A Walk Around the Neighborhood - SoHo

After a particularly long week, I went to catch a matinee of the newly released Sex and the City 2 with a girlfriend to mindlessly drool over some clothes. I won't go into Samantha's gratuitous one-liners or the fact that there will be no Oscar for the screenplay, but we certainly did enjoy the fashion. After the movie, I still needed to go for a walk to get my mind off of some things and headed to the SoHo area of downtown to take some photos.

This is one of my favorite ever-changing walls in the city. There's something new here just about everyday. I haven't been here in a while and enjoyed taking in what's on the mind of the city's street artists.

As the sun started to dip in the sky, and was walking down Crosby Street in search of some interesting wall pieces, when I ran into an interesting character instead- graff writer, Jaes. He was just coming from a job, and wondered if I just saw common friends of ours, the Plaztik duo. Coincidentally, they were right around the corner.

Mimi's shoes and Jaes's colorful cans.

We all decided to convene and relax at Plaztik's secondary space, affectionately called "the Lab" where we sipped strawberry-flavored vodka with lemon, ordered up some of the best pizza I've ever had (with truffle oil!), and watched stupidly funny movies. What better way to welcome in summer and the holiday weekend than an unplanned soiree with friends?

Nine Brushstrokes - Artist Interview on Plaztik Mag's Blog

One day, back in the dead of winter, Plaztik Mag and I bumped into one another at a busy and well-attended Chelsea art opening for musician, activist, photographer, artist, and Mapplethorpe bff, Patti Smith. She is probably best known for the popular song, Because the Night; I wanted to tell her that my favorites happen to be E-bow the Letter (with R.E.M.) and Dancing Barefoot. Patti's artwork, although broad in style and scope, was impressive and professionally-executed.

In attendance was a tightly-pulled Calvin Klein, upcoming reality star, Kelly Cutrone, and musician, Michael Stipe - creative royalty were certainly out and representing that night! As Patti busily weaved in and out of various rooms of the gallery to personally show off her work to various pals, Plaztik and I discussed the idea of shooting their next project in my art studio. It would consist of an artist girl "type" and they needed an art space to photograph the model in situ.

In my studio, February 2010. Photo by Jmzs Smith for PlaztikMag.

About a week later, Plaztik paid a visit to my studio where they would be scouting for their next fashion shoot which would entail different types of New York Girls - and the idea for their "Downtown Girl" project was born. While having a look around, these multi-taskers also photographed me and my space for an artist interview. You can read more about me, my art and process, and my opinion about cats, tombstones, and other crazy things here.

Speaking of those ubiquitous downtown girls, I took a long walk around my neighborhood yesterday-
guess who I bumped into?

Is It Fashion Week Already?

No, not quite. But yesterday, I had the pleasure of hosting a fashion photo shoot for Mimi (stylist) and Jmzs (photographer/dj) of Plaztik Mag in my art studio. They arrived with a mammoth suitcase of clothes and another giant duffle bag for lighting equipment. Then, the model, Apryl, and her mom arrived in a taxi. After a quick coffee run, the hair and makeup artist arrived too. Yes, my little Brooklyn apartment was a beehive of activity, and I could barely contain my excitement. For the shoot, Mimi pulled some incredible one-of-a-kind clothes from The Blonds. Everyone got right to work. The kitchen and bathroom was the styling and wardrobe area, and my art studio was the staging area for looks #1 and #2 (out of four).

Apryl is a rising star in the fashion industry who moves gracefully and almost without direction. In a couple of weeks, she'll be off to Tokyo. She was a quiet teenager (only 16!) from the Midwest who likes to paint and draw too, so the concept of today's photo shoot was an authentic one. Her mom showed us some of her work consisting of anime' characters, various portraits, and a twist on the usual painting of a still life- a bowl of rotting fruit. They were all quite good!

I met Mimi a few years ago when we were both standing in line hoping to crash a fashion show at Bryant Park. I'm accustomed to people of the art and gallery world who put on airs here in the big city, so I barely noticed it when I started meeting people and experiencing it in the fashion world. When I met Mimi several years ago, she wasn't like the others and was refreshingly down-to-earth. We've been friends ever since, and she even sends me on Fashion Week assignments to contribute photos to her blog.

The issues (or videos) that she and Jmzs have been doing lately are really incredible. Their artistic perspective and aesthetic brings back a grittines back to New York that has been missing since the Giuliani era. With chain stores now on every corner, I only mean that as the highest of compliments. These episodes evoke the feelings of the early 80's, and of being a teenager in my room looking at Interview Magazine. In those days, I really wanted to be in the New York of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. Well, I'm here now, but all of that is gone.

Here's a sneak peek of their next "issue" which will be out in mid-February. Stay tuned! As for me, I can hardly wait to see the end result.