Reclining Plate Face, 2009 ©Andrew Guenther

Paper Plate people, hotdogs and drug paraphernalia. These are some of Andrew Guenther’s subject matter. Referenced from his own life and pop culture, his work is highly personal even though it may seem even the slightest bit anonymous. Guenther’s unique aesthetic sensibility combined with vibrant colored drawings and paintings, immediately grab the viewer. His silver gelatin photographs look like they could have been taken decades ago. His latest sculptures of fish and naked ladies accompanied by a photograph of the full moon seem pure and earthly.

Andrew Guenther is based in Brooklyn and was born and raised in Wheaton, Illinois. Andrew has exhibited widely both in the US and abroad, and curated an artist’s storefront space in Brooklyn for a few years called Arts Tropical. He is represented by Freight and Volume Gallery in New York. Continue Reading More »

Photo: HW

When I saw “The Reader” for the first time, I gave in to it completely, and undeniably, I was in tears. Little did I know that the subtle orchestra, which provoked my emotions, was music composed by one of America’s youngest classical composers, Nico Muhly. He also lives right here in New York City. Although his work is based on classical traditions, his renditions and variations in rhythms are highly contemporary, which makes it compatible with a broad genre of music. Nico has worked for Phillip Glass from 1999 to 2008. His collaborators include Bjork, Jónsi of Sigur Rós, Grizzly Bear, and Anthony and the Johnsons. Besides “The Reader” (2008), he also scored for the film “Joshua” (2007). I recently saw his latest piece “Tell the Way” at St. Ann’s Warehouse, which is “loosely based on medieval and colonial English travel narratives, the work draws from American folk sources, prayers for the Royal Navy, early colonial diaries, Mandeville, Herodotus and Marco Polo”.  Commissioned by Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the ensemble included an eclectic mix of talents: a 45-member choir, guitarist Bryce Dessner, British singer Bishi, the unexpected appearance of a sitar, Nico’s sense of humor, and of course, him playing the piano throughout. His full length albums include Speaks Volumes (2007) and Mothertongue (2008), both released under the artist-run label Bedroom Community.  In the midst of writing two operas, I was fortunate to get a brief interview with the artist. Continue Reading More »

Courtesy of the artist

I came across the name of Maria Chavez for the first time last July when going through the program of the Christian Marclay Festival (Whitney  Museum of American Art,  July 1- September 26 2010).  It was only a matter of time to see Maria perform live in one of the many events happening in town. Her intuitive, interactive, reactive way of treating her materials, vinyl records and needles for that matter, impressed me. She is also one of the few female artists, if not the only one, in town who manages to bend the turntablist rules effortlessly and create immersive sonic atmospheres made of sparse samples, clicks and scratches. And these are only a few of the reasons that motivated me to do this interview with her. Maria was born in Peru, lived in Houston and is now based in Brooklyn. She is currently curating  a series of shows entitled Dead Of Winter Works at the Splatterpool Gallery showcasing new work by Richard Garet, Shelley Burgon, David Linton, Byron Westbrook, Future Archaeology and Sarah Lipstate. I have asked her a few things about her relationship to vinyl, her working process, about the NY scene and about fashion. Continue Reading More »

Courtesy of the Artist

Question: What starts with blood and ends with a post-op tranny? Answer: My studio visit with LA based artist Joel Kyack. Luckily there were some bacon strip band-aids on hand. Stepping into the Boyle Heights studio, I felt set up. Was this finger bleeding, paper clip and butane operation staged for me? Answer: No. Joel Kyack is attacking life and art, and sometimes people get hurt. Recently back from a Miami show and departing the following day for Milan, the studio was filled with more convo than recently finished art objects. New York will get its due though come April, when Joel will have a solo show at Kate Werble Gallery in SOHO. Until then, here is my Q and A with the artist: Continue Reading More »

This month, I had the opportunity to have a studio visit with legendary photographer Martha Cooper.  We sat and “talked shop” about photography and New York City, thirty years back and now. I always knew of Martha Cooper, but there were things about her photographic career I only learned of that day. The 1980’s movie Beat Street – little did I know that she was the still photographer.  Perhaps she is best known for her extensive coverage of the early Hip Hop days, as it emerged from the Bronx. These images have been published worldwide, helping make Hip Hop the predominant international youth movement it is today. Looking at her collection of images and many published books,  (Street Play, Subway Art and New York State of Mind – to only name a few) it is evident that Martha had the desire to document NYC simply as it was, making images which hold views of complete authenticity which add to historic preservation.

Martha’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and published in numerous magazines from National Geographic to Vibe. She lives in Manhattan where she is the Director of Photography at City Lore, the New York Center for Urban Folk Culture. For the past five years Martha has been shooting a personal project in SoWeBo, a neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore. Continue Reading More »

18 Years Of American Dreams, 2010

An entertaining, animated oral narrator in person, Bryan Zanisnik is also highly talented at telling stories through visually complex works, stacked with symbols, metaphors, and signifiers. In a sort of choose-your-own-adventure visual narrative, the viewer is allowed to piece together the information to create, or re-create, his or her own personal story. Zanisnik photographs complex tableaus constructed from personal and found objects, stages absurdist performances, and shoots videos that follow a New Jersey couple (his parents) through domestic and familiar spaces. His new body of work, Brass Arms Upper Eyelid, is currently on view through February 19, 2011 at Horton Gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition, Zanisnik will present a live performance on Saturday, February 5, from 4-6pm.

Bryan Zanisnik (b. 1979, Union, NJ) lives and works in New York, NY. He received an MFA from Hunter College, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and is currently an artist-in-residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Program. He recently performed at Galeria On, Poznan, Poland; PS1/MOMA, New York, NY; and Marginal Utility, Philadelphia, PA. This summer he will perform and participate in an exhibition at the Times Museum in Guangzhou, China. Continue Reading More »

I met this week’s featured artist, Robert Janitz, at Momenta Art in Williamsburg, where he is part of the new exhibition, Winter Break. Janitz grew up in Germany, and honed his artistic practice in France. His relationship to the space reflects this background. He arranges his paintings like installation, employing artificial backdrops made of cardboard. His interventions push as much against the old architectures of Western Europe as they do against the white of contemporary art galleries. When he speaks of the old great halls, and palaces of Europe, there is awe in his voice, though he speaks of tradition as an impossibly binding force.

When I first encountered them, the four paintings included in his show seemed sparse and harshly minimal. Looking closer, I realized each painting functions on a variety of levels. In them we see evidence of process, whether it’s the back of a canvas, or a portion of the stretcher, viewed through a translucent varnished surface. There is a serious level of self reflection in these paintings. This is not merely process painting, or art about art. Though they might speak with a different accent and walk with a strange gate, these are paintings nonetheless. To view Janitz’s work is to join the artist on a circuitous journey. Following him one gets the sense that the artist is searching for a new kind of space, somewhere to create work that is both powerful and approachable. Continue Reading More »