Hmmm...
Monday, September 29, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Hidden Treasure
So, as I made my way around the Driscoll Babcock space...caught up in the very real Euphoria caused by the images of Shaun Ross, I was given pause by a painting hanging above a desk in the back. At first glance, it appeared to simply be a painting of 2 little brown girls. However...a little patience allows for nuance, as I was certainly able to appreciate after catching the EFFECTs of the piece. The longer I stood there, the more arresting and meaningful the piece became. Again, considering the almost daily reports of young black and brown be killed. This piece forces us to consider just what effect this has on little girls, women, girlfriends, wives, mothers, aunts, sisters, grand and Great-Grand Mothers.
Sooooooooooooo ON Point.
It is as SMART as it is HAUNTING and as it is TELLING!!!
Go down and Check it OUT...
Tres Hommes aux La Rue
It all Started Like this...
; SCREAMING [ FIRE]
; Straight on ...etc. With every stroke he is coming from nowhere to find a random end, informing the pieces making up this form. Masterful...and fun to figure out. As you back up...think CHUCK CLOSE...the TRUTH of PIECES find HARMONY on the canvas.
An acquaintance through a Brother-friend, Jerome Lagarrigue is an artist I have long respected. I carried a post card from a show he'd had in NYC with me to PARIS, sitting it prominently forward on bookcase. This wonderous melange of color, stroke and form collided to become part of his monumental BOXER SERIES. It came to represent for me...just how tough I was going to need to be to endure...to get up with PURPOSE EVERYDAY and work...to FIGHT for the SONG I was there to craft and to ENJOY the FRUITS of my HARD FOUGHT LABOR of LOVE a PARIS!!!!
Far and above this sentimentality, was a true appreciation for this brother's skills. I had taken for granted that he was "an ARTIST" and friend I would encounter a Chez Metta-Jones. However, it was on a random day I happened to pick up a book of his BOXER series...be MESMERIZED by IT, then reminded by Carlton I'd just met the artist at dinner at their house. This brooding, then Father-to-be was so cool, quiet and dare-I-Say shy...I never expected THIS to be THE ART he was referencing in his introduction...lol.
INSTANT FAN.
Fast forward to Late August...Miche' invites me to the opening of Jerome's latest exhibit - VISIBLE MAN: a series of paintings of his muse Supermodel Shaun Ross. I get there at 8pm and they aren't trying to let anyone else in. I couldn't catch a glimpse of anything before security was requesting I clear the steps. I determined then to make a point of coming back and checking this out.
[On the way to the afterparty I happened to see a NICK CAVE exhibit at the Jack Shanamain Gallery - http://www.jackshainman.com/exhibitions/24th-street/; and a young artist Fahamu Pecou - http://www.lyonswiergallery.com/...as well. I was able to walk through this opening. This collection of seminal Hip-Hop era Fanzine covers from VIBE to THE SOURCE [or at least plays on the covers of the period
] were...smart, I guess!?
] were...smart, I guess!?
Each GOLD, Bling-INFORMED piece did have one similarity to the next -
THEY WERE ALL SOLD.
And the lowest price was $3,500.00.
I was in Awe.
I determined to make a trip to explore the visions of these other 2 Black artists currently showing in MAJOR GALLERIES in NYC.]
The after-party at La BAIN was...interesting and fun.
Fast Forward a week...
Shaun Ross's Albino Beauty is captured in Jerome's stroke...with an awe, reverence, curiosity, joy, respect, strength, tenderness, LOVE, TRUTH, clarity, and HonesTY that I had to SIT...and really Let the images speak to me...and they did.
He is an IMPRESSIONIST Babe, with a stroke to rival MONET's. Then there is the colors...ROTHKO never set a better...more meditative backdrop.
I LOVEd that He'd done these, as Shaun's star continues to ascend...but also because this is very timely exploration of every facet of Albino [CLEAR] Black Man from The Bronx...in various states of POSE - on the cross
Next Stop - NICK CAVE at the Jack Shainman Gallery.[ http://www.jackshainman.com/exhibitions/24th-street/]
My response to this work recalls my girl Nicol reaction to the first Basquiat we ever attended. She stood in Black-GURL disbelief, remarking, "He is UP THERE LAUGHING at US making such a BIG DEAL of his DRUG-LADEN Rantings!!!" Or something like that.
While I certainly appreciate Nick Cave's soundsuits, these pieces were abstracts on just what exists UNDER the skirt...let him tell it. These Grand QUILTS of FOUND ITEMS [re. JUNK] were mounted on random pedestals. Now...reflecting on it, the pieces were on things...in places...one might find a quilt. 
These sculptures represents the physical essence informing the construction of the quilt it is mounted on.
OK...I might vibe this...
I could go on...but, it is more important for you to experience it yourself.
Congrats Gentlemen
C'est Magnifique!!!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Saturday, September 13, 2014
So IN SEE dS
Hmmm...
Documentaries such as CATWALK were the predecessors to our current REALITY TV obsession. It in is also interesting to note that the very styles Issac Mizrahi has trouble selling back then, are ALL the rage in EVERY permutation TODAY...2014.
Better recognize...Hmmm.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
The seed that started it all Style • With Elsa Klensch • 1992
Hmmm...
Ok...I found this comprehensive breakdown of STYLE/Fashion
92 on-line. Funny, I had all of these on VHS tapes...at my parent's house and have missed them. The exact same episodes served to sew the TRUE Seeds of FASHION for me.
I woke by 9AM with breakfast...without fail EVERY Saturday and absorbed EVERYTHING that fell from Elsa's pristine lips. The show ran through the age of the SuperModel, but her CNN thought this fodder better suited for MtV and Etv, cancelling the show in the late 90s.
Thank you for all of your tireless work Elsa. LOVE IT!!!
LOVE the Information and the STYLE.PEACE
Monday, September 08, 2014
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
KING Called Me!!!
A brother called from the road, stranded and stuck , as he and his partner were taking another step towards their future. Weighted down by the life they packed into the back of the struck, they'd somehow gotten stranded out...on the road...on the way to their next step. My brother called to let off a bit of steam...and giggle through this ordeal.
This brother called me as we have been doing for over 20+ years so that I could let me know to KEEP ON!!! And just as we have done for each other so many times before, we regailed each other with tales of just how dire life had become...but how we were somehow soldiering on despite. We recounted all those that have done us wrong, why and what we've learned from it. Greater still we spoke to what part we could have played in the situations we've been in and just how to grow from it.
Most profoundly, KING told me how his current employer refused to transfer him to a location where he is moving to. He told me they refused based on his attendance...although he'd never been reprimanded for it. After culling his ego, he realized...Why am I getting so worked up over a Job I don't want!? God DOESN'T WANT me TO HAVE that job. There has to be something greater for me.
My Brother called me on the road to his next step...walked me through my current life's conundrum, while I talked and giggled with him...until help came along.
My Brother called me from the road...we talked...we laughed...we compared notes on the tales of the day...we were each other's calm along the path to the Life's we've chosen.
My Brother called me and I was able to comfort him...and he me.
My Brother called me as he took his next steps to be free...and I was able to see him through to it....and he to me.
Celebrate the PROCESS!!!
This brother called me as we have been doing for over 20+ years so that I could let me know to KEEP ON!!! And just as we have done for each other so many times before, we regailed each other with tales of just how dire life had become...but how we were somehow soldiering on despite. We recounted all those that have done us wrong, why and what we've learned from it. Greater still we spoke to what part we could have played in the situations we've been in and just how to grow from it.
Most profoundly, KING told me how his current employer refused to transfer him to a location where he is moving to. He told me they refused based on his attendance...although he'd never been reprimanded for it. After culling his ego, he realized...Why am I getting so worked up over a Job I don't want!? God DOESN'T WANT me TO HAVE that job. There has to be something greater for me.
My Brother called me on the road to his next step...walked me through my current life's conundrum, while I talked and giggled with him...until help came along.
My Brother called me from the road...we talked...we laughed...we compared notes on the tales of the day...we were each other's calm along the path to the Life's we've chosen.
My Brother called me and I was able to comfort him...and he me.
My Brother called me as he took his next steps to be free...and I was able to see him through to it....and he to me.
Celebrate the PROCESS!!!
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