Mickalene Thomas Exhibition at Brooklyn Museum

I was thrilled to be invited to attend the press review of Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe at the Brooklyn Museum opening today and running until January 20, 2013. I first viewed a painting of hers in the Contemporary art section of this museum several years ago and fell in love with it. It really impressed me. What struck me was her use of rhinestones in her work. It made the work very 2 dimentional and interesting. I went in to the mini conference with the goal of asking her a question and getting a quote on her use of rhinestones. 11 am: coffee and danish 11:30: comments by director and artists Thomas: "It is a great opportunity being a Brooklynite." Thank yous. (Exhibition gives) "view of my studio practice; great insight..." It also gives the viewer the opportunity to watch a film about her mother directed by Mickalene herself and in which she approaches her subject (her mother) from a personal documentary point of view. It is a "tribute to my mother" titled Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman (30 minutes). Her mother is no object. ... When comments were over, I approached Mickalene and asked about her use of rhinestones. MT: Like to work with untraditional matter. Gravitated towards rhinestones. Influenced by pointillism; French impressionists...like to use craft material... Want to investigate notions of beauty... conceptually adds another layer... notions of masking, artifice... folk art influence. Bringing craft into high art. Mini-conference over. I began my walk through Origin of the Universe with audio guide in hand. The title of the exhibition is derived from a Gustave Courbet 1866 painting titled Origine du Monde. Thomas: exhibition "challenges conventional parameters of western art history." Many of the works in the series on view take as its original reference the paintings of Manet, Courbet and Ingres and recasts the white subjects with black (clothed) female ones. The titular first work in the series, however, is a black female nude (up close and personal). My personal favorites are the portraits: Din,Une Tres Belle Negresse 1 and 2. I like how the eyes, lips and jewelry are composed of rhinestones. Her portraits celebrate African-American women.

Brooklyn Book Festival 2012

I attended the Brooklyn Book festival on Sunday in Downtown Brooklyn. It was an energetic cluster of back to back panels. Here is a summary of two panels i attended. Characters on characters: Dennis Lehane(L), Edwidge Danticat(D), Walter Mosley (M). Mod(moderator) Mod: Where do your characters come from? M: Wanted to write LA from black point of view. Biggest influence was my father.. took elements of my father`s life and put it in my work. (Mosley`s father said to him: "They say i'm in this book; i don't see it." Audience laughed.) One of Lehane's characters,the mother in Gone Baby Gone and described by him as odious, was based on a real person. And this person showed up at a book event. "She was standing in line (at a book signing)... came up to me and said 'where'd do you come up with that bitch?'" Audience laughed. I laughed. (Did they make this up?) D: When the characters take over the story it is a good thing. M: I've met a lot of people from Louisiana, (and they say about a character) "I know her". Mod: would you agree your characters are dark? M: You mean dark complexions? ... laughter. D: (dark)marginalizes people's experiences. Half live that way. They're doing the best they can. ... -------------- Money in fiction: A few highlights: Discussion of fiction that deals with money reall well. i.e. Autobiography of a Schilling - from the point of view of a coin. It made me think of a short film i viewed at the tribeca student film festival about the circulation of a dollar bill; a day in the life of a hard earned dollar bill (will find title)...Clancy Martin told the audience he once sold jewelry to bestselling author Sandra Brown. She was a good customer. ...

Scene and be Scene Fashion Day

My day at fashion week was an improvised one. I stood outside the Cedar Lake venue hoping to get into the Donna Karan spring show. As anticipated, they would not let me in. I am not yet considered apart of the New York literati. (Did they think me the illiterati?!) ... I stood on the sidewalk with other onlookers and photographers. Are there any magic words to getting into these things, i thought to myself? The motorcade pulled up and out came a Kate Beckinsale look-a-like who was referred to by the name of Ashley. Several of the show`s models walked by and before i could say it myself out came: "waifs"! "It`s Kate!" "It`s not Kate." (made up) A British sounding photographer walked by : "Who's that?" I asked looking over at the woman posing for a photographer. "She's a fashion blogger, kristin..." she responded. How am I not invited to these things, I asked myself....If a tree falls... Then i said "I`ve seen the collection" and out came the fashion show onto the sidewalk of w. 26th street. They scened it for me. Donna Karan came out in a yellow rain coat. I Think Stanley Tucci may have walked by me on the way out. ... ...

US Open 2012

On Friday of last , i headed out to the Mets - Willets Arthur Ashe stadium where i hoped to get into the Serena Williams match. I stopped at Ticket exchange which sells tickets at reduced rates and hope arrived in the form of the actress (Hope Davis)- just joking. No, she was not there but i think i may have seen her at a cafe once ( no, i did not score tickets to Once). Anyways, a guy had an extra ticket for the day session and gave it to me. He said the ticket would get me into the matches at Arthur Ashe. i was in disbelief that i was actually going to see Serena Williams play tennis in person as opposed to on television. I walked up the stairs only to find it took me a good half an hour to figure out how to get to my seat. Sharapova was still playing against Azarenka... I did not get to my seat until Serena came out to play which was after Sharapova lost to Azarenka. I really dont know much about tennis and decided i needed to set up an educational interview with a tennis expert on how the game is played. You have to hit the ball back and forth and not let the ball go outside the lines. There are sets and match points and love; score numbers such as 30 40 love etc. I do not know what the love means in tennis but it did lead me to think about asking if anyone has ever found love on the court? Tennis primer coming soon... I did find out that i love watching tennis live... So anyways, Azarenka won after a 1 , 1 tie and 3rd set tiebreaker and she would go on to play Serena in the finals the following day.She did a little victory dance and then expressed enthusiasm about playing in the finals ...She left the court. Serena came out and everyone cheered. The excitement was palpable.Mine was anyways. She was playing Sara Errani. I had always wanted to see Serena and Roger Federer play live, do this year my dream of wanting to see one of them live was coming true. Next year, maybe i`ll watch Federer. The match was really exciting and half way through the big screen flashed stars Eva Longoria (Gaby Soliz)and my comic icon Will Ferrell ( i had read he was a fan of Serena`s). I was even more excited. Serena was leading in the first set and beat her in the second, 6-1, 6-2. ....

Fashion`s night out 2012

I hit the town on thursday night for fashion`s night out. It is one of my favorite nights of the year in New York. I am addicted to it and also found a couple blogs about fashion covering it although i have not scrolled them: I spy diy and because i`m addicted. My night really began during the day when maybelline handed me a bottle of pink nail polish which i was happy about because i wanted to paint my toenails. they also handed me foundation to which i replied comically: " i dont do foundation". The night began at 6pm with me in the west village eager to load up on all the snacks and drink. I first stopped at Reiss London which handed me banana english toffee all natural ice cream. I could tell it was all natural by the taste. It was the best banana ice cream i have ever had and it is made by a company called the London Candy company; a company i have never heard of. I did not hang out there long. My next stop was at Jo Malone, a boutique specializing in a natural scent of blackberry and bay (with a hint of sandalwood and cedar). I grabbed a blackberry gelatto pop which again was one of the best ice creams i have ever had; the texture was like velour; so smooth. Next, i grabbed a blackberry bellini which was champagne with a delicious blackberry nectar resting at the bottom of the glass. I headed out and stopped at Marc Jacobs where i got my first Fashion`s night out souvenir: A t-shirt handed to me which reads: Don`t just come for the free drinks. Next stop: Jimmy Choo. Mini bottles of champagne - didn`t finish, didn`t stay long. on to the next : Tracy Reese. The door person at Tracy Reese was really friendly and welcomed me with a warm "welcome" (Next year maybe i`ll get names). I spotted a great pair of pants i really liked and then grabbed a glass of clos du bois, ( is someone gonna take the wine and talk about Du bois?) ... I loved the t-shirt that was created for fashion`s night out as a fundraising tool for an aids organization. It is available in blue and red, possibly a third color, with an f on it. I signed up for email with a : dear Tracy, i would love to attend your fashion show on sunday, please email. I did not get an invitation. I did however get to see Donna Karan`s show on the sidewalk on sunday (Sidewalk Stories, story) , I`ll get to that later. A dj spun some tunes: Whitney houston, Adele`s Rolling in the Deep ( We could have had it all) a song i love and include in my / the soundtrack. I was dissapointed i did not get an invite to fashion week seeing as i read that Michelle Obama wore a really stunning dress of hers during a speech of hers at the DNC. Maybe next year. I stopped at (somewhere someone is making a joke: she stopped but didn't stop it) Calypso St Barth and sipped some champagne that i did not finish. My last stop in the village was at Brooks Brothers where i had such a great time at fashion`s night out 2009 when i stumbled on it. I grabbed a catalogue that read: made in america and to which someone replied we`ve been making clothes for 200 years. This year sadly, brooks brothers wasn`t as exciting:there were no macarons. i did learn that Carly Rae Jepsen sings `call me maybe` - a song i like. I headed to Soho only to find Betsey Johnson closed down but there was a huge crowd with a camera crew standing in front. The Frau boutique where i had such fun last year with the cocktail the Big Texan and a great spread of sweet and salty was not hosting this year. My last stop was in front of American Apparel where a truck was nearly toppled over by a hungry and possibly drunk crowd wanting good humor ice cream bars (AA anyone?) I want to get paid!!! I couldn`t get to one and then a guy exclaimed THere`s one on the ground! it had melted. I was on my way home. Great night! ...

They passed

To clarify, I did not ignore, i simply have a dillema and i liked 80% of it. Also, I began to shake with it. So, The people in the library need to learn to respect people`s quietude and not bother me. TO the people saying she is a nasty they passed please no. There is no more nasty for it and i did not authorize you to scroll. I heard you. An admin may have been trying to send up a post of mine. maybe. It might have been 1 800 sitizen (if you've been called a foreigner) Pardon me, I am a citizen of the world. Please dont respond negatively to the citizen of the world. Please no more anger,no more hostelity (although the sadistic ra was funny) . please dont text them `shake it down' . I shall clarify my dilemma in another post. They snatched Saw, Hostel. us and them. Can i tell you to get off my premisse without being told to get off the premisses. Just joking. ....