We have been working our tails off on the new ArtNowNY gallery opening at 548 West 28th Street in New York City's Chelsea Arts District this coming Thursday June 7th. Working around the clock on a list of tasks and deadlines and things that would make any persons head spin. Being in this new role as Creative Director of the gallery and the Co-curatorial Chair of our programming has been an honor, a pleasure, and one of the most amazing learning experiences of my life. Not to mention I get to bring people I love and respect into the New York City art scene, in Chelsea no doubt, and work with people that I have admired and looked up to for a very long time. Shit , I reconnected with Swoon today at the Bushwick Open Studios in Brooklyn, and just that simple interaction alone really made me see that I truly am in the channel of a higher power and living a life that I never dreamed of. Anyway, all the spiritual mushiness aside, I have really been working just as hard as creative director as I do on my own work, and the balance is creating some amazing programming and collaborative presence in New York. It feels good to be home. I created a video series that we will continue throughout the life of ArtNowNY that captures sections of New York life, culture and people. I filmed Unstoppable Death Machines in Bushwick at a raging show where my homie Ben Robey wild out harder than I have seen in ages (dude fell through the drum set off the bar and kept singing and screaming on the mic!!!!).
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ix4wJwJAQk]
I filmed the amazing Alyssa Kazew in the Village dancing at New York's famous Grays Papaya. I captured Jose Santiago giving a cool patron a straight razor shave design in her hair at Well Connected in the Lower East Side, and I even was shot via Coby Kennedy at Fort Tilden doing what I do best, walking through the middle of nowhere collecting debris and wood to make art with. I am very, very happy with the videos, and I am truly blessed to be in a position to be able to create them right now and be paid for my work. Also I connected with old friend and amazing director Lenny Tso who edited the pieces, and I even got to put my own music as the soundtrack to three of the pieces under my music alias Tekkamaki. Boom, for real!!! Here they are, check them out, more to come, holla. ArtNowNY launches June 7th in Chelsea. The its back to Oakland to get ready for OLD CROW YOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_XJMpkXJt4]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vb7GM4rhy0]
