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Portrait of a Woman as Her Purse by A.J. Huffman

| The 22 Magazine

Red enameled alligator encases three
cloth sacks of unified survival.  Beneath zipper
#1 waits five nickels, bottle of glittered nail
polish, miniature journal, handful of pens, only
one still wearing cap.  Skip #2, it is stuck
shut and whatever is in there has been labeled
unnecessary and forgotten.  #3 never closes,
most-used, most-important, must remain
accessible, always.  Checkbook teeters
against tightly-capped Crazy
Glue, shades sunglasses from potential scuffs
from engraved silver cardholder, coupon folder, ring
of 37 keys, only 3 having known locks or ignitions
to turn.  Ringing requires perimeter check.  Pockets
bulge, aspirin and birth control semi-hidden
in tightly-snapped front pocket, portable
hard drive and note cards on Roman Architecture
threaten to spill out of left side pouch.  Right
must be the never-ending musical bleeping,
incessant blipping of latest high-tech, supposedly
miniaturized, iPhone, trying to pass itself
off as both computer and lifeline when it is really
more crutch and anvil.  Last stop, strap with photo
keyring dangling attachment.  Favorite snapshot
of herself smiling at the world, makes everyone wonder
who or what was making her laugh that hard.



A.J. Huffman is a poet and freelance writer in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has previously published six collections of poetry all available on Amazon.com. She has also published her work in numerous national and international literary journals. She has is the editor for six online poetry journals for Kind of a Hurricane Press . Find more about A.J. Huffman, including additional information and links to her work at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000191382454 and https://twitter.com/#!/poetess222.

THE WEEKEND: MARCH 30-APRIL 1st.

| The 22 Magazine

EDITOR’S PICKS:

Drew Maillard Solo Show: “Living In Interesting Times”
http://www.mfgallery.net/DrewMaillard/DrewMaillard.html
 03/31/2012-05/05/2012

MF Gallery, fine purveyors of the eccentric and bizarre, are proud to present the collected works of one of their own. “Living In Interesting Times” is an exhibition of the drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures of Drew Maillard. There is an ancient Chinese curse that goes “May you live in interesting times.” Drew Maillard was born and raised in America in the last quarter of the 20th century… A fascinating era to be sure. He is a product of his environment. Nature and nurture; habitat and conditioning combined. Drew’s adolescence was divided between comic books, horror and sci-fi films, and fantasizing about girls he didn’t talk to. Also there was Punk Rock and L.S.D.. After spending some time in the army and leaving his hometown in upstate NY, he received his Bachelor Of Fine Arts degree from SVA in 2000. His life experiences and travel, as well as an interest in scuba diving and ju-jitzu is what informs Drew’s crazy crazy artwork.

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THE WEEK: MARCH 19-23.

| The 22 Magazine

EDITOR’S PICKS:

Ben Marcus & Ryan Britt
http://greenlightbookstore.com/event/ben-marcus-ryan-britt
03/19/2012-03/19/2012
7:30pm-

Our ongoing Blogger/Author Pairings series features conversations between authors and bloggers who share territories, passions, and preoccupations. New York City-based author Ben Marcus discusses his new novel, The Flame Alphabet, with blogger Ryan Britt, a teacher at The Gotham Writers’ Workshop and staff writer for the popular science fiction and fantasy blog, Tor.com and Tor’s series “Genre in the Mainstream.” In The Flame Alphabet, the most maniacally gifted writer of our generation delivers a work of heartbreak and horror, a novel about how far we will go, and the sorrows we will endure, in order to protect our families. Both morally engaged and wickedly entertaining, a gripping page-turner as strange as it is moving, this intellectual horror story ensures Ben Marcus’s position in the first rank of American novelists. The event is hosted by series curator Ron Hogan, creator of the seminal literary blog Beatrice.com.

ECSTATIC MUSIC FEST: DAN DEACON WITH NOW ENSEMBLE & THE CALDER QUARTET
http://kaufman-center.org/mch/event/new-sounds-live-dan-deacon-now-ensemble-the-calder-quartet
03/20/2012-03/20/2012
7:30pm-

Dan Deacon (pictured) returns to the Ecstatic Music Festival after last year’s sold-out show, this time writing a series of new works for acclaimed chamber groups NOW Ensemble (“a deft young group gaining attention,” New Yorker) and the Calder Quartet (“outstanding,” New York Times), both for the individual ensembles and for the two together in a mini-chamber orchestra.

Crystal Fighters, Tubetops, Antoine Karl & The Woofgang (DJ Set)
http://glasslands.blogspot.com/
03/19/2012-03/19/2012
8:30pm-

Crystal Fighters, Tubetops, Antoine Karl & The Woofgang (DJ Set)

Heidi Julavits: The Vanishers
http://www.centerforfiction.org/calendar/heidi-julavits-the-vanishers/
03/20/2012-03/20/2012
7pm-

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THE WEEK: MARCH 12-16.

| The 22 Magazine

EDITOR’S PICKS: 

Fiction Magazine 40th Anniversary Celebration
http://www.housingworks.org/events/detail/fiction-magazine-40th-anniversary-celebration
03/15/2012-03/15/2012
7pm-

Celebrate the new issue and Fiction’s 40th anniversary with contributors Sheila Kohler, Jerome Charyn, Brendan Kiely, and Kesi Foster.

OPERA ON TAP.
http://barbesbrooklyn.com/calendar.html
03/16/2012-03/16/2012
8pm-

OPERA ON TAP. Opera is fun. Most people don’t seem to realize how much fun it really is. In order to prove it, Opera on Tap has taken its act to barrooms where they found out that beer on tap enhances the operatic experience. The company is made up of young singers and instrumentalists who relish the direct contact with audiences not inhibited in their reactions by the looming menace of giant chandeliers.

Kris Kuksi
http://joshualinergallery.com/index.php
03/08/2012-04/07/2012
11pm-6pm

With its cautionary title, Triumph skewers the hubris and folly of human ambition. This cavalcade of epic works references mythology, the occult, and organized religion, and uses age-old techniques of visual storytelling to voice personal angst. Depicting grand themes with extravagant embellishments, Kuksi’s assemblages of small, mass-produced materials are intrinsically narrative. Like gilt Baroque altarpieces, their stunning excess of detail is the ideal vehicle for the artist’s critique of power and piety. And like those early works of public art, they appeal to the viewer to transcend the strife and striving associated with greed.

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THE WEEKEND: MARCH 9-11.

| The 22 Magazine

EDITOR’S PICKS:

Holi
http://www.festivalofcolors.org/
03/11/2012-03/11/2012
–

Holi is the Hindu festival of colors. It celebrates the coming of spring, fruitful harvests, unity, joy, and a tale from the Bhagavad Gita. In addition to the throwing of colored powder (Holi Gulal) it is traditional to light bonfires in celebration of the miraculous escape that young devotee of the god Vishnu. A demon tried to throw him into a fire, but he escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. In most areas, Holi lasts about two days. One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally include age, sex, status, and caste. Holi closes the wide gaps between social classes and brings Hindus together. Together, the rich and poor, women and men, enjoy each other’s presence on this joyous day. Additionally, Holi lowers the strictness of social norms. No one expects the decorum of normal life; as a result, the atmosphere is filled with excitement and joy.

Hazmat Modine
http://hazmatmodine.com/home.html
03/10/2012-03/10/2012
7pm-10pm

HAZMAT MODINE draws from the rich soil of American music of the 20’s and 30’s through to the 50’s and early 60’s, blending elements of early Blues, Hokum Jugband, Swing, Klezmer, New Orleans R & B, and Jamaican Rocksteady. The band is fronted by two harmonicas which use call and response, harmony, melody, and syncopated interweaving rhythms. The band includes tuba, guitar, and percussion, claviola and Hawaiian steel guitar. The band’s sound reflects musical influences ranging from Avant-garde Jazz to Rockabilly and Western Swing to Middle-Eastern, African, and Hawaiian musical styles.

 

 

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THE WEEKEND: MARCH 2-4.

| The 22 Magazine

EDITOR’S PICKS:

Liz Biddle, Regine Granne, and Katherine Tzu-lan Mann at A.I.R. Gallery
http://www.airgallery.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.artists&artistid=885
03/01/2012-03/24/2012
6pm-9pm

This exhibition showcases Biddle’s continuing interest in mixed media, with a twist of humor found in much of her work. Old wires, light bulbs, screws and other found objects protrude from holes in ceramic objects, while creature-like robots – strange, disturbing and endearing – appear in collages and drawings. Liberty is a contemplation of the present in the wake of 9/11. The Statue of Liberty itself simultaneously represents an overused icon and a diminishing concept. These works offer a means of viewing such images and enable reflection of our world, our nation, our politics, our person, our perspective, and our relationship to all. Mann’s large paintings in Root, created by combining chance stains with highly rendered decorative elements on oversized, un-stretched paper, function as human-sized portholes into a landscape alive with minute details, patterns and interlocking systems.

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THE WEEK: NOV 1-4.

| The 22 Magazine

TUESDAY:

PERFORMA 11 (ONGOING)
Performa 11, the fourth edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, will be held in New York City from November 1–21, 2011. The three-week biennial will showcase new work by more than 100 of the most exciting artists working today, in an innovative program breaking down the boundaries between visual art, music, dance, poetry, fashion, architecture, graphic design, and the culinary arts. Presented in collaboration with a consortium of more than 50 arts institutions and over 50 curators, as well as a network of public spaces and private venues across the city, Performa 11 will ignite New York City with energy and ideas, acting as a vital “think tank” linking minds across the five boroughs and bringing audiences together for brilliant new performances in all disciplines.

Ben Gerstein (Jerome Foundation Commission) – FREEDOM CHOIR! A congregation for cathartic improvisational service
On November 1st, All Saints’ Day, The Day of the Dead — ancient holidays in honor of the saints, known or unknown; deceased friends and family — Ben Gerstein brings together for the first time a unique ensemble of enormous acoustic, experiential intensity to celebrate the powers of improvisation on this earth. FREEDOM CHOIR! A congregation for cathartic improvisational service. Inspired by the micro and macrocosms of nature, ecstatic spiritual and athletic experiences, dream, destiny, ritual, prayer, ancestry, and visions throughout Art and beyond… Dance floor, prairie, pow-wow, synagogue, church, mountain top, ocean, forest, desert, track and field, fighting ring, mosh pit … Ferocious love! A historic event for expansive sound and emotion; unnamable sound, unnamable emotion. We are the world! Communion between us all…

69°S. (Part of the 2011 Next Wave Festival)
“When I look back at those days, I have no doubt that divine providence guided us… it seemed to me often that we were not alone.” —Sir Ernest Henry ShackletonSixty-nine degrees south latitude, threshold of Antarctica, foreboding and cold. In an attempt to cross the continent, explorer Ernest Shackleton and crew have been shipwrecked, and now—through the work of Phantom Limb marionette maker and composer Erik Sanko and set designer Jessica Grindstaff (both at BAM with More Than Four, 2007 Next Wave)—they emerge before us in the snow.

CHAMBER MUSIC at INCUBATOR ARTS PROJECT
Robert Ashley’s music has long been recognized as some of the most radical, forward-thinking work produced today. The Incubator Arts Project’s MUSIC series, curated by Travis Just, focuses on his chamber and instrumental music, in addition to re-thinking one of his best-known vocal epics: Automatic Writing. A new generation of experimental composers and artists is looking to Ashley’s work for inspiration; this week will show why.(ONGOING)

PHARMA
The Herb Lubalin Study Center at The Cooper Union examines the influence and impact of graphic design on the pharmaceutical industry in PHARMA, a new exhibit featuring original and rarely seen works by luminaries including Andy Warhol, Lester Beall, Will Burtin and Herb Lubalin. PHARMA’s exploration begins with the avant-garde promotionals of the 1940’s, when a market need emerged to promote “miracle” drugs, such as Penicillin, to the medical industry. In a compelling and thought-provoking way, PHARMA presents the relationship graphic design has had with the pharmaceutical industry ranging from the federal government’s increased regulations to new marketing tactics where the everyday consumer, not the doctor, is considered the target audience. While the exhibition provides examples of past and present, the public is encouraged to reflect and question how graphic design is used to market drugs and design has transformed these commodities into objects of desire.

Spartacus Chetwynd: The Lion Tamer
7th Annual Alternative Processes Winners: Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman 
UMBERTO ECO in conversation with Paul
Tod Lippy: The Conception and Development of ESOPUS
Holdengraber
Migratory Media: A Film Event
Counterfactual: Muybridge’s Debt to Watkins
Tom Brokaw in Conversation with Paul Holdengräber
BROOKLYN REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE
OSCAR PEÑAS
Enid Ellen at Piano’s
Tomorrow Land/Collaspe
Barbara Siegel, Arboretum/Privacy Please! Jan Johnson
Influential Friends
Matthew Stone: Optimism as Cultural Rebellion
ARAB SPRINGS/ ATLANTIC WEALTH: TRADING ROOM
Serenity Now!
BRADFORD NORDEEN WITH GARY INDIANA
Playing with Form
CAP/ICP – Artist Lecture: Joni Sternbach – Surfland
365 Drawings
panel discussion | residency as refuge?
GLOBAL ISSUES IN DESIGN AND VISUALITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: CULTURE – FASHION HACKING
ROXANE BUTTERFLY
Mur Murs

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THE WEEKEND: Oct 28-31.

| The 22 Magazine

FRIDAY: 

“HUNTING SOMETHING SPHERICAL AND PEELING” Nyugen E. Smith [NEW JERSEY]+Esther Neff  [NYC]
Nyugen E. Smith (b.Jersey City, NJ, 1976) is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator currently examining particular behaviors, customs, coping strategies, and psychological effects unique to blacks in the West Indies and Africa under European Colonial rule. Esther’s oniono is a part of a series of performances conflating specific vegetables with emotional experiences solely blamed on “external societal pressures.” The subject hunts for something spherical and peeling, a tumor or something else that won’t peel down to nothing, something inside but not like itself. There is no reflection here. Its stench bonds to the molecules around the head. Nobody is like it, the empiric, objectified self is somewhere at one of the cores, ideal-ly the flesh can be pitted out, eaten as identity, which must be found, without it, we are told, we must remain in the ground/on the ground.

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THE WEEKEND: Oct 21-23nd.

| The 22 Magazine

FRIDAY:

UGLY ART ROOM PRESENTS: ALL THAT REMAINS

Mathilde Aubier, Paul Burgess, Cless, Virginia Echeverria, Fred Free, John Gall, James Gallagher, April Gertler, Ashkan Honarvar, Colin Jenkins, Gordon Magnin, Clarita Mata, Jeffery Meyer, Tom Moglu, Randy Mora, Julien Pacaud, Lilly Pereira, Dave Plunkert, Ciara Phelan, Eduardo Recife, Kareen Rizk, Javier Rodriguez, Valerie Roybal, Katherine Streeter, Leigh Wells, Charles Wilkin, Lionel Williams, Bill ZindelFrom its abstract roots in Cubism to the political and counter culture movements of Dada and Punk, collage has always been a product of its environment. With the rise of 24 hour media cycles, social networks and search engines, contemporary culture has effectively rendered print media obsolete, creating a virtual boom in discarded paper ephemera for collage artists to examine and reinvent. Through these discarded remnants collage artists have become the archivists and activists of this post modern age, paralleling the frenetic pace in which we live while exposing the voyeuristic and often disjointed nature of popular culture.INTERVIEW WITH THE 22.

Doomsday Film Festival
The 2011 Doomsday Film Festival explores our collective obsession with the Apocalypse in film, art, and culture.From raptures, plagues, meteorites, nuclear holocausts, aliens, zombie attacks, ecological catastrophe, and cybernetic revolt to the 2012 doomsday predictions, the Festival will touch upon all possible permutations of our collective demise. We’ll be screening films from across the board, with works ranging from premieres to established classics to rediscovered gems. On the schedule for the 2011 Festival are nuclear fallout cartoons, early ’60s atomic parables, ’80s zombie punk, award-winning independent shorts, and much more.The event will incorporate a panel-based symposium featuring authors, artists, and all manner of experts on the End of Days. We plan to tackle the Apocalypse in all its forms, and hope you’ll join us for the ride!

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