University graduate Matt Phillips is currently being featured in an exhibition titled "Orderline," which is organized by Petra Projects and hosted at the Mehr Gallery in New York City. The exhibition unites Phillips' recent paintings with the textiles and drawings of Pratt Institute graduate Eliza Stamps. Phillips approaches painting through several simultaneous avenues, experimenting with painting as both object and illusion. The artist recently exhibited in the second-annual Boston Young Contemporaries (BYC), a student-run, juried exhibition that features more than 150 new works by MFA and POST-BAC candidates from 11 New England Schools. The artist is originally from Roanoke, Virginia, and received his degree in visual art and art history from Hampshire College, where he will begin teaching as a visiting professor this fall. Click the link below to read the interview with the artist.  | |||
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 In a current exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, world-renowned conceptual artist Chris Burden is presenting the new show "Yin Yang," which explores ideas inherent in the complementary principles of duality. The artist, who has a longstanding obsession with machines, motor vehicles and ready-mades, has chosen a 1973 Lotus Europa sports car and an International T6 crawler Bulldozer from his private collection to illustrate his ideas. The Lotus represents the perfect race machine -- light weight, fast, but completely impractical -- while the Bulldozer is a solid, heavy and otherwise unstoppable machine of duty. Burden will exhibit a series of photographs documenting the vehicles along with the machines themselves. The artist received his B.F.A. from the Pomona College at Claremont, Calif., and is a M.F.A. graduate of the University of California at Irvine. Burden first received international attention for his controversial performance in 1971 titled "Shoot," in which the artist instructed a friend to shoot him in the arm in a gallery full of people. The artist has since created numerous performances and conceptual projects exhibited internationally in venues such as South London Gallery and the Tate Gallery in London, as well as Magasin 3 in Stockholm, Sweden. Burden began teaching at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1978 and remained a faculty member until his resignation in 2005. | |||
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SABER is one of Los Angeles' leading graffiti writers who had already developed wide notoriety for his omnipresence within the L.A. area when he created in 1997 the world's largest illegal graffiti piece (a title which he still holds). The solo project was created on a sloping cement bank on the Los Angeles River and can be viewed from a satellite photo. The complete work took the artist 97 gallons of paint and 35 nights to create. The artist grew up in the Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles, and was introduced to graffiti at age 13. Later, SABER joined the infamous graffiti crews AWR, MSK and The Seventh Letter and began creating public works both legal and illegal worldwide. SABER's first solo exhibition, "Close Encounters," is opening this weekend at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco along with a book signing for the artist's new 168-page monograph, "Mad Society." The book will be released by Gingko Press and has an in-store release date of Aug. 7. | |||
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 The video and photographic documentation of Bahamian-born artist Heino Schmid is derived from the artist's own experiences and immediate environment. By incorporating and recontextualizing found materials, Schmid is able to question the inherent conflicts of social and personal boundaries and how divisions are created by these conflicts. Often, the artist uses elements of performance, which allows the work to contain a distinct narrative. Elements of nature are also used as objects of observation and as environments to contain other works. Schmid studied photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and completed his graduate degree from The Utrecht Graduate School for Visual Art and Design in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The artist has exhibited twice this year with the Popopstudios Gallery in Nassau, The Bahamas, and has recently exhibited with the Universiteitsmuseum in Utrecht, The Netherlands. | |||
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 David Stephenson's large-format color photography exhibition "Drawing Time" explored the passage of time within the environment. Representations of the passing natural processes, including human actions of forestry, mining and residential development, mark the environment's instabilities because of competing value systems. Stephenson's newest body of work, "Vaults," is set to open at the Julie Saul Galley Sept. 6. Working the past three years, the artist has recorded gothic architecture in northern European churches and cathedrals. Stephenson's interest is in the explorations of the sublime through architecture. The artist has created anthropomorphic designs by using diptychs and triptychs that reference naves, crossings, apses and choirs. Stephenson received his B.A. in art history and his B.F.A. from the University of Colorado. He then went on to get his M.A. and M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico. The artist later moved to Australia where he received his doctorate in philosophy from University of Tasmania, which is where he now teaches contemporary and historical perspectives on art, with a concentration on photographic practice and theory. Stephenson also has an article in CIRCA Art Magazine. | |||
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 Opening today at the Heaven Gallery in Chicago is the fourth-annual Scion Installation Art Tour exhibition titled "It's A Beautiful World." This year includes new works based around the show's theme from more than 30 featured artists nationally, such as James Jean, Dalek and Jeff Soto, whose image is above. The exhibition, which will be featured countrywide in nine cities, kicks off this weekend and travels through next March. The show will have work completed in the mediums of painting, photography, sculpture and collage, an element of the show that Scion changes each year. Hosting galleries include RHYS Gallery in Boston, Mass., Gallery Lombardi in Austin, Texas, and Andenken Gallery in Denver, Colo. The final tour stop and auction will be in Los Angeles at the new Scion Installation L.A. Space in the Culver City Arts District. All of the artwork will be auctioned off to the public, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go toward art-related charities. | |||
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 Pakistani-born artist Asma Ahmed Shikoh grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, in a society constrained by tradition that was later subjected to rapid changes because of the impact of globalization. The artist uses mixed media to combine popular icons, cityscapes and social issues. When American fast food had just arrived in Pakistan, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken became icons in the imagery of her artwork, taxing the otherwise helpless ideals of nationalism in Pakistan. She now lives in New York City where her work includes Arabic metro maps, iPods, Dora the Explorer characters and yellow police tape. To highlight the role of individual practices in the shaping of a unique national identity, her solo show "Liberated" at Ceres Gallery in Chelsea included personal contributions of more than 100 Muslim women across America who contributed by mailing one of their hijabs (the head scarf adorned by Muslim women). Shikoh attended Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi and has shown at Queens Museum of Art in Queens and Exit Art in New York City. | |||
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On view now at the Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, S.C., is "Tentacle House," new works by Korean artist Si Jae Byun. Byun was the 2007 artist in residence with Redux, completing the program only five days ago. The work of Byun often revolves around the artist's childhood experiences, focusing on inner conflict from social experiences, which are communicated to the viewer through the interactivity of her pieces. Using characterized images of human organs and videos that incorporate the artist's own body, Byun creates vibrant youthful works using multiple materials to achieve her diverse ideas. Byun currently lives and works in New York City. She received a BFA and MFA from the Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea, and has just completed her second MFA from the School of the Visual Arts in New York City. The artist has exhibited internationally, including "Da-Da-Da-Da-Da" with the Shin Art Museum and installations with the Seoul Art Center and the Seoul Museum of Art in Korea. Additional group exhibitions include "kinaesthetics" at Visual Arts Gallery in New York City and "Dual Scenery" at Artcom Center in New Jersey. To read an interview with the artist, please click below.  | |||
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 Bay Area artist Michelle Blade creates paintings that deal with social hierarchy and its absence in times of group accomplishments. Moments of trust within peer groups are captured amid pools of color, all contained on large sheets of light and fragile paper. By capturing ideas and activities held within a collective conscious, Blade is able to highlight a society's failures and triumphs as it strives to move toward social equality and group connectivity. Blade was born in Los Angeles and is currently living and working in San Francisco while attending the M.F.A. program at the California College of the Arts. The artist has been featured in two solo exhibitions this year with Motel Gallery in Portland and Parklife in San Francisco. Blade has had original artwork featured in The New York Times Magazine and Flavorpill, both printed this year. | |||
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New York City-born artist KR has revolutionized traditional elements of graffiti and street art by placing his primary focus on the process. KR moved from New York City to San Francisco in the '90s to attend the San Francisco Art Institute. With three primary areas of focus -- application, documentation and material -- KR became a dominant influence on the Bay Area graffiti scene. The artist invented and patented his own form of ink called "KRINK," which is now sold internationally and is renowned for its opaque silver color and its ability to drip like no other ink. Recently at Eyebeam, an art and technology center in New York City that promotes digital research and experimentation and contains the Graffiti Research Lab, KR presented "Open City, tools for public action," a painting performance and installation that demonstrated KR's infamous techniques. The artist is affiliated with the Wooster Collective and was featured in the book "The Art of Getting Over" by artist Stephen Powers, also known as ESPO. | |||
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 Artists Jan Braumer and Philipp Moll are presenting new works in "Noetik," an exhibition at the Galerie Emmanuel Post in Leipzig, Germany. The exhibition, which is on view through August, features painting and installation from the artists. The paintings of Braumer depict interiors that are rendered from fragmented memories that incorporate a false use of lighting and place an emphasis on artificiality and the absence of humans. The installations of Moll are constructed out of simple materials that are formed into hut-like shapes and a variety of other forms that express their reluctance to be discarded. Moll's work also calls into question ideas of imperfection, cliche and falsification. Both artists were born in 1970 in Nuremberg, Germany, and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. Braumer received a scholarship from the Cite des Arts in Paris (2003) and has exhibited four times in LICHTFELD in Basel, Switzerland. Moll co-founded the Kulturvereins Winterstein e.V., and received a scholarship from the Bavarian Ministry of State for Science, Research and the Arts in 2005. | |||
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 Within the current exhibition "Handcrafted Optimism" at the Tony Wight Body Builder and Sportsman Gallery in Chicago is the work of three young abstract painters -- Daniel Hesidence, Aliza Nisenbaum and Eric Sall. The exhibit, which is curated by John Henderson, an artist and recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, focuses primarily on the artists' attention and exploration of the materiality of paint. By using the medium's physicality, the artists are able to experiment more freely with the formal concerns of the painting, such as color, form and composition, by eluding concrete concepts and opening the painting to a wider interpretation. Through this approach to painting, the artists' work remains handcrafted and optimistic, just as the title states. Hesidence, whose image is shown above, received his M.F.A. from Hunter College in New York City (2001) and has exhibited with Feature Inc. and John Connelly Presents. Nisenbaum is a graduate of the School of the Visual Arts in Chicago (2005), and Eric Sall received his M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University (2006). Both have exhibited across the U.S. with works at places like ATM Gallery in New York City and the Shane Campbell Gallery in Chicago. | |||
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 In a recent exhibition with the Peres Projects in Los Angeles, artist Matt Greene presented new works that addressed the feminist identity and the inherent possibilities of a male painter creating work centered on feminine qualities. The exhibition was titled "The Defenders of the Reality" and featured appropriated images of women in sexual poses, overlaid in a field of each other. While these images could quickly be pegged as a byproduct of an overactive male gaze, the viewer will find, upon closer investigation, that the artist is recreating a collective conscious that's filtered through the eyes of 20th-century psychologists and filmmakers. This is Greene's fifth exhibition with the Peres Projects, spanning a period of four years. This year, the artist will be featured in "Eden's Edge," curated by Gary Garrels at the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and in a solo exhibition at the Deitch Projects in New York City. Greene has been featured in Art Forum, I-D and Flash Art. The artist has an upcoming exhibition with the Peres Projects in Athens, Greece, titled "Gravity's Rainbow." | |||
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 Currently on view at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York City is "E Pluribus Venom," a solo exhibition featuring new works by California-based artist Shepard Fairey. Fairey, who is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Art and Design, gained much notoriety even before attending school for his iconic renderings and street campaigns of former wrestler Andre the Giant. The title "E Pluribus Venom" translates as "out of many poisons" and is derived from "e pluribus unum," or "out of many, one," which was used as an early motto by the U.S. government on coins and dollar bills. Fairey's works investigate symbols that are associated with the ideologies of the American Dream. The artist organizes his imagery through a graphic language, employing the ideas of propaganda, advertising and anarchy. Fairey was born in Charleston, S.C., and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Fairey has grown a design empire that reaches into the markets of clothing, skateboards, publications, corporate icons, stickers, stencils and posters. In 2005, the artist co-founded Swindle Magazine, and, in 2006, he released his latest book, "Supply and Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey," and was a resident artist at the Honolulu Contemporary Art Museum. Fairey's works have been exhibited internationally in numerous museums, including the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art in New Castle, UK, and the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. | |||
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 The photographs of Hannah Starkey are created using actors shot on site within select locations. The artist reconstructs scenes from everyday life, investigating women engaged in routines of shopping, sitting in cafes and simply conversing. The photographs reflect a detachment from emotions and a surge into inner contemplation as it renders the relatively insignificant moments of our lives. Through the carefully staging of each scene, the artist is able to heighten and manipulate the sense of voyeurism in each photograph. Starkey was born in Belfast and currently lives and works in London. She attended Napier University in Edinburgh and the Royal College of Art in London, receiving degrees in photography from both institutions. This year, the artist will exhibit with Maureen Paley in London. Previous exhibitions include works with Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York (2006), Lisboa Photo (2005) and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin (2000). | |||
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New York City-based artist SWOON creates fantastical cityscapes that are delicately rendered through cut paper and often posted publicly on the streets of New York. In the above video, the artist presents her work as part of this year's "Conversations with Contemporary Artists" series at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. SWOON introduced herself to New York by covering the city's streets with her signature public works, including cut-outs, billboard alterations, poster campaigns and street parties. The artist creates life-sized installations, indoors and outdoors, that depict friends and families engaging in a variety of everyday activities that take place within the city. SWOON gained much notoriety from her outdoor works, especially her street peepholes that, once discovered, allow viewers a glimpse into a secret world. The artist has been traveling for several years, exhibiting works across the United States and Europe. SWOON has collaborated with such groups as the Barnstormers, Glowlab and Change Agent. She has exhibited in the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center's "Greater New York" show in 2005 and has exhibited a massive walk-through installation with the Deitch Projects in New York City. | |||
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 Artist, illustrator and designer John Malloy was born in rural Pennsylvania and began drawing cartoons, rock stars and other related material at a very young age. The artist's interest eventually developed into graphic novels, comics and the contemporary arts. Malloy continues the illustrative tradition of rendering the narrative through figuration and text. The artist currently lives and works in Baltimore. This month, Malloy will be exhibiting at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in New York City. Malloy's illustrations and designs have appeared in several national publications, such as Dazed & Confused and BPM. | |||
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 The collaborative works of artist Ryan Trecartin are approached much in the same way that a director approaches filmmaking. Using a cast of the artist's friends, Trecartin is able to experiment by allowing fellow artists the opportunity to carry out loose plots by participating in the creative process and by contributing their own works of art. Trecartin is currently living in L.A. as a displaced citizen of New Orleans, post hurricane Katrina. The artist has expressed his displacement through a variety of works including "World Wall," a form of disaster therapy that involves ideas of dislocation and loss as well as festivity and rebirth. The artist often explores the ideas of sets and narrative by approaching his work through stories and dialogue. When speaking of his works, Trecartin has said: "We consume and consume and puke, more than fetishise the objects and information we use. ... We don't act inside or outside of consumer culture, entertainment, or art culture, we consume and translate, we're a by-product of it." Last year, the artist exhibited "I smell pregnant" at the QED in Los Angeles and was featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial "Day for Night." Other notable group exhibitions include "Sympathetic Magic, and Yo a romantic comedy" at Planaria, New York, and works with the Saatchi Gallery in London. | |||
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