Calma, Ave Maria - diptych

Stephan Doitschinoff (aka Calma)
Novo Mundo
Solo Exhibition

November 22nd—December 20th, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 22nd, 7pm—9pm

NEW YORK, NY (November 3, 2008) — Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to present Novo Mundo, a solo exhibition featuring new works by Stephan Doitschinoff, also known as Calma. Calma creates a unique visual language and style by embracing his eclectic influences. Themes in his work are inspired by an informed spiritual history and heritage, filtered through a distinctly urban point of view. The resulting imagery is rich in religious symbolism and often accompanied by Latin text as well as pichação (a style of graffiti writing, native to São Paolo). Having created a series of original paintings accompanied by site-specific installation pieces, Novo Mundo (Portuguese for: New World) marks Calma’s first solo show in New York. Inspired by religious street festivals popular in Brazil, such as São João and Nosso Senhor dos Passos, the installations were constructed using a variety of materials such as paper flags, silk fabric and hand painted kites, creating an altar and emulating traditional processional decorations.

As written by Carlo McCormick: “Subject to the effects of Christian fundamentalism and strict education in the wake of a two-decade-long military dictatorship in his native Brazil, Calma is responsive to (it’s) violence, institutional corruption and poverty. With his personal study of religious art and affinity for spiritualist practices—a synthesis of European Catholicism with African vernacular (Macumba in particular)—he can migrate with fluidity from street to chapel, producing fine art conjoined with both Western painting and indigenous folkloric craft traditions. Iconoclastic and outside institutional teachings of the church or esoteric theological systems, Doitschinoff is not concerned with conveying precepts of faith so much as investigating the psychic and historical topography of what it means to believe. He understands ‘god’ as a socio-cultural condition.”

The artist says, “I personally see the church as an archaic institution that always aimed to control the masses. I think it is an appropriate symbol for corrupt modern institutions like big corporations, media channels, and governments.” From 2005 to 2008, Stephan traveled throughout the Brazilian countryside of Bahia, painting murals on adobe houses, chapels and even a cemetery. In the small village of Lençóis, he collaborated with local artisans, and expanded his research into the rich history of Brazilian folklore and syncretism between Christian theology and African spiritual traditions. Visuals from the trip are documented in his 2008 book, Calma: The Art of Stephan Doitschinoff, and are also the subject of a short documentary film, called: Temporal. The book and film will both debut during Novo Mundo.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Stephan Doitschinoff (aka Calma) is a self-taught artist based in Bahia and São Paulo, Brazil. As the son of an Evangelical minister, Stephan spent his entire childhood absorbing the visual vocabulary of religious art. As an artist, he has developed his own unique language and style through imagery which creatively combines Afro-Brazilian folklore with Baroque religious iconography, as well as Alchemic and Pagan symbolism. Stephan’s street alias, Calma (Portuguese for: Calm) is also a shortened version of con alma (Latin for: with soul). He has exhibited in museums and galleries in the US, Brazil, and Europe.

Check out more Calma work here.

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Peter Sutherland @ ATM

One of our favorite photographers, Peter Sutherland, is showing his latest works at ATM gallery starting this friday. The show runs through January 10th, so get yourself down there if you’re in NYC.

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Behance AMO Party Invite.

Definitely worth a checkout if you’re in NYC.

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Here’s a note from our friend Eric Cruz who is the creative director over at w+k in Tokyo:

Dear Friends,
We will be having an exhibition at GGG gallery in Ginza on DEC 2 –24.  We hope to see some of you at our opening on DEC 2.  Thnx.
+cruz

_
W+K Tokyo (ワイデンアンドケネディトウキョウ)は、「ふつうの広告代理店」にならないことを目指してきました。その10年間の格闘、様々な個性と才能のフュージョンの結果獲得した視点が、”OYKOT”。どんな人間たちがどんなふうにモノをつくっているのか、これからもつくっていくのか、そのグルーヴの片鱗を感じてほしいと思います。

OYKOT is what happens when art, advertising and business collide. Ten years of embracing the fusion of culture and commerce at W+K Tokyo has allowed the OYKOT perspective to emerge.  We invite you take a look at the people, the process, and the groove that go into making the work. How we see Tokyo. How we see the world.

■タイトル/ Title
OYKOT : WIEDEN+KENNEDY TOKYO：10 YEARS OF FUSION

■ 会 期/ Dates　　 　
2008. 12. 2. （Tue）− 12. 24. (Wed)
日曜・祝祭日休館
Sunday / Holiday Closed

11：00a.m.−7：00p.m.（土曜日は6：00p.m.まで/ Saturday until 6pm）　 　　　
入場無料 / Entrance Free

OPENING PARTY : 2008.12. 2. (Tue)　5:30p.m. ー7:00p.m.　@ ggg
その後7:00pm よりApple Store Ginzaにてイベント開催予定。
Event at Apple Store Ginza 7pm~.

■ 会 場　　 　
ギンザ・グラフィック・ギャラリー（ggg）
〒104-0061　中央区銀座7−7−2　DNP銀座ビル　　　　　
Tel.03.3571.5206

Ginza Graphic Gallery
DNP Ginza Building 1st floor 7-2,
Ginza 7-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:03-3571-5206/FAX:03-3289-1389

会期中は、gggにて日替わりのイベントも開催予定です。
スケジュールや内容の詳細は、インターネットをご覧ください！

There will be daily events at ggg.
Please go to the website for more information!!!

http://www.dnp.co.jp/foundation
http://www.wktokyo.jp/blog/
http://www.oykot.jp

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Invisiblenyc.com

Curated by Logan Hicks
Eye to Eye
November 20 – December 20, 2008
Opening Reception: November 20, 2008, 7:00pm

ARTISTS:
C215 (France)
EPHAMERON (Belgium)
JOAD (Greece)

CURATED BY LOGAN HICKS:
LOGAN HICKS: Logan Hicks is a New York-based stencil artist. Originally a screen printer, Logan’s work gained notoriety due to his ability to capture the sometimes mundane cycle of city life in refined way with his hand sprayed stencils.

ARTISTS:

C215: Stemming from his thesis in art history and research in German and Anglo-Saxon Civilizations, Classic Painters haunt his imagination and art. Within the past two years C215 has published two conceptual, illustrated poetry books and participated in fifteen group shows. Recently he has increasingly used and mastered stencil applications in his own art. C215 is one of the most active French stencil artists in the streets and his World Tour keeps going though 2009…

EPHAMERON: Belgium [sic] artist, Ephameron, combines lyrical imagery and text. Through her art she recreates everyday feelings and thoughts, capturing precious moments in life. Recurring themes like hands, birds and female figures live in her pastel colored backgrounds and huge black tape drawings. She is currently a freelance artist working for national and international magazines. Her award-winning website http://www.ephameron.com has been an ongoing art project since 2000, her second book Found+Lost will be published in January 2009 by Bries in Antwerp.

JOAD: Born and raised in Athens, Greece, she is currently studying in Amsterdam for her postgraduate degree in Urban Studies. JOAD has developed her skills on various media from a young age and recently focused specifically on spray paint and street art. Her unique style concentrates on the female form and typically female aesthetics. Her female figures create intimate stories between themselves and the viewer, revealing their disarming vulnerability, as if they are whispering a secret: their present, their past, their scars, dreams, and hopes.

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Nininja, the invite

Nininja, the invite

Every couple of months or so, our buddy DJ Monchan sends us an email about these amazing (stealth) parties he holds way the f(ish) out in Brooklyn, he calls Nininja. If you’re free on the 15th and you want to check out something pretty damn cool and different, go check this out. Ask for Monchan at the door. Last time we went, he had a sound artist rocking out to weird break-beats while manipulating a projection done with film slides. You’ll have to check one out to see what I mean.

Here’s the info:

Hello, My friends,
I’ll have Nininja party on this saturday.

Finally, we start to step forward,
Let’s celebrate this changing!

Peace to everyone!

Dj monchan

11/15/11pm~
17 Cedar st, brooklyn, ny 11221
M to central
J to myrtle

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Danish filmmaker Martin de Thurah’s music video for Carpark North Human won the audience award 2005 at RESFEST and went on to win a Grammy at the Danish Music Awards in 2006 and a Grand Prix in the Festival International des art du clip/ province 2006. That same year Martin won Best New Director at the CADS in London and was selected for the Res 10. As part of this month’s program Martin will present the U.S. Premiere of his short Young Man Falling.

Spanish director Nacho Vigalonda, was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 for his award-winning short film 7:35 in the Morning. His first feature film Time Crimes hits theaters December 12th. Vigalonda will share some of his rare short films with us.

DJ Bunny Ears is the alter-ego of man of multi-talents Eric David Johnson. He works as a music supervisor, filmmaker, writer, musician, artist, photographer and producer. With his former band, Pulseprogramming, Eric performed internationally at venues including San Franciscos MOMA, Chicagos MCA and Barcelonas electronic music festival, Sonar. His new music company Living Breathing isbased in Santa Monica and London.

Flux Screening Series
Thursday November 20th
7PM - Box Office opens and Pre-screening Reception. Hammer Cafe and Bar will be open.

8PM - Screening and Filmmaker Presentations

9:30PM-11PM - After-party with guest DJ DJ Bunny Ears (Living Breathing). Hammer Cafe and Bar will be open.

Free Admission, RSVP Suggested (flux.net/rsvp)

Hammer Museum
Billy Wilder Theater
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024

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Photo by Uniqlo

Free Uniqlo Heat Tech Innerwear Distributed by Giant Human Vending Machine
Military Island, Times Square (Broadway and Seventh Avenue, between 43rd and 44th Streets)
Tuesday, November 18, 1 PM

“Basically we’re going to have two mimes. A male and a female mime inside the machine. And the public can see them through glass. When you get there, we’re going to have Uniqlo reps dressed in the silver bodysuits. And they’re going to hold a thermograph scanner — think of an airport security machine. The thermographer identifies cold spots in your body. After you go through that, you go to the vending machine and push a button and the mimes are going to do a synchronized choreographed routine and then your outfit comes out.”

These guys have either lost it completely, or are star-raving geniuses. Only time will tell. I for one will not be braving the zoo that is Times Square in the next few weeks. Apparently a few thousand pieces will be given away. Say, while you’re at it Uniqlo, how about giving a few hundred pieces to some of the homeless shelters in NYC that will definitely need the clothes more than the animals in Times Square? It’s getting chilly out there!

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Arthur Wesley Dow

An interesting Spring will be upon us shortly with MoMA working on a huge Asian Art exhibition, and the Guggenheim announcing that this is happening in January:

The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860 to 1989 illuminates the dynamic and profound impact of Asian art and philosophical concepts on American artistic practices of the late 19th century (1860–1900), early modern (ca. 1900–1945), and postwar avant-garde (1945–89) periods. To premiere at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in late January 2009 as part of the museum’s 50th-anniversary celebrations of the Frank Lloyd Wright landmark building, the exhibition will trace how the material culture, artistic legacies, and philosophical systems of Asia—collectively admired as “the East”—were known, reconstructed, and transformed by American art and cultural forces. The exhibition will feature approximately 260 works by 114 American and Asian-American artists, drawn from major public and private collections in the United States and Europe. The Third Mind will provide an unprecedented opportunity for audiences to experience how Eastern art forms and philosophies had a far more important and sustained influence on American modern and contemporary art than is generally recognized or understood. Organized by Alexandra Munroe, Senior Curator of Asian Art.

Mark your calendars folks!

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DJ Towa Tei, Biomega Bamboo Bike, Final Home

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO opens its doors today for its 4th annual exhibition of great design. The show features designers across a variety of fields from interior and product design, architecture, graphic design, textiles, fashion and art. This year’s festivities include great shows from Tokyo-based Danish bicycle designers Biomega, the new collection from conceptual/utilitarian clothing favorite Kousuke Tsumura of Final Home, to Design Touch an exhibition focused on innovative Japanese product design with a special DJ set by Towa Tei (check out Theme Issue 1 Vanguards for a great interview with the Dee-lite member). The shows are divided into three main categories, TIDE Exhibition which showcases new ideas and innovations, TIDE Market where products can be bought and sold, and TIDE Extension which encompasses the various satellite exhibitions staged in Tokyo during the festival.

DesignTide Tokyo runs through Monday, November 3rd.

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