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The Week In Arts & Culture: International Women's Day, The Armory Fair, LACMOCA And More (PHOTOS)

The Week In Arts & Culture
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This was a big week in the art world, from the long-awaited Armory Fair in NYC to the huge news of a possible LACMA/MOCA merger in LA. Read on for more...

Mat Gleason writes:

The big story out of the Los Angeles art world is that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has proposed acquiring the financially troubled Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. According to a Jori Finkel-penned report in the LA Times labeled an "exclusive", LACMA was approached by members of the MOCA board of directors and asked to propose a merger.

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Kathleen Hanna and Kathi Wilcox have been friends since the two played in Bikini Kill, the riot grrl band that took the '90s by storm. Twenty years later, the two play together in The Julie Ruin, and are currently recording an eagerly anticipated album with James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem.

Because we've had a longstanding musical love affair with Hanna and Wilcox since the days when they wore t-shirts as skirts, we decided to test their mettle and play the Friendship Game with them (despite the fact that our interviewing skills rival Ricky Bobby's). In the game, each player has to guess the other's response to a series of questions; the winner receives a prize that proves her devotion to her beloved friend.

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David LaChapelle was recently sued for $1 million by a Montana gallery director who claims he beat and choked him. According to the lawsuit, the celebrity photographer allegedly roughed up James Parmenter last March.

Click here to read more.


In more strange and violent art news, Russian ballet star Pavel Dmitrichenko, the face of the Bolshoi's on-stage bad guy, Ivan the Terrible, confessed to organizing the acid attack on the theater's ballet chief, Moscow police said Wednesday.

Read more here.

10 Female Artists To Watch
Allison Schulnik(01 of10)
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WHO: Allison Schulnik, a painter, sculptor and animated filmmaker who mixes nightmares with fairy tales to create an alternate universe populated by brightly-colored skeletons, wizards and clowns.WHY: Allison Schulnik's first museum exhibition, "ex•pose," is on view now at the Laguna Art Museum. We have a feeling this is the beginning of something devilishly good.Image: courtesy Laguna Art Museum (credit:courtesy Laguna Art Museum)
Mona Shomali (02 of10)
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WHO:Mona Shomali, an LA-born painter whose work addresses the constant divergence of her two identities: an American woman and an Iranian woman.WHY: Shomali's current exhibition, "That Person Who Is Your Creation," is on view at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia, inspired by a Forough Farrokhzad poem, "Call To Arms." The poem begins: "Only you, O Iranian woman, have remained/ In bonds of wretchedness, misfortune, and cruelty/ If you want these bonds broken/ grasp the skirt of obstinacy..."Image: "The Strength of a Vulnerable Man" part of the exhibition That Person Who Is Your Creation at Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia (credit:Asian Arts Initiative/Mona Shomali)
Xaviera Simmons(03 of10)
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WHO: Xaviera Simmons, a multimedia artist who works in photography, sound, sculpture, video and performance, exploring concepts of memory and historical narrative along the way.WHY: The Bard College alumna already has a Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study under her belt, as well as exhibitions in New York and abroad, but we were particularly excited about her participation in the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston's recently closed show, "Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art," the first survey of black visual artists working in the performance realm. We'd love to see more shows like this in New York.Image: One Day and Back Then (Standing) by Xaviera Simmons, 2007 (credit:Xaviera Simmons)
Dana Hoey(04 of10)
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WHO: Dana Hoey, a California-born photographer who uses an eclectic mix of props -- plastic sheets, self-made casts and a death mask of "Bladerunner" star Sean Young -- to investigate the concept of an ideal woman.WHY: "The Phantom Sex," a 12-photograph series that explores the flawed quest for the essential female, is on view now at Friedrich Petzel Gallery. Image: Plastic Sheet, 2010, Inkjet print, 60 x 40 inches 152.4 x 101.6 cm (credit:Dana Hoey)
Jaimie Warren(05 of10)
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WHO:Jaimie Warren, a multimedia artist who, in a strange parody-like homage to Cindy Sherman, creates self-portraits infused with references to pop culture that make you giggle, scratch your head, and stare in awe at the bizarre aesthetic beauty of her work.WHY: Her show, "The WOAHS Of Female Tragedy II," just closed at The Hole in New York. With an exhibit title like that, how can we help loving this artist?Image: "Self-portrait as naked lady in The Syndics of the Amsterdam Drapers' Guild by Rembrandt/Gentlemens Club by Mundo" from Art History Series, Color Photograph, 2012 (credit:Jaimie Warren)
Dara Friedman(06 of10)
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WHO:Dara Friedman, a German artist who focuses on ideas of performance and individuality in the urban, public space through video installations and film.WHY: She is soon launching an exhibit at The Hammer museum in Los Angeles. The show is on view from January 19 until April 14, 2013. (credit:Hammer Museum)
Shinique Smith(07 of10)
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WHO: Shinique Smith, an artist whose work reflects on her Baltimore upbringing and early desire to work with fashion and design.WHY: She has a show on view at the Los Angeles Museum of Art, a combination of costumery and textiles tangled into sculptural installations like "Swaying Beauty." Suffice it to say, we're hooked.Image: Shinique Smith, Swaying Beauty, 2007, clothing, foam, rope, and twine, 60 x 22 x 22 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Schiff Fine Art, © Shinique Smith. (credit:Shinique Smith)
Pinaree Sanpitak(08 of10)
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WHO:Pinaree Sanpitak, a Thai artist who dabbles in everything from photography and collage to sculpture and installations, many of which focus on ideas of femininity and womanhood.WHY: She is about to showcase a new collection of work (including one hundred amorphous, squeezable sculptures) in an exhibit titled "Temporary Insanity" at the AMOA-Arthouse, on view from April 20-June 30, 2013.IMAGE: Pinaree Sanpitak, Temporary Insanity, 2003-4 (installation detail) Silk, stuffing, motion sensors and devices, dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist and Tyler Rollins Fine Art. (credit:Courtesy of the artist and Tyler Rollins Fine Art)
Seher Shah(09 of10)
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WHO:Seher Shah, a Pakistan-based artist who works in large-scale drawings and prints. Many of her pieces examine and deconstruct modernist architecture by depicting the spectacle of city planning initiatives.WHY: She is one of several buzz worthy artists featured in the Rubin Museum's current exhibit, "Radical Terrain," which closes April 29, 2013.IMAGE: Seher Shah, Detail of Mammoth: Aerial landscape proposals (Untitled 11), 2012, Portfolio of 21 digital prints, 17.5 x 13 inches, courtesy the artist; Aerial photographs by Randhir Singh. (credit:Randhir Singh)
Alexandria Smith(10 of10)
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WHO:Alexandria Smith, a Bronx-born artist who works in both drawings and paintings, picking apart norms associated with sexual and cultural identities through the lens of naive adolescence. WHY: It's hard not to be captivated by Alexandria Smith's surreal characters, which seem to channel parts of Philip Guston and little bits of Kara Walker. We can't wait to see what the artist has in store for 2013.Image: "go run tell dat," collage on board, 16 x 20in., 2012 (credit:Alexandria Smith)

In wonderful art news, Friday was International Women's Day, an occasion celebrated every year on March 8 to pay tribute to the social, political and economic achievements of females across the globe. There were plenty of festive ways to honor this holiday, but we decided to bring attention to the female artists we know and love in a slideshow dedicated to 10 women who are making a splash in 2013.

And finally, behold, the 10 art trends dominating Armory Week 2013. Share the trends you noticed at the fairs in the comments section. Have a happy Armory weekend and see you on Monday!

Armory Trends
I'm Lovin' It(01 of10)
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From a gaudy homage to the fast food titan (with toy guns) to a Mickey D's soda cup displayed inside a precious "Beauty & The Beast"-esque glass case, McDonald's was oddly relevant this year. (Really guys? Didn't "Fast Food Nation" come out in 2004?) Trend rating: 3
Everybody Hirst(02 of10)
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Spot paintings, dead butterflies and holographic skulls abound, the art world's biggest frenemy Damien Hirst was almost omnipresent at the Armory Fair. A hilarious painting summed up the mutual frustration pretty well -- Hirst, you can't live with him, can't live without him. Trend rating: 2
Bad At Sports(03 of10)
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We get it, art folk are not often athletically inclined. Sports equipment was seemingly everywhere at the fair, with basketballs and footballs being re-appropriated out of the stadiums and into the realm of capital "A" Art. Revenge of the art nerds, perhaps?Trend rating: 5
Marcel Duchamp(04 of10)
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This year marked the 100th year anniversary of the year Duchamp scandalized the art world with his "Nude Descending a Staircase No.2" at the 1913 Armory Fair. Thus the artsy prankster's spirit was in the air, from one of his own lone nipple sculptures to Andrew Ohanesia's fully functional urinal dubbed -- you guessed it -- "Urinal."Trend rating: 10
Brillo Box Invasion(05 of10)
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Artist Charles Lutz was giving away these Warhol-inspired Brillo boxes as art during the VIP preview of the fair, leaving a lot of important people roaming the premises, boxes in hand. Hey, it's free art!Trend rating: 7 (credit:ARTINFO)
URL IRL(06 of10)
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After a net-tastic year of art, Bjarne Melgaard and other online artists brought their take to the real world. From paint splattered dolphin heads to screens overflowing with inscrutable text... Well, let's say we were alarmed and oddly pleased to see the swift progression of the internet's eventual takeover of everything. Trend rating: 8
Dead Dictators(07 of10)
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We're not too tickled by the dead dictator trend dominating the fairs this week, which remind us of the "just add water" equivalent of "Instant Controversial Artwork." (We get it, guys, they have funny moustaches.) Next!Trend rating: 5
Fuzzy Wuzzy(08 of10)
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From teddy bear canvases to wrestling Louise Bourgeois-ish soft sculptures, a surprising selection of exhibited works made us want to cuddle up next to them. (Don't worry, we restrained ourselves. Barely.) Trend rating: 9
All Gold Everything(09 of10)
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Although art folk act like their tastes are all classy and refined, we are drawn to shiny things just like everyone else. Gallerists gave the people what they wanted with gold leaf, gold confetti, and just basically dipping everything in gold... including croissants!Trend rating: 7
Selling Ice Ice Baby(10 of10)
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One of the most chatted-about works at the show was Tony Tasset's dirty snowman, made of bronze, stainless steel, glass, resin, brass, enamel paint, and poly-styrene. The next day it strangely started snowing... coincidence? We think not. Oh, in case you're wondering: The snowman sold for $80,000.Trend rating: 8
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