Amen Lady

"The last thing a young woman needs is another picture of a sexy pop star writhing in sand, covered in grease, touching herself."
– Lady Gaga, defending the lack of sexuality on her album covers

Senator Mary Landrieu Is Not A Prostitute

An excerpt from a great article in response to Glenn Beck's and Rush Limbaugh's abhorrent comments regarding Senator Mary Landrieu.

"Of course I'm aware that neither radio host is suggesting that Landrieu actually traded sex for $300 million. I get that it's a metaphor. But its a misogynist one that never gets applied to male senators. It works by making her political capacity a function of her gender, and then marginalizing that gender by reducing her legitimate actions to a mutually exploitative sexual transaction. That's not something men in politics get accused of when they bargain on behalf of their underprivileged constituents."

Thanks, Katie Connolly. Read the entire article on Newsweek's The Gaggle.

How I love thee, Ms. Emin

Tracey Emin, Nothing Touches, 2009

An excerpt from an interview with Tracey Emin by Sarah Douglas. Check out the entire interview on artinfo.com. Her exhibition "Only God Knows I'm Good," is currently on view at Lehmann Maupin on Chrystie Street.

So by feminine you meant feminist?

Well, the work is so predominantly female that it smells of a woman. It can’t be made by a man. In the art world, that’s still frowned upon. It’s still not considered to be of equal merit. If my embroideries were oil paintings they’d be three times the price. And if they were made by a man, they’d be four or five times the price.

Do you think of yourself as a feminist?

When I had my interview for art school in 1983 and they said to me “What do you think about feminism?” I said, “I don’t.” But now I do. I have to think about it to continue what I’m doing in a man’s world. The older and more successful I become, the more I realize how much of a man’s world the art world is.

My Halloween Invitations

Francine Spiegel

Francine Spiegel "Mud and Milk," -- WOW!

"Francine is a young painter living in upstate New York whose overall oeuvre seeks what Barbara Creed terms the "monstrous feminine." Stitched together porno-Frankenstein style, the fragmented females depicted in her paintings are half-alive and half-dead, half-confused and half-horny. Built up from imagery stolen from monster magazines, horror films, or fetish websites, Spiegel's fantastically seductive hotties look like gory super-heroines. Their abject gazes attract and repel like soggy Medusas." - Dietch Projects

Good news

Tyler Wriston and I have been selected to curate an exhibition at NURTUREart Gallery during their upcoming 2009-10 season. Keep an eye out for "Eternal Return," with participating artists, Jonathan Brilliant, Judith Braun, Joy Curtis, Thomas Lendvai, Reuben Lorch-Miller, Tara Parsons and Cody Trepte.

Porn Actress Tests HIV Positive

I know this news is a little late, however, bear with me.

On June 11, 2009, it was reported that a Southern California porn actress tested positive for HIV. While it has been called an "isolated event" and the actress and her partners have been quarantined, it still reignites concerns regarding safety within the industry -- an industry that does not require the use of condoms.

Aside from the health risks for the actors and actresses involved in the making of pornography, I have to wonder how this neglect of safe sex practices is affecting the populace at large, who are exposed to pornography more than ever before. At the risk of ruining the inherent "fantasy" equated with porn's enjoyment, it seems to me that we live in a time where it is impossible to ignore the necessity of condoms and other safe sex practices. Consistently depicting an idealized scenario where condoms aren't necessary or desired, has the potential to foster a dangerous attitude among viewers, especially young viewers. I think the porn industry owes it to its participants as well as its viewers at large to make the use of condoms a priority.

Read the ABC News article here.

The Body Politic - Photos

Here are some photos from The Body Politic opening reception.  Thanks to everyone who came out for a spectacular night.  And of course congratulations and thanks to all the artists, Brooklyn Art Collective and Republic.   

Photos by Sean McGurn and Allison Joyce.

THE BODY POLITIC

THE BODY POLITIC

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 13, 2009, doors open at 6pm

The Brooklyn Art Collective and Republic are pleased to present The Body Politic, a group exhibition, curated by BKAC co-directors Tyler Wriston and Ian McGillivray, along with independent curator, Christine Spangler. The Body Politic will open at Jungle on June 13, 2009 and will feature live performance art as well as musical performances by Anamanaguchi, Buke & Gass, and ASA Ransom; doors open at 6pm.

In this contemporary climate of conceptualism, art making can often appear wrought with intellectual, philosophical or technological demands. The Body Politic presents a tangible and universal anchor through which artists are able to examine their own consciousness and culture: the human body. The phrase "body politic" has historically served as an analogy in which the human body is used to represent a larger political, philosophical or social whole. In this group exhibition, artists survey the anatomy, physicality, biology, and substance of the human body; its functions and failings, its fervor and vivacity, in order to further extrapolate this idea.

As the notion of the "body politic" has continually evolved, investigations into the nature of the human body are also not without new and contemporary reflections. The growing understanding and awareness towards diseases and medicine, changing conceptions of gender and sexuality, and the rising numbers in plastic surgery and body modification all represent relevant inquires related to the physical body in today's unique culture.

The Body Politic will showcase the work of fifteen contemporary artists utilizing mediums of painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, installation, video and performance art. Not limited to representations and reflections of the human form, this exhibition will highlight performance art, process-based art, and other works intrinsically tied to the palpable actions of the body itself. Artists included in the exhibition use these modes to provide unique and singular insights into how the human body interacts directly with the creation and presentation of the work of art.

Participating artists include Michael Alan, Matt Brennan, Kate Burnet & Dan Woerner, Bill Durgin, Jason Ferguson, Lisa Kellner, Ryan Ketchum, Ian McGillivray, Jennifer Mills, Leemour Pelli, Matthew Purdy, Diana Schmertz, Mireille Vautier, and Bohyun Yoon.

Jungle
286 Meserole Street, Brookyln, NY 11206
L Train to Montrose Ave.

For further information, please contact the curators at brooklynartcollective@gmail.com or christine.spangler@gmail.com.

THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009, 6-10pm

THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009, 6-10pm

REPUBLIC WEBLAUNCH

http://www.republicbrooklyn.com

POCHRON STUDIOS
20 Jay St. 11th Floor
Suite 1100
D.U.M.B.O. Brooklyn, NY 11201
718. 237. 1332
http://www.pochronstudios.com

FORMATIONS
Spring is the season of luscious colorful rebirth and heavy rains that fertilize the earth and the human spirit. There is something so enchanting about the first spring sunshine and the anticipation of resplendent green all around inspires the sincerest forms of creation. In that spirit, REPUBLIC presents Formations.
If REPUBLIC is the meeting of varied minds that transcend the sum of its parts, then the first stage in harnessing such a unique array of talents is to make a plan for construction. In conjunction with the launch of our new website: http://www.republicbrooklyn.com, Formations presents the idea that throughout Spring the world is focused on building new things out of the remains of what has passed. It is a time to pay special service to those artists who have concentrated their gifts on the idea of building upon the foundations of fundamental ideas that are ripe for reinterpretation by a new eager generation. On May 7th 2009 at the Pochron Gallery in D.U.M.B.O., REPUBLIC brings you an exhibition that will stroke your joy for spring by exciting you with color, form and energy.
The event begins at 6pm, when the website goes live. Drinks, T-shirts, and posters are available and profits will benefit our May 29th collaborative fundraiser with Create for a Cause .

For more information about the artists involved, Create for a Cause, or REPUBLIC, please contact jason@republicbrooklyn.com or call 917. 478. 7513 or visit http://www.republicbrooklyn.com.

Pochron Studios is located at 20 Jay St. 11th Floor, Suite 1100 in D.U.M.B.O. Brooklyn NY. (G-Train to York St. stop)

Sex: The Annabel Chong Story

I recently watched, for research purposes, of course, Sex: The Annabel Chong Story, a documentary film about former porn star Annabel Chong. If you aren't familiar with her oeuvre, she is most well know for her role in the "World's Biggest Gang Bang," where she performed 251 different sex acts with various men in the period of a single ten-hour day, Ron Jeremy being the final male to have a go, naturally.

Ms. Chong describes her performances in the pornography industry, especially in regards to "World's Biggest Gang Bang," as a way to challenge the settled and assumed notions about female sexuality. It was her goal to display to all that she was as sexual a being as any man and could engage in these extreme acts for her own personal pleasure. It is important to note that Ms. Chong was a Gender Studies graduate student at USC during this time and refers to her role in pornography as a means to explore such topics.

The documentary takes a turn for the worse after the completion of "Gang Bang" and ultimately displays the psychological demise of Ms. Chong, who has resorted to cutting herself, among other disturbed habits. It also witnesses the estrangement from her traditional Singaporean family after they find out about her career.

This documentary as a whole subsequently discredits the feminist intentions that Ms. Chong clearly states early on in the film. Her emotional and psychological downturn seems to be the direct product of her involvement in the porn industry and stems from her dissatisfaction as a result of this career. It is the combination of an industry that was founded upon notions of exploitation (of both males and females), along with the reckless and cavalier attitude of a young Chong, that ultimately thwarts the possibility for any genuine or new idea about female sexuality to be successfully portrayed. (Chong has the audacity to claim, "I believe that sex is good enough to die for," in response to the possibility of contracting AIDS during the filming of "Gang Bang.")

I do not believe that human sexuality can or should be politicized in the way that Annabel Chong attempted. By defining the act of sex as something that is largely about proving some sort of feminist point, there is something very important lacking: humanity. Whatever the role of sex in one's life, it seems to me that the unique and wonderful quality about it, is its ability to possess something inherently humanistic and carnal. Ms. Chong and the pornography industry have attempted to commercialize, sanitize and/or politicize one of the few experiences we as human beings can still call our own.

One of Annabel Chong's professors at USC admirably describes her writing skills and her 'very original' notions regarding sexuality and feminism. I must say that after all is said and done, I would have much rather read Ms. Chong's thoughts than watch her fuck 251 men. That's just me.

Film / Video Screening

Nicholas Mohanna, Everything Is Not Ok (2008) video still, dvd-ntsc

DUMBO FIRST THURSDAY SCREENING

Thursday, May 7, 6:30-8pm

In conjunction with the exhibition, Clamoring to Become Visible, curated by Christine Spangler, BAC Gallery will screen a program of short videos by Brooklyn artists John Anderson, Inge Hoonte, Jen May, Jennifer Mills, Nickolas Mohanna and Michelle Provenzano. 

website.

PROGRAM:

Jennifer Mills
Scribe (2008) 3:50 min

This short video documents a 24 hour performance Mills did in October of 2008 in Brooklyn, NY. Creating a store front to look like an office, Mills typed her observations of the street for 24 hours, creating a 200 page manuscript of the experience. Quirky events on this quiet Brooklyn street, passing characters and a desperate struggle with the creative process are documented in the writings.

Letters (2008) 4:03 min

This text based video relays a secret message of frustration to the viewer who is willing to wait. Participants are encouraged to write down the letters as they come to uncover the artist's statement.

Michelle Provenzano
Sites for Singing (2001-2) 3:00

Sites for Singing documents the karaoke culture in Japan through writing and video stills of karaoke box interiors, storefront signage, lyric videos and singing participants in Kitakyushu, Japan.

John Anderson
Platelet (2008) 1:22 min

This work is an homage to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and his account of the bombing of Dresden as depicted in Slaughterhouse V. The footage was pulled from several sources (recorded on Sept. 11, 2001) while collaborating with Randall Packer on the piece America's Grave.

Inge Hoonte
I’d Like To… (2006) 3:03 min

I'd Like To... shows the attempt and failure of human interaction in daily life, ranging from subtle eye contact to a desire for more intimate contact with the strangers we pass everyday.

Anything Is Inside Everything (2006) 9 min

In Anything is Inside Everything, a collection of vignettes, Inge Hoonte’s focus settles on chances to witness profundity within the mundane. Storytelling and one-sided conversation serve as verbal counterparts to a series of eccentric behaviors. Narrative fragments, thoughtful compositions and strange occurrences converge in a world witnessed by Hoonte’s patient and persistent eye.

Actors: Emily Anderson, Lilli Carré, Thea Miklowski, Leone Reeves, Sarah Thompson and Michelle Tupko.

Nickolas Mohanna
Everyone is Not Okay (2008)1:38 min

A tale of apprehension where a solutions are never fully conceived.

No Bones (2008) 1:49 min

Surreal moments of recognition and fading memory---akin to an irregular birth.

Jen May
Fix Everything/It’s Hard (2006) 2:22 min

In Fix Everything/It's Hard May takes the icon of Bob Dylan in the mid-sixties and inserts herself into his performance through the use of video projection. The two engage in a dialogue through the use of written words held up on signs, as well as the lyrics being sung.

Spring is a promise

"As summer neared, as the evenings lengthened, there came to the wakeful, the hopeful, walking the beach, stirring the pool, imaginations of the strangest kind -- of flesh turned to atoms which drove before the wind, of stars flashing in their hearts, of cliff, sea, cloud, and sky brought purposely together to assemble outwardly the scattered parts of the vision within. In those mirrors, the minds of men, in those pools of uneasy water, in which clouds forever turn and shadows form, dreams persisted, and it was impossible to resist the strange intimation which every gull, flower, tree, man and woman, and the white earth itself seemed to declare, that good triumphs, happiness prevails, order rules; or to resist the extraordinary stimulus to range hither and thither in search of some absolute good, some crystal of intensity, remote from the known pleasures and familiar virtues, something alien to the process of domestic life, single, hard, bright, like a diamond in the sand, which would render the possessor secure."

-Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

Curatorial Talk and Artist Panel

© Jung Eun Park, Letter to mother, 2008, thread, fabric handkerchief, 18 x 18 inches

Curatorial Talk and Artist Panel

Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery

111 Front Street, Suite 218

Thursday, April 2, 2009, 6:30 - 8 pm

On Thursday, April 2, 2009, curator, Christine Spangler and participating artists, Lauren Culbreth, Meg Hitchcock, Inge Hoonte, Lisa Kellner, Nesta Mayo, Jung Eun Park and Michelle Provenzano will give a panel discussion in conjunction with the exhibition Clamoring to Become Visible, now on view at BAC Gallery.

Ganesh Experiment

Come check out the Ganesh Experiment on Saturday, April 4, 2009 from 8-12pm at the Brooklyn Artist Gym.  I'll be one of the participating visual artists!

THE GANESH EXPERIMENT

LIVE MUSIC | NAKED ART
Saturday, April 4, 8:00-12:00

30 visual artists, 10 musicians, 3 installation artists, 1 performance artist, nude painted models, and guests all hosted by Brooklyn Artists Gym.

The evening brings together an incredible roster of musicians, among them: Mike Gamble, Joe Tomino (Dub Trio), Hektor Fontanez (Twi the Humble Feather), Conor Elmes (Youngblood Brass Band), Marco Benevento (The Benevento Russo Duo), Noah Jarrett. Together they will improvise over four hours of music.

30 amazing visual artists will work on the spot with the music, and when they're finished, put their work up in the gallery.

In the heart of the gallery an octopus of media and reverberating sound will be built by installation artists Richard Tazzara, Dan Glass, and Eric Larsen.

Adjacent to the gallery, performance artist Adina Bier will demonstrate how much the human body can be changed by it's environment

As the evening proceeds, the visual artists completed work culminates in a show that starts and finishes in one night. Spectators and guests provide the motive for creation. Everyone who comes to Brooklyn Artists Gym on April 4th will find themselves part of the experiment.

Come join us for incredible music, newly created art, a feast for the eye and the ear, and a glass of wine while you're at it.

Artists: Catherine Tafur Kono - Rick Midler - Richard Kessler - Marilee Scott - John Azelvandre - Heidi Yockey - Beck Underwood - Michael Judice – Aemen Bell - Kelly Garcia - Michael Gaughran - Erin Merrimen - Casey Heacock - Elizabeth Blackford - Darren Morales - Darla Ebanks - Abbey Luck – Evan Brown - Pete Langway - CJ Rosenthal - Michael Alan - Christine Spangler - Misha Tyutyunik - Neil Berger - Lark - Ian McGillivray - Nathan Taylor - Morgan Blair

Tickets are $10 at the door.

Brooklyn Artist Gym

168 7th Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11215