After spending many years involved in the art world it became evident, to YOUNITY founders/artists Toofly and Alice Mizrachi (AM), that urban contemporary women artists were in need of a properly organized forum of exchange amongst themselves, the public at large and female youth artists on the rise. After only one year, the organization is emerging at the forefront of a global movement to establish platforms and infrastructure for urban contemporary women artists.  With an eye on the past, present and future, the collective embraces and includes, among others, legends Martha Cooper and Lady Pink, contemporary scenemakers Toofly and Swoon, urban inspired fine art creators Mizrachi and Meredith McNeal, photographers Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Abeni Garrett and, the YOUNITY Youth team.  Worldwide members include passionate graffitistas Faith47 (South Africa), Sofia Maldonado (Puerto Rico), MAD C (Germany) and Shiro (Japan), to name a few.

(Image: Martha Cooper, Alice Mizrachi, 2008, painting at We B* Girlz in Berlin, Germany)

Although the YOUNITY collective spans a diverse array of artforms and styles, one of its goals, to “…allow members to explore their own flavor while retaining their identity within the context of a collective body…”, is anchored by the collective’s roots in urban culture and that culture’s divinely appointed art form – Graffiti.  YOUNITY’s goals also include a commitment to the creation and documentation of a space specific to the expressions of contemporary urban women artists, a space that has largely been represented in popular culture as the domain of men. To this end the collective is involved in producing exhibitions, establishing an online presence and the publishing of a collector’s book series.

(Image: Martha Cooper, Toofly, 2008, painting at We B* Girlz in Berlin, Germany)

YOUNITY will be hosting its second annual exhibition, Heart & Soul, featuring the launch of the collective’s first book in its collector’s series, also entitled, Heart & Soul (self-published by YOUNITY Arts).  The book and the exhibition feature 60 artists and promises a site specific installation and video projection within the shows indoor/outdoor gallery space. Heart & Soul opens on October 17, 2008 and is on view until November 17, 2008, at Alphabeta in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For details click here.

(Images from left to right: Abeni Garrett, Heart & Soul (2008), book cover, and Abeni Garrett, Younity Collective, Queens, NY, 2008, documentation of a YOUNITY Collective meeting)

At first glance, 2D technological intangibility is what appears to be captured in the latest work of, Yale University M.F.A. candidate, Jaret Vadera.  A pixelated abstraction that the viewer can identify with via the technological zeitegist of the moment.  Or perhaps an alternate new media rendering of a timeless amoeba-like embryonic form suggesting the infiniteness of birth/creation.

(Image: Jaret Vadera, untitled, 2008, digital print from ink on mylar paintings merged with digital video stills.)

Vadera’s backlit digital prints comprised of ink on mylar paintings merged with digital video stills (above and below) represent the artist’s exploration of, “…the space where biology, technology and fiction intersect and how we ‘make sense’ of fragmented or ambiguous data.”  The works 2D form captures a moment in psycho-physical organization that highlights the process of meaning/value creation in the mind of technology, the mind of the individual and thus, the mind of the collective. The implied stoppage of time that reverberates from Vadera’s images causes a physical energetic sensation while viewing the work.  The question of how the process of data sense-making happens then moves from abstraction into the real world as the viewer becomes aware of his/her own subjective power in making reality. At this point, the viewer takes hold of movement and becomes a collaborator in the creative process through the imagination of where the image might complete itself beyond abstraction.

(Image: Jaret Vadera, untitled, 2008, digital print from ink on mylar paintings merged with digital video stills.)

In the artist’s digital images of screen scaptures of glitches in Skype conversations (below) the subjectivity of the human experience is highlighted even more.  The pixelated feel of the work creates a unique juxtaposition between human feeling and technological form. Which in turn, isolates the human experience at a higher octave stimulating deeper inquiry into the agency of “how”.  Vadera’s mission of inquiry, “…to draw parallels between neuronal/biological systems of processing information and technological ones…” uses Skype as a point of entry, the artist’s hand as a point of departure and the viewer as a point of completion.  Thereby re-imagining the cycle of re-birth, life and death for a technological age.

(Image: Jaret Vadera, untitled, 2008, digital print from Skype digital captures.)

Contact Jaret Vadera.

The first thing I think of when looking at Kendell Carter’s work is: FUN, with a refined touch. Something that maybe a lyrically dapper rapper like Slick Rick, from back in the day, might conjure up as a visual art aesthetic. Clean simple and straight to the point, yet clearly sophisticated in its delivery. Carter’s work is both a respectable nod to fun, one of the quintessential original elements of hip-hop culture, and a graceful rendition of a high art vibration choreographed with around the way materials. Most interesting is Carter’s sublime positioning of himself, through his artwork, as an intellectual heir to the hip-hop canon.

(Images left to right: Kendell Carter, Tradizzle Chairs (black Gucci), 2006,  re-upholstered Louis XIV armchairs: ripstop nylon and wood . Kendell Carter,  Kangol Lamps, 2006, Kangol hats, half-chrome light bulbs, light fixtures and metal bowls. Images courtesy the artist and moniquemeloche, Chicago.)

His work is probably accessible to most people through sound bites that include words like, “bling”, “ghetto” and “hip-hop”. Or even through an internal struggle over whether to love or hate a movement that has permeated global pop culture. But, for anyone to be so creative in their expression of an art form in a context outside of that art forms spiritual home, suggests a much deeper motivation and message. To this end, the works somewhat abstract and object oriented nature is less of a comment on hip-hop culture and more of an ode to it.

(Image: Kendell Carter, Cultural Construct Experiment (Black), installation view at Mark Moore Gallery, 2007.)

Carter’s play on notions of high art and low art, decorative arts and ghetto aesthetics, is read most easily as a postmodern dance, but for those tuned to the spaces between the notes his work gives honor to a classic American art form, hip-hop, that has now become kitsch rap. (Similar to smooth jazz – easy on the intellect, comforting in its familiarity - in comparison to a classic Coltrane cut - soulful, innovative, transcendental.) Through sculpture, installation, painting and mixed media, Carter’s art speaks to a discourse on form, substance and language that can happen within and across multiple layers of culture. Elegantly tiered Kangol and wave cap hanging lamps re-purpose aesthetic and process oriented artifacts of hip hop style. Head gear that once perched atop the sacred mind of many an MC, and bubble jackets and hoodies that styled and protected the body, now lay back and chill in both contemporary and historical space. Letting all who enter know the art form known as hip-hop is far more than meets the eye.

(Image: Kendell Carter, #1 (I love you) from the Series Sweet Things, 2007, graphite on paper doily. Courtesy the artist and moniquemeloche, Chicago.)

Kendell Carter lives and works in Long Beach, CA and is represented by moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL.

What is the value of an “art biennial”? For Dan Cameron, Founding Director and Chief Curator of US Biennial, Inc. and Prospect.1 New Orleans, it’s a twofold opportunity. Firstly, to bring the world together through the largest international exhibition of contemporary art ever presented in the United States, and secondly, through that action, to foster an idealized view of the world via an imposed harmony.  Although the goal sounds like a beautiful bouquet of flowers, the process reveals the blood, sweat and tears required to pull it off as of October 2008.  At the most basic level the artistic inspiration imbued in the land and people of New Orleans, Louisiana (both the ancestors and the living), represent the projects foundation.  Next up comes Dan Cameron’s 20+ year romance with the city, the devastation of hurricane Katrina and his longing to give something back to a place where his soul found its peace. And finally, this trajectory has culminated in the birth of the idea, concept and manifestation of Prospect.1.  Known for Jazz, Creole life, Blues and Mardi Gras to most of the world, New Orleans has a deeper layer of rich and intricate popular local culture that is being re-built one brick and heart at a time post-Katrina.  According to Cameron, ”New Orleans is our Venice,” and is to this day under-recognized as one of the United State’s most valuable artistic treasures.  Prospect.1 New Orleans is Cameron’s way of making a contribution not only to the re-building of one of America’s sacred cities, but to a new chapter in the identity of the country as a whole and the establishment of New Orleans as a major center of contemporary visual art exhibitions.

(Left to right: Dan Cameron, Founding Director and Chief Curator of US Biennial, Inc. and Prospect.1 New Orleans. Mark Bradford, photographed by Juan Carlos Avendano.)

Mark Bradford, one of seventy-five artists invited to participate in Prospect.1 New Orleans, speaks of a very thoughtful and challenging process when it comes to the development of his work for the project.  His initial open-ended exploration of the Lower 9th Ward led to a working relationship with a couple, Keith and Chandra, and their organization L-9, the only non-profit in the area, as well as an organic unfolding of experience and artistic inquiry.  Recognizing that all biennials have a different context, Bradford immediately felt the “heavy” context of the Lower 9th Ward, while simultaneously watching a truth unfold - life exists after devastation.  This experience not only tested his resolve, but made Bradford realize, “I had to believe that what I do has value.”  One way Bradford’s cultural capital revealed its value was through a fundraiser for L-9 that raised enough money for the organization to really get up and running. Now several other artists are also creating projects in the Lower 9th Ward for Prospect.1 with L-9 acting as a cultural hub in the neighborhood.  Both Bradford’s and Cameron’s non-object oriented collaboration with L-9 and the city of New Orleans respectively, reflect the possibilities of art and artists as tools in the economic and cultural recovery of communities. 

(L-9 Center for the Arts, Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans, Louisiana.)

In a city that deals with disaster through celebration and resilience, Prospect.1’s use of art and creativity as a tool of empowerment suggests a new direction for a red hot art market.  And, as Bradford is careful to note, the possibility (not the responsibility) for artists to pick up the conversation that pulsates beneath the surface of Prospect.1 as a biennial, is ripe for consideration. 

(Mark Bradford, 1 Cat Seen, Ark Project, 9th Ward, New Orleans, 2008, poster)

Other artists who will exhibit work at Prospect.1 New Orleans,  in addition to Mark Bradford, include: Wangechi Mutu, Julie Mehretu, Gajin Fujita, Sanford Biggers, Fred Tomaselli, William Kentridge, Cai Guo Qiang and many more…Prospect.1 New Orleans will open to the public on November 1, 2008 and run until January 18, 2009.

A while back I heard a quote, “No one chooses to be an artist. You just are.”  So, in a sense, it’s a spiritual calling and the work produced a reflection of the inner evolution, excavation and unveiling of a human being - for better or for worse.  In the case of Barkley L. Hendricks, it appears he’s had a pretty groovy journey and one that is 30+ years later, entirely of the moment.  Hendricks’ achievement of a certain liberation through the sensuality of the body in his work is timeless.  A lived existence emerges that is not born primarily of rationality, but of swagger and spirit.  An aura permeates the physical presence of his subjects that precludes and overpowers the projection of a storyline.

(Images from left to right: Barkley L. Hendricks, Misc. Tyrone (Tyrone Smith), 1976. Oil and magna on linen canvas, 72″x50 1/4″. Courtesy of the artist. Barkley L. Hendricks, Bahsir (Robert Gowens), 1975. Oil and acrylic on linen canvas, 83 1/2″ x 66″. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University.)

Just as Hendricks’ work reverberates in the African American contemporary art scene through artists like Mickalene Thomas, Kehinde Wiley and Jeff Sonhouse, he reflects the liberated spirit of Harlem Renaissance painter, William H. Johnson. A description of Johnson’s work by Art Historian David Driskell in Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America, is quite apropos to Hendricks’ own oeuvre, “His self-imposed aesthetic rules and restrictions, relating to what he called ‘primitive painting,’ freed him from academic traditions and permitted a lyrical artistry to flow from his brush.”  Although Hendricks’ work is not exactly primitive it is most definitely lyrical, and has often lived outside the confines of the academic and art establishments.  Hendricks’ painting of portraits that show three views of the same subject (i.e. Bahsir (Robert Gowens), above, and Sir Charles, Alias Willie Harris) suggest a lineage to Johnson’s own, Self Portrait (triple), housed at the Hampton University Museum, and  taken together, reinforce the notion of a gaze that allows for the multidimensional nature of man. 

(Images left to right: Barkley L. Hendricks, Icon for Fifi, 1982. Oil and combination leaf on lined canvas, 60 1/4″ x 50 1/4″. Courtesy of the artist. Barkley L. Hendricks, Tequila, 1978. Oil and acrylic on linen canvas, 60 3/4″ x 50 1/4″. Collection of Butler Institute for American Art, Youngstown, OH.)

This multidimensional nature alongside, the vibrant auras captured in many of Hendricks’ portraits, finds it lyrical metaphor in soul music.  Without even hearing a sound, his work leaps of the wall (or page) and into a smooth groove that is oh so divinely and sweetly, Black American.

Hendricks’ work is currently on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University until July 13, 2008.  The show is accompanied by a highly recommended catalog with essays from multidimensional art world cognoscenti: Franklin Sirmans, Trevor Schoonmaker and Thelma Golden.

From 3/2/08 - 8/4/08, Making It Together: Women’s Collaborative Art and Community will be on view at The Bronx Museum of the Arts.  The exhibition highlights the response of women artists to the Feminist Movement of the 1970’s and their subsequent use of collective artistic production to engage communities and address social issues. “Artist teams and groups have become an increasingly fashionable mode in recent years,” says guest curator critic Carey Lovelace. “Feminist Art laid the groundwork for this, challenging ideas about authorship, particularly the myth of the solo male artist.”  Pictured below is the work of Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz, whose landmark, multi-part event, Three Weeks in May (1977), was at the forefront of the movement against sexual violence. For 2008 work with a graffiti twist, contemporary graffiti artists Toofly, Lady Pink, DONA, and MUCK created an installation, at the entrance to the Museum, that includes paintings of four women activists. Toofly’s portrait is of Elvira Arellano, a Mexican mother and immigrant who was deported, while her son Saul was left in the United States because of his American citizenship. Elvira has since become a voice for immigrant rights. The installation also includes 70+ names of various historical women activists. Toofly told Cultureserve, “It’s a big collaboration. It looks like a graffitied up wall with realistic images and facts about women’s issues and fights throughout the years.” (See the FLAVOR section to view MUCK’s portrait of Gloria Steinem.)

(Three Weeks in May (1977), Performance by Suzanne Lacy, with Leslie Labowitz. Photo courtesy of Lacy/Labowitz) 

Bi-coastal artist Adia Millett has found a new space in which to create that lies somewhere between her signature miniature houses and museum comissioned installations, a garage.  The project, Change, is an ongoing installation that changes every week inside a 10′ x 14′ garage space in Southern California. Designed to house memories, dreams, stage sets and beyond, the installations are meant to push thought outside the box we call “reality”. The works take on a second life on-line where a photographic representation of them accompanied by wordplay by Adia can be viewed by the public. Click here to view Change.

(Garage, 2008 by Adia Millett)

Canary Island born and London based artist Karina Beltran has exhibited work in London, Madrid, Dakar and the Canary Islands.  Pictured below is her work APARICIONES. Launderette., one example of a style that embodies the experience of human reflection and the inevitability solitude.  Her work will be on view at CIRCA Puerto Rico in April 2008 with Galeria Raquel Ponce.  View more here.

(APARICIONES. Launderette., 2006, by Karina Beltran)

Judy C. is at it again.  Ms. Chicago along with her non-profit, Through The Flower, is launching her first juried New Mexico Feminist art show. The exhibition entitled, New Mexico Feminist Art: Feminists under 40, will be on view on-line and at the galleries of Through the Flower and the Belen Hotel in Belen, New Mexico, 3/3/08-5/30/08.  Whether you appreciate Chicago’s aesthetic sensibilities or not, there is no arguing the fact that she compiled a priceless archive of western women’s history in her controversial landmark work of art, The Dinner Party, now housed at The Brooklyn Museum.  Kudos to her for efforts to restore the Divine Feminine to its rightful place in human consciousness!

(Untitled by Anonymous, 2008, by Diana McClure)

It should be clear by now that this issue of Cultureserve is about self-representation. A combination of generation x, y and z seem to be calling out in a unified voice: it’s time to reprezent! Take over the media and the market and put out our own images of self.  A chorus of echoes around the globe is saying we’re not just poor, diseased and struggling, we’re living life! 

This month’s FLAVA feature, London based Kali Arulpragasam (sister to M.I.A.), told Cultureserve part of her motivation for her TOURISM (Terrorism Affects Tourism) collection of breast-plate necklaces and earrings (a homage to hip-hop’s dookie gold era) came from the media’s focus on negative representations of countries from the global south (a.k.a. the third world), “…when you google Iraq, for example, you get images of American soldiers with guns in rubble.  This is not Iraq! Iraq has culture, music, fashion, children playing, sports champions, great architecture, etc.  I wanted to create a positive tourism poster for the most dangerous countries that we are told we cannot visit…a tourist poster portraying a proud identity.”  In regard to her home country Sri Lanka, Kali wanted to reverse the media’s visual trend - promotion of men and guns as a metaphor for heroism, “I wanted to speak for the majority, for the women and children, for the beautiful landscapes, the amazing wildlife that are now largely forgotten or undiscovered.”    PS - You don’t want to miss a peak at the TOURISM look book/photographic masterpiece covering multiple countries from Colombia to Sudan, with around the way girls from each country representin’ in their national costume…it’s off the chain!

(Above: Sri Lanka and Afghanistan breast-plate necklaces in silver & gold. Each piece is light weight, hand cut, plated and linked to form a painting - available at www.superfertile.com)

In like fashion, NY/Johannesberg based photographer Ayana V. Jackson, has sought to “increase the visibility of African descendant communities worldwide,” through a holistic visual representation of a peoples’ living history. In her latest work, she questions the gaze of mainstream media in relation to people of the African diaspora through her own images of youth culture and contemporary lifestyle in post ‘94 South Africa.  Her work conveys a sense of honor, respect and mystical sensuality that renders a sense of peace in the viewer and inevitably diminishes the power of sensationalized mainstream media imagery.

In Ayana’s artist statement on the work, she comments, “…international television and print media have done an impressive job of continuously reminding us of the country’s poverty and HIV/AIDS crisis.  Emaciated bodies in clinics, pot bellied children in rural villages…these images are fixed in our mind…Aside from photography and footage from Mandela’s release and subsequent election, the images found in the international public’s memory of South Africa are, in my opinion, disproportionately loaded with conflict and misery.”

(Images: Shosholoza I, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2007 (left) and Shosholoza II, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2007 (right))

Ayana’s previous project, El Negro Mas Chulo: African by Legacy, Mexican by Birth, explores the present-day culture of African-Mexicans in Mexico in collaboration with fellow artist Marco Villalobos through image, text and film. This particular living history has yet to make its debut on the global media stage and is just beginning to carve out a place in the collective memory of Mexicans, Chicanos and the African diaspora.  It remains to be seen how this will play out in the 21st century, but Jackson and Villalobos have certainly contributed a voice of quality into the media mix.  The project has traveled to New York, San Antonio, San Francisco and Los Angeles so far.

(Images: Con Tanta Luz en la Voz/With So Much Light in the Voice, Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, Mex, 2005 (top left), Entre Colores y Dias/Between Days and Colors, Chacahua, Oaxaca, Mex, 2003 (right) and  La Puerta de Dona Bertina/Mrs. Bertina’s Door, Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, Mex, 2003 (bottome left))

Read more about self-liberated African and Indigenous maroon societies of Mexico on the Mas Chulo website. 

Art Basel & two variations on collaboration with “the walls”…. 

By the time the month of December rolls around in NYC, it’s time to hit the beach - out of town.  So why not mix a little business and pleasure. Enter Art Basel Miami 2007.  The amount of satellite art fairs at this years event swelled to over 20 between Miami Beach and downtown Miami.  The sheer numbers were overwhelming so depending on your objective you either go with the flow or set up a strict schedule.  Needless to say, my travel partners, the artists Toofly and Alice Mizrachi, and I planned our trip last minute, missed flights and/or arrived without knowing our local hosts.  So we stuck with a strategy based on spontaneity - since it seemed to be pre-determined by the cosmos.  When you go with the flow, you never know what might go down, so as it happens we ran into some fellow graffiti artist friends, who ran into to some artists, who had a blank wall they were scheduled to paint the next day, they told Toofly to grab a can of spraypaint and she proceeded to commemorate her presence in Miami.  Hailing from Queens, but known in the 5 boroughs for her “around the way girl” character, Toofly has payed her dues in black books, on walls and at NYC’s School of Visual Arts since her start in the rebellious artistic spirit of the 90’s street graffiti movement. Her inspiration, found in NYC’s urban landscape, fuels her skilled drawings that translate raw feeling into street masterpieces.

After a night on the streets with the girls, we spent a relaxing day that turned into an evening at Kehinde Wiley’s annual Fish Fry poolside at the Sagamore.  The relaxed event offers folks staying through Sunday a chance to leisurely mingle with fellow artists, eat, drink and savor their last hours in warm weather.  It was here that I got to chat it up over cocktails with the artist, Thom Flynn.  Based in DC, Flynn excavates materials for his work (layered paper on wood panel) from billboards and street posters found on abandoned buildings and contstruction sites in any major metropolitan city.  Invoking the power of the spontaneous stroll through the city, Flynn’s work flips the script on the advertising overload of today’s consumer culture, while at the same time, offering a new riff on sample and re-mix aesthetics via his re-use of found materials and the cyclical nature of his work.

Miguel Paredes particular brand of pop art transcends borders on multiple levels.  Although he is based in Miami, his wonder years were spent in New York mixing it up in the pop art milieu of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring while at the same time soaking in the sumptuous aesthetic birth of the New York City graffiti scene. There is no doubt that the layers of paint in his images speak volumes about the layers of life experience that can be soaked up by individuals who truly live.  Legendary graffiti painter Lee Quinones told Cultureserve, “I see his work as an honest visual memoir documenting the tumoltuous dawn of folkloric New York. Miguel is a vivid reminder of this era — he is charismatic and funny, and yet strikingly fierce as a thinking artist.” So, if you missed his November B-BOY show in NYC at Capla Kesting Fine Art don’t worry, he’s on view in two locations at Art Basel Miami this December.  True to form, Miguel’s work is appearing in two art shows - one for the mainstream (Kent Gallery 12/3-11) and one for those who like it “guerrilla style” (Fountain Miami 12/6-9)).  His work at Fountain will feature a new series of paintings of legendary Salsa musicians. (Below: Motherhood on view at Kent Gallery and Le Christ from the B-BOYS series)

For the past couple of years, I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying the work of London based architect David Adjaye right around the corner from my house. The private Brooklyn home he constructed for the artists Lorna Simpson and James Casebere stands out in a neighborhood of traditional brownstones like an inquisitive leap into the future.  This past month, I had the chance to hear him speak about this home, and his other public and private constructions, at Columbia University. Once again, I was quite impressed. His desire to re-imagine the urban environment and re-invest in it has materialized in numerous neighborhoods in London and now, more and more in the United States.  What resonated most for me were his comments on references and inspiration.  He discussed using artifacts as a strategy (ancient, crafted, non-architectural artifacts that represent the manifestation of abstract ritual into simple form).  For example, his inspiration for the building Rivington Place (London) rested in the jagged forms of Mende Helmet Masks of the Sande Women’s Associations of Sierra Leone and Liberia and, his inspiration for the multi-colored block structure of The Idea Store Library (White Chapel) came from similar patterns found in Kente cloth.  His use of ancient artifacts as “DNA” for his modern day architectural creations offers a powerful, innovative and futuristic take on the relationship between Africa and the West and where it can go.

(Photos, left to right: The Idea Store Library by Timothy Soar and Rivington Place by Ed Reeve)

Younity’s premiere art exhibition, The Crossover: A Fusion of Female Stylez, Ideaz and Skillz, this past month in New York City was a smashing success. Opening night was crowded from the minute the doors opened until the crowd’s final collective toast of Nuvo for Her Sparkling Pink Vodka in champagne glasses!  Speaking of pink, Lady Pink, the iconic female artist for a host of the show’s participants, blessed the crowd with her presence along with Shiro who came in from Japan and several NY based artists. Younity’s founders Alice Mizrachi and Toofly put together a super tight roster of local and international artists who truly represented for the ladies. Watch out for a lot more from this developing international women’s artist collective…

Unbreakable, acrylic on canvas, 30×40, by Toofly

Artwork from The Crossover will be on sale online until December 25th.

During the month of October my art + culture stroll touched down in Harlem and Brooklyn where I found free expression, black owned businesses, Afro-Latin culture and connection with the great spirit, alive and well.  First off, my man Ernesto Vigo, host of Elevations Radio, broadcast live from Harlem, dropped his first CD, Elevations presents: Future Soul Sessions, Volume One, Compiled and Mixed by Ernesto Vigo.  Ernesto told Cultureserve, “Future Soul Sessions represents an evolution in black soulful music: black by virtue of its jazz–funk–hip hop influences, and future from the infusion of forward-thinking electronically produced beats and polyrhythmic sounds, that are often accompanied by soulful vocals that elevate the spirit and stimulate the body…”  Look for more volumes in this series produced by Elevations for Bagpak Records that highlights producers from New York City and beyond. (Album artwork: Ebon Heath)

My other musical excursion occured live, in Spanish Harlem, at Camarada’s Thursday night jam session with Yerba Buena, featuring Afro-Rican, Bomba y Plena musica!  The younger Nuyorican generation was definitely representin’ for their Puerto Rican roots music and the spirit was alive. Watch!

Inspired by local vibrations I went in search of local artistic flavor in the bourough of Brooklyn, my homestead…First stop was Solomon’s Porch Cafe in Bed Stuy, where I stopped by to see Spoken Word poet, Toni Blackman.  The backdrop for her performance was the art on display, the work of Patrick Wah, who I found out is part of a family art empire Studio Wah.  Below is the artwork (This is Life) of Marcel Wah, Patrick’s brother.  The family also runs the Art for Humanity program which donates a portion of proceeds from art sales to the non-profit of your choice.  In addition, Marcel is the force behind the first of its kind, International Caribbean Art Fair going on NOW in NYC, 11/1 - 11/4!

Next stop was Saje Lounge and Cafe in Crown Heights where artists from Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haitian born, Brooklyn based artist, Shakespeare, are on display. In my hood, Clinton Hill/Fort Greene, a new coffee shop recently opened called Bidonville Coffee & Tea.  The term Bidonville means shantytown in French and in turn suggests a need for change. To that end Bidonville sells only fair trade coffee and teas, by the cup and beans by the pound.  On view, in their quaint down to earth space, is work from the series “Lace Mitosis” by the artist Zoe Pettijohn. In this series she explores the connections between repetition and reproduction from a geometrical standpoint. (Below: Lace Mitosis 7, gouache on paper, 11×14)

A few blocks away Deborah Goldstein has abstract works, from her series on conception and bi-racial motherhood, on view at the clothing boutique addy & ferro. And, just a few more blocks away on Atlantic Avenue between Fort Greene and Prospect Heights a new cafe/gallery called Frank White hosted the opening of the show THE DEAD UP SERIES, featuring work by One9 (Skulla, on left) and Rob Hinds (Immersion, on right), on view through November 17th. The spot named after one of the revered hip hop artist Biggie Small’s alter egos, is a few blocks from the streets where B.I.G. grew up. A small coffee is a “Lil’ Kim”, while a large is, you guessed it, a “Biggie”. 

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).

First off I want to just say, what is going on with the British Invasion?!  Some of you probably know of JUST JACK, but damn! This is taking me back to English Beat and The Pet Shop Boys. Finally some decent pop music, the US better wake up…Speaking of music from abroad, I also had a chance to see my favorite Venezuelans, Los Amigos Invisibles, give a non-stop body-rockin’ performance on the water at 14th street in Manhattan. Zap Mama took over the stage at Central Park for a global eclectic musically satisfying Sunday afternoon.  And, Benji B hopped across the pond from London for a DJ set hosted by Giant Step.

StoneBrown Studio backyard BBQ - Sat, August 4

Nothing like a backyard BBQ in BK (a.k.a. Brooklyn). This one, hosted at StoneBrown’s Brownstone, included intimate live performances for a crowd of about 75. Grammy winner Gordon Chambers sang a couple songs from his latest album, and everyone agreed there was an R&B/pop star in the making on site, Plushus…  

Metaphysical Arts Conference at the United Nations - Thurs, August 16

200 guests, including myself, attended the Conference on BIO-ENERGETIC WELLNESS, put on by the UN Staff Recreation Council, Society of Enlightenment and Transformation.  Housed in the largest conference room on sight, where many a global intellectual  battle has gone down, I’m proud to say, I participated in marking the space with some peaceful vibrations through meditation and prayer. Specialists and leaders in cutting edge technology from bio-energetic healing, energy healing and new realms of thought engaged the crowd on topics from feng shui and astrology to crystals and nutri-ceuticals. Now I know folks are probably saying, “what the hell is that?”  All, that scientific, metaphysical, cosmic, spiritual thought/energy that is behind Star Wars, The Matrix, P-Funk and George Clinton…it’s that minus the Hollywood….

Si*se on the island - Sat, August 18

Si*se did not perform on the isle of Manhattan, the show was on Governor’s Island, only a 7 minute ferry ride away, but lightyears away in terms of relaxation.  The day was a perfect 70 degree blue sky sunburst.  The stage stood at the end of a long meadow of grass hugged by trees on either side.  On top of all the natural beauty and latin electronica grooves, the food vendor selection was scrumptous!  Jamaican delicacies, including jerk chicken, fried fish and rice and peas totally meshed with the laid back vibe.  Some brothas from Teaneck, New Jersey blessed the crowd with to die for fruit salads and smoothies (Get Fruity) that will soon be available in their new Harlem location on 127th street.  To top it off…chocolate cake…..pure heaven.

West Indian Day Parade, Brooklyn - Monday, September 3

Somewhere between Kingston Avenue and Troy Avenue on Eastern Pkwy, where it all went down….!

Rush Arts - Art For Life Art Auction Preview Show - Friday, July 20 - Rush Arts Gallery and Resource Center’s annual Art For Life Art Auction had their preview opening at their gallery in Chelsea (NYC) tonite.  55 artists donated work to benefit arts education for underserved, under-recognized and disadvantaged youth in NYC. Some of the artists with work on view were: Kehinde Wiley, William Cordova, Jennie Baptiste, Adia Millett, Mickalene Thomas, Pierre Obando, Kambui Olujimi, and many more…

Navin Norling, Dixie                    Jennie Baptiste, Dancehall Queen

House Music in the Park - Sunday, July 22 - Once again, folks were gettin’ busy in Fort Greene Park to classic house music bangers under a Brooklyn sunset, at this annual SOUL SUMMIT summer party.  The old heads were not playin’ on the get-down!  Dancers came out of the woodwork while fans, friends and shorties lounged on blankets and picnic’d on green hills givin’ praise in the Church of House.

Russell & Kimora Lee Simmons ART FOR LIFE - Saturday, July 28 - For the last eight years, Russell & Kimora Lee’s annual Art For Life East Hampton Benefit has raised funds for arts education for underserved, under-recognized and disadvantaged youth.  Art donated by 55 artists, and luxury items (incl. a trip to South Africa, Range Rover’s and handbags), were auctioned off under a royal tent at the Simmons’ East Hampton home with sounds provided by DJ MOS.  A full course meal, open bar, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck, luxury outhouses, and packed Baby Phat gift bags kept the crowd of approximately 400 (incl. Babyface, Chamillionaire and Nia Long) busy and satisfied. Judith Jamison and Forest Whitaker were two of the 2007 honorees.  Whitaker spoke of how his exposure to the arts as a youth showed him, “…the possibility of expressing my spirit and my soul through the music of life…”Below Artists: Carlos Sandoval,  Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow,  William Cordova. Artwork: Diana McClure.

Spiritual South & DJ Chicken George - Monday, July 30 - Once again Giant Step’s gig at the Hudson Hotel was off the hook for dancers and progressive music minds.  Spiritual South brought some super innovative underground sounds/mixes from the streets of London that might be some of the best I’ve heard in a long time!  However, he was preceded by DJ Chicken George, outta Austin, Texas, who certainly brought a style totally unexpected from the dirty western south. One that offered quite a bit of sonic pleasure…

CASA CANDELA, San Juan, Puerto Rico - Sunday, July 1 - A quiet storm is brewing in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It’s been going on for a while and you’re lucky if you wind up blowing in on it’s gentle breeze.  Entrepreneur/Creative Ingenue, Pablo Rodriguez, has been at the helm of an artistic evolution in Old San Juan as founder/owner/creator of the Candela Art & Music Festival, Candela Bar, Bodega Chic Restaurant/Bar, Candela Gallery, a record label, etc.  Peep the view I caught from the rooftop of his guesthouse Casa Candela…..You can catch Pablo/Candela Gallery at the SCOPE Art Fair in the Hamptons July 27th-29th.

Working Playground - Mon, June 4 - Working Playground’s Urban Arts Festival Fundraiser event was held in NYC’s West Village. Student artwork was on display and auctioned, there were live performances in Poetry and African Dance, and a student film was featured. Presenters included NYC legend, FAB 5 FREDDY, and The Wire’s, Michael Kenneth Williams. Guests were treated to sushi, sake cocktails and lots of love. I actually shedded some tears it was so touching…. Watch a student film. (photos: Marcia Moosnick)

Bushwick, Brooklyn - Tuesday, June 19 - Meanwhile on the other side of town….This link was sent to me….Time Multimedia: Hard Times in Brooklyn…..A Serbian photographer discovers the mean streets of Bushwick with music by Dr. Octagon….Charlie Ahearn: Wild Style the Sampler - Friday, June 22 The Powerhouse Arena’sexhibition opening, Charlie Ahearn: Wild Style the Sampler, was off the hook. So much love. The heart and soul of hip hop was alive and well, if only for one night. Grandmaster Caz and Busy Bee got busy and reminded me of how a real hip hop party gets done. B-girls and B-boys rocked all night and legendary hip hop culture aficionados like DOZE and Fab 5 Freddy perculated in the mix. To top it off Ahearn’s, classic hip hop film, Wild Style, was screened live and direct under the stars and the Brooklyn Bridge, making it a perfect evening for all the hip hop lovebirds cozied up on the grass along Dumbo’s waterfront.

3rd Annual Hip Hop Festival - Saturday, June 23 - Another day on the waterfront of Dumbo. Perfect 80 degree, no humidity, weather with a breeze caressed the ample crowd for another day of hip hop history brought to you by Brooklyn Bodegaand hosted by Ralph McDaniels (Video Music Box is still going!). Large Professor, Mad Skillz, Jeru the Damaga, Buckshot, Wu Tang, and more graced the stage. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz declared the day a Holiday - Brooklyn Hip Hop Day - and busted a rhyme. Dres of Black Sheepperformed tracks from his new album that sounded like they might work for the over 30 hip hop crowd? Could a new genre be born? If so I have to ask, where is Special Ed?…As we rolled out through the cobblestoned high rise streets of Dumbo we saw FAT JOE cruise by driving his white Bentley looking for parking…Later we heard he made a special appearance to co-sign with Ghostface to close out the show…only in Brooklyn.