Trigger Magazine - New York City

Clayton Patterson - The Lower East Side

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:45:24 -0500

September 10 - October 27, 2007 Kinz, Tillou + Feigen Patterson has been a ubiquitous presence of the Lower East Side of Manhattan since the early 1980's, and is widely known for his dedicated documentation of this historic and now fast changing neighborhood (i.e. vanishing neighborhood, courtesy of Mayor Bloomberg and City Planning co-conspirator Amanda Burden's campaign of development solely for the sake of developers). He has been a conscientious chronicler of this urban magnet for the disenfranchised that has long been recognized for its creative influence far beyond its humble street corners.

Chris Marker - Staring Back

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 09:33:18 -0500

September 8 - November 3, 2007 Peter Blum Gallery Staring Back is an exhibition of almost 200 photographs taken over the course of six decades by the enigmatic and influential French filmmaker. This show, organized by Bill Horrigan at the Wexner Center for the Arts, is the first exhibition of Marker’s photographs, and consists of images selected by the artist himself from his own archive, including black-and-white portraits of individuals that Marker has encountered during the course of his world travels.

Larry Clark: Los Angeles 2003 - 2006

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:59:52 -0500

September 8 - October 13, 2007 Luhring Augustine Los Angeles 2003-2006 reflects the artist's life-long interest in the subject of today's youth within a marginalized urban environment. In this particular body of work, we witness the physical transformation of Jonathan Velasquez throughout the period of his adolescent years. Jonathan, a teenager living in South Central Los Angeles whom the artist encountered by chance, inspired Clark to write and direct the film Wassup Rockers. In this obsessive four year photographic chronicle of Jonathan's life, we experience not so much the unfolding of a series of portraits but rather the weaving of the subject's personal life within the context of a particular social milieu common to so many of today's urban youth subcultures.

Jon Pylypchuk - Push a weight through the world...

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:26:16 -0500

September 7 - 29, 2007 Friedrich Petzel Gallery Push a weight through the world, and I will watch this crush you" was commissioned by Museum of Contemporary Art- Detroit (MOCAD) for its inaugural exhibition "Meditations in an Emergency," organized by Klaus Kertess. Inspired by his first visit to Detroit and the scrap materials and refuse he found there, Pylypchuk meticulously crafted a shantytown replete with vagrant creatures engaging in myriad unsavory behaviors, such as drinking beer from miniature Budweiser cans, smoking, and urinating in public. These miscreants, clothed in hand-hewn patchwork layers and fabricated from fur, wood, ping-pong balls and stuffed socks, loiter aimlessly together in their bleak melancholia.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy: Photography and Sculpture

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:19:17 -0500

September 7 - October 13, 2007 Andrea Rosen Gallery Andrea Rosen Gallery is delighted to announce our second significant exhibition of the work of László Moholy-Nagy. Five years ago the gallery unveiled a selection of Moholy's color photographs that had never been seen before, marking the beginning of our journey with Moholy's work and our relationship with the Estate of László Moholy-Nagy. That first exhibition focused on the strikingly contemporary feel of the photographs as a testament to Moholy's innovative sensibility and influence on contemporary photography.

Natalie Frank: Where She Stops

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:51:06 -0500

September 7 - October 13, 2007 Mitchell-Innes & Nash Natalie Franks paintings explore relationships of power as they function within issues of identity, sexuality, religion, and history. The personal, political, and theatrical collide in her representations of the beautiful and the grotesque. Franks paintings are peopled by figures of the in-between -- characters ill-defined by gender and sexuality, reality and fantasy, presence and absence. Her life-sized figures assume a variety of roles, both allegorical and highly personal, which recur throughout the paintings. Blurring the lines between the perverse and the everyday, Franks paintings engage the viewer as a complicit voyeur into their strange reality.

Robert Whitman: Turning

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:41:23 -0500

September 7 - 29, 2007 Pace Wildenstein In the current exhibition, Turning, Whitman explores the light, movement, and space of planetary experience. He began by gathering video footage from NASA which he has digitally manipulated and montaged to create moving imagery projected internally onto the surface of three plastic hemispheres: Earth (2006), Europa (2006), and Ganymede (2006). The works, which hang from the ceiling, measure between four and five feet in diameter. “Our generation is the first bunch of people that actually know the moon close-up. On the one hand that’s kind of wonderful and on the other it adds another area of stuff we can’t imagine…. another diving board to jump off into the unknown,” commented Whitman in the new interview.

Mail Order Monsters

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:07:06 -0500

September 6 - 29, 2007 Deitch Projects Deitch Projects presents a group exhibition curated by Kathy Grayson exploring new trends in fucked-up figuration. Every generation has its unique take on the figure and the most exciting new art seems to portray the figure as broken, decaying, fractured, and monstrous! Each artist in this exhibition exemplifies this pervasive tendency in a unique way: Francine Spiegel’s soupy, sloppy women protrude from and are engulfed by pop slime piles. Rapper’s girlfriends, socialites, and pin-up girls are all thrown into the stew of mylar, goo, glitter, and chewing gum. Their glammy/gory juxtaposition, coupled with the analog and digital moments of her distortions, presents an interesting visual conundrum of seduction and repulsion to these primordial females.

Damn Vandals

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:14:14 -0500

New York Magazine just published a rather lengthy article about the person who has come to be known as the "splasher." Seems he gets off on trashing street art around the city and posting glass-infused manifestos. Now the street artists are upset because their vandalism is getting vandalized. SVA grief counselors must be working overtime.

RAPTURE CAFE - Coffee Is The New Vodka

Tue, 08 May 2007 15:45:03 -0500

by Mikal Saint George “[I might move to] LA because it's hard to commodify LA. As I say, How do you destroy a strip mall? How can you tell? It is not as easy to brand it the way the East Village is being eaten up.” Penny Arcade - Trigger Magazine Manhattan Island has always been a piece of prime real estate in flux. An ideal harbor sight, the Dutch pounced upon it with Trump-like zeal a few hundred years ago. When England decided it should really be a part of their Empire, war was waged. Then the early New Yorkers spoke. Essentially saying, “We don’t care who the landlord is, just don’t interfere with our business of making money and starting more businesses.” The Dutch gave up, the English renamed a few streets and it was business as usual. The same battle still rages today. Where once the battle cry was, “Don’t interfere with our economics,” the cry now is, “Don’t strip our identity in the name of economics.” We all like being able to pay our bills and live comfortably. But to replace every artist, free thinker and eccentric with a franchise and a bevy of girls in flip-flops, Fendi sunglasses and sequined cell phones is a mistake. The very essence that is drawing new economic possibility and viability is being drowned out. I would hope that in 400 years we have found a way to preserve the vitality that makes this city remain interesting while still making enough money to pay rent and buy food. Living in nearby Stuyvesant Town I am well aware of the infiltration of Walgreens – we now have nine in our “neighborhood” with more to come. No doubt, time marches on economies change but how many pain relievers and curling irons do we really need?

Ten With Neal Carlson of Mink

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:08:53 -0500

Fresh off their stint at SXSW, Neal Carlson and his band Mink are playing The Saint tonight in Asbury Park. You may recognize Neal from his former band Bona Roba, or from the reality show Rock Star: INXS or from his really tight pants. Trigger talks to the Mink front man about his new band, their forthcoming record, and their new single “Talk To Me”.

Art Vendors Vs. Police

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:01:26 -0500

No...it isn't the tourists and SUV-sized baby strollers crowding SoHo...it's the people selling art! Art vendors say police get picture all wrong - The Villager

Graffiti Bars

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:52:34 -0500

Finally, some non-offensive chocolate usage! "Urban sensibilities and New York City flavor are the key ingredients to the early success of Alison Nelson’s Chocolate Bar, a purveyor of premium chocolates and gourmet sweets located in the West Village. Since starting her business in 2002, Nelson has brought a fresh approach to the stuffy world of premium chocolates by combining confectionary delights with uniquely urban sights – a reflection of her irreverent nature and her love of the arts and New York City. Her latest creation, Graffiti Bars, promises “Great Chocolate, Pure Street” and includes ten new flavors adorned in wrappers designed by a group of legendary New York City graffiti artists such as Lady Pink, Crash, Spar One, and Blade. Nelson will donate a significant portion of proceeds to a non-profit group selected by the artists – the All Stars Project, a performing arts organization for underprivileged youth that operates in Harlem, Coney Island, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx." Graffiti Chocolate Bars - Format Magazine

Astroland May Get One More Ride

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:43:13 -0500

"It's not quite game over for Coney Island's fabled Astroland Park. Developer Joe Sitt, who bought the 3.1-acre summer amusement park to incorporate into his planned, glitzy, Vegas-style complex, told The Post he's "willing to keep Astroland open" - or some form of it - for at least the 2008 summer season if his project is delayed. "The last thing I want is for Coney Island to go dark," said Sitt. On Sunday, Astroland opened for what was expected to be its final season, with Sept. 8 as its scheduled last day. The developer and City Hall remain at odds over whether Sitt's firm, Thor Equities, should get the green light to include luxury condos in its proposed $2 billion, 10-acre, year-round entertainment project. Without the condos, the developer says the project doesn't make fiscal sense. The Astroland sale has no effect on the park's most popular ride - the landmarke Cyclone roller coaster." Astroland May Get One More Ride - New York Post

LES: It's hard out here for a pimp.

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:21:51 -0500

If you can keep from being distracted by the collapsing buildings on the Lower East Side, you'll notice that both Tonic and Sin-E are closing this month. Thank god, we were just wondering when someone would be kind enough to open up seven more Duane Reads on one block.