Results tagged “artists”

Leave it to starving artists to create a new kind of currency! The Brooklyn Torch Project consists of a group of creatives whose aim is to "create a local currency to benefit the local area businesses and artists" and "bring together both artist communities and immigrant communities in our area to improve integration of social groups and economies and boost our pride." The Daily News reports on the idea today, noting the Treasury Department is totally cool with people printing their own money in the U.S.; it will be subject to the same taxes as the dollar, and the exchange rate will be one to one (though "businesses might provide incentives for shoppers to spend money locally, ultimately raising the Torch's value"). The artists point out that there is a similar program in Ithaca, which began in 1991; “An Ithaca HOUR will generate 30 times more economic activity than [a dollar] will," meaning more money for the community. Expect to see Torch bucks being passed around Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bushwick by the Fall; currently the group is looking for a design to grace the bills, and you can help!

Following the fall that Nicole Gagne took when the outdoor staircase at 5Pointz collapsed over the weekend, the graffiti artists who are responsible for painting the murals covering the Long Island City building have added a new one in tribute to her.

Last night the former Vandal Squad cops met up at powerHouse Arena to face off with some of the former graffiti artists they busted back in the day. Did sparks and spraypaint cans fly? Not really. One attendee reports back, "As would be expected the cops stuck to their script (literally in the case of the author who clearly had the questions in advance and read his answers each time). According to the cops there, there have never been any incidents of police brutality against the graf artists, ever." Hmm, well that sounds...inaccurate.

Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery has been carving out quite a niche for itself by investing in its collection of art once created by some of the 220 artists who are buried there. In a feature in today's Times, the cemetery's historian Jeffrey Richman says that it is because “none of the nation’s other historic cemeteries have substantial systematic collections of deceased artists.” They also note nice touches like the cemetery's discovery and acquisition of a painting of DeWitt Clinton by George Catlin (both buried there). Green-Wood has invested more than $250,000 into its collection and has been abetted by a rough stretch for the art market. Its president Richard Moylan said, “The economic downturn is horrible, but it has made a lot of art more affordable.” And if the economy starts getting really really bad, maybe Green-Wood will even be able to afford paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Samuel Morse, both buried there but whose works are out of its budget.

Last year the police were hassling the art vendors in SoHo, something documented by Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics). Around the same time, word of an Alan Gerson-proposed bill to "deal with the problem" was getting out, and now the City Council proposal has arrived, leaving the artists on the defense.

There's finally some word on James Powderly and five “citizen journalists” (not the other five artists), together dubbed the Beijing Six, who were detained in China for their Free Tibet protests. The AFP reports that "Beijing police said Thursday it had handed out 10-day detention terms to six foreigners believed by an overseas activist group to be pro-Tibet campaigners involved in Olympic protests this week." F.A.T. has a statement Powderly made on video prior to being detained, in which he says, "I'm participating in this non-violent direct action because as an artist I've taken the role of an engineer that builds tools to allow people who don't have a voice to express their voice in the public sphere." The SFT's blog has the latest news on all Free Tibet protesters in Beijing.

Following yesterday's news of Graffiti Research Lab founder James Powderly being detained in Beijing, came news of five other American artists being held for a similar reason. The pro-Tibet activists held a banner with the words “Free Tibet” written in bright blue LED throwies in both English and Chinese. The peaceful protest took place in Beijing’s Olympic Park, and within 20 seconds the five were being detained.

Beautiful Losers is coming to town later this week, screening at the IFC Center from August 8th to 28th. The film documents and "celebrates the spirit behind one of the most influential cultural moments of a generation. In the early 1990's a loose-knit group of likeminded outsiders found common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the 'establishment' art world, this group, and the subcultures they sprang from, have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture." You'll get an earful from many of these artists, including Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine and Mike Mills.

The Gray Lady slums it out to far East Williamsburg to report on the hipster bohemian squalor of the sprawling McKibbin Street “dorms;” two hulking buildings converted from garment factories to lofts in the late nineties by a trio of savvy Stuyvesant alums. It’s since become a filthy, bed-bug ravaged rite of passage for the young DIY arts set, who pile on top of each other in warren-like lofts more crowded than one of Dan Deacon’s dance-a-thons.

      

New York Comic Con took place at the Javits Center this weekend and drew thousands of fans to meet authors, artists, actors, and characters of pop culture. It's also an opportunity for professionals in the industry to mingle and do business. This is the third year that the event has been held in New York.

A piece in The New York Times today shows that that the residents of 475 Kent are not prepared to go quietly after their recent eviction due to fire safety violations. Even the landlord of the owner of the nearly block-long building near the Navy Yard in Brooklyn wants his tenants back in and is cooperating with them to that end.

In the 2000 census, somewhere around 150,000 New Yorkers described themselves as working in the arts, design, entertainment, and sports occupations. These people, making up 4.3% of the total working population, are the nucleus of what urban theorist Richard Florida calls the "creative class". This map, showing the density of artists and designers in the five boroughs, confirms what we already intuitively know: the creative class is centered in neighborhoods with the most cultural activity....