Folklife Festival
Ok, I know I’m a little bit late with this but fuck it…it’s still worth writing about. Unless you’re living under a rock somewhere you’d know that each year the Smithsonian organizes the Folklife festival on the mall. It’s one of those moments in the year when I’m really thankful that I’m a Washingtonian, because the scale and scope of the thing is massive. This year the two featured entities were Texas and Bhutan. Jess and I mainly skipped, ok we electric slid, through the Texas bit to seek out Bhutan…that mountainous country that measures Gross National Happiness?! Yay!
We get our grub on and watched an archery game where the guys were shooting hundreds of yards at a small little target and hitting it! Then we wandered over to the NASA area where we bumped into old palls Kenji Williams and his lovely partner Sayako who were performing their Bella Gaia show later in the day.
It was a great day and I encourage everyone to go next year, go to Bhutan and of course outer space.
-Deyv
Unveiling a creative process at ‘X’
Each month at our ‘X’ event we invite artists to explore their creativity boundaries and push the envelope. Last month Michael Auger (www.arty4ever.com) and Danny Jean-Jacques (http://notfromthisplanet1459.blogspot.com/) collaborated on a 2-D piece. Below is a visual of how the creative process evolved and text from Michael
.
Well… we wanted to incorporate an “X” (for obvious reasons) so the first step was taping that off. We then decided red would be a good color to start with so we attacked the canvas and “made it bleed”. After playing for a bit, we decided to throw more paint at our canvas all “Jackson Pollock” style… (we we’re letting the music move us) but after a bit we realized that it might take awhile to dry if we wanted to do more and since we did (the night was still young at that point) we brought the painting outside and tried to fan-dry (almost clocking a local jogger, ha ha). At any rate, the canvas still wasn’t drying as quickly as we wanted so we decided to wipe it down and it became a nice neutral background. Then we stripped away the tape to make the “X” pop. At this point, Danny and I started seeing faces in the subtle textures which we brought out with a cartoon/graffiti style using paint and brush (old school) and paint markers (new school). Finally, we added charcoal and more paint to liven up the color and sprayed it with a varnish coat…. and there you have it!
No commentsWonder Twins
Os Gêmeos, (Portuguese for The Twins) opened up their latest show
“Too Far Too Close” this past week in New York City. The identical twin brother graffiti artists out of Sao Paulo Brazil have exhibited artwork all around the world showcasing a distinct style of brazilian graffiti, and 80’s style New York graffiti. The twins have turned Deitch Projects’ Wooster Street gallery into an expansive cityscape, with vibrant colors and stimulating visual imagery. Complete with new paintings, instillations, and sculptures for the show by the twins incorporating their signature style of artwork.
Not to be missed the show runs until August 9th.
Located: 18 Wooster Street, New York, NY
Interview with the twins:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuTi4nZv_cI
Be Well
No commentsCelebration of Explosives and Freedom Fries!
Just for Independence day Lifestyle and Clothing Brand 10 Deep released a July 4th edition of their Murko Toy , the “Patriot Murko”. Complete with movable arms, stars, and stripes. Limited to only 200 pieces, and available in stores today get on the hunt now to pick up one for yourself. Patriot MurkoHope Everyone’s July 4th celebrations today are fun and safe! Be Well
Girlish Ways: Final Show at Bobby Fisher Memorial
Girlish Ways is the name of the final art show being hosted at the Bobby Fisher Memorial building on display from June 28th to July 6th. Showcasing noteworthy female artists illustrating the different themes behind how contemporary lifestyles influence and re-define the women of this generation. The exhibit highlights various female art students and graduates of BFA and MFA institutions around the United States and Canada. Many issues of women in today’s world are brought up and discussed such as sexuality, women’s rights, and post-feminism views among others. The work showcased is some of the most interesting pieces produced under the moniker of “Feminist Art.” The show is in it’s final weekend so if you have a chance to make it out to the Bobby Fisher Memorial!
The artists being showcased include:
SATOMI SHIRAI, Hunter College MFA Candidate 2009
AMY MISURELLI SORENSON, American University MFA 2008
AMBER HAWK SWANSON, School of the Art Institute of Chicago MFA 2006
PIERRETTE MONTONE, Corcoran College of Art + Design BFA 2008
LAUREN BENDER, received a BS in Honors Painting at Towson University 2003
SARA HUBBS, the George Washington University MFA 2008
TRISH TILLMAN, School of Visual Arts MFA Candidate 2009
MEG ONLI, School of the Art Institute of Chicago BFA 2008
PAMELA NORRISH, Alberta College of Art + Design BFA Candidate 2009
ZOE BLACKWELL, California College of Art BFA 2008
LAUREN RICE, American University MFA 2008
ROXXANNE REED, Corcoran College of Art + Design BFA Candidate 2009
The show is in it’s final weekend so if you have a chance to make it out to the Bobby Fisher Memorial between 12pm-5pm to catch this ground breaking, and insightful display of artwork.
Curated by Rachel Fick and Marissa Botelho.
The Bobby Fisher Memorial is located at: 1644 North Capitol Street NW, Washington DC 20002.
–Joel
No commentsSilver Docs
It’s on y’all! www.silverdocs.com
Get wit it while ya can.
I was fortunate enough to catch opening night’s flick: “All Together Now” about the creation of LOVE the collaborative effort between the Beatles and Cirque Du Soliel. Wow! It was awesome. Of course, the music and visuals/production was incredible. As someone who works on multi-media events I was literally in awe. One day we’ll have an $180 million production budget 
But the movie was really about handling, caressing and nurturing creativity and the process of producing an event amongst some very strong personalities…entities that typically refuse to relinquish any creative control. Some insights: It’s ok to bitch to your team about the other team, but don’t blow up on the other team = Patience and Diplomacy. It’s crucial to build a strong brand and identity, something that both Apple Core/The Beatles and Cirque Du Soleil have and consistently leverage to get what they want. Finally, surround yourself with talent.
This was the first of many, wonderful days and nights to come at Silver Docs. Be sure to take part in the world’s most renowned documentary film festivals.
- Deyv
No commentsBangin’ in Silver Spring: Flash Party 2.0 @ Jackie’s Back Room
* This article is being syndicated from Brightest Young Things
Jesus Ch-uh-rist.
The Red Line to Glenmont pulls into the New York Avenue stop and I get a good logng look at the ten-story Spacestation Artomatic on its opening night last friday. A hundred glass compartments aglow in shifting 24 bit color. Hundreds more crisp silhouettes of human bodies walking around checking shit out, gravitating to flickery things I assume to be LCD panels or video projections. And I’m heading to Silver Spring to a competing (really?) multimedia dance party in a bar I’ve never heard of. Siiiiiiggggh (or long exhale. whatever. it wasn’t a happy thing). When the train finishes taunting me with this long pause, we started moving again. The passengers, me and this sinking feeling.
But when I got to Jackie’s Back Room after a hop and a skip fom the Silver Spring station, the place was buzzing. Not bad for 10:30PM. DJs were set up at the far end of the space and projected onto a screen behind them were slideshows and video clips from host Albert’s laptop. At the other end covering the bar’s front window, another screen ran Flash animations that man like Marcalamari spent the night switching and tweaking. Co-host Graham — who shares duties running this party and the X monthly at BeBar with David Fogel — hobnobbed with the steadily growing crowd.
After chatting with Graham and meeting Albert and Dave, the first thing I noticed was this wee bull mastiff named Bruno, who would end up being the star of the party. The second thing that caught my eye was this couple sitting at the bar wolfing down an Elvis Burger, the local take on sliders made with Pimento cheese, pickles, and micromatoes on a midget croissant. The third thing was Albert receiving his Elvis Burger order. I was getting the lord’s message loud and clear and acted accordingly. So now I’m eating meat, drinking Belgian, shooting pictures and feeling a whole lot better about my circumstances. And just as Graham predicted, the bar is filling with Artomatic’s spillover. Not predicted was Bruno’s alarming pimp skills.
The party ran strong until last call; very impressive for a night of this kind in a suburban locale. More impressive was the number of city folk who made the trek. They’d probably agree that this monthly is a solid bet for anyone who wants to trade up for something fresh and leave amateur night in the city to the bamas.
After cleaning up and loading out, we headed over to Fogel’s studio, where we continued the pursuit of happiness. Use this link to stay up on this party as well as X and all the other trouble that Graham and Dave are causing.
1 comment