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Falling MIR (DokC Lab.)

| The 22 Magazine

WEBSITE.

This is part of a series of events called “RUINS Aren’t HERE”, in particular, the title of this event is: “Falling MIR” (dedicated to the old Russian space station), it fell down in the Fiji Islands’s sea in 2001, after 15 years of flying near to stars.

In 2006, after working with various local firms, Massimiliano and Emanuele Ercolani Bros. decide to open a laboratory devoted to creativity. Architecture, design, graphic design and architectural research, these are the main areas, but in our laboratory we create music, events, magazines, etc.. In all these areas we trying to trace the route with a precise goal: quality. The study is currently in Civitavecchia (Rome), Via Aurelia Sud, near to the port “Riva di Traiano.”

THE WEEK: Dec 5-9.

| The 22 Magazine

MONDAY:

Photographing the Dead: The History of Postmortem Photography from The Burns Collection and Archive
Postmortem photography, photographing a deceased person, was a common practice in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These photographs, from the beginning of the practice until now, are special mementos that hold deep meaning for mourners through visually “embalming” the dead. Although postmortem photographs make up the largest group of nineteenth-century American genre photographs, until recent years they were largely unseen and unknown. Dr. Burns recognized the importance of this phenomenon in his early collecting when he bought his first postmortem photographs in 1976. Since that time he has amassed the most comprehensive collection of postmortem photography in the world and has curated several exhibits and published three books on the subject: the Sleeping Beauty series. Tonight, Dr. Burns will speak about the practice of postmortem photography from the 19th century until today and share hundreds of images from his collection.

FIRST BOOK BROOKLYN HOLIDAY PARTY & FUNDRAISER
first book–brooklyn is a nonprofit organization dedicated to getting new books to children in need.  join us tonight for their first annual holiday party and fundraiser.

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THE WEEKEND: SEPT 16-18.

| The 22 Magazine

GRAND OPENING @ROULETTE – Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and John Zorn/GRAND OPENING – COSA BRAVA featuring Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, Matthias Bossi, Shahzad Ismaily, and the Norman Conquest
Sat Sep 17 – 8:00 PM and Sun Sep 18 – 8:00 PM

Three legends of the New York Underground combine forces for an evening of extreme improvised music. “The most important multimedia artist of our time,”(LA Times), Laurie Anderson is best known for her multimedia presentations and musical recordings that have challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 30 years. Tonight Anderson teams up with husband Lou Reed – arguably one of the most influential musicians in rock history whose band, the Velvet Underground, redefined the music of the late ’60s. Also joining them tonight is maverick composer/performer and godfather of the Downtown New York scene, John Zorn.

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THE WEEK: Sept 14-16.

| The 22 Magazine

 ARIAS WITH A TWIST @ABRONS ART CENTER.
September 14-October 16
Wednesday-Saturday | 8 pm
Saturday Late Show | 10:30 pm
Sunday | 7 pm

This updated version of the original deliriously madcap fantasy once again features the soaring song stylings of demented diva Joey Arias surrounded by an eye-popping theatrical extravaganza conjured by a team of puppeteers under the direction of Basil Twist. Channeling lurid celluloid dreams, macabre nightmares and bizarre premonitions, the adventure begins with an alien abduction and concludes with a stupendous Busby Berkeley-esque finale. Along the way, the throaty chanteuse belts out pop, rock and jazz standards in addition to some original tunes by Alex Gifford as Twist and company work their magic with vintage marionettes, anatomically correct puppets and fantastical scenic elements.

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An Interview with Ophelia Chong.

| The 22 Magazine

22: First the background questions, where did you grow up and how did you get involved with art?

OPHELIA CHONG:I grew up in the wilds of Canada, in the city of Toronto. I remember my first collage, in grade five; it was a collage made of magazine bits and it was blue and green. During my formative years I was an explorer, I would ride my bike from mid-town to the lake and back; I would disappear for a whole day, exploring the city on my three-speed bike. I quickly outgrew Toronto and packed up and left for Los Angeles. I went to the Art Center College of Design and graduated with a BFA in Painting. I am an adjunct professor there in the Photography Dept.

22: What about collage appeals to you?

OPHELIA CHONG: I love seeing the possibilities of color. Of using the pieces of paper as paint, my X-acto knife the brush.

22: What about the fusion of collage and design appeals to you? Are they really just versions of the same thing?

OPHELIA CHONG: It’s all the same thing, I see it all as color and form, no matter what medium it is.

22: You also seem to have a penchant for typography and presses where did that start? 

OPHELIA CHONG: Shapes, I love the curves of typography. When I was younger I would sit in class sketching serif fonts. I loved the thin with the thick, the swoosh and staccato of forms in typography. When I first used a Vandercook Press six years ago, I was hooked. I love the ink pressing into the paper, the randomness of where the letters fell onto pieces of ephemera that I put through the press. How each piece was a singular piece of art. Never to be repeated twice. I use only vintage magazines to print on, therefore each piece is non-repeatable.

22: Can you explain your 35mm slide work (surreal cereal) process a little? What inspired working with collage this way? Any specific artists? 

OPHELIA CHONG:That is about how we see life. For example, we both see two people arguing, I see it through the lens of my life experience and you see it through your’s. We will both come up with different assumptions of why they are arguing, because we react differently due to the environment we grew up in. My layering of 35mm slides is a tactile version of this theory, I layer images over each other to create something new, something that resonates with the way I see life. I am inspired by Guido Reni, Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses by Eikoh Hosoe, film noir, Madame Bovary by Flaubert, Ethan Frome by Wharton, and so much more.

22:Who are some of your favorite designers or artists in general?

OPHELIA CHONG:All art from the 16th – 18th century. Fritz Sauter ( a Swiss printmaker), 15th century Gothic churches, Orson Welles, Paul Rand, [Richard] Neutra, music for the clavichord, the flavor of the week and anything that makes me want to grab an X-acto knife.

22: How did you start working on the slips of paper series? What was your first collage for that? 

OPHELIA CHONG: I started in 1999, but if I had to trace it back, since I could use scissors. I picked up a small Moleskine sketch book  in 1999 and started sticking bits of paper in it to relieve the stress I was going through at my job as a Creative Director. I filled books and books with “slips of paper”, not really going towards an end goal, just to keep myself from the digital world. All my work is non-digital.

22: How do you balance your professional life with your artistic career, do the two ever clash? Or do they enhance each other? 

OPHELIA CHONG: I melded both into one. I have a rep in NYC for my illustration, and I now have a studio that I sit in all day working. I love it. Work = Love = Happiness

22:What are you currently working on? Any upcoming projects? 

OPHELIA CHONG: I am writing more, I write commentary for KCET ( a local TV station in Los Angeles) and for howtosplitanatom.com . I have  work traveling from Barcelona to NYC, it will take 2 years to finish my travels. My letterpress work is at the Hunt Gallery at Webster University in St.Louis. My project now is to keep cutting paper and I know I will never tire of it; the only time I get into  trouble is when I cut up something someone was still reading. Never leave anything you want to read around me, it just might end up in a collage.

GET SOME FREE ART FROM OPHELIA HERE!
OPHELIA‘S WEBSITE.