le airbag

Nueve

2009-10-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Opening Reception for Antena Estudio artists going to the Toronto Art Fair
________________________________________________________________________

Inaguración de Antena Estudio de los artistas que irán a la Feria de Toronto

Exercise of the week:

2009-09-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Replace the word "Busy" for "pretty", it might make you feel better, let me know how it worked. Ex: "I've Been So Pretty, I Almost Forgot.."

There Goes My Heroe

2009-09-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

There Goes My Hero
September 23, 2009 - December 5, 2009

Organized by Erin Riley-Lopez, Associate Curator, The Bronx Museum of the Arts

The exhibition There Goes My Hero will explore women artists who use the format of comic books and/or the comic book superhero in their artistic practice as a strategy to comment on larger socio-political concerns. Although exhibitions about comics have been extensively surveyed in US institutions, this exhibition proposes to use a feminist lens to look specifically at women artists who are using the idea of comic books and superheroes as a point of departure for discussions around immigration, gender, identity, and culture. Overwhelmingly, comic books are often targeted to young men, although it seems that increasingly they are also becoming popular among young women as well. The artists in this exhibition are subverting the traditional notion of the comic book and the male superhero and are re-imagining it for female audiences. There Goes My Hero will be a group exhibition featuring twelve artists.

2009-08-18T07:00:00.001-07:00

to miss, to remember, to need, 18-08-2004

More Images in Computerlove

2009-08-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.cpluv.com/leairbag

PRESS

2009-08-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

El Narval/ Lion Proyect

2009-08-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

El Narval is a collective of talents dedicated to harmonize ideas with their realization. Interruption with Lions
The idea that an object can “interrupt” one’s daily routine inspired the creators of El Narval in February 2007 in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico.

By the end of February a lion made of plaster was created. It was created as an object meant to function as a vessel for artists around the world.

There are currently 27 lions around the world in: Beijing, Zurich, Milan, La Haya, Paris, Manchester, Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, South Africa, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Mexico City, Playa Del Carmen, Zacatecas, Sabinas Hidalgo, Mamulique and Santa Catarina. In Monterrey and San Pedro there are about 30 lions installed and others are currently being distributed.

----------------------------------------------------------
The pictures below are my intervention with one of the lions.
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Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Recount

2009-08-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Bronx Museum
Artists in the Marketplace

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Le airbag files are under construction

2009-08-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

In the meantime, I will be posting in this blog, hopefully will be back by Mid August.

2009-07-22T12:13:00.001-07:00

This book is mindblowing (1828) T HE GREAT EXHIBITION: WOT IS TO BE

2009-07-22T12:09:00.001-07:00

Donde hay ganas hay ma(enie)a. Where there's a will there's a way

Tattoo Show

2009-07-22T05:12:00.001-07:00

I haven't figured it out, or exactly which sociological drive is making an explosion of tattooed skin all over town.
But would love to make a tattoo party w/this. Perhaps for my birthday celebration

La Tina Anita Lava La Tina Latina

2009-05-28T09:11:00.001-07:00

Abelino sent me pictures from the exhibit "Espada de dos Filos"

I know the dates seem wrong, right? I wish I could have been able to be there.

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project is proud to present the work of | Michelle Frick Arterial Nests

2009-03-26T21:16:00.001-07:00

Saturday, April 4– April 27, 2009

Opening reception for the artist: Saturday, April 4, 2-5pm

Bronx Culture Trolley stop on Wednesday April 1, 5-8:30

http://www.bronxarts.org/MonthlyVenuePage.asp

Michelle’s art making was refocused a few years ago when two immediate family members were hospitalized for numerous extended periods of time. For four years she witnessed the aftermath of high-risk medical procedures and was exposed to a wide variety of nurses' supplies. Initially uneasy with the hospital supplies, she eventually viewed them as interesting forms offering evocative possibilities to her art.

For her exhibition at Bronx Blue Bedroom Project, Michelle will present a new installation entitled Arterial Nests. The bedroom will be transformed into a medical research lab inhabited by numerous birds' nests made of silicone and intravenous line components. An ambient soundtrack and a light box will round out the multisensory quality of the piece.

The Bronx Blue Bedroom Project events are made possible with public funds from The Bronx Council on the Arts through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Greater New York Development Fund Regrants Program, Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion, The Bronx Delegation of the City Council, Bx 1 Indie Arts Program and with the generous support of the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project

309 Alexander Ave., Apt. 3A

6 line to 138th St/3rd Ave.

347.776.7504

www.bronxbbp.com

Article in WNYC.ORG regarding Michelle's upcoming show at BBBP and a little more...

Gallery Makeovers: Sun K. Kwak and Bedroom Gallerists
by Allison Lichter

NEW YORK, NY March 23, 2009 —Art galleries big and small are getting makeovers by New York artists.

For the past month, Korean-born artist Sun K. Kwak has been covering the walls of a fifth floor gallery at the Brooklyn Museum with almost three miles of thick black masking tape

She's cut undulating white lines into the tape, making the piece a room-sized mural. The installation is called "Enfolding 280 hours" -- that's the amount of time Kwak thinks it will take her to complete the project, which opens this Friday.

And in an even smaller space, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx, Blanka Amezkua has turned her bedroom into an art gallery.

She invites mixed media artists to do as they please in her small room. One artist plans to bring in birds and nests made out of surgical material. Amezkua says alternative arts spaces offer artists a lot of freedom to work

AMEZKUA: The artists really feel like they can do so much more in the space that’s not as controlled as more established venues.

There are photos of the Bronx Bedroom gallery and a video of Sun K. Kwak wrapping the gallery at the Brooklyn Museum on our website.

3 years ago, really?

2009-03-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Found this while looking for Tax Docs:
Tropicalia 06', Bronx Museum.
pictures taken for some publication, I was a gallery facilitator, one of the funnest volunteer jobs I have done; talking to the parrots, hear songs on a loop from the Exhibition in Cuba, visitors constantly thinking I was one of the artists, pshh if only.

I remember most of it, I really liked witnessing the visitor's experiences, how reluctant they were to try the colored water, how the kids wanted to stay the longest time in the sand, how difficult it was to have them take their shoes off, but Pape's work was by far the most fun to have them experience, a lot of giggling included.
-------------------------------------------------
wearing parangole

Dear New Museum,

2009-03-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

A little note for the New Museum, made from the latest letter I got where they request former Members to renew. By which they also take the opportunity to invite me to the "Younger than Jesus" opening, all access granted after mailing my renewal application.

Which I can't,
it is just that;
it doesn't seem to be working.

to be fffound

2009-03-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

looks good under this particular context and together with other people's work
http://ffffound.com/home/embrella/found/

2009-02-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

Eye Level will be have an Opening for Artist Malcolm Stuart, Pattern People;
"For “Pattern People” Stuart goes beyond the surface world of the individual and temporal. Malcolm’s themes are in themselves repetitious. Animals, monsters, disremembered human parts, and botanical elements form an elaborate visual blanket that lends itself to 2D paintings, clothing, furniture and objects. These incarnations are stimulating in their own right, but their combination forms the act of camouflage and allows the assumption of identities blurring the boundaries of the wearer through aggressive visual stimulation as opposed to an assimilation of proximate colors and patterns."

for more information and images of our studio visit go to www.eyelevelgallery.com

Blanka is back

2009-02-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP)
presents

Fanny Allié
The Flight

February 7-28, 2009

Opening reception for the artist: Saturday, February 7th 2-5pm
Bronx Culture Trolley stop on Wednesday February 4, 5-8:30pm

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP) is pleased to present the work of Fanny Allié…

For the Bronx Blue Bedroom Project, I am showing an installation in which a video of a window is projected on the actual windows of the bedroom.
This video revolves around a character’s interaction with his window.
In the blue bedroom, I will also install a bed next to the projection. On this bed, there will be a human body shape, sleeping.

I am interested in creating an intimate environment where imaginary and real world, fiction and reality would be combined together.

Using the image of the window -which is a separation
between the viewer and the outside world- I would like to focus on the dreams or the unconscious desires that anyone can have.

The Bronx Blue Bedroom Project events are made possible with public funds from The Bronx Council on the Arts through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Greater New York Development Fund Regrants Program, Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion, The Bronx Delegation of the City Council, Bx 1 Indie Arts Program and with the generous support of the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.

More art, more community in a world that needs it more than ever!!! Hope you can join us!

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project
309 Alexander Ave., Apt. 3A
Bronx, NY 10454
www.bronxbbp.com
c. 347.776.7504

HOURS: Thursday and Friday 12:00– 5:00pm
First Wednesday of each month 5-8:30pm
Weekends by appointment only

Priceless

2009-01-30T08:33:00.000-08:00

Youtube has become so precious and brings us joyous

Start watchig and listening around 0:11 and please don't miss around 1:55

Thanks Valerie!

sets

2009-01-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

The word set will always be attractive to me.
How adorable is this set

It would be ideal if it also was a flask, so you could add some Anis or Sambuca and do some lovely watercolors and happy trees

Art Removal

2009-01-09T11:37:00.000-08:00

Blanka Amezkua sent me this. I find it amazing

ART REMOVAL TASK FORCE
Let us solve your thinking, feeling problems

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Is the art in your home, office or out in the world making you think?
Is it controversial? Does it make you feel out of the loop?
THE ART REMOVAL TASK FORCE IS THE ANSWER TO YOUR PROBLEMS

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NO JOB TOO BIG OR SMALL
From the smallest drawing in your living room to the largest earthwork………

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WE DO IT ALL!

For a free estimate contact: tefremoff@hotmail.com

View images and video of our trained staff at work:

Original Interview to Steve DeFrank

2008-12-11T12:08:00.001-08:00

This is the original interview, without the magazine introduction. (The questions are marked in bold)

Interview to Steve DeFrank

1) Mirror mirror on the wall...
who am I, where am I?

2) Could you tell us about the series you are presenting at Margaret Thatcher Gallery? The series of paintings that I'm showing at MTP is my version of an enchanted forest. My weird and strange world where tree stumps grow hair and falling leaves have strange messages describing their fate. A magical world where fellow travelers have carved graffiti on wooden surfaces and lots and lots of fairy dust.

3) What was the process you followed for choosing the media for this series? I found the perfect medium for my paintings. After many years working in a labor intensive medium. Dying little pieces of plastic and creating a glowing (literally light up) mosaic. Each mosaic started with a small painted study. I painted these studies with a paint called caseins. A milk based paint. They act and feel a lot like oil paint but dry quickly to a mat velvety finish. They have been around for thousands of years. I think of my process like that of evolution. The big dinosaurs died (the mosaics) and then there was room for the tiny mammals to take a foot hold (the tiny casein paintings). The casein paints have a look like no other paint that I've worked with. The light hits the painting and is absorbed and holds itself in the paint. People often remark that the paintings seem to glow. So it seems fitting that these odd paintings have a magical glow to them.

4) Art School Confidential is a movie based on Daniel Clewes comic, this Comic, later on was transformed into a movie. If Clewes, knowing you are an instructor at one of the biggest schools in NY were to come up to you for some ideas, for a second movie which kind of situations would you like to have him write about? I loved that movie! It really got the feeling of art school with strange the students and the odd faculty. I thought the movie screwed up the the whole murder thing so I guess I would make part II focus on the characters that are attracted to the art world. Think of early John Waters movies meets Checkoff. My movie would be character driven with situations that happen only happen in art school. Naked models taking to nervous freshman. Watching students and teachers talking seriously about the most ridiculous things. In fact instead of a movie it needs to be a television series each week something funny and strange takes place.

5) What would you do if Rudy Giuliani showed up at your opening and asked you to sell him 9/11? If Rudy Giuliani walked in the gallery and wanted to buy my 9/11 paintings I would charge him 900,011.00 dollars. Each dollar equal to the number of times he mentioned 9/11 during his hilarious attempt to run for president.

6) If the painting Faglish were a story or a tale, which name of all of the ones you used would you use for the title, and what would the title be? Oh this is an easy one. I think of all the words in Faglish that would be used for a title for a tale would be PansyLand. It sound a lot like Disneyland. Just think of what kind of amusement park that would be! Imagine the the different rides you could have. The Ferris wheel would be called fairy wheel. I'm giggling to myself just thinking about a story about a middle American family vacation to PansyLand. The kids will never be the same.

7)Which are has been the wiser use of words that an article has used to describe your work? Margaret the owner of the gallery hired a young writer Leah Redfield to write about my paintings. I believe the last sentence of the press release sums up perfectly the look and feel of the show. "...this is a world much like Cinderella’s where despondency reigns but hope nevertheless persists".

Steve, I truly want to thank you for your time to answer this questions. Best wishes for the exciting and upcoming opening. No thank you! I just wish my Spanish were better and I could have done this all in Spanish. La proxima vez.

Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor
Intl. Collaborator for Indie Rocks
www.indie-rocks.com
leairbag@gmail.com
Mobile: 917 660 4650.

Finally the article came out!

2008-12-11T11:56:00.000-08:00

I had the joy of interviewing the artist Steve DeFrank. The interview was realized originally in english, then translated to spanish for Mexican magazine, IndieRocks.

I will post it first in spanish, and will post the option in english as well.

Steve DeFrank
Texto: Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor • Fotos: Steve DeFrank
“Mariquita sin calzones, mariposón, maricón, reina, muñeco, joto...” son adjetivos
comúnmente utilizados, que Steve DeFrank se dedicó a coleccionar para una de sus pinturas (Faglish) presentada en su más reciente exhibición Mirror, Mirror. Allí, al ver todas las piezas reunidas en una misma galería se percibía una sensación de estar en un bosque mágico y escondido; un sitio donde se exploraban varias formas del lenguaje utilizado de forma derogatoria, pero que DeFrank logra caricaturizar; pasando de una forma a otra, bajo el comando sonoro de sutiles campanitas escuchadas en un cuento de Disney, que ayudan al lector para pasar de una hoja a otra.

IndieRocks! Espejito, espejito...
Steve DeFrank ¿Quién soy?, ¿Dónde estoy?

IR! ¿Nos podrías platicar sobre la serie que se presentaron en la galería Margaret Thatcher?
SDe. La serie de pinturas que estoy mostrando en dicha galería (GMT para abreviar), es mi versión de lo que sería un bosque encantando. En este mundo mío, raro y por demás extraño, de los troncos de los árboles crece pelo y las hojas que caen tienen mensajes escritos describiendo su destino. Un mundo mágico donde tanto sus habitantes, como sus visitantes, han dejado mensajes grabados en superficies de madera y además hay mucho, pero mucho, polvo de hada.

IR! ¿Cuál fue el proceso que seguiste para decidir
qué técnica utilizar en tus pinturas?
SDe. He encontrado la técnica perfecta para mis pinturas, tras años de trabajar con medios y técnicas laboriosas...

La forma en que empecé a probar esta técnica fue tiñendo pequeños pedazos de plástico, con los que creaba mosaicos luminosos (literalmente iluminados); cada uno de ellos empezó con fragmentos pequeños que utilicé como estudios de pintura. Estos estudioslos pinté con una pintura llamada caseína, (la cual está hecha a base de una fosfoproteína derivada de la leche), ésta actúa de una manera muy similar al óleo, pero seca más rápido, además de que da un toque mate y aterciopelado. Yo pienso que mi proceso se dio al igual que el de la evolución, donde los grandes dinosaurios murieron (los mosaicos) para dar paso a los mamíferos, que entraron a pasos agigantados (las pinturas de caseína ). Con estas pinturas he conseguido una estética que no había logrado antes: el efecto que da la luz directamente sobre la pintura, absorbiendo
y reteniéndose en ella misma.

IR! Art School Confidential es una película dirigida por Terry Zwigoff basada en un comic escrito por Daniel Clowes, ¿Si Zwigoff, sabiendo que eres un instructor en una de las escuelas más grandes en Nueva York, viniese a pedirte ayuda con ideas para una segunda película, cuales le darías?

SDe. ¡Esa película me fascinó! Logró reunir la atmósfera perfecta de una escuela de arte, con estudiantes raros y una facultad extraña. Yo contribuiría a que las acciones se desenvolverían alrededor de los personajes, con situaciones que sólo se suceden en las escuelas de arte (como modelos desnudos que le hablan a los estudiantes recién ingresados, observando a estudiantes y maestros hablar seriamente sobre las cosas más ridículas, etc.).
IR! ¿Qué es lo que harías si Rudy Giuliani se apareciera en la apertura de tu exhibición y te preguntara si le vendieras, a él tu pintura del 11 de septiembre?

SDe. Si él entrara en la galería y quisiera
comprar esa pintura, le cobraría exactamente 900,011.00 dólares, así el precio equivaldría al número de veces que mencionó dicha fecha durante su chistosísimo intento de candidatura a la presidencia.

IR! Si tu pintura Faglish fuese parte de un cuento, ¿qué nombre de todos los que usaste en ella le darías por título?
SDe. ¡Ah esa está muy fácil! Pienso que de todas las palabras en Faglish que pueden ser utilizadas para nombrar algo, yo escogería Pansyland, simplemente porqué suena como Disneyland, ¡sólo piensa que tipo de parque de diversiones sería uno como ese!, imagina todos los diferentes juegos que habría en este lugar: la rueda de la fortuna, se llamaría rueda de la hadita de la fortuna.Hasta me río solo con pensar en la historia de una familia típica norteamericana y sus vacaciones en Pansyland… ¡Esos niños jamás volverían a ser iguales!

DeFrank es un artista que radica en Brooklyn, en su periodo de luces se dedicó a teñir de diferentes tonalidades los tornillo de aquel juego infantil, que tal vez muy pocos recordemos, donde al insertar dichas piezas en un panel conseguían
efectos de puntillismo luminoso-electrónico. Cuando logró alcanzar el efecto deseado, tras haber ingresado a colecciones como la del National Portrait Gallery de Washington y sin importar cuanto más se quería ver de su trabajo, dejó pasar una serie de ofertas para que volviese a esta técnica. Steve simplemente decidió dejar que la luz se extinguiera, para dar cabida a la técnica que actualmente utiliza, donde pintando con caseína, consigue acabados mate perfectos, que engañan a la vista por la
forma en que brillan.

Éste singular artista, que haciendo uso de superficies de madera crea ecos en un bosque de troncos cortados y animados, presentándonos también, esculturas de pilares del mismo material (recargados en una pared) donde cada uno recibe su nombre de artistas porno del cine gay.
Utilizando elementos de la cultura popular, crea un efecto similar al que suce-dería si se contase un chiste al revés, donde uno se reiría primero y luego vendría lo demás.
thatcherprojects.com

MANDARINA
Revista IndieRocks

Andrew Robinson Opening Pictures

2008-12-08T18:30:00.001-08:00

to be linked

2008-10-19T09:50:00.001-07:00

Just like a tree, from one single structure other branches grow.
The internet can lead you into different degrees of separation,
or unification.

Here a blog called UNDER THE BQE on Jessica's show.

Studio Visits

2008-09-26T15:11:00.001-07:00

I have been revising the pictures I took on my visits to Amy Beecher and Andrew Robinson's studio. I really like being able to get all their colors and materials in this pictures.

There is also this picture that I am very familiar with, it is a bill that I remember paying when I had the studio at the same building as Andrew, those bills were a mystery, never knew how that meter worked, ask Steve and his futile conversations with the MGT, who were always unable to provide a logical answer.
If those eyes could speak they would say; "queeeee?"

Crime Drama

2008-09-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Andrew Robinson at Eye Level

Gallery Opening: Friday, October 3rd, 2008
From 8-11 pm

A solo show by the artist Andrew Robinson, will open at Eyelevel Gallery hosted in the Victor Osborne Atelier Friday, October 3rd. Curated by Gabriela Alva, the show will feature all new work from Robinson, whose 20 year plus history in ceramic arts leads the show, mingling with painting, sculpture and installation. As the title infers, crimes, or imperfect histories, are explored through sculptural multimedia portraits and objects that serve to suggest secretive narratives that are begging to be discovered

Simultaneously playful and meticulously crafted, the ceramic forms that adorn painted portraits or stand alone provoke humor, forgotten folklore, and always a reference to process. Robinson says that much like the tradition of the craftsmanship he was schooled in, material texture informs the objects which informs the feeling of his work, ranging from poetic, humorous, jarring, and at times cryptic.

Apart from producing work as an independent visual artist Andrew Robinson is also an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design.

Mirror, Mirror

2008-09-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

September 11-October 18, 2008
Reception:
Thursday, September 11th, 6-8 pm

Margaret Thatcher Projects
511 W. 25th street
Suite 404
New York, New York 10001

New York Based painter, Steve DeFrank will present his most recent work at Margaret Thatcher Projects. DeFrank is the kind of artist who will always manage to WOW you. Simply by the fact that he manages to reach a rarely unattainable level of perfection, a bit of mad scientist with the charm of Dexter from Dexter's Lab. Who can get across so many levels at once but still manage the viewer to leave the gallery excusively thinking about the beauty of little things such as fairy dust.

Don't shake your babies

2008-09-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

For a long time, I have been talking about this. Unable to forget those ads on the subway where the legend reads "Don't shake your babies" To me linguistically, sounds rather odd. I couldn't help to see a rather abstract version of babies been shaken. Therefore I created these Baby Shakers, Their official launching will be next year, but for a limited period of time you can purchase them by contacting me to
leairbag@gmail.com

In order to negate the previous post

2008-08-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

I announce with a warm feeling that the Museum of Mexican Artists / Women Museum (MUMA) officially exists. This image is from Artist's Monica Castillo work

Not a vegetarian, not a vegan, but...

2008-08-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

This ad is very wrong. Reminds me of grocery bleeding bags

Broken Umbrellas by Brooklyn photographer Tyler Clemens

2008-08-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Clemens has been building a very interesting collection of photographs of broken umbrellas, right now they are being shown at Gimme Coffee in Nolita, stop by and get coffee.

Pictures from Jessica Grindstaff show

2008-08-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Please feel free to contact me about any proposal ideas you might have for our Eye Level projects

Link to Press Release

Bronx BBP Sculpture Pieces

2008-07-28T09:32:00.001-07:00

Show: Pillars / "Uptown Nannies"
by: Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor

BRONX BLUE BEDROOM PROJECT

BBBP is a new artist-run project located in the bedroom of the artist Blanka Amezkua in Mott Haven, South Bronx. Her intention is to create an intimate art space where contemporary artists can exhibit their work in a setting that differs radically from the already established art venues. Artists have the opportunity to participate in BBBP for the duration of one month. Blanka asks that the participating artists commit to offering a workshop in the local community and by preparing a dinner to be shared with other artists and individuals interested in the arts, during their show.

Bronx BBP Sculpture Pieces

2008-07-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

Pillars

2008-06-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP)

May 20, 2008

PRESS RELEASE
Bronx Blue Bedroom Project
309 Alexander Ave. Apt. 3A T. 347.776.7504
Bronx, NY 10454

GALLERY HOURS:

Monday and Friday 12:00– 5:00pm
First Wednesday of each month 5-8:30pm

Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor
Pillars

Saturday, June 7 – July 4, 2008
Opening reception for the artist: Saturday, June 7th 2-5pm
Bronx Culture Trolley stop on Wednesday June 4, 5-8:30pm

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP) is pleased to present the work of Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor

One spring morning in a bedroom, a blue bedroom in Mott Haven, a number of objects were found, under a pile of mattresses. No one can explain how they got there. Yet, when people saw them, they claimed it was a reminisce of the findings at the banks of the Tiber river. The discovery of the vaulted pile of mattresses appears housing a large number of feline looking shapes. Locals suggest the shapes resemble a feline shaped au-pair which seems to be breast feeding a number of them.

It is tempting to jump to conclusions as to why they are all there, and to which period in history they belong to. Archaeologists have been called upon, to prove if the story is actually real. These findings will be open to the public, for a short period of time. It is suggested to be discrete while visiting the site, due to the possibility of the pieces being of great value to the community.

Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP) is an artist-run project located in the bedroom of the artist Blanka Amezkua in Mott Haven, South Bronx. Artists have the opportunity to participate in BBBP for the duration of one month. Artists are asked to commit to offering a workshop to the local community and by preparing a dinner to be shared with other artists and individuals interested in the arts, during their show.

www.bronxbbp.com
bronxppb@yahoo.com
347.776.7504

Amy Beecher Solo Show at Victor Osborne Headwear

2008-05-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Zachary Barnett
eyelevel@victorosborne.com
zachary@victorosborne.com
VICTOR OSBORNE
Headwear Presents
AMY BEECHER AT EYE LEVEL EXHIBITION SPACE
First in a Special Contemporary Art Series
New York, May 16th 2008
" The Eye is an oversensitive acquaintance with whom one must stay on good terms" Eye Level at Victor Osborne opens with a solo exhibition of AmyBeecher's work, curated by Gabriela Alva. The show marks the beginning of the atelier's efforts to foster new work by emerging artists. Unconstrained by the limitations of time and space, Eye Level mediates between the context and the artist in order to share art publicly. Eye Level is contained within a window that allows the spectator's eye to participate both actively and passively with the various art forms displayed. This window space will function as an art space, independent yetconnected to the storefront as a venue for visual artists and their work.
For the first show this spacewill showcase the eclectic, multi-media workof artist Amy Beecher. Whose work, seems to be drawn to thenostalgia and romanticism of the old-fashioned workshop. Beecher will preserve the atelier's physical environment, seamlessly blending her own creations into the space. Viewers will discover her fabric assemblages hanging from racks and piled in corners amongst the designer's scrap materials and tools. Delicate drawings will be available for intimate examination, spread on workstations for gallery visitors' perusal. Pointing to the commonalities between the artist's' studio and designer's workshop, the exhibition pays homage to the mysterious allure of the creative site.

This exhibition space hosted by Victor Osborne Atelier is another effort to connect artisans with their immediate environment, through art, culture, and commerce.

2008-04-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Very fascinated by the stacking, piling and pieces of work being floored.

Art Fairs

2008-04-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

This Year I decided to visit only one art fair. I promised I would only go if somehow a ticket came to me to find me.
And it did, my friend Mike, knocked on my door and gave me a free pass to Slate.
I ended going by myself and my camera.

I somehow got caught in chasing the trash cans which were placed really close to the galleries displays.
I got very curious on the texture of it, very similar to the carpet texture.

When to stop, how to stop

2008-03-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

If I asked you "Have you ever Googled your name?"
You would probably say something like...
"I think I did once"

Pretending you haven't, there is something you should know,
when to stop Google-ing. When after much search and Next
button clicking, you see a very bizarre Homonym

Gabriela Alva, José Pablo Ballesteros y Alfredo.

That is when you should stop. Can you please post a bizarre Search result related to your name? I would like to see

Asperger's First

2007-11-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

Worleyworks First is pleased to present a motion captured collection of photographs and videos by the artists:

*Special Guest Carlos Alvarez Montero
* Honorary Guest Submission by Livia Corona

Becca Albee, Liubo Borissov, Ofri Cnaani, Alfredo Hubard,Teresa Olson, Michael Roberto, Sarah Stuve.

Curated by: Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor.

Opening Reception
Saturday December 1st 6pm - 11.30pm
*Music by BWBFH /danette&dilian

2nd Reception
Sunday December 2nd 11am - 8pm
*Music presentation by Dilian

117 Grattan St.
Brooklyn, NY 11237
Room 103

take L train to Morgan Stop.

SAVE THE DATE

2007-11-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

Arts in Bushwick is organizing the recurring Open Studios,
This time will be December 2nd, except we decided to start earlier,
and have an Opening on Saturday Night at 6pm, will be posting our
postcard.

Please check the other openings, which sound great to me

December 2nd

"Open Spaces" a one day art festival 12-8 pm

Come out and join us for an amazing day of art and performance.

Presented by Arts in Bushwick "Open Spaces" is a day of curated group shows in galleries and alternative art spaces. Over 30 galleries, local businesses and private residences will be hosting interdisciplinary shows centered around the Morgan and Jefferson stops of the L train. The creative energy and diversity of the Bushwick art community with be on display through an impressive variety of media: performance , visual installation, dance , poetry and music. Shows are open from 12 to 8pm and festivities continue into the night with live music, comedy and dance party. Programs with maps will be available the day of the event at the Morgan and Jefferson L stops, ADHOC art (49 Bogart St), The Wyckoff Starr (30 Wyckoff Ave) and all the host spaces.

cut-paste contrary of copy>paste

2007-11-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Decided to scan this due to the recognition and cease to seeing the act of "cut-paste" as a hobbiest activity and embraced my love for it especially after the exhibit at the Guggenheim "Moderniy in Central Europe" where I remembered my long lost joy for Bauhaus and Constructivism times.

Bombin' Magazine meets Artworld Digest

2007-11-23T12:09:00.001-08:00

This are some images from an article Susan Katz wrote about Seed, Green and Graffiti, somehow they met and worked on this writing presented at a magazine called Bombin' from a project that started with David Cohen's Artworldigest magazine and the seed project.

Basil Seeds that you can purchase now at Whole foods.

Biodegradable Graffiti?

Graffiti and tag culture have always been about the reclamation of privatized space; once misunderstood to be merely the vandalism of property and a problem many urban areas hoped to eradicate—today graff is flourishing. With more and more young cats like NeckFace following in the footsteps of acclaimed street artists of yore, such as Basquiat and Keith Haring, street art has in fact left the street and is now on display in art galleries around the world. Although the public’s perception of graffiti has been elevated from a favorite pastime for hoodlums to a kosher form of artistic expression, this shift in attitude has also seemingly been why graffiti has lost a lot of its edge. No longer just about surreptitiously leaving your permanent mark, or expressing a political agenda, today’s graffiti is often commissioned for the concrete jungle— trendy, watered down, and lacking the rawness of its predecessors. The capitalization of this once revolutionary style and its subsequent acceptance and integration into the mainstream, has made way for even fresher ways of taking back the streets.
The ever-growing green phenomenon- has taken hold of our culture with no signs of slowing down. No longer only a concern to treehuggers everywhere, the mission for increasing environmental awareness has given birth to a art/activist movement known as guerilla gardening. Considered to be one of the first such groups, Canadian Public Space Committee’s website explains “without permit or license, we plant seeds and seedlings in all those neglected corners of public space”. By using nature as their medium, green guerillas are re-imagining local vacant plots and what TreeHugger.com calls “driving sustainability mainstream”. The movement, which continues to gain momentum and is now practiced worldwide, has led to the inspiration for art projects such as Art World Digest’s The Seed Project which encouraged art activism through planting creatively. The project brought together “artists and activists [who] planted wheatgrass seeds creating individual art projects from what was grown”.
One of the most innovative submissions to the project was artist Gabriela Alva’s literal take on guerilla graffiti’s “nature as graffiti” concept. After growing wheatgrass in small rectangular containers, Alva attached these “biodegradable graffiti” to public fencing spelling out the word “seed”. “ I wake up pretty early before the majority of the people start heading to their respective jobs and decided to do it without being caught”, Alva chuckles. “If you think about it, who is really going to stop you from painting with greenery?” she playfully asks no one in particular.

Celebrating traditional graffiti through look, form, and execution, while simultaneously promoting green guerilla issues Alva’s work is a dichotomy combining the natures of indelible graffiti and transient vegetation. This August look out for her graffiti to “seed” the streets of Bushwick ; “just a visual manifestation of how all this talk about global warming and recycling are really not being considered”, she laments.
For more information visit her website: www.leairbag.com

i laughed first (part II)

2007-11-19T09:53:00.001-08:00

It used to be that in a particular age in childhood, exactly around the age of 6 very basic jokes were being told in a repetitive and dare say, silly manner. I still recall my cousin's favorite:

-"Do you want me to tell you a joke backwards?"

--Uhm I guess so, yeah, ok

-"Well, laugh first"

After this he would laugh at his own joke and would proceed to look for a new victim to fall for it. There is certain joy on tricking people, through the years people have been led or misled as to which the way visitors should see the exhibits at the Guggenheim, where thevisitor should take the elevator to the upper level and "descend down from the Heavens"
And so I like to believe, it is meant to be seen like that, I like to believe it's a polished Dante's concentric structure, so for this particular exhibit, my cousin's joke decided play a part on my personal experience....

I laughed first

2007-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

Richard Prince show, I have something to say, come back tomorrow to read

I got a Lion

2007-11-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I received a Lion, part of a proyect from "La Narval" Inevitable would be the comparison to Amelie and her gnome, and well, it probably is like that, but I had a lot of fun
taking photos with it, carrying it in my shoulders was a humbling experience.

I should have probably taken my Lion to exotic rides around the city, but I decided to show a community who partially see us, as the new Williamsburger invaders, who have come to raise their rent, make their neighborhood louder and crazier, i wouldn't like to be blamed for that, but I can't blame them for having those feelings towards a lot of us, on my behalf, we don't like paying high rate rents either, but the neighborhood is pretty, and far from the loudness of the city, please, can we be friends?

Here are some of the photos:

Winkleman Gallery

2007-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

Seed project opening, it is always really nice to meet new members of
the project. This time I made a sculpture carved from the latest issue
for Artworld Digest in the shape of those little pieces of grass that
make their way out through the concrete.

2007-08-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

One of my sculptures from "Are you OK?" series will be a bidding matter in this exhibit.

Artworld Digest is pleased to present:
The Seed Project
Benefit Auction 2007
August 7th & 8th
At Rare Gallery
521 West 26th (Btw 10th and 11th Aves)
New York, NY 10001

Preview: August 7th 11am - 6pm
Live Auction: August 8th 6pm -9pm
All Proceeds Benefit The Seed Project
Alison Nichols, Auctioneer

Participating Artists:

Swoon, Lynda Abraham, Michael Alan, Todd Anderson, Donovan Barrow, Batman & Batman, Thomas Beale, Dianne Bowen, Brendan Broch, Chris Clark, David Cohen, Lisa Dahl, Todd Deluca, Troy Dugas, Lee Everett,
Amy Finkbeiner, Mattthew Fisher, Ryan Ford, Asha Fuller, Emily Ginsberg, Langdon Graves, Shannon Hayes, Halsey Hathaway, Midori Harima & Annysa Ng, Joanna Kambourian, Ray Kass, Yasiman Keshtkar, Cheol Yu Kim, Mary Lydecker, Fernando Mastrangelo, Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor, Chris Mir, Joel Morrison, Brandon Neubauer, Justin Nissely, Lindsey Nobel, John O'Connor, Yooah Park, Guy Stanley Philoche, Kristine Robinson, Jennifer Rogers, Christopher Reiger, Hugh Sansom, Bryan Savitz, Michael Schall, Ridgely Schantz, Adriane Schramm, Aaron Storck, Nina Sweeney, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Troy Tecau, Cassie Thornton, Fumiko Toda, Sarah Trigg, Scott Teplin, Arien Valizadeh, Annie Varnot, Deborah Wasserman, Sadie Weis, Nick Van Woert, Melinda Yale, Seldon Yuan

For more information and an online preview of the work available in the auction please visit:

www.artworldigest.com

Sponsored By:

Rare Gallery
Whole Foods
Absolut Vodka
Artworld Digest

Special thanks to:

James Cohan Gallery
Vanina Holasek Gallery
Winkleman Gallery

Photos not allowed!

2007-08-07T11:39:00.001-07:00

A lot of us know that the act of taking pictures at a Museum is basically forbidden. Although, there are still some permisible areas where by taking our hands out of our pockets, and reaching to the neighbor pocket were we have, or, remember having inserted our mobile device, we are able to snap-snap some pics.

In such way we are able to capture Masterpieces from now and then; Oh how can one resist not to get a pic of "Water Lilies, Green Harmony" and treasure it in our memories, or till our mobile's own lets us do.

That is why a visitor, which name can or can not be mentioned, made sure to send me this pictures as a proof of the interaction she had with my piece, and from that day on she will remember "corner shaped hat on corner."

Bronx Museum "corner shaped hat on corner" by Gabriela Alva

2007-08-07T10:21:00.001-07:00

ta da

2007-06-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

this is how it should look god grant good printers

Right on!

2007-05-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

so been working on "Right on Dynamite" Album cover, I worked on a small scale from those sightings of plastic bags caught on trees, worked on two different approaches one through a model and the other through a paper illustration.

photo

l'eairbag.com is back

2007-05-04T17:20:00.001-07:00

I used to have a website www.leairbag.com, due to some difficulties was lost for several months, now its back.
On my notes section, which is this one, you will be able to find daily, monthly, or even yearly observations, drawings,
photographs and sometimes sculptures. It makes it easier to update, so now I won't have an excuse.