Off Center

Update: The giveaway is over, but you can buy a bumpersticker at the Walker Shop online for the low, low price of three bucks apiece. Get one…

Several years ago, we joked about making a t-shirt that read, “Conceptual Art: It’s the thought that counts.” Instead, when we set out to promote the exhibition Global Conceptualism, we ended up making bumperstickers with a similar punchline: “Think about honking if you [heart] conceptual art.” When I blogged about the stickers last year, we got a dozen comments and even more direct emails asking us to do another print run.

So: voilá!

With a design fine-tuned by Emmet Byrne, we recreated the stickers and will make them available for sale at the Walker Shop soon.

But the first 25 commenters here can get one mailed to you for free. Just leave a comment, using your real email address (it won’t be visible to the public). I’ll contact you to get your snailmail address.

Greg Allen finds a surprisingly under-visited Flickr set showing the making of Damien Hirst’s headline-grabbing, diamond-encrusted skull. The piece, For the Love of God (2007), is expected to sell for around $100 million — but, so far, hasn’t. Photos after the jump (for more see Supertouch).

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• Jesse “The Font” Ventura? ‘Round these parts, mention of Jesse Ventura’s return to politics is met with strong reactions — pro, con, and comic — so when Design Observer’s Michael Bierut mentioned the wrester-turned-governor’s name in a Newsweek piece about political bumpersticker design, it piqued my interest. But, alas, it wasn’t to be. Bierut was misquoted: He was referring to the typeface Futura — not “Ventura” — the “squared off,” “brick wall”-like, and somewhat Ventura-esque font used by Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. (Here’s video of Bierut, with Stuart Bailey and Debbie Millman, as part of the March 2007 Insights Design Lecture series at the Walker.)

• For the shark-dressed man: Known for his installation The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a shark preserved in a clear tank of fluid, Damien Hirst is now lending his services to Levi’s. His design for the 2008 Warhol Factory X Levi’s X Damien Hirst clothing line will include $190 to $250 jeans and $80 to $300 tops.

• Lego Contemporary: It’s not the first time Hirst’s work has been rendered as a consumer object. At a 2006 show at the UK’s Walker Art Gallery (no relation), The Little Artists, John Cake and Darren Neave, presented their Lego rendition of the shark tank. Their projects include Lego miniatures of famous contemporary artworks, with titles like Emin’s Bed, Chapman’s Dead Guys, and Catellan’s Hung Boys, to name a few.

• Confessions of a Yes-Man: Gothamist interviews activist (and, one could argue, artist) Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men. And here’s Bill Moyers interviewing Bichlbaum and fellow Yes Man Mike Bonnano. Part 1 & Part 2.

• Punched with a pen: Dan Perjovschi, a Bucharest-based artist who’ll be part of the Walker’s exhibition Brave New Worlds this fall, currently has his first U.S. solo show at MoMA. Using cartoon-like wall drawings, he creates large installations that offer incisive political critiques. He says his drawings can be deceptive: “They’re funny at first glance… But after you laugh, it’s like striking your stomach.” Hear more at MoMA’s video channel and the online exhibition.

In the Chinese pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale Cao Fei introduced her documentary iMirror, “filmed” entirely in Second Life and directed by her SL avatar China Tracy. Cao, whose film installation COSPlayers was recently acquired by the Walker, will take part in the exhibition Brave New Worlds, opening at the Walker October 4.

[Via NEWSgrist.]

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For lack of a better way to describe it, this is just too awesome and geeky to pass up. Peter Kirn writes:

For those not in the know, Steve Reich is one of the major so-called "minimalist" composers of the 20th Century; some of his early works of the 1960s focused on compositions made from tape loops falling out of sync or "out of phase" with one another. This includes the seminal works "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out." For those not in the know, Lieutenant Worf is the son of Mogh, and serves as Chief Security Officer on the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701-D.

Now we know what life would be like if Lt. Worf were also a member of the Reich ensemble. Get ready for some Trekker loop phasing.

Too see the video, click for more below.

To bring this back to the Walker a bit, Steve Reich one of the featured artists in Sonicflux, which allows you to experiment and loop sounds from the artists. Other artists in Sonicflux are John Cage and Yoko Ono. Sadly, it seems the the shockwave format which it was created in is no longer playable on OSX.

The video comes from Youtube Doubler, which features a number of other interesting double video mashups.

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• Why Frida Matters: Salomon Grimberg, one of five curators of the Frida Kahlo retrospective that opened at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City last month, on Kahlo: “She was completely instinctual. She put into art things nobody had dared to put into art before. She was able to access her internal reality and shape it in such a way that it grabs the viewer… Her work is so flashy and so immediate that most people don't stop to look at her work as a painter," he added. "They just get caught up in the image. Finally, after 30 years, the work is being reappraised.”

• RIP John Szarkowski: John Szarkowski, the influential MoMA photography curator for 29 years, has died at the age of 81. A celebrated photographer, Szarkowski was perhaps best known for curating the 1967 MoMA exhibition, New Documents, which was the first major show to feature the documentary style imagery of Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. A New York Times obituary call hims a “curator who almost single-handedly elevated photography's status in the last half-century to that of a fine art.” Lesser known is Szarkowski’s midwestern roots: born in Ashland, Wisconsin, he studied at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and started his first post-college job — as the Walker Art Center’s photographer. The Walker also hosted Szarkowski’s first solo show, a series of portraits, in 1949.

• Art for Change: In honor of Saturday’s Live Earth global concerts, here’s a list of 10 art projects that address climate change.

In May, Wolfgang Puck and seven of his most talented chefs challenged 90 local foodies and art lovers to an extreme cooking competition they will never forget. Participants of the second annual CuisineArt, a fundraiser benefiting the Walker, donned personalized chef coats and were divided into teams to learn the secrets of preparing some of Puck's signature dishes. The finished products were judged by Carl Schuster (Wolfgang Puck Catering) and Chef Andrew Zimmern (Mpls.St.Paul Magazine; The Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern") in the Walker's McGuire Theater. The winning team received dinner at Puck's flagship restaurant, Spago Beverly Hills, as well as a bottle of wine from Sterling Vineyards. After the challenge, guests were treated to a spectacular 6-course dinner prepared by Puck in the Walker's Skyline Room. CuisineArt 2007 was sponsored by Target and raised nearly $100,000 for Walker programs.

Chef Andrew Zimmern filmed a short for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine documenting the night. Check out the entire photo set on Flickr.

I finally had a chance yesterday to take in the Picasso and American Art exhibition with my family, and while trying to process everything I saw and heard I stumbled across Mr. Picassohead. Luckily this is posted on a holiday, because once you click on that link, say goodbye to your afternoon…!