Thoughts on P.S.1′s Greater New York

Two weeks ago today, I went to P.S.1′s current exhibit “Greater New York” which shows contemporary works of art of various forms being created mainly in the New York region.  P.S.1 is one of my favorite museums because when you go to it you know you are viewing the most up to date and active artists of the time.

That said, nothing specifically stood out for me as being amazing art.  There were, though, things that caught my eye.  Here are the artists that I liked in no specific order.

Kalup Linzy:

Honestly I wasn’t expecting to find something so funny at the exhibition.  Kalup Linzy’s ridiculous story which as about several women and a recording company was genuinely hilarious.  Plus the voice over which he does after adds a highly comedic effect.  This in a museum, though, pushed me to consider the boundaries of art.  Nonetheless it was interesting, made me think, and even more made me laugh. (PS. Shout out to Sahara Davenport!!). Kalup Linzy’s website.

Rashaad Newsome:

This was not the first time I saw Rashaad Newsome’s work.  When I went to the Whitney Biennial there was a video of him voguing alone in some room.  Honestly I did not like that one so I watched for like 30 seconds and moved on.  His piece at PS1, however, entitled Shade Compositions 2009 was sort of amazing.  I watched the entire piece which was a musical composition showing black women uttering various phrases in unison such as, “excuse” “mhmmm” “really” and “anh-anh” (as in no).  Newsome’s artwork reflects, I guess, on a part of gay black culture and the activities seen in the movie Paris Is Burning such as “throwing shade” – hence Shade Compositions (I think), voguing, and reading.  You can see the whole Shade Compositons 2009 video on his website.  Watch it. It’s worth it, I think.

Mariah Robertson:

88 by Mariah Robertson

The first thing I thought when I saw Mariah Robertson’s piece “88″ was “how did they print that?”  Maybe that’s because I know the process of printing photographic images developed in the dark room is complicated.  It probably wasn’t done that way, but it did look like it.  That was basically all the thought I put into this piece while at the museum.  Afterwards, however, I realized that the sculptural quality of “88″ was actually very impressive.  The way that it was draped and the coloring of the images reminded me of a waterfall or a wave.  You can see Robertson’s other work here.

Hank Willis Thomas:

O.J. Dingo by Hank Willis Thomas

By removing the words from advertisements featuring black people, Hank Willis Thomas attempts to point out stereotypes of race, gender, and ethnicity.  His work shown here spanned from 1969 to the present.  While I did somewhat examine the images for stereotypes and could find some, I generally found myself trying to remember which ad such and such image was from.  Maybe this is cause I had seen so much art that I became unfocused.  Nonetheless, Thomas is successful in his endeavor I think.  You can view more of his ads here.

David Benjamin Sherry:

Making Sure White Sand Dunes Stain by David Benjamin Sherry

This photography was probably the only thing I was instantly drawn to and it was probably because of the fact that each image was based on a single color.  For this reason mainly, I really liked the photography of David Benjamin Sherry.  Probably the most impressive one is the one that PS1 has chosen to use for their marketing for the exhibition, entitled “Self Portrait as the Born Again Feeling.”  This image features Sherry emerging from a pond filled with green vegetation surrounded by lush green trees and bushes.  He himself is painted in green. In addition to his portraits, his other photography is enjoyable.  I appreciate the way that he sticks to a certain style, and I think through that his creative potential really shows.  View his website here.

Tala Madani:

Bright Eyes by Tala Madani

I loved loved loved the Accident Series videos, specifically the one in which a baby pummeled a hospital patient to death.  I watched it in horror and amazement as the events unfolded before my eyes.  The videos, which are stop motion, are wonderful because they are painted animations.  I thought that added a mysterious and also emotional feel to the videos.  Her brush strokes, which are sloppy, heighten these senses I thought.  (Apparently I saw her work at the New Museum’s triennial Younger Than Jesus last year.  Unfortunately I don’t remember) I wish I could find the video online but I cant, so here’s an image of one of her regular paintings.  I also couldn’t find a homepage so here’s a link to a NYT Magazine interview with her.

David Adamo:

Untitled (rite of spring) by David Adamo

His baseball bat floor  deserves a little mention because it was fun! I thought I was going to fall walking on it.  I wonder what it’ll look like in October at the close of the exhibit.

Brief shout outs to Deville Cohen who’s video “Grayscale (A Video in Three Acts)” was intriguing but I need to learn more about and Ryan MacNamara’s video “I Thought It Was You” both pictured below.

Deville Cohen's Grayscale (l) and & Ryan MacNamara's I Thought It Was You

I’ll comment on the Young Architect’s Program winners Idenberg Liu’s “Solid Objectives” at a different point in time when I get to go to Warm Up and experience the interactive environment in full effect.

mix mix mix cuatro from ivanrambles.tumblr.com

I just wanted to take the time to post the fourth installment of my tumblog’s mixtape series here on my longer blog.  So far it has been downloaded 35 times which I’m actually very satisfied with.  It’s my second most successful mixtape.  Here is the track list:

1. deiyo deiyo – the hykkers
2. hindou – el guincho
3. cave grill – arch m
4. late key – veux
5. here sometimes – blonde redhead
6. turn it off – phantogram
7. meow hear me roar – we like cats
8. neckbrace – ratatat
9. real life (memory tapes remix) – tanlines
10. kind of guy – yawn
11. kenya dig it? – the ruby suns
12. anna – taken by trees

Download by clicking here.  You can see the covers and other mixtapes here, here, and here.

I hope this enjoyed!

Tags: mixtape

Things Fall Apart

Last night I finished reading Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart, published in 1959. I admit that the only reason I have this book is because I was supposed to read it for my last year of high school English, but I did not read it because I wasn’t that interested.  But after finishing Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead the week before last (which I will write about soon), I felt like I needed something different.  Thus I chose this book thinking it would be a nice change.

The similarities between the two books are actually quite strong.  They’re both about strong male figures adhering to their values.  But enough about The Fountainhead and back to this book.  I have to say that it made me uncomfortable.  What I did appreciate was the way it showed the (somewhat intact) culture of the people of Nigeria.  The storytelling was interesting and at times beautiful.  And there was a scene in which one of the tribal leaders and the christian leader were discussing their religions, which was poetic and insightful.  Those are the main things that I enjoyed from this book.

Now for what I did not like.  I did not appreciate the society that it portrayed.  The traditions seemed ruthless and unfair at times.  The society also seemed to place too much of an emphasis on masculinity.  Anything feminine was negative.  The women of the book seemed to exist for no other purpose than to end up marrying, having children, and serving the men of the clan.  Only one woman – the priestess – had the role of a leader.  However, when she acted as such, she was in service of a man.  The people did not really fear her, but they feared the Oracle.  Next, any man that did not exhibit aggression was deemed feminine.  In fact the society called men that did not achieve titles women.  The relationship between the main character Okonkwo and his son Nwyoe, which he felt was not living up to be the man he wanted him to be, was particularly hard to read about (I think this may be because it hits really close to my personal life, but that’s beside the point).  On top of this hyper-masculine society there were traditions and practices that I did not agree with – twin killing, mutilating children, ostracizing people, etc.

Now I do not think that Achebe himself believes what the society he portrays believes, which is why this is actually a good book.  In fact his main character commits suicide because he cannot bare live in this new place where the old traditions that he put so much faith in are starting to be replaced.  In a sense I guess he’s saying that sometimes aggression and such zealous adherence to tradition is not always the best course of action.  Though tradition makes people who they are, compromise is necessary at time.  Also he seems to believe in the empowerment of women.  One of the strongest characters – in the eyes of Okonkwo – is his daughter Enzima.  However he is constantly saddened thinking about her because in this society she can never live up to her full potential.  It’s too bad.

I think the reason why this book does not sit well with me was because I personally could not get past some of its imagery.  That also is too bad. Onto another book now. (PS. how awesome is the design of that first edition cover? I wish I had that version instead of the one I do.)

Tags: africa, book review, chinua achebe

Up There by The Ritual Project

UP THERE from The Ritual Project on Vimeo. via (The Ministry of Type)

In reading some blogs about typographic design I came across this documentary about the art of hand painting murals for the purpose of advertisements; an artifact that is quickly being replaced by vinyl posters.  The documentary was insightful and visually appealing.  I thought that it made a pretty decent case for the continued practice of this art-form.  In this industrial age there is a tension between highly-skilled laborers with their traditional practices and new technologies, usually with the new technologies replacing the older practices.  It’s interesting that in the largest of cities – usually – these older types of art forms can continue to persist.  I appreciate that I have lived in New York City, where these advertisements are somewhat commonplace.  In fact, just last week an advertisement for Blue Moon Beer was painted on a building up the street from where I live.  An interesting parallel that this movie was presented by (and probably a 12 minute long advertisement for) Stella Artois.  Anyway, the next time I see a mural being painted, I will have a new-found sense of appreciation for these artists.

Tags: advertisement, art, beer, new york

The Architecture of Happiness

I finished reading this book by Alain de Botton a while ago but I am finally writing about it just now. Before reading it I think I hadn’t read a book in over 4 months and that is absolutely terrible.  I enjoyed this book immensely and I think it actually renewed my interest in architecture which had been fading.

What I liked most about the book was the was the way that it described architecture in a way that was not dry like typical architecture text books.  Also it explained why there is a need for architecture in a way that was amazing and just made sense.  Basically his answer boiled down to this quote at the end:

We owe it to the fields that our houses will not be the inferiors of the virgin land they had replaced.  We owe it to the worms and the trees that the buildings we cover them with will stand as promises of the highest and most intelligent kinds of happiness

Botton believes that whenever we take an area belonging to nature we should provide a built environment that respects that natural beauty by replacing it with an environment that is also beautiful but in a non-natural way.  In essence architecture is a way to pay respect to the intricacies of what was before.  It is an opportunity to counter the randomized beauty of nature with the rational beauty of human intelligence.  I think that is a profound and actually honorable way to think about architecture.

This however does not mean that everything that is built ends up paying respect to what came before it.  There are plenty of unattractive landscapes in the world.  But why I think this book was good was because it explained what good architecture was and validated the need for it.  I am always having to defend architecture as a profession due to the belief many have that it is a cosmetic profession.  It is this kind of thinking that leads to suburbs with the same ugly houses replicated over and over.  If people had more respect for architecture the world would be a more beautiful place.

Tags: architecture, book review