Art For Life 2010 Bombay Sapphire and Russell Simmons Competition and Exhibition

Planned Parenthood's Family Group Art Show

Planned Parenthood of San Antonio, Texas is having a competitive art show. It invites entries from artists working in all mediums whose work reflects notions of family, family planning, and planned futures.

Entry DEADLINE: August 31
Notifications Announced: September 17
Accepted Works Delivery Date: October 4 & 5
Opening Reception: Friday, October 15 6:30-8:30 pm
Last Day of Exhibit: October 31
Artists Pick-up Work: November 1

See their website for complete rules, eligibility, and prize descriptions.

Takers

The movie trailer for the new movie Takers, due to hit theaters August 27th, promises explosive action, plenty of drama, and an all-star cast that's easy on the eyes.

Directed by JohnLuessenhop, Takers revolves around a notorious group of criminals, (Idris Elba, Paul Walker, T.I., Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, and Michael Ealy) who continue to baffle police by pulling off perfectly executed bank robberies. They are in and out like clockwork, leaving no evidence behind, and laying low in between heists. But when they attempt to pull off one last job, with more money at stake than ever before, the crew may find their plans interrupted by a hardened detective (Matt Dillon) who is hell bent on solving the case.

Check out their official site here for updates, quizzes, photos, and more goodies

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

Centered on a rare interview that director and friend Tamra Davis shot with Basquiat over twenty years ago, this definitive documentary chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the young artist. In the crime-ridden NYC of the 1970s, he covers the city with the graffiti tag SAMO. In 1981 he puts paint on canvas for the first time, and by 1983 he is an artist with “rock star status.” He achieves critical and commercial success, though he is constantly confronted by racism from his peers. In 1985 he and Andy Warhol become close friends and painting collaborators, but they part ways and Warhol dies suddenly in 1987. Basquiat’s heroin addiction worsens, and he dies of an overdose in 1988 at the age of 27. The artist was 25 years old at the height of his career, and today his canvases sell for more than a million dollars. With compassion and psychological insight, Tamra Davis details the mysteries that surround this charismatic young man, an artist of enormous talent whose fortunes mirrored the rollercoaster quality of the downtown scene he seemed to embody.

Featuring interviews with Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger, Tony Shafrazi, Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Glenn O'Brien, Maripol, Kai Eric, Nicholas Taylor, Fred Hoffmann, Michael Holman, Diego Cortez, Annina Nosei, Suzanne Mallouk, Rene Ricard, Kenny Scharf, among many others.

Check out the films website here.

New Art By Frank Morrison Entitled "Practice Makes Perfect"

Frank Morrison's art work is unique and will make a statement that you simple can not miss. The exaggerated body parts and flowing motion of the characters depicted in Frank's art work are his signature and provide us with a glimpse of his endless creativity and talent.

Frank Morrison was born in Massachusetts and then moved to New Jersey at and early age. He grew up during the early days of rap music, graffiti, and break dancing. He was a well known graffiti artist and also an accomplished break dancer and was actually part of the Sugar Hill Gang's dance entourage. It was during one of the groups European tours he got a chance to visit the Louvre art museum in Paris and was so intrigued by all the magnificent art that he decided, at that moment, to return to his roots and become an artist.

Morrison’s work is inspired, not only by his rich and varied life experiences but, by his love and gratitude for his family--his wife Connie, three sons and a daughter and the omnipresent Hand of God. Each of his paintings bears his signature, of course, accompanied by the notation "TTG" representing and reminding all of his "Thanks To God" for the blessings of his gifts--his family and his talents.

Speak, Memory Symposium: October 28-30, 2010 @ Townhouse Gallery, Cairo

The Townhouse Gallery in Cairo is organizing an international symposium on archival initiatives and other strategies for the preservation and (re)activation of cultural memory.

Borrowing from the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s classic autobiography¹, Speak, memory is a three-day event structured around presentations, panel discussions, screenings, and artist talks exploring the rich array of methodologies that can be adopted to unearth, revisit or reactivate past artistic practices.

Recently, the Middle East has seen the emergence of a series of archival and historiographic endeavors focused on a local and regional history of modern and contemporary art.

In response to the scarce and scattered art historical documentation of the region’s most recent past, a growing number of researchers, curators and artists have begun collecting documents and recording the oral histories of artistic practices and exhibitions that have seemingly been forgotten, misinterpreted or dismissed.

As these research projects gain momentum, private collectors and newly created museums are also slowly acquiring artists’ archives, magazines and other remnants of the region’s 20th century cultural history.

These developments are not unique to the Middle East. A similar phenomenon has been taking place in Latin America, where private collectors, foreign museums and universities have been buying and exporting privately held archives related to artistic production of the 60’s and 70’s².

The current situation calls for a critical discussion between institutions, collectors, artists, curators, and researchers interested in reactivating recent cultural memory in a way that enables the creation of a multiplicity of narratives and ready access to these histories.

Speak, memory seeks to instigate an informed debate on the challenges and strategies for the preservation of modern and contemporary art histories, focusing on those that have been scarcely documented or are underrepresented in dominant art historical narratives.

In addition, the symposium will present archival initiatives that stand out for their successful organizational model, accessibility and discursive potential, as well as online platforms that are already providing possibilities for collaboration.

Rather than being a one-time event, the symposium aims to create a network of archival initiatives and broader historiographic endeavors that can facilitate a series of ongoing conversations and collaborations.

Invited speakers include, among others:

• Susan Meiselas (photographer, New York)
• Beatrice von Bismarck (curator and writer, Leipzig and Berlin)
• Kristine Khouri (writer and researcher, Study Group on the History of Arab Modernities, Beirut)
• Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (artists, London)
• Vasif Kortun (curator and director, Platform Garanti, Istanbul)
• Clare Hsu (director, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong)
• Barnaby Drabble (curator, writer and co-founder of Curating Degree Zero Archive, Zurich)
• Farah Wardani (director, Indonesian Visual Art Archive, Jakarta)
• Negar Azimi (writer and editor, Bidoun and Arab Image Foundation, New York and Beirut)
• Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh (researcher, Arab Image Foundation, Beirut)
• Heba Farid (photographer and researcher, CULTNAT, Cairo)
• Lucie Ryzova and Hussein Omar (researchers, Downtown History and Memory Project, Cairo)
• Celine Condorelli (artist, London)
• Jesús Carrillo (director of public programs, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid)
• Miguel López (curator and writer, Red Conceptualismos del Sur, Lima)
• Sean Dockrey (AAAArg.org and The Public School, Los Angeles)
• Ashok Sukumaran and Sebastian Lütgert (Pad.ma, Berlin, Bombay, Bangalore)

Program updates will be posted on the website www.speakmemory.org.

Speak, memory will take place at the Rawabet Theater by the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo on October 28-30, 2010 and will coincide with the exhibition of the Bidoun Library Project³ in the First Floor Gallery.

The language of the symposium will be English and simultaneous translation into Arabic will be provided.

Due to limited seating, registration is required⁴.

To register for the symposium, please send an email to info@speakmemory.org by September 15, 2010. Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

This project is generously supported by the Bohen Foundation, Arts Collaboratory, Goethe Institut, the Spanish Embassy and Pro Helvetia.

1) Speak, Memory (1951) is an autobiographical memoir of Vladimir Nabokov’s childhood in Russia at the beginning of the century and twenty years of subsequent exile.

2) This resulted in the creation of the Southern Conceptualisms Network (Red Conceptualismos del Sur), which has been supporting, instigating and connecting archival projects of experimental and conceptual art practices from the 1960’s- 80’s in Europe and South America that were sidelined by authoritarian regimes.

3) An ongoing project, Bidoun’s Library Project is a collection of rare books, catalogues, journals, and artists’books that traces contemporary art practices and particular moments in the various arts scenes of the Middle East.The project space allows visitors to explore, research, and map connections through innovative materials that are generally unavailable.

4) Due to financial restrictions, a registration fee of 80 Euro will be charged to symposium participants coming from abroad.The registration fee will be used towards covering the cost of meals, printed materials and other administrative costs related to the organization of the symposium. Individuals living in Cairo can attend the presentations in Rawabet Theater free of charge but will not have access to the meals unless they pay the registration fee.

Unreleased MJ Songs Due Nov. from Sony

*Rolling Stone is reporting that new material from the late Michael Jackson is coming to stores this fall courtesy of Sony Music.

Ten previously-unreleased songs are due in November, which will be the first in a 10-project, seven-year, $250 million deal the Jackson estate signed with Sony Music in March 2010. The pact also includes reissues of Jackson’s classic albums, greatest hits sets and a DVD collection.

The magazine said Jackson is believed to have left hard drives filled with unheard music, much of it recorded during his 1980s peak. Jackson’s manager Frank DiLeo said he estimates that the King of Pop’s vaults contain more than 100 completed and unreleased songs, including collaborations with artists Akon, Will.i.am and Ne-Yo.

“There are a couple of songs we recorded for the Bad album that we had to cut that are just sensational,” DiLeo said.

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