opening on January 20th: STUCK UP!

Maxwell Colette Gallery and DB Burkeman are excited to present STUCK UP: A Selected History of Alternative and Popular Culture Told Though Stickers. This traveling exhibition, curated by Burkeman from his extensive personal collection, provides an unparalleled opportunity to explore the expanding role that stickers have played in popular culture over the past four decades. The collection focuses on Music (including Punk Rock, Hip Hop, and Rave Culture), Skateboard Culture, Political Campaigns, Branding, and Culture Jamming. STUCK UP... features stickers from Street Art legends (Banksy, Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, KAWS), and internationally lauded contemporary artists not necessarily known for stickers (Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Tom Sachs) shown side by side with anonymous stickers peeled from the streets of NYC.

STUCK UP... will kick off its run in Chicago with two days of special events. On Friday, January 20th Maxwell Colette Gallery and DB Burkeman will host the exhibition’s opening reception from 6pm - 10pm. Beverages will be provided courtesy of Modelo.  Then on Saturday, January 21st the gallery will host a book signing from 1pm - 3pm featuring DB Burkeman and the celebrated photographer, author, and self- described sticker thief Martha Cooper.  Coffee and baked goods at the signing will come courtesy of Sweet Cakes Bakery and Metropolis Coffee Company.  Burkeman and Cooper will be signing copies of Burkeman's book Stickers: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art  which is available in Chicago at Quimby's.

Concurrent with these happenings, the gallery will present a selection of sticker-based collage work from the ever-talented Chris Mendoza, and will showcase an incarnation of Slap Happy , the charity sticker invitational that made its debut as a part of SCOPE 2011 in Miami.  Slap Happy features stickers created by an international group of 75 visual communicators. This will be the only place outside of SCOPE where the limited edition stickers and signed black books from the project will be available to view and purchase in person.

Mark your calendars now and be sure to join us for this incredible weekend of sticker-related festivities!

Love Flows Both Ways: sneak peek part two

We've taken over a bank.  It was built in 1962 and has underground vaults and safety deposit boxes, the whole nine yards.  We're going to stick to hanging the show in the lobby though as the downstairs is pretty creepy and we don't want to have to clean it.

We've packed up a ton of art to fill the space.  Though we loathe Rachel Zoe's tv show, we subscribe to her concept of bringing everything, and then editing it down on site.  We''re in the space and the editing has begun.

And please don't ask us about the packing tape.  It's a long story and we end up looking a little foolish in the end.  Let's just say that it was free...

'LOVE FLOWS BOTH WAYS: street culture x contemporary art' opens this thursday, October 7th and runs thru December 4th.  The show is located at 205 S. State Street (State and Adams) and will be open Tuesday thru Sunday from 11:30 am until 5:30 pm.

Love Flows Both Ways: sneak peek

With one week to go until the opening of 'Love Flows Both Ways', we are well into the process of getting everything ready for the pop up gallery opening next thursday, October 7th.  We will hit you with installation shots soon, but first, we promised you a peek.  Here is a little taster of what is to be expected in the show...  Hungry for more? Keep an eye on the blog and our flickr for additional behind the scenes pics coming soon.

why we love Damien Hirst

It's a universal problem.  You're chilling late at night, wondering what kind of flare you could hit your new, white Range Rover with that would convey the sophistication of contemporary art connoisseurship while at the same time letting everyone know you are a baller with mad stacks back at the crib.  And if only there was some way to acquire this magical car bling on your iphone, while sitting on the couch watching tv at 1 o'clock in the morning.  Well fret no longer, because Damien Hirst has got you covered.

Nobody makes a more luxurious and decadent designer art object than Damien Hirst.  Recent favorites of ours have included his "New Religion" cashmere throw blanket and his silver "Pill Cufflinks".  With the unveiling of the new "4x4 Stainless Steel Wheel Cover", Hirst is moving into new territory, declaring that these ultimate consumption / art items are no longer to be relegated to the confines of one's home.  They are meant to be utilized and flaunted in public.  Art is the new bling.

Paving the way into uncharted marketing opportunities is nothing new for Damien Hirst.  With his 2008 exhibition Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, Hirst redefined the artist's relationship with the art gallery, the art dealer, and the auction market.  Bypassing the tradition of exhibiting new work in a gallery, Hirst realized that he could instead partner with an auction house and stage the exhibition there as a run up to his auctioning off of the work.  Cynics said that by cutting the gallery and the dealer out of the equation, Hirst exercised control over the entire process from creation to sale, and maximized his profitability.  This is true, but the real benefit of this action for Hirst was that it broke his art free of the exclusive, secretive, private confines of the established gallery system.  You no longer need an "in" with a powerful art world mover-and-shaker to buy the first tier of Hirst's output; you simply need tons of cash and a phone.

Hirst has been seeking out well-heeled collectors through the internet as well.  Other Criteria, the gallery that Hirst created to sell his (and some other artist's) work, and their website othercriteria.com has long been the place to go for non-editioned Hirst multiples, books, tshirts, and tchotchkes.  Over the past two years it has been offering more (not to mention pricier) editioned works of art and occasional unique pieces as well.  Current fare on the site ranges in price from £1 for a postcard of to £140,000 (which is roughly $215,000 usd) for a complete set of recent foil block prints.  Aiming for consumers at the top and the bottom of the art market simultaneously requires cunning, skill, and a little bit of madness, and this is why we love Damien Hirst.