Archive for the ‘New York City’ Category
:: Mark Ryden : Gay 90’s Olde Tyme Art Show ::
I’ve been a fan of Mark Ryden since the late 90’s, and finally I got to see in person an opening night of his work go on display in the Chelsea district of NYC – April 29th at the Paul Kasmin gallery. The title of this series is called “The Gay 90’s – Olde Tyme Art Showe” and below I have a few shots of my favorite pieces. Plus the show was packed and a lot of people had dressed up in “Olde Tyme” 1890-s garb. I should have taken some pictures, but I only focused on getting some photos of his work.
Mark Ryden got his start in Southern California where his first solo debut was in Pasadena in a series called “The Meat Show” – and through his weaving of cultural icons, alchemical references, religious allegories, and iconography, he creates a style that is uniquely childhood like, but surrealist, and chock full of pop references but with twisted (sometimes disturbing) imagery. Imagine if you will a psychedelic Jacques-Louis David (who I also admire) and maybe Sailor Moon or a doe-eyed Devil Martian playing a Saz .
I used to see Mark Ryden’s material in magazines in the city where I grew up. Publications such as Juxtapoz – who would often have ad’s from galleries in LA such as La Luz de Jesus. It was easy to get lithographs from them for a decent price, since there was no way I could ever afford a Mark Ryden original (at least not yet!).
Mark’s material gets shuffled into the Lowbrow Art movement aka Pop Surrealism, and I can certainly find several artists in that genre which I have grown to appreciate through early exposure to the style. Many of these artists are self-taught versus more traditional manners of going through art school, or apprenticing (which would be highbrow).
Flickr set here.
:: Streets of NY series ::
I’ve selected a few images out of a photo-essay I did called “Streets of NY” – which focused on just snapping shots candidly of people as we passed on the streets in NYC and Brooklyn. Certainly influenced by the likes of Bruce Gilden, but I wasn’t *that* “in-your-face”
you can see the “Streets of NY” Flickr set here.
:: 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center ::
Recently on a trip to NYC I took the 7 over to Queens, NY to visit the venerable 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center (aka the Institute of Higher Burnin). This outdoor exhibit space features over 300+ pieces and murals, from artists all over the world. The building itself is a 200,000 square foot warehouse situated in Long Island City & initially opened in 1993 under the name Phun Phactory. It’s current curator and “housekeeper” is Jonathan Cohen who helped re-open the space in 2001 after it was almost destroyed by vandals. I am hoping to cover more of this building in the future since part of the structure was inaccessible since earlier this year when a fire escape collapsed. I won’t be able to show all the pieces, obviously, so you can see the flickr set here.
:: BerDerp™ :: 
