July 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 7/20

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Here are some of our suggestions for free and cheap cultural events in New York City this weekend:

1. Theater – Slowgirl by Greg Pierce, with Sarah Steele and Zeljko Ivanek, at Lincoln Center’s new Claire Two Theater. All tickets $20. Extended through August 5, 2012.

2. Art – Ghosts in the Machine at the New Museum. The new exhibit spans fifty years and traces the complex historical passage from the mechanical to the optical to the virtual. FREE Saturday (7/21/2012) 12-5pm with a visit to the museum’s block party. Otherwise $14 General Admission/$10 Student. FREE every Thursday 7pm-9pm. Through September 30, 2012.

3. Music – B.o.B FREE Secret Show at the Highline Ballroom; Sunday, July 22 at 9pm. Doors open 7:30pm. FREE with Ticket. Tickets available at the box office.

Also: Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra at the Brooklyn Bowl, Sunday, July 22, at 8pm. Doors open 6pm. $5.00

4. Comedy/Performance – D’FunQT: Stand Up or Die at Dixon Place (LES) Fri and Sat, July 20 & 21 at 9:30 pm. Tickets: $15 advance, $20 at the door, $15 students / seniors
Written and performed Leguizamo-style, this one-person show celebrates the joy of survival in a world often intolerant of difference. As a queer boy/stud/trans person, D’Lo unapologetically takes center stage and uses his fluidly morphing form and spot-on timing to bring the fierce with the funny.

5. Architecture – New Practices New York 2012 exhibit at the Center for Architecture. Mon-Fri: 9am to 8pm Sat: 11am to 5pm, through September 8th. FREE

6. Design/Performance – GlassLab Glassmakers from Corning Museum of Glass create pieces with contemporary designers. Glass blowing and all. Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 6:30 through July 29th. This weekend designers include Peter Buchanana-Smith and Paul Sahre. On Governors Island. FREE.

7. Art – Rineke Dijkstra: A Retrospective at the Guggenheim. Large-scale color photographs. Portraiture with a twist. Through October 8, 2012. Pay-what-you-Wish Saturdays from 5:45 to 7:45.

8. Theater – Uncle Vanya at the Soho Rep in Tribeca, through August 26th. 99¢ Sundays same day at the door. Line forms one hour before show. Limit 2 tickets per person. 7:30 pm. 99¢.

9. Dance – Pilobolus at the Joyce Theater. Through August 11, 2012. A limited amount of tickets available for $10 by calling the box office (212-242-0800). At the time of posting, only 1 ticket was left for this weekend, so best to try in advance. Showtimes and programs vary.

Also in Music: Bebel Gilberto/Criolo/Flavio Renegado/Beco Dranoff Saturday, July 21, 3-7 pm, Summerstage at Central Park. FREE

Also in Food: Les Salonnieres Country Blues Potluck Under the Stars. Dinner and Wine tasting. Bring a country-themed dish. Saturday, July 21, 7pm – 1am. Williamsburg Private Residence. Tickets $10.

More Food: 3rd Ward’s 5th Annual Pig Roast. Saturday July 21, 4pm to midnight. 195 Morgan Ave, Bushwick. FREE with RSVP

Also in Film: Coming Home: Short Films. Friday, July 20, 8pm. Rooftop Films at Metrotech Commons. FREE

Art on the Beach: Coney Island Annual Sand Sculpting Contest and Unity Day. (Here’s a video on last year’s event) Saturday, July 21, 12-5 pm. FREE.

Check last week’s Culture on the Cheap for additional (ongoing) events.

July 16, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Claudia Hersz: Identidade

I happened upon this set of photos on flickr titled Identidade (Identity) by Brazilian artist Claudia Hersz and really love them. Such a simple idea leading to such a great effect. Hersz has always felt that those big black bars placed over children’s eyes in photos to preserve their identity, in many ways have the opposite effect: they rob them of their identity. By symbolically placing a mirror in place of the black bar, she feels that the reflection returns a little of the stolen identity.

Photos: Claudia Hersz’s flickr.

July 9, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Jitish Kallat: The Cry of the Gland

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Jitish Kallat is an Indian artist who works in varied media and is based in Mumbai. His installation The Cry of the Gland, made up of large photographs focusing on male shirt pockets and their content, is in essence a sociological study of modern India. Interesting to see the range of colorful Madras and cotton shirts, fabrics typically exported from India, some pressed and clean, others worn and torn, but all depicting a middle class. There’s an overwhelming quality to the floor-to-ceiling installation that seems to reflect the massive population of over one billion, as well.

via Else

July 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Aisha Zeijpveld: What Remains

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Dutch photographer Aisha Zeijpveld lives and works in Amsterdam as a freelancer for a variety of commercial magazines. In her personal work she likes to experiment and focuses on people’s vulnerabilities as well as on the absurd.

In her series What Remains, Zeijpveld was inspired by Egon Schiele’s sketches and paintings of ‘unfinished’ figures. She transforms this way of sketching into her photographs by cutting out silhouettes in cardboard and having her models pose with arms, shoulders, and faces disappearing into their background. First, however, she works on pencil studies (see images at bottom.)

via new dutch talent

June 26, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Sean Hart: Street Poetry

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French street artist Sean Hart considers himself a poet (among many other things) and his poetry “is a weapon loaded with the future.” He paints large, existential-style statements in a condensed typeface on surfaces all over the world. His most recent series Shine (the blue and white photos at top) have an anamorphic quality, allowing his phrases to be read despite right angles and open doors in the center of the image. According to Hart all his works consist of paint, a camera, time and himself. No photoshop. No special effects. The works below Shine are from his series Yes Future from 2011, and the bottom image of a stabbed Tintin is from his series Parce Que!

UPDATE: One of Sean Hart’s recent interventions spotted on the streets of Madrid is over here on Escrito en la Pared.

via vandalog

June 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Sandy Carson: Paradise Has Relocated

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Scottish photographer Sandy Carson, now based in Austin, Texas, examines a specific segment of American life in a humorous and simultaneously poignant way. In his series titled Paradise Has Relocated, Carson captures the remains of post-Hurricane Ike (2008) Galveston. There’s a ghostliness in his shots of abandoned everyday objects and fractured structures. I love them all.

You can see the rest of this series on Carson’s website as well as his other projects; Obstructed Blandscapes being another series I especially liked.

via okay mountain

June 14, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

The Secret Life of Toys

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I spotted Argentinean photographer Marcos Minuchin’s photographs a couple of weeks back at the annual Washington Square Memorial Day Art Show, on my way to buy a bagel. The large prints hanging outside his booth made me smile.

Minuchin started his series The Secret Life of Toys in 2007 as a photography class project, but kept the project going after a lot of positive feedback. His Recession Army series seems especially relevant these days. According to Minuchin, one of the perks of working with toys is that they work long hours without complaining.

You can see more of Minuchin’s photographs on his website, and you can purchase them there too.

June 12, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Large Type in Abandoned Spaces

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English photographer and designer Alexander Shields, now living in Washington D.C., created large type sculptures in some of London’s abandoned spaces and photographed them for his Masters in Communication Design. Using materials found on site, Shields chose words that specifically related to each individual space.

via behance

June 8, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Andrea Juan: Antarctic Installations & Photos

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Argentinean artist Andrea Juan works with photography, digital video and installations. Since 2004 her work has revolved around Antarctica and scientific research related to climate change. She has used the ice-fields both as a screen for slide projections of the contrasting warm and sunny sunflowers from the northern Argentina that eventually convert to flames and burn out as a warning to the viewer, and, more recently, as the backdrop for her bright-colored fabric installations and performances.

Her latest series of photographs are titled New Species and New Eden, both of which are on view at Praxis gallery here in NYC.

Following the meltdown of ice shelves which caused important changes in glaciers in the Antarctic Peninsula, an extraordinary wealth of new specimens has been found. An unknown world of possibilities and new life has emerged and it is the core of the series New Species (2011). The striking images depict the newly discovered ecosystem that had remained unnoticed under the ice in playful scenes where gleaming shapes take over the immeasurable setting.

This series also sparked the latest site-specific project which is titled New Eden (2012). This performance/installation took place in Antarctica last January and February. Large pieces of mesh in neon colors flow over large expanses of ice without touching the ground. The translucent material casts diaphanous shadows on highly reflective areas which become covered with pink and orange light. Like soft and delicate living organisms, the sheer net moves between the shapes of ice blocks in the land and clouds in the sky, while changing the perception of an otherwise frosty landscape.

There’s a Christo quality to these latest installations that I love. The whiteness of the snow and ice as a canvas makes these spectacularly bright colors and shapes all the more dramatic.

New Species New Eden is on view at Praxis until July 14, 2012.

Photos courtesy of the artist; Praxis; and artnet

via Kaia

June 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Christopher Boffoli: Big Appetites

Greta and her pals enjoyed the smooth ride so much that they vowed to never again attempt a ride over the pineapples.

Gary always uses too much mustard but no one can say anything. It’s a union thing.

Even though he knew the likelihood of shark encounters was low, Eric still had anxiety about the dive.

Seattle-based photographer Christopher Boffoli photographs miniature figurines performing varied tasks such as mowing an orange peel or excavating a berry pie in his Disparity Series, a humorous commentary on labor, portion size and American consumption. Part of his Big Appetites photographs include his latest series Edible Worlds which will be exhibited at the Winston Wächter Gallery in Chelsea, starting on June 21, 2012. Not only are the photos humorous, but so are the titles (Canoe au Lait… Deep Tea Diver…) and the captions, see above for a sampling.

You can buy greeting cards with some of Boffoli’s photos here.

If you like Boffoli’s photographs, you might also enjoy Liliana Porter’s work here.

via Winston Wächter Gallery

June 4, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Frederick McSwain: Cells

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New York based artist/designer Frederick McSwain created his installation Cells — which was included in the exhibition Love it or Leave it at Gallery R’ Pure for NY Design Week 2012 — based on a memory from his childhood of a visit to his mother’s job as a bail bondsman in a county jail. The story is key to the installation as well as to the title of the piece and its many meanings:

One day after school, I was taken to the county jail. Escorted in, faded institutional colors and grimy furnishings painted the picture of another time. I sat down on a plastic dairy crate while fishing through my pockets for loose change. Shit out of luck, the fiery glow of a nearby vending machine taunted me as a feeling of anxiety began to creep in. Waiting impatiently, monotone hums from the fluorescent lighting composed a minimalist soundtrack, rapid heartbeats kept the time. My mother, barely visible through the glass window of a partitioned wall, was busy signing documents in the booking room next door. After what seemed like hours, she finally concluded her business and signaled over with the universal hand gesture for “Let’s go”. As we took our twenty paces to the car parked outside, she handed me a freshly snapped Polaroid. Still unclear, the image developed over the course of our drive home (a matter of minutes). Without revealing too much at once, the shadows slowly burned in, then the colors and highlights emerged, until eventually, a vivid portrait of a shirtless man came to life. It’s been with me ever since.

While the word “Cells” commonly refers to the smallest unit of living matter, it’s also synonymous with subjects ranging from statistical spreadsheets to terrorist organizations. In language, as in life, environmental factors play a vital role in shaping one’s self-identity and perception of the world. From the moment of birth, each of us is exposed to a continuous stream of information. Collectively, these people, places, and things guide not only our emotions but also our practical decision-making. Meticulously organized, the human brain has the incredible ability to decipher and store these real-world snapshots for retrieval at a later time. At the end of the day, we’re all simply the sum of our parts.

You may be familiar with McSwain’s tribute, last year, to the memory of his friend designer Tobias Wong made with over 13,000 dice, but if you’re not, you should definitely check it out here on Colossal.

Photos: Miller Taylor

Thanks Frederick!

May 24, 2012 by collabcubed - 4 Comments

Cristina de Middel: The Afronauts

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When I first came across Spanish photographer Cristina de Middel’s ongoing Afronauts Project last month, I loved the photos but was not aware of the story behind them which make them all the more interesting.

From the photographer:
In 1964, still living the dream of their recently gained independence, Zambia started a space program that would put the first African person on the moon catching up the USA and the Soviet Union in the space race.

Only a few optimists supported the project by Edward Makuka, the school teacher in charge of presenting the ambitious program and getting its necessary funding. But the financial aid never came, as the United Nations declined their support, and one of the astronauts, a 16 year old girl, got pregnant and had to quit. That is how the heroic initiative turned into an exotic episode of the African history, surrounded by wars, violence, droughts and hunger.

“Afronauts” is based on the documentation of an impossible dream that only lives in the pictures. I start from a real fact that took place 50 years ago and rebuild the documents adapting them to my personal imagery.

It was hard to select just one of De Middel’s photography projects to post here; they are all wonderful. If you have a few minutes you might want to check out Pop Totem, Messenger, and Centauro…or go crazy and look at everything on her site.

via treintaycuatro and colors

May 7, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Lomography: La Sardina Beach Edition

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I probably walk by the Lomography store a few blocks from my apartment about once a week, but this past weekend I stopped in my tracks when I spotted these fun cameras in the window and stepped inside to see them up close. La Sardina Beach Edition cameras, as they are called, take their inspiration from the sardine tin—in their shape and size—and come in all sorts of fun colors and patterns which, in this edition, are printed on canvas. These 35mm film cameras (yes, film!) are super cute and cost between $75 and $110 and according to reviews, take a pretty decent photo in the Lomography style.

You can see more designs and purchase them here.

April 26, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Scott Lynch: Fun NYC Photos

Dos Toros

The Magical Floating Hat of 23rd Street

Chelsea Gallery Goer: Do Ho Suh, Home Within Home

Elizabeth Street

Trader Joe’s

Baked by Melissa

Awed by art, at the MoMA

La Dolce Vita

Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds at Mary Boone

Click to enlarge photos; click captions to go to photo on flickr photostream

Scott Lynch – best friend and beau – (aka Scoboco) has snapped photos for years, mostly of his daughters and, well, of me, but it wasn’t until about a year ago that he took photography on with a vengeance. Today he’s got almost 5,000 photos in his flickr photostream (and there are probably another 5,000 that didn’t make the cut!) His primary subject? New York City. He’s covered Occupy Wall Street from the beginning, compiling an impressive collection of OWS photos with rarely a day missed. His love of street art is also evident in his NYC Graffiti and Street Art photography set. And then there are his photos of art exhibits. But, for me, where Scott truly stands out is in his ability to see and capture the humor (and/or poignancy) in everyday New York City street scenes. These are my absolute favorites. And, though not necessarily evident in the photos I’ve selected, much of the time his captions are as clever and humorous as the photos themselves. In some cases they even make the photo (see Awed by art at the MoMA above).

The photos here are definitely in my top 20 but, as you can imagine, with 5,000 to peruse, it’s hard to narrow down to a handful. So, take a look for yourselves at Scoboco’s photostream, and you might want to wish him a happy birthday while you’re at it.

April 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 3 Comments

Simone Decker: Chewing in Venice 1 + 2

These photos are a lot of fun. Luxembourger artist Simone Decker created them in 1999, but I just happened upon them for the first time now. Decker is interested in perspective shifts and often explores the way public space is arranged. Much of her work appropriates said space as in her photographic series shown above: Chewing in Venice 1 + 2. Using photographic trompe l’oeil devices, Decker includes the streets and squares of Venice as the backdrop for her oversized gum sculptures; a proposal for sculptural work, or at least that’s the way I understand it.

From an article translated on her website:
All of these works consist of photographs, mostly series of photographs, that propose sculptures or architectural elements for the public domain. They are documentations of real outside installations of these objects. But it is only the perspective of the camera that lends the works a visual presence and a dimension that puts them in the relationship to the urban or architectural environment desired by the artist. In Chewing in Venice, for example, the chewing-gum objects only become sculptures that fill squares and lanes by virtue of the fact that they are photographed right in front of the lens.

Those big bubbles remind me a bit of the RedBall Project. I think the realization of these sculptures would be a huge hit.

via chiquero

April 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Javier Siquier: Graffiti Removal

Spanish graphic designer, illustrator and street artist Javier Siquier seems intrigued by reversal. Recently, he created a series of work on the streets titled Graffiti Removal where he whites out graffiti, leaving blocks of (mostly) white paint, as if redacting the words from the streets.

In the works above, which I really like, he neatly whites out the surrounding area exposing just enough graffiti, making it neat and graphic. Almost like a patterned appliqué. Love it! Conversely, in his exhibit presently up at the SC Gallery in Bilbao, Siquier frames photos of his Graffiti Removal works and paints the gallery walls to overlap the frames. A nice effect.

via vandal hostel via escrito en la pared

April 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Timotheus Tomicek: Video Portraits

One of my favorite exhibits at Volta last month was Viennese artist Timotheus Tomicek’s video portraits or moving photographs. In many cases these seemingly-still images are reminiscent of Renaissance paintings yet all have a subtle indication of modernity. Also, upon closer look, many of these are actually videos, where only the slightest of movement can be detected: a slight breeze, movement of water in a glass, or the shaking of a hand over a precariously balanced stack of dominoes. Though different in style, these works remind me of the wonderful VOOM Portraits by Robert Wilson exhibited five or so years ago, in concept.

You can see two of the moving photographs in action below, and more of Tomicek’s work, both still and moving, here and here. And more of his video portraits here.

March 21, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Liu Bolin: Lost in Art

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As previously mentioned, artist and photographer Liu Bolin currently has a show titled Lost in Art at the Eli Klein Gallery in Soho. I stopped by yesterday pre-opening while the many gallery workers were setting up wine and cups, cleaning floors, as well as organizing a couple of armfuls of stuffed animals which, if I overheard correctly, were going to be given away as part of the event. All the prep aside, the exhibit is definitely worth visiting if you’re passing through Soho before May 11th. Though I’ve seen several of these images before online, as with any art, seeing them in person was a real treat. They are larger than I imagined and the detail is incredible. Plus the top three photos were completely new to me.

As far as the JR/Bolin collaboration on Elizabeth Street near Spring? Gone. Finito. Not a trace left. It’s as if it never happened.

Photos taken at Eli Klein Gallery by collabcubed (sorry for the reflections) except for the photos of Jean Paul Gautier and Andrea Missoni pre-paint which are courtesy Harpers Bazaar.

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Photos: Claudia Hersz’s flickr.

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Photos courtesy of the artist; Praxis; and artnet

Greta and her pals enjoyed the smooth ride so much that they vowed to never again attempt a ride over the pineapples.

Gary always uses too much mustard but no one can say anything. It’s a union thing.

Even though he knew the likelihood of shark encounters was low, Eric still had anxiety about the dive.

Click to enlarge

Photos: Miller Taylor

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From the photographer: In 1964, still living the dream of their recently gained independence, Zambia started a space program that would put the first African person on the moon catching up the USA and the Soviet Union in the space race.

“Afronauts” is based on the documentation of an impossible dream that only lives in the pictures. I start from a real fact that took place 50 years ago and rebuild the documents adapting them to my personal imagery.

Click to enlarge

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Photos taken at Eli Klein Gallery by collabcubed (sorry for the reflections) except for the photos of Jean Paul Gautier and Andrea Missoni pre-paint which are courtesy Harpers Bazaar.

From the photographer:
In 1964, still living the dream of their recently gained independence, Zambia started a space program that would put the first African person on the moon catching up the USA and the Soviet Union in the space race.