Posts from the “Art” Category

Ricky Flores: The Puerto Rican Day Parade

Posted on June 10, 2018

After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the official death count was reported as 64 people. But last week, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study with a conservative estimate of 4,645 dead in what was the second most devastating tropical cyclone in U.S. history since 1900.

The new report underscores the government’s failure to help its citizens when they needed it most. The response to Maria dishearteningly echoes a past disaster—how Nixon’s White House policies of “benign neglect” leveled the streets of Puerto Rican neighborhoods in New York City, reducing them to rubble and dirt.

At that time, photographer Ricky Flores lived in the Longwood section of the South Bronx, an area infamously known as “Fort Apache” after the 1981 film of that name. A first generation Puerto Rican-American, Flores came of age as his once-thriving community was being systematically decimated by the government, and as Puerto Ricans began organizing to fight for what was rightfully theirs.

Puerto Rican pride is an integral part of New York’s diverse populace. Every year on the second Sunday in June, the community comes together on Fifth Avenue to celebrate with the Puerto Rican Day Parade. In advance of the 60th annual parade on June 10, Flores spoke with VICE about how Puerto Ricans have the power to change the course of history.

Read the Full Story at VICE Online

Categories: 1980s, Art, Bronx, Latin America, Manhattan, Photography, Vice

Celebrating Bill Cunningham

Posted on June 7, 2018

Photo: Bill Cunningham October 1974

Bill Cunningham was more than a photographer – he was a social anthropologist documenting the interplay between fashion, the street, and high society over the course of four decades for The New York Times. Outfitted in his signature blue worker’s jacket, Cunningham hopped on his trusted bicycle and sped around the city, hopping off to photograph New York’s most stylish figures from all walks of life before returning to his humble apartment at Carnegie Hall.

His love of glamour, style, and grace had existed since the early days of his childhood, where he fawned over women’s hats during Sunday church services. In 1948, at the age of 19, he dropped out of Harvard University after just two months and moved to New York City to give life in fashion a go. He launched a line of hats under the name ‘William J’, and by the 1950s his clientele included no less than Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Bouvier, and Katherine Hepburn.

Although Cunningham lived a spare, simple life, his creations were anything but. His love of grandeur and glamour are present everywhere in his work — from his exquisite hats to Façades, an early art project he did with Editta Sherman, also known as the ‘Duchess of Carnegie Hall’. From 1968 to 1976, they created a series of photographs featuring Editta and other models wearing vintage costumes posing in front of Manhattan landmarks dating to the same period.

When Façades was completed, Cunningham gave a selection of 88 gelatin silver prints from the series to the New-York Historical Society, launching a lifelong relationship with the organisation that spanned the next 40 years. After his death, his friends began donating Cunningham’s personal effects to the Society, giving us a rare glimpse into the life of a man who maintained an incredible balance between the public and private spheres.

In honour of one of fashion’s greatest documentarians, the New-York Historical Society will present Celebrating Bill Cunningham, an exhibition of objects and rare ephemera, along with a selection of work from Façades, from June 8. Here, we speak with exhibition curator Debra Schmidt Bach, as well as John Kurdewan, Cunningham’s collaborator at The New York Times, artist Paul Caranicas, and filmmaker James Crump, to illuminate the life of the man behind the camera.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Façades’, Editta Sherman, Subway. Photography Bill Cunningham

Categories: Art, Dazed, Exhibitions, Fashion, Photography

Lorna Simpson: Collages

Posted on June 5, 2018

Earth & Sky #30, 2016. By Lorna Simpson, From Lorna Simpson Collages, Chronicle Books 2018.

It is a point of beauty, pride, power, and politicisation, but black hair has also long been a target for racial bias and discrimination. On May 16, the United States supreme court refused to hear the case of Chastity Jones, an African-American woman whose job offer from Catastrophe Management Solutions (CMS) in Alabama was rescinded when she refused to shear off her locs. CMS maintained that this traditional black hairstyle, which holds spiritual significance for some who wear it, was not in compliance with the company’s policy.

The supreme court effectively denied Jones and others who wear locs protection under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws any form of discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin. The court’s rebuff ensures that employers and schools can continue to deny black men and women access on the basis of their hair – be it worn in dreads, afros, or any design that is not “in compliance” with racially determined standards of appearance.

While the court sidesteps responsibility to its citizens, African-American artist Lorna Simpson restores pride and power to the people. Born in 1960, Simpson came of age as the flames of the Black Power and Pan-African movements blazed bright, the images of “Black is Beautiful,” which embraced black hair and African features, became an integral part of her aesthetic sensibility.

Read the Full Story at AnOther Online

For Rose, 2013. By Lorna Simpson, From Lorna Simpson Collages, Chronicle Books 2018.

Categories: AnOther Man, Art, Books

Jamel Shabazz: Inside the New York Correction Department

Posted on June 1, 2018

Black Robes – White Justice. Supreme Court Manhattan. Circa 1997 © Jamel Shabazz

After serving his time in the army, a 20-year-old Jamel Shabazz returned to his native New York. It was 1980, and Shabazz had taken up the practice of street photography as a means to connect with young men and women throughout the city. He used his lens to engage with strangers who caught his eye, speaking with them about the power of choosing the righteous path in life. After they finished their conversation, he would take their portrait to document this moment in time, creating an archive of work that taken the world by storm since Shabazz first began publishing his work in The Source magazine and exhibiting in Paris during the late 90s.

The author of eight books including A Time Before Crack, Seconds of My Life (powerHouse Books, 2005 and 2007) and Sights in the City (Damiani, 2017), Shabazz is dedicated to depicting the complexities of contemporary life, capturing the triumphs and tragedies of everyday people trying to survive, and sharing stories rarely seen from the inside looking out.

What Shabazz has witnessed and lived goes beyond what most people know both of his work and of life itself. Shabazz joined the New York Corrections Department at the tender age of 23 in 1983, working on Rikers Island, in the Manhattan Criminal Court building, and in mental health facilities. He served the full 20 years on the force with the understanding that he could best help his community working within the belly of the beast.

As a corrections officer, Shabazz bore witness to the devastating impact of the crack epidemic during the 1980s and 90s, when African-American and Latinx communities were disproportionately impacted by the vicious cycle of addiction, violence, and incarceration under the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws which destroyed families and devastated a new generation coming-of-age. At the same time, he had to negotiate the reality for black men and women inside the penal system, where injustice and racism often went hand-in-hand.

With the understanding that he was fulfilling a personal calling, Shabazz mentored countless inmates, always keeping the faith despite being in a volatile environment where injustice, violence, and trauma were a regular part of the job. Photography became a means for Shabazz to decompress and reconnect with himself, the people, and the environment – both within and outside of Rikers Island – and became a form of visual medicine to help heal the injured and protect the vulnerable from harm.

Below, Shabazz, who was recently honoured with a 2018 Gordon Parks Foundation Award, speaks with us about his experiences as a New York Corrections Officer.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

House of pain. 4 Upper House © Jamel Shabazz

Categories: 1980s, 1990s, Art, Dazed, Photography

Albert Watson: The Eye

Posted on June 1, 2018

L: Christopher Makos, Altered Image, Andy with Black Hair, Holding a Mirror, New York, 1981. Photo © Christopher Makos. R: Anton Corbijn, Damien Hirst, 2011. Photo © Anton Corbijn © The Eye by Fotografiska, to be published by teNeues in May 2018

For art lovers, visiting Fotografiska, the photography museum in Stockholm, is a must. Unlike traditional institutions, Fotografiska bills itself as a meeting place where everything revolves around photography. But the museum is highly regarded for staging exhibitions of work by world-renowned photographers, many who’ve never shown in Sweden, as well as emerging talents.

Fotografiska is in the process of expanding its international presence, opening new locations in London and New York in early 2019. To commemorate the new outposts, the museum just released The Eye by Fotografiska (teNeues), a monumental photography book featuring work by artists like Robert Mapplethorpe, Ren Hang, Gus Van Sant, and Annie Leibovitz, among many more. Featuring more than 250 photos by about 80 photographers, the book is a love letter to the camera and the way it transforms how we perceive the world.

Scottish photographer Albert Watson appreciates the power of photography more than most. Over five decades, he has established himself as a master of the medium, working across all genres. Whether photographing Michael Jackson for the cover of Invincible or Tupac for Juice, Watson has been creating iconic images since 1973, when he shot his first professional portrait of Alfred Hitchcock wringing the neck of a rubber chicken.

Watson wrote a rare essay, published in The Eye, reflecting on the elements that make a photograph unforgettable. VICE caught up with him recently to talk about the power of the medium, at a time when nearly everyone with a smartphone holds the power to create images and distribute them instantaneously.

Read the Full Story at Vice Online

Albert Watson, ‘Monkey with Gun, New York’, 1992

Categories: Art, Books, Photography, Vice

Erin M. Riley: Used Tape

Posted on May 30, 2018

“Things Left Behind” (2016). Courtesy Erin M. Riley and P.P.O.W.

With the election of Donald Trump, a powerful unravelling began – not just of the morals and ethics of the US government but of the tightly laced silence around sexual assault. For American textile artist Erin M. Riley, the election cycle was “a bizarre turning point,” sparking conversations with her mother and sisters about horrific encounters that they had kept secret from one another.

“It’s been a lot of sobbing,” Riley says with the calm and steady voice of a woman who has faced her demons and lived to tell the tale. “I’ve been through a lot of reflection about my experiences as well as other people: parents, siblings, family members, or in the media. I wanted to talk about how relationships start and evolve, along with the traumatic experiences that exist all at once. There’s no either/or. You can be turned on one day and then afraid the next.”

Reflecting on the multiplicity of experiences that inform identity, Riley took to the loom to weave meticulously crafted tapestries, detailing intimate scenes of womanhood in her new exhibition, Used Tape, at P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York (May 31 – June 30, 2018). Here, the artist presents a series of work that taps into memory, fantasy, masturbation, dating, self-care, food, pop culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence, to reclaim her power while simultaneously negotiating the impact of trauma with sensitivity and respect.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

“Violation” (2017). Courtesy Erin M. Riley and P.P.O.W.

Categories: Art, Dazed, Exhibitions, Women

Remembering Interview Magazine

Posted on May 29, 2018

Diana Ross on the cover of Interview magazine. Artwork Richard F. Bernstein

Debbie Harry on the cover of Interview magazine. Artwork Richard F. Bernstein

Last week, nearly 50 years after it first launched, Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine announced that it was ceasing publication. The large format periodical, which began as a ‘Monthly Film Journal’ in an effort to entice Hollywood to bankroll and distribute Warhol’s films, evolved over a period of five decades to become ‘The Crystal Ball of Pop’, chronicling the downtown scene.

Interview was the ultimate Warholian project, giving readers insider access to the pop cultural elite through a compelling blend of glamour photography and celebrity-on-celebrity conversations that sprawled decadently across the oversize pages of the magazine. From 1972 to the late 80s, Richard F. Bernstein gave it a stamp of distinction with his exquisitely rendered portraits of everyone from Grace Jones, David Bowie, and Diana Ross to Debbie Harry, Michael Jackson, and Bob Marley, among many others.

Under the auspices of editors like Bob Colacello, Ingrid Sischy, and Glenn O’Brien, Interview constantly reinvented itself, striking the perfect balance between art and celebrity, just like Warhol himself. Here, a handful of editors and contributors share their memories of working alongside Andy, Glenn, and Ingrid over the years.

Read the Full Story at AnOther Man

Grace Jones on the cover of Interview magazine. Artwork Richard F. Bernstein

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, AnOther Man, Art, Manhattan

Danny Lyon: The Destruction of Lower Manhattan

Posted on May 26, 2018

In 1966 at the age of 25, American photographer Danny Lyon returned to his native New York at the top of his game. Having completed his work on The Bikeriders and in the Civil Rights Movement as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, settled into an apartment in Lower Manhattan just as the neighbourhood was undergoing radical change.

Under the auspices of David Rockefeller, the Downtown Manhattan Association had been formed as part of a new program of urban renewal. Industries were decamping from Manhattan in search of greener shores, leaving the city abandoned and in an abject state of decay. The financial district was heading to midtown where they could erect shiny new skyscrapers; the Washington Street Market closed after the fruit and vegetable suppliers set up shop in New Jersey. All that remained were 19-century residential and industrial buildings.

Governor Nelson Rockefeller, David’s brother, already had plans for the construction of the World Trade Center in the works, and together they focused on a new vision for downtown New York. A plan was enacted that would wholesale erase the buildings and streets of lower Manhattan and in its place, a new neighbourhood would be built, one designed to attract middle and higher income people in the name of “urban renewal.”

Read the Full Story at Huck Online

Categories: 1960s, Art, Exhibitions, Huck, Manhattan, Photography

Olivier Mossett: Wheels

Posted on May 25, 2018

50 years ago, France was marked by a period of student uprisings known today as ‘May 68’. For nearly two months, millions of people joined in a series of occupations, demonstrations, and general strikes nationwide that brought the country to a halt. The protests ignited an artistic movement that embraced the independent spirit of radicals, rebels, and renegades.

Swiss artist Olivier Mosset was living in Paris at the time and became close with group of bikers who maintained an outlaw lifestyle. When he bought his first motorcycle, a US Army surplus Harley Davidson, he helped start a motorcycle club, a phenomenon wholly unknown in Europe at the time.

Mosset’s studio on the Rue de Lappe doubled up as a hub of radical painting, a garage and a clubhouse for the Marxist-influenced bikers. As a painter, Mosset created monochromatic, geometric abstractions that conceptually reduced the image to its formal roots – and yet he couldn’t deny the allure of the motorcycle. Throughout his career, Mosset found inspiration in its mechanical form, pairing his paintings with sculptural readymades in the mid-90s.

On June 8, Edition Patrick Frey will release Wheels, a retrospective of Mosset’s motorcycle work. Here Mosset looks back on enduring appeal of these icons of outlaw style.

Read the Full Story at AnOther Man

Categories: 1960s, AnOther Man, Art, Books

Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings

Posted on May 23, 2018

Sally Mann. Bean’s Bottom, 1991. Silver dye bleach print, 49.5 × 49.5 cm (19 1/2 × 19 1/2 in.) Private collection. © Sally Mann

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” William Faulkner wrote in the 1951 novel Requiem for a Nun. He understood the ways in which history is ever present to the point in which it casts a long shadow over our daily lives. It lingers and mingles until it dyes the color of our thoughts, camouflaging itself by hiding in plain sight.

Faulkner understood the nature of the American South, a land shrouded in myth and mystique, nestled in layers of illusion and untold histories. For the novelist, the South was not so much a place as it was an “emotional idea,” one that could be mined endlessly for stories that evoke the truth about who we were – and who we are.

American photographer Sally Mann shares this knowledge of the South. A native Virginia born in a hospital that had once been Stonewall Jackson’s home, Mann’s work is infused with mix of romantic and Gothic sensibilities that underscore her southern roots. In every image there is a sense of a past so profound that it pulls the present backwards until the very sense of when these images were made melts away.

Read the Full Story at Feature Shoot

Categories: Art, Books, Exhibitions, Feature Shoot, Photography

Hilma af Klint: Mundos Possiveis

Posted on May 21, 2018

Ain’t nothinn like getting the 25th anniversary issue of BUST Magazine in the mail and thinking on all the amazing work Laurie Henzel & Emily Rems have done throughout the years.

In one of those episodes of Psychic Friends Network, a little over a year ago I started saying, “I really want to write for BUST!” Then, a couple of weeks later Laurie hit me up with a plum assignment and we kept it moving from there.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to write a piece for the new issue on Hilma af Klint, the European painter whose abstract work predates that of Kandinsky et al. But she kept it under wraps throughout her life – and following her death as The High Masters advised.

The spirits understood the world as not ready for a woman to bring this to the world, and it is only now that historians are beginning to page through some 26,000 pages of notes and 1,200 works of art from this secret series.

What most touches me is the message that she brings to us: the resolution of contradiction and conflict through the understanding that life is an ever shifting balance of complements.

Categories: Art, Bust, Painting