Artist Lichiban, based in New York and born Hungary, recently flexed her creative muscle with the launch of her new company, Katapulko Interiors: apARTment, a new interior design venture. The project is a marriage of her career as a visual artist in New York and a longtime passion for interior design seeded in her childhood homeland.Check it out here.-Diana McClure.
I stumbled across the DUMBO 1st Thursday Gallery Walk earlier this month. A monthly night of gallery hopping in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn that coalesces at 111 Front Street, a building full of galleries and the event’s hub. One exhibition that stood out for its curatorial aesthetic was “The Architecture Of Space,” a group photography exhibition at Klompching Gallery. Despite the show’s wide variety of subject matter–ranging from voyeuristic views of contemporary Iraq to traditional Dutch still life–each work shares a similar mood and tone that resonates collectively, with impact. “The Architecture Of Space” is on view through March 2nd. -Diana McClure
“You Don’t Know Where Her Mouth Has Been,” a solo exhibition by artist Simone Leigh is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. The exhibition offers an atmospheric, sensuous, and erotic experience of sculpture and video at an oversized scale that delights the senses. Deftly exaggerating the relationship between technology and raw materials, form and function, beauty and utility, “…the artist draws from the symbolic and political traditions of a diversity of influences—from early African-American face jugs and the manifesto of Africobra to Star Trek and Gilbert and Sullivan…”
Executed to perfection, including some stellar collaborations with other artists, this exhibition will inspire you. Kudos to curator Rashida Bumbray as well, for her contributions to this exhibition’s imaginative installation. A masterpiece. “You Don’t Know Where Her Mouth Has Been,” is on view in the gallery at The Kitchen in New York City through March 11th. -Diana McClure.
Derrick Adams current solo show, “Deconstruction Worker,” explores the architecture of the mind, the built environment and fashion in relation to the human form. With work that mostly addresses the male figure, a few pieces speak to a strong female presence in relationship with a complex urban environment.
With possible nods to African textiles, intercontinental hairstyles, and an iconic hip-hop fashion accessory (chandelier/bamboo earrings), Adams once again delivers a nuanced body of work for multiple levels of cultural readers. “Deconstruction Worker” is on view at Tilton Gallery in NYC through February 11th. – Diana McClure.
Inspired by the Arab Spring, with references to Persia, Islam and contemporary Iran, artist Shirin Neshat once again poetically distills socio-cultural politics in breathtaking black and white. This past week (01/12/12) her fifth solo show with Gladstone Gallery opened in New York City to a packed crowd of admirers. And of course, Ms. Neshat, a fabulous woman and badass global artist, did not disappoint. -Diana McClure.
Opening night images courtesy of photographer Marko Jokic.
On a post new year’s gallery stroll in Manhattan I came across this painting ”Royal Blue,” by artist Tim Okamura. Prominently placed in the back room of Lyons Wier Gallery, the painting captures a cold NYC winter moment in a marriage of realist portraiture and urban flavor. See more images courtesy of Lyons Wier Gallery on the next page. -Diana McClure
Rush Arts Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC is another arm of the Simmons brothers’ (Russell, Run and Danny) cultural legacy. The gallery’s current exhibit, Neekid Black Gurls, curated by Danny Simmons offers a quiet rebuttal to pop culture’s limited take on the black female figure. Offering up a selection of photo-based work that highlights the perfection of imperfections, artistic nuance and straightforward nude portraiture, the exhibition is a refreshing counterpoint to those janky booty magazines on newsstands across the city! On the next page a few of my favorites.-Diana McClure
Neekid Black Gurls is on view through January 27th, 2012.
As our reality includes protests like Occupy Wall Street, Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” is named: The Protester, and issues of color and race still exist, a recently released documentary, The Black Power Mixtape 1967 – 1975, offers extremely interesting footage and commentary on a crucial period in America’s protest history.
Director Göran Hugo Olsson weaves together footage shot by a group of Swedish television journalists between 1967 and 1975 documenting the Black Power Movement with commentary from Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Stokely Carmichael, Eldrige Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Louis Farrakhan, John Forté, Robin Kelley, Talib Kweli, Abiodun Oyewole, Sonia Sanchez, Bobby Seale, Questlove, Melvin Van Peebles and many others.
Laid over a soundtrack by Questlove and Om’Mas Keith, history, culture, philosophy and aesthetics of the period converge in a well crafted and satisfying documentary experience.One that leaves the viewer with much to think about and an experience of some slick seventies style. Now available on Netflix. -Diana McClure.
Brooklyn Street Art’s 2011 Images of the Year, featuring photographs by Jaime Rojo and a soundtrack mix of Brooklyn street sounds created by electro duo Javelin. Wicked.
Fashion, music, language, you name it, the culture of voguing is still the invisible heart of a significant portion of cultural phenoma today. This past summer I attended the GMHC 2011 Latex Ball, a one-night voguing performance extravaganza, and still have awe inspiring flashbacks I will never forget. And now, a 200 page historical photo book published by Soul Jazz Records that documents the culture from the inside out.
Voguing: Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York City 1989-92. Photographs by Chantal Regnault, introduction by Tim Lawrence. Available here.
