Impromptu Exhibit @ Devotion Gallery

A new exhibit featuring the work of Benton-C Bainbridge and Phoenix Perry opened last night at Williamsburg's Devotion Gallery. This small show integrates stills and video that challenge visual perception through disassociating and inventive uses of color, light, and line.

Impromptu focuses on two artists who approach the creation of work with a spontaneous methodology. Combining a visceral reaction to form seamlessly with the internal act of seeing, these two artists create experimental visual landscapes.

On now through January 30th.

Metal Machine Magnification + More...

Lou Reed has a new iPhone app that enlarges fonts called "LouZoom."
It does not evoke any atonal aural emissions, but Pitchfork provides plenty of snarky commentary about it, here.



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Reed will be signing his new book of photography, Romanticism, at the Steven Kasher gallery this Thursday, from 6-8pm. Exhibition of works in the collection will continue in the back of the gallery through January 9th.


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Just got a great new book with a foreward by Reed and contributions from Mo Tucker (and others) called The Velvet Underground: New York Art. With the inclusion of press clippings, musical scribblings, photographs, poster designs, interviews and tons of biographical tidbits, it is a real objet d'art. Gives further reason to romanticize the era, as if we haven't done enough of that already...

Tim Burton @ MoMA Sneak Peak

Sneak peak of MoMA's Tim Burton exhibit on the museum's official Flickr. Open to the public this Sunday!

Aire: The Second Fourfold Root

THIS SATURDAY IN BK:

Devotion Gallery presents dark, upcycled Victorian elegance showcased alongside equally august sonic experimentation.

Saturday. Williamsburg. 5 Bones. Succumb.






SOUND: Black Swan, Death Domain, DJ Cowboy Mark, Mike Servito (Ghostly)
VISION: Cyberoptix, Bird Ov Prey, Sinner/Saint (Anthony Malat of Bellmer Dolls)
++++++ MORE

RIYL: Dances of Vice, Wierd, Good taste.

Shadowtime L.A.

24 HOURS OF JAPANESE POP//ART

LAX Hilton: Pacific Media Expo








Royal/T: Three Apples exhibit (Hello Kitty's 35th Anniversary)
















Japanese American National Museum: Giant Robot Biennale 2



















Honor Fraser: Tomoo Gokita exhibit




thx, iPhone

Blondie @ the Brooklyn Museum

The members opening of Who Shot Rock & Roll at the Brooklyn Museum boasted a 45 minute set by Blondie: A fitting affair for an exhibition of rock 'n' roll photography. While it was much too crowded to spend sufficient time soaking in every shot on display before catching Deborah Harry & Co., the power of the exhibit was still palpable.

Curator Gail Buckland's attempt to capture lightning in a bottle integrates video, stills, album covers, collage, and even a DIY section for visitors. In works by Diane Arbus, David LaChapelle, Annie Liebowitz, Mick Rock, Ross Halfin, and so many others, the kinetic dynamism depicted at once forces the photographer to be elevated to rockstar status yet subsumed by the awesome musical subjects before his or her lens. Thus, the integration of subject and object is seamless.

From Elvis, James Brown, Fugazi, Pavement, and The Cramps, to Run DMC, the New York Dolls, and Amy Winehouse, nearly every genre is covered. The section of fan photos includes Norwegian Black Metallers in the same breath as grungey Alternative rock kids, and the album art selection has work by lesser known bands right near canonical classics.



As for Blondie, I was expecting a short and sweet tossed-off set, but to my surprise we got a real rock show. Debbie looked fantastic in a black satin suit jacket and skirt with blood red beads dripping off in slashes here and there. The band was in fighting form, (Chris Stein did a hot roadhouse blues solo bit), and the lighting was also stunning against the cavernous Roman architecture of the Beaux-Arts Court.

The band opened with "Call Me," followed by their only photography-related song (in the words of Ms. Harry), "Picture This." The juxtaposition of old, young, art world and rock world was apparent even in the first few rows: Blondie's genre-bending appeal is indeed far-reaching. Debbie's well-loved rhymes in "Rapture" were shouted out by the audience, and when Blondie played Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop" it was hard to believe it wasn't one of their origials. Plenty of audience participation made the night quite intimate, despite the crowd, and the band's set ended on a high note with "One Way or Another." Not bad at all for a bunch of old punk rockers.

Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present opens today and runs through January 31st.

(Photos from the Brooklyn Museum's official Flickr!)

Who Shot Rock & Roll? Exhibit @ the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum's latest exhibit, Who Shot Rock & Roll? A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present opens this Friday. Works such as this cheeky 1981 shot by Andy Earl of Bow Wow Wow and an underage Annabella Lwin will be featured.
If you're not already a member, sign up now as you'll be treated to a LIVE performance by Blondie at Thursday evening's reception!

Devotion Gallery

Caught the opening of an intimate new gallery space in Williamsburg last Saturday night. Devotion is clearly the product of artistic synthesis, but the foremost firebrand is musician/visual artist Phoenix Perry, of SF/NY electro duo Memory Systems. The exhibits on display ranged from skateboard art with East Asian landscape painting cum computer graphics to motherboard circuitry sculpture and twisted glass jar sound experiments.

Expect more radical synesthesia from this space in the future.

Follow Devotion on Twitter + visit the space in Brooklyn @ 54 Maujer St.

Tim Burton's Art World Apotheosis

I'd be remiss not to mention the upcoming Tim Burton Exhibition at MoMA beginning November 22nd, which is to include never-before-seen artifacts and elements of his classic works as well. The shrieks of glee have indeed been deafening amongst my circle of fiends ;)

Christian Joy - The Visitors Must Be Amused @ Audio Visual Arts

If you can't take in an official Fashion Week event, you can still revel in the work of one of New York City's inventive (and rock 'n' roll-related) designers at the Audio Visual Arts gallery. Christian Joy's first solo exhibition, "The Visitors Must Be Amused," features eight different pieces constructed with materials leftover and left out of her work from the past nine years. Joy invited her friends and family to compose a description of a 'female being', which she used to design the looks before each contributor incorporated their costume into a photograph, drawing, or image for display.

Karen O, whose onstage modeling of Joy's outfits with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs has perhaps been the designer's greatest advertisement, wrote this to begin her description:

"She had been born under a dead sea. Carved and polished by the dense saline tide, her mouth took on the landscape of the coral graves on which she slept..."

And this is Joy's costume - "Black Laquer Smile":






Nick Zinner's piece looks like a lycra bat-creature, called "Ghost With Boo Sign," while some of the others featured include a silver glam rock alien jumpsuit covered in ruffles and coils, as well as a little black dress - cubism style.

"The Visitors Must Be Amused" is more constructed than de-constructed, and while some pieces are more intriguing than others, the exhibit gives insight into process, collaboration, and inspiration as experienced by one indie fashion designer in NYC. You'll be more than amused.

















Free! Now through March 8.

Gothic: Dark Glamour - Museum @ FIT

Goth means never having to say good morning, and so curator Valerie Steele from the Museum at FIT has made sure that it’s permanent midnight in her latest exhibit. After descending the stairs into the building’s dimly lit depths, you’ll have to take a moment to adjust before feasting your eyes upon the collection. Gothic: Dark Glamour is the first gothic fashion exhibition ever to be put on by New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, combining high fashion and street fashion from Gaultier, Galliano, and Gothic Lolita to Victorian mourning wear and post-punk finery. While not all designers featured embrace the ‘g – word’, the bleak romanticism and omnipresence of our favorite achromatic color tie all of the exquisite pieces together with sartorial success.

Free! Now through February 21.