Monday, December 29, 2008

Lily Ludlow/Allen Cordell "Sowing Circle" at CANADA New York Gallery



New York painter Lily Ludlow and filmmaker Allen Cordell present Sowing Circle which is the duo's third video collaboration which is comprised of short vignettes that focus on the world of downtown hipster women such as Chloe Sevigny, Agathe Snow and Lizzi Bougatsos. This video projection is on view until January 18, 2009. For more information, go to:

CANADA
55 CHRYSTIE STREET
(between hester and canal)
212-925-4631


*the video above is not the actual projection that is being shown at CANADA but I thought it could serve as an introduction into the world of the two artists. this said not to cause any confusion when viewing the actual exhibit*

BANANA REPUBLIC + NEW MUSEUM/NADA TOTES


After a successful collaboration with The New Museum and a generous sponsorship of NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) during Art Basel Miami, ultra trendy retailer Banana Republic has decided to create light-weight cotton totes (to be sold exclusively during Art Basel Miami and the New Museum gift shop) with all proceeds benefiting NADA and the New Museum). Only six out of eighty-five will have their designs splashed (cutesy phrases such as "hell yes" and "i need money") across the totes and they are follows: Chris Caccamise from Eleven Rivington in New York, Kon Trubkovich from Museum 52 in London/New York, Slawek Pawszak from Czarna Gallery in Poland, Olivier Babin from Frank Elbaz Gallery in Paris, Shinro Ohtake from Take Ninagawa in Tokyo and William O'Brien from Shane Campbell Gallery in Chicago. Please be sure to visit the New Museum gift shop while in NYC (or visit the online store) and become the chicest of chic in 2009 whether you are shopping at the market or just bouncing around the city!

www.newmuseum.org

FINAL WEEK for "Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night"



Please, please please go and check out this exhibition before it leaves MOMA on January 5th 2009. I have the honor and privilege of working on the Van Gogh show when it was in residence at The High Museum and every piece is absolutely breathtaking. The exhibition is broken up into a number of scenes: early landscapes, peasant life, sowers and wheatfields, poetry of the night (the town) and poetry of the night (the country).The New York Times says of Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night, "In exploring how [Van Gogh] used color to convey the effects of darkness onto a canvas it offers insights into a new dimension of his genius." Every color, every brushstrokes, and every inch of each canvas will leave you mesmerized. For more addition information on ticketing as well as directions, see information below:

The Museum of Modern Art
(212) 708-9400
11 West 53 Street,
between Fifth and Sixth avenues
New York, NY 10019-5497
www.moma.org

Friday, December 26, 2008

All I wanted for Christmas was a few SHINIQUE SMITH pieces.....







All I wanted was a few of SHINIQUE SMITH'S selected works and in return received a bag filled with coal. When I spot Santa on 125th Street I will beat him to a bloody pulp. There is always next year...sigh.....

Images: Google

Dallas Museum of Art wins $100,000 grant from the MetLife Foundation


ROBERT MILLER

The Dallas Museum of Art
has received a 2008 Museum and Community Connections grant of $100,000 from the MetLife Foundation.

The money will be used to plan and install an innovative exhibition in the DMA's Center for Creative Connections, which engages visitors of all ages with works of art.

"Specifically, the grant funds will be applied to the installation of works of art, interpretive displays and educational programming in this innovative learning space to inspire and connect visitors to the museum," said Bonnie Pitman, the Eugene McDermott director of the museum.

"It is an honor to receive this grant from the MetLife Foundation to support the enhancement of our exhibition and programming.

"The Center for Creative Connections has been an overwhelming success with our visitors since its opening in May, and the award from the MetLife Foundation will be instrumental in sustaining the DMA's national reputation for museum education."

The exhibition is scheduled to open in spring 2010.

Exhibitions in the center will change every 18 to 24 months, and each theme will determine the content and visitor experience of the interactive gallery spaces, inspire educational programming and connect visitors to other works of art in the museum's galleries.

In the upcoming exhibition, the DMA will design interactive components that involve visitors in a variety of creative skills, such as recognizing patterns, analogizing, synthesizing, play, metaphors and imagining.

These skills will be integrated into drawing, writing, photography, listening stations, moving images, computer stations, question stations and making stations.

"The development of the next Center for Creative Connections exhibition is based on cutting-edge changes in attitudes within the field of art museum professionals," said Gail Davitt, the DMA's director of education.

"It involves collaboration between the education, curatorial and design staffs of the museum working in partnership with community colleagues, artists and consultants. The entire museum community will be involved in the process of outfitting the new theme and content."

The Dallas Museum of Art was picked from among 70 applicants for the 2008 Museum and Community Connections program. The grants, totaling $1 million, were awarded to 16 museums for exhibitions, artist residencies and other programs that extend their reach into diverse communities and make art a part of people's lives. The DMA was one of only four institutions that received the full $100,000 grant.

In acknowledging the DMA's award, Sibyl Jacobson, president and chief executive of MetLife Foundation, said, "MetLife Foundation has a long history of partnering with museums to support educational opportunities for people of all ages.

"MetLife Foundation is pleased to make investments in projects that reach out to people in imaginative ways."

SOURCE: Dallas News

Work of the Day: Blake Edwards's "Untitled, 1987"



How does this piece make you feel?

Thursday, December 25, 2008

New York State Museum exhibits African-American Quilts & Needle Arts





ALBANY, NY - Two exhibitions – one showcasing African-American quilts, and another displaying fiber and needle arts by and for men of the African diaspora – opened at the New York State Museum. Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Tradition, and My Brothers’ Thread: Fiber Works by and for Men of the African Diaspora, will be on display in the Museum’s Exhibition Hall through March 1, 2009.


Textural Rhythms unites the two most well-known and popular artistic forms in African-American culture – jazz and quilting. Jazz, like quilting, is a woven art form. Both genres produce a textural harvest spun from the life fibers of masters of the imagination who create for our contemplation. Quilt making, as in jazz, evokes a host of complex rhythms and moods and then captures them in the creative process. When the two forms connect, the creative energy explodes exponentially. Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Tradition releases both of these genres of art and becomes a showcase for the work of artists in the Women of Color Quilters Network. Carolyn Mazloomi, the Network’s founder and coordinator, curated the traveling exhibition.

The exhibition, part of a national two and one-half-year tour, showcases approximately 64 quilts from 55 artists. It includes work from some of America’s best-known African- American quilters such as Michael Cummings, Ed Johnetta Miller, Tina Brewer, and Jim Smoote.

Just as the varied styles of jazz cause listeners to respond differently, the quilts of Textural Rhythms persuade viewers to salute the bonding of two worlds, jazz and quilts, in a distinguished combination of cultural tradition, sophistication, and panache. Regardless of technique – unpretentious folk, intricate appliqué, conventional piecing, or complex montage -- these quilt artists have harnessed in cloth, the spirit of jazz through meticulous reflections of the souls of jazz folk and the music that sways them.

Photo by Jim FerreiraCreative Art Day, a program that invites families to participate in artful activities based on Museum exhibitions, will focus on Textural Rhythms. The free program will be held January 31 from 1 to 3 p.m.

My Brothers’ Thread: Fiber Works by and for Men of the African Diaspora gathers artists of diverse cultural backgrounds, from Harlem to Trinidad to Newark, to show that a single thread can bind a community together.

In Western culture, fiber and needle arts have traditionally been viewed as the realm of women. African men, however, have been at the forefront of weaving and other textile arts for centuries. My Brothers’ Thread engages the mind, dismisses myths about traditional roles in fiber and needle arts, and explores the many talents African culture offers to the world. By doing so, it highlights the positive aspects of men of the Diaspora and fosters new avenues for children to embrace.

The exhibition includes quilts and other mixed media by artists Michael Cummings, Ed Johnetta Miller, Tina Brewer, and Jim Smoote and Maluwa Williams-Myers. It was organized by Harlem Needle Arts (HNA), Inc., a craft institute founded in 2003 to preserve and promote fiber art and artisans of the African Diaspora. HNA organizes exhibitions and workshops to introduce needle arts and crafts to the Harlem community and provides resource development and technical assistance to artists.

Visit the New York State Museum at : http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/

SOURCE: Art Knowledge News

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Don Baum: In Memoriam opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago



CHICAGO, IL - A member of the Chicago's "Monster Roster" of figurative artists that emerged in the late 1950s (Leon Golub, Nancy Spero, and H.C. Westermann were colleagues) Don Baum was also an important educator, teaching at Roosevelt University for over 30 years, as well as an indispensable curator of the Chicago school. As exhibitions director for the Hyde Park Art Center in the 1960s, his now-legendary shows of young talent, replete with colorful monikers such as "The Hairy Who" and a poke-in-the-eye aesthetic, introduced many of the artists who become Chicago's most notable: Roger Brown, Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, and Karl Wirsum. On view at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago through 25 January, 2009.

Visit the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago at : http://www.mcachicago.org

SOURCE: Art Knowledge News

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The Camera Art of Ori Gersht at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden



WASHINGTON, DC.- Born in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1967, Ori Gersht now lives and works in London. He studied photography at University of Westminster, and the Royal College of Art, London and has since become one of the most significant photographers and film-makers of his generation. Gersht observes the boundaries between man and nature, focusing his lens on the liminal territory where the two meet and often clash. On exhibit at The Hirshhorn Museum 22 December through 12 April, 2009.

The artist’s work encourages viewers to reflect on the power of natural beauty and how it is affected by human intervention. In “The Forest” (2006) the camera pans a lush, primeval forest. Sound alternates with silence and suddenly a tree falls to the ground with a thunderous echo. The departure point for this work seems to be the conundrum “if a tree falls in a forest, and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?” But other questions emerge: Who or what is causing these trees to fall? Is this a statement about nature and inevitability, about proverbially missing the forest for the trees, a commentary about deforestation or a metaphor for loss? Or is it perhaps an exercise in anticipation? “The Forest” is soothing but also becomes increasingly mysterious.

Ori Gersht Time After Time: Blow Up No. 3 , 2007 Light Jet Print mounted on aluminum - Edition of 6 204 x 149 cm.The exhibition also includes two flat-screen works: “Pomegranate” (2006), installed next to the entrance to the Black Box on the lower level, and “Big Bang II” (2006), a recent acquisition. These works reference traditional Spanish and Dutch still-life painting in which precise arrangements of foods, fruit or flowers are shown at their peak, implying the inevitability of decay. These metaphors for the brevity of life are termed “vanitas.” Gersht fast-forwards the impending threat of demise. His imagery does not decay by dissolving over time; it combusts and then, in the type of slow motion used to depict extreme violence in feature films, recalls the time-lapse imagery of Harold Edgerton’s scientific action photography. Gersht updates the concept of vanitas by creating meditations on how violence in contemporary life is often random, anonymous and unpredictable. Triggering a visceral response, these films translate the experiences of the artist’s fear-filled childhood in Israel into provocative statements that have global resonance.

Within Jewish tradition, the pomegranate is ripe with diverse myths and allegories. The Bible cites the pomegranate as one of the seven fruits and plants characterizing the fertile land of Israel; and according to folklore, the pomegranate contains 613 seeds, the number of commandments in the Five Books of Moses. The Hebrew word for pomegranate is used as both the word for the ornaments adorning the Torah scroll and a homonym for hand grenades. The colors and textures of Gersht’s video, which the artist achieves without digital enhancement, intensify on screen after the fruit explodes. Similarly our eyes remain fixed on televised acts of violence despite the impulse to look away.

His imagery does not decay by dissolving over time; it combusts and then, in the type of slow motion used to depict extreme violence in feature films, recalls the time-lapse imagery of Harold Edgerton's scientific action photography. Gersht updates the concept of vanitas by creating meditations on how violence in contemporary life is often random, anonymous and unpredictable. Triggering a visceral response, these films translate the experiences of the artist's fear-filled childhood in Israel into provocative statements that have global resonance. Visit the Hirshhorn Museum at : www.hirshhorn.si.edu/


SOURCE: Art Knowledge News

Saturday, December 20, 2008

WHEN IN SEATTLE...OKOK Gallery Presents "MOVEMENTS"

OKOK Gallery Presents MOVEMENTS



Site-specific sound installation by
Ethan Rose

December 13th through January 3rd

OKOK Gallery is proud to present Movements a site-specific sound installation by Portland, Oregon artist Ethan Rose. The installation will consist of over one hundred manipulated music boxes powered by electric motors.

Rose’s interest in antiquated automated instruments can be traced back to miniature & the sea, a work he wrote and recorded in 2003. The sonic foundation of the composition was sourced from the recordings of music boxes, repurposed through physical and digital means. Outdated acoustic instruments remain a consistent element of Rose’s practice. Rose acts as an interventionist, rejecting musical preservation in favor of new sonic possibilities.

With Movements Rose’s characteristic use of digital manipulation is absent which he describes as “exposing my process.” The artist altered and reduced the melody of each music box by selectively bending back tines. The manufactured machines become individualized through human influence. The altered motorized music boxes are grouped in sections throughout the gallery, each section connected to a timer intermittently activating portions of the piece, constantly shifting the sonic parameters of the gallery. Movements is Rose’s first solo exhibition in Seattle.

About the Artist:

Over the past ten years Ethan Rose has released recordings, scored films, performed internationally, created sound installations, and worked with a variety of collaborators. His music was recently included in Gus Van Sant’s acclaimed feature length film Paranoid Park. Recent exhibitions include Player Piano at Tilt Gallery, Portland, OR. Upcoming projects include the release of his forthcoming album Oaks, a recording comprised entirely of manipulated recordings of a 1920’s theater organ originally used to accompany silent films, located in Oaks Park Roller Rink in Portland, OR.

In January Rose will travel to Anchorage, Alaska to participate in the FREEZE Project, where he will collaborate on an installation with Molo Design.


OKOK Gallery
5107 Ballard Ave. N.W.
Seattle, WA 98107
206.789.6242
www.okokgallery.com
info@okokgallery.com

WARHOL BY GALELLA "That's Great" is on my Xmas list....



Warhol by Galella

"Paparazzo--Italian for pesky--is synonymous with Ron Galella, the photographer who made his name capturing celebrities in unguarded, often private moments. Famously banned from approaching Jackie Onassis and punched by Marlon Brando, Galella was a favorite of Andy Warhol, who shared his fascination with the great and near-great. Warhol himself recorded his nightly rounds through a seemingly endless parade of parties, openings, and happenings in his diaries. In these photographs Galella presents the definitive visual diary of Warhol's life and times, his entourage, and his haunts. Through his Interview column, "Glenn O'Brien's Beat," O'Brien was a key commentator on the period. His text places Galella in Warhol's world and in the history of modern photography, describing his ground-breaking work, which Warhol was the first to recognize as "the great unauthorized portrait of our time."" (taken from the Random House homepage)


Click here to purchase.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Art Quote for 12.19.08




A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is
transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion.
::: Richard Avedon :::

Kris Chatterson - Fugitive - closing SUN Dec 21 at 6 pm @ greene contemporary



Kris Chatterson

Fugitive


Chatterson sees Fugitive as a concept that embodies the duality of force and sensitivity in his large-scale monochromatic paintings. By painting in thin, translucent layers, he pursues a depth of color and space that belies the two-dimensional surface. Far from being static planes of flat pigment, Chatterson's undulating marks accumulate as abstract figures in allegorical compositions.

Chatterson's paintings are informed by wide ranging sources: from 15th century Italian painting to mid-century American Modernism to tagged roll-up doors on New York City storefronts. The city's pulsing vitality feeds the energy in the work, and the scale of the paintings is a direct response to New York's distinctive architecture - both gritty and grandiose. Graffiti tagged doors are filled with overlapping layers of lyrical marks that form a history of passages, similar to what he seeks in his painting. The nature of spray paint is light and ethereal, but the strength of ego and the residue of a forceful act are familiar impulses in his process.

As Chatterson suggests, the term fugitive can also refer to the androgynous duality in the work. While forceful and wily, his paintings are also quiet and made with a delicate touch, "Like they're trying to yell while whispering."

Kris Chatterson was born in Orlando, Florida. He received his MFA from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California and his BFA from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. This is his first solo exhibition with Greene Contemporary. Chatterson will also have his second solo exhibition of new paintings in Spring 2009 at Western Project in Culver City, California. He lives and works in New York City.


Greene Contemporary
9 Clinton Street
New York, NY 10002
T (212) 228.8282
F (212) 228.7738
Th-Su 12 pm - 6 pm
info@greenecontemporary.com
www.greenecontemporary.com


To view more from the exhibition click here.

Image credit: Nocturne, 2008, 78" x 72", oil on canvas

SOURCE: Green Contemporary

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Louise Bourgeois' Sculpture "Crouching Spider" Installed in Entrance of Hirshhorn Museum



WASHINGTON, DC - An eight-legged sentinel now greets visitors on their way into the Hirshhorn Museum. Standing at nearly 25 feet tall, Louise Bourgeois' large bronze and steel sculpture "Crouching Spider" inspires an eerie fascination in passersby. There is no need to be afraid, since the artist describes her spiders as iconic "guardians," a "defense against evil." Since its installation earlier this week, the work of art has become an instant attraction to visitors eager to be photographed with the Jurassic-sized arachnid.

"Crouching Spider" is now on view at the Independence Avenue entrance to the Hirshhorn in anticipation of the Feb. 26 opening of "Louise Bourgeois,"a major retrospective that includes more than 120 sculptures, paintings and drawings.

The exhibition opens with Bourgeois' early drawings and paintings, followed by the sculptural series of "Personages," starkly abstracted standing figures created in the aftermath of World War II. Subsequent sculptures hang from the ceiling ("Spiral Woman," "Arch of Hysteria," "Janus" and "Legs"), attach to walls ("Torso Self-Portrait" and "Mamelles"), and are secreted in dramatic enclosures ("Destruction of the Father").

The exhibited works encompass a startling array of images and materials, ranging from traditional plaster, bronze, marble and wood to plastic, resin, latex, wax, steel fences, toy doll fragments, electric lights, fabrics, glass, rubber and found objects. The highlight of the exhibition is a stellar array of Bourgeois' rarely seen masterpieces: the large structured environments known as the "Cell" series, including "Cell (Choisy)," the autobiographical duo "Red Room (Parents)" and "Red Room (Child)," and the nightmarish "Spider" cell.

The Hirshhorn presentation of "Louise Bourgeois"is the last chance for the public to see the exhibition that began its tour in London and ends here in Washington, D.C. The Hirshhorn presentation will include a number of works from the museum's own collection, not seen in other presentations on the tour. The exhibition will run through May 17, 2009. Visit : http://hirshhorn.si.edu/

SOURCE: Art Knowledge News

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

New Museum Holiday 2008 Card



What a great way to thank the patrons and sponsors as well as end an amazing year of groundbreaking exhibitions, introduction of innovative artists and diversity in almost every visual arts genre.

Please visit the New Museum by clicking here.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Work of the Day: Wangechi Mutu's "My Strength Lies"



Using ink, acrylic, photo collage (PET film), contact paper and Mylar, Wangechi's manages to evoke the despair of African and Black American woman all while showing strength in the persistence of the woman atop the diseased-like figure as she pushing forward to the top. This is the primary theme in most of Wangechi's works and it has proven to work for the Kenyan-born, American educated artist. One should really Google this artist and become familiar with her works of art. This is an artist who has and will continue to make an impact and will remain a constant staple in the world of modern art.

Art Quote for 12.16.08


I'm painting an idea not an ideal. Basically I'm trying to paint a
structured painting full of controlled, and therefore potent, emotion.
::: Euan Uglow :::

Monday, December 15, 2008

Rudolph Projects ArtScan Gallery December 17, 2008






4 Different Scenarios. 4 Different Artists-Miguel Avila, Ryan Geiger, Gabriela Trzebinski and Lillian Warren

Opening Wednesday December 17 from 5:30 to 8pm
Exhiibition contimues through Saturday, February 9, 2009

Rudolph Projects ArtScan Gallery
1836 Richmond Avenue
Houston, Texas 77098
713-807-1836

www.rudolphprojects.com


Imaged credit from top:
Ryan Geiger, Starling
Lillian Warren, G203 Aug25 5:11 pm
Miguel Avila, Santo Superestrella
Gabriela Trzebinski, 22 of 2000 The Lost Boys of Sudan

Ruby Mag #35 is online!



2008 / December 15th
Ruby Mag's last issue of 2008 includes the work of holly andres, janne nabb & maria teeri, ellie cryer, geoffroy mathieu, yves velter, andrea loefke and sara nilsson.
have a merry christmas and a happy new year! see you in 2009!

http://www.ruby-mag.com.ar

Image credit: sara nilsson

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Artist of the Day: Alexandre Orion













Alexandre Orion is a Brazilian graffiti artist and photographer.

He gained attention for his exhibition Metabiotics in 2006, a graffiti/photography project in which he painted graffiti pieces with white and black latex paint and photographed people interacting with them. The exhibit's style, which the San Francisco Chronicle called a "distinctive blend of painting and photography" that looked "nothing like the American conception of graffiti art", interested French and American galleries, gaining him exhibits in Paris, New York, and San Francisco.

In a 2007 reverse graffiti project, he drew a mural of skulls in São Paulo's Max Feffer Tunnel by scouring away parts of the thick layer of soot on the walls; the city later removed the mural by cleaning off the rest of the soot.

Alexandre's work can also be located at alexandreorion.com and 20ltd.com.




SOURCE: Wikipedia

'Andy Dandy' arm chairs by Jimmie Martin for 20ltd



Design duo Jimmie Karlsson & Martin Nihlmar who go by the name ‘Jimmie Martin’ have joined forces with the ‘Hilton Brothers’ - photographers Christopher Makos and Paul Solberg for their latest collaboration.

With images from Christopher Makos’ ‘Altered Image’ portraits for Andy Warhol* and flower images from Paul Solberg’s ‘Bloom’ project, Jimmie Martin have combined these into a limited edition series.

The collaboration consists of 5 limited edition arm chairs made by the designers Jimmie Martin at their east London based workshop. The photos are digitally printed and upholstered onto the chairs. Jimmie Martin has interpreted the collaboration in their unique ways by hand painted designs making each piece a unique one-off.

Since the award winning days of June 2005 when Jimmie Martin won the ‘Best new designer in practise’ award covering the United Kingdom they have become known for their furniture consisting of hand painted signed artwork.

Images of Andy Warhol are from a set of limited edition photographs taken Christopher Makos in 1982, the then personal photographer and close friend of Andy Warhol.

The pieces displayed for sale on 20ltd.com are invariably limited to a very small and collectible number of editions, very often smaller than the brand or designer might previously have contemplated. It is important to make clear however, that, where possible, these very rare items are offered for sale on 20ltd.com at no greater premium than comparable pieces produced in far greater numbers.


SOURCE: 20ltd

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Wangechi Mutu x Versace Jewelry = Whitney Museum of American Art Gala, 10.22.08





Kenyan born Wangechi's cuffs helped to raise over 3 million dollars for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Gala and Studio Party sponsored by Versace. Co- Chaired by Allison Kanders, Liz Swig and Donatella Versace with special guest Patrick Dempsey, the evening’s theme, Whitney-Past, Present and Future, was a visual sensation with inspired décor that fused high fashion and contemporary art. This represenation of her work is far different from the normal usage of oil, ink, acrylic and PET film used to depict feminist and racial issues; nonetheless, Wangechi has broaded her horizon and will hopefully continue to work in fine jewelry and and fine metals.

Friday, December 12, 2008

N8 Van Dyke at FIFTY24PDX










To view more photos or to visit the gallery:
Upper Playground
23 NW 5th Ave.
Portland, OR 97207
P (503) 548-4835
www.upperplayground.com


This exhibit runs through January 25, 2009.

SOURCE: UPG

Humble Arts Foundation Presents Hannah Whitaker Solo Exhibition



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hannah Whitaker

As We Came Together We Will Go Together

On View: Saturday, December 18 – January 25, 2009
Artist Reception: Thursday, December 18 from 7–10PM

The Wild Project
195 E. 3rd Street
(212) 228–1195
thewildproject.com

Gallery Hours: Thursday – Saturday from 2PM – 8PM and Sunday from 1PM–7PM

The Wild Project Gallery and Humble Arts Foundation are pleased to present As We Came Together We Will Go Together, an exhibition of photographs by Hannah Whitaker. The show takes its title from the fable of the Biddenden Maids, a set of conjoined twins from the pre-medical 1100s, setting the tone for the duality threaded throughout the exhibition. In the myth, when one twin died and it was proposed that they be separated so that the other might live, the surviving sister replied, "As we came together we will go together," and died shortly after. In these photographs, Whitaker uses patterns and repetition, both naturally occurring and rendered by hand, to investigate the interdependence of opposing halves. The case of the twins exposes the paradoxical rift between scientific understanding and lived experience explored throughout the show--its emotional implications are complex while the math is simple. Her dark, often uncomfortable images, which include mangled trees, snakes, and sword and fire swallowers, challenge conventional sequential logic to explore her interest in the misleading simplicity of visual clarity, and how these serve as metaphors for human anxiety.

Humble Arts Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that works to advance the careers of emerging fine-art photographers by way of exhibition and publishing opportunities, limited-edition print sales, twice–annual artists grants, and educational programming.

The Wild Project is a new environmentally conscious venue for contemporary theater, film, and visual arts. It is dedicated to supporting the arts by offering space and resources to emerging artists. Our programming intends to cultivate a supportive artistic network, explore innovative and thoughtful approaches to art making and by doing so enrich the local community.

For more information please contact Hilary Schaffner at (212) 228–1195 or info@thewildproject.com or press@hafny.org.

SOURCE: HAF

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Oops They Did It Again: Sotheby's yanks 3 MLK papers from NY auction


(AP) - Sotheby's has withdrawn from auction three important papers related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after the King estate objected, claiming the documents being offered for sale by singer-actor Harry Belafonte were actually the property of the estate.

Mr. Belafonte himself asked that the papers be withdrawn from Thursday's sale, said Lauren Gioia, a Sotheby's spokeswoman. The auction house did not comment further.

The documents, including a handwritten draft of Mr. King's first anti-Vietnam war speech in 1967, had a collective pre-sale estimate of $750,000 to $1.3 million.

"The King estate believes the documents being offered in Thursday's auction are a part of the wrongly acquired collection," Isaac Farris, chief executive of the King Center in Atlanta, said Wednesday. "The King estate is currently in conversations with Sotheby's to establish the truth."

Mr. Belafonte could not be reached for comment on the dispute.

He earlier said the papers were given to him by Mr. King or his wife after the civil rights leader was assassinated in 1968.

The King estate said unnamed members of the singer's family previously tried to "anonymously and secretly" sell other such documents through a Beverly Hills, Calif., auction house. It said the estate managed to block that sale and the documents were returned to it, with an apology by the would-be sellers to Coretta Scott King. It did not cite a date for that incident.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Belafonte said he was putting the documents up for sale because "I am at the end of my life — I will be 82 shortly — and there are a lot of causes I believe in for which resources are not available, and there is a need to redistribute those resources."

He recalled how he became a close friend and early follower of Mr. King's civil rights movement in the mid-1950s and provided him with an apartment for his use on visits to New York City.

It was there, Mr. Belafonte said, that Mr. King drafted the first speech attacking U.S. involvement in Vietnam. When he flew to Los Angeles to deliver the speech to a celebrity-studded audience, he left behind the outline, written on three pages of yellow legal pad.

Also up for sale were scribbled notes for a speech Mr. King intended to deliver in Memphis, Tenn., on April 7, 1968, defending the right of city sanitation workers to strike for a living wage.

The notes, found in Mr. King's pocket after he was gunned down on April 4, 1968, on a Memphis motel balcony, were given by his wife to the late Stan Levison, a close friend who then gave them to Mr. Belafonte, he said.

The third item was a condolence letter from then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to Mrs. King, expressing sympathy over her husband's murder and promising all federal and local law enforcement resources to find the killer. Mr. Belafonte said she had given him the letter.

Selby Kiffer, a senior curator of documents at Sotheby's, said the anti-war letter would probably rank in importance with the most significant papers in Mr. King's archive, his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," the draft of his "I Have a Dream" speech and his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

Some 10,000 King documents that his family had planned to auction at Sotheby's in 2006 were bought for $32 million by the city of Atlanta and are housed at King's alma mater, Morehouse College.

Another King collection is at Boston University.

SOURCE: CNY