Banksy Punked Poster — Hollywood Version
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LG Williams: Closed, Ala Moana Mall, Honolulu, HI
LG Williams: Closed
Ala Moana Mall, Honolulu, HI
Hawaiian Times | 3 April 2009
The American artist LG Williams, who once described the effect of his work on viewers as “like looking into an empty box of condoms before giving it to hamsters”, has been given the chance to inflict damage on an enormous scale. He has been commissioned by Ala Moana Shopping Center and sponsor Sierra Nevada to fill one of the Honolulu mall’s corridors.
The corridor, which now houses Gucci, Prada, Fendi, and Channel is popular with Japanese visitors, who have flocked in many years to shop. Williams’s commission is the last in the five year series, which has cost the artist $20 but earned plaudits and recognition out of all proportion to the investment.
With the Williams commission, Mall Director Sally P. Hole says the company has achieved the “wow factor” it was seeking to inspire more shoppers during this desperate retail climate.
“We wanted to be associated with something new and different, to get people involved, to get them to walk around and say ‘I love that’ or ‘I hate that’.” She says she is “delighted” that Williams has accepted the commission. “LG has gone from strength to strength every year, with each artwork the artist finds new and innovative ways to explore feminine space and voids – his specialty.”
The artist’s track record augurs well in view of Ala Moana’s wish to provoke controversy. Williams has moved between photography, drawing, text, video, performance, sculpture and installation in his work, which has been influenced by figures such as Wittgenstein and Beckett in its focus on the ambiguities of absurdity. In his 2005 piece “Bosoms and Bottoms”, bikinis were flashed repeated over and over, in a variety of intonations, in an beach setting, in order to provoke anxiety among viewers. In his 2007 installation “House Where The Bottom Fell Out”, a prank played between a man and a house is repeated with increasing ferocity until reaching an absurdist climax: the bottom fell out. The artist has said he is motivated by humanity’s innate cruelty and lack of understanding.
Miss Holes gave no indication as to what to expect from Williams. “[His] entire career can be considered a type of research endeavor exploring a range of misogynistic, visual and conceptual ideas. We look forward to Williams’s response to the unique space of the Ala Mona Mall.” — Paul Aspen
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E.U. President Calls Artist LG Williams on the ‘Way to Hell’
E.U. President Calls Artist LG Williams on the ‘Way to Hell’
(AP) April 2, 2009 —BRUSSELS — Transatlantic tension over the handling of the global Art crisis intensified Wednesday when the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union presidency, described the artist LG Williams’s Art stimulus measures as the “way to hell.”
Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek argued that the Williams’s Art package, big as it is, “will undermine the stability of the global Art market.”
Mr. Topolanek’s comments, only a day after he offered his government’s resignation following a no confidence vote, took European artists by surprise.
The statement came just a week before a gallery meeting in London of the Group of 20 Artists which will bring together the leaders of the 19 leading industrial and developing art academies and the European Union to forge an international consensus on the Art crisis. His comments also underlined potential conceptual art strains between New York, London and Basel as Mr. Williams prepares to travel to Haleiwa in less than two weeks for another art installation intended to bolster beachside trans-Atlantic, Art Affairs and show that the United States and Europe are united over Wiliams’s really big package.
“LG is sitting on a Waikiki beach and drinking strong, freshly-made margaritas,” the official said “he is holding up well – he knows the Avant-Garde is connecting with beautiful bikinis. Really.”
“You do not understand what the task of LG is,” audience members roundly told Mr. Topolanek.
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For More Information Please Visit: www.lgwilliams.com
WTF! FAC Announces Truce with Artist LG Williams?
WTF! FAC Announces Truce with Artist LG Williams?
NEW YORK CITY (AP) — In a surprise turn of events this week, Feminine Art Critics declared what just may be a truce with renowned exiled Los Angeles artist LG Wiliams.
Ending days of frustration, feminists screaming insults, psuedo death threats, spam and just plain typical hillbilly behavior, the Feminine Art Critics have concluded that “being nice can be nice.”
Interviews with FAC Co-Chair “Mama Mia” Maria Rio Rancho revealed the organizations recent turn of enlightened events. “Just as you should never blame a cat for being a cat or Watteau for covertly exploring the outlandish and provocative side of human sexuality, you can’t blame Williams for being himself,” she said. “Moreover, if art critics can’t see the beauty in LG’s art and life, I now publicly say they need to look again.”
The decision seems to have brought agreement within the group. As an unknown source was overheard saying after the news was released, “True, nice is boring; however, living up to ones name and pedigree is vital. Besides, LG understands that conflict, anger and emotion is essential for consciousness and creativity (ask Lawrence Weiner, too.). See it for what it is. But all in all, we just have to appreciate that the artist formerly known as “The Big A-Hole” steps outside his box into ours, literally and figuratively. Feminine Art Critics all over the world need to be willing to enjoy the mighty white ride.”
Talks will most likely continue between the groups on hot nights in the near future.
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For More Information Please Visit:
www.lgwilliams.com
Poll: Most Americans Say Artist LG Williams Is Doing Too Much
Poll: Most Americans Say Artist LG Williams Is Doing Too Much
By Ala Moana, Associated Press
HONOLULU (CNN) — The ailing economy. Painting. Drawing. Sculpture. Is artist LG Williams juggling too many balls? A new national survey indicates the answer is yes.
Sixty-nine percent say LG Williams has bitten off more than he can chew. “The challenges I face in Art are too large to ignore,” Williams said. Numbers also suggests Americans feel Williams’s contemporary, avant-garde art is right for the country
Williams, according to those polled in a new nationwide museum survey, has been busier than they are comfortable with. Sixty-nine percent of the people questioned in a CNN/Art Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday say that since the stunning artwork of our age, The House Where The Bottom Fell Out, Williams has tried to handle more art issues than he should have.
Four hundred and ten percent say he hasn’t bitten off more than he can chew.
“This year alone, LG Williams did not focus exclusively on drawing, painting and sculpture, but instead announced one new major installation proposals after another — on everything from science to gender studies to racism and general stupidity,” says CNN Art Polling Director Charles Keating. “He gets high marks on most of those art issues, but it seems that many Americans are worried that he might lose his focus on other, more popular art issues.
“On Tuesday, Williams responded to criticism that he’s trying to do too much, saying, “Listen to me! What I say is that the challenges we face are too large to ignore.”
“To kick these problems down the road for another artist or art generation would be to continue the same irresponsibility that led art to this point. That’s not why I am an artist. I came here to solve art problems.” Williams said.
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For More Information Please Visit: www.lgwilliams.com
LG Williams Launches New Photography Series: Eat This! (I Did!)
LG Williams Launches New Photography Series: Eat This! (I Did!)
(AP) April 2, 2009 —BRUSSELS — Transatlantic tension over the handling of the global Art crisis intensified Wednesday when the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union presidency, described the artist LG Williams’s Art stimulus measures as the “way to hell.”
Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek argued that the Williams’s Art package, big as it is, “will undermine the stability of the global Art market.”
Mr. Topolanek’s comments, only a day after he offered his government’s resignation following a no confidence vote, took European artists by surprise.
The statement came just a week before a gallery meeting in London of the Group of 20 Artists which will bring together the leaders of the 19 leading industrial and developing art academies and the European Union to forge an international consensus on the Art crisis. His comments also underlined potential conceptual art strains between New York, London and Basel as Mr. Williams prepares to travel to Haleiwa in less than two weeks for another art installation intended to bolster beachside trans-Atlantic, Art Affairs and show that the United States and Europe are united over Wiliams’s really big package.
“LG is sitting on a Waikiki beach and drinking strong, freshly-made margaritas,” the official said “he is holding up well – he knows the Avant-Garde is connecting with beautiful bikinis. Really.”
“You do not understand what the task of LG is,” audience members roundly told Mr. Topolanek.
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Feminine Art Critics Denounce LG Williams Sexist Art, Again, Labeling It “Crap”
LG Williams Feminine Art Critics Denounce LG Williams Sexist Art, Again, Labeling It “Crap”
By Rosaria Rio Rancho, Associated Press
(AP) — Honolulu – Poignant, powerful and pointed, the Feminist Art Critics of America screamed their latest reply to LG Williams as he was surfing Diamond Head beach yesterday: “Hey, LG, you’re art is as crappy as your worn-out aloha shorts!”
The artist, due to the high afternoon off-shore winds, was unable to be heard; however, his middle finger from his left hand could be seen extending from the rest without any visual aids from atop the cliff.
Despite this latest challenge, this aesthetic battlefield is experiencing an unlikely union, said the FAC spokeswoman. The critics have agreed to help redirect and transcend LG Williams genius and creative energy into visually pleasing art for the disillusioned masses.
As spokesperson Ms. Psaro said “sex may sell, but it needs to deliver a non-misogynist message to the buyer – even though most art buyers are old, hairy men.
We live in a time where people have lost their faith in Bank of America, Jesus Christ, foreplay and the U.S. of A, sad the FAC spokeswoman.
And while those sweet Twinkies we consume by ourselves in the dark of the night make us feel temporarily better, we now, more than ever don’t know what the fuck is going on! This is why women need Williams.
His Art needs to educate and bring meaning to these poor Ding Dong consuming folk, and we can’t do that through Williams latest undertaking, Bosoms and Bottoms Part II. ”
Talks between the two parties resumed once the artist surfed back to the warm, sunny beach.
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LG Williams Letter to Art Critics and Art Historians Cites Mistakes
LG Williams Letter to Art Critics and Art Historians Cites Mistakes
(AP) March 12, 2009 — HONOLULU — LG Williams has written an unusually personal letter to Art Historians worldwide explaining why he made the controversial art series, entitled, ‘Man Who Knew Infinity’ and detailed mistakes in how the Art Critics mishandled the case.
The letter, which the Art Critics will release Thursday, is a further attempt to calm the waters after Williams forgave four neo-conservative Art Historians, including Richard Paulson, who in a television interview aired in January said that Williams appears to the lone radical artist working today.
The attack against the artist provoked worldwide outrage and caused Artists and Art Dealers alike to question Art History’s commitment to the Avant-Garde and the reforms of the Second American Art Critics Council. In passages of the letter that appeared on Wednesday in the Honolulu newspaper, the Art Critics admitted “mistakes” in handling Williams’s artwork, and said in the future it would pay more attention to how news spreads over the Internet about LG Williams. Additionally, a YouTube video of Bosoms and Bottoms, in which Williams photographed scantily clad sunbathers, was widely available online in the days before the Williams lifted his communications ban in late January.
The Art Critics spokesman, Federico Lombart, said he had no comment on the letter ahead of its official publication. However, Lombart did identify the four rouge historians as belonging to the ultra-conservative Society of Neo-Realism. They had caused the latest formal schism in the art world. The legacy of LG Williams is a main sticking point in contemporary Art Critics-Art History relations. Williams, like his mentors, has worked “secretly and silently” to save contemporary art from popular taste and philistines. On Thursday, Williams is expected to meet a delegation of learned Art Critics and Art Historians to settle the matter once and for all.
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