Helena Christensen at Stella McCartney’s for the Chernobyl Children’s Project International, curated by Neil Grayson

September 10, 2010
Stella McCartney’s New York store will host a special exhibition by Helena Christensen for Fashion’s Night Out on September 10. Photography purchased at the event will benefit Chernobyl Children’s Project International. The exhibition is curated by Neil Grayson of The Dactyl Foundation and the photography will be available for purchase through the end of September. Christensen has been a long time supporter of Chernobyl Children’s Project International, the charity that helps children and communities who are affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Continue reading “Helena Christensen at Stella McCartney’s for the Chernobyl Children’s Project International, curated by Neil Grayson”

Jens Stoltze, 90 Days in Rio, Photography Exhibition

May 13-24, 2010
Opening Reception Thursday May 13th, 7-9PM


Jens Stoltze is a professional photographer with a career spanning almost 20 years. Once graduated from the Royal Danish Art School, he found quickly success as a freelance photographer and then in 2005, he founded S Magazine, an international fashion and photography biannual, for which he is now editor-in-chief. He has exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions both in Denmark and the United States.

Stoltze has visited Rio de Janeiro many times, during the course of which he realized at some point that “there is more going on under the surface of the city than above it.” During his visits, Stoltze became interested in the outer neighborhoods. By pursuing one circumstance after another, he was able to document the secret lives of the people of Rocinha, the sex and drugs, the love and war. Circumstance plays a major part in Stoltze’s photography. The Continue reading “Jens Stoltze, 90 Days in Rio, Photography Exhibition”

Drew Doggett: Slow Road to China Exhibition and Book Launch Event

Opening: Saturday, April 17th 6:30-9:00PM

Hosted by Helena Christensen &  Neil Grayson.

On View April 17 –  May 6, Tues – Sat 12-6pm.

Slow Road to China is an extraordinary, moving and powerful series of  images documenting the people of remote mountain communities in the  Humla region of Northwest Nepal.

Continue reading “Drew Doggett: Slow Road to China Exhibition and Book Launch Event”

Judy Glantzman 30-Year Retrospective

The Imperfectionist: Helena Christensen, NY Times

The Imperfectionist

December 14, 2008

By Karin Nelson

HELENA CHRISTENSEN, the Danish supermodel turned fashion and art photographer, is probably the only person complaining that the iPhone takes quality photos. ”I’ll shake it as much as I can,” she said, a note of disdain in her voice. ”But it still comes out perfect.” Her photography, which has appeared in French and Italian Vogue and will go on view Monday at the Dactyl Foundation, is decidedly less perfect. ”It’s the blurriness and imperfection that I love,” she explained. ”And that strange feeling that the light can create.” Continue reading “The Imperfectionist: Helena Christensen, NY Times”

Angelbert Metoyer, ASK drawings and paintings

October 3rd – 25th, 2008

curated by Hikari Yokoyama

opening: October 3rd, 6:00 – 9:00

Internationally recognized for his palimpsest style, throughout his career Angelbert Metoyer has employed an esoteric system of symbols and icons to bemuse viewers and present himself as a shamanistic seer. Lately, he has gone deeper into abstraction, aligning his work with contemporary science’s ultimate abstractions: quantum mechanics and field theory. Continue reading “Angelbert Metoyer, ASK drawings and paintings”

Sage Vaughn, FTW paintings

May 12 – June 10, 2007
“FTW,” paintings
Curated by Neil Grayson
Opening: Saturday, May 12, 7 – 9PM

“FTW”  For the Wild, wildlife and wildlives

Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities is located at 64 Grand Street (between Wooster and West Broadway) in SoHo, NYC. Hours: Tuesday – Friday 10:00 – 6:00 PM; Saturday 1:00 – 6:00 PM. Office: 212 696-7800 / Gallery: 646 329-5398 (during exhibitions times only). Subway: A, C, E, at Canal Street, or 1 at Canal Street. Open to the public. Admission free.

Reviews: “The Art of Sage Vaughn: An Overreaction to Beauty,” Malibu Magazine May 2007

Continue reading “Sage Vaughn, FTW paintings”

Deborah Sessel, paintings and drawings

April 19 – May 6, 2007
paintings & drawings
Curated by Victoria N. Alexander
Opening: Thursday, April 19, 7 – 9PM

Deborah N. Sessel is a representational painter, depicting, in painstaking detail, humble personal items left behind by Jews who suffered the Holocaust. Working in oil, she renders with care the silken folds of a delicate scarf, a silver Star of David on a chain, and Continue reading “Deborah Sessel, paintings and drawings”

Sage Vaughn, Where Eagles Dare

September 24, 2005-November 18, 2005
“Where Eagles Dare,” paintings
Curated by Neil Grayson
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 24, 2005, 7-9 PM

If at first glance this work seems to depict pretty bucolic suburban life, on second glance one notes that the sparrows and pigeons are tattooed with gang affiliations. Telephone poles replace totem poles and smoke stacks steeples in their sacred significance. The theme running through the series speaks of wild animals being partially domesticated and children going feral. This untraditional portrayal of nature is not necessarily sinister, but it’s edgier than it first appears.

Former graffiti artist, Sage Vaughn has been featured in Warped, Nylon, Juxtapos, PUTA and i-D magazines as “an artist to watch.”


Judy Glantzman, paintings, drawings & monoprints, exhibition

September 13th – November 8th 2003

“Paintings, Monoprints & Drawings” is Judy Glantzman‘s third solo exhibition at Dactyl Foundation for the Arts and Humanities. Since her first show at Dactyl, her career and work has continued to mature at both the professional and artistic level. Glantzman was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001. A selection of her work is currently at P.S.1 (Museum of Modern Art) in a group show, “Site and Insight.” Dactyl Foundation has always appreciated Glantzman’s work as a tremendous contribution to contemporary art. Continue reading “Judy Glantzman, paintings, drawings & monoprints, exhibition”

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

Jim Gilroy, before and after 9/11

September 3 – 28 2002

Before & After 9/11, paintings and drawings by Jim Gilroy.

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 7th, 6-8pm

“Before and After 9/11: Gilroy’s Falling Figure”
by Victoria N. Alexander and Maria Villafranca

Jim Gilroy has painted falling figures for the past five or so years. It is a theme that keeps insisting itself on his life in inexplicable and unexpected ways. When he was thirteen, he stood in a crowd of onlookers one afternoon in midtown Manhattan and watched a man jump to his death from Continue reading “Jim Gilroy, before and after 9/11”