Category archives: New York
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10 years ago
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This week, Brandon Ballengée, artist/ biologist/environmental activist, is preparing to transform the Feldman Gallery booth at The Armory Show into a space to mourn the massive extinction of species. It's an incredibly weighty topic, often referred to as the Holocene or Sixth Great Extinction, which continues at an alarming rate. In promotion of this important showcase, called "Frameworks of Absence," I requested to interview Ballengée, asking him to share with Art for Progress his favorite personal fashion items. After hesitating, Brandon said "oh well, that would be fun!"
Pioneering in ecological art, Ballengée has been described by the critic and curator Kim Levin “as taking these issues to a new level of intensity.” His work has been included in Documenta 13 (Germany), Prospect 2, (New Orleans), 3rd Moscow Biennale (Russia), Biennale for Electronic Arts, (Australia), and the Venice Biennale (Italy). And, Ballengée was awarded a Conservation Leadership Fellowship from the National Audubon Society’s Together Green Program in 2011-2012. "Frameworks of Absence" features physically cut images of missing animals from historic prints and publications printed at the time in history when the depicted species became extinct. A portion of proceeds from Ballengée's "Frameworks of Absence" will support the Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) efforts to defend and protect endangered wildlife and wild places. To find out more about this thrilling exhibition, go t[...]
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10 years ago
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The women of Brooklyn's IM Pastry are all phenomenal go-getters, eschewing their home kitchen and shared kitchen rental fees to open a custom cake boutique and cafe in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Founded in 2009, IM Pastry was born after an Instagram image of a gorgeous set of pink quilted Chanel-inspired cupcakes were posted. An immediate social networking following emerged, along with a deluge of custom cake orders from dessert enthusiasts, including celebrities like Carmelo Anthony and Chef Roble. And after a successful Kickstarter campaign, the women celebrated the soft opening of their cafe this Valentine's Day 2015 weekend. I was fortunate enough to chat with Senior Pastry Designer Tiffany Washington about embracing Crocs, motherhood, and the art of caking it until you make it. Follow #TeamIMBK on Twitter, @IMPastryStudio on Instagram, and be sure to check out IleneMiriam.com
Click on link below to find out more about this cake artist’s most prized fashion items after the jump.
Jacqueline Colette Prosper, @yummicoco
Sweatpants
I like to bake in sweatpants. It’s more of a comfort thing, because the bigger the business gets, the more we have to do. I can spend hours on end either in the kitchen or making deliveries. When I wear sweatpants, I prefer cute, fitted sweats from H&M. Maybe I subconsciously do it so I don’t expand my waistline, but I’ve been baking for so long that I don’t even indulge in cakes anymore---I[...]
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10 years ago
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I recently had the distinct pleasure of compiling an oral history of the seminal underground New York club Better Days, a ’70s and ’80s contemporary of spots like the Paradise Garage—though Better Days was much smaller and, possibly because of that, less lauded. (You can read that piece in full here, on the Red Bull Music Academy website.) One of the main interviewees for the article was Bruce Forest, an iconic DJ (and later, prolific producer) who was on the Better Days decks throughout most of the ’80s. (In the ’70s, the late, great Tee Scott ran the show.) Forest has a great memory and is a fantastic teller of tales—but, for reasons of space and clarity, some of his best stories had to be omitted from the history. So we figured, why not share a couple of his best ones here?
Loleatta Holloway
This story concerns how the inimitable disco diva Loleatta Holloway’s between-song patter became one of the most ubiquitous samples in dance music history. It was all Forest’s (accidental) fault.
Bruce Forest: “It was not easy to have live performances there. It was a very, very hard room to do live sound in; it was a round room with tons of bass. But we would do it sometimes anyway. Jocelyn Brown probably performed there seven or
eight times. And there was Lolleata Holloway. She was one nasty woman when she wanted to be. And she was big; she could have easily kicked the shit out of me. Anyway, when she performs, she does five or six songs, but in between the songs, s[...]
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10 years ago
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My cousin, Carine Williams, a litigation lawyer based in New York, represents people and companies who are under government investigation or prosecution. Her pro bono work has included helping to overturn the convictions of people like Herman Wallace, who spent nearly 42 years in solitary confinement, longer than any other person in the United States, for a crime he didn't commit. "I enjoy working with folks through what can be a very harrowing ordeal--the criminal legal process," Williams shares. Despite her heroic work, Williams remains modest: "There's no single achievement I'm most proud of, but I am especially honored (and humbled) that my clients trust me, value my judgement, and seek my guidance with mammothly difficult decision-making."
Click on link below to find out more about this crusader’s most prized fashion items after the jump.
Black Pants
I love clothes that remind me to feel good in the skin I'm already in. This most often involves figure fitting pieces in stretchy--forgiving--fabrics. I'm also a sucker for any textile that feels rich and smooth to the touch. These pants are perfection. I can wear them anywhere--as fancy as it gets or as grimey. They're completely comfy. The leather patches along the leg are buttery soft. Most often I wear them with a black top, which makes me feel both understated and kind of bad ass.
Lela Rose Dress
My most glamorous aunt--who was with me while I was shopping for work clothes--insisted that I buy favor[...]
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10 years ago
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Given the racial landscape of the US in recent months surrounding the decisions in both the Michel Brown and Eric Garner cases, RESPOND which is currently on view in Brooklyn at Smack Mellon, really gets at the heart of the matter. Smack Mellon organized the show given the public response to the controversial verdict in the grand jury decision not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Garner. Garner was killed on July 17th in Staten Island when a New York City police officer put him in a choke hold.
Smack Mellon directors Kathleen Gilrain and Suzanne Kim, changed their exhibition schedule to accommodate this show. The show features the work of two hundred artists and the gallery received over six hundred submissions for the exhibition. The 200 pieces of art fill the Smack Mellon space to an overwhelming capacity. Almost every square inch of the gallery is being occupied by a work of art. Many of the works are displayed salon style in the two story high gallery space. The works in the RESPOND show are diverse and feature a range of artists and mediums including video, sculpture, installation, photography and even textile work.
Skinned by Hannah Hart
Given the show's theme and the overwhelming response to the call for work, the pieces featured in the exhibition are on point. Some of the artists featured in the show include Dread Scott who has also had work shown at the Whitney Museum of Art, Heather Heart who currently has work on view at the Brooklyn Museu[...]
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10 years ago
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“Science, Fiction” is the latest show of video artist Diana Thater on view at David Zwirner's 533 West 19th street space. Thater who is one of the most influential artists working in film, video and installation today, has transformed the Zwirner gallery into a multimedia experience. Drawing on Thater's larger body of work which explores the interplay between mediated experiences and the natural world, “Science, Fiction” offers a fresh take on this subject matter.
Thater who is no stranger to the art world, earned her BFA in Art History from New York University. She would go onto pursue an M.F.A at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. This is her eighth solo exhibition at Zwirner and her work as also been shown internationally. In the fall of 2015, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will be hosting a mid career survey of Thater's work.
The show consists of two video pieces and an installation which take over the second half of the Zwirner gallery space. As you enter the space, The Starry Messenger and Sidereus Nuncius are shown on two large flat screen video pieces facing one another against opposite walls and give way to Thater's installation in the larger gallery space. The video work as well as the installation explore tension between the natural and constructed world.
Thater's installation conjures up elements of sculptor Dan Flavin's work through her use of light boxes in various colors ranging from blue to green in the installation. The[...]
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10 years ago
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Yes, we’re almost two weeks into 2015, so please forgive the lateness of this list—we’re just now recovering from a great New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day spent with the Bunker and 718 Sessions crews. But it’s never too late to support the home team, right? In the underground-clubbing realm, the fact that there’s been so much great music created by Gotham artists and/or released on local labels over the past twelve months is another sign of the scene’s strength—and really, we would could have made this a Forty Fave NYC Tracks list without breaking a sweat. But, for now, let’s go with the five below—click on the images to hear the tracks. Enjoy!
Siren
“Gauntlet”
Compost
There’s a windswept feel to “Gauntlet, ”the long-awaited first fruits of a studio partnership between Metro Area’s Darshan Jesrani and the Disques Sinthomme label’s Dennis Kane. It might be the majestic guitar chords, or the wailing vocals (from Apollo Heights’ Daniel Chavis), or the cut’s spacious arrangement and willingness to take its time to get wherever it’s going. Whatever it is, the song is something of an overlooked modern classic. And holy crap, does that pumping bassline hit the spot! There’s a fine remix from London groove machine Ray Mang that tightens up the song’s feel a bit—he basically houses it up, toughening up the rhythm and accentuating the acid bleep, giving it an added sense of urgency. But for our money, the sprawling original does the trick just fine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?[...]
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10 years ago
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“Bound and Unbound” which is currently on right now at the Brooklyn Museum is the first ever retrospective of artist Judith Scott. The show is curated by Catherine J. Morris of the Sackler Gallery and Matthew Higgs director of White Columns Gallery. Drawing from her seventeen-year art making practice, the show features over forty sculptures and drawings that span Scott’s career. Many of the works in the show are objects that have been wrapped with various pieces of yarn, fabric and other materials that Scott worked with. The bundled package-like-sculptures sit on low display structures throughout the two rooms of the gallery’s space.
Born in 1943, with Down Syndrome, Judith Scott would go onto become an internationally recognized fibers artist. Scott spent the first thirty-five years of her life living in a institution geared towards individuals with disabilities. In 1987, she was introduced to the through her twin sister and legal guardian, Joyce Scott which helped to put her on a creative path. The CGAC was founded in 1974 in Oakland, California by artist Florence Ludnis-Katz and her husband psychologists Elias Katz. CGAC is still active today and offers art based programs and residencies to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. The time that Scott spent at CGAC would not only greatly change the way in which she would be able to communicate but also allowed her to grow as a person and artist. Scott was also famously featured on the cover of academic writer a[...]
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10 years ago
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As part of the "Homegrown" series, AFP will host a special night of great music at The Bowery Electric.
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10 years ago
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If you’re like us, you’re dreading New Year’s Eve – the night when you are practically forced into trying to have a good time. But experiencing a fun night can be difficult when you are concentrating on getting out of the way of drunken-bro packs or avoiding puke puddles. We wouldn’t blame you if you decided to stay home and cuddle up with a bottle of champers, watching Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in your jammies and bunny slippers. However, if you really want to hit the town—and if dancing all night in the clubs is your thing—here are a few options that might be a bit more bearable than say, heading to Madison Square Garden for a fist-pump session with Skrillex and Diplo, the idea of which haunts our nightmares.
Resolute and Blkmarket Present New Year’s Eve at Output
Output. 74 Wythe Ave at North 12st St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 10pm; $80–$100. Advance tickets available through outputclub.com.
With its warehouse feel and strict no-photos policy—not to mention its emphasis on the serious side of deep house and techno—Williamsburg’s Output is loosely based on Berlin clubs like the famed Berghain. So it makes sense that this party has scored one of Germany’s best, DJ Koze, to headline the affair with one of his oft-surreal sets of house, techno and various sonic oddities. And there’s about a billion other DJs spinning in the club’s two rooms as well—but the party stretches into the following Friday, so there’s plenty of time to squeeze ’em all in.
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