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.
I’m still on my Rammellzee kick, listening to his music on Spotify while trying to do some work – which is not easy, since it’s like having a madman yell at you. Check out this video interview with Rammellzee – I like it when, at the 30 second mark – he says “I’m just an average Joe,” while wearing one of his zany masks. Love it.
We saw this at the 2013 Armory Show, a video sculpture by Tony Oursler. Can you imagine having this in your home, looking at you from the corner of the room every day? (I think I might actually like having it around)
I’m exploring some different jazz musicians online, and came across one artist whose song had my head bobbing and body grooving within the first 10 seconds, and when the first phrase is played at around 20 seconds in, I’m hooked. Check out Bobby Selvaggio and his group “Grass Roots Movement” playing “Return To Sender.” The band includes Bobby Selvaggio on alto, Nir Felder on guitar, Frank Locrasto on keyboard, James Johnson on drums, and Kip Reed on bass.
Check this out, this guy works at a coffee shop but “decorates” his customers cups of coffee with his artistic creations. His name is Mike Breach, and you can check out his Tumblr here, with more of his creations.
Each year, Arts Advocacy Day brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with grassroots advocates, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts. There will be over 500 arts advocates coming to Washington DC for this year’s event. The Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy is the highlight of Arts Advocacy Day. This year, acclaimed cellist and arts educator Yo-Yo Ma will deliver the lecture and perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For the first time ever, Google will web stream the event live for millions to enjoy and be inspired. To watch, visit the Americans for the Arts’ YouTube channel on Monday, April 8 at 6:30 PM EDT. For more information, check out the video below:
If you saw our last post about the upcoming jazz project by pianist Arshak Sirunyan, you may have watched the surrealist video and thought to yourself, “where’s the jazz?” Sirunyan explains, “the video concept is meant to be weird, scary, and haunting,” but admits that it doesn’t reflect his piano playing … which if you see the following video, is really good. Check out Arshak Sirunyan performing at the Clarice Smith Performing Art Center (in Maryland) with Cheikh Ndoye on bass and John Lamkin III on drums.
I kind of like the idea of a jazz performer who dabbles in surrealist video-making … sounds like a cool combination to me! Don’t forget to check out his Kickstarter project here.
Jazz musician Arshak Sirunyan is working on an album that will feature 20 or so guitarists, saxophone players, drummers, percussionists, a string quartet, a french horn quartet and more from all over the world. But the unusual twist is that the concept for the album is based on “Hoodman’s Blind,” which in medieval times was a game with rough physical contact. The rules were that one person would be chosen to be “it” and blindfolded by having the hood of his lirapipe (see example of one pictured at right) pulled down over his head. That person is then spun around several times and is instructed to seek out the others, who are supposed to actively torment him by pulling at his clothes, shoving him around, and whipping him. Once he has successfully captured another player, he is then released from the blindfold and the person he captured then becomes “it”. There is no conclusion to the game, it can just go on and on.
At any rate, Sirunyan has a Kickstarter project going in order to fund this project. As a promo for the project, Sirunyan created a somewhat surrealist video, with most of the footage created using only his iPhone 5, piano parts from eBay and piano stores, and conventional and commercial lighting from Home Depot. Check it out!
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