Category archives: Visual Arts
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10 years ago
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For 40 years, the Brazilian-born photographer Sebastião Salgado has been documenting people and events around the world, driven by curiosity, adventure, and deep empathy for the human condition. Trained as an economist, he left the security of that profession to travel to such farflung places as the Arctic Circle, remote Andes villages, Kuwait, and several African nations, where he lived among locals and immersed himself in the culture. The resulting collections of stunning black and white images include his books Other Americas, Workers, Terra, Exodus and Africa.
At one point, soul-sick from the tragedy he had witnessed in Rwanda, Salgado lost his desire to work, but regained it when he and his wife/work partner Lélia decided to replant the forest around the family ranch. That project ultimately became Instituto Terra, a thriving ecological reserve. Salgado’s current work involves the discovery and documentation of untouched landscapes, a tribute to the beauty of the planet.
When Sebastião’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, a documentary filmmaker, decided to make a movie about his father, he enlisted the help of renowned German auteur Wim Wenders, a friend and admirer. The result of their collaboration, The Salt of the Earth, is a beautiful, profound work about a remarkable artist, his family, and the bonds he forges with his subjects. Following are excerpts from a recent roundtable discussion with Wenders and Juliano Salgado:
Did you think about the differences be[...]
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10 years ago
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Frank Whaley is probably best known for his acting roles in Pulp Fiction, Swimming with Sharks and The Doors, but he’s also written and directed a few movies over the years, most notably 1999’s gritty Joe the King, about the hellish life of an abused boy from a badly broken home.
His latest directorial effort, Like Sunday Like Rain, is about an entirely different sort of boy. Twelve-year-old Reggie (played with remarkable poise by newcomer Julian Shatkin) is a New York City rich kid and all-around prodigy who not only plays cello beautifully, but composes serious music. The film centers on the growing rapport between him and his 20-something nanny Eleanor, an equally lost soul played with nice understatement by Leighton Meester. Like Sunday Like Rain is a somewhat conventional film about an unconventional relationship. Though bumpy in places, this buddy movie/love story is elevated by Jimi Jones' languid cinematography and the two leads' performances and repartee.
At the movie’s start, Eleanor breaks up with her boyfriend Dennis, an undependable musician who causes her to lose her barista job. Played by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong in his feature film debut, Dennis is a bratty loser type and Armstrong doesn’t add much to the part. Meanwhile Reggie’s distant, preoccupied mother (Debra Messing in a one-note role) is planning to visit her husband -- Reggie's stepfather -- overseas and needs a new nanny pronto. With no real experience or references, Eleanor is sent [...]
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10 years ago
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It was a cold Saturday afternoon, but I was motivated to trek over to Chelsea to check out the Kitchen Girls & Toy Boys show at Rush Arts Gallery. Artists Sindy Butz and Sol Kjok are participating artists in the show and have both worked with AFP on various projects.
It didn't take long for me to identify Sol's very large piece, "Strings Attached" as I walked into the gallery. Her figurative work bursts off the canvas with great detail and her use of color brings out the emotion in her characters. In this piece the characters are strung together and appear to be grasping and climbing over each other while still maintaining a certain co-dependence.
I was impressed with the overall quality and diversity of the work in the show. The work of Reinhold Gottwald caught my attention. His colorful, small, abstract pieces on wood are hung/arranged as if they are a group of planets sharing the same solar system. I found Markus Fiedler's beeswax sneakers quite intriguing and an interesting piece(s) to be included in the show. I was impressed with the incredible detail he was able to achieve using beeswax.
I noticed Sindy crouched down on the floor, but I didn't realize that her performance had already begun. What is she up to this time? Sindy's not afraid to take on the not so obvious social issues of the day. Her thought provoking work continues to evolve and this performance would not disappoint. The message on the floor read, "The West Tastes like Gold." As Sind[...]
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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 first feature from writer/director Lance Edmands (who previously served as editor on Tiny Furniture, among other movies), Bluebird is quiet, brooding, and visually stunning. The film’s slowly unfolding narrative tracks the reverberations of an accident on a small Maine logging town and its working-class inhabitants. Meditative and highly atmospheric, it’s as much a portrayal of a harsh, bleak environment as it is of the individuals who live there.
Amy Morton plays Lesley, a longtime school bus driver who becomes distracted at the end of her shift one day and fails to notice a sleeping boy in one of the rear seats. Her husband Richard (John Slattery), a logger, is largely preoccupied by news of an impending mill shutdown and probable layoffs while the couple’s sensitive teen Paula (Emily Meade) is engrossed in negotiating the beginnings of a new romance.
In the accident’s aftermath, the affected parties react in various ways: the boy’s young, irresponsible mother (Louisa Krause) hires a lawyer against the wishes of her own mother (Margo Martindale); the devastated Paula lashes out at her father and seeks comfort in her budding relationship. Though seemingly impervious and a bit distant, Richard shows clear signs of stress and the outwardly stoical Lesley herself eventually and quietly breaks down. These are not demonstrative people; though there are outbursts of emotion, much is kept under wraps.
The gradual unraveling of these characters is shown amid the[...]
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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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One great thing about living in NYC is the wide range of new movies to pick from. These two have just opened in theaters: serial killer horror/comedy or backstage ballet documentary? Your choice...
The Voices
Whatever one might have expected from director Marjane Satrapi after the acclaimed adaption of her autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis (2007) and the poignant, surreal fable Chicken with Plums (2011), The Voices is not it. (Unlike those earlier films, she had no hand in writing this movie; that honor goes to Michael R. Perry, known mainly for TV work.) A queasy crime thriller disguised as an office romcom, The Voices stars the usually inoffensive Ryan Reynolds as a very disturbed man. Melding the blackest imaginable humor, scenes of bloody horror and some impressively solid acting -- Reynolds hasn’t had a role this challenging since 2010's Buried -- Satrapi has created something quite unique. While not exactly a masterpiece of filmmaking, The Voices is twisted, harrowing and funny, the latter mainly due to a pair of talking animals.
Reynolds plays Jerry, a seemingly upbeat, nice-guy shlub with a dark past, who works for a bathroom fixture company that also employs luscious Fiona (Gemma Arterton) and down-to-earth Lisa (Anna Kendrick). Sharing his home are dog Bosco and cat Mr. Whiskers, who give Jerry advice when he’s off his meds, which is often. Bosco’s a lovingly supportive type, while Whiskers is a taunting, foul-mouthed provocateur -- talk about an[...]
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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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The words “prodigy” and “wunderkind” have often been used to describe filmmaker Xavier Dolan, with good reason. Not yet 26, the French-Canadian auteur has recently released his fifth feature, Mommy, to general acclaim, including a Jury Prize win at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. A sort of bookend to his first film, 2009's J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother), Mommy stars Dolan regular Anne Dorval as Diane, the desperate mother of violence-prone, ADHD-addled Steve (a very believable Antoine Olivier Pilon). Their raucous, codependent relationship is tempered by the arrival of a quiet, secretive neighbor, played by Suzanne Clément (in a complete departure from her outgoing persona in Dolan’s 2012 Laurence Anyways). As each of the characters in this unsettling, emotional film struggles with personal demons, they form an unusual bond.
Contrary to his previous films I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats (2010) and Tom at the Farm (2013), Dolan -- an actor since toddlerhood -- did not cast himself in Mommy. Like most of his movies, Mommy features complicated mother-son dynamics, arresting visual sequences and a potent soundtrack. In just five years, the filmmaker has created a distinctly unique body of work, all the more remarkable considering his relative youth.
Recently I sat down with a few other journalists for a conversation with Dolan, who was both introspective and forthright. The following are excerpts.
Do you feel different now that you’ve received all this acclaim? [...]
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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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Hailing from the westside of Los Angeles, painter Buddy Miano, 30, would like to say she is totally fashionable and cutting edge, “but I dont have the ego or money for that.” Ms. Miano tries to wear what she feels comfortable in and what is appropriate for the activities she will be doing that day. “Being from L.A., weather hasn’t really been much of a factor, she says. “I usually get away with black leggings or dark denim with a mix of patterns.”
For Buddy, the more it doesn’t go together the more likely she is going to wear it. And just like her vibrant paintings, filled with clashing, maddening colors, Buddy’s wardrobe also consists of crazy hues and patterns. “My family often says I look like I got dressed in the dark, she says.
I caught up with Buddy to watch the sunset at Dockweiler Beach in west L.A. Our chat centered on her new life in the San Francisco-bay area, and her sudden need for socks on account of the Bay's cooler climes. “That’s new for me!” Discover more about Buddy’s favorite personal fashion possessions after the jump. Then check out where you can see her works here: buddymiano.blogspot.com
Jacqueline Colette Prosper, @yummicoco
Coat
I like this coat because I got it for ten dollars and it’s very luxurious. It’s wool, and it has this fancy velvet collar that makes me feel like a classy lady. When I saw the coat, I said, hey, look at this fancy thing, and then I bought it. I found it at the Goodwill in Berkeley, off of [...]
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10 years ago
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For some of us, historical dramas – when done well – are endlessly fascinating, both educational and escapist. Part of the allure is the seductive aspect of losing oneself in another time (and often, place), complete with noble sentiments, picturesque settings and lush period costumes that were undoubtedly uncomfortable as hell but look fabulous on screen. Bringing history and historical figures to life is no easy feat – how to create a compelling and (yes) entertaining film without completely distorting the facts? Throw in a passionate romance and it can all easily become overblown.
Prolific German film and television director Dominik Graf has done a very good job with Beloved Sisters (Die geliebten Schwestern), which uses both fact and liberal conjecture to tell the story of celebrated German poet/playwright/philosopher Friedrich Schiller (Florian Stetter) and his relationship with the film’s titular siblings, Caroline von Beulwitz (Hannah Herszsprung) and Charlotte von Lengefeld (Henriette Confurius). Along with the evolution of the trio’s complicated ménage a trois, the film depicts an era when poets like Schiller (and his pal Goethe) were the equivalent of critically-acclaimed, convention-flouting rock stars; at a time when flouting convention was truly scandalous. From the moment the penniless Schiller meets shy, intelligent Charlotte and, a bit later, outgoing, equally astute Caroline, he is smitten – as are they – both physically and intellectually. The aristoc[...]
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