Revisting 2023: Observations, Innovators, Visual Art, Live Experiences, and Graffiti
If you’ve read any of my previous year-end recaps, you probably know I’m a master of none, observer of some and student of most. Here are some general observations from 2023 along with the innovators, live experiences, visual art and graffiti that stood out to me from the past year. I have a deep understanding of some of these, and others piqued my interest and I look forward to learning more about them in the coming year. Anyways, check out some of my favorite stuff from 2023 and thanks as always to my bro Andrew Barnett for helping me get this done.
❤ Judd
OBSERVATIONS
Graffiti Wins Art Basel
For the past few years, the biggest stories from Art Basel in Miami didn’t come from the blue chip artists that the fair celebrates but rather from from stunts and experiences. A few years back it was the duct tape banana and last year it was the MSCHF ATM Machine. This year it was graffiti artists who took home the prize for most buzz-worthy story at Basel by transforming a vacant downtown building over the course of a week into a giant and vibrant art installation. The building, covered from top to bottom with graffiti, was the most widely shared story from Art Week Miami 2023. Check it out HERE and HERE
MSG Sphere in Las Vegas is a Cool Billboard
I had the opportuniy to check out U2 perform at Sphere a few weeks ago and, while the show and visuals were super impressive, it felt to me like the outside of the venue is way more figured out and has already made more headlines than anything that’s taken place inside of it. This stunt that Netflix recently activated for Rebel Moon using Drones is an example of how brands are creatively using it. At the same time, with the insanely expensive rates to advertise on it, I’m interested to see if brands will continue to want to do stuff there in 2024 or if it will just be a fad. I’m also curious to see how Sphere curates future shows and residencies. Outside of throw back bands like U2 or Phish, it may be challenging to find contemporary acts with both the draw to fill the venue consistantly and the budget to leverage Sphere’s technology and make dynamic content to go with the show.
Fashion Embraces Non-Traditional Marketing
In 2023 it seemed like many fashion brands were leaning into stunts, installations and technology to drive retail traffic and generate buzz. Some marketing things that caught my eye included Christian Dior’s Carousel of Dreams in NYC, Gucci’s Cosmo Exhibition in London, Coach’s Coach Airways pop up in Malaysia, Fenti x Puma’s giant soccer ball installation in NYC, Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with Yoyoi Kusama at flagship stores and Timberland’s giant boot, just to name a few. I am betting on fashion and luxury brands to continue making fun and interesting work and spending money on cool stuff in 2024.
INNOVATORS
Hassan Ragab
My colleague Michael Fullman spoke on a panel about AI with Hassan a few months ago, which is when I was introduced to his work. For Hassan, an Egyptian-born conceptual artist, designer and architect, the focal point is AI. Specifically Mid-Journey, is the conduit for intertwining his cultural identity with creative exploration. I don’t like most visual art I’ve seen created using AI tools because it looks wonky, but Hassan’s work looks and feels different. Looking at the stuff he’s doing, it’s wild to imagine the possibilities for AI and art in the near future. Check out more of his work HERE.
Taylor Lorenz
In 2023 tech journalist Taylor Lorenz cemented herself as the authority on explaining internet culture by publishing her debut book Extremely Online where she reveals how online influence came to upend the world as we know it, breaking down traditional barriers and creating whole new sectors of the economy. Check out her work HERE
Living Proof New York
This year Angel and Z Radio rebranded as Living Proof, turning their podcast into a media company. Over the past couple of years the hosts generated a core audience by building up a catalog of interviews with some of the best graffiti artists, hardcore bands, skaters and MMA fighters. In 2023 they leveraged the equity built through their podcast and used it as a vehicle to create physical magazines, video content and products that are exclusive to their patreon subscribers and available via their online store. I’m excited to see what they do next year.
Honorable Mentions
Nanzuka Underground
I’ve admired Nanzuka Underground in Tokyo for a while now and thought it was cool that many of the great shows they facilitated in 2023 with artists like Todd James, Hebru Brantley, and Jonathan Chapline included physical and fabricated pieces as center pieces to go with paintings. Excited to see what they do in 2024.
Jadakiss
Special shout out to Jadakiss for creating a blueprint for remaining relevant as an older artist in an industry defined by young people, from one old person to another.
Roger Gastman
Another special shout out, this time for Roger Gastman, the hardest working person in showbiz. I have super respect for people who actually make stuff and that’s what Roger has always done and continued to do in 2023. In the past year he kept connecting the worlds of graffiti, street art, fine art and music for audiences by shining light on emerging artists, producing films, publishing books and curating gallery shows. On top of all of that he brought his Beyond The Streets show to both London and Shanghai.
LIVE EXPERIENCES
Alex Israel’s Brand Collaborations at Art Basel
At Art Basel in 2023 Alex Israel activated two separate and equally cool interactive brand collaborations. For Capital One he designed Snow Beach Frozen Treats, a pop up fro-yo shop with an art twist activated in an Art Deco-inspired structure with a 1980s Miami-inspired logo and for BMW he created REMEMBR an AI-powered, participatory video installation that guided visitors on a journey through time and memory.
Yayoi Kusama for Louis Vuitton
To mark a capsule collection created in collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, Louis Vuitton created an oversized inflatable sculpture of Kusama atop one of its stores in Paris. Similar installations were activated at select locations globally including life-like and human-scale animatronics of the artist, placed in window displays with the robotic replica of Kusama repeatedly painting her trademark polka-dots onto the surface of the glass.
Giant Marc Jacobs Tote Bag by Playlab
Sometimes simple ideas are the best ones. Marc Jacobs partnered with Los Angeles-based design studio playlab inc to bring a giant version of The Tote Bag to life for 2 days in a lot in the Lower East Side during Fashion Week. It got a ton of press and was super shareable because of its size, look and location. As a cherry on top, Marc Jacobs invited NYC based artist Shaun Crawford to add his graffiti to the installation at the end of its run, reconnecting the brand with the community in a memorable way.
Beyonce Renaissance Tour Robots by VTProDesign
Audiences are expecting more from live concerts and events than just the show itself and Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour was one of 2023’s prime examples of this. The show used art, design, technology and fashion to elevate the themes and topics of her music and connect them for fans in more memorable ways. VTProDesign worked with Parkwood Entertainment and Beyonce to experiment with robots and end effectors and ultimately integrate them throughout the choreography of the show. Beyonce dancing between metal frames moved by industrial robots on stage for the song “Cozy” became one of the most widely shared parts of the show.
Skateboard by Jonathan Olivares at Design Museum London
Skateboard is an exhibition currently on view at the Design Museum in London curated by Jonathan Olivares. Olivares approached the show by treating the skateboard as a design object and charting its evolution from the 1950s to today. The show is capped off with a custom 3.5ft mini skate ramp with an 8ft extension that audiences can sign up to skate inside the exhibition. The show arrives at an important time, as the sport is set to be included in the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Honorable Mention
Netflix
Special shout out to Netflix for doing the most non-traditional and buzzworthy marketing of any brand in 2023. Even in a year with a big Hollywood strike, they experimented with new ideas like Netflix Bites, created immersive experiences around shows like Squid Games and Stranger Things, and announced plans for brick and mortar retail focused Netflix Houses in 2025.
VISUAL ART
Sarah Sze at The Guggenheim
Sarah Sze is an artist that I’ve admired for years and her show at the Guggenheim in 2023 was one of the coolest of the year in my opinion. Her Guggenheim Museum exhibition featured multiple works on the top floor and centered on Timekeeper (2016), one of her early multimedia installations which is a reflection on how our experience of time and place is continuously reshaped in a digitally and materially saturated world.
Wade Guyton at Matthew Marks NY
I only learned about Wade Guyton’s art this year when I saw images of his show at Matthew Marks in NYC on my IG feed. I was immediately interested by the industrial metal structures at the center of the gallery that he used to hang his art on. It turns out that the racks used to display the pieces have roots in Guyton’s relocation of his New York studio two years ago, when he took up residence in the former home of a clothing company and discovered similar ones still intact in the space.
Lauren Halsey Roof Garden at The Met
LA-based artist Lauren Halsey had a big year in 2023. Over the summer she completed an installation for The Met’s Roof Garden Commission series, bringing together ancient Egyptian–inspired iconography and sculpture with signage and texts and graffiti drawn from her local community in South Central Los Angeles.
Alex Da Corte at Matthew Marks LA
Venezuelan-American artist Alex Da Corte’s solo exhibition, The Daemon, transformed Mathew Marks’ LA gallery into a 1960s house with a conversation pit, a wired landline phone, and a potted plant sculpture that a cat seemed to have knocked down. His work is awesome and I hope to experience some of it in person in 2024.
GRAFFITI
RAMS
RAMS is a graffiti writer from Europe who spent 2023 innovating a relatively new approach to graffiti done by scaling the sides of buildings and using a rope, harness or climbing equipment to produce large pieces on the sides of buildings that previously would not have been possible. A handful of artists in NYC like XSM and QZAR have used climbing gear to reach similar spots in recent years, but in 2023 RAMS took this method to another level.
ANSO
ANSO is maybe the most mysterious and prolific graffiti writer out right now. His tags and throw ups can be seen in any city I travel to, even in the most random and cutty spots. It used to just be that he was doing the most, but in 2023 his style evolved and become more interesting too.
ZESER
ZESER is a legendary graffiti artist turned fine artist who has been painting in LA for years and in 2023 he put in a ton of work. He has some of the most unique and awesome handstyles and piecing styles and it was a joy to live in LA and see him popping up all over the place.
HERT
Hert BF is a graffiti writer from Buffalo New York who served prison time for graffiti in 2010 and has battled with the legal process ever since. From what I see posted on the internet, it seems like he’s been back on the scene in 2023 painting again and it all looks awesome. Hope he keeps it going in 2024.
DRUGS Crew
A collection of some of the best anti-style graffiti writers make up this crew. All the artists in this crew are doing some of the weirdest graffiti out, taking inspiration from style pioneers like TWIST and ORFN and pushing styles in new ways. Many writers today copy what they see on the internet, but I find it refreshing to see a group of writers intentionally going in a different direction.
