Renowned Contemporary Artist Patrick Willard aka W4 Creates Unique Art From Rare Concert Tickets

Parisienne

Miami-based visual artist Patrick Willard, aka W4, creates unique art with his personal collection of thousands of rock concert ticket stubs, backstage passes and VIP laminates, which capture a million magical moments from a lifetime spent traveling the world as a music journalist and television personality.

Angel Wings

“These artifacts reflect thousands of unique musical events that collectively trace the arc of my personal and professional life”, explained W4.

Grateful Dead Skull

Each of the artist’s creations is printed as a series of 8, every piece is signed and incorporates W4’s treasured concert tickets, backstage passes, hidden hippos, various symbols and a trail of Hindu writing. “I like the Hindi calligraphy, it means ‘World of Lyrics’.”

The artist has works on exhibit in Miami's Wynwood Arts District and West Palm Beach's Cultural Corridor. 

IX Skulls

Check out select pieces at The Box Gallery located at 811 B Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach, Florida 33401. The gallery is owned and operated by two of South Florida's most respected art icons, Rolando Chang Berrero & Gary Kroman, featuring emerging and established artists.

Skull I

If you're in Wynwood, head over to Blank Canvas Gallery to enjoy select artworks of W4's on exhibit, located in the heart of the district at 46 NW 36th Street in Miami, Florida 33127. 

Gretsch

The artist also has works on display at Walt Grace Vintage Gallery in the Wynwood Arts District. “Walt Grace Vintage brings class to the neighborhood,” says The Daily Wood. “It’s the kind of combination you’ve never thought of, but works together so beautifully. Cars and guitars.

D.

Lisbon International Contemporary Exhibition 2016

Meeting Art Gallery is organizing Lisbon International Contemporary Exhibition taking place October 1-8, 2016. This is the 4th edition of the acclaimed international exhibition that will feature a selection of worldwide artists in Lisbon, Portugal - marking the 10th international exhibit organized by this gallery. The showcase is garnering a level of excellence within the global visual arts community, as the artists go through a rigorous selection and curatorial process lasting 3 months, 14 artists have been chosen to participate.

The lead curator for Lisbon International Contemporary Exhibition is Goncalo Madeira with support from renowned global artist Natalia Gromicho. The Vernissage will take place on October 1, 2016 at 5pm local time. Reservations for the Vernissage must be made by September 25th via email to: meetingartgallery@gmail.com; and will feature a selection of collectors and art critics. The exhibition will be open to the public from October 2nd through October 8th.

The gallery opened on a very memorable day, April 25th 2013, when Lisbon gained its freedom from a dictatorial regime. Located in Downtown Chiado, one of Lisbon's most popular areas, the opening was an incredible event with a solo exhibition of Natalia Gromicho's work titled 'Lisboa, dignos de nota', the artists tribute to the city where she was born and honoring the special day. Meeting Art Gallery is situated in Espaço Chiado, a shopping center in Downtown Chiado that was built to preserve “Ferdinand Wall”, a wall that protected Lisbon from attacks during the period of the Middle Ages. Chiado is one of the most iconic and traditional neighborhoods of Lisbon, located between Bairro Alto and the Downtown shopping districts.

"Its location is very privileged with access from the street Rua da Misericórdia or the street Rua Nova da Trindade, right next to the Trindade Theater", explained Goncalo Madeira. Meeting Art Gallery generates tremendous traffic and visitors from the historical attractions of Chiado; the shopping, cafes, leisure areas and popular sites. The gallery is a very large, open space with excellent lighting and sophisticated hanging systems. Services include fine art consultations, stretching and framing, premium paints and a variety of materials for artists on site, as well as many fine art products special ordered by request. 

"The idea was simple, we wanted to create a private, open space for artists without any limitations, obstacles, or barriers. Everyone is welcome to experience art and participate in the process through live painting sessions and workshops", explained Gromicho.

LOVE: A Typography Challenge By Veronica Ettedgui

Love is hidden everywhere believes renowned artist and illustrator Veronica Ettedgui. She has a traveler’s eye, always searching for new things. But what Veronica Ettedgui is looking for in big cities, small towns, far away places and everyday life are unexpected typographies, specifically the four letters needed to spell LOVE. She is a Venezuelan-based graphic designer whose illustrations and photographic works have been exhibited throughout South America and the United States. For some time now she has been exploring a new world, LOVE: A Typography Challenge. It’s a fun project in which she is armed only with her camera and her desire to find the perfect picture. Ettedgui has earned quite a following, numerous exhibitions, proposals for future shows and an international award.

“The first time I realized I was taking LOVE seriously was when I got an email from a California-based design magazine, Communication Arts, saying: ‘You are a winner’. It explained that I had been awarded their Annual Typography contest among 1,740 entries. One hundred and forty two had been selected, but only four in my category! The good news didn’t stop there: ‘Your work will be published in our magazine’s January 2016 issue and a month from now you’ll get your Award of Excellence trophy’. I almost cried of happiness and surprise. Well… not almost, I did cry”, says Ettedgui.

Ettedgui has an upcoming LOVE exhibition in Miami opening on September 15, 2016 at Artisan Kitchen and Bar in Key Biscayne, featuring a unique exhibition of 13 photographs on plexiglass from Ettedgui’s magical works spelling the word LOVE with bits and pieces of the artist’s favorite things. “Explore artist & illustrator Veronica Ettedgui’s ‘Love’ project that expresses the fleeting love of the small details we see in life through typographic portraits” -AIGA / Los Angeles. Also enjoy Veronica Ettedgui’s Book: Things I Love, a collection of 77 Loves and 77 Short love stories written by Toti Vollmer.

The project became a transcendental game in which she paired two of her passions, typography and photography. It all started with a few iPhone pics and from there it transformed into an interesting project for people around the world. She believes that love is a universal theme and is happy to have found her own way to mix and mash her favorite things in meaningful art products. “Finding objects that transform into letters was a fascinating discovery that soon became a challenge: Where is that hidden ‘E’ on a bike? Regarding photography, I only have the basic training I got from Graphic Design School, but I’ve always been fascinated by it. I am looking for an aesthetic in which the letter, color and light are my allies. I barely use Photoshop for sizing or contrast, but don’t manipulate images or use filters. It’s a pretty virgin, raw work,” she says as she giggles.

Communication Arts Magazine: Veronica Ettedgui Feature

LOVE is an intimate project for Veronica, she looks for those wonderful four letters in things that she truly enjoys. The process brings a realization of the enormous amount of things, places and actions that the artist and illustrator actually loves, adding a unique flavor to life. "If, like myself, you suffer the hardships of making a living in Venezuela right now. Making an inventory of our blessings is an exercise we seldom do and it’s also a straight road to appreciation and gratefulness. Through my art I am paying homage to life’s little good things and inviting people to start their own inventories of happiness.”

In her journey, taking pictures among traffic lights, bicycles, ice cream bars, guitars, sculptures and arepas, the graphic designer comments on how she has discovered new ways to approach people, places, and cultures. “When you reach someone asking permission to take pictures of their working space or an object they have just because you like it, you always get a yes for an answer. A barber dressed us both up to take selfies and posted them on Instagram! Another guy thought I was going to mug him or something because he saw me laying on the street for 15 minutes trying to get the perfect letters out of his Mini Cooper. I had to negotiate with a tattoo artist so I could walk behind a huge sign that read “Employees Only” … And at the end neither of those photos worked! This is really fun, can’t complain. More so because I’ve had the opportunity to travel after I started this LOVE thing -one of my favorite things on Earth. So trying to summarize the charm of Perú, Madrid, Berlin or NY in four letters with the right flavor was a huge challenge. Focusing my camera on what makes each place special gained me a lot of awareness.”

Credit: direct quotes from 'LOVE: Hidden everywhere' interview with Venezuelan/Colombian journalist Monica Urbina

Healthy Seas Fashion Project by MEDASSET Exhibition at CRETAquarium Near Heraklion, Crete Through September

MEDASSET’s (Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles) exhibition of clothing made with yarn reclaimed from the sea has reached the second stage of its journey, after a month’s stay at Golden Hall shopping centre in Marousi. CRETAquarium, one of Europe’s largest and most contemporary aquaria, near Heraklion, Crete, has opened its doors to the “Healthy Seas Fashion Project” and presents the exhibition until the end of September.

The exhibition was created with the support of the Representation of the EC in Greece, on the occasion of MEDASSET’s first anniversary as coordinator in Greece of the European initiative: “Healthy Seas: A Journey from Waste to Wear”.

The “Healthy Seas” initiative aims to remove fishing nets that have been caught up on wrecks or snagged by rocky outcrops on the ocean floor. The deadly “ghost nets” go on trapping all kinds of marine creatures, such as turtles, dolphins, seals, etc., but once they are removed they can be processed, along with other waste products, and recycled to make ECONYL® – a premium quality yarn that is ideal for use in the manufacture of clothing and other products, such as carpet. The initiative promotes a new model of sustainable development that is based on the concept of a circular economy – maximising the potential of existing resources while reducing their waste. It is being run in 5 European states (Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and the United Kingdom).

Once visitors to the aquarium have admired the 2,000 individual marine creatures from 200 different Mediterranean species, they will have an opportunity to enjoy a unique exhibition that demonstrates what can happen when environmental awareness, fashion, and the principles of the circular economy meet. Behind-the-scenes videos illustrate how the Fashion Project came into being, while breath-taking underwater footage, which show just how damaging “ghost nets” can be to marine fauna, complete the experience.

The garments displayed in the exhibition have all been created by students and recent graduates of the fashion department of AKTO College of Art and Design. They represent the work of finalists in MEDASSET’s competition, “Healthy Seas: A Journey from Waste to Wear” Fashion Project, which took place in May 2016 in collaboration with the DoitEco Project. Each of the 10 exhibitors, chosen from an initial entry of 23, has used fabric woven in Italy from ECONYL® yarn together with other environmentally-friendly materials (such as organic cotton, plant-based dyes, re-purposed cloth, linen and canvas) to create a pair of garments based on a common concept; one a ‘ready to wear’ piece and the other a more ‘conceptual’ one.

“Healthy Seas: A Journey from Waste to Wear” Fashion Project is run under the auspices of the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Culture & Sports, UNEP/MAP – the United Nations Environment Programme’s Mediterranean Action Plan under the Barcelona Convention, SEV Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the Greek Council for UNESCO. It is supported by the Representation of the EC in Greece, ASAP Athens, Kosmocar, ΑΝΕΚ Lines και Blue Star Ferries.

The General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Ms Maria Vlazaki, declared: “The highly original concept that underpins this exhibition, and the emphasis it places on taking environmentally sound action and the value of using recycled materials in the manufacture of useful new products, point the way toward strategies for raising awareness in society of how interconnected culture and the environment truly are.”

The exhibition stage was designed and built by Greek Architect Evi Polychroniadou.

Before Art Basel Miami Beach was even a glimmer in anyone's eye, Miami experienced 'Surrounded Islands' by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, launching Miami into the limelight

On May 7, 1983, the installation of Surrounded Islands was completed in Biscayne Bay, between the city of Miami, North Miami, the Village of Miami Shores and Miami Beach by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Eleven of the islands situated in the area of Bakers Haulover Cut, Broad Causeway, 79th Street Causeway, Julia Tuttle Causeway, and Venetian Causeway were surrounded with 6.5 million square feet (603,870 square meters) of floating pink woven polypropylene fabric covering the surface of the water and extending out 200 feet (61 meters) from each island into the bay. The fabric was sewn into 79 patterns to follow the contours of the 11 islands.

For two weeks, Surrounded Islands, spreading over 7 miles (11.3 kilometers), was seen, approached and enjoyed by the public, from the causeways, the land, the water and the air. The luminous pink color of the shiny fabric was in harmony with the tropical vegetation of the uninhabited verdant islands, the light of the Miami sky and the colors of the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay.

Since April 1981, attorneys Joseph Z. Fleming, Joseph W. Landers, marine biologist Anitra Thorhaug, ornithologists Oscar Owre and Meri Cummings, mammal expert Daniel Odell, marine engineer John Michel, four consulting engineers, and builder-contractor, Ted Dougherty of A and H Builders, Inc. had been working on the preparation of the Surrounded Islands. The marine and land crews picked up debris from the eleven islands, putting refuse in bags and carting it away after they had removed some forty tons of varied garbage that included refrigerator doors, tires, kitchen sinks, mattresses and an abandoned boat.

Permits were obtained from the following governmental agencies: The Governor of Florida and the Cabinet; the Dade County Commission; the Department of Environmental Regulation; the City of Miami Commission; the City of North Miami; the Village of Miami Shores; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management.

The outer edge of the floating fabric was attached to a 12 inch (30.5 centimeter) diameter octagonal boom, in sections, of the same color as the fabric. The boom was connected to the radial anchor lines which extended from the anchors at the island to the 610 specially made anchors, spaced at 50 foot (15.2 meter) intervals, 250 feet (76.2 meters) beyond the perimeter of each island, driven into the limestone at the bottom of the bay. Earth anchors were driven into the land, near the foot of the trees, to secure the inland edge of the fabric, covering the surface of the beach and disappearing under the vegetation. The floating rafts of fabric and booms, varying from 12 to 22 feet (3.7 to 6.7 meters) in width and from 400 to 600 feet (122 to 183 meters) in length were towed through the bay to each island. There were eleven islands, but on two occasions, two islands were surrounded together as one configuration.

#SAVEARTSPACE: The World Today

#SAVEARTSPACE: The World Today
Gallery Petite, 114 Wilson Ave, Brooklyn NY. September 9th, 2016

#SAVEARTSPACE is pleased to present our first pop up gallery exhibition at Gallery Petite, opening September 9th. This exhibition comprises the work of six local Brooklyn artists - Leslie Tucker, Ryan Bock, Ivette Urena, Morgan Lappin, Masha Simonova and David Chan. These artists are exploring the theme of The World Today.

The selected artists are visually presenting their concerns and questions about the social issues that impacts all walks of life. Issues ranging from overpopulation to poverty, and surveillance. Together, we can embrace the notions of sociological complexities to raise awareness, ask questions, and inspire civilization through the portals that the artists have created.

Curated by #SAVEARTSPACE co-founders Travis Rix and Justin Aversano. Find out more about the artists at saveartspace.org/theworldtoday.

Art Concept Nov.30-Dec.4, 2016 Lecture Series Info - Enjoy Outstanding Events & Programming at Concept Fair

Concept Art Fair

http://nextlevelfairs.com/concept/

Lecture Series

November 30 - December 4, 2016

During Art Basel Week in Miami

Richard Meier: The Architect as Artist
Gary Lichtenstein, Master Printmaker, Gary Lichtenstein Editions

Richard Meier, Pritzker Prize winning architect is known for his international body of work, acclaimed for its timeless, classical, iconic design. Throughout his career Meier has contributed consistently to another, important portfolio- one that is composed of collages, paintings and sculptures. Lichtenstein’s presentation will discuss their five year collaboration in printing making and his experiences working with a world renown architect as an artist. Collectors are invited to enjoy this lively discussion and media presentation of Meier’s master prints.

Join us for a discussion that explores the artwork of Richard Meier and Meier’s history as an artist. 

Gary Lichtenstein is a publisher and printer of limited fine art silkscreen editions. Over the course of his remarkable 45-year career, Gary Lichtenstein has published a wide range of silkscreen editions with artists including Carole Feuerman, Joanne Greenbaum, Bob Gruen, Gerard Hemsworth, Charles Hinman, Robert Indiana, Eugene Lemay, Rebecca Miller, John Newsom, Yigal Ozeri, Gary Panter, Shelter Serra and Jessica Stockholder. He has printed for industry legends including Marina Abramovic, Karl Benjamin, Robert Cottingham, Alex Katz and Ken Price.

Pritzker Prize winning architect, Richard Meier is known for his international body of work, acclaimed for its timeless, classical, iconic design. The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Rome’s Jubilee Church, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Hans Arp Museum in Germany are to name just a few. Meier’s newest project includes the remodeling and expansion of Miami Beach’s iconic Surf Club. 

Throughout his career Meier has contributed consistently to another, important creative portfolio – one that is composed of collages, paintings and sculptures. Meier’s collage work is what brought Lichtenstein into the picture five years ago and since then, the two have been fierce collaborators.

The Cuatrecasas Discovery
Peter Hastings Falk, Art Historian, Author, Editor, Rediscovered Masters 

Mr. Falk is the founder of Rediscovered Masters (known as redM), which is both an illustrated biographical encyclopedia as well as a curatorial enterprise for presenting significant artists who have, for fascinating reasons, slipped through the cracks of art history. All artists are vetted by its Art Advisory Board. At Concept Fair, redM is presenting The Cuatrecasas Discovery.

This exhibition serves as a perfect example of the complexities surrounding proper valuation —particularly since this artist’s estate collection was buried for 40 years and is only now being unveiled for the first time at Art Concept Falk’s principles and common sense approach appeals to all levels art collecting. And it applies to young emerging artists to mid and late career to deceased.

Mr. Falk is a pioneer in the publishing of art auction indices and was the founding Editor-in- Chief of ArtNet in New York. Since 2000 he has been the U.S. Editor of Artprice.com. He is author and publisher of numerous art reference books, including the national award-winning three-volume biographical dictionary, Who Was Who in American Art. As an expert appraiser he is most noted for having valued the Andy Warhol estate collection as well as Nazi-looted art.

 Sebastien Laboureau

How to buy art in an art fair? The Golden Rules in Collecting Art.
Sebastien Laboureau, CEO MoonStar Fine Art Advisors, Paris & Miami

Sebastien Laboureau will give a presentation on the current trends in collecting and in the art market, outlining the market structure and its dynamics. He will address various topics including the golden rules of purchasing artworks and the advantages of purchasing at art fairs. An experienced investment banker, collector and art advisor, Laboureau shares his professional views on developing collections in the twenty-first century. His presentation will include fair highlights and scheduled collector tours of Concept Art Fair.

Sebastien Laboureau holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Ecole des Mines de Paris and a Master of Science in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics. He benefits from an international experience in Management control (at AXA Group) and Investment Banking (Mergers and Acquisitions at Goldman Sachs). Long-time, art enthusiast and experienced art collector, he is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MoonStar Fine Arts Advisors, an independent art consulting agency located both in Miami and Paris, with partners in Latin America and Asia, trusted advisor of private collectors, and various institutions all over the world. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arts and Business Council in Miami and sits on the Creative and Design committee of the Beacon Council in Miami. He is the Strategic Art Advisor of Institut Van Gogh, in Auvers-sur-Oise, of ACCOR Group, and of BARNES Luxury Real Estate.