Still Remembering 9/11

Lower Manhattan as it looked in a photo collage from my graduate school days at Pratt Institute - although the balcony of my high rise dorm had a pretty good view, this was probably taken from the Empire State Building.

Another photo collage taken years later in a snowy McCarren Park when I first moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 2000- just a year before the attack on the World Trade Center. The faint ghostly outline of the Twin Towers can be seen just to the left of the Russian church. I just moved from Tribeca where the enormous buildings loomed high above my sublet in a dizzying vertical trajectory into the sky. Every time I neared the apartment, they were there; two stalwart figures. As I sat on the incredible roof deck at the top of my building, I remember always feeling a sense of unease at their scale as my thoughts trailed off, "if those things ever fell".... In my wildest dreams, I never, ever felt those musings would actually come true.

Street Art - Gaia's Harbingers of Doom

Judging by the billboards and posters plastered all over New York City lately, the world is slated to end on Saturday by someone's calculation. Personally, I am skeptical- they've been wrong many times before. Other signs are much more subtle.  I often say here that the streets of New York can be like taking in an unplanned visit to an art museum. As I walk through these alleys of concrete, I wonder what's on the mind of the people who create unsolicited artwork and put them out there for the world to see without formality. What prompts artists to display their work in this way or create it at all? What are they reacting to? What are they trying to say? It's a message of sorts crafted by a visual courier- you just have to be aware to pick up on the signals.

 St. John, Williamsburg Warehouse, Brooklyn (February 6, 2011)

This larger-than-life sized paste-up by Gaia confronts its viewers suddenly and unapologetically. A giant rooster head is morphed with a robed human body as the figure cradles the severed head of St. John the Baptist, known as the messenger of his time. This piece is a variation of another by the artist called, "Deny Me Three Times" (below). Gaia is known well for renderings of animal and human figures that pop up on the sides of buildings and throughout the streets of Baltimore, New York, San Francisco, and Korea but here, the artist is looking towards the museum-like work of the old masters like Caravaggio, Guido Reni, Bosch, and Bruegel. Rich with meaning, the rooster is known in symbology as an instrument that promotes watchfulness and foretells the end of the world. Combined with the imagery of the prophet, it is a powerful work of art.

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In a time consumed by war and environmental concerns, there is obviously an omen being conveyed in these works. Is it some sort of prophecy for the modern age? Or a call to action concerning some tragedy before it occurs? Whether your opinion of art found in the streets is lowbrow or highbrow, Gaia cleverly entwines elements from both worlds here- a timely reminder for us to listen and watch for the signs of possible things to come.

 Deny Me Three Times, SoHo Neighborhood of Manhattan (May 30, 2010)

A Walk Around the Neighborhood - Williamsburg

Walking around the Williamsburg neighborhood can be like stepping into an art gallery, especially if you follow the major players of street art. I love the way pre-existing elements of the street complement the work. (Top) Shepard Fairey has many paste-ups in the area since his send-ff show for Deitch Projects last May. Above, is an enormous bunny by ROA who created this piece over an earlier painting of a pig. If you look closely, you'll see that the animal is partially decomposing as the artist plays with the idea of sleep vs. death.

A Walk Around the Neighborhood - Williamsburg

Street decorations brighten the skies in preparation for the street carnival in celebration of the feast day for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in July.

 

The four-story high giglio (meaning "lily" in Italian) is carried or "danced" through the neighborhood during the week by dozens of men as a towering processional and devotional item. This year marks the 123rd anniversary of this event.

Below, this little guy looks like he's ready to cruise off for a day at the beach. 

I encountered many textural and iconic visuals during this walk. This landmark church above is a landmark that can be seen towering above the trees, and was once featured on a Seinfeld episode long ago. I never thought it would be right in my own backyard!

A Walk Around the Neighborhood - Greenpoint/Williamsburg

I love to go on long, exploratory walks on weekends always making sure that I remember to bring my camera. The weather was perfect on Sunday, and the air was fragrant with spring. I decided that I would enjoy it as long as my allergies can hold out!

(Top photo: Marilyn by Head Hoods)

I live in a predominantly Polish neighborhood, and many of my neighbors still have a direct connection to Poland.  Lots of them have expressed a response to yesterday's tragedy, loss of leadership, and tragic anniversary in Katyn by putting out a flag with a black ribbon attached.

Amidst all of the urban decay, there are spots where Mother Nature reveals

herself to us city dwellers every now and then.

 

Our City Dreams - Movie Review

Some arthouse films get a lot of airtime when it comes to advertising. I have never heard of this one, but thanks to Netflix, it popped up on my list of suggested titles. And thankfully so. Our City Dreams is a documentary-style glimpse into the lives of five women artists who came from elsewhere, even across oceans, to pursue art careers in New York City (Swoon, Ghada Amer, Kiki Smith, Marina Abramovic, and Nancy Spero). It is a monumental four-year undertaking by Chiara Clemente, herself a transplant living in NYC, and daughter of known painter and art royalty, Francesco Clemente.

Each of the women artists featured in this film is at a different point in her career, working in different disciplines. The film also delves into feminist undertones, and each of the subjects has a different feeling about what it means to be a woman artist. For one, this means everything, for another, it's almost irrelevant.

Swoon, 2006                                                               Swoon, 2004

The movie is a journey of sorts, profiling each artist from youngest to oldest. So, it begins with Swoon, who happens to be one of my favorites. She is a street artist from Florida, who came to New York to attend Pratt Institute in 1997 (as did I in 1995). It was fascinating to see who she is and the process of how she creates her paste-up surprises all over the city. The film traces her career from the streets of the outer boroughs to the prestigious recognition and purchase of several prints by MOMA. I sensed that while she is enjoying the fruits of popularity and success, she prefers the years of struggle and above all, the anonymity. I see her work all the time in my section of Brooklyn. They are ephemeral in nature; eventually destroyed by time, the elements, and other street artists. This cycle only means that there will be more pieces to which I can look forward. Here are more of my photos of her work that has appeared throughout my neighborhood over the years.

2005                                                                         2002

(similar style by Gaia) 2008                                                                   2009

Ghada Amer, who was the original impetus for the film, came to New York by way of Cairo. She wanted to be somewhere where she could blend in and be anonymous, but we join her in her travels back to her native country where her identity is hardly a secret. Ghada's work consists of large, elaborate canvases featuring the colorful embroidered overlapping outlines of women from the pages of porn magazines. She then coverts the embroidered unsupported fabric into large paintings by introducing paint and clear medium allowing the dye from the thread to bleed into a watercolor effect. Some of her pieces are so large, that her working process engages other women in the tradition of a sewing circle.

We also accompany sculptor, Kiki Smith, through a large mid-career retrospective of her work. She hasn't seen some of the work for decades, but still finds it relevant. Her sculptures focus primarily on the female body and biological life processes. She often incorporates social and political issues into her work. As the daughter of sculptor, Tony Smith, she has an instant connection to the documentarian.

Marina Abramovic is a performance artist from Serbia. Her philosophy about physical location in New York, is that "you have to be in places where it's difficult, where you can say something". One of her earlier performances from 1975, entitled, "Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful" made me laugh out loud. The ten second clip shows a woman fitfully brushing her hair and repeating the title as a mantra depicting the pressures and perceptions of living as a female artist. I found it funny probably because it mirrors my own anxieties about my identity as a female artist.

The film ends with eighty-year old Nancy Spero who is now deceased. She was a feminist and activist, an artist, wife, and mother. The other artists in this film had different attitudes towards these roles, but she seemingly had it all. She has lived and worked with her artist husband (painter, Leon Golub) in Chicago and Europe, but eventually found themselves coming to New York. Her work was greatly influenced by the turbulent times and imagery of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. At the end of her vignette, she beams about her recent invitation to participate in the upcoming Venice Biennale. Here are a couple of my photos of her work entitled, "Maypole/Take No Prisoners" at the Venice Biennale in 2007.

This film is a collective "portrait of the artist".  While it touches on the geography of New York, it is more of an initmate look into the processes and inner-workings of these particular women. At the same time, it begs the question whether the artist is feeding upon the city or if the city is feeding upon the artist. I can totally relate.

A Walk Around the Neighborhood - Greenpoint and Williamsburg

This past Saturday was a beautiful, cloudless sunny day and warmer than it's been for weeks. With the thought of taxes and other chores looming, I decided to procrastinate and succumb to my cabin fever. I ended up walking around Greenpoint and Williamsburg for hours while enjoying some fresh air (as fresh as it can be in Brooklyn) and one of my favorite activities: taking lots of photographs. Here are some of them.

Works above include: Head Hoods (Michael Jackson on VW bus), Gaia (lambs), ROA (a porcine treat), and Clown Soldier.