Drawn Apart: An Evening of Animated Short Films by Immigrant Artists

New York Foundation for the Arts Celebrates New York’s Immigrant Animators at April 17 Film Festival

Part of New York City’s Immigrant Heritage Week

New York, NY (March 31, 2008) – Free and open to the public, this event features animated short films by award-winning immigrant animators living and working in New York. The filmmakers represent countries such as Russia, Korea, Thailand, Latvia, Mexico and Serbia, and all will be on hand to answer questions and discuss their work. The event, presented and hosted by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is part of New York’s Immigrant Heritage Week, an initiative of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs which celebrates the many contributions to the City by immigrants.

WHEN:
Thursday, April 17, 2008, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

WHERE:
New York Foundation for the Arts
155 Ave. of the Americas, 6th Floor
New York, NY, 10013

RSVP:
Free, but seating is limited.
To attend, please rsvp to Andreia Davies, adavies[at]nyfa[dot]org

WHO:
The lineup of short films was curated by 2005 NYFA Fellow and animated filmmaker Signe Baumane, a Latvia native. It includes films by several acclaimed animators, each of whom works in New York. They include: Felipe Galindo, whose work appears on Nickelodeon and in The New Yorker; Youngwoong Jang, who does animation work for a unit of FOX entertainment; Alex Bodovsky, whose animation work includes music videos, commercials and educational shorts for children; and Ms. Baumane, whose “Teat Beat of Sex” was the "most watched film" of the 2007 Cannes Online Film. She is one of the founders of Square Footage Films, a group of New York independent animators.

New York Foundation for the Arts is the nation’s largest provider of funding, information and services to artists in the United States– annually awarding nearly $6 million to hundreds of artists throughout New York State and the U.S.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Signe Baumane (Latvia)
Title: Dentist (2005). 10 min.
An enthusiastic dentist, a reluctant patient and a strange picture on the wall...

Alex Bodovsky (Russia)
Title: Bathtime in Clerkenwell (2002). 3min 15sec.
Based on Stephen Coates’ composition of the same title, this film is about The Great Revolution of the British Cuckoos, who bravely took over London, forcing all citizens to move inside cuckoo clocks.

Ronnarit Lueangwattanakij (Thailand)
Title: LALALAND
The story, about the pursuit of happiness and how that pursuit affects us, it takes place in a village called LALALAND, which includes citizens who have much too much happiness to cherish, and a little devil who chases after it in the wrong way.

Felipe Galindo (Feggo), (Mexico)
Title: The Manhatitlan Chronicles (2000). 16mm. 7min.
A word coined by the artist, The Manhatitlan Chronicles is a merger of two words: Manhattan (New York City) and Tenochtitlán (Mexico City's Aztec name), and symbolizes for him the merger of the Mexican and American cultures in New York.

Biljana Labovic (Serbia)
Title: Eye Spy. 3min 30sec.
A girl's inner world is filled with dreams and memories. She peeks into her own heart to find the forgotten feelings. She's her own personal spy.

Youngwoong Jang (Korea)
Title: Mirage (2006). 8min 25sec.
A robot boy's obsessively searches for water, without realizing he has already ready been in it.

Photographer Atta Kim, Questioning Human Existence

Excerpt from the Korea Times article by Cathy Rose A. Garcia:

"Photographer Atta Kim believes that ``all that exists will eventually disappear.'' A photograph is meant to capture an image, but Kim is interested in taking photographs that show how objects and humans disappear.

The photographs, on display at Kim's solo exhibition ``ON-AIR" at the Rodin Gallery, explore his philosophy of human existence.

``I began with the core concept that every single existing being in the universe will eventually disappear. I tried to compare this concept to the nature of photography, which tends to record and remember everything. I have used two types of processes to realize this comparison: one is to employ very long exposures to make all the moving objects within a scene disappear. The other is to digitally superimpose many different images so that they are subsumed within a new, composite image,'' Kim said, in the exhibition catalogue."

Read the full article.

See more of Atta Kim's work online at the Yossi Milo Gallery.

PHOTO: Photographer Atta Kim poses in front of his work ``The Last Supper'' at the Rodin Gallery. / Courtesy of Rodin Gallery

SLUM TV

SLUM-TV wants to documents the lives of the people in the slum and to reevaluate these lives through the camera. A camera always attracts attention. Our partners from the slum film and document the life in Mathare. The small movies are then shown in public places in Mathare, like a newsreel. In Mathare, there exist a variety of self-established cinemas. Mostly American and African films and European football is shown there.

Analogous to weekly news-shows in the early age of television our partners want to show their contributions in these cinemas, and maybe to charge a small entree fee in order to finance videotapes and other material. Copies of the videos are sent to Vienna. We will also try to distribute them under “Creative Common” licenses. That means non profit orientated community TV’s could use material for free, but has to name authors. All other users would have to pay. From the proceeds the manufacturers in the slums benefit again.

Visit the SLUM TV website for more info.

More Outrage Toward Vogue's Lebron James Cover

Some heads might roll at Vogue :)

Excerpt from WWD.com's coverage:

"...a spokesman for Vogue said: "The Shape Issue celebrates athleticism from start to finish. LeBron is on the cover with Gisele because he is a basketball star and he was photographed in that spirit. We think LeBron and Gisele look amazing together on the cover."

But several African-American editors and critics polled by WWD were more critical. Men's Fitness editor in chief Roy Johnson was taken aback by James' image, but also reflected on the larger issue of the lack of sensitivity at mainstream magazines to stereotypes. "It's a reminder that as African-Americans, we have come very far to have an African-American male featured on the cover of Vogue, but we have very far to go to continue to educate people within our industry regarding the power of images and the potential impact they can have on their readers."

Read more and weep.

2008 National Conference for Media Reform

Exhibit: Black Womanhood

Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body

April 1 through August 10, 2008

Hood Museum of Art
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
603.646.2808
hood.museum@dartmouth.edu

Organized by the Hood Museum of Art, this major traveling exhibition examines the historical roots of a charged icon in contemporary art: the black female body. Only through an exploration of the origins of black womanhood's prevalent stereotypes can we begin to shed new light on the powerful revisionism occupying contemporary artists working with these themes today. The exhibition features over one hundred sculptures, prints, postcards, photographs, paintings, textiles, and video installations presenting three separate but intersecting perspectives: the traditional African, the colonial, and the contemporary global. Together they reveal a common preoccupation with themes of ideal beauty, fertility and sexuality, maternity and motherhood, and identities and social roles and enable us to peel back the layers of social, cultural, and political realities that have influenced stereotypes of black womanhood from the nineteenth century to the present. This approach promotes a deeper understanding of the ideologies of race, gender, and sexuality that inform contemporary responses—both the viewers' and the artists'—to images of the black female body. A fully illustrated catalogue published by the Hood Museum of Art and the University of Washington Press accompanies the exhibition.

PHOTO: Maud Sulter, Terpsichore, 1989, dye destructions print. Arts Council Collection, London. Photograph courtesy of Maud Sulter and the Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London. On view in the exhibition Black Womanhood.

DODGE & BURN Film: Maldeamores (2008)

Maldeamores (in English, Lovesickness) is a Puerto Rican film starring Luis Guzmán, written by Carlos Ruíz Ruíz and Jorge Gonzales, and directed by Ruíz and his wife Mariem Pérez Riera.

The film consists of three separate stories dealing with the ironies of love. The three stories involve a middle class family, a hostage situation, and an elderly couple.

Academy Award-winning actor Benicio del Toro (who is from Puerto Rico) worked as an executive producer for the film.

Jezebel Blog Post: Is Vogue's "LeBron Kong" Cover Offensive?

"Have you heard? There's a black man on the cover of the April 2008 Vogue. (Richard Gere and George Clooney are the only other men ever to be on the cover, reports Time magazine.) Vogue does not have a history of embracing African-Americans on its covers. Back in November, Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici pointed out that while 4 out of 12 covers of Men's Vogue had black men; when Jennifer Hudson hit the cover of Vogue last March, she was only the third African-American celebrity to do so, though the magazine was founded in 1914. But on the cover of new issue, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James seems to be embodying ugly stereotypes about black men: The wild, savage, white-woman-obsessed beast."

My sentiments exactly!
Read more...

Obama Tackles Race in America: Read & View Today's Speech

In my opinion, Senator Barack Obama is the voice of TRUTH in this presidential election campaign.

Yes, OK, he should be talking about the state of the American economy (sigh...), but I respect and appreciate the fact that Obama thought it necessary to take time to address the state of race and racism in America.

Not only did he need to do it to clear the air (and his name) in the fog of negative press surrounding his affiliation with the Reverend Wright, but in making this speech, he brings the issue to the table once again.

American racism did not end with the Civil Rights movement. It will always be a painful part of our society - felt in the subtle statements, stinging glances and judgments within the minds of people interacting with each other every day.

Dialogue is the key to eradicating the ignorance that fuels the fire of racism. Obama's speech opened a path for this conversation to continue in the midst of this historic presidential campaign...

Excerpt from Obama's speech today:

"I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one."

Read & see the entire speech online at The Huffington Post.

See the Next Generation: "Mentors" Student Art Exhibition at SVA's Visual Arts Gallery

April 11 - 26, 2008
Reception: Tuesday, April 14, 6-8pm

School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents “Mentors", an exhibition of works by nearly 80 photography students inspired by their year-long mentorship with key figures in the arts community. Drawn from the ranks of New York City’s best-known photographers, curators, art directors, publishers, art dealers, critics and writers, SVA’s mentors are paired with students based upon their field of expertise and the student’s area of concentration. The 2007-2008 program mentors include Rolling Stone director of photography Jodi Peckman, photography critic Vince Aletti, illustrator Maira Kalman, gallerist Edwynn Houk, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, and photographers Lorna Simpson, Tina Barney, and Gregory Crewdson, among others.

Read more at SVA online.

PHOTO: Lorenna Gomez-Sanchez
24 Fifth
C-print
16 x 20 inches

Quisqueya Henríquez: The World Outside A Survey Exhibition 1991 – 2007

April 25 – July 20, 2008
New Work Gallery

Miami Art Museum presents the first U.S. survey exhibition of the multifaceted work of the Cuban-Dominican artist Quisqueya Henríquez. Henríquez is known for concept-driven works that serve to shorten the cultural and psychological distances between the Caribbean and the “outside world,” often through sensory experience and viewer participation. With a sharp sense of humor and an acute sensitivity to the struggles and ironies of everyday urban life, Henríquez breaks down the barriers between experimental art and popular culture. The exhibition includes over 20 installations, collages, photographs, videos, and light/sound works spanning the last two decades of the artist’s career

LA Times Movie Review: "Under the Same Moon" (La Misma Luna)

Excerpt from article by Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer:

"TO all the people who think that the illegal immigration debate is about electronic fences, NAFTA, Lou Dobbs and such, director Patricia Riggen and screenwriter Ligiah Villalobos offer a polite but emphatic rebuttal.

Immigration, say the women, is about survival. It's about learning to be invisible. It's about families. It's about love.

That, Riggen says, was the insight she uncovered while leafing through Villalobos' screenplay for "Under the Same Moon" (La Misma Luna), a Spanish-language drama about a Mexican mother who comes to work in Los Angeles, leaving behind her young son across the border.

The U.S.-Mexican production, which will open on more than 200 screens in Los Angeles and other cities on Wednesday, is the first Latino-centered movie that Fox Searchlight has distributed, reflecting the major studios' interest in tapping into a rapidly growing market. It stars Kate del Castillo as the mother, Rosario; Adrian Alonso as her son, Carlitos; and an eclectic supporting cast that includes America Ferrera of "Ugly Betty" as a child smuggler and the norteño supergroup Los Tigres del Norte as themselves."

Read the full article online.

PHOTO: America Ferrera, Adrián Alonso and Jesse Garcia star in "Under the Same Moon."

Mexican Wins Photography “Nobel”

Graciela Iturbide, internationally recognized for her iconic images of Mexico, was named the 2008 winner of the prestigious Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography.

Read about it in LaJournada online (Spanish-language only).

Tracey Moffatt's Social Edit

LOCATION ONE
March 12, 2008 6-8pm
Opening Reception for Social Edit

Official reception for this suite of three films by Australian video pioneer Tracey Moffatt. Includes Lip (1999), Artist (2000) and Doomed (2007). Each 10-minute loop is spliced together using snippets of Hollywood film to analyze notions of nation, race and class through the fractured lens of cinema and critical theory.

88 Conversations by Erin Kornfield

Presented as part of Asian Contemporary Art Week

A dynamic series of photo-portraits captures many members of the Chinese art scene engaged in discussions about contemporary Chinese art and its evolution. Shot in New York, Beijing and Shanghai, 88 Conversation is Erin Kornfeld and Charlie Schultz’s collaborative art project and homage to the artistic exchange of ideas between the east and west.

13-17 Laight St. Suite 26 (Bet. Varick St. and St. Johns Ln.)
Tel: 917-545-4299

See more of her work online at erinkornfeld.com

Genius: Kara Walker

Her work is controversial, yet I LOVE the simplicity of her notorious use of the silhouette and the powerful subtlety of her message(s).

Walker's masterpieces remind me of photography. Perhaps it's in the seemingly excruciating detail of each figure. Or is it the documentary and illuminating/truth-telling nature of each horrific scene?

Here's a brief interview with Kara Walker on PBS' art:21.

LANGSTON HUGHES AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

APRIL 12-20 2008
The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival supports community building by providing opportunities for artists and audiences to connect using the medium of film as a catalyst for dialogue that leads to social change.

Read more at langstonblackfilmfest.org

PHOTO from the Kennedy Center

Reflections of "Us" by Robin McNeil

Beautiful greeting cards made by a former Federal special-agent and now stay-at-home Mom, Robin McNeil.

Excerpt from the website's "About Us" page:

"ROU [Reflections of "Us"] was created to glorify real-life images of African Americans- to mirror the images of the people we know and love. We sometimes want to see somebody who looks like our large broad-back daddy when we tell him "You're My Hero". We wish to see our sweet grandmother's face with her weathered features worn from so many years working in the sun. Her eyes filled with hope, encouragement and wonder when we tell someone "You can make it!" We yearn to see our daughters' soft chocolate round faces with their full lips and broad noses smiling back at us when we wish them a " Happy Birthday"."

Order your own Reflections of "Us" greeting card via their website.

PHOTO: "The Apology 2", Copyright Robin McNeil