Some words on mountains

One indication that distance still looks our way is the brazen theft of ideas from international artists. The latest in a long line of nz exploiters is Dulux taking Ed Ruscha for a walk around the city. Here are a few other OTN posts featuring global artists being ‘homaged’ by ad agencies and designers:

Ruscha (again)
Cattelan
Rembrandt
Kruger

…and in the New Zealand division:

McCahon
Parekowhai (not really, but a big OTN favourite copycat)

Images: left Dulux advertisement and right Ed Ruscha Wall rockets

Breaking Entertainment News

A blockbuster art heist movie set in the eighties LA art scene is to be made in Wellington next year. At a meeting with the Wellington City Council the movie makers outlined ambitious plans. A giant set designed by a local architecture firm will be built to stand in for Grand Street in downtown LA.  The one to one scale buildings will be temporary, although there is now a move to have the set for the Broad Museum retained after the movie is shot to become the basis of a Wellington Movie Museum and Convention Centre. Exciting times.

Images: Top, The Broad in LA. Bottom, proposed design for the Wellington movie set version

Hoop dreams

Once described rather brilliantly by the Dominion Post as, ‘the formidable aluminum sphere’, Neil Dawson’s Ferns was taken down from its site in Wellington‘s Civic Square just over a year ago. It was always a pretty bold move to suspend 175 kilograms of metal overhead in a public space, especially when the object itself often drew a crowd, but time and the weather are tough companions. 

While Ferns was subject to continued inspection, including a stand down period for some light repairs in 2011, in June last year it was removed and ‘vanished’.  Well, sort of. There were sightings of it in a warehouse but after that, not a word. The City Council has always said it will return Ferns to Civic Square and it looks as though plans are on track for that to happen with a new version to be made and installed. 

It’s odd though that, having scored with a sculpture that captured public affection and became Wellington’s de facto icon, the City Council never made an effort to build on this sense of ownership . There’s been no ongoing communication with the thousands of people who voted for this work with their cameras. 

What a lost opportunity. In the meantime, down the road in Cuba Street, Basketball New Zealand seems to have nabbed Dawson’s idea for itself in the form of a logo.

Wet

There have been some people who have accused OTN of an obsession with Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa and, we’d have to say, this is pretty off left field.  OK, there have been a few mentions (we’ve listed them below – some of them are really extraordinary and well worth a look, it really is incredible that a painting locked up in the Louvre has had such an impact on contemporary culture, the Pogues’ Rum, sodomy and the lash? C’mon, that cover was amazing and how about that photo by Hu Jieming?). But obsessed? We asked around the OTN offices and the general consensus is no, we are not. Although the fact that the painting was first exhibited in the same year that grapes were first planted in New Zealand makes you think. OK, there are no grapes in Géricault’s astounding work but it would have been quite something had there been, especially as the absence of food on the raft is one of its key themes. You gotta admit, G’s raft is hard to avoid. Alexander Sokurov’s movie Francofonia, currently showing at the Film Festival, features it big time (you can read more on that astounding coincidence here) and what did we see when we visited the new Whitney in NYC recently? You got it, Frank Stella’s sculpture Raft of the Medusa part I. There you go, not obsessed. And we didn’t even say there was a 'raft of options' at any time during this post. Not once ... oh.

Raft stuff on OTN
A raft too far
Reflections
Flotsam or jetsam
All at sea
Raft of references
Copycats

Rotten Apple

Given the mileage Andy Warhol and his peers (including Billy Apple) got out of advertising, it’s probably reasonable to expect some blow back from the agencies. In Billy Apple’s case, however, you might have expected it to come from somewhere other than New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. Its promotional materials for the 2016 International Business Awards celebrate the successes of the Apple and Pear Marketing Board with a gold apple and a gold pear.  Not only that, they are also placed on a plinth, complete with an art museum label detailing dimensions and media, we’re in lookalike copycat territory, as in the clear reference back to Billy Apple’s 1983 apple made of 103 ounces of pure gold (unlike the Apple effort the somewhat cheesy copycat is only plated).  

So why shouldn’t T&E liberate Apple’s gold apple idea? Well maybe because one of the stated goals of the Awards is that it, ‘recognises success in developing and commercialising innovation in international markets; incorporating intellectual property strategy, processes and monitoring’. And protecting Billy Apple’s innovation and IP? ….um….we’ll get back to you on that.

Images: left New Zealand Trade & Enterprise's copycat apple and right Billy's apple.

Chairmen

Julian Dashper was a great fan of Gerrit Rietveld chairs, and Rietveld tables for that matter. He had copies made of both the well-known Blue chair (which he painted in a new Dashper colour range) and the famous Zig-Zag chair. Rietveld himself once called the Zig Zag a ‘designer joke’ but Dashper took it pretty seriously. An early version made from MDF board didn’t survive but two more based on drawings in the book How to construct Reitveld furniture did. One is in 12mm ply and another in American ash (thanks M). We remember sitting (nervously at first) on one of the later sturdier versions. And now another  version of the Rietveld Zig Zag chair with a strong NZ connection has turned up in the Berlin dealer gallery Neugerriemschneider. This chair was made from swamp kauri by the British artist Simon Starling who has, yes, you guessed it, recently visited New Zealand. He had an exhibition at the City Gallery in 2014 and maybe it was then he came across the complications of exporting swamp kauri out of NZ. This red tape would no doubt have appealed to Starling. His bedtime reading probably includes bureaucratic gems like the Legislative requirements that relate to the milling and export of swamp kauri under the Forest Act 1949 and listings of documentation required to give Notice of intention to export. Anyway he wraps all these rules and regulations into his perfectly simple Zig Zag chair. We need one in NZ, (looking at you Te Papa) anyone out there to do the paperwork?
Image: Simon Starling Zig-Zag chair

Fright night

For at least five years it's as though Dane Mitchell has been stalked by another artist. It’s the horror film scenario. First off you just catch a quick glimpse of something at the window. 'Was that one of my works?' (cue unsettling music). Later, flicking through an art mag, there's a sudden, heart-stopping sound as a deep shadow blacks out the page. 'That’s a work I made ten years ago!' (shivering violins). Initially it was reasonable to pass it off as global zeitgeist thing (after all, ideas are seldom unique) but when the echoes turn up in production, look and feel, scale, it gets harder to accept as coincidence. So what can be done? Not much as it turns out. Despite discussion the other artist refuses to acknowledge the takes and keeps on going. Legal redress across borders is of course complex, expensive and out of the question.

And now it’s happening again, this time with a different artist. Visitors to Art Basel Hong Kong who know Dane Mitchell’s work will see a familiar face, well a familiar sculpture actually. The Polish artist Alicja Kwade’s work is more than just a close call (is Mitchell some sort of flypaper for lookalikes?) the two rings are not only in a Venn diagram arrangement but have exactly the same dimensions and lean against the wall like the Mitchell work. It was first exhibited in his 2014 at Hopmoss show Other explications, in LA the same year and Switzerland in 2015. In the end the implicit system of art making and influence relies on good citizenship. Well, that didn’t seem to work.

Images: top, Dane Mitchell 2014 and bottom, Alicja Kwade 2016

Art to go

The news there's a waterfall painting by William Hodges coming up at Christie's Auctions in London must be causing some discussion at Te Papa. Unlike Auckland Art Gallery (proud owners of the iconic View in Dusky Bay, New Zealand) Te Papa has only prints to represent the best-known artist of Captain Cook's second voyage to the Pacific in the 1770s. The painting at Christie's is A Maori at Cascade Cove in Dusky Bay, New Zealand. It's not huge (30 x 45.7 cm) and painted on copper, but it has all the essential elements including a watchful Maori figure, although probably with some prescience, he is looking over his shoulder. The work is estimated at between $160,000 and $230,000 that in terms of recent TeP acquisitions is kind of cheap.

But Te Papa does have other options. If it wants to go down the market, paintings by Hodges are on offer for under a thousand dollars by the hard working folk at Fineart China.com. Buy from them and you don’t have to wait for the Christie's auction on 29 October, they'll knock one up straight away. And it just keeps on getting better. They'll send you a photo of your painting by email as soon as it's ready for your approval and if you're not happy you get your money back. Fineart China offers thirteen different William Hodges paintings including the most famous Dusky Sound version from the National Maritime Museum, but if Te Papa goes down this path that's probably one to avoid. And if you want your own Hodges with a money back guarantee, go here.
 
Image: Fineart China

Vanishing cream

If you've followed OTN for a while you'll know its position over the use of Gordon Walters' version of the koru has gone from astonishment through resignation to whatever. As a design it has been slapped on just about everything but now that the digital is putting copyright itself under such pressure all this WTFing is starting to feel rather old school. But there are always exceptions. And you do have to laugh when you see Walters basic design revamped into a clumsy identity for a product called ‘Come Clean’. Their killer by-line? “Clear skin with a clear conscience.” Not until you've talked to the Walters Estate you won’t have.

You tubes

The sight of design chipping away at art’s domain is a familiar feature of our world, but here's a major leap forward. Artists like Bruce Nauman, Claire Fontaine, Joseph Kosuth, Tracey Emin and Martin Creed (and there’s a lot more where that came from) who've kidnapped neon lettering from the commercial world may have to think about letting it go. Now there's an art/design neon kit available that you can use to construct your own words, letter by letter. Suggested are ‘Light’ (at $650), ‘Love’ (sorry Martin), ‘Home’, and, inevitably, ‘Art’ (the cheapest at $395). And where do you buy one of these art destabilising machines? The Auckland Art Gallery shop, Corner Kitchener and Wellesley Streets.

Image: left Martin Creed Work no. 374 and right the less attractive DIY version made by Seletti on display at the Auckland Art Gallery shop

Art and money, money and art

“ I got addicted to being a philanthropist.” So said art forger Mark Landis who took taking art museums to the cleaners to new heights. “I went on philanthropic binges in mother’s car.” His idea was simple. Instead of selling his forgeries to museums, he’d donate them. He figured that the museum folk would be so keen to get that Picasso or Lautrec or Cezanne into their collection that they wouldn’t look too hard at the provenance or, indeed, at the art itself. He was right. “He knew right where to hit us, our soft spot art and money.” Leininger rather wonderfully calls the reproductions that he copies his work from the ‘originals’ and, for all the deceit, he turns out to be surprisingly humble. “I’m not really an artist,” he insists. “I like to do arts and crafts in front of the TV.”

We posted on suspicions that Landis (dressed as a priest) was up to something like this back in 2010. Now a documentary by Sam Cullman tells the full story. Art and craft follows Landis as he meets up with his nemesis, an equally obsessive registrar from the Cincinnati Art Museum. You can find out more about Art and craft here.

Image: Mark Landis in Art and craft

Out for a duck

Never a blog to avoid the deeper issues in the construction of giant sculptures, here’s an update on a duplicate duck deception that's ruffling feathers in Philadephia. The Philly duck is a copycat of the more famous giant duck made by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. He has duplicated this idea more than twenty times around the world by sending plans to have his duck created and inflated. Hofman is extremely put out by the ‘fake’ Philly duck, particularly as the folk in Philadelphia are claiming that it has nothing to do with his one. 'I was shocked', Hofman told reporters. ‘They don't have permission to show my duck.’ This isn’t the first time Hofman’s giant duck idea has been cloned: giant ducks have proved very popular in China. But for Hofman to ‘own’ the big duck concept isn’t so straightforward either. As one American IP lawyer put it, ‘A rubber duck is an extremely common thing, and making a very large one does not necessarily give someone copyright rights in that artistic expression.’ Even more here.

Images: top, one of Hofman’s ducks. Middle, a Chinese version and bottom, the Philly duck

The road goes ever on

They say Lookalikes are where you find them. Well, we just did. Could this campaign pasted all over Wellington be from the same agency that did the Spielberg face for the Auckland Art Gallery's Light Show? You kind of hope not, but there it is again, the slack jaw and the glazed stare, but this time for Sky movies. So we've got a Lookalike of a Lookalike, what more could you ask for? You can catch up with the Spielberg face here and our original AAG/Spielberg post here.

Taking liberties

Having featured her links with advertising last month we were pretty surprised to find Liberty alive and well on billboards in Japan.

Uncool copycat

In the land of lookalike is there anything more creepy than John Malkovich and Sandro Miller’s efforts to recreate famous photographs? Photographer Miller wanted to honour the men and women whose photographs had helped shape his [Miller's] career so who to call but actor John Malkovich. Miller received the Saatchi & Saatchi Best New Director Award and was voted one of the top 200 advertising photographers in the world. His work certainly shows why Cindy Sherman and Sherrie Levine are so highly regarded. (Thanks for the tip P)
Images: top to bottom, John Malkovich and Sandro Miller do Diane Arbus, Dorothea Laing and Andy Warhol

Chanelling...

... Bill Hammond in Wellington

Lawn dog

You look out the window at the small plot of grass and garden and think, ‘what could I put there that would brighten the place up?’ The answer lies in China - a Jeff Koons Balloon Dog either full size or (if you really want to annoy the neighbours) even bigger. Is such a thing even possible? Sure it is. You just need to get onto Vincentaa Landscape & Architect Sculpture Co’s website and order one up at a cost of between $500 (we assume for a smaller dog) to $5,000 (who knows how big). Vincentaa can knock you up 10 of these a week, not that you will probably need 10 but who knows, economies of scale etc. Once it’s made your dog goes to Tianjin Xingang Port in a ‘strong seaworthy iron frame’ and then to you. If you really want to add some grunt to your front you can also order up a 30 meter reflecting Anish Kapoor like the one in Chicago on the same site.

Seven days

Monday: see picture of Urs Fischer’s Untitled (Lamp bear) in a magazine
 
Tuesday: scan pic
 
Wednesday: send scan to China
 
Thursday: receive jpg of prototype
 
Friday: make small adjustments
 
Saturday: place order
 
Sunday: rest

Images: left Urs Fischer Untitled (Lamp bear) right Chinese bear lamp as sold in the Centre Georges Pompidou's design store

Ready made

A reader (thanks A) has pointed out the unusually sophisticated use of Duchamp's 1925 work Rotary Demisphere (Precision Optics) in today's NZ Herald cartoon.

Images: left Marcel Duchamp, right Rod Emmerson

Chisellers

In the early 1980s Wellington developed an Art bonus scheme. The idea was to take advantage of all the commercial building that was going on and insist that at least a small percentage of the money pouring into bricks and mortar went to art. It was a public sculpture bonanza that got the city some stuff including half a Henry Moore, Terry Stringer’s head and a Robert Jesson’s star fish like wall work. In the end about a dozen works were achieved and there was a lot of criticism that the scheme was simply being exploited by developers to get concessions on added height and reduced public space. 

More recently in LA the same sort of scheme has taken a different and more sinister turn. The pressure to supply developers with more and more sculpture so they could get more and more concessions for their buildings led at least one real estate guy to by-pass the art part of the agreement and get his own public sculpture made. His method was simple. Clip pics of sculptures out of magazines and send them to China to be copied. When his copies arrived he cunningly disguised them by renaming the work from its original Untitled to Human Natures: Many Faces. Now a court case has finally put a stop to the practice but you can understand the attraction. A copy of a stone sculpture based on a photograph can be door-to-doored for $1,250 (the Chinese even offer a ‘three for $950’ sweetener). The same work produced by the artist in America sells at around $35,000. 

Image: One of the Chinese 'versions' of Untitled by Californian based artist Don Wakefield