There have been many recent exhibitions exploring the relationships between art and fashion, but the current exhibition at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen surveys the exhibition through a previously unexplored angle. “Vreemde Dingen” or translated to English, “Strange Things” looks at the influence of Surrealism on art, design, fashion, film and architecture. Curated by the Antwerp based fashion designers, Walter van Beirendonck and Dirk Van Saene, they combine all the above to provide a well rounded overview of this important, although short lived, art movement.

The exhibition combines historical works such as, Rene Magritte’s “Le Modele Rouge III”, Salvador Dali, “Mae West Lips Sofa”. 1937- 38, and Elsa Schiaparelli, “The Skeleton Dress” 1938, with more recent works by Cindy Sherman, Martin Margiela, Andrea Camarosano, Sarah Lucas and Van Beirendonck’s, “Finally Chesthair” 1997, which reproduces Walter’s own chest on a stretch fit tee shirt, (please provide your own belly). This full exhibition, with over 200 works, shows the influence that surrealism continues to have on the creative output of today.

“Vreemde Dingen” is realized in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and Mondriaan Stichting, Amsterdam.

On view from January 12 – February 10, 2008 at Gallery 94 in Soho is a group exhibition featuring James Brittingham, Devon Costello, Michael Greathouse, Jim Lee, Sylvan Lionni and Pete Pezzimenti titled CHANGECASE – curated by Steven Stewart and Yasha Wallin, co-directors of Freight + Volume. Bringing diversity and individualism while sharing common concerns in extending the traditions, language and possibilities of painting; CHANGECASE will aim to spotlight the properties inherent within painting as an art object and consider the interaction of painting with alternative media. By uncovering and combining essential characteristics from multiple modes of art making, the work challenges the notion of definability.

British installation artist Simon Starling has an upcoming exhibition at Toronto’s Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery opening March 1, 2008. The Power Plant commissioned the 2005 Turner Prize winner for a site-specific piece based on Henry Moore’s 1954 bronze, Warrior with Shield. Moore had a close but controversial relationship with the city of Toronto, having several sculptures placed throughout the city. Canadians became resistant to this public support of a foreign artist.

For the commissioned piece, Starling submerged a replica of Moore’s sculpture in Lake Ontario in 2006, providing a host for the invasive Zebra mussels native to the Black Sea. This species was accidentally introduced to the Great Lakes in 1988 by boat, the same way Moore’s sculpture arrived in Canada. They have since proliferated, stimulating the ecosystem by flushing out pollutants and diminishing the population of the native species, thus becoming controversial themselves. The replica will be extracted and the shells of the mussels will remain, resulting in the central piece of the show, Infestation Piece (Musseled Moore). Starling uses the metaphoric mollusk to point to the tension between regionalism and globalism, both environmentally and artistically. The parallel between Moore’s artistic “invasion” of the city and the mussels’ biological invasion of the Great Lakes has both international significance and local relevance. Nine other works by the artist, all created in the past five years will accompany Infestation Piece.

Starling attended the Glasgow School of Art and had his first solo exhibition in 1995 at The Showroom in London. He has also shown at London’s Camden Art Centre. Starling’s interest in how human history affects the natural world pervades his work. By taking an existing artwork and altering it, the artist makes the audience aware of the greater social and historical contexts of a particular piece. The elegance and simplicity of his message, despite the complexities of its execution, allow the viewer to perceive the interconnectedness of nature, geography, society, and art.

“A week of Sundays”, now showing at the Tim Olsen Gallery, Woollahra, showcases an exciting collection of works by David Bromley. The exhibition includes an array of canvases, embroidery and works on linen. Part of the display explores the female form in a multitude of nudes and portraits, while the other is a discovery of children at leisure, stylised as vintage graphics. Bromley emigrated from England to Australia as a child, where he has remained ever since. His work has appeared in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including the 2004 Toronto International Art Fair, Zaishu Show at Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane and the 2006 Melbourne Art Fair. All works on display are able to be purchased.

Currently showing at Hardware Gallery, Enmore is Josonia Palaitis’ evocative paint series Metamorphoses. Inspired by Ovid’s collection of poetry by the same name, the artist’s works provide a modern spin on classical myths such as Venus and Adonis, The Abduction of Europa and The Cave of Envy. Palaitis received her Diploma of Art Education from National Art School in Sydney, where she currently lives and works. She has received several awards for her art practice, including the 1994 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and the People’s Choice Award at the 1995 Archibald Prize Exhibition.

She has been commissioned to create works of highly notable subjects including ex-Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his wife Jeanette, TV journalist Ray Martin and the victims of the Childers Backpackers Hostel fire.

Jim Shaw’s “Dr. Goldfoot and his Bikini Bombs” at Metro Pictures re-opened January 4th with the addition of many new works. The original exhibition of paintings, drawings, and sculpture, on view since November 30 has doubled in size with the addition of Shaw’s previously self-edited work. Included in the show are Shaw’s series of “Dream Objects” that use sculptural forms of human body parts. Also on display are giant sculptures of half heads and noses, as well as a monumental 11×15 foot painting that merges a self portrait of the artist with one of Vincent Price.

During the initial installation in November, Shaw edited works he deemed as unresolved, undesirable or noncommercial. His vision of a “traditional” gallery exhibition is placed aside in the second half of the show as he vulnerably exposes these “unfinished” pieces, illustrating the ongoing artistic practice.

Jim Shaw has exhibited widely in the US and internationally since the late 1980s. Among his previous series are “My Mirage” (1985-1990) which follows the experiences of a fictional boy named Billy as he grows up during the 60s and 70s; “Dream Drawings” and “Dream Objects,” (1991-present) featuring recreated imagery and art objects from the artist’s dreams; and works defining the evolution, dogmas and rites of his fictitious religion “Oism” (2000 to present).

Recent solo shows include PS1, New York (“The Donner Party”); Magasin Center of Contemporary Art, Grenoble; and Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland.

Khalif Kelly’s first solo show at Thierry Goldberg Projects, “Recess,” will be on display from January 11-February 10. Kelly’s paintings depict African-American children playing with each other on playgrounds, alone and pensive, and in groups around props, such as tree houses and laundry lines. Kelly’s vivid palette, spatial flatness, and portrayal of African-American life call to mind the figurative work of Jacob Lawrence as well as the puppatoon animations of George Pal, especially the “Jasper” series. Like Pal’s characters in the “Jasper” series, Kelly’s forms have been winnowed down to basic geometric shapes and flat blocks of color make up nostalgic backdrops in which children cluster in dynamically charged groups. Khalif Kelly was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1980 and grew up in Arlington, Texas. He currently lives and works in New Haven, CT. He holds a BFA in painting from The Art Institute of Chicago, and is currently enrolled in the MFA program at Yale University.