Art + Culture Diaries #2
Fall is upon us, so no more free summer concerts where I can galavant under the sun and lounge to soul satisfying melodies in numerous parks throughout the city. Thus, I have turned my eye to various gallery exhibitions throughout the metropolis known as New York, and beyond. My first stop was the show U Can’t Touch Dis: New Asian Art at Zone: Chelsea Center for the Arts. What can I say, it was refreshing to see some state-side based Asian artists gettin’ up in the mainstream NY art scene. Susan Lee-Chun’s Camouflage (Part II – The Escape) series stood out – for me. Being born in New England around the Boston Brahmins and the Irish Catholics, I cultivated an acute appreciation for plaid, and my “escape”. An experience that was obviously overwhelmingly familiar to Miami based artist Lee-Chun, who explores race, identity and politics with a dash of humor in her work.
The artist Yun Bai, based in LA, informed me of the show which includes her new work, I want a benefactor who doesn’t want to go down my pants #1, an extension of her series of work entitled Porn Flowers. What I find most intriguing about Yun’s journey as an artist is her attempt to re-define the traditional virgin/whore dichotomy through the merging of pornographic imagery and flowers into a unified whole. A process where the flower emerges as the dominant identity, and one that suggests identity lies far beyond the sexual. The show is on view through 10/13/07. Yun Bai’s first Los Angeles solo show is also on view through 10/27/07 at Bert Green Fine Art.
(Images: Copyrighted by Zone: Chelsea Center for the Arts / Lee-Chun artwork Courtesy of artist & Spinello Gallery)
Another NYC exhibition that packed a powerful punch was Adia Millet’s solo show, Blind Premonition, at Mixed Greens. Millet’s construction and installation of miniature houses paired with photographs of the interiors of these same houses forces viewers to question notions of perspective and intimacy. The intense up-close power of the photographs in relation to the tiny intricate an delicate homes constructed by Millet, offers a strong metaphor for the questionable weight and truth of our thoughts and beliefs. The show is on view through 10/6/07.
The Wildstyle show at Dissident Display Gallery in Washington DC, noted on the last issue of Cultureserve, was a smashing success. As promised old school legend Busy Bee came through and dropped some rhymes and Charlie Ahearn, writer, producer and director of Wildstyle, signed books. The diverse crowd was definitely pleased to get some authentic love at home in the nation’s capital. While in DC, I had the chance to go by another one of the handful of progressive galleries in the area, PROJECT 4. On view were some to die for photographs (if you have a science fiction jones or love landscapes) by Paris based artist, Cedric Delsaux. The show entitled Landscapes/Star Wars on Earth showcased some incredible perspective on the terrain that humans inhabit, from beaches to mountains, and digital images that combine C-prints of stark Parisian suburbs and Star Wars figurines. The vastness of space that the work implies, from the literal to the imagined, coupled with a sublimely subtle appreciation of color tonalities, renders a one of a kind viewing experience. The show is on view through 10/20/07. Below: “footbal dans la plaine” by Cedric Delsaux
Last but not least, Marisa E a.k.a. Ritzy P, sent me a link to photos from the 9/13/07 opening of The Sonic Entrance exhibition in Los Angeles. Curated by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca and his wife Alma, the show of P-Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz and Techno artworks featured work by: George Clinton (funk music innovator/artist: Parliament-Funkadelic); Overton Loyd (artist: Parliament-Funkadelic); Hideki Nakajima (art director/designer: code / Ryuichi Sakamoto / stop-rokkasho.org); Man One (graffiti artist: Crewest); Kiyoshi Takami (designer: View From Above); Ritzy Periwinkle (photographer / designer); Sage Cole (artist); Kofie One (graffiti artist: Draftsmen); Marka 27 (graffiti artist: Minigods toys); Brent Rollins (designer: ego trip); Ishiura (designer: TGB design.); B+ (photographer/filmmaker: mochilla, keepintime, brasilintime); Hilda Garcia (visual artist); Naheed Choudhry (photographer: naheedence); Keith Tamashiro (designer: Soap Design); Diana McClure (photographer/writer: Cultureserve); and, Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca (artist/writer: chamanvision, Axis, Los Hermanos, Deep Space).
