Monthly Archives: August 2015

Arts and Culture

Photos from the Mr. Brainwash Life is Beautiful Exhibit

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Brainwash Bowie Mural
All Photos By Gail. Click on Any Image to Enlarge for Detail.

While not necessarily a household name, Mr. Brainwash is arguably one of the most commercially successful street artists alive, and certainly one whose art panders to the lowest common denominator, Hallmark-Greeting-Card-sensibilities of the general public. What his heavily appropriated artworks lack in originality, Brainwash makes up in Chutzpah and being backed by a team who are geniuses at marketing and selling his brand. Right now — for how long, who the fuck knows — you can explore a warehouse-sized exhibit of Brainwash’s Greatest Hits at a pop-up space on West 14th Street, directly under the High Line Park. Entitled Life is Beautiful, the exhibit is the French-born, LA-based artist’s follow-up to 2010’s all-encompassing exhibit/happening, Icons; which was up for most of that year, it seems. Was it worth the wait? You betcha. Continue reading Photos from the Mr. Brainwash Life is Beautiful Exhibit →

Arts and Culture

Everything Bagel Sculpture By Hanna Liden

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Everything Bagel
All Photos By Gail

Public Art, it is so awesome! This over-sized sculpture of a tower of giant Bagels, entitled Everything, was spotted by me in a unique location: on a tiny traffic island near the cross streets of Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Avenue, Christopher Street and something called Ruth E Wittenberg Triangle in Greenwich Village proper.
Continue reading Everything Bagel Sculpture By Hanna Liden →

Arts and Culture

Visit the Coney Island Art Walls!!

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Lady Pink
Art Wall By Lady Pink (All Photos By Gail)

If you haven’t been to Coney Island at least once this summer, you owe it to yourself to make the trip. Most residents of Manhattan who live, say, from midtown to the east village area,  can make it from the door to the shore in under 90 minutes, depending on how the trains are running. And for half the ride, the trains run above ground, so that makes it a bit more interesting of a ride as well. Even if you are not a “Beach Person” (raises hand), and the rides at Luna Park make you barf (keeps hand raised) there is so much to see and do at Coney Island that all you need to have is an adventurous spirit, and maybe some sunblock. Continue reading Visit the Coney Island Art Walls!! →

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Sunrise on the Matterhorn by Albert Bierstadt

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Sunrise on the Matterhorn
Photo By Gail

In the summer of 1856, during a four-year period of study in Europe, American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt joined several American colleagues on a sketching trip. His fascination with the Swiss terrain resulted in a series of oil studies and pencil sketches, executed during the trip, and several large canvases of the mountain landscape, painted upon his return to New Bedford, Massachusetts. He revisited Switzerland numerous times between 1867 and 1897 to do more sketching.

In this dramatic view of the most famous mountain located in the Swiss Alps, Sunrise on the Matterhorn, the artist depicted the cloud–in circled peak in the distance, strikingly juxtaposed with a low, rocky foreground. The vertical thrust of the mountain is reinforced by the towering pines at the lower left.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Arts and Culture

Video Clip of The Week: Publicist UK, “Away”

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I find that, more often than seems to make sense, a very melancholy, gloom-tinged song can also be simultaneously uplifting. Maybe that only works if you are already a happy person at your core. I don’t pretend to have any answers regarding such philosophical matters; I speak only for myself. This week’s Video Clip — which is called “Away” by an American band called Publicist UK — fully embraces a super dark and foreboding vibe, and yet it also feels exhilarating: kind of what you might experience if you sensed the unavoidable approach of a bad break up with a person you loved, and yet knew in your heart was a total asshole. Because, with the pain there would also come an overwhelming sense of relief that could not be denied. Now that is a situation I can definitely speak directly to. But we are not talking about me.

On “Away”, vocalist Zachary Lipez explores what might happen if Scott Walker listened to Lloyd Cole’s “Perfect Skin” about a hundred million billion times and then decided to cover a lost Bauhaus song. Yes, it is that great. The song shifts aurally from tranquil to super heavy around the 3-minute mark without ever losing focus on the melody, while finely-nuanced drumming by Dave Witte (who also drums for Burnt By The Sun) serves the song while showcasing his exceptional percussive talents. Win win!

Visually, the clip opts for impressionism over realism, transitioning between grainy, black and white stills, stop motion, and action snippets, interspersing a fun recurring op-art effect of rapidly pulsating concentric red and black targets, all of which create dynamic visual engagement. I like it.

“Away” comes from Publicist UK’s debut album, Forgive Yourself, which you can digitally pre-order right now via Bandcamp and physically own on or after its release date of August 21st. Relapse Records is handling distribution. Enjoy!

Publicist UK Band Photo
Publicist UK Band Photo By Scott Colby