from The New York Times’ UrbanEye

ART

Shaq in the Paint

Apparently being an NBA superstar, actor, author, Ph.D. student, platinum-selling rapper, reserve police officer and U.S. Deputy Marshal was not enough for Shaquille O’Neal. Now the 7-foot-1-inch Cleveland Cavalier is venturing into the art world as a gallery curator. His first exhibition, “Size Does Matter,” opens today at the Flag Art Foundation in Chelsea. The show, which runs through May 27, explores “the myriad ways that scale affects the perception of contemporary art” and includes works by Chuck Close, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Kehinde Wiley, Lisa Yuskavage and others. And if that wasn’t enough to get your attention, a catalog with an essay by Cleveland native James Frey will accompany the exhibition.

[ click to read at NYTimes.com ]

from NBC New York

Shaq, Art Curator?

The Size DOES Matter exhibit features 66 pieces picked by O’Neal

By ELIZABETH BOUGEROL 

insEyedout /Flickr Creative Commons 2.0

Kicking off Friday at Chelsea’s FLAG Art Foundation is Size DOES Matter, a collection of 66 works of art across different media, aimed at highlighting how scale affects perception. So who better to tap for curating the show than 7-foot-1 Cleveland Cavalier center and art collector Shaquille O’Neal, who wears a size 22 shoe?

Included in the show, according to the Post, are pieces like “Robert Therrien’s colossal sculpture of a table and six chairs” and “Ron Mueck’s ‘Untitled (Big Man),’ a nearly 7-foot-tall sculpture of a naked, bald man curled up awkwardly, elbows resting on his knees” (pictured). There are also a few works that take O’Neal himself as the subject, such as Willard Wigan’s portrait of the player that’s so tiny, it fits in the eye of a needle.

The exhibition – whose catalogue includes an essay by Cleveland native/author/Oprah whipping boy James Frey – runs February 19 through May 27, 2010.

Details
Size DOES Matter
February 17-May 22, open Wednesday to Saturday, 12-5PM
FLAG Art Foundation; 545 West 25th Street; 212-206-0220
Free
More information at flagartfoundation.org/upcoming

[ click to read at NBC New York ]

from The LA Times

New York Fashion Week: BCBG Max Azria, Cynthia Rowley explore the urban jungle [UPDATED]

February 12, 2010

The urban tribal aesthetic we saw last season at Proenza Schouler and Balenciaga is starting to turn up in the fall collections in New York this week.

First, it was at BCBG Max Azria on Thursday morning, where neutral-colored, draped silk dresses in geometric cuts were shot through with blocks of vibrant blue and yellow.

And it continued at Cynthia Rowley, where models had bright color woven into their hair and the band Preacher and the Knife struck a tribal beat.

On the runway, galactic-storm print minidresses mixed it up with color blocked jackets and motocross puffer gloves. While marled, multicolored lace tops and silk tops dangling rainbow fringe made for a fun, DIY-inspired look.

Beyond showing her collection, Rowley is doing something interesting with the Gagosian Gallery this season. The designer, who runs with an artsy crowd (her husband, Bill Powers, opened the Half Gallery in New York with James Frey and Andy Spade), got into a chat about art and appropriation with the Gagosian’s store manager, and a collaboration was born.

[ click to continue reading at the LA Times ]

from MTV

‘Eagle Eye’ Director D.J. Caruso Will Helm James Frey Adaptation, ‘I Am Number Four’

Posted 1/20/10 7:30 am ET by Adam Rosenberg in News

Last summer, just as “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was arriving in theaters, news emerged that director Michael Bay would produce and maybe direct an adaptation of the James Frey/Joby Hughes young adult novel “I Am Number Four,” the first in a series of six planned books about an alien in hiding on Earth — Ohio, to be precise — while forces unknown hunt him.

Two months later, it was revealed that Al Gough and Miles Millar, creators of TV’s “Smallville,” had been hired to adapt the book into a usable script. The latest word is that Bay won’t be directing; if I had to guess, it’s because he’s busy with the next “Transformers” movie. D.J. Caruso will step in to take the reins instead,The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

Caruso is a DreamWorks favorite, for his work on “Disturbia” and “Eagle Eye.” Bay will still produce of course, which ought to help out the newly hired director as this is his first foray into feature-length science fiction.

[ click to continue reading at MTV ]

from ParentDish

Controversial Author James Frey Designs Stroller for Charity

by Brett Singer 

James Frey and the stroller he designed for Bugaboo. Credit: Bugaboo

In honor of World AIDS Day, author James Frey created a custom Bugaboo Cameleon Stroller that’s being auctioned on eBay. 

The auction is “to generate money for the Global Fund which finances AIDS grants in Africa, the region hardest hit with this pandemic,” according to a press release. 

When he’s not writing, Frey and his wife keep busy with their 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. We spoke to Frey about the auction and his family life.

ParentDish: How did you get involved with this charity?
James Frey: A friend of mine, who works in PR for Bugaboo and was doing work with Bugaboo and (RED), contacted me.

PD: Tell me about your design.
JF: You know, they sent me a stroller. (Laughs.) And they were like, do something cool with it. I’m a father to two young children and we’re constantly reading books and learning our letters and saying the ABCs. And I’m a writer who literally makes his living using letters. I wanted to do something that I thought would be cool looking and appropriate to what I do. So I came up with the idea of just plastering letters of different colors and sizes and fonts all over the stroller.

PD: There was an article in Vanity Fair about you being a “PTA dad” at your kids’ school. Do parents ever want to talk to you about your career?
JF: Occasionally. Most of the time I’m just a dad. There are other well-known parents at our children’s school [and] we’re there as the parents of our children, not as whoever we are in our professional lives. I love doing stuff at my kids’ school. They go to a great school and I’m happy to be a part of it. I’m the school tour guide, I was Class Dad twice. I think it’s important to be involved with your kids’ lives and I’m lucky that I have the opportunity to.

PD: Were you one of the only dads to be a class parent?
JF: Yeah. The Class Moms all liked to tease me and make fun of me.

[ click to continue reading at ParentDish.com ]

from Robin Slick’s “In Her Own Write” blog

Like, there’s this new book coming out, published by HarperCollins:

Here’s the synopsis over at their website:

“It All Changed in an Instant
More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure
By Larry Smith, Rachel Fershleiser

Price: $12.00
On Sale: 1/5/2010 PRE-ORDER HERE!

“A perfect distraction and inspiration, and a collection that begs to be shared. Be warned, though. If you plan to lend out your copy, start out with two. Once it leaves your hands you’ll never see it again.”
—Denver Post (on Not Quite What I Was Planning)

The editors of the New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning are back with its much-anticipated sequel, It All Changed in an Instant. With contributions from acclaimed authors likeMalcolm Gladwell, Frank McCourt, Wally Lamb, Isabel Allende, Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, and James Frey, and celebrities like Sarah Silverman, Suze Orman, Marlee Matlin, Neil Patrick Harris, Ann Coulter, and Chelsea Handler, It All Changed in an Instant presents a thousand more glimpses of humanity. . . six words at a time. In the vein of the popular Post Secret books, It All Changed in an Instant, in the words of Vanity Fair, “will thrill minimalists and inspire maximalists.”

[ click to continue reading over at Robin Slick’s site ]

from Bloomberg News

Shaq Takes Shot at Art as Curator of Show ’Size DOES Matter’

Interview by Lindsay Pollock

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) – Shaquille O’Neal, the 7’1” all-star center with the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers, has discovered that art is no slam dunk.

Moonlighting for the first time as a curator, O’Neal is overseeing “Size DOES Matter,’’ an exhibition on the theme of scale in contemporary art coming in February to New York’s nonprofit Flag Art Foundation

The writer James Frey, a collector of art by Damien Hirst and others, and a partner in a contemporary New York gallery, is writing an essay for the exhibition catalog.

“This won’t be like another nice show at MoMA or the Met,’’ Frey said, referring to New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Getting Shaq, one of the largest people in the world, to curate a show about scale is really fun. He does a lot of things that are unconventional for a guy of his stature.’’

Miami Heat for Real

[ click to continue reading at Bloomberg.com ]

from Hdhod

James Frey retrata a Los Ángeles en ‘Una mañana radiante’

james Frey, guionista de éxito en Hollywood, se hizo un nombre cuando, apasionadamente recomendado por la estrella de la televisión Oprah Winfrey, en el año 2005 vendió cinco millones de ejemplares de sus memorias Un millón de pequeñas piezas, el relato de sus años de adicción a las drogas.

Pasó a convertirse en un apestado cuando se descubrió que había exagerado notablemente sus experiencias, pero ahora vuelve a lo grande con Una mañana radiante (Mondadori), una novela con historias cruzadas a lo Robert Altman que tiene a la ciudad de Los Ángeles como su gran protagonista. El intento de Frey (Cleveland, 1969) de construir la gran novela de L. A. y convertirla en un mecanismo de lectura compulsiva ha sido acogido con aplausos estridentes («un triunfo», según el escritor Irvine Welsh) y con abucheos inmisericordes desde medios como Los Angeles Times.

Una mezcla de horror y fascinación, del fracaso más horrible y del éxito más global, que no pueden existir el uno sin el otro. Para James Frey, eso es Los Angeles, la ciudad con el mayor flujo de inmigración, con la mayor variedad étnica, con las más grandes desigualdades económicas, la capital mundial de la industria de la cultura popular, «la representación del sueño americano». Un sueño que, sostiene, «aún existe, y más que nunca: Obama es la mejor personificación posible. Es el hijo de un inmigrante africano que en 10 años se convierte en la persona más poderosa del mundo, una historia de éxito al lado de un millón de historias tan parecidas pero que acaban en fracaso». Como las de su libro. «De los afiliados al Sindicato de Actores, el 1% tienen trabajo siempre, el 99% sirven en restaurantes y pueden pasarse todo un año sin actuar: esto se extiende –concluye– a todos los sectores de la sociedad de Los Angeles».

[ click to continue reading at es.hdhod.com ]

Llega el Festival Eñe, una nueva cita literaria anual que reunirá enMadrid a más de setenta escritores, editores, creadores, músicos, cineastas… para hablarnos de libros, actualidad y celebrar las letras.

Organizado por el Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid y La Fábrica (la editorial que publica Eñe), con la colaboración de diversas instituciones y empresas, se celebrará el próximo viernes 13 y sábado 14 de noviembre en el Círculo de Bellas Artes, que se convertirá en el centro de la literatura, en un ambiente donde los amantes de la palabra disfrutarán de libros, lecturas, música, conferencias, talleres, acciones… todo un conjunto de actividades en torno al placer de leer.

James Frey will be a guest speaker at Festival Eñe on Friday 13. 

[ click to learn more about Festival Eñe ]

from MediaBistro’s UnBeige

Where the Wilde Things Are

By Stephanie Murg on Oct 29, 2009 02:37 PM

(Photos: Laura Yeffeth)

As Richard Wilde, chairman of the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department at New York’s School of Visual Arts, celebrates his fortieth year at the College, SVA is recognizing him with a dazzling exhibition of iconic works by more than 100 alumni from throughout his tenure. Designed by Kevin O’Callaghan, “The Wilde Years: Four Decades of Shaping Visual Culture” features a This is Your Life-style slate of design stars—including Rodrigo Corral ,Drew Hodges  (SpotCo), James Victore , Julia Hoffman  (MoMA), Archie Ferguson  (HarperCollins), Molly Sheahan  (BBDO), and Scott Wadler  (MTV Networks)—and their greatest hits, from Pepsi ad campaigns and CD packaging for Eminem  to theatrical posters and the irresistible book jacket for James Frey ’s A Million Little Pieces. The exhibition runs through Saturday, November 7, at the Visual Arts Gallery in New York City

[ click to continue reading at MediaBistro.com ]

from TheRumpus.net

Notable New York, This Week 10/26 – 11/1

ROZALIA JOVANOVIC BIO ↓  ·  October 26th, 2009  ·  filed under BOOKS, FILM, MUSIC

In New York this week, James Frey and Maira Kalman at the CLMP Spelling Bee, members of The National collaborate with visual artist Matthew Ritchie in The Long Count at BAM, Sherman Alexie and Chuck Klosterman read, Guernica Magazine turns 5, Literary Death Match returns to New York, and Lawrence Weschler presents Halloween Wonder Cabinet.

MONDAY 10/26 – Let it Bee – James Frey, Maira Kalman, Victor Lavalle and Francine Prose, among many other savvy writer-spellers duke it out at the spelling bee hosted by the Diane von Furstenberg studio to benefit the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses. Silent Auction 7:00pm. Bee 8:00pm.

[ click to continue reading at The Rumpus ]

from ANGELINA SUWENDY’s Pens ‘n’ Papers blog

[ click to continue reading at Pens ‘n’ Papers.blog ]

from The Medina Gazette

Local man’s novel hits the big time

By: Lisa Hlavinka

The movie rights were sold before a Spencer Township native’s novel even hit store shelves.

Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay picked up the rights to Black River High School graduate Jobie Hughes’ young adult novel, “I Am Number Four,” on June 26. The novel does not come out until September 2010.

Spielberg and Bay were not the only ones interested in the novel. Represented by Beverly Hills-based Endeavor Talent Agency, Hughes said there was a bidding war between Spielberg and Bay and producer J.J. Abrams for rights to the story.“They bought the rights to an unpublished book … before we had interest in the book, the movie rights were done and sold,” said Hughes, 29, who grew up in the township and now resides in New York City. “Usually it’s always done the other way around.”

Now, DreamWorks LLC, a film studio co-founded by Spielberg, anticipates the film to be out in July 2011.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Hughes said via phone Sunday.

Before the Hollywood glamour, however, came the task of writing “I Am Number Four.”

Hughes has a co-author, James Frey, who wrote the memoir, “A Million Little Pieces.”

Hughes Hughes did not name Frey specifically, he said, because the partnership was originally supposed to be secret. However, other media have named Frey as the co-author of the book.

[ click to continue reading at The Medina Gazette ]

Hamburg:
HARBOURFRONT LITERATURE FESTIVAL
Date: Monday, 14 September, 9 pm
Tickets: € 12,-
Location: uebel & gefaehrlich, Feldstr. 66
Link: click for website

Stuttgart:
LiTERATURHAUS
Date: Tuesday, 15 September, 8 pm
Location: Stuttgarter Literaturhaus,
Breitscheidstr. 4
Tickets: € 8,-/6,-/4,-
Link: click for website

Cologne:
LiTERATURHAUS
Date: Wednesday, 16 September, 8 pm
Location: Koelner Literaturhaus, Schoenhauser Str. 8
Tickets: € 7,-/5,-/4,-
Link: click for website

from Art Knowledge News

Artist Elliott Arkin’s Highly-Anticipated Mobile Art Laboratory at Half Gallery

New York, NY – The Art-Z group, founded by artist Elliott Arkin, announced today the exhibition of a scale-model Mister ArtSee, a vintage ice-cream truck completely transformed into a wondrous mobile arts laboratory that can travel city streets and will host a wide array of engaging projects including installations, sound-pieces, performances, presentations, visual art and videos. The exhibition debuts on September 10^th at Half Gallery during the New York Fall art preview and runs through September 17^th.

A first-of-its-kind experimental platform in both form and content, Mister ArtSee was conceived by Elliott Arkin, and designed by Atelier DNA, a New York City architecture and technology studio headed by architect Dario Nunez-Ameni. A work of art as well as a space for art, Mister ArtSee has been developed to maximize versatility, accessibility and expandability as a self-sufficient, multipurpose art-mobile, whose possibilities are limited only by the imagination of its participants.

“Like a Swiss-army knife, Mister ArtSee will be equipped with numerous extensions—a platform stage, video projectors, a podium—with the ability to fold out and open up to facilitate such projects,” said artist Elliott Arkin. “The design seeks to achieve maximum versatility and world class artistry to fulfill our mission of bringing information and contemporary art to the areas it visits, especially neighborhoods, schools, playgrounds, parks and public spaces not typically served by traditional art institutions.”

In addition to Half Gallery founders James Frey, Bill Powers and Andy Spade, who represent Arkin, Mister ArtSee’s Board of Advisors include: the prominent Dutch art collectors Ben and Coco Van Meerondonk; Museum Magazine’s creator Larry Warsh; New York Cares founder Noah Gotbaum; architect Dario Nunez-Ameni and artists Marc Lafia, Kiki Seror and Renee Cox. The group has received several grants including $50,000 from the Annenberg Foundation, as well as a The Brooklyn Arts Council re-grant from the New York State Council on the Arts

[ click to read full piece at ArtKnowledgeNews.com ]

from TAXI

SVA Presents “The Wilde Years”

11 Sep 2009

School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents “The Wilde Years: Four Decades of Shaping Visual Culture,” an exhibition that celebrates designers, art directors and other creative professionals who have graduated from the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department at SVA.

Designed by Kevin O’Callaghan, chair of 3D Design at SVA, the multi-media exhibition space of “The Wilde Years” will place familiar advertisements, book covers, CD packaging and posters within everyday settings. A comfortable reading nook will highlight book jacket design and feature covers for James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces, Hilary Rodham Clinton’s Living History and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, among other best sellers. Subway advertisements, including theatrical posters for Broadway hits like Rent, Chicago and John Leguizamo’s Freak, will be on view within a mock subway platform. A life-size bus shelter will include advertising campaigns for Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and Showtime, while a mini-screening room will project television commercials and music videos.

[ click to read full blurb at designTAXI.com ]

from Huqleberry Redux

Your Dress is Frey’d

Yesterday I went to see Buster Balloon at the Half Gallery.  The display was mildly entertaining from the perspective of a 23-year-old but wildly fascinating to the three year old in a stroller next to me.

Among the creations were a miniature Elvis, an ice-cream cone, water faucet, gorilla, and a monkey smoking a cigarette (my favorite).  Now I know why Jeff Koons proclaimed Buster, “The top balloon twister in the world.”

Yeah, Jeff Koons would say that wouldn’t he.

James Frey, half-author and a third of the partnership that comprises the gallery, was moping around outside.

[ click to continue reading at Huqleberry.com ]

from the Pakistan Defence Forum

Spielberg unveils his ‘dreams’ for India

MUMBAI: As far as the Indian entertainment business goes, it doesn’t get bigger than this one. Reliance ADAG will get cult Hollywood director Michael Bay — of the superhit ‘Transformers’ franchise that grossed over US $700 million worldwide — to direct a film for it. This will be followed by two more films in which Steven Spielberg will be actively involved — the legendary director will even wield the megaphone for one.

Earlier this year, Reliance Big Entertainment (RBE) and Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios entered into a much-publicised US $825-million deal. The Michael Bay-helmed film ‘I Am Number Four’ is the first instalment of that venture. Says Stacey Snider, co-chair and CEO of DreamWorks Studios, “With the backing of Reliance, we are able to continue developing our slate and producing films for worldwide movie-going audiences…and with ‘I Am Number 4′, we’ll continue our successful partnership with Michael Bay who truly delivers movies that have mass global appeal.”

I Am Number 4′ is based on a novel co-written by ‘A Million Little Pieces’ author James Frey and Jobie Hughes. Al Gough and Miles Millar, the duo credited with scripting ‘Spiderman 2′, ‘The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor’, ‘Shanghai Noon’ and ‘Shanghai Knights’, will adapt it for the screen. The storyline follows a group of teenage alien refugees assimilating into high school on Earth when they discover that their home planet’s enemy is now hunting them on their new turf.

[ click to read full piece at defence.pk ]

from CinemaBlend.com

Writers Hired For Bay-Frey Pairing From Hell

By Katey Rich: 2009-08-27 09:50:46

When it comes to currently famous douchebags, there aren’t two people much more resented than Michael Bay and James Frey. One of them has come by his millions honestly, by blowing things up for the approval of the public, and one of them got rich by completely fabricating a memoir (A Million Little Pieces, if you’ve managed to forget), but both seem like the kind of guys who started off as high school bullies and never released their power.

And now they’re teaming up, just so you can focus all your resentment in one place. According to Variety, Bay will produce and possibly direct an adaptation ofI Am Number Four, Frey’s new novel about nine aliens who disguise themselves as teenagers on Earth when their home planet is destroyed.

[T]oday’s Variety piece announces that two writers, Smallville vets Al Gough and Miles Millar, will handle the adaptation of the book. Gough and Millar are responsible for writing, however improbably, both Spider-Man 2 and The Mummy 3, so there’s seriously no telling how this will turn out. I just hope they’re prepared to hold on tight when the combined douchebaggery of Bay and Frey threatens to create a black hole from which no innocent screenwriter could possibly escape.

[ click to read full piece at CinemaBlend.com ]

from GiveMeMyRemote.com

On the late night couch…

• The Late Show with David Letterman: Renee Zellweger, Gary Mule Deer
• The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien:  Jonah Hill, Cheryl Hines, Dan Naturman (R 7/21/09)
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Lisa Kudrow, James Frey, Chairlift (R 6/26/09)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live:  Quentin Tarantino, Rachel Nichols, Doug Benson (R 8/7/09)
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Cameron Diaz, Universal Records Database, Grizzly Bear (R 6/26/09)

[ click to read more at givememyremote.com ]

from heartbeat berlin

James Frey in Tip Berlin

James Frey © Diane Vincent, Berlin Juni 2009

Doing the first, and most likely, only public reading from my new book, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible -

Next Friday at the Amagansett Public Library at 7:00.
215 Main Street, Amagansett, NY.

The book doesn’t come out until next year and I won’t be touring.

- James Frey

from The Buffalo News

‘Wall Rockets’ at Albright-Knox celebrates artist Ed Ruscha

By Colin Dabkowski

NEWS ARTS WRITER

It was the dead of winter in 2006, and James Frey was in a bad way.

His best-selling memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” had recently come under fire in the national media for factual inaccuracies. He had just appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to defend his work, and Oprah, once a fervent Frey supporter, had torn the author into a billion little shreds.

It seemed that everywhere Frey looked –on blogs and talk shows, in newspapers and magazines –someone was gleefully waiting to vilify him.

Others of lesser conviction might have fled to the hills of New Hampshire or Vermont to become J. D. Salinger-esque recluses, never to set foot in the public spotlight again. But Frey was never much for convention. In his time of need, instead of seeking refuge in alcohol or drugs or even therapy, the embattled author turned to the art of Ed Ruscha.

“I’ve had odd professional experiences,” Frey said on a recent visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. And after the odd professional experience that was Frey’s messy evisceration on “Oprah,” Frey’s French publisher called to console him after what she called his “public stoning.” The phrase stuck in Frey’s mind.

“When all that stuff was happening, I don’t know why, I was like, ‘I’ve got to get Ed Ruscha to paint me a picture that says ‘Public Stoning,’” Frey said.

The painting Frey commissioned from Ruscha now hangs in the Albright-Knox as part of “Wall Rockets,” a sprawling tribute exhibition inspired by the work of the legendary California artist. It runs through Oct. 25.

[ click to continue reading at The Buffalo News ]

from Das Erste

[ click to view video interview of James Frey at Das Erste ]