Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Art Barack Obama's Art Collection
Posted by Corinna Kirsch on Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 10:13 AM
- Photo by Richard Frasier
- President Barack Obama presents artist Frank Stella with a 2009 National Medal of Arts award.
As we parade into election season, any second spent thinking about anything other than politics seems downright un-American. Keeping that in mind, don’t be surprised if our listicles over the next few months have a surprisingly political bent. Don’t you want to know Mitt Romney’s favorite artworks? Well, you’ll find that out next week. This week, we take a snapshot look at the White House’s art collection. When Barack Obama first took office, there was a flurry of excitement surrounding which artworks he would add to the White House. What do these works tell us about Barack—and Michelle? Well, it’s hard to tell, so we paired each painting with a quotation by one of the Obamas. Read through this slide show and you’ll almost certainly learn something about the presidential couple you didn’t already know.
Theater David Cromer: "New York Smells Like Garbage!"
Posted by Henry Stewart on Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Monday, August 27, 2012
Art This Week's Art Events and Openings
Posted by Paddy Johnson on Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 3:13 PM
This week, we'll be thrown into the dark for the Bushwick Blackout, we'll take a trip to Governors Island, and we'll have a free artist therapy session.
Tuesday, August 28th
Meetups: GO! Brooklyn
Have you prepped for GO! Brooklyn? Us neither. If you can’t be bothered to look through the lists of nearly TWO THOUSAND Brooklyn artists that will be opening their studio’s in two weekends time, then you could go to one of the GO! meetups on Tuesday and ask some questions to narrow your search. The GO! staff say the meetups are “really fun and incredibly special events”. Sounds like a slight exaggeration to me, but we’ll give it a try.
6PM, The Way Station, Prospect Heights: 683 Washington Avenue
6.30PM, Gambrinus Bar & Restaurant, Coney Island: 3100 Ocean Parkway
7PM, 61 Local, Boreum Hill: 61 Bergen Street
Thursday, August 30th
On-going Event: 56 Bogart Street, Thoughts in Your Head
Being an artist is hard. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone about your inner struggles and woes. Dr. Lisa Levy, S.P. (Self-Proclaimed) is offering free speed therapy for artists on Thursdays, noon to 6pm through September. Levy tells us she may not have a licence for performance-therapy, but you will get a free prescription in the form of advice. Thats more than Bert Rodriguez offered us at the 2008 Whitney Biennial, right?
12AM-6PM, Bushwick: 56 Bogart Street, first office on left.
Friday, August 31st
Opening: The Shirey, Bushwick Blackout
Hey, you know what’s better than art? Glow in the dark art! This Friday The Shirey opens its multi-media exhibition and video screening... in total darkness. The only thing visible will be luminous, twinkling and glowing art. Sounds dangerous, like Dating in the Dark, but without the reality show cameras. Bushwick Blackout will be be full of 3D art emerging from walls, ceiling, and and floors. We haven’t heard of most of the artists (there will be work from emerging artists Ann Oren, Anna Kunz, Anne Vieux, April Childers, Christopher Robbins, and more), but it sounds fun.
8-11 PM, The Shirey, Bushwick: 47 Thames Street
Opening: NUTUREart Gallery, ...Is This Free? Part III
NURTUREart’s Summer Exhibition questions the potential of “free” art and is opening its third and final segment on Friday. Curated by Marco Antonini, this show has enough ephemera that’s either free or about free-ness to keep a viewer busy for hours.
The third installment of the show will add some exciting artists to the line up. We’re hoping Don Elder’s will be offering up his free bar. Based on this chance alone, we’re dubbing this the must-see opening of the week.
7-9PM, NUTUREart Gallery, Williamsburg: 56 Bogart Street
Saturday, September 1st
Opening Weekend: 5th Annual Governors Island Art Fair
4heads, a New York arts group that repurposes unused spaces for artists, opens the 5th Annual Governors Island Art Fair this Saturday. The art fair will be open to the public every weekend in September. The 100 independent artists that feature in the fair aren’t up on the site, and we consider this a bad sign. We’re listing it nonetheless because it’s the last week in August; if you haven’t decided to take a trip out of town, there won’t be anything for you to do here.
11AM-6PM, Building 12, Sections D, E, H, I and P Governors Island Governors Island (Get the ferry from either Manhattan or Brooklyn).
This Week at SummerScreen: Empire Records!
Posted by admin on Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 2:54 PM
This Wednesday, August 29, we're showing SummerScreen's first ever audience pick, Empire Records! So ditch your Wednesday evening plans, grab your favorite crop top, and get yourself to McCarren Park.
As usual, Todd P and SHOWPAPER are kicking the night off with live sets from noise pop outfit Life Size Maps, local post-punk trio La Big Vic, plus one more to come!
And if you haven't already, make sure to reserve your spot in our VIP section. We’ll give you a seat up front, plus vouchers for any of our food vendors like V Spot, Cemitas, Little Muenster, Brooklyn Bangers or Pizza Moto. Then, get sugar high on a frosty treat from the Coolhaus Truck with a dessert voucher too. Finally, wash it all down with complimentary beers from Sixpoint Brewery. And after the screening, you’ll get to attend our after party on the King and Grove rooftop, where we'll have our own rooftop-dance finale. Grab your own Liv Tyler and join us!
We’ll be set up across from the McCarren Park tennis courts on North 12th and Bedford starting at 6:00 p.m. The bands start at 6:30, and the movie will be rolling by 8:30! Thanks to everyone who voted!
Music Live: TV on the Radio, Janelle Monae, Reggie Watts, Toro y Moi and More at the AfroPunk Festival
Posted by Jeff Klingman on Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 2:12 PM
If The AfroPunk Festival isn't the city's best one-site free festival (and I'd argue that it almost certainly is) it definitely has the most defined identity. Slowly building steam from modest roots in the basement of The Delancey, the eighth year of the fest is still loosely defined enough to make room for any musicians of color making alternative music. But that cross-stylistic lineup is still booked with enough care to make coherent sense in a summer show landscape that usually boils down to "the biggest acts we could get, within our budget."
As designed, the crowd actually did look like the racial mix present in the whole of Brooklyn, rather than a few select neighborhoods. (Although, if there's a hidden street somewhere filled with Mad Max apocalypse jackets and bright pink afros, I'd like the name of its best bar, please?) And unlike a lot of summer events, walking around the Commodore Barry Park grounds in Ft. Greene actually felt like a real celebration, and an acknowledgement of a unique place that couldn't be replicated in more than a couple other spots in America. Though punk culture is a stated rasion d'etre, and the fashions on display were way too awesome for any local community center, it's not like the feel was overly clique-ish or intimidating. The schedule was on point, the entry lines moved quickly. A sign posted by the drinks vendor saying: "Every time you tip a Justin Bieber fan dies," didn't seem to have too adverse an effect on the many kids present with their families. Everybody must have stiffed them. (Note: I guess I didn't actually check to see if the toddlers were all in fact just napping.)
And while I'm not sure the Sunday lineup had any single moment quite as electric as Mos Def joining Erykah Badu onstage Saturday, it was still a wildly enjoyable late August evening.
Food & Drink The Secret Cheap Live Lobster Place in Greenwood
Posted by Audrey Ference on Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 10:30 AM
He's not super easy to find, but it's across the street from the Aladdin bread factory (and their lovely new shop, Baked In Brooklyn), and lately they've had a sign out. The going rate is $4.99 a lb, or 3 1.5 lb lobsters for $20. Even with the lobster glut, that is a deal! And you can go inside and pick out the ones you want. There's just tubs and tubs of them, clacking around on those insectoid little legs of theirs.
In fact, if you're in the mood for a lobster roll, you should pop into the bakery, get a good iced coffee and pick up one of their bags of fresh rolls for $1. You are going to have the cheapest, best lobster roll in town! Don't say I never did anything for you. Believe you me I thought long and hard before divulging my lobster secret, but you guys are cool. Right?
Film Talking to Mike Birbiglia About How Comedy is the New Punk Rock
Posted by Elise Nakhnikian on Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Sleepwalk with Me, the first movie by comedian—and now writer-director—Mike Birbiglia (which opened at IFC Center on Friday), seems at first to be a string of funny anecdotes about his (or his alter ego’s) early slog as a stand-up comic and this really weird thing he’s had to deal with: a form of sleepwalking that has caused him to do some serious damage to himself. But it turns out to be a heartfelt and likable story about holding onto a relationship longer than you should because you really, really like each other, even if you aren’t in love. We talked to Mike last week at the Crosby Street Hotel, where he was promoting the film, about movies versus other formats, what dreams are really like, and why comedians make great directors.
I have this theory that times of great technological changes make for periods of creativity in filmmaking, because a lot of people start playing with the new toys before things have time to solidify into a rut. And one trend I see coming out of how cheap and easy it is now to shoot and edit something and get it out there, if only on the Internet, is that there’s a groundswell of comedians making really good movies and TV shows. I’m thinking Bernie Mac and Louis C.K. and Lena Dunham and Tina Fey and Jon Stewart on TV, and Judd Apatow and the people he’s helped spawn, including Kristen Wiig with Bridesmaids, in the movies. Do you feel like that’s a trend you’re part of?
Yes, I do. That’s really true what you say about technology. But comedians have always made movies—back to Buster Keaton, Woody Allen.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Win a Pair of Tickets to Pig Island Next Weekend!
Posted by admin on Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 2:46 PM
We want to send you and a friend to Pig Island on Saturday, September 1 at Governor's Island. There you'll find over 80 locally-sourced hogs, craft beer from Sixpoint Brewery, cooking and butchering lessons from over 25 New York City chefs, live music and more! And did we mention your tickets include all of your food and drink? Here's how to enter to win:
1. Follow @thelmagazine on Twitter
2. Tweet at us to let us know why you want those tickets!
3. Use the hashtag #lmagpigisland
You have until 11:59pm on Monday, August 27 to enter. We'll announce a winner by on Tuesday, August 28. Good luck!
Books / Music A Fleet Foxes-Affiliated Literary Journal to Launch in September
Posted by Lauren Beck on Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 1:43 PM
In the case of the inaugural issue, we can expect a 10'' transparent vinyl pressing of rare tracks from the aforementioned Pecknold, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Amen Dunes, Grizzly Bear spin-off Department of Eagles and more, while its 60 pages will work off the theme of "transition" (each issue will carry a theme, natch). Round one features a journal entry penned by recently freed West Memphis 3 member Damien Echols on adjusting to life after 18 years on death row, an excerpt from Gloria Steinem's forthcoming book, a photo essay on adolescence by noted rock photographer Autumn de Wilde, a contribution from SPIN's Charles Aaron, and another from Animal Collective sister/visual collaborator Abby Portner, among 30-plus other pieces. Also worth mentioning: Both Beach House and Sub Pop are listed among the collective's roster. Perhaps a hint of what future issues will hold?
Music So You Wannabe Animal Collective? A Playlist!
Posted by Lauren Beck on Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 10:09 AM
Art Net Art Fridays, Volume Four
Posted by Corinna Kirsch on Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Every Friday, we're going to recap some of the brightest art projects online. The only requirements: they have to be about art, and they have to be online. Some of it’s art, some of it’s not. This is one of the slowest Fridays of the year for news, but the internet always has some new gifts to give: IKEA's going digital, the Museum of the Moving Image puts on a daring show of GIFs, and Madame Chao's gets a second chance at fame on YouTube.
Film Your Weekend at the Movies Full of Chases
Posted by Jesse Hassenger on Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Photos: At The Mostly Mozart After Party at Lincoln Center
Posted by admin on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 5:45 PM
Forgive us if we sound smug, but we had ourselves a very cultured Tuesday evening indeed. We made the trek to Manhattan, and took in a performance of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart festival. Once the lights went up, we hosted a beer and spirits tasting right in the middle of Avery Fisher Hall, and some of our favorite local breweries and distilleries were there to join us. Sixpoint poured their Crisp and Sweet Action Brews, Tuthillltown Spirits introduced their brand new Half Moon Orchard Gin, and Van Brunt Stillhouse poured a delicious Due North Rum cocktail. Bex Wade was there to capture it all.
TV Arrested Development Is Coming, For Real, Next Spring
Posted by Lauren Beck on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 3:31 PM
Oh, and then there's this: "According to Netflix, the episode order could grow beyond the 10 installments the company originally ordered," Huffington Post reports.
So now we're going to watch this:
Art The Last Work of Art Has Been Made
Posted by Will Brand on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 12:58 PM
In an art world dominated by meaningless spectacle, empty-headed celebrity, and the self-indulgent concretization of biography, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist was a rare breath of fresh air. Like many “reality shows”, it gave us not reality, but an idyll: a world where creativity was so prized that all artworks were displayed to prominent critics, gallerists, and Chinese restaurant heiresses, and where a string of good weeks could earn you an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Kymia Nawabi, The Current Great Artist, earned her title the way everyone should: through hard work, talent, and flashing her tits on an elimination-based game show funded by Sarah Jessica Parker.
Bravo, though, seems to prefer the art world to art, and the delusional banshee-clowns of Gallery Girls to the monkish aesthetes of Work of Art. It was with great sadness that we learned this week that the network will not purchase Work of Art for a third season. The show’s producers, Magical Elves, are in talks with other networks, hoping to find somewhere in the godless realms of television another channel willing to stand up for human creativity. Their odds are slim.
Look Out, Rockabus: There's A Cheaper Bus That Does The Exact Same Thing
Posted by Virginia K. Smith on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 9:30 AM
- Stefano Giovannini / Brooklyn Paper
No no, there's another beach bus game in town, in the form of Alexis Van Lines, which has been making the trip since last year according to its operators.
Sex Did You Know That August is Anal Pleasure Month?
Posted by Audrey Ference on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Or perhaps more constructively, check out butt sex master Tristan Taormino's Anal Advisor column. She has also written several books on the matter.
Further, why not buy yourself a strap-on and watch the classic film Bend Over Boyfriend? Butts! So much we can do with our butts. But only until the end of August. After that, we're all stuck celebrating National Yoga Month. Namaste.
Film How 9/11 Changed Hollywood
Posted by J. Hoberman on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Verso Books published J. Hoberman's Film After Film this week, which expands on an essay he wrote for Artforum about cinema after celluloid; it also explores what happened to movies during the Bush-era. In the following excerpt, the former Voice critic reports on how Hollywood reacted in the days and months following 9/11.
The events of September 11 were a cinema event, the most immediately and extensively documented catastrophe in human history.
In the days following the cataclysm, the Los Angeles Times reported entertainment industry concern that “the public appetite for plots involving disasters and terrorism has vanished.” Thus, Warner Bros. postponed Collateral Damage, and the screenwriters, David and Peter Griffiths, suffered another setback when Fox suspended their top-secret project, Deadline, a hijack drama written for James Cameron. Jerry Bruckheimer decided that the time might not be right for World War III, which called for nuclear attacks on Seattle and San Diego. Even comedies suffered collateral damage. Disney put off the release of the Tim Allen vehicle Big Trouble, which involves a nuclear bomb smuggled aboard a jet plane; MGM shelved Nose Bleed, with Jackie Chan starring as a window washer who foils a terrorist plot to blow up the WTC. Scheduled telecasts of the X-Files movie and Independence Day were canceled, along with a Law and Order episode about bio-terrorism in NYC.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Music Four Wedding Song Options for Avril Lavigne and Dude From Nickelback
Posted by Lauren Beck on Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 2:25 PM
Music 13 Things We Learned From the Pitchfork People's List
Posted by Jeff Klingman and Mike Conklin on Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 2:18 PM
This morning, as promised, Pitchfork went live with the results from The People's List, their souped-up version of a Reader's Poll, tracking their audience's favorite records released over the lifespan of the site. It's full of interesting widgets and USA Today-style infographics. They've got all sorts of clickable tabs embedded in the visually appealing interface. You can sort through the ballots of nearly 28,000 participants, zeroing in on poll results as filtered through specific metrics like voter age, genre preference, year of release, city lived in, hat size, sandwich loyalty, which Radiohead member participants thought was "The Cute One," and if there was only one record that would make you buy more sneakers than you currently do now, which one would it be?
While we're not entirely sure that we agree with their contention that "the surprises far outnumber the expectations," it is an awful lot of info. People will likely be assigning crack-pot theories to the results for days to come. We however, looked at it for a half-hour or so, and came away with these 13 things of note.
