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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

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Interrogating Dichotomies in the Arts & Sciences: panel discussion with Susan Oyama, Victoria N. Alexander & Sharon Lattig

November 8th 2002, 2-4 pm

CUNY Graduate Center

A panel discussion on new ways of interrogating dichotomies in the sciences Hosted at CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5409, by the 20th Century Group & Dactyl Foundation Panelists:

Susan Oyama is Professor of Psychology, Emerita, at John Jay College, and at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York City. Books include Cycles of Contingency, Developmental Systems and Evolution and Evolution’s Eye: A Systems View of the Biology-Culture Divide.

Continue reading “Interrogating Dichotomies in the Arts & Sciences: panel discussion with Susan Oyama, Victoria N. Alexander & Sharon Lattig”

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Josip Novakovich, reading with introduction by Victoria N. Alexander

Friday Oct. 25, 2002

Croatian-born Novakovich has published numerous works of fiction, including, Yolk and Salvation and Other Disasters. He received the Whiting Writer’s Award (1997), Guggenheim Fellowship (1999), two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1991 and 2002), and a fellowship at The New York Public Library’s Center for Scholars and Writers in 2001/02. Novakovich also teaches in the English Department at Penn State University.
Continue reading “Josip Novakovich, reading with introduction by Victoria N. Alexander”

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“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!””

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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.

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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”

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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

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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]

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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.”

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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

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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.

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Archie Rand and John Yau, 100 More Jokes from The Book of the Dead

May 4-25 2002

An exhibition of hand-colored etchings and poetry by Archie Rand and John Yau (Meritage Press) Also celebrating the release of My Heart Is That Eternal Rose Tattoo (Black Sparrow),Borrowed Love Poems (Penguin) by John Yau, Simply Separate People by Lynn Crawford, edited by John Yau (Black Square), Me with Animal Towering by Albert Mobilio, edited by John Yau (Black Square); and Bayart by Pascalle Monnier, translated by Cole Swensen, edited by John Yau (Black Square).

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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.