The word tattoo is said to have two major derivations- from the polynesian word ‘ta’ which means striking something and the tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means ‘to mark something’. An all-star cast of rock and roll artists including Kaws, Dash Snow, Michael Bevilacqua, Dan Colen, and Brad Kahlhamer, whose work is shown above, present their “marking” skills at “Tattoo Flash,” a group exhibition at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The shop is owned and operated by Scott Campbell, a Brooklyn-based tattoo artist and designer known mainly for his laser-cut designs. The show celebrates art inspired by the visual legacy of tattoo flash and the rich history it encompasses. From sacred icons and tribal identification to jail tattoos and sensationalized association of tattoo design, “Tattoo Flash” explores how the tattoo has transcended all mediums and is no longer limited to markings on flesh but embraces an entire genre. The exhibited works include ink on paper, collages of reworked vintage books, lipstick-kiss-covered canvasses, and knife installations. As with other artistic mediums and cultural developments, the vocabulary of tattoo flash continually evolves, and the definition and boundaries of body marking in recent years has emerged to the forefront of popular culture as well as the art world.

The UK design collective Daydream Network is embarking on a full exhibition tour titled “The Don’t Sleep Tour,” to accompany their seasonal artist publication. The tour will unite Daydream Network with the creative project Secret Wars, which are live art battles between underground artists who, among many rules, can create work using only a black and white palette. The Don’t Sleep tour is scheduled to hit Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, Barcelona and London over a three week period, and will be fully documented by MTV as a mini/reality series. The Tour is loosely defined as a promotional marketing campaign for the design collective, not hiding from its retail potential, and will be led by 3 team artists Alex Young, Jimi Crayon and Teck1.

On view at the Whitney Museum of American Art through Feb 2008, artist Kara Walker will be showing “My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love”. The artist explores racism in the American psyche through large-scale silhouettes that tell a story as they spread from one end of a room to the other. Walker has created a repertoire of narratives in which she conflates fact and fiction to uncover the roots of racial and gender bias. Her imagery is haunted by sexuality, violence, and subjugation while depicting historical narratives of injury caused by the legacy of slavery. She’s been featured in Art21 and was in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in The World, Artists and Entertainers in 2007. Walker received her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She now lives in New York and is on the faculty of the MFA program at Columbia University.

New York City based artist Daniel Lefcourt currently is exhibiting his first solo exhibition in Zurich with the Mitterrand and Sanz Gallery. For this show, the artist will present a group of new sculptures some of which have been designed specifically for the gallery space. Lefcourt’s work is carefully positioned between sculpture and painting, creating a dialogue between real and abstracted space. The artist often calls into question that which is usually negated or denied, revealing signs of absence. For the exhibition, that artist prepared this statement about the work “I am not going to address specifics… I have no present knowledge… I have already been quite clear about this in the past… your interpretation in no way corresponded to my intention… This is the only answer I can give you… I am not at liberty to disclose… The declarations being made are outlandish and filled with error… Such a thing is pure speculation… I’m sorry you understood it that way… It’s unfortunate…” Lefcourt was born in NYC and currently lives and works in Brooklyn. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997 and his MFA from Columbia University in 2005. Since, the artist has completed solo exhibitions at Sutton Lane in Paris (2007) and Taxter and Spengemann in NYC (2004/06) among others.

Acclaimed British sculptor, installation artist and musician Richard Wilson was born in 1953 and currently lives and works in London. The artist is one of England’s best-known sculptors and has gained much notoriety for his ambitious architectural interventions and reconstructions which are often noted as architectural magic. In the video shown above, Wilson literally cut into the building, connecting the piece to a track allowing it to rotate in place. The artist often explores the relations of space to architecture and related structures, giving new form through reconfiguration and assembly thus changing the viewer’s perception of the form. Wilson is scheduled to present a new exhibition in Galleria Fumagalli in Italy opening this Saturday, October 13 at 6pm. The artist studied at the London College of Printing, Hornsey College of Art and received his MFA from the Reading University in Berkshire, UK. Wilson has been nominated for the Tuner Prize twice and most notably completed the DAAD residency in Berlin in 1992. He has completed signature works for the Saatchi Gallery and the Matt’s Gallery early in his career and has since been collected by museums worldwide such as Weltkunst Collection at IMMA, Dublin and the Centre of Contemporary Art, Warsaw among many others.

In a new body of work titled A Castle Dark (For Cathy), artist Hilary Wilder tells the story of Cathy Smith, a former groupie to The Band also known for her troubled relationship with singer Gordon Lightfoot and her implication in the drug-related death of John Belushi. The series of paintings are constructed from the visual details of her life while paying homage to Canadian landscape painter, Tom Thomson. Wilder received a B.A. in Studio Art from Bates College and an M.F.A. in painting at the University of Wisconsin. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Visual Arts. Wilder is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University. The artist is also taking part in a group show titled “The Sirens’ Song” opening October 11 at Rubin Center in El Paso.

Hauser & Wirth Colnaghi in London is opening a new exhibition today for the acclaimed artist Louise Bourgeois. Bourgeois, who is currently 95 years old, is highly regarded as one of the most important artists working today. For the exhibition “LOUISE BOURGEOIS: New Work”, the artist will feature a major new body of cast sculptures, gouaches and two complete portfolios of hand-colored prints. The exhibition coincides with a major retrospective of the artist’s work at Tate Modern also opening this month. Bourgeois draws much of her inspiration from her childhood and from a deep examination of feminine sexuality, stating “My work is not an illustration of anything, but rather it expresses an emotional state, good or bad.” The artist is known for the diverse materials that make up her work, often using multiple forms and materials to express reoccurring symbolism and themes in her work. Bourgeois was born in France; she studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and has worked in the US since 1938. Her current exhibition at the Tate will travel from 2008 and 2009 to Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, LAMoCA, Los Angeles and the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.