3 posts tagged "RxArt"
Finally, The Doctor Prescribes M&Ms
Don’t let Raquel’s expression fool you—art is uplifting. That, in a nutshell, is the guiding principle behind RxArt, the nonprofit that works to install artworks in hospitals and healthcare facilities. To that end, the group is having its 12th anniversary benefit in New York Monday night, honoring Dan Colen, who is about to undertake a major installation at Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital pediatrics unit. (Given the setting, he’s trading his occasionally R-rated material for something more PG: M&Ms.) Tickets are still available for the Monday night party, where art by Colen, Terry Richardson, Inez and Vinoodh (whose photograph Freja and Raquel with Bill Clinton by Chuck Close is above), Aurel Schmidt, Marilyn Minter, and more will be on auction. You can get a jump on bidding online, but to take it home, you’ll want to be able to fend off competitors at Milk Gallery on Monday night. Even if you don’t walk away with a piece, you won’t go without reward: Each attendee can pick their own T-shirt, courtesy of Pickwick & Weller.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit RxArt.com.
Rx Chanel
At last, a coloring book for all ages. The RxArt coloring book was technically created for kids—it’s handed out to children in the hospital as way to take their mind off their illnesses, but the Chanel Beauté-sponsored booklet will make just about anyone want to get their crayon box out. Between the Lines features designs by more than 40 artists, including Hope Atherton, Mr. Brainwash, Deborah Kass, Jose Parla, and cover art by Rob Pruitt. (Pruitt also made the sparkly panda bear stickers that come in the centerfold—Lisa Frank, watch out.)
On Thursday, the third volume of the coloring book project will be officially unveiled at the 2011 Rx Party (also sponsored by Chanel Beauté) at the Highline Stages, hosted by Jen Brill, Leigh Lezark, Vanessa Traina, Poppy Delevingne, and Caroline Sieber. Works of art, including pieces from Yoko Ono, James Franco, Nate Lowman, and Terry Richardson, will be on auction at the event—no Crayolas required here.
To buy tickets to the event, visit www.rxart.com.
In The Studio With Nate Lowman
Hospital-room art, such as it is, tends to be of the “Hang in There” cute-kitty poster variety. And according to the New York-based nonprofit RxArt, there’s not too much that’s comforting about that. The organization’s stated mission is to place contemporary art in patient, procedure, and examination rooms to inspire patients and promote healing. Over the years, it’s developed a healthy roster of art-world friends, many of whom have donated to its annual benefit party and auction. James Franco, Terry Richardson, and Rob Pruitt are hosting this year’s event, which takes place this Monday, November 15 (tickets are still available here). As for the auction items, from the likes of Alex Katz, Ed Ruscha, Terence Koh, and Dan Colen, they’re on view at RxArt.net.
Well, all except one, that is. Artist Nate Lowman is donating a piece to the auction (as well as taking on DJ duties for part of the evening), but he’s working down to the wire to get it completed in time. He’s offering, he told Style.com last night, one of his drop-cloth paintings, created from pieces of fabric that began life on his studio floor, where they become splattered as he paints standing above them. It’s a surprisingly ingenious process: He works on his projects—like the recent, de Kooning-inspired Marilyn series, details from which appear above—and what doesn’t end up on the canvas takes on a second life on the drop cloths. “[They] develop this whole crazy aesthetic history on their own,” he explained from his studio (pictured). “That body of work becomes recycled from whatever didn’t make it into the painting. They also have the dirt from the bottom of my shoe, and from being on the floor…Some of them have other things on them. Some of them have spilled whole paint cans crusted on them.”
“I work on them for a short period of time or a long period of time—at a certain point I look down at them and go, that’s cool, and put them aside,” he continued. “Then maybe I take part of them and crop them and stretch them as a canvas. It happens really naturally. It’s not like I’m making two paintings at once. I do it really unselfconsciously. The editing process comes in—I wouldn’t say arbitrarily, but serendipitously.”
Serendipity in action—yours on the auction block.