photograph by Megan McIsaac

Tripoli Gallery presents an exhibition by Lola Montes Schnabel entitled Within Reach at their a pop-up gallery space at 980 Madison Avenue, on the 3rd Floor. In Within Reach, Lola explores the most primal and paradoxical human instincts, the desire to be boundless. The series of oil paintings and watercolors evoke oceanic realms whose landscapes and figures remain ceaselessly ephemeral yet always connected, bound by a kindred condition. Within Reach will be on view until February 11. 

Key lime pie and champagne in the bath at the Mayfair Hotel in Coconut Grove, Miami. photograph by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Anahita Razmi is one of those artists that are tough to define, but all the same make shock waves that force us to take a deeper look inside ourselves. Ramzi, a video and performance artist based in Stuttgart, makes work that deals with issues concerning identity and gender by employing objects with a national and cultural significance; sometimes borrowing and citing the work of other high-profile artists. Working within the tradition of appropriation and re-enactment, Razmi detaches cultural symbols from their established meanings by employing them in unexpected situations and contexts. Her works, like the tongue-in-cheek Burquini which was designed for the swimming activities of Muslim women and the more serious Roof Piece Tehran, where she had 12 dancers dancing on the rooftops of different building in Tehran in a county where dance is illegal and artistic performance is forbidden. Ramzi, whose father is Iranian – her mother German – has a special connection with Iran and it’s panoply of struggles. On view now at Carbon 12 Gallery in Dubai, Ramzi’s solo exhibition Automatic Assembly Action, which opened with a performance RE / CUT PIECE, a modfied appropriation of Yoko Ono’s 1964 performance Cut Piece, will be open until March 14. Pas Un Autre got a chance to ask Razmi a few question about her artistic practice, her current show at Carbon 12 and what she has planned for the future. See interview after the jump.  [CLICK HERE...]

London based Jau Label guerilla-shot the newest editorial for the current Spring/Summer 2013 collection in and around Dalston, East London – an area that inspired the collection. photograph by Greg Holland

photograph by Splice Pictures

photograph by Lena Vazhenina

Anahita Razmi’s performance RE / CUT PIECE is the appropriation of Yoko Ono’s seminal 1964 performance Cut Piece. In Yoko Ono’s performance, the artist sat on stage with a pair of scissors next to her. The audience was then invited to enter the stage and to cut a piece of the artist’s clothing. In various art reviews it is described as a “feminist” piece; a participatory performance, co-created by what the audience brings to it. Anahita Razmi takes this concept out of its original context and refocuses it: the rather insignificant performance dress that was worn by Yoko Ono in the sixties, is exchanged for a luxurye black Gucci Dress. The focus on the value of the dress invades the performance with new associations and meanings. Yoko Ono’s piece, which was originally shown in Japan and New York, is now re-performed in Dubai. This new location brings with it its own associations of luxury, megalomania and nouveau-riche. Yet such icons seem to be ambivalent and in a state of constant transformation. As in the original performance, the viewer was invited to enter the stage to cut off a piece of the artist’s robe. The performance RE / CUT PIECE took place at Carbon 12 during the opening of Anahita Razmi’s solo exhibition Automatic Assembly Actions on January 14th and will be on view until March 14, 2013. And stay tuned to Pas Un Autre for an exclusive interview with the artist.

Artist Mark Flood’s painting which will be on view at Art Los Angeles Contemporary which runs from January 24 to 27 at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport.

The New Modern Hair, an upcoming solo exhibition by Spanish artist Silvia Prada, is an artistic representation of the subtle nuances and cues that help define the male persona, identity and representation within the parameters of visual and popular culture. With her book The New Modern Hair: A Styling Chart as departure point, Prada has created a series of drawings, poster montages and large-scale murals, capturing the typecasting and idealized character building that has become ingrained in our minds through media, pop culture and iconography. An accompanying magazine and first issue of The New Modern Hair will be published by cultureEDIT and available February 1st at select retailers and newsstands worldwide. Featuring text by Miguel Figueroa, US Editor of Fanzine137, Candy and EY! Magateen. The New Modern Hair will be on view from January 18, 2013 to February 26, 2013 at the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA