Contemporary
Art Today
History has dictated that occasionally windows
of opportunity open within the art world. In the 1930s, artists
like Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock just to name a
couple, were afforded a platform to exhibit their work in
New York City. The reception worldwide was significant. Again,
in the early 1970s, artists like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel
Basquiat and Keith Haring were afforded the same opportunity.
We believe that as we go into the 21st century, the window opens once again but
this time on a more international scale. The world today is very much
a global village. Distances, time zones and different languages are
no longer the barriers that they once were. The internet now allows
us a level of communication that easily brings the world to us.
*~*~*~*~*
|
Not Just Another Gallery
by Ed McCormack
Gallery & Studio Magazine
While the opening of another gallery in Chelsea may not initially strike one as any more newsworthy than the opening of yet another Duane Read drugstore or Starbucks in midtown, it is unusual enough for an exhibition space to arrive on the scene with a ready-made roster of artists, each of whose work is individually distinctive yet indicative of a coherent communal vision. Such is the case with Monkdogz Urban Art, which opened amid much hoopla on March 11 at 547 West 27th Street and, on the strength of its inaugural exhibition, an international group show, promises to remain one of the more unpredictable stops in Chelsea.
Bob Hogge, an irrepressible enthusiast who resembles David Carradine with a Jean Genet prison haircut, does most of the talking for the two, while Hadley, an attractive and fashionable model of British reserve, twinkles elegantly and occasionally interjects a wry witticism that is always right on target. Typically, she will list her partner's assets, saying, “Bob is a man of great compassion, heart, honesty and integrity. He believes in art and artists with a fierce passion and wants to provide the necessary encouragement to all artists who believe in the integrity of their own work. The fact that Bob is an artist himself means that he really understands the forces and pressures that affect the working artist."
|
