Courtney Love Exhibit at Fred Torres, Come One Come All! (Part I)

There are tons of reviews thus far on Courtney Love's exhibit art show at Fred Torres Collaborations in Chelsea, NYC. Yes, I sent out a ton of tweets and photos of her work Thursday evening, but I am nooo art critic. (I just "opinions," and I liked it.)  So therefore, I'll give you a credited post from the L.A Times, below, it's short and sweet. You can Google this and find out much more if you are a Courtney fan, or are interested into see what she's been up to.  Art is keeping the girl busy!  Check back on my posts in the upcoming days for more on the Love exhibition also, this friends is only part one of some info and un-edited photos.

I have my "opinions" as most artists and bloggers do and yes, I was skeptical.  (I loath when celebs get special treatment for doing nothing, or doing nothing worth while.  But, it's the way of the world and I'm just living it it.) I loved her music back in the day, ("Live Through This" is still one of my favorites), so how could I - and everyone,  not be interested?  Here are a handful of photos for Part I, you be the judge.  


First the article from the L.A. Times, then my photos.....

A work of art by Courtney Love. (Fred Torres Collaborations / April 29, 2012)

By David Ng

April 30, 2012, 9:40 a.m.

Celebrity art shows usually don't merit much serious aesthetic consideration. But when the celebrity in question is Courtney Love -- the volatile Hole frontwoman and sometimes actress -- attention should be paid, if only to see how her outrageous personality expresses itself through art.

"And She's Not Even Pretty" is set to open this week at Fred Torres Collaborations in New York. The show is to feature more than 45 of Love's drawings, some of them of an explicit nature and many featuring fragments of her poetry and lyrics.

Yana Balson, director of the art space, said the show came about through Love's friendship with photographer Dave LaChapelle, who is a friend of Torres.

The gallery's news release for the show points out that Love studied fine art at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1980s. It also notes that Love received some advice from Julian Schnabel for the gallery show.

Love's artwork portrays young, blond women in states of emotional despair. One of the more provocative pieces is titled "Keep It Up, Mother ..." and shows a woman crucified with blood running down her naked body. The piece features some of Love's writing, including the following passage:

"How you must have suffered getting accustomed to ME. My savage solitary soul -- my NAME that sends them all running ..."

Aside from her music and film career, Love has become notorious for her public outbursts and encounters with law enforcement officials. She has spoken publicly about her substance abuseproblems.

This isn't Love's first foray into visual art, strictly speaking. She made a memorable appearance in Francesco Vezzoli's "Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula." (She played Caligula.) Love's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, had a solo show of her drawings at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Hollywood in 2010.

"And She's Not Even Pretty" is scheduled to run through June 15.

Now my "unedited" photos, many more to come:

 

Works on paper of all sizes....

A big, big, big photograph by David Lachappelle in the Fred Torres offices. More photos to come, edited!

For more info visit: http://www.fredtorres.com/ & http://www.davidlachapelle.com/

W Hotel New York Times Sq. Hosts the First Ever Instagram Exhibit!

This past Thursday evening I was NYC’s first Instagram photography exhibit at W Hotel Times Square, I showed up early to "Instagram the Instagrams!"   Well, many are Instagram, many are the fancy camera, unedited of course, (because that would be "wrong.")  Have a look....

The event was in parntership with W New York – Times Square as they invited 6 mobile photographers to share their work under the theme “design” – expect images of architecture, patterns, and street art.@whotelsnyc also ran a successful and fun Instagram competition, urging any Instagramer to tag their photos #wdesign for a chance to win a grand prize that includes a two night stay at the hotel. I sadly didn't win, but you can see those who did here.

For more info: http://www.wnewyork.com/wdesign

  

Here you will see views of the lounge area with many insta's hanging, others are close ups...

Our bartender Patty and the live Times Sq TV feed, love that!

This was my favorite, you can see why - but much better in person.

And another favorite....un-cropped, etc.

 

Oh wait, loved these too! 

Stop by the hotel in "the middle of the madness," known as Times Sq., it's worth it.  Hop right off the train and directly into the W and avoid the zillions of tourists. It's worth the nice W lounge and seeing Instagrams come to life.

(All photography of the photography by Leanna Valente, me.)