Up these glowing stairs, 4 sets of them, at the former DIA space on 22nd street the hipster scene at The Independent (art fair) was much more entertaining than the art on view, but the piece below Pae White's Professional took me back to the moment that we considered a mobile for our son's crib. The Stim-Mobile was the only choice at the time that seemed modern and graphic enough to be approved by my art directing husband. How many hours are spent by babies gazing at mobiles in those early months? I thought quite a bit about being an infant, looking up at the shapes constantly moving, caressing the air above.
When I came across Pae White's piece at The Independent I wanted to lie down underneath it and be mesmerized by the color, movement and overload of reflection, but security surely would have escorted me off the premises. An adult size mobile. It's trippy fantastic to look at. I could have gazed at it for a very long time.
Pae White's Professional The Independent, March 8-11 2012
Because a still image of Professional doesn't give you the sense of motion and reflection needed to truly appreciate it, I shot a short video in hopes that you too could take it in as if you were in it's presence.
Music is the one thing that has always been a loyal friend and an inspiration to me. So I wanted to share what's been on heavy rotation these past few months... Jack White, Love Interruption, featuring Ruby AmanfuI heard this for the first time on Valentine's day, fitting huh? His new solo record Blunderbuss is out April 23 and he was brilliant on SNL last night.
best lyrics:the entire song
Nicolas Jaar, And I Say, vocals contributed by Scout LaRue (daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis)
best lyrics: Whoo
Lower Dens Brains NewAlbum Nootropics out May 1
best lyrics: a bunch of mumbling and repeating don't be afraid, but it's really all about the snare drum
Fell Sound (which is Liz Harris/Grouper and Jesy Fortino/Tiny Vipers), Mirroring, Foreign Body is out 3/19...something about this reminds me of Twin Peaks
best lyrics: Humph?
Massive Attack'sHymn of the Big Wheel, from Blue Lines, over 20 years have passed and this album still feels fresh to me...to commemorate the 20 year anniversary producer Egyptrixx released the remix. This is by far the Kid's favorite track and on heaviest rotation 2 months running. The wheel keeps turning.
best lyrics:There's a hole in my soul like a cavity
Seems like the world is out to gather just by gravity
The wheel keeps turning the sky's rearranging
Look my son the weather is changing
Sharon Van Etten's entire record Tramp, No wonder I like this girl, Etten has been associated with some of my favorite bands. After a controlling relationship with a man in Tennessee who told Etten her song writing was worthless, she eventually packed her bags and found her way back to her home in New Jersey where she found support in friend Kyp Malone (Tv on the Radio). Kyp and others encouraged Etten to pursue a career in music. Etten now resides in Brooklyn when not on tour. She has sung back up with The Antlers on Thirteen and The National on "Think You Can Wait" from the Win Win sound track. The National's Aaron Dessner produced Tramp in his garage/studio last year.
best lyrics: ...It's not that I don't cry, It's that I have to hide, So I won't be there to ask. No, I won't be the one to ask. and it hurts too much to laugh about it. ...You're the reason why I'll move to the city You're why I'll need to leave ...Wanting to love as new as I can
Below are two things you should know about
CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY MAY 3-5(Produced by BAM) The Walkmen, St. Vincent, Beirut, Sharon Van Etten, The Antlers and Atlas Sound all at the Howard Gilman Opera House
And if you love live music you should check out NYCTAPER's blog one of his latest post is Sharon Van Etten's show last week at Bowery Ballroom. NYCTAPER records almost every indie show in NYC and Brooklyn and puts it on his blog, with permission of the artists of course, for you to download with only the request that if you download the music for your listening pleasure to please support the artist in other ways.
Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds at Mary Boone Gallery February 2012
"I always think art is a tool to really set up new questions...I want people who don't understand art to understand what I am doing" Weiwei
Got it Weiwei and here's my question. Why? Why couldn't the 1600 people in the town of Jingdezhen (the porcelain capital of China), that you paid to work on the Sunflower Seed Sculpture, produce something more usable? Yes the town needed the work. Many who lived there were going bankrupt, but could they have been put to work producing something more beneficial to themselves, common man and our planet? Do we need 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds for any other reason except to look at them taking up space. You can't walk on them because they produce a toxic dust and rumor has it the paint used on them has lead in it, so it's hands off too. I'm all for meticulous process and boldness in producing something exaggerated in size, but I just keep asking myself why so many seeds?
Well to counter myself, the seeds don't just take up space, there's money to be made. In February 2011 a mere 100,000 of the over 100 million hand painted seeds were sold at Sotheby's in London. The anonymous bidder, competing against three others, ended up paying $ 559,334 for 220 pounds of seeds.
Interestingly, when the kid walked into the gallery he could have cared less about the 4 million sunflower seeds on the floor of Mary Boone's gallery until someone who worked at the gallery intervened and gave him the full story. I dislike it when art has to be explained, I thought to myself. I feel art should stand on it's own with out explanation and then if there's more to learn, then even better for the education of it and knowing more might then enhance the pleasure of the viewing, however in this situation it worked. Now the kid was fascinated by these unbelievably real looking seeds, made of porcelain (an approx. 30 step traditional process) and learning that each one of the one million seeds were hand painted, it was absolutely mind blowing.
The concept and process make this project remarkable to me not the total mass of it and that's why I have fallen in love and although this particular show has already closed in NYC I thought it was still worth mentioning, because even though Weiwei is Time's runner-up person of the year and in Art Review's annual Power 100 list he is named the art world's most powerful figure, many people still don't know who he is.
So think of this as planting a seed and we're looking forward to the next time we see his work in NYC.
Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds at Mary Boone Gallery February 2012
Please watch the video link below, it's beautifully shot and shows Weiwei overseeing the production of his sculpture project.
