Racking up for Bikers at Wall St

http://www.davidbyrne.com/art/bike_racks/index.php

TRUE GENIUS

David Byrne and the New York City Department of Transportation, in conjunction with New York art gallery PaceWildenstein, have unveiled nine unique bicycle racks designed by DB and installed in various locations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. An avid bicyclist for almost 30 years, Byrne was invited to join the panel of jurors selected by the DOT to judge a design competition for outdoor and indoor bicycle racks. Inspired by the city's initiative, he submitted some original design ideas of his own named after specific locations and neighborhoods, which the DOT enthusiastically agreed to install for a period of 364 days.


Villager, 2008 (Location: LaGuardia Place)

Olde Time Square, 2008 (Location: 44th and 7th Ave)

The Wall Street (Location: Water St and Pearl St)

Ladies' miles (Between 5th Ave and 57th/ 58th in front of Bergdof)

The coffee cup (Location: Amsterdam between 110th and 111th St, near the Hungarian Pastry Shop)

The Chelsea (Location: 25th St between 10th and 11th, front of Pace Wildenstein Gallery)

The Moma (Location:53rd St , in front of Moma-of course)

The Hipster (Location: Bedford and North 6th Street, Williamsburg Brooklyn)

The Jersey (Location:9th Ave and 39th St)

Erin Patrice O' Brien's

Elizabeth, 15

Maria 18, with Kimberly and Summer

On Saturday, Fort Greene photographer Erin Patrice O'Brien unveiled her new exhibit at Brooklyn's Corridor Gallery. The images on display were not that of her normal clientele (she used to take portraits of celebrities), but of the young mothers living in New York. She told the Daily News, “I was interested in someone who never gets their story told as opposed to someone who always has the limelight."

Erin visited Bellevue Hospital in 2006 where he met the young girls from age 14-18, mostly from Mexico. This experiment gave him an understanding of their stories as a young pregnant girls and the struggle they dealt with.

This wasn't the limelight that Diablo Cody gave pregnant teens in Juno, these photographs put a different story on the statistics--teen mothers, from the ages of 14 to 18, spending most of their time home alone while their husbands work 70 hour weeks. The exhibit, titled Mamás Adolescentes: NYC 2006-2007, is on view through the 24th.

By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events www.gothamist.com

Shen Jing Dong

SHEN JINGDONG
Curated by Eric C. Shiner
On view from August 5, 2008
Reception: August 7, 2008 / 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
China Square
545 W. 25th Street
Chelsea Arts Tower 8th fl.







Do not think that I'm promoting communist. I rather slit my wrist than praise on China's communist. I love the style Shen Jing Dong. I love the playfulness that he created. The mix of ideological and consumerist subject matter definitively places Shen's work, alongside works by Takashi Murakami (How hot is that?)- in the post-pop period, attempting to digest the nation's transition into a consumer-driven society. His plastic toy characters have the reflections of the light that is pure genius. The smiles in the three panels of people with different ethnicities shows a connection in Yue Minjun's smily characters but less jovial. I'm happy that he has his one man show at this gallery since I was in awe of his work last year.

ChinaSquare is pleased to present SHEN JINGDONG: Hero, curated by Eric C. Shiner. The exhibit will be on view August 5th to 30th with an opening reception on Thursday, August 7th, from 6 to 8 pm. Born in Nanjing in 1965, Shen Jingdong received his masters degree from the Nanjing Institute of Arts in 1991. He was then conscripted to the Military Drama Troupe until 2007. Shen Jingdong's work taps into the vulnerability of the venerable by examining heroes of China's Cultural Revolution – most notably, members of the military. Serving in the military drama troupe for 16 years provided the artist ample exposure to military life and time to consider soldiers as sentient beings, rather than mere emblems of Communist thought. The plastic, manufactured soldiers Shen paints is in contrast to the observed humanity from his experience, but allows one to view these cultural icons as government play things gazing out with placid, unquestioning expressions. The mix of ideological and consumerist subject matter definitively places Shen's work -- alongside works by Takashi Murakami - in the post-pop period, attempting to digest the nation's transition into a consumer-driven society.

Not surprisingly, such critical examination of the validity of Communist ideals has not gone unnoticed by China's central government. Just two years ago, one of Shen Jingdong's installations grouped Chairman Mao with political dictators of other countries and was promptly banned from a major Beijing international art festival.Despite the controversy surrounding his work, pieces have already been collected by the China National Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Retreat Museum in Singapore. Well-received both critically and at auction, there is every reason to believe Shen Jingdong's talent will
continue to unveil itself.

Eric C. Shiner is an independent curator and art historian specializing in Asian contemporary art.
An assistant curator of the Yokohama Triennial in 2001, Shiner is an active writer and translator, a contributing editor for Art Asia Pacific magazine, and adjunct professor of Asian art history at Pace University in New York City

Dali Dali

Dalí: Painting and Film
June 29–September 15, 2008



Bringing together more than 130 paintings, drawings, scenarios, and films by Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), this exhibition explores the role that cinema played in the artist's work. Both an inspiration and an outlet for experimentation, film was Dalí's passion, and cinematic vision became a model for his own work. Collaborations between Dalí and legendary filmmakers are displayed alongside his paintings and other works, illuminating the ways in which ideas, iconography, and pictorial strategies are shared and transformed across mediums. Among the provocative works on display are Un Chien andalou, a film made with Luis Buñuel, which features the notorious, almost unwatchable sequence of an eye being slit by a razor; L'Age d'Or, another collaboration with Buñuel and one of the landmarks of Surrealist film; projects undertaken in Hollywood with Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney; and such important paintings as The First Days of Spring and Illumined Pleasures. In conjunction with the gallery exhibition, a series of screenings in the MoMA theaters presents the classic and avant-garde motion pictures Dalí treasured, films on which he collaborated, and examples of his legacy in contemporary cinema.

True genius. His works plays in your eyes as in optical illusion. It's amazing to capture his work since it was sold out when I was in Philly 2 years ago and now I got the chance. He has prove that he is the greatest surrealist. He will always be known as the one who did "The persistence of time".

His work awed the viewers at MOMA. It was pretty crowded on a Saturday. It's difficult to stay for more than 15 second on one work until someone is so close to you reading the small summaries.

My favorite is the small clip he did with Disney. It was so creative and dreamy. Your mind keeps wandering on very little details. It was awesome.