UGallery is turning the digital art world into a truly “at your fingertips” experience.

Gregor Hochmuth and Philippe Jestin are joining forces in UGallery’s Mission headquarters to present “insert ___ here,” a show that melds pop panache with humor and sophistication. Gregor is a photographer as well as an engineer at Instagram. His work proves that art can maintain its integrity on and off the touch screen. Philippe works with resin to create semi-sculptural pieces. Both artists will be present at the show to discuss their complete body of work.

Attendees must email social@ugallery.com with their full name to RSVP. We hope to see you there!

“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they’re having a piss.” — Banksy

Greetings Art Lovers!

When you think about a “New York kiss”, what comes to mind? Is it this? (For me, yes)

If it is, this week’s print by Gregor Hochmuth should shake that image up a bit. I’m tempted to say Greg’s photo captures a new school style (graffiti), but the truth is graffiti has been around for ages. Indeed, graffiti is simply the name for “images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property.” The crusaders left graffiti marks behind, there are etched caricatures of politicians on the ruins of Pompeii, and “Kilroy” was there starting in the 1940s.  

Nowadays most of the graffiti we see is created with paint, spray paint and markers. Gregor’s juicy New York lips are an example of this sort of “modern graffiti” that many say grew out of the subways of New York City in the 1970s. 

Gregor discovered this massive pair of lips above ground on the streets of Chelsea, close to the High Line. About NYC, Greg, a Berlin born San Franciscan, says:

They say that just a slice of coral reef can contain millions of life forms, many of which we haven’t even classified. I feel the same way about a city block in New York. 

New York’s depth lies not only in what you can see. The city is constantly changing, regenerating and replacing itself. The creator of the lips didn’t leave a trace of her or his identity and when Gregor revisited the site recently, the graffiti had vanished. Like much of NYC, it only exists in photographs. 

Artfully yours,

Bailey

“Guggenheim” by Gregor Hochmuth

“If the paintings are too large, cut them in half!” - Frank Lloyd Wright when questioned about the low ceilings in the Guggenheim Museum.

Greetings Collectors!

Today, we bring you a stunning scene from a new Paperwork photographer Gregor Hocmuth. We met Gregor through fellow SF photographer and Stanford grad Alex Greenburg (go Card!).  Gregor’s calm urban scenes charmed us immediately, and we knew we had to get him on Paperwork. We couldn’t be more excited to release his first print this morning, a photograph so stunning that I’m sure even prickly old Frank Lloyd Wright would be proud of it.

Gregor took this image at NYC’s famed Guggenheim museum. It’s a rare scene, capturing a still moment at one of the busiest places in the city. But what I really love is his unique perspective. If you visit the Guggenheim’s gift shop, you’ll find countless photos of the famous beehive exterior. Gregor takes another route - albeit an illicit one - by photographing the inside of the museum, the space that artists, curators and Frank Lloyd Wright himself battled tirelessly over.

Instead of commenting on whether or not the design of the museum sacrificed the art experience for the sake of architecture, Gregor focuses on the visitor experience. Gregor says the photograph “captured an essential part of my perception of the museum experience: We’re all in public space and pay vivid attention to the art presented to us. Yet we are completely blind to each other, the people around us - do you ever remember a single face of a fellow visitor after you left the museum?”

I certainly don’t. Perhaps the anonymity of the museum space will someday change. For now, the mystery of the man in Gregor’s shot will leave us guessing and imagining, engaging us in a story as all truly great photographs do.

Artfully yours,

Bailey

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