Image via Complex Original
Whether you like him or not, Jeff Koons has been the most talked about artist around since his retrospective opened at the Whitney Museum. However, "Jeff Koons: A Retrospective" is certainly not the only show worth seeing right now.
In June alone, dozens of awesome exhibitions opened, many of which come with fascinating back-stories. At Oakland's Loakal Art Gallery and Boutique,Chris Blackstock is currently showing his canvases of a loner making his way through a post-apocalyptic desert, for example. On view at Jonathan LeVine Gallery is Rafael Silveira's show, which takes viewers through a surreal looking glass into a strange world. Check out our list of The 20 Best Exhibitions of the Month (So Far). Some of them end soon, so you better hurry.
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"Close Is Too Far"
Location: SOZE Gallery, 2020 East 7th Street, Suite B, Los Angeles, California 90021
Dates: June 27 - July 17, 2014
Two very different artists come together in "Close Is Too Far," on view at SOZE Gallery, but both are brilliant in what they do. This is Caleb Hahne's first time showing work in California. His mixed-media pieces reveal his knowledge of art history and his skill at blending softness with hardness. He also utilizes technology to add a modern punch to traditional compositions. Joseph Martinez's art is also unique. Known for his tiny paintings done on matchbooks, he has created a new series of depictions on foreign currency for the show.
"Building the Dream"
Location: Vertical Gallery, 1016 North Western Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60622
Dates: July 5 - July 26, 2014
We love a good story, especially if it's true, like the one that inspired London-based graffiti artist XENZ's "Building the Dream" exhibition. Near the end of the 1800s, many of Chicago's buildings were hoisted on jack screws to keep them from sinking into the mud that flooded the city's grounds. This created a labyrinth of alleyways beneath the raised metropolis. It became the breeding grounds for rats, criminals, and eventually a notorious club owned by an ambitious man from Yorkshire.
XENZ, who is also a Yorkshire man, read about the underground city in Gus Russo's book The Outfit and turned the author's descriptions into paintings. Although the world he has portrayed is rather grim, his paintings are quite beautiful.
"Jon Rafman: The end of the end of the end"
Location: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63108
Dates: June 27 - Aug. 10, 2014
The Internet is a big, sometimes scary place, especially if you don't know where you're going. Jon Rafman's current show, "The end of the end of the end," which happens to be his first solo museum exhibition in the States, is the Canadian artist's guide to the World Wide Web. Specifically, Rafman shows us the invisible side of the Internet, the stuff you can't find through a search engine. Consisting of works from his "New Age Demanded" series and his video Still Life (Betamale), the show is Rafman's attempt to merge the real and virtual worlds.
"Out of the Light of Darkness"
Location: Sacred Gallery, 424 Broadway, New York, New York 10013
Dates: July 12 - Aug. 31, 2014
Since the beginning of time, we have pondered the meaning of life and human existence. When neither science nor religion offers answers, art takes over. Craig LaRotonda's latest show at Sacred Gallery explores humanity's search for enlightenment. LaRotonda's gritty works depict people as beautiful as well as monstrous, bionic, and organic—both flawed and idealized.
"Jeff Sonhouse: Slow Motion"
Location: Tang Museum, 815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, New York 12866
Dates: July 5, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015
The Los Angeles Times has called Jeff Sonhouse "the most agile showman of all," and indeed, he is. The New York-based artist has been entertaining us with his portraits for the past 10 years. Most of his paintings depict masked black men adorned in elaborate outfits, who refuse to be classified. At first, the intensity of their stares makes them seem angry. When you look closer, however, these men look more mysterious than anything. This is Sonhouse's first solo museum exhibition, so don't miss out.
"Time: Tattoo Art Today"
Location: Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
Dates: July 3 - Oct. 5, 2014
Tattoo lovers, this is the show for you. "Time: Tattoo Art Today" presents original artwork by 70 of the world's most prolific tattoo artists, including Ed Hardy, Horiyoshi III, Paul Booth, Rose Hardy, Chris Garver, Ami James, and Mister Cartoon. Each artist had been commissioned to create an entirely new piece for the exhibit based on the show's theme of time. Straying away from skin for a change, the artists produced oil paintings, watercolor works, traditional Japanese silk paintings, sculptures, and even skulls layered with paint.
"Marian Drew: Fresh"
Location: AJC Gallery, G/F 6-10 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong
Dates: July 2 - Aug. 30, 2014
Pineapples and watermelon seem to come alive in Marian Drew's photos. The artist from Australia is not your average photographer. Sure, most of her works are still-life images. However, Drew takes things as commonplace as fruit and turns them into surreal landscapes reminiscent of Dalí's paintings.
"Digital Revolution: An Immersive Exhibition of Art, Design, Film, Music, and Video Games"
Location: Barbican Centre, Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS
Dates: July 3 - Sept. 14, 2014
"Digital Revolution: An Immersive Exhibition of Art, Design, Film, Music, and Video Games" is exactly what it sounds like. The show at the Barbican explores the changes digital technology has undergone since the 1970s. For the first time, artists, filmmakers, architects, designers, musicians, game developers, and people of various disciplines have come together for a unique exhibition of laser sculptures, interactive art, wearable technology, and more. The exhibition shows just how far our world has advanced.
"What's Up Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones"
Location: Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria, New York 11106
Dates: July 19, 2014 - Jan. 19, 2015
Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang have arrived in New York. "What's Up, Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones" is a massive show dedicated to the animation extraordinaire who created the iconic rabbit. The collection of works on view includes 23 of Jones' animated films, a short documentary, an interactive experience, 125 original sketches, storyboards, production backgrounds, animations, and photographs.
"Banksy: The Unauthorized Retrospective"
Location: S|2, 31 St. George Street, London W1S 2FJ
Dates: June 11 - July 25, 2014
In the words of Banksy's former gallery dealer Steve Lazarides, having all of the enigmatic street artist's old pieces gathered in one place is "like a fucked school reunion." If that doesn't sound like fun, we don't know what does. Lazarides himself organized "Banksy: The Unauthorized Retrospective," on view at Sotheby's S|2 gallery in London. The collection features over 70 paintings, sculptures, and prints. Many of them have never been seen before, so Banksy fans better hurry to the gallery before the show ends.
"Platform: Maya Lin"
Location: Parrish Art Museum, 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill, New York 11976
Dates: July 4 - Oct. 13, 2014
Best known for her groundbreaking design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Maya Lin has taken over Parrish Art Museum with another memorial of sorts. This time, it's a monument to our earth. As the third edition of the museum's "Platform" series, the exhibition spotlights Lin's brilliant, ecologically inspired pieces. Although Lin has created works based off actual places around the world, you won't readily recognize them in her marble sculpture forms.
"All Night Every Day"
Location: White Walls Project Space, 886 Geary Street, San Francisco, California 94109
Dates: July 12 - Aug. 9, 2014
There's a reason artists throughout history have spent so much time painting canvases of the sky. On a surface level, sure, the sky is beautiful, but its endless depths are also supremely inspiring. Mark Warren Jacques' current show at White Walls Project Space explores the heavens and reminds viewers to live every day and night to the fullest. On view are works depicting light gradients seen over a 24-hour period.
"From Pre-History to Post-Everything"
Location: Sean Kelly Gallery, 475 Tenth Avenue, New York, New York 10018
Dates: June 27 - Aug. 1, 2014
What do flint tools from the Paleolithic Era and ancient Chinese jade axes have in common with contemporary art? More than you might think. "From Pre-History to Post-Everything" presents old artifacts alongside contemporary paintings. While many of today's artists create abstract pieces, stripped of any explicit meaning, ancient craftsmen and artists embraced abstraction to explore the divine. It's an interesting combination that allows for a taste of both the past and present.
"Rafael Silveira: Unforeseeable"
Location: Jonathan LeVine Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, New York, New York 10011
Dates: June 28 - July 26, 2014
In Rafael Silveira's world, women don ice cream cones for hats, and skeletons drive around in red convertibles atop the heads of mustached men. All of Silveira's works stem from a topsy-turvy alternate dimension the Brazilian artist has dreamed up. What's miraculous is that he's able to make his strange subjects look ordinary. He's even designed customs frames to accompany each of his surreal illustrations.
"Born In The Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip-Hop"
Location: Gavin Brown's enterprise, 620 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10014
Dates: June 26, 2014 - July 26, 2014
"Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip-Hop" is a must-see exhibition for rap music junkies. The show, hosted by Boo-Hooray and on view at Gavin Brown's enterprise, contains the best of Johan Kugelberg's collection of hip-hop materials. Kugelberg founded Cornell University's Hip-Hop Collection, the largest archive of rap ephemera in the world. Some highlights of the show include Afrika Bambaataa's handwritten lyrics, original records from Bambaataa's collection, artwork and hand-painted clothes by Buddy Esquire, animation and photography from Wild Style, and iconic photos by Joe Conzo, who "took hip-hop's baby pictures," according to The New York Times.
"If You Build It"
Location: 155th Street and Nicholas Avenue, New York, New York 10032
Dates: June 26 - Aug. 10, 2014
You don't have to look hard to find graffiti in New York City. That said, you've probably never seen anything like Mare's graffiti sculptures. One of the 20 artists featured in On No Longer Empty's site-specific "If You Build It" show in Sugar Hill, Mare makes 3D graffiti. He turns visual language and art into metal sculptures reminiscent of the graffiti he left on subway trains and walls in the past. Recently featured in The New York Times, Mare's works alone are a good reason to see the show. "If You Build It" features installations, photos, and performances by artists who are all deeply invested in issues of urban decay, regeneration, preserving culture, immigration and displacement, and so forth.
"The Lone Stranger"
Location: Loakal Art Gallery and Boutique, 560 2nd Street, Oakland, California 94607
Dates: July 4 - July 30, 2014
Oakland-based artist Chris Blackstock chose a fitting name for his debut solo show. The works featured in "The Lone Stranger" at Loakal Art Gallery and Boutique recount the story of a sour-faced misanthrope and his journey through a hallucinatory, post-apocalyptic desert. The world Blackstock has imagined is one filled with strange mirages that suggests a foreboding future. While it's a made-up story, it also has a lot to do with Blackstock's views on climate change and the state of California's ecosystem. Despite the exhibition's somber narrative, the featured works are colorful, trippy, and delightful.
"Dancer Master"
Location: Hang-Up Gallery, 56 Stoke Newington High Street, London N16 7PB
Dates: June 21 - Aug. 9, 2014
Years ago, London-based street artist RUN visited South India, where a taxi driver drove him to a Hindu temple. There, the artist saw a statue of a god, which the driver referred to it as "the dancer master." Needless to say, the statue really resonated with RUN. His current show at London's Hang-Up Gallery consists of colorful paintings, drawings, and installations that contain the same energy of the dancer master. Inside the gallery, marionette cut outs of faces and hands dangle from the walls to give viewers a sense of modern tribalism and otherworldly feel.
"A Declaration of Color"
Location: 1AM Gallery, 1000 Howard Street, San Francisco, California 94103
Dates: July 3 - Aug. 1, 2014
Street artist Sen2 recently brought a vividly colored (and monochromatic) piece of South Bronx to San Francisco's 1AM Gallery. "A Declaration of Color" consists of two collections: one of works done in grayscale, the other in a punch of bright hues. Sen2's works are pretty representative of the place he reps—rich in culture and lively, yet gritty at the same time. The mixed-media works and prints on display also reflect Sen2's signature writing style.
"Nomadic Experiments: Anatomy of Restlessness"
Location: SOZE Gallery, 2020 East 7th Street, Suite B, Los Angeles, California 90021
Dates: June 27 - July 17, 2014
For street artist 2501, marking up a building with easily recognizable murals is akin to leaving behind a footprint. In fact, even the Italian artist's approach to making art is a lot like that of a traveler. Just as a nomad ensures his livelihood by being constantly on the move, 2501 develops his ideas and works while creating them. That was the whole idea behind his current "Nomadic Experiments" show at SOZE Gallery. His second solo exhibit at the LA space, it includes his recent street art, design work, and pieces from other gallery exhibitions.