Buzzing

me (not really)/kris brownlee

I'm buzzing around like a crazy-bee lately. Thus, my post-per-week average has been a little low in March. If you come to this blog regularly, my apologies. Here's some of the really awesome things that have been sucking all my time (ie: that I've been very much enjoying the opportunity to work on.)

ANDROID

andra rosenberg/dj android in nyc

I interviewed local artist/stylist/DJ Andra Rosenberg for AltDaily. She's one of the most talented and motivated people I've ever met. She's responsible (via her six-year stint as The Wave's 80s Night DJ) for breaking down a lot of social barriers in our conservative lil Norfolk, especially when it comes to gender and sexuality. She also has insane, kickass, radballs taste in music. 

And, we're friends. That's me and Andra (and our friend Grant, owner of the photo booth) at an event last year. She did hair, makeup (including mine), and DJ'd for it. I didn't stop dancing for very long. She just DJ'd The Chrysler Museum last night, which I'm sure was killer.

I encourage you to read the piece. Beyond the styling and music, she also unexpectedly became the pseudo-mom to her teenage sister two years ago when their father suddenly passed away. Transitioning from a prominent nightlife figure to a parent couldn't have been easy, though she makes it look that way.

CONCRETE

From the Honor Code/Squealer/Ancient Ruin show at Concrete

I also recently interviewed Stephanie Lou Hauge and Calum MacPherson-Smith, two of the three owners/curators of the new DIY space in Virginia Beach called Concrete (Grow Together.) These kids are 22 years old and running one of the most invigorating venues our region has seen in nearly a decade (last one I recall this good was Relative Theory, which closed its doors five years ago.)

Concrete's been doing some restructuring and are re-opening this month (April 15). I'll have my real feature on the space, its owners, and all things DIY published around then as well. I expect mucho greatness from these dedicated kiddos.

MUSIC FESTIVAL

justin townes earle

Another thing I've been active in lately is Tidewater Arts Outreach. Each April they put on the Sea Level Singer/Songwriter Music Festival in Norfolk. It's been a lot of fun getting to know these folks and getting even more involved in the local music scene. Last Saturday, I was one of the panel who willowed applicants to finalist spots for the Emerging Artist Showcase (dream come true...and there was wine.) We started with over fifty and ended up with ten. So so much fun. 

Justin Townes Earle will be headlining the festival. It'll be good to see him in such an intimate setting (The Naro) before the show I'll attend this summer at Bonnaroo.  I'm also (via AltDaily) planning the Emerging Artist Showcase official afterparty, which will feature my frequent blog subject, Mr. Phillip Roebuck himself. He's been on tour lately, so I'm hoping all of Norfolk will want to show up and welcome him home. 

KILLER ART SHOW 

Clint Wilson/O Brother Where Art Thou?

I'm also working on a story about next weekend's Quentin vs. Coen art show at Bold Hype Gallery in NYC. The show features talented, up and coming artists from around the country who submitted work based on either a Tarantino or Coen Brothers film. 

Cassie Podish/Inglorious Basterds

I found out about this via Cassie Podish, whom I met when she did the design for The Rise Up! last December. She's totally freakin' great at design and I can't wait to see the rest of the pieces from her and everyone else. 

RIOT GRRL LOVE

Me and Kathleen.

Last night I got to hang out with Kathleen-freaking-Hanna. I don't have words. Actually, that's a lie. I have about 9,000 words sitting in a document I need to whittle down to a readable feature by Monday. She is one of the most inspirational figures in music, women's rights, fashion, DIY, and on and on. I especially was lucky to ask her opinion on blogging and where she sees DIY going in the 21st century.

REVITALIZATION

pic: juxtapoz

Lastly, I've been getting more vocal in my support for the Norfolk neighborhood Park Place. Adam and I actually just put in an offer on a duplex fixer-upper on 30th Street, which we hope to fix up and rent out. I'm so lucky to have the chance to even own rental property, so doing it in a place I actively try to help revitalize makes me feel I'm putting my money where my mouth (pen? keyboard?) is, so to speak.

This is a piece I wrote yesterday comparing Park Place to Detroit and its demise-then-revitalization via art and culture. Check out what Juxtapoz has got going on there, it's something I want for The P. 

THE END

Hopefully I'll get back on here more in April. Fingers crossed.

Score!!!

Exciting news!!! On Wednesday, I get to interview DIY goddess/rock queen Kathleen Hanna. I'm so freakin' stoked/nervous/thrilled/pukey/grinface I can't stand it.

Keckin' It

Not Rigby

You may recognize the above. It's the first piece of art I purchased (as in, not a poster from Ikea or a writing/drawing trade from a college friend kind of thing.) It's this blog's mascot, and those of you who know me in the real world also know that its framed, fatter twin hangs near the staircase in my home. 

What you may not recognize is the artist, Michel Keck.  I have been following her growth for about two years now and cannot wait to see where it takes her in the future.  What's coincidental is I just mentioned/praised her a week or so ago in a post about art at the day job with no intention of doing a post just about her just yet. I'm in her "fanclub" or whatever, and have intended on sitting down to showcase her for quite some time. Today, I got notice she is debuting Michel Keck Fine Art in Lowell, IN this weekend. If I could make it, I'd be there in two shakes.

She's totally insane, you know. She does mixed media collages like the dog stuff, as well as other ones. Here's a favorite of mine (click here to see it blown up, it's so, so rad):

Hard Knock Life

She has a way of mixing colors and ideas in ways that make complete sense to me and I definitely plan on buying more of her stuff when I finally strike it rich. Perhaps I relate more to the above examples because I also collage or am more of a pop culture type versus an old school (or even art-educated) type. However, that doesn't mean she isn't talented in more formal or traditional ways.

She's equally, if not more, well-known and talented in the medium of abstract painting. I've read praise (and agree with it) stating most young artists are in some way representatives of their influences, whereas Keck is truly original. It's like you're seeing her pretty, organized, deranged mind with each new piece. She's American, she's pop art, and she's abstract expressionism, yet she's not Warhol or Pollack. 

In fact, she isn't even represented by an agent or gallery. She's considered one of the world's most successful self-repped artists in the world today. From 2003-06, she sold original pieces on Ebay, where she regularly broke records (her high being $42,000 in one flipping month!) From there she opened her online store and her gallery. Now she's moving on up to her newer, better location and I hope to visit in person at some point. In the meantime, if you can't afford her multi-thousand dollar pieces, that's okay. She's got everything from mid-priced giclee prints (with original signatures) to postcards and iPhone skins. Girl's got skill, people. 

FCUK

The photography and set-up of the latest French Connection collection was born in my dreams.

Dimlit reminiscing of a long ago Guatemalan summer...My toes, too, feel those keys.

First rate third world beauty.

I've been the girl on the right once or twice.

Staging this, then pulling it off, real friendships must live within.

Models.

The Favorite Frida

The Suicide of Dorothy Hale

I got in a conversation about Frida Kahlo a few days ago. Turns out I'm not the only one who thinks she's a killer costume. Two of my friends are planning on going as her this year (without having seen my blog.) Also turns out, even after decades and movies and all the rest of it that have happened since her lifetime, she's still overpowered by her husband, Diego Rivera's reputation.

The above painting, "The Suicide of Dorothy Hale" is my favorite Frida, yet most mentions of it are met with blank stares from my pals. The last time I broached it, the "New York" in this work was re-routed to a conversation about Diego's infamous 1933 Rockefellar Center mural debacle. Since most art fans (or Selma Hayek fans for that matter) know about the Riveras and communism, etc., I'm not rehashing it here. The story of a painting that somehow missed out on becoming a macabre, yet legendary, tale of American high society and woe is much more fascinating anyway.

Dorothy Hale

Dorothy Hale was an American socialite of the 1920s and 30s, who, after becoming widowed, spent the last several years of her life struggling with her place. She had extremely wealthy and powerful friends (and lovers), including the JP Morgans and members of the Roosevelt administration. She was beautiful and dreamed of being an actress, though sadly her talent was not as massive as her ambition. Perhaps more sadly, it was also further unbalanced against the successes of her good girlfriends Clare Booth Luce and Kahlo herself.

In 1938, Dorothy threw an informal "farewell dinner party", then went to the theater, then to a club with a large group of friends. She told everyone she was leaving, keeping specifics vague. She returned home around 1:15 am, wrote various suicide notes until dawn, and threw herself out the 16th floor window.

Luce, the editor, diplomat, wife of Time and Vanity Fair publisher, socialite, etc etc, was devasted by the loss of her good friend and almost immediately commissioned Kahlo to paint her portrait.

As you see above, a portrait wasn't exactly what she ended up with. Kahlo went as far as to smear "blood spatter" on the frame itself. Luce was horrified and refused to accept the painting, disregarding both her friendship and fandom of Kahlo. She commissioned the famous sculptor Isamu Noguchi to remove mention of her name from the work (Kahlo had written a little narrative regarding the whole scenario) and then had the painting hidden away for decades.

Eventually, she annonymously donated to the Phoenix Art Museum, where it still resides. I hear it frequently tours, though, and would love to see it in person one day.

Clare Luce Booth

For followers of Kahlo's work, "The Suicide of Dorothy Hale" is a vast departure from the angry or depressed self-portraiture often depicting Kahlo as ill, masculine, or broken. She sees flaws in herself and exaggerates them onto the canvas for all of us to admonish and admire. She's in vibrant, bright-yet-dark hues and often costumed and adorned with jewels or flowers. 

Here, the Kahlo face is gone, but not the attitude. Hale is in her fine evening gown. Blood runs from underneath her but her dress and face are still beautiful and unbroken. The colors are lighter and brighter, with heavenly clouds that take on an angelic or bird-like presence. Unlike Kahlo's representation of herself, however, Hale is deceaded, morte, no more. Perhaps that's why (to me) it stands so far to the left of everything else in Kahlo's canon: it's prettier in its depiction of someone else's utter defeat and thus, it's rare presentation of Kahlo's strength of self, almost to the point of gloating.

Coal Miner's Daughter

Halloween Idea #13

Music-themed, ridiculous sequined dresses, tie-in to some truth...All good reasons to consider Loretta Lynn as my March contender for Halloween 2012. I'll be seeing her live (!!!) in June so I'll get some more inspiration there.

Actually being a coal miner's daughter, and from two towns over from the infamous country feminist, I'd be drawing on my roots to an exent. No joke, though, the insanity of her dresses are really what's doing it for me.

Pro's: Musical tie-in, cultural tie-in. No wigs. Sequins. I own a guitar and mic. I'm fairly certain I'll be spending the time in New Orleans with Heather, who has gone as Dolly Parton on more than one occasion. Dolly & Loretta? Together again?

Con's: I could be in New Orleans, where it's warm. No need to waste an opportunity to wear something best seen sans coat and hat. Crinoline is itchy.

Only eight months to go!

Weg the Dog

Hansel and Gretel

Here's another peek into the art collection at my day job, William Wegman's "Hansel and Gretel." Wegman is most famous for incorporating his dogs into his art. In fact, in 1982, the Village Voice named his dog Man Ray "Man of the Year."

This, of course, is prompting me to make Rigby AltDaily's "Woman of the Year" for 2012. She also looks good in art, so I feel she can accomplish this dream:

collage by me (jESiO)

Pets in art is a tricky, slippery slope. When done well, it's great, and I think Wegman's a prime example of that. Michel Keck, of course, rocks at it. (She does dog collage. I own the Boston Terrier piece used as mascot for this blog.) However, it can get gimicky real quick. The last few Stockley Gardens I've gone to (they're Norfolk's bi-annual art festival) have had mediocre, faux pop, dog and cat portraitists en masse. And more show up every time! Yes, everyone wants a cute pic of their pet. No, that doesn't mean a generic stencil of a dog and adding five colors in blotches counts as "art."

We only own the one Wegman piece above, but here are a few more examples of his work (aka: the right way to incorporate animals into art):

"On Set"

"Canon Aside"

Tunes

collage by me (jESiO)

I've been writing a local music column called "Groove Advisory" for the past few weeks. I think it's starting to find it's legs. If you care to check it out, click here. 

Asa Adore

I went to a pop up gallery show at a sweet pad overlooking downtown Norfolk last weekend featuring the four artists chosen for the innagural building in the Hampton Roads: The Canvas project (which AltDaily helped start and my superstar friend Elyse Lovelace spearheads.) A portion of the proceeds of art purchased went to benefit the project and I'm told several pieces sold. While there, I sort of fell in love with the work of Asa Jackson.

Lucky for me, my favorite piece (above) is still available. Now as soon as someone wants to give me $1,000 (I'll work for it, believe me) I promise I will spend it on enjoying the lovely blues and disjointed shapes for a long, long time.

  (It's not the best picture and the reds in the left corners are the wall it was hanging on and not part of the piece.)

Jackson is young (22 or 23) and lives in Newport News, VA. He's the driving force behind a movement known as True Face, which has artwork and clothing, as well as a large helping of community involvement. 

The work reminds me of Basquiat in its delivery and use of sketch and vibrant tone. But it's got its own voice too. There's something very shantytown about it, with warm island or African (or a mix) vibes that shine out thoughts of hope and strength beyond the relative simplicity of primary color and shape.

Up to ten more buildings around town will be uplifted by local artists in the coming months, as this project continues. I'm so stoked Jackson was part of the first batch, as the press and precedent will fall more to this group than later ones. Hopefully this allows more people to see his work and him to keep pushing his technique and mindset further towards the ideal he seeks.

To see what I mean about Basquiat, click here and peruse the art within.

Sea In You

I just found some pictures I took last summer. My super Jess Pleasant was visiting from Brisbane and we walked around our alma mater, Christopher Newport University for the afternoon. Then onto Va Beach for toes in sand, et cetera. What a nice surprise old hard drive!

BadLove

So, a few weeks ago I promised my Tainted Love playlist. No joke, it's literally taken me this long to figure out how to move something from iTunes to Blogspot. The idea was songs about the dark side of love. Disfunction, obsession, swoonkings like Morrissey or The Cure. Raunch like "Drain You" or cries of desperation over synthpop. It was varied but mainly upbeat. Hope you dig.

Collage-a-Dodge

Just finished this collage. I started making it about a month ago and then completely forgot about it. Only needed about thirty minutes work today. So glad it's off my agenda now...only 2,345 things left to do!

SPINning

I can't believe I've waited an entire week to share this, but hey, better late than never, right? Last week, the Sunday paper featured the SPIN project I've been working on since May. 

Here's the article.  To sum up: "Because there is no law, Owens said, some officials and performers are confused about whether entertaining on sidewalks is legal, and people who might otherwise perform outdoors may not because they fear repercussions."

The weather's been picking up nicely around here and a busker (and often more) have been out every single weekend for months, and now I'm seeing them several times per week. There's a major opportunity coming up next month, with the second annual Art|Everywhere art exhibit/street festival. I'm so excited to watch this grow from something amazing last year to something much more.

Here are some more of my SPIN pictures from the last year or so.

Cliches

Cliche: North American Indian

This is the first part of a new series on the blog. My (dumdumdum) day job owns a pretty fantastic art collection that I get to peruse every single day. This is awesome in many ways (until that whole "lost in focus in color" thing rears its head.) Anyway, here's the first of many examples of the best part of the cubicle.

I just got out of a meeting where the walls are covered in the original works of John Baldessari, whose work uses "found photographs of people are amended with colorful dots that blot out the heads of the subjects, redirecting the viewer's attention towards marginal detail. (Amazon)" Above is a digital copy of his "Cliche: North American Indian" which looks way better in person (less intense--more subtelties in color differentiation.)

It's part of the "Cliche" series my company owns. "Cliche" is a set of three lithographs (I believe 50 were made in 1995) that, when viewed together distract me from everything else going on in the room.

Cliche: Japanese

Cliche: Eskimo

Looking at them on a screen diminishes how vibrant and varied the rectangled sections of the series are. In "Cliche: Japanese" (in person) the circles over select faces are faded enough to see the person underneath, but not for everybody. You can't tell this is occurring online.

Also in "Cliche: Eskimo," the pallette is gentle in its transition from pale blue to periwinkle. And the bear's case is much more yellow-orangey than appears here.

Seeing these works on such a regular basis has encouraged me to explore his work further, and I find I absolutely love it. He's really rivalling Maggie Taylor as my favorite living artist now. I just wishlisted his book "John Baldessari: A Print Retrospective from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation" which has over 140 color plates spanning forty years of his work. I'll do a book review later in the year on it, so stay tuned.

Work also owns this one, "Exterior Views, 1986"

In the meantime, enjoy a few more of my other favorites: