Thursday, April 26, 2018

CENTRAL BOOKING : CLOSED



  CENTRAL BOOKING IS CLOSING.  Maddy Rosenberg was the curator and co-owner of Lower East Side Gallery Central Booking NYC.  Her poisonous reputation as a miser and a thief precedes her.  Her cute collection of art and science books might confuse you as shee has a good eye for finding exploitable emerging artists and then bullying them.    Maddy doesn’t pay her artists and has multiple outstanding legal claims against her.  If you are an artist or collector considering working with her, be warned. 

   Her personal work can be described as dinky at best.  “Brooklyn Brownstones” is a simple series.  It offers little information or detail and looks as if very little time was spent on each.  They fail to celebrate the history of Brooklyn’s architecture and neighborhoods. “Munich Interventions” bores as well.  The fragmented scraps fall into the category of a college freshman mistake.  While bad at business, Rosenberg was a better curator than an artist herself. 


   Central Booking closes its doors in April 2018, after years of operation.  Visiting artists such as C Bangs, Manuelita Buendiaz Jr., flexCO, Margot Niederland and more made it what it was and while the funky community will be missed, its figure head will not.  I’m curious what the space will be next. 


Show by Flex Co

Show by Greg Lindquist

DAY 2742 - Medusa

Painting by Albert Oszek

Friday, April 20, 2018

REVIEW : MULA



   Mula is an amazing musical trio from the Dominican Republic consisting of twins  Anabel Acevedo and Cristabel Acevedo and Rachel Rojas.  The group produces Spanish electronic music.  Their style has been described as dark dembow, yet their brand of alternative electronic Latin dance music is smoother, less harsh, and cleaner than traditional dembow.  It’s definitely more digestible to a more diverse audience.  The musical compositions are complex, with changing drum rhythms from each movement in a single song.  The group competently blends merengue beats with post punk and new wave.  Elements from vaporwave, shoegazing, dubstep, trip hop are common over the tropical beats.

   They’re newest album has found a large online audience, and the group has participated in major festivals in New York, Brazil, Mexico City and the DR.  ‘Diamantes’ is catchy, it has all the quirkiness of a Bjork song without any of the annoyance.  The song sticks in your head.  ‘Nunca Paran’ shows the group’s skills.  It encompasses much of what the band is about from dreamy, soft echoey harmonies to upbeat thumping dance. ‘No hay manera’ haunting driving merengue, drops into a Gameboy-esque chip tune.  The voices have a dreamy Franz Gall, Bridgette Bardot, or Charlotte Gainsbourg quality.  All female DR groups have progressed a long way since Las Chicas de Can.  


Support these amazing artists by buying their albums and attending their shows.
Check their website and stay tuned for more @sharks_eat_meat .

Review by John Aaron Coulter





DAY 2736 - 1/12 Scale Tudor Cheese

Sculpture by Kim Fairchild

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Panic at the Disco

Photography by James Meyer - Model @caitypayne

Deep Travel Ink - Review





Walking south on Tenth Ave in Chelsea I noticed a strange storefront.  It was the Lisson Gallery, or was it.  Inside a bizarro Travel Agency had taken up shop,  and now that I was certain it was an art installation, I had to go in.  

It was the type of installation that immerses you into a new world instantly.  My senses had already been tricked from the street, and with the first step in the door your foot hits thick carpet, something quite rare for New York City, transporting you out of the harsh city and into the artist’s realm.   Travel posters, paintings and homemade walking sticks clutter the space.   Water bubbles from a sculptural fountain and a nearby fish-tank. 





There’s no easy way to describe all of the installation,  pictures and words will fail the experience.  The work is completely thought out, dense with details, and sharply humorous.  Motivational plaques and posters of far away lands seem in place in the disheveled  office, but on further inspection each is a parody.   The entire space is a strange scene like something from a dated movie. Signs inform viewers future construction to the space as electronic humanoid forms work on unknown tasks at desks.  Treasure is hidden everywhere:  large walking sticks have mirrors on them to see parts of the exhibition only viewable from strange perspectives,  slightly immodest paintings are partially covered by large curtains that you can pull back, and headphones in the “office” area have additional media.  This allows viewers to engage with the work on multiple levels. 

Lisson has given Laure Prouvost their first solo show in New York City and the investment has paid off with a competent show that will make you smile.  DEEP TRAVEL Ink is a compelling show that restructures experience and is worth the visit to the gallery.  

Check Lisson’s site for upcoming shows and follow Laure Prouvost on their personal site.  Check out SharksEatMeat for more weekly reviews like this, daily art, culture and more. 


Review by John Aaron Coulter

@sharks_eat_meat





DAY 2733 - Jackalopes!

Artwork by Kristen Liu-Wong

Monday, April 16, 2018

‘Intersecting Trajectories’ Review

Artwork by Manuel Acevedo 



‘Intersecting Trajectories’ Review

   The ‘Intersecting Trajectories’ exhibition at Rush Arts in New York is a powerful show.  The space is clean, balanced and holds the group well.  Rush Arts guest curator Pepe Coronado brought works together by Manuel Acevedo, COCO144, Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA Collective, Marquita Flowers, Leslie Jimenez, Rejin Leys, Carlos Jesus Martinez Dominguez, Yelaine Rodriguez, Fernando Ruíz Lorenzo, and Vladimir Cybil Charlier.  Pepe Coronado of The Coronado Print Studio believes in focusing on the community and that art can give people a powerful voice.  

   Artists in the show contributed a print and a work in different medium around the themes of race, immigration and politics.  Manuel Acevedo’s striking geometric prints stand out.  The spirited reds, whites and blacks in ‘Unity’ draw you in.  The patterns recall an M.C. Escher.  With careful observation the prints contain text with a highly abstracted font.  Fernando Ruíz Lorenzo’s ‘Citizenship in the American Empire’ is dynamic.  The image is of a map of America’s borders.  It is painted black on black, with only subtle reflective details making the border visible.  The work is contemplative.  The viewer can question borders and citizenship in America as here the line is not clear.  Rejin Leys ‘Warm Up #1’is as playful as a Matisse.  The scribbles, blobs and dots float in an oddly balanced way.  The composition is almost musical.  

   The space is boldly alternative while remaining incredibly sleek and professional in its Chelsea Manhattan location.   Follow their website and stay updated on shows. Keep up with the individual artists at the links below and here @sharks_eat_meat .

Review by John Aaron Coulter

Artwork by Fernando Ruíz Lorenzo




Everything in its Right Place

Artwork by Dylan Gebbia-Richards

DAY 2732 - Sólo es un Sueño 01

Drawing by Anna Christina Frischknecht

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Ant

Artwork by Alex Gamsu Jenkins

"Ode to Spring" Review

Artwork by David Hansen

Artwork by Masaya Nakayama

"Ode to Spring" Review

   The Walter Wickiser Gallery Inc show “Ode to Spring” was a great success.  Artists Sarbani Ghosh, Masaya Nakayama, and David Hansen all presented strong works.  Tucked away on the third floor in the west side of Chelsea was a lovely collection of contemporary abstract expressionist works.  Many of abstractions feature hidden or obscured imagery of wildlife.  

   Hansen’s work transcends simple design and holds its weight as meaty original works of art.  The works are very labored over with layers of scratches, pencil marks, patterns and thick textured paint.  
There are lots of details to discover by spending time with the work.  Plant and animal forms are rendered with a gestural looseness that gives them a ghostly form.  In a way the works could be explained with this analogy, if Matisse’s works were sonatas, Hansen’s works are multilayered orchestrations.  The scale and depth of either doesn’t preclude it’s quality, as both the simple and the grand can be quiet delicate.  In addition to the fine delicacies, the works have the raw gutsiness of a DeKooning. 

While the show at Walter Wickiser Gallery Inc is over, we encourage you to visit the space for future shows.  Check out David’s website, and as always stay tuned daily to SharksEatMeat for all your art and culture needs. 

Review by John Aaron Coulter




Artwork by Sarbani Ghosh

Artwork by David Hansen

DAY 2731 - Conchias

Collage by Andrés Gamiochipi