we-are-familia

Congratulations to keepsake box contributor Rashaad Newsome, Brooklyn resident from New Orleans, for being among 55 artists selected for the 2010 Whitney Biennial. The museum announced it list of participating artists on December 11 2009, which were selected by curator Francesco Bonami and associate curator Gary Carrion-Murayari. This is the 75th in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded. Curators Bonami and Carrion-Murayari noted, “The Whitney Biennial continues to reflect the way in which art is shaped by the particular historical moment in which it was created. The artists selected for this year’s exhibition reflect diverse responses to the anxiety and optimism of the past two years. 2010 does not privilege any one medium or aesthetic style, but rather assembles a wide range of individual gestures, personal histories, and improvised encounters that speak to a sense of openness and community.” The Biennial is the Whitney’s panoramic signature survey of the latest in American art. It includes a blend of well established artists together with a predominance of emerging artists from all over the country. Their works range from film and video to photography, painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, performance, and architecture. Performances and events will take place at the Museum throughout the course of the show from February 25 through May 30 2010.

Stills from Rashaad Newsome: Shade Compositions, 2009

How communicative does graphic design have to be? Is there a way of consuming and appreciating a graphic design without having to measure its value in terms of legibility or ability to convey messages — its ability to communicate? And is communication always about being understood? On 10.27 at Icograda, Nille Svensson (co-founder of Sweden Graphics) intends to argue for the right of the graphic designer to be secretive, incomprehensible and useless. From 10.24 to 11.06 Nille also exhibits at NOTCH09 where he presents “Fake China”, an exploration of plagiarism, fake products and cultural evolution.

Our collective is proud to present new drawings and prints by French illustrator Seb Jarnot as well as keepsake boxes nos. 6 ,7 and 8 of 25, each including approximately thirty-seven diverse works of art from over 50 of our art clan members including Chris Yormick, Geneviève Gauckler, Hisham Bharoocha, Holly Stevenson, Marc Mcandrews, Mike Skinner, Oliver Vernon, Olivier Babinet, Rashaad Newsome, Rockers NYC, Sweden Graphics, Thundercut and more!

Featured contributor Seb Jarnot’s drawings have often been described as bizarre. His images are surreal and symbolic in nature, appearing to be from some lost civilization. Working mostly from photographs, Jarnot welcomes free gesture, fluidity and accidents. His 10 year long resume is prolific, having worked for such companies as Nike, Mercedes, Le Monde and the French electronica label F communications where he designed and illustrated packaging for bands Laurent Garnier and St Germain. He has exhibited at Palais de Tokyo, Paris and three books have been published about his work to date including 3×7=15 (Die Gestalten Verlag), which will be available for sale at Reed.

The keepsake boxes on display (design collaborations by project spearhead Jennifer Garcia and architects Fabian Bedolla, Leah Ellis and Randy Lott) are an elegant ad-hoc assembly of found objects. Both beautiful and strange, nostalgic and contemporary, the keepsake boxes offer unexpected juxtapositions. Encompassing both nostalgic warmth and contemporary forms of expression, the entire show offers a new and exotic understanding of ordinary things.

We-Are-Familia Presents Seb Jarnot
Thursday, September 24 2009 7-10pm
Reed Space
151 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002
Tel: 212.253.0588

Space is limited.
Please RSVP jarnot@stapledesign.com

Addressing the spatial tropes of domesticity and familial dynamics, WE-ARE-FAMILIA will transform Open Space into a “living room” of seamlessly integrated furniture, art and design including new works by Holly Stevenson, Yoh Nagao, Peter Kienzle for Superette, Jesse Brown, Marc McAndrews, Hisham Bharoocha, Amy Rupple, Chris Yormick, Nightwood and SEEE. WE-ARE-FAMILIA will also debut its Keepsake Box No. 5 of 25, entitled “Video Box” (designed by Fabian Bedolla and Jennifer Garcia), an elegant assembly of found objects and discarded furniture fragments retrofitted with a video touch screen to showcase films by Parisian director Olivier Babinet and Brooklyn, New York’s video artist Rashaad Newsome.

Opening night guests are invited to enjoy family style BBQ in the gallery’s front yard, refreshments by Beacon’s local micro-brewery, Keegan Ales and street projections after dark.

Visitors from New York City can reserve a $45 all-inclusive day pass for 2-way transportation via school bus, a DIA Beacon tour and free BBQ. For more information and to reserve a pass e-mail rsvp@we-are-familia.com

Salon WE-ARE-FAMILIA runs July 11 to September 6
Opening July 11 6PM to 9PM
Open Space Gallery 510 Main Street, Beacon, 12508
TEL: 845-765-0731
E: openspacebeacon@thundercut.com

The most recent SATURDAY @ PHILLIPS Sale in New York offered a comprehensive and curated selection of urban art from the past 25 years alongside examples of contemporary art, design, photographs and toy art. The sale included works by Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, Terry Richardson, Kaws and Shepard Fairey. It also introduced works by contemporary artists representing a parallel youth movement to urban art in America which formed in the late 1990s in Providence, Philadelphia and New York. Having been a part of this movement, We-Are-Familia contributor Hisham Akira Bharoocha was among the artists included and had four lots for sale, consisting of two collages and six photographs.

Other Artists in the April 25th sale included Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Brian Chippendale, Bjorn Copeland, Brian Degraw, A.J. Fosik, Jim Houser, Matt Leines, Taylor Mckimens, Tracy Nakayama, and Andrew Jeffrey Wright. Hisham and these artists frequently worked together in collaboration as part of art collectives and musical groups; overlapping disciplines that weave together various elements from punk rock to psychedelia; folk and tribal arts, electronic arts, comics and collage.

Bharoocha is currently based in Brooklyn, N.Y. and concentrates on creating music, visual art and photography. His newest works deal with melting together the medley of images and vibrations that happen moment by moment in the mind during meditation, dreaming, day dreaming and during acts of daily living. Recent exhibitions of Bharoocha’s work have been at D’Amelio Terras gallery in New York, Vleeshal, a state run space in The Netherlands, Deitch Projects, John Connelly Presents and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. His work has been published in Art Forum, V Magazine, i-D, Flaunt, Tokion and Blend.