Photo by Ben Lozovsky
An Artist and His Friends Take on Bin Laden [NYT]
Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear scores big on ‘Blue Valentine’ soundtrack [DailyNews]
The Daily Photo, December 27, 2010
Archives for December 2010
The Daily Photo + Links
Photo by Rebecca Cooney — from Blissville Installment 4
This Shrine to Steak Deserves a Little More Respect [NYT]
Bklyn’s Mr. Clean: Volunteer takes on trash-filled streets in Wlsburg [DailyNews]
Holiday How-To: Hand-Stamped Wrapping Paper
Everyone knows one of the greatest joys of the holiday season is tearing through that wrapping paper. Until you start making amazingly intricate, personalized, wrapping paper yourself, that is!
Why Hand-Stamp Your Wrapping Paper? It’s easy! Do you have a hand? Can it hold a stamp? Can it apply pressure to a flat surface, while holding said stamp? You are officially qualified for this project.
Letter to the Editor: On “Living the Green Life in Greenpoint / Williamsburg”
Letter to the Editor: On “Living the Green Life in Greenpoint / Williamsburg” (WG Nov 2010, Issue 24)
First, thank you for the very informative articles on ways that the Williamsburg / Greenpoint community can “go green.” I think it’s important, especially for those with the means, to move towards a sustainable lifestyle and to conserve as much as possible. I was surprised, however, that all of the articles in the series presented consumer-based solutions to environmental degradation, a strategy that I think is flawed and ultimately will not bring about the type of change that we both desire and desperately need.
The largest polluter in the United States is not the consumer, it’s the Pentagon. There are only 45 countries (entire countries!) that create more pollution than the United States war machine. The Pentagon is exempt from all climate change treaties, even ones that the United States is a signatory to (the Kyoto protocol, most glaringly). Beside the massive waste of transporting troops and equipment around the world to oppress local populations, the very weapons (depleted uranium shells) the Army uses causes lasting environmental damage on top of murdering civilians—cancer and birth defect rates in Fallujah, Iraq, have risen markedly since the US-led war and occupation began.
Trent’s Top Williamsburg Brooklyn Gallery Picks—December 2010
Nina Lola Bachhuber’s “Untitled/2010.” (calfskin, steer horns, wigs, polystyrene, paint, tights, leather, branches) Photo by Javier Cambre, courtesy of Momenta Art
Nina Lola Bachhuber can glean a lot of evocation out of just a couple materials. In her rectangular banners, or “flags,” currently at Momenta Art, those materials are silky acetate fabric and human hair. Though uniform in dimension and color (all works in the show are black), each flag possesses a unique personality through the use of strategic cuts and woven hair. A few resemble dresses with fur trim. Others are more animalistic, evincing horse manes and rodent tails. The creepiest pieces, however, have got to be the ones that look like the backs of human heads—pigtails, ponytails, combed coifs—all of which could be scalps removed from schoolgirls. The flags are like tribal insignia for esoteric neuroses.
At the center of the exhibition sits a sculpture that further instills the idea of primal urges. Two beasts perch on tree branches and square off as if preparing to do battle. These twin creatures are made of calfskin masks the size and shape of human heads, with shoulder-length curly hair and steer horns protruding from the mouth area. They evoke sadomasochism as well as some dark sacred ritual. Monochromatic and bleak, “Nachtschatten” raises questions of mortality, femininity, instinct, and allegiance. Like Joseph Beuys before her, Bachhuber finds sacrosanct energy in organic materials. Unlike Beuys, her work is pristine and under control.