April 2006 Archives

The Dystopia of Decadence
Camille Rose Garcia's Subterranean Death Clash
By Lauren Cerand

Upon entering the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, the first thing one encounters in Camille Rose Garcia's Subterranean Death Clash exhibition is a glamorous but forlorn squid, who, despite being liberally made up with black glitter (or perhaps because of it), is being picked apart (or about to be) by a half-dozen shimmering crows. Similarly open-ended questions and a cogent sense of ever-present unease permeate the rest of the mixed media compositions and works on paper that make up a very coherent show.

Hydrocephalic bombshells frolic and swans with elongated, unnaturally curved necks abound in landscapes of lacquered pastiche, mixing shades of the classical underworld with the organic forms of art nouveau. In piece after piece as the viewer moves through the space, darkness-hearkening phrases like The empire digs a deeper hole and This heart's on fire mingle with teardrops and oily, viscous fluids in a swirl of celebratory despair and nearly mythological fury.

Kaki King and Kelli Rudick
The Cutting Room, April 24, 2006
By Ross Whitsett

Returning to a small club after building a well known career can always be fun, and when musicians decide to just let go and play with friends it can be quite an intimate experience, for the audience and artist alike. Kaki King, a virtuoso jazz guitarist, was once a struggling artist playing regular gigs in the Tap Room at the Knitting Factory and putting on shows for her friends at Rififi with Danger Mouse cartoons in the background. She has toured extensively for the past three years, opening for artists like Marianne Faithful and David Byrne, and is about to release her third album. Not bad for the former ticket seller at the front door of Mercury Lounge. Of course one of the perks of finding success is that you can always come back and find new ways to expand your art and bring others along with you.

Quality of Life, a new independent film by director Benjamin Morgan, takes its title from the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani who used the term to equate graffiti with murder as crimes on a "continuum of disorder."

Set in San Francisco the film follows two graffiti writers, Mikey (Lane Garrison) and Curtis (Brian Burnam) house painters by day, they spend their nights bombing their way through the neighborhood until they get arrested. The event is a turning point both in their friendship and their approach to their art. The two friends drift apart as they each redefine what their future will look like. Mikey entertains the idea of applying his skills to a career as a graphic artist while Curtis continues writing and indulges in a nasty drug habit that leads him to an inevitable end.

Director Benjamin Morgan, who co-wrote the film with lead star Brian Burnam, has been on both sides of the fence himself. A former at-risk kid, Morgan has spent over a decade as a government social worker. Together the two deliver a powerful, authentic, and thought provoking film which can be seen here in New York for a limited run at the Pioneer Theater where it has been selling out.

Beth Orton
Webster Hall, April 11, 2006
By Ross Whitsett

On Comfort of Strangers, Beth Orton has reached a new stage to her career after forging a cult following with her folk songs that contained an electronic edge at times. Comfort is her fourth album and easily her most publicized, with a music video for cable television, constant play on public FM radio, and a 20-gig tour of the U.S.

The whole tour wrapped up on Tuesday April 11 at New York's Webster Hall, a venue that is one of the more difficult clubs to tolerate in the East Village as a fan of Indie music since it caters usually to a dance club crowd. Even the disrespectful bouncers, and the $10 drinks could not spoil the night viewing on the sweetest, most heart-warming artist around these days.