Posted on

Neil Grayson, Fundraiser

February 1-28 2003

Erotic drawings by Neil Grayson Proceeds to Benefit Dactyl Foundation Reception/Fundraising Benefit.

In these pieces, the artist’s gaze is so intensely focused on the nude that the images are abstracted to the point of becoming mysteriously potent icons of the erotic or bold graphic symbols of porn. Abstract art in this sense is representational, but it is so free of context that what it represents is not immediately obvious. The viewer is placed so close to the female buttocks that initially it is difficult to recognize. The first glance sees only the medium on the paper, the dark lines forming a cross and touches of color. In this way, these extraordinary drawings connect Eros with western culture’s most powerful symbol.
Each drawing is unique. Some are done on thick and irregular sheets of hand-made rag paper, some on Arches cotton paper, and others on canvas.The drawing is done in strong charcoal strokes that define the shape of the buttocks and the gap between the legs as the center of focus. Grayson conveys full body posture with just a few simple lines. In a few, the unseen rest of the figure would seem to be standing up straight; in others relaxed, hand on hip. Metal leaf overlays the drawing, delicately defining the smooth texture and luminosity of the skin. In several of these works, suggestions of viewfinders or sight scopes—-done in raw umber, ochre, or black oil paint-—float on a plane some distance from the image, nearer to the viewer. In all, the experience of these drawings is a viewer’s, how one sees-—intensely, obsessively—-rather than what one sees.
–Victoria N. Alexander, Curator

Posted on

“Rockets Redglare!”

October 2 2002

6:30pm

Screening of “Rockets Redglare!” a documentary by Luis Fernandez de la Reguera, discussion with filmmaker to follow.

“Rockets Redglare!” features interviews with Matt Dillon, Willem Defoe, Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Julian Schnabel and Nick Zedd.

NYC 1949. Rockets Redglare was born Michael Morra and addicted to heroin. An opiate added to his formula to ease the pain of heroin withdrawal began the first of countless detoxes during his lifetime. After his father, a career criminal, was deported to Italy and his mother was murdered, Michael became Rockets Redglare. Continue reading ““Rockets Redglare!””

Posted on

Short Video Show

September 28 2002

7:30-9:00pm

The Short Video Show features  “Business and Pleasure” by Maria Antelman and George Drivas “Insomnium” by Craig MacNeil “Stillspeed” by Georg Steinboeck “EX” by Andreas Troeger and Dactyl Foundation award recipient, “‘Intersocial Volition’ (Theirs and Ours)” by Tina Landis.

Posted on

Transportation

June 25 2002

7pm

Screening: Transportation, an episode of Rizoma by Professor Fernando Salis of The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil An integrated television program and internet site for debate and communitarian action onenvironmental issues

Posted on

Point & Shoot

June 1-29 2002

A collection of T-4 photography by pro-skaters, Alex Corporan, Elska Sandor, Giovanni Estevez, A-Ron the Don, Suekwon, Shadi Perez, Giovanni Reda, Mike O’Meally, Keith & Anne Hufnagel, Todd Jordan, Aaron Meza, Athena Razo, Leo Fitzpatrick, Ryan McGinley, Angela Boatright, J2, Dave Ortiz, and Carla Ullman.

Reception: Saturday June 1, 2002, 7-10pm;

[nggallery id=24]

Posted on

Antioch Review

May 21 2002

Antioch Review readings with James Purdy and Jeffery Renard Allen.

The New York Times METRO review by Susan Guerrero, published Monday, June 3, 2002, read as follows:

Jeffery Renard Allen, an author, was reading one of his short stories aloud at a benefit for the Antioch Review at the Dactyl Foundation on Grand Street in SOHO when the dreaded happened – a cellphone rang and rang.

The cellphone have-nots in the audience looked around, their stares wildly disapproving. The haves looked guilty as they scrambled for purses and dived into their backpacks. To no avail. The phone kept ringing. Mr. Allen gamely kept reading. Everyone looked at everyone else. It was hard to concentrate on the story, steamy as it was. A couple of people double checked.

Suddenly Mr. Allen stopped in midsentence, having finally identified the culprit cellphone. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s mine.”

Posted on

Telling it Slant: Avant Garde Poetics of the 1990s

May 17 2002

Telling it Slant: Avant Garde Poetics of the 1990s, ed. Mark Wallace and Steven Marks. 26 essays on contemporary avant garde poetries. Book release & panel discussion with Charles Borkhuis,Lee Ann Brown, Jeff Derksen, Jeff Hansen, Bill Howe, Andrew Levy, Eileen Myles, Leonard Schwartz, Juliana Spahr, Brian Kim Stefans, Gary Sullivan, & Elizabeth Willis

Posted on

Journey to the West: Chinese Medicine Today

May 9 2002

Directed by: Katy Chevigny
Produced by: Katy Chevigny and Julia Pimsleur
Co-Produced by: Dallas Brennan
Camera by: Kirsten Johnson
Music by: Jason Kao Hwang
Edited by: Li-Shin Yu

Journey to the West examines the roots of traditional Chinese medicine, its incarnation in modern-day China, and its adaptation in the United States. Rare footage of traditional medical practices in the People’s Republic of China is intercut with interviews of some of the leading Chinese medical practitioners here in the United States.

Conceived and shot over a period of three years, Journey to the West is an insightful investigation of the connection between art, culture and medicine. The film introduces a few of the diverse people who are devoted to this medical practice, including Dr. Ho, a self-taught herbalist living in the foothills of the Himalayas; Wu Zhongxian, a martial arts master who performs a wide range of indigenous Chinese healing methods; and students attending a modern-day Chinese medical school in Shanghai. Back in the U.S., teachers, students and practitioners of Chinese medicine working in California and New York showcase their work in contemporary Chinese medicine. Journey to the West offers a unique perspective on a growing cross-cultural phenomenon.

Posted on

Budoflux

March 26, 2002

Kill With A Borrowed Knife: A Lecture-Performance of BudoFlux
Presented in association with PJ Novelli and the Tuesday Night Forum Series.

Kill with a Borrowed Knife is an ancient martial arts stratagem. It means making use of an opponent’s resources for one’s own gain: for example, using U.S. passenger planes to attack the United States. Budoflux uses this and other stratagems to introduce the integrated performance language of martial arts/dance presenting brief, theatrical actions based on the nature of conflict.

Posted on

Diane Torr

Feb 5 2002

Diane Torr in Discussion. Drag King Ambassador to the World.

Diane Torr will present her work as a performance/installation artist whose investigations into sexuality and identity over the past 20+ years have produced pioneering performances, which have toured throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Eurasia. Working as a go-go dancer in the working men’s clubs and bars of New Jersey from 1978-81 gave Diane the opportunity to explore “contemporary notions of the erotic” and the representation of women’s sexuality. This experience instigated a series of performances and films that reinvent the erotic. Taking on a male persona in one of these performances, AROUSING RECONSTRUCTIONS (1982), at St.Marks Church, New York, was the beginning of an ongoing exploration into gender and identity. She is presently working on a series of monologues written by the French surrealist artist, Claude Cahun, some of which she performed at the Maison Francaise and Dixon Place.

Diane is a graduate of Dartington College of Arts, England and a fellow of the Whitney Museum Independent Studies Program, and is matriculated in the MFA program at Bard College. Her movement/bodywork background includes the study of Release Technique, Contact Improvisation, Aikido and Shiatsu. She holds a third degree black belt in Aikido from New York Aikikai. Her work has been the subject of profiles in G.Q., The Washington Post, High Performance,Village Voice, The Manchester Guardian, German Vogue., etc. and is documented by BBC2 in its Q.E.D. series. Diane is a recipient of grants from NYSCA, Jerome Foundation, Joyce Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Art Matters, Artist Space, Yorkshire and Humberside Arts, RE.AL Lisbon Research Residency.

Posted on

History, Memory, Trauma, lecture by Dominick LaCapra

September 28, 2001

“History, Memory, Trauma,” a public lecture by Dominick LaCapra, recipient of the Dactyl award for aesthetic theory.

Ever since Theodor Adorno argued that “writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric,” all kinds of artists, not just poets, have been debating whether or not one can depict life optimistically. The Holocaust certainly questions how one can believe that every event ultimately serves some divine Continue reading “History, Memory, Trauma, lecture by Dominick LaCapra”