Sneak Preview of Art from the Biennial Roadshow Marfa

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Hey artists and art lovers!

Here’s this week’s sneak peak at some of the AMAZING art that has been submitted to the Biennial Roadshow Marfa.

And remember – the deadline for submissions is this Friday, so get those entries in!

Enter the Biennial Roadshow here!

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David Turner, Belfast, Northern Ireland, I Nearly died Laughing
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Kristi Beisecker, Wellesley, MA, Bluebells

AgainstNature_Zerangue

Joshua Zerangue, Philadelphia, PA, Against Nature
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Michael St. Germain, Newton, MA,  Hollywood Basement sketch

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Adamo Macri, Montreal, Quebec, Stasis Echo of Mount Helicon

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Brandy-Michelle Byard, Arlington, Texas, Message in a Bottle

And check out this totally cool video entry:


ENTER THE BIENNIAL ROADSHOW NOW!!!!!!!

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Check out some cool art!

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With the entry deadline 3 weeks away, The Biennial Roadshow Marfa is already attracting fantastic artwork from far and wide – with U.S. entries from all around this fair country – including from Florida, Louisiana, California, Illinois, Texas, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York, plus international entries from as far away as Indonesia, Thailand, and Quebec!

Feast your eyes on some of the beautiful work we’ve received so far! Now go enter your work so that it might be included in our next roadshow round up of submitted art! And don’t forget to follow the Biennial Roadshow on Facebook – we’ll be posting samples of submitted artwork daily!

Installation series “Untitled 2007”(Primitive Cool), Sarawut Chutiwongpeti,Thailand

Adamo_Macri_Prospero_Sycorax_Ariel

    Prospero Sycorax Ariel, Adamo Macri,Quebec

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 Sweep, Laura Scandrett, CA

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Untitled (light head), and Jacob McCandles, Big Jake, 1971, Christopher Deris, LA

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      cupandcardboard, Susan Fitzsimmons, Texas

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 Freeport Story In Papua, Bahtiar Dwi Susanto, Indonesia

FESTA_CSB HDR 04

      Congress Street Bridge HDR 04, Robert Festa, MA

SamIWantYou1

         Stop being Assholes, Kelly Jo Shows, ME


SUBMIT YOUR ARTWORK HERE

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A Unique Opportunity to Support The Biennial Project’s Important Charitable Work.

 

As you’re preparing your entry for Biennial Roadshow Marfa (ENTER BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA HERE), you can also help us establish a Biennial Roadshow Marfa Artist Residency for a Deserving International Artist who would otherwise not have the means to participate in this career-making event (ENTER BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA HERE).

The artist selected for this prestigious residency by the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Advisory Council (BRMAC) will be invited to participate fully with the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Traveling Group (BRMTG) as an artist-in-residence for the entire week of Biennial Roadshow Marfa – March 30th thru April 6th, 2014. (ENTER BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA HERE).

Lodging will be provided for the Artist-in-Residence within our state of the art campus on the spacious grounds of the internationally renowned El Cosmico Centre for Artistic Development.

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This fortunate artist will have full access to the sophisticated creative apparatus of The Biennial Project to develop their own artist practice and to contribute to the greater good of The Biennial Project. (ENTER BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA HERE)

The BRMAC will look to select an artist whose body of work demonstrates the vision, maturity and collaborative ability to contribute to The Overall Biennial Project Oeuvre.

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We will also look to select our Artist-in-Residence from an underprivileged area - someplace where artists don't have access to the multiple resources to support the arts that we as Americans take for granted.

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(To give just one example of many, guns. If an aspiring artist in many parts of the world is called by their muse to use guns as part of their practice, they are forced to deal with a Kafkaesque nightmare of boring bureaucracy.  When artistic inspiration strikes, who has time for paperwork?)

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In summary then, the BRMAC will scour the world to identify the most talented but geographically-challenged contender, and with your support will assist them with travel costs, accommodation, and beer money.

What you will receive in return for your generous support of this project:

Good Karma, plus:

 

Support Level One – Smile – $1 (Click YES to Donate $1 to Support Art Residencies when submitting your work to Biennial Roadshow Marfa). Help make the Biennial Roadshow Marfa look more prestigious on your resume and curry favor with the judges! (ENTER BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA HERE)

 

Support Level Two - Sparkle – $10 - A Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Postcard signed by all BRMAC members OR a personal email exchange with the BRMAC member of your choice (up to 3 emails each).

 

Support Level Two – Glitter – $25 - A Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Postcard signed by all BRMAC members PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Poster OR a brief hug with the BRMAC member of your choice (travel costs not included).

 

Support Level Three – Bronze – $50 - A Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Postcard signed by all BRMAC members PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Poster PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative T-shirt OR a somewhat longer hug with the BRMAC member of your choice (travel costs not included).

 

Support Level Four – Silver – $100 - A Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Postcard signed by all BRMAC members PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Poster PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative T-shirt PLUS a Limited Edition Video of the Highlights of the Biennial Roadshow Marfa OR a lingering hug with the BRMAC member of your choice (travel costs not included).

 

Support Level Five – Gold – $250 - A Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Postcard signed by all BRMAC members PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Poster PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative T-shirt PLUS a Limited Edition Video of the Highlights of the Biennial Roadshow Marfa PLUS a signed photo from the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Artist-in-Residence, PLUS regular (no less than 7) email updates from the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Artist-in-Residence as he/she completes the artistic journey of a lifetime OR a lingering hug with wandering hands allowed with the BRMAC member of your choice (travel costs not included).

 

Support Level Six – Platinum – $500 - A Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Postcard signed by all BRMAC members PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative Poster PLUS a Limited Edition Biennial Roadshow Marfa Commemorative T-shirt PLUS a Limited Edition Video of the Highlights of the Biennial Roadshow Marfa PLUS a signed photo from the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Artist-in-Residence, PLUS regular (no less than 7) email updates from the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Artist-in-Residence as he/she completes the artistic journey of a lifetime PLUS A Single Edition (yours will be the only copy available!) video of the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Artist-in-Residence during his or her residency - including their performance during the Closing Ceremony OR a lingering hug with wandering hands allowed with the Biennial Roadshow Marfa Artist-in-Residence (travel costs not included).

 

Support Level Seven - Plutonium – $1000 - you tell us what you're interested in, and we'll talk.

 

TO SUPPORT THE BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA ARTIST RESIDENCY PROGRAM, SEND YOUR TAX-DEDUCTABLE CHECK TODAY OR PAY VIA PAYPAL HERE:

SHOW US THE MONEY

ENTER BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA HERE

A HEARTWARMING TALE FOR THE HOLIDAYS

So the other night we had perhaps one too many at one of the Glittering Art Soirees that are mandatory this time of year, and got to chatting with artist friends about the Roadshow Biennial Marfa that The Biennial Project is hosting this coming April.

One of our co-conspirators, who had had, if we are to be entirely honest, perhaps two too many, suggested that we should ask our favorite art critic Jerry Saltz to jury the show with us.

At the time this sounded like just the most daring and Biennial Project thing to do, so we agreed with said co-conspirator that he should chat the old boy up and see if he was game.

What a surprise then when we awakened the next day to find that the aforementioned co-conspirator had face-booked his friend Jerry and asked him to jury our show.

Egad we thought - what would ever have given him the idea to do such a thing? What could he have been thinking? Seriously, that man drinks too much.

But as it happens around the holidays, everything happens for a purpose, and the purpose is always good.

And the purpose of our little adventure was to confirm that Sir Jerry Saltz is indeed not only the best major critic writing in the English language today, but also just the nicest and most decent famous person out there.

Not only did he answer our sorry little asses (OK, maybe not SO little this time of year), but he gave us a rejection letter that surely will reign forever as the most goddamned sweet rejection letter of all time.

Herewith:

On Wednesday, December 18, 2013 11:37 PM, Jerry Saltz wrote:

I want to – but I am so so so busy these days.

NYM is stopping publishing weekly and going bi-weekly; means MORE on-line writing for me; Whitney Biennial is March, etc., etc.

I am poor; you are poor: Bad match.

You don’t have enough to pay me. I can’t work for less than I charge – which is WAY more than you have.

I LOVE being asked; your lives there are so so much bigger than mine here.

I truly envy you all for these lives lived in art…

Thank you; I am honored to have been asked,

Really.

Sigh,

Jerry

OK Biennial Project friends, If you can find us a more generous rejection letter, we will print it in our blog - but we know you can't because such a thing would be outside the realm of human possibility.

Other than the general niceness, there are three things worth pointing out about this response:

Jerry Saltz thinks we're poor. Is it that obvious? Maybe we should stop cutting our own hair to save money. But more importantly,

Jerry Saltz thinks we're artists. How many times have we tried to explain this to you?  Take THAT, painters of fruit - we told you so!

Jerry Saltz thinks we're much bigger than him. OK, now we're just melting in a warm pool of wonderful.  LADADADADADA! LADADADADADA!

While we still have visions of invites to major biennials dancing in our heads, and definitely plan to achieve our goal of becoming super famous in the coming year, until then, this will do nicely. And they say there is no Santa Clause!

Now, be well-behaved children and go follow the good Mr. Saltz on face-book and wherever else you find him, so that you can enjoy his refreshing take on art and the art world - and don't forget to tell him The Biennial Project sent you!

js

(US with Jerry outside the Whitney Biennial Preview Party last year.)

YOUR INVITATION TO SHOW YOUR WORK AT BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA

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The Biennial Project is pleased to announce an open call to artists worldwide for Biennial Roadshow Marfa 2014 - an online juried competition and screen digital presentation.

If your rousing work is selected it will be shown on our very busy website and in a blog posting reaching over 3,000 art world movers and shakers.

Best of all - your art will be presented as part of a giant screen digital display at The Biennial Roadshow Marfa 2014 Hoodang* and Gala (that is a reception for you non-Texans) being held at world-renowned El Cosmico, the coolest gathering spot for trend-makers in the art-world Mecca of Marfa, Texas.

This glittering shindig is being held on Friday April 4th, 2014 - where all selected art work will be seen by the contemporary artists and artisans who inhabit or visit this Western hamlet and by The Biennial Project’s massive entourage who will be in Marfa that entire week. This is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Much better.

The Jurors will be the members of The Biennial Project - plus a special celebrity guest juror to be announced.

marfablog2Now, you may ask  - why Marfa, Texas?

Well for those of you who might not know – prepare to get all fired up, because this tiny town perched on the high plains of the Chihuahua desert is nothing less than an art’s world station of the cross, like Art Basel in Miami, or Documenta in Germany.

It's a blue-chip arts desmarfablog5tination for the sort of glamorous scenesters who visit Amsterdam for the Rijksmuseum and the drugs.

It all started when the acclaimed minimalist artist Donald Judd left New York City in the 1970s for this dusty dot of a town. He wanted to escape the art scene he claimed to disdain.

With the help of the DIA Foundation, Judd acquired an entire Army base, and before he died in 1994, he filled it with art, including light installations by Dan Flavin and Judd's own signature boxes. Now it’s a whole creative community.

An extremely fashionable and well-connected creative community. A creative community that needs to see your work.

How can you turn down a shot at fame and fortune like this? You might get so rich you can eat fried chicken all week! More chicken any man ever seen!

The potential for exposure is enormous! You’ll be running with the big dogs here.

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It’s a no brainier…we want you to enter! We want the world to see your creations. We want you to be celebrated and wealthy. You must enter!!! You can be as happy as a boardinghouse pup if you do!

Once again all selected work will be displayed on our website gallery and in a blog posting that reaches an audience of 3,000. Your work will also will be included in a digital art display to be shown at The Biennial Project's Biennial Roadshow Marfa 2014 Hoodang and Gala.

In addition, the artist who is bestowed the title of Marfa Town Marshall (The Grand Prizewinner) will have a solo gallery show on our website, and a solo blog posting of 15 pieces or his/her work to our on-line audience of over 3,000.


ENTRY PROCEDURE:
Go to biennialroadshow.com and click the ENTER NOW link or simply click this link:

ENTER THE BIENNIAL ROADSHOW MARFA

APPLICATION DEADLINE: All application materials must be submitted by 12pm EST February 14th, 2014.

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**For you behind-the-times urbanites, a hoodang is defined in the Urban Dictionary as "a party, festival or celebration. This word is used in the southern region of the USA to describe informal get-togethers that involve dancing and playing the fiddle such as hoedowns and lynchings. EX "Hoowee! Boy, that sure was a fun hoodang!" "Which one? The dance, or when we hung that guy for lookin at our women?""There are so many, I forget which one." "both: HOOOWEE!". Or “Hoowee! Boy, this sure will be a fun hoodang! We’ll get all gussied up and paint the town and the front porch then shoot out the lights. You can throw your Stetson over the windmill!!”

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HOOWEE!

What happens in The Venice Biennale stays at The Venice Biennale

So the Venice Biennale 55 is officially closed. What happened there will now only be a memory. You will always hear people talk about that person whose eardrums shattered because didn’t wear their plugs during Konrad Smoleński loud-as-shit bells at The Polish Pavilion. You will have to decide if it was 3 or 23 naked artists running down Calle Avvocat and around the diners at Acqua Pozza restaurant in Campo Sant Angelo. Someone will have to figure out the truth behind the stories of people adding their own garbage to the organized chaos of Sarah Sze’s piece at The American Pavilion. The Venice Biennale 55 has only been closed a few days and art lovers world wide are already turning the tale of how much free Koskenkorva vodka a certain young American in a bow tie drank at the opening party for the Finnish Pavilion. How far Justin actually power puked will always vary in our collective memories. All we can verify is that the band Phantom, was great at the reception and that Justin made it home safe if not sound.

We, The Biennial Project felt that we should maintain some decorum and respect towards this gigantic art world event and not influence(or jade) your opinion of it until it closed. Only now is it truly safe for you to watch our reactions. Witness a video montage of some of the experiences The Biennial Project had during the opening week of this year’s Biennale. Fact or fiction is up to you now…..Rumor has it somebody saw an actual painting.

What happens at The Venice Biennale stays at The Venice Biennale, sort of….

More Shit we liked The Venice Biennale 55


Sometimes we, The Biennial Project, get so caught up in the lives of being an artist, or caught up in the organized mind of being artists we forget to share with you some of the stuff we have already written about. Here is a review we did of some of the art we saw at The Venice Biennale 55 in June of 2015. Yes, too late for you to actually see it, but hopefully you can get a sense of it from our look back……Here is some of the shit The Biennial Party and our entourage liked when went to Venice Biennale 55 during the opening week.

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In this blog we will talk about the art works, not hockey, of our countries of heritage, Latvia and the Czech Republic.

Latvia and czeeh hocky2LatviaczeeflagsLatviaczechhocky1
The little country of Latvia became little engine that could because the
whole entire city of Venice were impressed with their Pavilion entitled
North by North-East. This site-specific work  explores the artists'
relationship to the natural and ever-shifting man-made world. The project
also investigates the concepts and conditions of identity, uncertainty, and
the 'in-between.
Kriss Salmanis' presented a large tree that swings upside down from
the ceiling, creaking from the sheer force of movement and slowly dropping
limbs to the floor. We saw this tree hit one or two inattentive people in
the ass as well. It also smelled divine. A good place to pass gas if you
have to while touring the Biennale. Too many Biscotti can be a bitch on your
digestive track. We ought to know. We spent plenty of time covering up our
human odors at the Latvian Pavilion.
http://vimeo.com/67229511
Kaspars Podieks hung  large-scale black-and-white photographic  and video
portraits of residents of Latvian village of Drusti standing emotionless in
the snow. Podieks feels strongly about Drusti. He is active in the social
and political activities as a member of its town council. Looking closely
the perspectives seem a wee bit askewed somehow floating above the
landscapes (much like Latvia and The Biennial Project). That is because he
hangs his subjects from a crane. Oh those Latvians!!

Kaspars Podieks portraits3Kaspars Podieks portraits2latvianportrait1
On a personal note we had a great time at The Baltic Bash, or Latvian
reception. Two of The Biennial Project's entourage  are of Latvian descent.
This stoke of cultural luck caused quite the stir with Eric Hess being
interviewed by Latvian news and Markus Blauss resembling Kaspars Podnieks.
The gene pool in Latvia isn't that big.  Anyhow with the insider genetics
mixed in with the abundance of Janu siers (caraway cheese) Bauskas Alus
(Latvian Beer) all of the members of The Biennial Project and our vast
entourage started to feel Latvian. So Latvian in fact that when it was time
for the actual presentation we sort of forgot to step out of the way and we
posed for photos and answered press questions. What a pleasure to be Latvian
for an afternoon. Eric said what he liked best was that everybody smelled
like his grandmother which he now realizes is from her daily consumption of
Latvian beer and cheese. No wonder she was always singing.

latvian newsLatvianartistsanna MarkusLatvian Artists me
In addition to the two Latvian in our touring group  we had three Czechs. Bo
Petran
and Sonia Domkarova were born and raised in Kolín, Czech Republic.
Kolín is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic some 55
kilometres (34 mi) east from Prague, lying on the Elbe River. In spring 2005
a new automobile factory was opened in Kolin by the TPCA consortium on the
northern edge of the town. It employs 3,000 people.
Also included in trio of Czechs is  Anna Salmeron who Czech by years of
insertion.
Its really not a party without one or two rowdy Czechs. We had
three!!

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In the Giardini we fell in with Czech artist Zbynek Baladrán. Our new friend
'Z' presented a film entitled 'Liberation or Alternatively'. In this flick Z
conceptualizes the relationship between the mental map of Venice, in his own
critical reading of the collected material and the context of the Venice
Biennale as an institution. Subjective comments of the montage of images
take the viewer through distant and close, personal, social and political
contexts of Venice as a contemporary art centre, without which the Biennale
would not be what it is - a joyous apocalypse of meanings and values. This
is exactly how the Biennial Project experiences Venice. No wonder we are all
somewhat Czech. Zbynek was so cool that he didn't even get too pissed at us
when we went to grab his photo when he was taking a much needed cigarette
break after a full day of press interviews and parties.

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Announcing the Biennial Roadshow!

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                                  (Rootless Cosmopolitans hit the road again!)

Attention Unindicted Co-conspirators and Fellow Travelers!

The Biennial Project  - never content to rest on our ever more sizable laurels - is just tickled to announce an Intensely Cool New Thing!

In the "off" year from our infamous Assaults on the Venice Biennale, we are going to host Biennial Exhibits in a series of Super Fun Art Locales that we have always wanted to visit.

Hence, the title - The Biennial Roadshow.

(Get the play on Antique’s Roadshow? Aren’t we just the cleverest and the meta-est?)

As we anticipate it, for future Biennial Roadshows, anyone who wants to can suggest a destination, but for the first one we have already picked a place.

The place is Marfa, Texas.

Yes, Texas.

OK, we will admit that the idea of Texas freaked us out a little at first too.

But as we hear it, it’s super beautiful out there, and we’ll be traveling as a large group to one of their artiest towns, so we’re thinking we may get out alive.

After all:

THIS LAND IS BIENNIAL PROJECT LAND

and more:

Why Marfa is a Really Cool Place that Cool People Already Know About

We’ll have more info soon about how to apply to get your important work included in Biennial Roadshow Marfa, but for now we want to offer the opportunity for a select small group to travel with us.

We can check out super cool spots, see art, make art, re-enact the Last Supper in the dessert, and generally make our parents proud. And you know that you can trust us because you’ve touched our perfect body with your mind.

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When are we going you ask?

The week of March 30th thru April 6th, year of our lord 2114.

Where are we staying you ask?

Only THE coolest place ever – check it out!

THE Coolest Place Ever - El Cosmicobobby

Yep, we thought you’d agree that there could be no cooler base camp from which to partake of the bounty of Marfa. Did we mention that they have hot tubs?

And that on Friday April 4th The Biennial Project and El Cosmico will host the best party in town to celebrate the opening of the Biennial Roadshow Marfa exhibit?

OK, by now you either realize that this is the coolest thing ever, or you are considering reporting us as spam.

If you are in the cool kids group, and are in the mood for a road trip, let us know.

ONWARD BIENNIAL PROJECT SOLDIERS MARCHING AS TO WAR

Biennial Roadshow Marfa on Facebook

Sh*t We Liked at The Venice Biennale 55 by Eric Hess

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imageSo it’s been a few months since we, the Biennial Project attended the glamorous preview week of the Venice Biennale.

Only now have we recovered from our hangovers, washed the glitter from our private parts and sorted out our brains from the overwhelming visual stimulus that is The Venice Biennale.

We realize that the art show closes in a month and that many of you still haven’t made plans to go.

TBP are procrastinators too and generally we catch shows the day they close like you.

The Biennial Project thought maybe if we shared with you just a little of what we liked of what we saw of the ‘Superbowl of Art’ we could get your asses in gear to go see the assemblage of creations located in Venezia for the next month.

It would be impossible to cover all we loved in one article so hopefully there will be follow ups leading right up to the closing day.

We loved Turner prize-winning artist Mark Leckey, ‘The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things’. At first we thought this was the sub-theme for the whole Biennale. Somewhat fitting don’t you agree? But it was just some more art mixed in with the other art. Whatever, we liked it. Plus it was from England like our dear friend Tom Estes.

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The Russian Pavilion floored us. And that’s not only because they had a big old hole in their floor. Despite the injustices Vladimir Putin signed into laws against gays in Russia this past summer, we have to say we can separate all that bullshit and still enjoy The Russian representation of this year’s Biennale. Actually the artist Vadim Zakharov, addresses the injustices in today’s Russian society in his piece Danae. Hopefully he doesn’t end up in jail.

In Greek Mythology Danae is impregnated by Zeus who appears to her as a Shower of Golden Rain.

It seems as if pissing on one another was a cheap thrill even in ancient times. Anyhow, our buddy Vadim demonstrates this by dropping 200,000 gold coins continuously from 2 stories up through a hole in the floor (the vagina for those of you who need this spelled out) to the basement.

Only female visitors are allowed on the bottom floor with an umbrella to protect them from the golden shower (of coins, not urine you perverts). A really, really sexy man with a well-fitted suit drops these coins on the women. Around him is the phrase ‘Gentlemen, time has come to confess our Rudeness, Lust, Narcissism, Demagoguery, Falsehood, Banality, and Greed, Cynicism, Robbery, Speculation, Wastefulness, Gluttony, Seduction, Envy and Stupidity."

So what Mr. Zakharov is really doing is acknowledging the fact the Russian society is segregated and treats different groups of people, in this case different genders, in different and unfair ways. Though this doesn’t directly address the outright gay torture the Russian government is inflicting on their gay population, Eric, of The Biennial Project, got a raging boner from the good looking Russian men yelling at him and would let them pee on him any day of the week. Thank you hot Russian men for not eating your asparagus, and fuck you Putin you fucker.




Another Artist we liked a whole lot was WILFREDO DIAZ VALDEZ, who represented Uruguay at THE URUGUAY PAVILION.

We didn’t only like Willy simply because he is kind sweet man with a kind sweet family.

We also didn’t just like him because he gave us a free autographed book or that he invited us to participate in the next Montevideo Biennial.

No, we weren’t even overcome with him simply because his son-in-law is an extremely hot looking, masculine type of Latin Man we all think about when we masturbate.

No - all these reasons were outshined by his incredible sculptures, which were made of found wooden objects modified and made into pieces that seem to impossibly balanced work with unexpected folds and joints.

He studies wood and the human interventions that have transformed it into utilitarian artifacts - at the same time examining how wood and utilitarian objects evolve. He dissects and observes the organic qualities inherent in the wood and its relationship with light—the role of photosynthesis and the effects of the passing of time—at the same time that he contemplates the historical and cultural contexts through which wood is transformed into artifacts for several uses.

Speaking of Uruguayan hotties (I mean aren’t we all always talking about the scrumptious men of Uruguay), we really enjoyed work by artist Martin Sastre - a perfume ad for his scent ‘U from Uruguay’.

At first we felt a little uncomfortable being that we, the Biennial Project, were in Venice to do our own European launch of our scent ‘Star of Venice’.  But then we figured, imitation is the best form of flattery and all he was doing was borrowing our totally original idea and making it his own.

Where our perfume breathes personal artistic success in the creative world, Martin’s fragrance leans towards social activism in the Art World.

Also he had the pretty cool idea to auction off ‘U From Uruguay’, also known as “Pepe's Perfume”.

“Pepe's Perfume” is made with the essences extracted from the flowers grown by the President of Uruguay – “Pepe” – aka José Alberto Mujica Cordano. President Mujica is an icon and global representative of Uruguayan culture. A former guerrilla fighter and member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, he has been described as "the world's 'poorest' president", given that he donates around 90 percent of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities to benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs. Of the funds raised by Pepe’s Perfume, 90 percent will be designated to the creation of the first National Contemporary Art Fund in support of Latin American artists.

See, not only are Uruguayans irresistibly sexy, they also smell good, and they have the same socialist values we The Biennial Project aspire to.

This is the ad for U From Uruguay featuring the titillating and provocative artist Martin Sastre.

More importantly here is the ad for Star of Venice


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We were also psyched to see the work of Albert Oehlen.

We’ll tell you more about it later, but right now our typing finger needs a little rest.


And we wanted to end this particular post about our discoveries in Venice on a special positive note.

We were very, very happy to see the lovely lady of Charles Ray’s “Fall ’91” again.

We had first stumbled across her, in all her power suit brilliance, in LA in the early 1990s - while on some sort of psychedelic drug (or two).

Now we know we that we really did see her. It wasn’t a mind trick (a common a side effect of hard drugs).

She really exists.

Damn. Venice rules.

 

XXOO,

The Biennial Project

"

Who won the 2013 ArtVenice Biennale’s l'Invitation Palme d'Or?

The Biennial Project, as everybody knows, travels in the rarified circles of the World’s Most Elite Artists.

So when we set out to choose the artist who would be honored with the coveted l'Invitation Palme d'Or to participate in the 2013 ArtVenice Biennale, we obviously had a lot of great art to pick from.

We thought about Pussy Riot, friends of ours who have been shaking things up a bit recently in Mother Russia.

But upon considering the difficulty that they might have getting their work to us, we decided to limit our search to artists who are not currently confined to work camps.

This narrowed down the competition somewhat, but still left a lot of impressive art in the running.

But it was clear that there was one artist whose work just had to be part of our Biennale.

We are so very proud to announce that our friend Francisco Bassim was been chosen to receive the 2013 ArtVenice l'Invitation Palme d'Or.

We met Francisco at the 2011 Venice Biennale where he was was representing his country – Venezuela. (Did we mention that we have cool friends?)

In a Biennale in which there was some jaw-droppingly strong work, Francisco’s installation stood out.

Both artistically and politically au courant, brave, honest, gorgeous, sure to piss off the folks at the Vatican among others – Francisco is the total package.

And then there’s his work. Exactly the same. So damned cool.

au

io majestuoso (autorretrato), obra de: francisco bassim

percepcion II

La realidad mata las fantasías, obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: CARACAS 666

retrato autoII

Autoretrato de lo inevitable, obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: CARACAS 666

el cristo desnudo

Descanso luego de la crucifixión,  obra de: francisco bassim,  de la serie: Cristo libre

crisss

Cristo de los dos géneros,  obra de: francisco bassim,  de la serie: Cristo libre

miranda en yare

Miranda en Yare, obra de: francisco bassim, de serie: Héroes de la independencia

mona

Mona del barrio con rollos para el bonche de esta noche, obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: CARACAS 666

crsito escapa con judas

Cristo con polarcitas haciendo picnic con Judas y el Espíritu Santo en un barrio caraqueño luego de la crucifixión,
obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: CARACAS 666

tambien

No importa que tan famosa puedas ser, si lo dejas también serás una víctima,
obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: Violencia de género

cristo fue al paraiso

Cristo fue a El Paraíso, obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: Cristo libre

mona en espera

Mona en espera, obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: la mona Lisa

tal vez

No hay principes azules ni reinos de cuentos de hadas, obra de: francisco bassim,
de la serie: Violencia de género

papa5

Papa Francisco Videla I y lamentablemente no el último, obra de: francisco bassim

mona2

Una mala historia desde el comienzo hasta el final, obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: Violencia de género

mariaa

io a lo María Antonieta con polarcita y alucinando, (autorretrato),  obra de: francisco bassim

17io

io (autorretrato), obra de: francisco bassim

9io

io (autorretrato), obra de: francisco bassim

nueva historia 2

?, obra de: francisco bassim,  de la serie: Hitler mon amour 1

CRISTO VIVE 2

Cristo vive,  obra de: francisco bassim, de la serie: Cristo libre

rancho cabeza1

con el rancho en la cabezao, bra de francisco bassim, de la serie: CARACAS 666

SEE MORE ART FROM FRANCISCO BASSIM