On Saturday Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on 47th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan came alive with body paint, camera shutters, simulated camera shutters (on smart phones), and a literal ton of bare skin, for the second ever Bodypainting Day.

King of the body painting world, Andy Golub has pulled it off once again, breaking all kinds of records for previous “group outings,” this time with 100 fully nude models and 80 artists painting on this year’s theme “What The World Needs Now.”

I was there for the first two hours of what turned out to be an all day event, so with most articles about this event you are seeing mostly the finished product – fully painted models. I captured the sketching phase, or the initial lines and the base coat.

It is interesting to see how the artists all had different techniques for how to start working on the various models, which came in all shapes and sizes.

Written and Photographed by Cojo

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Monday, January 5, 2015 – San Francisco, CA

At the end of October, Artiholics surveyed the captivating energy of the Noonan Building, an artist community on the verge of major community developments. Located in Pier 70 on the eastern waterfront in San Francisco, this historic neighborhood of 28 acres once harbored heavy industrial manufacturers like steel, power, shipbuilding (including WWI and WWII vessels) iron, and large steel tubes for the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. Those industries dominated Pier 70 and the surrounding communities from the 1800’s through the mid-fifties, and have since then fallen into decline. Today, Pier 70 resembles a ghost town. The historic buildings stand vacant amongst barbed wire fences, rust, and decay. The only “tenants” of the pier are artists who have turned one building known as the Noonan Building into a community of artist studios. During the November elections, residents of the surrounding community almost unanimously voted to renovate Pier 70 and turn it into an artist-loving, livable, and visitor-attracting neighborhood. In coming years, we expect to see new park space, retail shops, eateries, art studios, and more housing for a city desperately in need of more  housing options.

Below are images gathered from the painters, sculptors, and photographers working in the Noonan Building:

 Phillip Hua’s Studio

Paintings in the Studio of Connie Harris 

Harris in her studio.

The sculptures in the above photo come from Connie Harris’ studio.

Open Studios in San Francisco could not happen without the help of Art Span, a giant network of information on Contemporary artists in the Bay Area.

Daniel Phill in front of paintings in his studio.

More photos of Phill’s work follow in the photo gallery at the end of the post.

 Paintings by the artist, PABS.  The imagery comes from watching civilians in Asia.

Photographs in the studio of Rico Schwartzberg

Studio of Alice Raymond

Detail from a painting by Alice Raymond.

A drawing by Robert Minervini.

More images from Robert Minervini’s studio follow in the photo gallery below.

Drawings and sculptural works in the studio of Pamela Axelson.

Additional photos of Axelson’s studio follow in the photo gallery inserted at the end of this post.

Encaustic paintings by Adele Louise Shaw.

More photos of Shaw’s studio follow in the photo gallery.

The Above Image is from the studio of Preethi Kumaresan.

The Above Prints are from the Studio of Xavier Viramontes.

The above works were made by Marti Mckee.

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Many cultural events actually coincide with the season of open studios in San Francisco. ARTober Fest encompasses more than visual Art.  It also surpasses the month of October and fills in the beginning of  November. If you plan to visit the Bay Area, you’ll get your money’ worth if you come here between October and November.  At the start of the month, the free, gigantic blue grass festival known as Strictly Hardly takes over the first weekend.  A few studio groups begin showing work the second week.  Then comes Litquake, the 15-year-old literary festival that swoops into the Bay Area for a busy week.  It’s an amazing representation of the Bay Area.

During both weekdays and the weekend, people vie for seats (or space to stand) at readings, panel discussions, and writing workshops. The infamous “Lit Crawl” celebrates the end of the festival. This year the crawl included 101 events taking place in three hours. Over 900 authors brought their work to the public in just a week. Many writers come from the West Coast while others are international. While the festival takes place mostly in San Francisco, events stretch out in every direction: the North Bay, Berkeley, Oakland, and the South Bay all become bustling grounds for Litquake authors to share their work.

Encounters with the visual world definitely happen during this literary occasion. A few examples from 2014 included a roundtable discussion of contemporary book design; an exhibit of cover art from Bay Area publishers; artists and illustrators from the The New Yorker in conversation with the West Coast; and a talk on the art of Italian children’s books.

At the panel discussion, “Being with Death: The Art of Dying in the Modern Age,” Fouladi Projects Gallery, 13-Oct-2014

My start of Litquake involved a somber but simultaneously uplifting panel discussion called “Being with Death: The Art of Dying in the Modern Age.” Four Bay Area writers, who have published memoirs and non-fiction surrounding death within today’s medical practices, spoke to an audience that quickly grew heavy-hearted.

Though we became a sniffling, weepy audience, it felt very good to talk about death. I feel that the people sitting with me felt the same way. Though the scenarios described caused many of us to tear up (Panelist Monica Wesolowska spoke about the one month lifespan of an infant she lost after childbirth; Elizabeth Scarboro talked about the passing of her first young husband from Cystic Fibrosis in his mere mid-twenties) the speakers created such strong models of understanding and acceptance that you just couldn’t walk away from the talk in pain. Panelist Katy Butler framed it this way, “You can’t have a good death without talking about it.”

Butler and Sheila Himmel lead the talk towards a wider perspective on how people die today (i.e. regarding the number of us who experience ICU before dying, the involvement of medical professionals, and the definition of a natural death). Skillfully, all four writers spoke on the pain from a prolonged deathbed, which affected each of them in the past. Though the audience cried, the panelists did not.

Photo of the audience and panelist, Elizabeth Scarboro, Litquake 2014

This public talk surfaced just 2 weeks before Brittany Maynard’s public and controversial decision to seek Oregon’s Death with Dignity Law. With stage 4 brain cancer, Maynard chose to end her life with the help of doctors on November 1, 2014. The wide publicity of Maynard’s difficult situation likely attracted some audience members to this talk.

One of the most heartening moments came, when Butler asked where the med students sat in the audience. A few men and women raised their hands, and we all gave applause. These were nurses, hospice workers, therapists, and doctors taking an extra step to better understand patients’ dying with dignity.

Litquake 2014, “The Art of Poetry” panel, photo courtesy of Rachel Dwan.

The above photo came from “The Art of Poetry” panel discussion (one of the recurring talks for every Litquake). This year, panelists included published authors Robin Ekiss, Elizabeth Block, Roxanne Beth Johnson, Zack Rogow, and Judy Halebsky.

Phase I of Lit Crawl 2014, Outside of “Science Fiction in the 21st Century,” October 18th, 2014

6: 20 PM, twenty minutes late for the first phase of Lit Crawl and I find myself at the back of the audience, which pushed all the way out the front door, sadly out of hearing range. This is the closest I got to hearing about contemporary science fiction at a store in the Mission District called the Time Frame. It’s a slightly unusual place to hold such a public gathering (among glass cases full of eyewear and a space fit for a handful of customers rather than this lit crowd), but that’s the charm of Litquake.  It’s a festival that creatively calls in all parts of the community to share culture. Speakers included Michael Blumlein, Ellen Klages, Tim Pratt, Jacob Weismam, and Tad Williams.

Another view of the crowd from outside of “Science Fiction in the 21st Century,”2014 Lit Crawl.

Phase II of Lit Crawl 2014, in the store of an independent designer called Five and Diamond in the Mission, “Funcheap Presents San Francisco on $0 a Day”

7:15 PM: A fun discussion between five San Francisco savvy writers on the most creative ways to live cheaply in this expensive city.  Featuring Eve Batey, Johnny Funcheap, Brandon R. Reynolds, Stuart Schuffman, and Beth Spotswood. Note the far-left panelist who joined in digitally. Readers, please be reminded that while this Phase II event took place between 7:15 and 8:15 PM, about thirty other Phase II events also happened.

Phase III of the Lit Crawl, “Librarian Authors in the Stacks,” at Press: Works on Paper. 

Around 8:40 PM, I and a partner walked into a rare book bookstore called Press: Works on Paper. A poetry reading made the perfect end to the evening. This one featured librarian authors from all over the Bay and beyond: Andrew Demcak, Tayrn Edwards, Moazzam Sheikh, Erin Wilson, and Michelle Zaffino.

Near the end of Phase III, Photo of Press: Works on Paper

A view inside ofPress: Works on Paper and some crowd members standing all around the store, Photo courtesy of Michelle Kicherer.

Lit-quake, a suitable name for a festival in the Bay Area. Though we’re never sure when we’ll suffer the next big earthquake, we can be sure that this literary giant comes back to town each Fall. I have a feeling that upcoming years will continue to feel endlessly loaded with pointed ideas, great people, images, poetry, and too much to talk about.

 Written by: Audrey Tran

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San Francisco, Tuesday – November 4, 2014

Two weekends ago, Artiholics visited the Headlands Center for the Arts, an establishment  carrying international renown for contemporary artists dating back nearly 3 decades (Read: Part 1). In 1982, this former military property transferred to the National Park Service and fell under the direction of a board primarily made up of local artists.

Today, the arena operates much like a campus for resident artists coming from several programs:

1. Graduates of the major MFA programs in the region (Graduate Fellows) such as SFAI, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and San Francisco State University among others.
2. Other national and foreign national artists participating in the Artists in Residence Program (AIR). This includes both art professionals and writers.
3. The Affiliate Artists (https://www.headlands.org/program/affiliate/), a program specific to the local Bay Area art professionals.

The Center is comparable to the unique rooms in my favorite NY art museum, PS1. I’ve always felt that exhibition rooms that are not like white cubes, can  add possibilities for new elements or ideas to work in to projects or concepts.  The Center also maintains a constant relationship with the public. Not only does the Headlands Center for the Arts exhibit during the Fall open studios season, the Center participates in year-round talks, screenings, shows, readings, and performances. See their page for upcoming events. Here are a few views of the Center.

Below, I’ve left a trail of pictures and information about a few of the things that were open to the public at the Headlands Center two weekends ago.

Work by Janelle Iglesias

Here, we see a tree branch attached to the wall, but notice how the artist has edited the twigs and leaves stemming from the top half of the main bough. Janelle Iglesias is working with and against nature. She seems to be forming shapes based on those natural structures. Within this image, I see the air view of a city map described. How that arena contrasts with the hanging, clumped stems below. So many ways to wonder about a tree rod, using little more than its natural materials and structures.

A sculpture from Janelle Iglesias’ studio.

Combined with the wall piece (this room felt very large), visitors also glimpsed some of Iglesias’ wood and mixed media sculptures.

Below, are two partial views of Iglesias’ conceptual piece called, The Space Between Earth & Sky. 

 Janelle Iglesias’ The Space Between Earth & Sky. 

When you try to grab as many angles and visual references as possible for a blog article, you might like me, forget to actually look at the work—instead of taking pictures of it. Regretfully, I cannot tell you exactly how it felt to come across The Space Between Earth & Sky, for I fell into that auto-photo snapping zone when I approached it. The tidbits of the piece from my references make me wish I had stayed with it longer.

A piece from Blessing Ngobeni’s studio

While reading his images, I sense complicated emotions being described. Tangled figures embrace or reach out to one another. In other moments, their gestures appear hostile. Everyone in the bunch drips some sort of fluid, which also serves as a visual connection that moves your eye around the composition. In all of his works, Ngobeni shows an innate ability to interweave his disparate shapes, colors, and regions of the paper/canvas. Parts of the figures hold images of smaller figures, similar to a comic strip embedded in a larger one. These different characteristics create many-layered narratives that do not have to be read in any specific order.

Close-up view of Ngobeni’s artwork, depicted above.

Past writers have focused on how Ngobeni’s biographical history in South Africa influences his work.  At the Headkands, Ngobeni’s studies include “observing human behaviour, by examining the non-verbal communication, gestures and cues made by the people.”   See the gallery below for additional images of this artist’s work.

View of Ying Zhu’s exhibition space

Ying Zhu created an exhibition space that urges her audience to look closely. The large room I entered (likely comfortable for over 25+ people to walk through at one time) might be 98% bare, but if you look down, you’ll find her flourishing artwork, threads that are in full bloom.

I thought of a very minimal coral reef. Using man made materials, Zhu mimics nature. Her pieces come from reflecting on the surrounding landscape of Marin County (just north of San Francisco). Zhu is based in Nebraska. Having someone from a different part of the country pondering the Bay Area seems like a worthwhile interaction for those of us who are so used to the area. Sometimes, a viewer from afar can see more in the things that lay so near to us.

View of Ying Zhu’s installation work at the Headlands Center for the Arts

In the picture below, the square hung on a wall in the same space. It clues us into some of Zhu’s thoughts and explorations. I read it as a sketch, constructed from grey threads, similar to the larger installation on the floor. Those frail structures draw me in, especially when they counterintuitively create strong borders like the walls of this square.

Item in Ying Zhu’s Project Space

Even though I love sculpture (that was my concentration during college), paintings in the flesh have become a favorite recently. I experience over 7 hours of work in front of a computer most days. Perhaps that is why painted surfaces have become such a treat. The bumps, layers, smears, and all the indefinite facets that come with paint on canvas are now my eye candy. I feel that way about the surface of actual book pages too. Some of this came to mind while visiting Allison Miller’s painting studio.

The artist treats her paintings as arenas for action. In her work, we see spaces that can be changed many times and the end result does not entirely represent the full ark of Miller’s work. For the body of works on display at the Headlands, it is very important to think about how the artist constantly edits. While viewers see only one static state of Miller’s paintings, the artist gets to experience all the changes—the twists on all the endless possibilities and constraints of paint.

A close view of a painting in Miller’s studio.

This review carries a particularly delicious description of Miller’s painting technique.  Other’s have written of the artist’s work like sculpture, an apt connection. See the gallery at the end of this post for more pictures from Allison Miller at the Headlands.

Terrance Nance’s work offered a respite from hanging out with the very physical paintings, drawings, and sculptures in the floors below his studio. The space did not require much light as the artist screened different works on a large studio wall for passing visitors.   The video below shows Frenel in its entirety, accessible through Vimeo.  The piece feels like a documentary that sweetly includes a distinct dreamscape created by two dancers–you’ll never take your eyes off them.   Their imaginative dance changes with the mood flowing from the reflective dialogue of the main subject, Frenel Morris.  He is a milliner.

Frenel from Terence Nance • Terence Etc. on Vimeo.

Past pieces of writing on Nance’s work include descriptions of elegance, intuition, and the ever-flattering way to compliment visual art—the comparison to poetry. After seeing just a handful of his works at the Headlands, I can imagine why others have felt this. Just thinking about Nance’s use of words, I’m taken by the title of his feature film, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty.

Other collaborators include filmmaker Hank Willis Thomas, Chanelle Pearson, and musician Melissa Laveaux Postman.

We did not get to capture every artist, project, or event happening during the Open House. What we saw was enough of a hook.  Artiholics will definitely return to the Headlands for future events.

Written by: Audrey Tran

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San Francisco – Tuesday, October 21, 2014

If you’ve never been to San Francisco during October, then you’re may not know of the intoxicating, warm October weather here. This is our “Indian Summer.” It’s a time when you can walk out the door without that light jacket you’ve previously clung to all year long. You do not face blasts of cold wind as you do during San Francisco’s summer months, but rather, these lighter, spirited breezes. To make this somewhat confusing, the sun still begins to set earlier even in the midst of this great weather. For years, this month has also remained one of the busiest seasons for art and literary events in the Bay Area.

Here is my first adventure involving ARToberfest and the Bay Area Open Studios this month. More pictures and stories will follow soon as we come to the last two weekends of this month. Truly, I only reached a small number of the hundreds of art and lit events going on this ARTober.

Bay Area artist, Rachel Dwan and I planned a studio visit after her Open Studio night with Art Explosion in the Protrero District of SF. I missed the big public Open Studio event, however, receiving an invitation for a studio visit is really key.  It’s a great reason to seek out these events. During studio visits, that’s when you really get to ask questions, see the works that have been packed away, or just hear additional insights from the artist.

During my visit, I learned that Dwan completed her undergrad degree in Architecture at Stanford University and now mixes in with art makers, designers and really anyone desiring a conversation on the process of building or creating anything. She sees connections between her former field of study and her current art practice.

As we talked, I noticed how Dwans comfortably talks with her hands, a sign of having lots of illustrative stuff to say. She also drew me into the conversation with a slew of questions about my own work with Artiholics and writing in general. That balanced exchange can really make a studio visit memorable and worthwhile.   We peeked through her drawings and some paintings, both old and new.

We talked about intuitive marks, and happenstance. In one set of paintings, Dwan’s marks come from a rolling brush that allowed her to experiment and choose which patterns to emphasize, continue, or discontinue. Her space is well-lit and felt very well cared for. I can see why someone would want to work there for as many hours as Dwan works.

Follow up with us to see more of the Bay Area Fall Events in the coming days.  For listings of the remaining open studios, check out Fun Cheap SF, or the SF/ARTS website.  If you know the name of a large art studio complex in San Francisco, check out their website for details on upcoming events.

For the future, also search for the names of these organizations combined with the terms “Open Studios” for more info. Links provided for this year’s latest event news:

Hunter’s Point (https://shipyardartists.com/)
Headlands Center for the Arts (https://www.headlands.org/events/open-houses/), Also see “Public Events” Page: https://www.headlands.org/events/
The Dog Patch (https://dogpatchart.com/tag/open-studios/)
SOMA – https://somaartiststudios.com/
Berkeley Artisans (https://berkeleyartisans.com/)
Oakland Art Murmur (https://oaklandartmurmur.org/)
Oakland Art enthusiast: https://oaklandartenthusiast.com/
And!
The ever-intriguing Calendar for the San Francisco Art Institute (https://www.sfai.edu/events-calendar)

Let us know what we may have missed.

Written by: Audrey Tran

The post Exploring the San Francisco Bay Area’s ARToberfest 2014 (Part 1) appeared first on Artiholics.

New York City is the capital of the art world, but if you aren’t an artist or an art collector, the idea of leaving your comfort zone and going out to see some art might seem a bit overwhelming. If you are a resident, or are planning a trip to the big apple, you might have a hard time navigating the couple hundred museums and over 1500 art galleries all within a few subway stops of your hotel (or apartment). We’ll make life a little easier for you. In alphabetical order, here are The Top 40 World Class New York Art Museums.

American Folk Museum

Asia Society and Museum

Bronx Museum of the Arts

Brooklyn Museum

Children’s Museum of the Arts (CMA)

The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution

El Museo del Barrio

Frick Collection

Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College

Hispanic Society of America

Japan Society

The Jewish Museum

Kosciuszko Foundation

Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)

MoMA PS1

Morgan Library & Museum

Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology

Museum for African Art

Museum of American Illustration: Society of Illustrators

Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)

Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA)

Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA)

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

Museum of the Moving Image

National Academy Museum and School

National Museum of the American Indian

New Museum

Nicholas Roerich Museum

Noguchi Museum

Queens Museum

Rubin Museum of Art

Scandinavia House

Sculpture Center

Socrates Sculpture Park

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (The Guggenheim)

Staten Island Museum

Studio Museum in Harlem

Ukrainian Museum

Whitney Museum of American Art (The Whitney)

Don’t want to break the bank? The Smithsonian’s once a year “Free Museum Day” is Saturday, September 27th  (that’s just two days after my show opens in the Lower East Side) Select partner museums around the country are free that day with the admit two coupon you can download and print from the web. You now have zero excuse to not go out and absorb some culture!

Written and Researched by Cojo ‘Art Juggernaut”

The post Artiholics Tourist Guide: New York City’s Top 40 Art Museums appeared first on Artiholics.

You’ve may noticed that a good number of bus shelters and billboards around the city are not so lame anymore. In the rush of traffic and commutes we don’t normally pay attention to trifles such as outdoor advertisements, but lately there have been some reasons to wait for the next bus.

It won’t take you long.  You can spare a couple of minutes to spend with the art displayed in your bus stop. If you just scan it with your smartphone you’ll immediately discover more about the piece, the artist and its history, as well as the museum it comes from.

This is not a natural phenomenon as you can expect, but a nationwide campaign to promote American art and raise awareness for a group of museums. The art will be displayed in all sorts of billboards, telephone kiosks, subways, newsstands, bus shelters, and oversized screens such as the all mighty LED screens of Times Square.

This artistic campaign is a collaboration ( #ArtEverywhereUS ) between the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and five museums: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and The Whitney Museum of American Art. These museums aim both at educating the public and of course sparking interest in the American art they display at their sites.

Once you are aware of the existence of this campaign, the images surprise you everywhere. There are 58 different art works disseminated around the City, and all over the country, but that’s too much of a wide field for this modest urbanite. The big screens in front of the Madison Square Garden spot art from time to time. The horribly overcrowded Port Authority Station displays “The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme” by Joseph Stella in the steps of a random staircase. Inside metro cars, or in a pathway at 14^th Street, the list becomes too diverse. You can drive by 23^rd Street between 8^Th and 9^Th Avenues and get instinctually stopped by a big Rothko that resembles a STOP sign. We can travel to Egypt in 8^th and 38^th Steet. Or reconcile with your lovely one at Broadway and West 91^st because after all we get along so much better than the couple in Grant Wood’s American Gothic.

American Gothic, 1930 by Grant Wood

My Egypt, 1927 by Charles Demuth

Written and Photographed by Alejandro Pardo

The post What the ART is Going on with my Bus Stop Advertising? appeared first on Artiholics.

Harlem, New York City – Thursday, June 26, 2014

Harlem has had its ups and downs throughout its history, to say the least. One of its shining times was the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s, in which African American culture was booming with Southern cuisine, music, art, excitement, and creativity. During the Harlem Renaissance, between 7th avenue and Lenox, there were over 125 entertainment places that operated, which varied from cellars, lounges, speakeasies, cafes, taverns, supper clubs, rib joints, theaters, dance halls, bars and grills. 133rd Street was known known as “Swing Street”, because it housed cabarets, a jazz scene during the Prohibition era, and was named “Jungle Alley” because of “inter-racial mingling” on the street. The area has also seen great sadness stemming from poverty, crime, disease, and ongoing gentrification. Harlem is a cultural epicenter that has given rise to major hip-hop artists such as A$AP Rocky, Immortal Technique, Tupac, P Diddy, and Azealia Banks, to name just a few. There is a strong spiritual component to Harlem, as there are over 400 churches and religious congregations. The area is constantly going through change, turmoil, and celebration. For the past two years, I have lived on 100 West, 141 street, right up the block from the mural of Big L, and the Harlem Hospital which houses a massive glass painting on 135th street and Lenox. I have been a guest of Harlem, but I am about to take part in a new change within it: The Harlem Arts Festival.

The Harlem Arts Festival, is happening in Marcus Garvey Park, a 20.17-acre park, surrounded by flat lawns and playing fields. The park is bounded by 120th Street and 124th Street and by Madison Avenue on its east side. The Festival is the culmination of an extraordinary amount of work  by J.J. El-Far, Neal Ludevig, and Chelsea Golding, three extremely ambitious entrepreneurs who see the potential in Harlem’s art scene as what it once was, and what it can become. This is the festival’s third year, and I have a strong feeling it is going to be bigger and better next year.

The following are just a few of some of the over 40 artists behind the Harlem Arts Festival of 2014.

Artist, Lance Johnson, with collage merging with paint in stunning imagery.

Zest Collective, a group of movement artists – some from Julliard and others from the Alvin Ailey School. I will be combining the talent of Zest Collective dancers with Andrew Kaminski Art audiovisual projections enhancing their movement, the night of the Opening, at MIST, this Friday, June 27th from 7:30 – 8 pm. In this video, I combine their movement with my video projections. 

There are musical acts such as Isaac Katalay, who sees art as an outlet to promote positivity for humanity.

Paul Tabachneck, whose smooth voice exudes his love and passion for music and his life.

Tiffany Latrice, with her figurative representations juxtaposed with vibrant patterns.

Alice Mizrachi is a working artist in Harlem, and has been prolific with works on canvas and murals.

The schedule for the Festival is here, and it runs from June 27th (the opening night), Saturday, June 28th, and Sunday, June 29th. I hope to see you there!

Written by Andrew Kaminski 

The post The Harlem Renaissance is back in the 2014 Harlem Arts Festival appeared first on Artiholics.

Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York – Monday, Jun 16, 2014

The neighborhood is filled with formal and renegade artists, performers, and merchants pouring from the streets, galleries, salons, bars showing arts and crafts all over Bushwick. Here is a sampling of some interesting pieces from Bushwick Open Studios 2014 from June 1, 2014.

The Tarot Society located at The Body Actualized Center, 143 Troutman in Bushwick, featured live palm and tarot readings. On display was a collection of ceramic vessels with esoteric photo transfers, TERRE POTTERY by Pearl Vasudha Chanter.

As a passerby looked up from the sidewalk, an artist climbed high on a ladder to create a giant cat sculpture out of stacked cardboard boxes.

Brent Owens’ multimedia sculpture, see the Dr. Seuss-like tree in the photo collection below, was his fishing lure to bring in an audience to his garage studio. His work is a nod to artisan crafts of his youth and to an Americana hobbyist era that occurred even before he was born. Jenn Brehm, his wife and studio partner, is a painter who created a Dayglo participatory piece for patrons to interact with and add to. She had three collaborative collage, ink, and paint on cotton paper pieces finished by the time I arrived.

One of my favorite installations and performances was by Matty Davis. A visual artist, performer, and jewelry-maker using poetic ideas to encapsulate interactions between his body and of his art objects. His jewelry is unconventional and rough looking, made of flattened nails, gems, and chains.

His calmness as he hammers the nails is in contrast to the unsettling noise of the banging and crafting. It’s a very romantic installation, a collection of work that draws attention to the corporeal body of the artist being as important to the work as the finished object itself.

In one haunting photograph that documented a performance of his, he pressed a flower into a cut made into the palm of his hand. It’s vulnerable, disturbing, and beautiful. So much art today relies on polished gimmick or suffers from being ideas that can be executed by someone else as long as the “existential essence” of the idea remains.

The fun of going to an event like this that could be easily dismissed as a “Hipster block party”, is that the variety here at BOS lets you decide what you want to interact with and look at. This notion is much more pleasant than being in the confined editorial note of established curators for museums that compete with each other, but whom show the same content.

Click any image to view the gallery:

Written by Betty T. Kao

The post NOT JUST HIPSTERS: A Sampling of Art From Bushwick Open Studios appeared first on Artiholics.

Meryl Meisler is a Brooklyn based photographer who captured a very tumultuous, dangerous, and simultaneously glamorous era in NYC history – the 1970s and 80s. During that time, Manhattan was erupting with surreal characters and scenesters, gallivanting in iconic night clubs, while across the bridge in Bushwick, Brooklyn, there was destruction, arson, looting, the crack epidemic, and tensions between the disenfranchised communities that resided there. She taught in a Bushwick public school and with camera at the ready she bore firsthand witness to the opposing worlds, which existed just few subway stops apart.

Meryl carried a medium format camera nearly everywhere she went, and caught a glimpse into two very different social environments. One of those settings was the disco-era music and dance scene. She snapped photos of William Shatner, Andy Warhol, Grace Jones, and frequented  Studio 54. She went to places like the Paradise Garage, one of the most powerful House music venues of all time.

Meryl Meisler referred to the initial lines of A Tale of Two Cities when describing the then NYC dichotomy between extravagant Manhattan nightlife and the struggling nightmare of Bushwick, Brooklyn.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” – Charles Dickens

I went on a walk with Meryl, and then she took me out to lunch. Her eyes glowed with compassion and warmth. She currently lives in Chelsea, and she supervises/teaches future art teachers at NYU. Her new exhibition highlights photos published in her new book by Bizarre Publishing, called A Tale of Two Cities & her work is displayed in Bushwick’s Black Box Gallery (12 Jefferson Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206). She sent me photos, some of which have never been released. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

The original Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, and later to become the Priceline spokesperson, William Shatner is seen above. Meryl didn’t seek these people out, they just showed up in her life without her going out of the way. They seemed to be bizarre characters that had found their place in the media.

I love this one, it’s almost as if there was a crossover with disco night life into the grime and neglect of Bushwick.  My guess is that this depicts the relics of the night a woman got drunk, and experienced that shaky, exciting time. The shoes are evidence of god-only-knows what kind of misfortune and tales of love and loss that accompanied this shoe’s original owner.

 Meryl described Grace Jones (follow the link to view Jones’ YouTube video, ‘Cannibal Corpse’) as a diva, and when she walked in, she looked fabulous and divine.

This photograph cracks me up, the overt abundance of pubic hair, and the benevolent yet devious grin of the man contorting his body. Not to mention the guy with the flamboyant hat, in a mesmerized daze.

I said, “why not ask her for a photo of herself?” This photograph exemplifies the sexy and exuberant energy that I witnessed Meisler to possess ( she is standing to the left).

Meryl talked about where these three amigos wound up – one in jail, one died, and one still lives in Brooklyn. This photo was the first one that caught my attention due to the presence of innocence that had the immanency of destruction and pain.

To see more of Meisler’s photos, check out the show in Bushwick.

Meryl Meisler’s
A TALE OF TWO CITIES:
DISCO ERA BUSHWICK
exhibition and book launch
Exhibit open through September 10, 2014
Gallery Hours: Daily, 11am – 4am
BIZARRE PUBLISHING
8.5 x 11 inches
180 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9910141-1-8
$40.00 USA/CAN

Written by Andrew Kaminski

The post Is This Bushwick’s First Hipster? Meryl Meisler Photographed The Neighborhood Before It Was Cool appeared first on Artiholics.

New York – May 8 – 12, 2014

Navigating Frieze Art Week (May 8th -12th) in New York City isn’t easy.  Three years ago when Frieze London decided to branch out and leap over the pond to Manhattan (Randall’s Island) for a few days each May, many Armory Week Art Fairs decided to shift months from the usual March jumble to align forces with the British powerhouse.  New satellite fairs popped-up and hopped on the bandwagon as well.

ARTIHOLICS SHORT LIST:
FRIEZE – PULSE – DOWNTOWN– OUTSIDER – CONTEMPORARY – CUTLOG – SELECT – FRIDGE – NADA – VERGE

Here is Artiholics Art Fair Guide to Frieze Week:
(Listed in the order of descending Admission Price)

FRIEZE ART FAIR

9 – 12 May 2014
Randall’s Island Park, Manhattan, United States

Admission: $43

https://friezenewyork.com/ 

PULSE ART FAIR

8 – 11 May 2014
125 W 18th St -New York, NY 10011

Admission: $20

https://pulse-art.com/ 

DOWNTOWN FAIR

8 – 11 May 2014
68 Lexington Avenue (@25th Street) – New York City

Admission: $20

https://www.downtownfair.com/ 

OUTSIDER ART FAIR

8 – 11 May 2014
548 West 22nd Street  – New York NY 10002

Admission: $20

https://www.outsiderartfair.com/ 

CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR NYC

8 – 11 May 2014
269 11th Avenue Between 27th & 28th Street – New York, NY 10011

Admission: May 8 = $20, May 9-11 = $12

https://www.contemporaryartfairnyc.com/

CUTLOG

8 – 11 May 2014
107 Suffolk Street – New York NY 10002

Admission: $15

https://www.cutlogny.org/ 

SELECT

8 – 11 May 2014
135 West 18th Street – New York NY

Admission: $15

https://www.select-fair.com/new-york-city/

FRIDGE ART FAIR NYC

8 – 11 May 2014
5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City

Admission: $10

https://www.fridgeartfair.com/

NADA

9 – 11 May 2014
Pier 36 – 299 South Street  – New York NY 10002

Admission: $0 – FREE

https://www.newartdealers.org/Fairs/2014/NewYork 

VERGE ART NYC

8 – 11 May 2014
177 Prince Street in SoHo – Between Thompson and Sullivan Streets – New York NY 10002

Admission: $0 – FREE

https://www.vergeartfair.com/vergenyc/vergenycmain.html 

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post FRIEZE 2014 Art Week – May 8th -12th Your Artiholics NYC Art Fair Guide appeared first on Artiholics.

Philadelphia, PA – Monday, March 17, 2014

Mural by Josh Smith a.k.a Le Josh on Girard Ave.

As all eyes were focused on NYC for Armory Week, I decided to focus my attention on that which is not in the obvious in my own back yard of North Philadelphia, for a Philly First Friday Art Crawl of a slightly different color.

Most people prior to the night told me I should go to the traditional Center City First Friday Art Crawl, which I have been to a million times for openings and have done that First Friday trek to death. But, not this time. I’m expanding my Philly horizons.

Since it’s March, I was told not to expect anything. It seemed like everyone had a reason for me not to go on the path I felt inclined to. But, anyone who knows me will tell you, I define my path and will do as I want.
So, I headed out…

My evening began at 5pm, which was an hour earlier than most places were starting. 1st up was to a Pre-Opening for Workshop PHL, located at 11 West Girard.

I met a woman by the name of Kelly Malone, who’s space it was. She shared with me her intentions of her new space, which is focused on, “providing classes for sewing, screen printing, gardening, photography, business, brewing, home projects, pickling, chocolate, cheese making & much more.”

You can find out more info at www.workshopphl.org

I hung out for a short time, and spoke with some people from the community who were there. But, since it was a pre-opening, I felt compelled to journey off to places having a full opening.

Next, I headed north, into Olde Kensington to a space located at 2111 E. Susquehana St., just a few blocks from where I’ve been residing called,
YELL Gallery.
Right when I entered into this space, I was very impressed with the feel of it. There were the typical white walls with works on them. But, there were exposed wood beams and wooden benches, which just gave it a more intimate feel and added to the whole experience.

Mukethe Kawinzi

I met with owner, Mukethe Kawinzi, who’s space is geared towards showcasing local artists and helping to contribute to an interconnected community.

Her current exhibit called, “Inclusion/Exclusion: The Poetics of Cartography, which is inspired by the work and words of Denis Wood.

Joel Chartkoff with his artworks

Artists Presented:

• BrailleStreetArt (Sonia Petruse and Austin Seraphin),
• Emily E. Erb,
• Joel Chartkoff,
• Alina Josan,
• Sarah Kelley,
• Nilé Livingston,
• Dan Shurley,
• Kristin Smith
• Shawn Thornton.

You can find out more about this space at www.yellgallery.com (I highly recommend checking them out)

After a few glasses of wine and several conversations, I headed deeper into the neighborhood to Frankford Ave.
Here, I came to what is called Space 2033, owned by Jess Marino. Jess is very active in the community, hosting events that span from seasonal celebration workshops to meditation to support groups

Jessica Marino with artist Kimberlee Traub

This evening she had put together was a showcasing that she described as, “textural”, “gothic”, and “of rebirth”, which was the 2nd part of a 2 month exhibit. All the artists involved were women, including the DJ.

Artists Presented:

• Kimberlee Traub
• Jes Gamble
• Jamie Paige
• Lesley Haas
• Dj-Dentana

more info at facebook.com/space2033

Moving on…..
At this point, I was going to head around a few other places on my list. But, I was brought up to another spot, further into the community. This place was located above Lehigh St. on Frankford, right to a spot where many bodies are found on a regular basis called, Frank’s Kitchen.

Here, I found art scattered around with an interesting mix of the locals, having a good time in an industrial building, which is available for artists to rent, with usage of tools and equipment. Also there, was an old school photo booth, taking pics that develop onto glass.
Many of the people there were gathered outside, hanging around a fire barrel. Out here, I had several interesting conversations with artists, train hoppers and puppeteers.

Unfortunately, I did not discover who were the artists showing here. But, here are some pics of their works…

It was definitely a well spent evening, discovering what is existing in other neighborhoods, besides the expected paths in Center City.

I look forward to what else I will find off the beaten path….

Written and Photographed by Randy Melick

The post First Friday Art Crawling In North Philadelphia, Yes…North Philly appeared first on Artiholics.

Once again the week has arrived where the titans of the art world (global art world) flock to NYC for Armory Week to take in the art work and show off the art wares.  Parties, social climbing, art writers, buyers, dealers, artists, and gallery inbetweens swap stories and mingle in converted warehouses, armory’s, post offices, and climate controlled piers along the Hudson river.

The week takes it’s name from the Armory Show, which is the grandaddy of all of the week’s fairs, but any seasoned art traveler will now that the Armory is just the tip of the art fair iceberg.  Satellite fairs pop-up and take orbit, each with it’s own respective gravity and collector base, trying to pull the titans toward them, and each year the satellites either get larger, or fizzle out.

We all know that in NYC, time is money.  Rather than spend a lot of both shuttling yourself around town without any direction as to which fairs  (and social affairs ) might appeal to you, we at Artiholics.com have created this handy guide to NYC Armory Week.

Listed in descending order from Most to Least expensive:

THE ARMORY SHOW:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $40  |   Students – $20  |  Armory / VoltaNY Dual Pass: $50

Wednesday – March 5, 5pm – Midnight @ MoMA | The Armory Party $175 – $10,000 Tickets
Thursday – March 6, 12pm – 7pm
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 7pm

Featuring: 200+ Of The largest art galleries in the world showcasing their artist’s most sellable work, the worlds top collectors, art writers, etc.  Art wise you will see: Lots of Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Neon, Random Artists In Costume, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Photography, Performance art, etc..

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Peter Max

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Kenny Scharf & Damien Hirst.
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Damien Hirst, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, Tracey Emin, John Wesley, Jenny Holtzer, Olaf Breuning, Yayoi Kusama, Julian Opie. Nancy Chunn, Marina Abrovonich, Kehinde Wiley, Retna, Ryan McGuinness, Nick Cave, Chuck Close, Gagosian, Chitra Ganesh, David Kramer , Kim Jones, Pierogi, Warhol, Basquait, etc.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: The variety of Blue Chip and Museum Artists’ work in one place.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at The Armory Show? Yes, I’ve seen a Marina Abrovonich performance, although it was with an actor not Marina.  Live drawing by Ai Kowada Gallery’s Fukuhara.  Also weird performance artists doing their thing in the crowd.

The Scoop on The Armory Show From An Artiholic:
This is the one show all the satellite shows revolve around.  It has anywhere from 200 – 300 international galleries represented in a given year, and is a lot to take in, and a lot of walking.  Make sure to wear your comfy shoes and prepare to see a lot of neon, glitter, and museum quality presentations.  The sculptures are as polished and pristine as it is possible to make them, the wall paint is flawless.  If you go to as many of the art fairs as I do will start to feel like you walking through a brand new IKEA after a while (the scale of the two piers are enormous) .  If while you are seeing world class art in this familiar Big Box Store format your eyes  become blurred and the work starts to become indistinguishable from Norwegian furniture, take a seat in their cushy bar areas and get a drink.  You don’t need to push your eyes that far, the brain can only accept so much eye candy before it goes into shock.

For the price of admission you get access to both the Modern show, and the contemporary (each with it’s own pier), so you can see work from older masters, as well as the masters that are still alive and working today (based on which pier you are checking out).

Positives: Buying the Armory / Volta NY combo ticket for $50 is the best deal in town.  There is a shuttle bus between the two venues, and you get to experience the opposite worlds of the big box store IKEA experience of the Armory, along with the intimacy of Volta NY. You will be seeing the best most sought after artists in the world hanging in a show that is only up for an extended weekend, buying frenzy is a thing to behold.

Negatives: The size and scope of this show can be daunting and overwhelming to a beginner, just start at one side and work your way through it to the other side, move to the next row and do it again.  Think of it like a giant supermarket, but instead of cereal and canned goods, you are looking at artwork worth 10’s to 100’s of thousands of dollars by artists you have seen at The Whitney and The Met.  You will not see these galleries taking to many risks. At SCOPE, The Unfair, and Fountain artists aren’t paying the insane per-square-foot rates as at The Armory so they can go edgier.  This show is squeaky clean – most booths on a factory produced precision.  If you prefer to see a little of the artist’s hand (blood, sweat, and tears) mixed into the paint, you might want to check out some of those other fairs.

Location: Piers 92 & 94:  711 12th Ave New York, NY (@55th Street & the West Side Highway)

Website: https://www.thearmoryshow.com/
View Our Armory Show Photos From Previous Years

SCOPE ART FAIR:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $25  – Student $15

Thursday – March 6, 3pm – 6pm (Platinum VIP Preview Gala)  –  6pm – 9pm (First View Benefit & Press)  $100
Friday – March 7, 11am – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 11am – 8pm
Sunday – March 9, 11am – 7pm

Featuring: Drawing, Collage, Sculpture, Painting, Performance Art, New Media, Neon, Photography.

THIS YEAR’S SCOPE (SPOILERS): SCOPE Art Fair NY 2014 VIP Opening Reception Was Packed (Photos) – Artiholics

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Ron English

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Ron English.
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Augusto Esquivel, Jordan Eagles, Karim Hamid, Ron English, Banksy, Luke Chueh,  Russell West, gilf! Hiroko Tsuchida, Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, Andrea Stanislav, HuskMitNavn, Kikyz 1313, Camille Rose Garcia.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Performance art piece where a female artist walked around the fair nude from the waste down.
Possibility of Live Nudity: It’s Possible.

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at SCOPE? Occasional Live Painting, Occasional Live Performing Installation, Occasional Live Music.

The Scoop on SCOPE From An Artiholic:I’ve personally attended the 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 incarnations of the fair.  It’s one of the satellite fairs that didn’t have a permanent home until 2013 and was constantly competing with Pulse as they have very similar vibes, that is until Pulse decided to slide into May and be a part of Frieze Week, thus freeing Scope up to take control of the more serious emerging contemporary art galleries.  I watched this fair bounce from Lincoln Center, to a tent on the West Side Highway, and finally to it’s current NY location in the giant post office building Skylight at Moynihan Station next to Madison Square Garden.

Scope is a good dowsing rod for what trends are most likely to be prevalent thought-out all of the art fairs during Armory Arts Week.  Mostly pretty good art, there are some major international galleries represented, as well as a lot of NYC talent.  Scope is what galleries at Fountain aspire to graduate up to.

Positives: A ton of good work, lots of roaming artists, friendly gallerists.  The show has really come into its own since Pulse left.  A good mix of low and high brow to appeal to a wide audience.  Gets a lot of solid press, and a lot of sales.

Negatives: Some galleries are obviously not yet ready for prime time and stick out like a sore thumb.  When you start to notice trends, you will see them repeated and repeated in multiple booths. Location is far from Armory. 

Location: Skylight at Moynihan Station 360 West 33rd Street, W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001

Website: https://scope-art.com/
View Our SCOPE Photos From Previous Years

THE ART SHOW:  March 5th – 9th 

General Admission: $25

Wednesday – March 5, 12pm – 8pm
Thursday – March 6, 12pm – 8pm
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Museum Quality Gallery Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: John Leguizamo

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Andy Warhol & James Rosenquist
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Rosenquist, Henri Matisse, Mark Rydan, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, George Condo, Ray Johnson, Phil Guston, Wim Delvope, Sperone Westwater, Charles McGill.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: The Egon Schiele / Gustav Klimt exhibit.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at The Art Show? No, this is a serious art fair.

The Scoop on The Art Show From An Artiholic:

This fair is decades older than The Armory Show and has a sterling reputation as presenting some of the best in the business.  Blue chip art, museum art.  Most of what you will find here by artists who’s names you will recognize from your Christie’s and Sotherby’s catalogs.

Positives: You will see museum quality work, amazing drawings and paintings from many dead modern artists, and some current living blue chip artists, as well as original portraits of famous artists.  If you are a fan of really good drawing, and seeing drawings by some of your favorite dead artists, this is a good place to get a glimpse of artwork that exists outside of museums and is sold to private collectors.

Negatives: This is a lot like the Modern section of The Armory Show.  It is old masters, mixed with some more elite contemporary artists.  The crowd is extremely highbrow and it’s easy to feel under-dressed when attending.

Location: Park Avenue Armory – Park Avenue at 67th Street, New York City

Website: https://www.artdealers.org/artshow.html
View Our THE ART SHOW Photos From Previous Years

INDEPENDENT:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $20

Thursday – March 6, 6pm – 8pm (Private Vernissage)
Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 6pm

Featuring: Sculpture, Kinetic Sculpture, Collage, Car, Interactive Art, Neon, Animation, New Media, Painting, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: John McEnroe

Unofficial Art Patriarch: Dan Flavin
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Ella Kruglyanskaya, Steve Claydon, Thomas Julier, Oliver Mosset, David Shrigley.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: A random DeLorian with no flux capicitor.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at Independent? No

The Scoop on the Independent From An Artiholic:

To me this fair always felt the least like a fair, and even refused to call itself a fair.  The floors have big open spaces in the middle rather than the sectioned off walls that the other art fairs are known to have, all the galleries share the same light.

Since it started The Independent has always been free admission to the public, and the focus has been more about the art than the selling.  It is many people’s favorite fair because of the amount of sculpture, and minimalism and distinct lack of drawing and painting.  I am in the minority, and the lack of drawing and painting drives me up the wall.

I don’t know exactly what changed with Independent’s business model,  but this year it costs $20 instead of costing nothing to get in ($20 is a distinct price increase from free).

Positives: A ton of big sculptures on four floors.  The possibility of a random car in the middle of one of the floors.  The permanent Dan Flavin instillation on the staircase in between floors is always inviting – not technically part of the show, but a welcome break from the different levels.  Top Floor Cafe, with Roof Access

Negatives: Extreme lack of drawing and painting. Super snobby curators who really don’t want to talk to you, which is another thing that makes this unlike the other art fairs where the exhibitors actually want to interact.  I have hundreds of photos I’ve taken of artists and curators at the various art fairs, and Independent is the only art fair I have taken zero shots of any curators or artists.  I am acting the same as I do at the art fairs but never get approached.  Located in Chelsea it is close to other art openings, but far from The Armory Show piers.

Location: 548 West 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues in the heart of the Chelsea gallery district.

Website: https://independentnewyork.com/
View Our INDEPENDENT Photos From Previous Years

VOLTA NY ART FAIR:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $15  |   Students – $10  |  Armory / VoltaNY Dual Pass: $50

Thursday – March 6, 11am – 2pm (Guest of Honor) 2pm – 5pm  (VIP / Press Preview)  6pm – 9pm (Public Vernissage)
Friday – March 7, 10am – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 10am – 8pm
Sunday – March 9, 10am – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Neon, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Delroy Lindo

Unofficial Art Matriarch: Amanda Coulson
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  This changes every year, as all booths are solo shows.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Very focused solo shows that aren’t like the typical art fair.  The ability to see a depth to an artist’s work, unlike the other top tier fairs that would only showcase one or two pieces by each artist.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Not Good

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at VoltaNY? Yes, I’ve seen Break Dancing & Pastry Eating Contests

The Scoop on Volta NY From An Artiholic:
Volta NY rules.  It is the offshoot of The Armory Show so it has the top tier credibility of The Armory, but also has the intimacy that comes with solo shows.  It feels like you are attending 90 gallery openings where the artist is in attendance, and you are the only guest.  You get a real one-on-one experience with each booth and are able to engage with the artists.

It is an invitational show, and all the artists have to be represented by a gallery, so there is no room for amateurs, and no buying your way in.  I have had nothing but positive experiences with Volta NY, and since they moved down to SoHo from their previous residency at  7 West 34th Street they really have the space you need to fit everyone and not feel like you are walking around a fair in a converted office.

Positives: Buying the Armory / Volta NY combo ticket for $50 is the best deal in town.  There is a shuttle bus between the two venues, and you get to experience the opposite worlds of the big box store IKEA experience of the Armory, along with the intimacy of Volta.  This is a show I would love to one day solo in, and you can’t get much higher praise from me than that.

Negatives: If you don’t like meeting artists, or seeing solo exhibits, and prefer to see more salon style gallery showings presenting a diverse group of artists from a gallery’s stable, then you won’t like this show.  If you aren’t planning on attending The Armory, this show is kind of out of the way in relation to the other shows.

Location: 82 Mercer Street., New York, NY  (Between Spring and Broome Streets)
Website: https://ny.voltashow.com/index.php
View Our VOLTA NY Photos From Previous Years

FOUNTAIN ART FAIR:  March 7th – 9th 

General Admission: $10 – VIP Pass: $50 – Weekend Pass $15

Friday – March 7, 12pm – 7pm (VIP Press Preview / Open to the public)  7pm – Midnight (Opening Night Reception) Music Lineup: DJ Nick Zinner
Saturday – March 8, 12pm – 7pm (Open to the public) 7pm – Midnight (Saturday Night Event) Music Lineup: THE DEEP!
Sunday – March 9, 12pm – 5pm

Featuring: Solo Shows, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Interactive Art, New Media, Neon, Photography

Featuring: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Live Painting, Live Performance, Performance Art,  Music, Collage, Car, Interactive Art, Neon, New Media, Photography

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Mia Tyler
Unofficial Art Matriarch: Swoon
Notable Artists / Gallerists Associated With This Show:  Alison Berkoy, The Murder Lounge, Brian Leo, Dave Tree, Casey Porn, Jonny Fenix, Veng, Victor W. Cox, Ryan Cronin, Chris Smith, Alex Emmart, Rob Servo, Leah Yerpe, JMR, Brandon Friend, Christina Ray, Mighty Tanaka, Leo Kesting, Front Room, Munch, Dacia.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here: Nude Body Finger Painting.
Possibility of Live Nudity: Very Good.

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at Fountain? Yes, tons.

The Scoop on The Fountain Art Fair From An Artiholic:
I love fountain, it is such a fun fair to attend and you get a lot of bang for your buck.  Lots of good artists, also a lot of not so good, but the needles in the haystacks are in the numbers at this fair.  This is truly the independent fair as usually it’s one artist, or a group of artists splitting a booth on their own.  No galleries need be involved, although a lot of booths are represented by galleries.  It’s one of the cheapest art fairs for artists to get work in (per square foot) so the bar is set a little lower than a Scope or Pulse, and leaves the door wide open to untrained artists, street artists, and Brooklyn artists on the rise.

You will see a lot of drawing at this fair, a lot of painting, and a lot of pop.  I have heard it referred to many times in art circles as “amateur hour” but there are generally some stand outs in the masses, and as years go by you will start to see artists who got their start at Fountain’s careers shoot them up to larger galleries, and land them larger exposure at the top tier fairs like Scope and Volta.

You will be likely to meet a lot of artists if you wander around this fair, as most booths are artist run.  It is a great way to talk to artists and have them talk to you about their work.  Almost everyone is friendly and open here, and there is very little pretension.  You will find a few street artist wanna-be-banksies aka Mini-Banksys, who don’t want to have their photo taken, which is annoying as fuck, and almost comical.

When I  first attended this fair in 2009 it was on the frying pan pier.  In a tent that leaked when it rained.  There was a basement floor called the Murder Lounge where a small collective of Greenpoint artists would always show together. Fountain in gaining credibility and exposure has moved several avenues over to the Lexington Ave Armory and now has a solid foundation and doesn’t have to worry about dark clouds.They still have a section of the new location called The Murder Lounge, but it’s more of just a tribute.
Fountain is a 1917 work widely attributed to Marcel Duchamp. The scandalous work was a porcelain urinal, which was signed “R.Mutt” and titled Fountain. Submitted for the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in 1917, Fountain was rejected by the committee, even though the rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee.  The exhibition took place in the building where The Fountain Art Fair now resides almost a hundred years later.

Positives: A lot of fun, a lot of really great artists and a lot of good drawing.  Live painting, performances, music.  It is almost like getting a first glimpse into the unsigned talent of the art world.  You see what bubbles up from Brooklyn, Queens, and the outer boroughs before it gets snagged up by the machine.  The Friday opening night reception is the most fun you will have at any of the art fairs with open bar and live music – it becomes a party – and I will see you there.  If you are a fan of drawing, street art, illustration, comics, lowbrow, or graffiti, you will really enjoy yourself.  If you are a collector you can find a great deals on artwork by emerging artists here, and fill your apartment for a fraction of the price you would have to pay at the other fairs.

Negatives: Depending on your perspective, you will either come away loving, or hating Fountain.  If you like drawing and painting, you will have a good time.  If you really enjoy The Independent, you will probably not like Fountain so much.  If you are looking for Museum Quality work, you will not like Fountain.  It is very unpolished, but that’s what gives it it’s underground handmade charm.  Although I have a great time at Fountain it is one of the lower tier fairs and doesn’t get much love from the mainstream art press, but art blogs and Scene and Alt magazines like Paper are all over it. 

Location: Centrally Located at the 69th Regiment Armory (Lexington Avenue & 26th Street)
Website: https://www.fountainartfair.com/
View Our Fountain Photos From Previous Years

SPRING / BREAK – $5

THIS YEAR’S SPRING/ BREAK (SPOILERS): SPRING/BREAK Art Show Is Your Elementary School On Psilocybin- Artiholics

CLIO ART FAIR – $FREE

THIS YEAR’S CLIO ART FAIR (SPOILERS): The Clio Art Fair 2014 Inaugural Show Opening Reception- Artiholics

THE (UN)FAIR – $FREE

THIS YEAR’S (UN)FAIR (SPOILERS): THE (UN)FAIR is Back, Bigger, & More Popular Than Ever – Opening (Photos) – Artiholics

MOVING IMAGE- $FREE

NEW CITY ART FAIR- $FREE

The post Artiholics New York Armory Week Art Fair Travel Guide 2014 appeared first on Artiholics.

SCOPE ART FAIR:  March 6th – 9th 

General Admission: $25  – Student $15

Thursday – March 6, 3pm – 6pm (Platinum VIP Preview Gala)  –  6pm – 9pm (First View Benefit & Press)  $100
Friday – March 7, 11am – 8pm
Saturday – March 8, 11am – 8pm
Sunday – March 9, 11am – 7pm

Website: https://scope-art.com/

About Scope (In Their Words)
With over 50 art shows spanning more than a decade, SCOPE has solidified its position as the premier showcase for international emerging contemporary art and multi-disciplinary creative programming. SCOPE’s extensive reach enables an unrivaled opportunity for networking with art patrons, creative professionals and a culturally relevant public audience. Renowned for presenting the most innovative galleries, artists and curators, SCOPE Art Shows in Miami, Basel, New York, London and the Hamptons have garnered extensive critical acclaim, with sales of over $450 million and attendance of over 700,000 visitors.

Featuring: Drawing, Collage, Sculpture, Painting, Performance Art, New Media, Neon, Photography.

Celebrities / Celebrity Artists I’ve Personally Spotted Here: Ron English
Unofficial Art Patriarch: Ron English

Augusto Esquivel

Notable Artists Associated With This Show: Augusto Esquivel, Jordan Eagles, Karim Hamid, Ron English, Banksy, Luke Chueh,  Russell West, gilf! Hiroko Tsuchida, Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, Andrea Stanislav, HuskMitNavn, Kikyz 1313, Camille Rose Garcia.

Coolest thing I’ve seen here Performance art piece where a female artist walked around the fair nude from the waste down.
Possible Live Nudity: It’s Possible.

Live painting Justin Orvis Steimer

Ever Seen Live Performance or Live Art at Scope? Occasional Live Painting, Occasional Live Performing Installation, Occasional Live Music.

The Scoop on Scope From An Artiholic:
I’ve personally attended the 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 incarnations of the fair.  It’s one of the satellite fairs that didn’t have a permanent home until 2013 and was constantly competing with Pulse as they have very similar vibes, that is until Pulse decided to slide into May and be a part of Frieze Week, thus freeing Scope up to take control of the more serious emerging contemporary art galleries.  I watched this fair bounce from Lincoln Center, to a tent on the West Side Highway, and finally to it’s current NY location in the giant post office building Skylight at Moynihan Station next to Madison Square Garden.

Scope is a good dowsing rod for what trends are most likely to be prevalent thought-out all of the art fairs during Armory Arts Week.  Mostly pretty good art, there are some major international galleries represented, as well as a lot of NYC talent.  Scope is what galleries at Fountain aspire to graduate up to.

Positives: A ton of good work, lots of roaming artists, friendly gallerists.  The show has really come into its own since Pulse left.  A good mix of low and high brow to appeal to a wide audience.  Gets a lot of solid press, and a lot of sales.

Negatives: Some galleries are obviously not yet ready for prime time and stick out like a sore thumb.  When you start to notice trends, you will see them repeated and repeated in multiple booths. Location is far from Armory. 

Location: Skylight at Moynihan Station 360 West 33rd Street, W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001

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After a couple of weeks of brutal winter weather, we finally got some respite in New York City last weekend with sun and blue skies. The Vitamin D must have gone to my head, and the day I intended to spend at the galleries flew by, leaving me with a mere hour in which to fit a pretty ambitious list of exhibitions.

I did manage to hit quite a few shows before closing time, though, and here I have sorted the wheat from the chaff. If you’re brave enough to go out in the cold this weekend, here are the shows you shouldn’t miss; the ones to fit in if you’re able; and those you can skip entirely. You’ll be able to get some quick culture in before taking refuge from the bitter wind at The Half King.

Must see

Luke Stettner – this single monument – at the Kitchen
This guy is starting to get a lot of buzz, with a concurrent solo show that recently opened at Kate Werble. The space consists of a series of works in different media that share the same title with the exhibition, “this single monument”. I wondered what it is he wants to monumentalize – a person’s life? It’s an impossible task, it seems. We are the sum of our parts – our own memories, and how we live on in the memories of others. This show is the sum of its parts, unfolding from piece to piece. Closes March 1, 2014

Simon Evans – Edible Landscape – at James Cohan Gallery
If you like found text as much as I do, then you will enjoy this show. There are large, mural sized pieces, as well as more intimately scaled works, all featuring the artists’ hand-written snippets of overheard or remembered language and/or scraps of paper found around the city. You can make connections between the things that pop out among the all-over composition, interweaving imagined narratives with one’s own recollections. Closes March 22, 2014

David Altmejd – Juices – at Andrea Rosen Gallery
This was probably the busiest show I stopped at all afternoon. Easily Instagram-able, this sure to be hyped show is worth the hype. It’s a Homeric epic unfolded in sculpture, complete with sirens, birds eating organs, anthropomorphic beasts, and crude gods. Closes March 6, 2014

If you have time

Roe Ethridge – Sacrifice Your Body – at Andew Kreps
Photos of famous models juxtaposed with portraits of food is a pretty funny concept. Ethridge’s tableaux, landscapes and images of ramen noodles, trout, and jars of Bonne Maman are stimulating, but the high fashion images – like the Chanel logo or Gisele Bündchen – feel phoned in, a little too similar to his commercial work (which it might just be). Closes March 29, 2014

Group show: Katharina Fritsch, Robert Gober, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Martin Puryear, and Charles Ray – at Matthew Marks
This is kind of a strange group of artists to put together, and makes me wonder if the gallery is trotting out some inventory. It is however a pretty nice collection of works, and each given enough of its own space. Far too often lately it seems like galleries are overloading their space with work. Klaus Biesenbach and Jerry Saltz have been going nuts on social media over Robert Gober’s piece, but for me it was the Katharina Fritsch green angel watching over the baby butter stick that was worth my attention. Closes April 19, 2014

Pat Steir at Cheim & Read
Another show that isn’t overhung is Pat Steir’s new paitings at Chime and Read. Like Barnett Newman’s “zips” coming apart at the seams, this show features a group of mammoth color field paintings with a metallic twist. Closes March 29, 2014

Don’t bother

Kelly Walker at Paula Cooper
I’m sure I’ll be contradicted by other reviewers, but I missed the point of this show. Is it cool Is it good? I don’t know. Silksceened paintings featuring VW Beetles and records; some 3-D sculptures of folded papers. I left feeling uninspired. Closes March 29, 2014

Michel Majerus at Matthew Marks
Same with this one. I think this work will be a hit with certain curators and critics, but it didn’t do much for me. Large pastiches of Ruscha, Basquiat, and other post-pop art stars are kind of entertaining, but I felt like I got enough by passing the project room down the block that had paintings about Tron. Closes April 19, 2014

Josephine Halvorson – Facings – at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.
Not until I made it to the back room with video pieces did I get the point of Halvorson’s work. The gallery is laregely devoted to trompe l’oeil paintings of surfaces – concrete pantels, white washed doors, brick walls. They’re not particularly interesting, but the show comes toghther with video pieces of other surfaces, like bricks and water. They’re more effective than the paintings, but overall the show isn’t particularly interesting. Closes March 1, 2014

Written and photographed by Rose Edward

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New York – Monday, January 27 – Sunday, February 2, 2014

I spent the past week in Atlantic City floating nude in the various Ceasars spas (cold, tepid, and hot) in serious blizzard denial.  With a space pen and a rainproof explorer notebook in hand I was an idea jotting bathtub dynamo.  Dozens and dozens of pages of ideas and notes poured out, all of which I will have to sort through over the coming days and weeks.

I did only once manage to pull my pruney white butt out of the tubs and brave the negative digit temps to tour the burgeoning art scene with one of only four resident AC artists. The locals are trying desperately to build a community there, and the groundwork has already begun to be laid.

Although luxury and relaxation are grand, I am glad to be home in NYC, and I would like to think the studio cats missed me while I was gone.  Now that the city has dug itself out, let’s go see some art!

– Cojo

Monday, January 27, 2014

6:30 pm – CoolNY Dance Festival ($)| White Wave – 25 Jay St., BK
8:00 pm – Draw-mania! 25 | $15 | Otto’s Shrunken Head – 538 E. 14th St. NYC

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

6:00 pm – Art Mash V | Bumble and bumble – 415 W. 13th S., 8 Fl. NYC
6:30 pm – Mars & Mercury | American Museum of Natural History – NYC
6:30 pm – Essam artist talk | SVA – 133 W. 21st St. Room 101c, NYC

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

6:00 pm – Alfredo Gisholt: Canto General | CUE – 137 W. 25th St., NYC
6:00 pm – MIA in MIA Wrap-Up | Lyons Wier Gallery – 542 W.24th St. NYC
6:30 pm – Social Exchange: Artist’s Reception $ | MoMA – 11 W. 53rd St. NYC
7:00 pm – Mark Tribe lecture | SVA – 136 W. 21st St. Room 418f, NYC
9:00 pm – Matthew Silver’s Circus of Dreams | Bizarre Bushwick – 12 Jefferson St. Bushwick, BK

Thursday, January 30, 2014

6:00 pm – Kaiju Art Exhibition Closing Party | Resobox – 41-26 27th St., QNS
6:00 pm – James Weber | Imagine Gallery – 555 6th Ave., NYC
7:00 pm – Dylan J Clarke | The Living Gallery BK – 1094 Broadway, BK
7:00 pm – Introductions, Art Beasties | Brooklyn Fireproof – 119 Ingraham St., BK
7:30 pm – Art Battles opens ‘The Vault’ | 229 West 43rd – 229 West 43rd, NYC
8:00 pm – Track 1 Group Show | Exit Room – 270 Meserole St.. BK
8:00 pm – Fairytale Project | Rabbithole Projects – 33 Washington St.. BK

Friday, January 31, 2014

6:00 pm – Osamu Kobayashi & Bjorn Meyer-Ebrecht | Storefront Ten Eyck – 324 Ten Eyck St., BK
7:00 pm – Portfolio 8: Walls Spoke : Ben Godward | Centotto – 250 Moore st., apt#108. Bushwick, BK
8:00 pm – 1st People’s Choice of 2014 | Greenpoint Gallery – 390 McGuinness Blvd., BK

Saturday, February 1, 2014

10:30 am – Frank Lloyd Wright and the City $ | MoMA – 11 W. 53rd St, NYC
2:00 pm – “Slow Art” a talk by Jennifer Samet | Nancy Margolis Gallery – 523 W. 25th St., NYC
5:00 pm – Omens of Climate Change | Westbeth Gallery – 155 Bank St.,NYC
5:00 pm – Slang Reflections | Yes gallery ltd. – 147 India St., BK

Sunday, February 2, 2014

2:00 pm – Residency Open Studios | Queens Museum – NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, QNS
3:00 pm – The Islands of New York | Queens Museum – NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, QNS
4:00 pm – Bob Holman: a gathering of sorts – Poetry $ | Outlet Fine Art – 253 Wilson Ave., BK
6:00 pm – Disorderly Conduct | Gallery Molly Krom – 53 Stanton St., NYC

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post Your NYC Art Week: Jan 27 – Feb 2 appeared first on Artiholics.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, galleries have been sprouting up in the Lower East Side left and right. With hundreds of galleries in the LES , it’s hard to keep up with all the openings. Artiholics has your back when it comes to know which galleries to check out, and what upcoming and established artists are making their presence known.

Last Thursday, the Broadway Gallery displayed the work of ninteen artists in the opening for their newest show Artists at Home and Abroad: December Edition. The theme was simply International and local emerging artists showing together in New York. This is a special gallery that seeks new talent with very little gallery experience, and helps upcoming artists network with internationally renown artists. This article is a recap of that show. I encourage you to check it out.

An artist that particularly caught my attention was Loreal Prystaj. Her work on display was a dramatic black and white photograph with a gorgeous composition. This piece showed the back of a woman, gazing out into the horizon of a vast body of water.

This piece intrigued me, and I later discovered more of Loreal’s work, which turned out to be stunning. Way to go Loreal. Hopefully she’ll have a solo show soon. She certainly deserves it, and will surely captivate a large overcrowded gallery at that opening.

Another artist, Paola Frisoli, had two large vibrant paintings on display. Frisoli takes you into her colorful world, and you quickly realize that she wants to bring simply happiness to the viewer in a playful and childlike manner. She has come all the way from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Her artwork, she describes, favors the colors, with their volumes and symbols, where there is harmony between the point and understanding.” She doesn’t speak English fluently, but she radiated a peaceful and benevolent vibration

Next was artist Duane e. Hilburn, who was excited to tell me his story. This man survived cancer, was shot in the neck, and worked his way from nothing, to eventually being in this gallery. He had a gripping story of survival, and he feels he has just a little bit more time to live. His artwork was made from construction materials such as sheetrock, cement, and other materials used to construct buildings. In his life, he was an architect, and his history of constructing has led him to build his immense, and heavy sculptures/paintings/reliefs.

His work reflects his near death experiences, and reveals the mind of an extremely hard worker, with the faith that he is here for a greater purpose. Good luck Duane!

There was also David M. Bowers, whose work was reminiscent of the early Renaissance painters, with qualities of realism, and a skill of conveying the illusion of real flesh and subject matters. His work was humorous, seductive, and incredibly skillful. He had two paintings on display, and they will awe you in their ability to convey realistic imagery, with a touch of fantasy.

So much wall space was covered that the artwork barely had any room to breathe, but this gallery’s motive behind their shows is to showcase upcoming talent, and compliment them with their selection of International talent.

Since the show was a group show, none of the artist’s work was extensively explored, but rather each piece displayed was a tease, inviting you to take a further step, and check out the artist’s oeuvre within their website.

December Artists Include:

Make sure to check out the gallery’s supportive NY Arts magazine for more information.

Broadway Gallery
473 Broadway, Floor 7 |  New York, NY

Gallery Hours:  Monday – Friday,  10 AM – 6 PM

Written and photographed by Andrew Kaminski

Slideshow photographed by Cojo

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When attending  0 to 60, please PLEASE don’t rush through. These works each deserve at least 60 seconds of your precious time, but once you see a piece for 60 seconds, do not move quickly on to the next piece, like the majority of art viewers do all over the world. For this show, we break the impatient habit that most viewers have, and we take our time with this art.

0 to 60 is up until January 25th, 2014 at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, (144 West 14th Street, 2nd Floor). This show allows for a beautiful meditation on time, and this review will help you appreciate some of the works more, so when you go there, you won’t waste your time.

Right when you walk into the gallery, there’s a site-specific installation that catches your eyes with all of its vibrant colors. The gallery has the privilege of hosting the assemblage work of artist, Lisa Hoke, whose collection of commonly discarded cardboard packages and plastic containers are utilized in unique 3-dimensional compositions right on the gallery wall. The accumulation of recycled materials marks another marker of time- the objects so frequently thrown away- without a second thought as to where they are going, or how much of them are passing through our lives. She essentially honors the sophistication of Robert Raushenberg’s assemblages, by integrating a fluid psychedelic spin of her own.Hoke’s work is immersive, and I wouldn’t underestimate it to literally swallow the viewer as I overheard someone talking to Lisa, conversing about its fragile state, and how it’s vulnerable to collapse. She revitalizes the aesthetic value of logos, covering packaging that most consumers spot when they make a purchase, with the sole intention of using the product, and throwing away the extraneous material as garbage right after their consumption.

Hoke has a gift of breathing life into mundane cardboard and plastic wrapping to become something of a contrasting value- something that will make us marvel. I met Lisa at the gallery opening, and we both took a second to admire the logos found within the materials in her installation. Rarely, do I look at the “Coca-Cola” logo, and say, “that’s a gorgeous design;” but Lisa Hoke’s work evokes that reaction. She recontextualizes everyday consumer imagery into a transient and ephemeral form; the piece at this gallery will be deconstructed once the show is over. The carefully and intuitively placed assemblage is unique to this show- it utilizes the gallery space in a way that only her work can and ever will.

The second work I’m going to mention is Last Breath, by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. This piece intrigued me instantly, with its robotic structure, and moving extremities. The work entails plastic tubing that connects to a brown paper bag that curiously inflates and deflates, at the rate much like our lungs breathe. Apparently, the work is “activated 10,000 times a day, the typical respiratory frequency for an adult at rest.” There is even a digital red counter, marking which breath the bag is at. One way we can measure time is through the amount of breaths we take each day. Have you begun counting? Take three breaths, right now. Do it, and count. Does time always have to be measured in seconds, hours, or days? Rafael Lozano-Hemmer does the extraordinary feat of reminding us that we only have a certain amount of breaths left in our life. Simply remembering his work brings a new appreciation to every breath we take. I just counted- my three breaths took 15 seconds.

In another corner of the gallery, you will find a sweet aspect of the show- that of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, within his legendary installation of white candies individually wrapped in cellophane, weighing approximately 175 pounds in total. If you have not seen his work before, or rather, if you have not tasted his work before, this is your opportunity to do so. The piece is apparently frequently replenished, so viewers are welcome to take one candy per show. I know of people who have stuffed their pockets with the candy. The sweets represent the weight of a human being, and each time someone grabs and eats one, the symbolic weight of that human deteriorates by the weight of one more candy. This reminds me that the cells in our body are constantly dying and regenerating, and that although someone may be 50 years old, most cells in their body are only around 7 to 10 years young. When enough viewers see this show, the entire installation of Torres may pass through a collection of bodies, and help regenerate the cells in hundreds of viewers.

Artist David Shapiro exhibited a piece in the show, in which receipts were displayed within a glass case. These were not ordinary receipts, as Shapiro meticulously and painstakingly reproduced a plethora of receipts from his daily life with pen, color pencil, ink, gouache, and paper. We leave a paper trail behind us, as we buy a coffee here, and pay a parking ticking there. The passage of our time can be marked through these paper receipts, and Shapiro, through these works, glorifies this evidence of our existence. The human touch is seen as not all the marks are pristine, and there are the slightest of errors and curved lines.

Caetano de Almeida’s pollution drawings have a quiet presence, as they have slight differentiations in tone on the paper behind their glass frame. Almeida’s work reveals the dust and pollution that collects over time with the use of stencils on paper outside the artist’s balcony in Sao Paolo. The pollution paintings are evidence of  how, as time passes, small particles leave traces, and you can observe that the lightest areas of the piece were out on the balcony the shortest amount of time, as they had the least amount of dust and pollution collected on them. I am horrified by what the pollution is doing on the lungs of people that breathe in this air everyday.

We constantly keep track of time, and our lives, especially in NYC, are ruled by time- we have to be on time, we want to spend time with the right people, make time for memories that matter. This exhibit enlightens us to consider how everything in our lives accumulates or deteriorates, subjected to the grand ruler of time. There are more artists, and I recommend purchasing the book that accompanies the show, so you can get a more insightful look at all the artists.

Written and photographed by Andrew Kaminski

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Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey – October 11, 2013–March 9, 2014 – At the Brooklyn Museum

Wangechi Mutu‘s new show, A Fantastic Journey, is currently up, and it is beyond a feast for the eyes. One could search her name, and find a plethora of digital photographs of her collages, but to say you’ve really seen Mutu’s work, you need to see it in person. The saturation and dissipation of paint, with all the intricate combinations of pasted photographs, is hard to completely see on a computer screen.

For those who are not familiar with her collage work, she renders the black female form with application of intensely innovative surface quality techniques, all along challenging those who use the term “exotic” to categorize a black woman. Perhaps the title, “A Fantastic Journey” comes from the visual voyage the viewer takes as they stumble across the hidden creatures, and varied patterns lying within a figure that has so many colors, that it brings a new meaning to the word, “colored woman.”

She demonstrates a mastery of balance between ambience and rich, detailed content. The hidden treasures found within her work range from decontextualized elements of animal heads and limbs cut out from magazines, combined with violent red splatter reminiscent of blood massacres, to pornographic images, and machinery parts, all of which compose most often in her works, a slender female warrior.

Viewing these images from a fine artist perspective, she nails all they needs to make visually pleasing and evocative imagery within her collages. Nothing less than extraordinary intuitive placement, each pattern synergistically flows from one to the next. If an art student is running short of what mark to make next, it is urgent to see this show, because Mutu knows how to experiment with color and juxtaposition.

When and if you see Wangechi Mutu’s show at the Brooklyn Museum, on the fourth floor, I strongly suggest you actually appreciate it, and pause at each collage, considering the painstaking details, the sophisticated color choices, and those suggestions of gender, war, race, colonialism, global consumption, and science-fiction. Don’t breeze past them, because you will regret not being attentive to the wide range of visual language she has developed at and since her education at Cooper Union and Yale. Each of her collages has its own unique hook to allure the viewer into its clusters of warm polka dots, and black mold ornamentations curving to the contours of the figure, or the figure’s bulbous lips and wide nose.

Her collages were her strongest work. Mutu is known for her collages, but this show was also an opportunity for her to demonstrate her strength in video installation, and sculpture. Her video work touches upon how “wild” and “untamed” her black female characters are, as one of her videos displays the artist, herself, eating cake without utensils in a fancy white dress, in some outdoors environment. Her other video, which immerses you within its cinema-like presence, displays a woman with a giant attachment of mechanized, industrial forms, oozing, smoking, eating bats. Her video work recalls the attention to detail and conglomeration of content that her collage work does, but it also moves on-screen.

She also installed trees made of multi-colored carpet throughout the exhibition space, and in another room (photo not included), she hung black plastic bags in tied hemp string from the ceiling. Her sculptures omitted the knowledge of color, tonality, and heavy-subject-matter-infused photographs. Her sculptures are simple, exploring the wrinkles the materials make. Her sculptures didn’t exploit the colors that people often associate with exotic fruits and flowers, but rather stuck with browns, grays, and earthy hues.

Wangechi demonstrates her vast imagination, and attention to detail so vividly in her fiery, colorful collages, I was hoping to literally walk into one of her worlds, being able to touch the different textured forms, smell the body odor of one of her figures, or hell, even eat some exotic fruit off the branches of her installed trees. Her installations are shadowed by her collage work. Mutu seems to work liberally, without restraint in her collages, and she challenged herself with her sculptures. My hopes were not let down by seeing this show, but I wonder if in the future, her installation and immersive sculptural work will truly compete with the seductive nature of her collages and 2 dimensional work. She is certainly in her element on flat surfaces, but it seems apparent that she could further push her installation work.

I have no doubt that this artist will continue to grow, and share her incredible gift with the world, especially through her 2-d work, but I’m still waiting for her sculptural work to grab me like her collages do.

Written and photographed by Andrew Kaminski

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I’m taking a road trip Sunday up to New Rochelle for the New Rochelle ArtsFest.  I know it’s back-to-back days of art fests, attending Dumbo Arts Fest today (currently), but there are 29 venues in a community I have absolutely no clue about, and The New Rochelle Council on the Arts is supplying free trollies to shuttle foot bound art goers from venue to venue.

The fact that friend and fellow artist Raquel Echanique has a solo show at Mooney Center Gallery titled Sequence of Bases. opening as part of the ArtsFest also weighed a lot into the decision to gas-up and make the hike out of the city.

She has two concurrent shows outside of the US right now “Mas es Mas” (More is More) at the Contemporary Art Museum CACQ, Quito, and Interbifep, The International Biennial of Portrait, Tuzla, Bosnia Y Hercegovina.

Full disclosure, the above piece “Genevieve”  is actually part of my private collection on loan for this exhibition.

Sequence of Bases, featuring “disordered portrait scenarios” by Raquel Echanique, runs at the Mooney Center Gallery from September 28 to October 21. Artist reception from 2 – 4 pm, Sunday, September 29, 2013

Castle Gallery at The College of New Rochelle
The Mooney Center Gallery
29 Castle Place
New Rochelle, NY 10805

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

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