Hasta La Ideas

The career trajectory of Milwaukee, WI-born artist Mathew Cerletty is a curious one. In the early 2000s, the Boston University graduate made a precocious impact on critics and curators with a technical skill lending his surreal figurative paintings and drawings an unnerving air of realism. More recent work however, since his move to New York City in 2003, uses logos and text as a springboard into abstraction—though the symbolic weight of a 2009 pencil drawing of
Philip Seymour Hoffman, or a painting of New York Times columnist David Brooks from the same year, bridge the painter’s seemingly divergent approaches.

Cerletty’s portrait for “Stuff,” an upcoming short film from the creative team behind the Kid America Club, cartoonishly reprises his early works. (Click image at right for detail.) Director and writer Frank Sisti Jr. approached Cerletty to do a painting of the titular live-action character, the imaginary monster friend of Felix, who’s a 30-something burnout from Queens. The domineering Stuff forces Felix (played by Kevin Corrigan) to do several projects, including the portrait.

“He was a little worried that I’d be offended that a painting was being treated as a joke, but I think he knew that that’s exactly what would make me want to do it,” Cerletty said in an email. “He said the Stuff character was a dick, and being familiar with the Kid America Club, I had a good sense of what that might mean.”

Sisti instructed Cerletty to paint Stuff in a Revolutionary War getup and set it in a gold frame, getting photos together of the costume created by Jeff Roberts, who also plays him in the movie. While the oil on linen portrait likely won’t go on exhibit, it may not be a one-off.

“No plans to show it,” Cerletty said. “I’m waiting for Frankie to give me enough ideas for an entire show.”

L.A. bookstore Family brings their indie spirit to the East Coast with a month-long extravaganza of art, music and literature, sponsored by Absolut. Set in a 4,200-square-foot pop-up space in NYC’s TriBeCa neighborhood, Thirty Days NY features a host of daily festivities from some of the creative community’s finest.

Curated by Family‘s David Jacob Kramer and Sammy Harkham, the duo lined up an event to happen every day of the month for the next 30 days. A rotating cast of artists such as Matthew Thurber and Sumi Ink Club will be on location, conducting classes and letting visitors observe them at work. There will also be an exhibit of artists from the Los Angeles area by the King Kong gallery, with works from Ed Templeton, Geoff McFetridge and Rodarte.

The project delivers an assortment of interesting people and events (check out the site for a full schedule), among them a performance by Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, who will sign their newly released Sonic Youth art book “Sensational Fix” as well as “Kim Gordon: The Noise Paintings.” Gary Panter and Joshua White’s light shows accompany music performances, Lance Bangs will present Super-8 films and A.M. Homes and Art Spiegelman will deliver author readings and conversation.

Yesterday’s opening party felt like NYC’s official Spring warm-up with live sets by Aska, Brian Degraw of Gang Gang Dance, and White and Panter’s light show. Thirty Days NY runs through 7 May 2010, all events are free.

Adding to Le Book‘s already impressive roster of artistic superstars, this year the New York edition of the influential publication tapped the work of late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe to “dress” their covers.

For a resource widely serving as the media maker’s yellow pages, the inspirational choice draws on the instrumental role that the native New Yorker’s highly technical images of nudes played in elevating photography to a major art form.

Embarking on its 28th year, Le Book isn’t just a definitive reference, but compelling covers featuring works by the likes of Stephen Sprouse, YSL, Alaia, Hermés and others, has made it a collectible in its own right.

This year the massive book extends its brand to include a complimentary iPhone app dubbed Le Tag as an additional informative resource.

Get your copy of Le Book from their site for $250.