Photo of the Week: Hunter, Wheeling, WV

© Amy Stein 2006

Children of Men

Saw the new Alfonso Cuaron movie, Children of Men, last night. What an amazing film. Cuaron and cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, have created a visually stunning and politically charged film that moves forward with a fevered energy. Think Brazil meets 28 Days Later meets Regarding the Pain of Others broadcast live on CNN sometime in the near future. Go see this film.

Photo of the Week: Woman with M16, Las Vegas, NV

© Amy Stein 2005

Busy as a Bee

Leaving New Orleans this Thursday and heading back to New York for a short holiday stint living my real life as a photographer, wife, friend, cat owner... Friday I hit the NY pavement and scramble to get my prints ready for the 3 x 5 show at Paul Kopeikin Gallery. Saturday we are traveling to Washington, DC, for a Danish Jul celebration with friends. Grod and glogg for everyone! While we are in DC we are going to finally see my work in the No Fancy Titles show at Randall Scott Gallery. We get back to New York on Tuesday and have a small window to relax, make fun of tourists, and celebrate the new year before we leave for SoCal to visit the inlaws and attend the opening of the 3 x 5 show. Sadly, my travel schedule is forcing me to miss the opening of Brian Ulrich's Copia show at Julie Saul, but you shouldn't. Go see this show!

I hope the holidays (and every day) find you peaceful, creative, and among friends and loved ones.

Sophia Peer Reviewed in the New York Times

You know you are a hotshot artist when you are included in the paper of record. Fellow SVA MFA alum, Sophia Peer, got a very favorable write-up of her video piece, Everyday, in the New York Times review of the Queens International 2006. Congratulations, Sophia!

Where this exhibition can feel more provincial than shows like P.S. 1’s “Greater New York” or the Whitney Biennial is in its attempt to balance the interests of the art crowd while staying “close to the heart of many local residents,” according to its brochure. Sometimes these concerns dovetail nicely, as in Sophia Peer’s quick-cut video “Everyday.” She captures her aging parents moving around their cramped home in Queens like latter-day, empty-nest Bunkers burrowed in a row house amid a social landscape turned virtually unrecognizable.

Also in the exhibition and worth checking out is Rebecca Roberton's Queens Vernacular series. Rebecca is another kickass MFA grad from the School of Visual Arts.

Wooster on Spring

Judith Supine & Rekal

Today is the first day to view the Wooster Collective's inspired Wooster on Spring project. If you don't know what all the hubbub is about, read up on how the project came together, and then get your arse to the corner of Elizabeth and Spring and take in the 30,000 square feet of art before it's walled up and renovation begins on the building. If you can't make it to Soho during the next three days, all hope is not lost. According to the Wooster Collective you may get another chance to view the work in the year 2206.

As many of you know, there's a tradition in construction to leave a newspaper in a wall during the construction process to create a sort of time capsule. Most people who have renovated a home or building have great stories about finding things from decades, or even centuries before, in the walls of their buildings.

So after the Wooster on Spring exhibition, all of the interior walls of 11 Spring will be covered during the construction process. 11 Spring will become one of the most fascinating art time capsules in history. We love the fact that two hundred years from now, a brick might fall out to reveal an original piece created by Lady Pink, Shepard, Swoon and 35 other incredible artists.

Pretty in Pink

I have never been a pink girl. Growing up I didn't own a My Little Pony, I never wanted a Hello Kitty backpack, and I may have even rooted against Molly Ringwald finding love with Andrew McCarthy. This is not to say I am a tomboy -- I still enjoy girlie things and I believe my autopsy one day will show I was made of mostly sugar and spice -- I just wasn't wrapped in a pink blanket when I was born. As a photographer I am drawn to any discussion of the cultural significance and deeper meanings of color, so imagine my delight when I came across these two passages that reveal the capriciousness of our pink/blue gender tradition:

"If you like the color note on the little one's garments, use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention." [The Sunday Sentinal, March 29, 1914.]

"There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink being a more decided and stronger color is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is pertier for the girl." [Ladies Home Journal, June, 1918]

When I read this I immediately thought of Jeongmee Yoon's wonderful photo series, The Pink Project...

© Jeongmee Yoon 2005

...and the video piece Charlie White did for Adidas, Pink.