Last night was the 11th edition of The Montclair Art Walk, although I’m a tad bit embarrassed to admit that it was my first time attending it! A lot of the venues listed were not art galleries, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but at the end of the night, I thought it was great. While I certainly enjoyed the art galleries I did see, I’ve always been a fan of art in unexpected places (hence Artsology’s sister site, The Arts Adventurer), and thought the whole event was very well done.
My first stop of the night was the Montclair Library. Visitors were greeted outside by these two inflatable sculptures by an artist named “Bayard.” I’m trying to find something – anything – about Bayard online, but Google searches are bringing me to a dead-end, so Bayard, if you see this, give us a shout.
I did see something, however, suggesting that these two sculptures are supposed to represent dogs, and are meant as a play on the two lions that sit out front of the New York Public Library. Below left we have “Big Fat Dog Asleep On Her Belly,” and below right we have “Fu.” They kind of remind me of the inflatable sculptures by Sharon Englestein that I saw at the Grounds for Sculpture Museum Building in Hamilton, NJ, last summer.
You’ve probably heard all of the news about the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch lately, how CEO Mike Jeffries has said that “a lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” And now there’s a lot of talk about a video where a guy buys the clothes and gives them to people on Skid Row as his means of protest. We noticed something else when taking a look at the A&F website – they’re ripping off Roy Lichtenstein! Check out this tee-shirt and compare it to Lichtenstein’s painting … looks pretty similar, wouldn’t you say? I did a Google search, and don’t see any reference to Abercrombie & Fitch having a licensing agreement with the Roy Lichtenstein Estate. But then again, one could say that Lichtenstein “ripped off” the original comics which he copied for his paintings … what do you think?
Heartside Ministry began in 1983 as a small outreach to the homeless and disenfranchised people of the street, on a blighted section of Division Avenue in Grand Rapids, MI. In a neighborhood all but abandoned by businesses and avoided by many, Heartside took up its work to help the most disadvantaged residents of the streets.
Heartside Gallery and Studio was initiated approximately thirteen years ago, offering a supportive and safe environment for creating self-taught and intuitive art. The artists come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Many have experienced (or are experiencing) the disadvantages and hardships of homelessness. Others suffer from various emotional, physical or mental disabilities. The artists of the neighborhood speak honestly from their experiences of being marginalized, disenfranchised or largely ignored by society. Beautiful, vibrant, colorful images pour forth feelings of hope, and are full of intelligence, insight, whimsy and grace.
The art is for sale, most pieces are priced between $10 & $40 and proceeds directly benefit the individual artist. The ministry receives 10% of the proceeds, which it uses to help pay for the artist’s free supplies, and the artists earn the remaining 90%.
In addition to the gallery space, Heartside also has an Etsy page where you can buy the art and support their mission. We’ve included a few of our favorites below, so you can get a sense of the art being made.
Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all of the art fairs. We totally missed out on going to Frieze, not sure how we overlooked that one. Now we’ve just heard about SEVEN, an event at The Boiler in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which opened on May 10th and runs through June 9th. SEVEN is presenting the work of one artist from each of the participating galleries and will feature installations, paintings and sculptures in a co-curated, dynamic presentation.
The participating galleries are Pierogi Gallery, Hales Gallery, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Bravin Lee, Postmasters Gallery, P·P·O·W, and Winkleman Gallery. For more information, check out their website here.
The New Museum has an exhibition titled “NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star,” which draws its subtitle from the eponymous album that the New York rock band Sonic Youth recorded in 1993. It captures the complex exchange between mainstream and underground culture across disciplines, which came to define the art of the era. The exhibition takes a broad view of the New York scene as it existed twenty years ago—focusing not only on a single generation of emerging New York artists, but also looking at more senior figures and individuals from other cities who had some of their first significant exhibitions in New York in 1993. Works that are immediately recognizable from major institutional presentations like the Whitney Biennial and Venice Biennale are presented alongside lesser-known works, which may have initially only been seen by a small audience in commercial galleries, alternative spaces, or in the artist’s studio.
The exhibition only has a few weeks to go – it closes on May 26th – I think I need to go see it, since I lived in NYC in 1993.
Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions, Gary Carrion-Murayari, Curator, Jenny Moore, Associate Curator, and Margot Norton, Assistant Curator.
I just got an e-mail about the pianist Jacky Terrasson and his tour over the course of the upcoming year for his album Gouache – more on that in a bit. There was a video included in the press release, and a quick listen pulled me in and provided a very pleasant surprise: my first exposure to the vocals of Cécile McLorin – wow! There are times that she seems to be channeling Billie Holiday, and it’s mesmerizing. Unfortunately, she exits the stage at the six minute mark, but fortunately, that’s when Jacky cuts loose – some exquisite piano soloing! Jacky Terrasson on piano, with Cécile McLorin (vocals), Minino Garay on percussion, Burniss Travis on bass, and Justin Faulkner on drums. This performance was recorded last year at the Saint Emilion Jazz Festival in France.
A while back we wrote a post about an exhibition of surrealist art that was taking place at Voce Di, a 5000 square foot showroom, design center and contemporary gallery that brings design, art and furniture together, in Soho, NYC.
This coming Saturday, Voce Di is adding another element to the mix of home decor and art … music! They are hosting a concert of “traditional Mexican music” featuring the vocalist Miriam Solis. The event takes place on Saturday the 18th, and will go from 7 – 10 pm. In order to attend, you must RSVP at events@vocedi.com.
We hadn’t heard of Miriam Solis before now, so we decided to find an example of her music – check out her video below for a sneak preview.
This coming Friday is the 2013 edition of The Montclair Art Walk. The Art Walk will feature tours of the Montclair Art Museum’s current exhibits and will the proceed through multiple venues around Montclair with original contemporary art exhibitions.
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