Anna Carnick

Last Thursday evening, I hit Prospect Park with friends for the Femi Kuti concert. The rain held off, we packed a huge picnic and danced for hours to contagious, Nigerian Afrobeat. Looking around at one point, I stopped to appreciate the best part of any Brooklyn event – the people. Brooklyn’s characters are eclectic to be sure – a grab bag of characters young and old, white and black, fat and thin, stoned, drunk and sober – all routinely united by what all of NY does best – music, food, art, festivals, etc.

Being a Brooklyn local for years (and a huge fan of Celebrate Brooklyn), this was not the first time I’d appreciated the local cast – and the fact that their strength as a group may be a direct result of their eclecticism. That night, however, the same day that Michael Jackson‘s death was announced, the cast created a particularly memorable moment.

After the show, just as we were packing up to leave, I recognized The Jackson 5‘s “I’ll Be There” on the loudspeaker. So did the rest of the crowd. I looked around, and the whole ragtag group of remaining concert-goers was dancing and singing along to the one of Jackson’s most famous tunes. It was FANTASTIC.

And I thought, the reason people have been so moved by Jackson’s death is that, despite the drama and, let’s face it, bizarreness of the last decade or two, the music was unmatched. Everyone I spoke to had a Jackson story – be it a concert memory, or what a song meant to them at a certain point, etc. So I’m hopeful that as time goes by, he’ll be remembered not for the gossip, but for the gifts he gave us…the same ones that can bring a random crowd of strangers together, even if just for a few moments.

"Corner Knot" by Daniel Arsham, 2008. EPS, plaster, paint, joint compound. 18 x 64 x 20 inches

Set design for Merce Cunningham, Val de Marne, by Daniel Arsham. France, 2009.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of a studio visit with sculptor Daniel Arsham. Arsham describes his work as “architectural interventions,” often playing upon existing structures to create unexpected yet organic sculptures – a knot at the corner of two walls, or a chair emerging from within a wall, and so on.

I first came across Arsham last December in Miami, and his light installation at the Beacon/Miami for Art Basel. Most recently, he was in the press for his second collaboration with legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham.  Cunningham is known for creating full evenings of dance in spaces other than traditional theater, with the understanding that the space itself becomes the performance’s décor.In the formative years of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, artist Robert Rauschenberg created scenic designs and costumes in situ, utilizing what was available either within the city or theater where the performance occurred.

For the latest Cunningham-Arsham collaboration, Arsham created site-specific set designs for Au Tour De Paris (coinciding with Cunningham’s 90th birthday). As the performers dance and the music plays, Arsham cuts into heavy black foam cubes, lit white from within, manipulating the scenery as the show progresses. The performances were a surprise for all, as Arsham and Cunningham had little creative communication prior, and all the design elements (choreography, music, décor, costumes, and lighting) changed throughout the tour.

This July, Arsham’s newest work will be on public display, courtesy of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. A collaborative performance called “Untitled Corner” by Arsham, choreographer and media artist Jonah Bokaer and choreographer and dancer Judith Sanchez Ruiz will examine “pattern recognition and perceptual faculties as they apply to the human body, creating the illusion of expanded space.” Part dance, part music, part architectural manipulation (and part of Sitelines ’09), they’ll be performing for free at One Chase Manhattan Plaza at Nassau Street July 6, 10, 13 and 17th at 12:30 pm and July 8th and 15th at 7pm. It’s sure to be a good show, so come by!

For more information on Daniel Arsham, visit www.danielarsham.com

During this past weekend’s 2009 NY Photo Festival, DUMBO was, wonderfully, once again taken over by all things photo for five days. One down-under gallery, however, is continuing the celebration, and taking things personally.

Set on the second floor of the Front Street Arts Building, through an orange door, up the stairs and to the left, the Randall Scott Gallery is one of many galleries in the building, and just one of many more galleries to welcome photo enthusiasts and practitioners during the week’s festivities.

At the request of gallery owner Randall Scott,  six photographers (each represented by Vaughan Hannigan) were asked to step back from their normal commercial work to share more personal projects, for a show entitled, of course, “Personal.” The result is a small but potent exhibit that reminds us of the magic kept up photographers’ sleeves, and the potential losses that occur by limiting artists to any one genre.

The twenty images ultimately selected are diverse – from Martin Schoeller’s raw, close-up portraits of a man and woman from the Piraha tribe in Brazil’s rain forest to Henry Leutwyler’s series of objects studies associated with iconic individuals, to Timothy Hogan’s pair of burnt fashion photos to Brad Harris’s “Swimming Hole” series, Mark Zibert’s sexy “Woman in Oil” or Giles Revell’s archival pigment insects  (“Scarab” and “Damsel Fly”). But throughout, the personal thread is clear, and the sum total a success.

Schoeller, who has been a New Yorker contributor for many years and at one time worked as an assistant to Annie Leibovitz (this influence is clear in some of his elaborate settings), is probably best known for his extreme close-up portraits of celebrities and politicians. And though the subjects here are far less recognizable than Barack Obama, Angelina Jolie or Jack Nicholson, it’s a testament to Schoeller’s eye that regardless of our familiarity, his intimate portraits consistently elicit that same human truth through their rawness, in exposed facial crevices and unflinching eyes.

Photos from Leutwyler’s ongoing “Artifacts” series  – Hendrix’s guitar, Michael Jackson’s bedazzled glove, the gun that shot Lennon (aptly named “The Day the Music Died”) and Elvis’s television, complete with bullet hole – demonstrate the object’s potential for power and drama, and just how much life and energy a story or persona can imbue.

Timothy Hogan, known for high-end commercial work, literally set fire to the assignment, at the suggestion of Mr. Scott. Slowly burning a Dolce & Gabbana dress shirt and Bally loafers, with his camera set on a timer, Hogan captured the evolution of fashion on fire. Shots of the two fabric remains hang on the gallery’s wall; a screen near the sitting area reveals a revolving series of photos that document the burn from start to finish.

Harris’s “Swimming Hole” set recalls any-town America, and the magic of adolescents set free, with portraits of teens climbing trees above the water, sharing a cigarette on the water’s edge, and individual portraits that reveal his subject’s simultaneous maturity and childishness.

One of the beauties of art – and photography, specifically – is the empathy a piece can evoke in the viewer, the response one’s work can elicit from another, that human element that connects us. In this way, “Personal” hits home. And thankfully, though the NYPH09 festival’s parties are over, this one runs through June 6^th, .

For more info, check out www.randallscottgallery.com.

Images courtesy of Randall Scott Gallery.