Blue Box Gallery Presents Gabriel Barcia-Colombo Nobody Leaves, Everybody Goes
Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by Birdsong in Art at Roger Smith, Arts
After exhibiting in places as far afield as Austin, Texas and Linz, Austria, the Los Angeles-born, New York-based Barcia-Colombo brings his pioneering collection of interactive, multi-media artworks – an amalgam of three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional video, dubbed “video sculpture”– to New York City.
The exhibition includes ten digital sculptures that play upon the exigency in our culture to chronicle, preserve and wax nostalgic, an idea which Barcia-Colombo renders visually by “collecting” human beings (alongside cultural archetypes) as scientific specimens. He repurposes everyday objects like blenders, suitcases and cans of Spam® into venues for projecting and inserting videos of people. While making conspicuous references to Marcel Duchamps’ ‘Ready-Mades,’ he also draws from an eclectic range of other influences, from the combines of Robert Rauschenberg and the video spectacles of Aernout Mik to taxonomy texts and anatomical drawings.
Blue Box is a mobile gallery (conceived of by Karen and Julia) dedicated to showcasing contemporary New Media artwork that redefines, remixes and reinterprets – in other words, hacks – conventional art-making practices.
Visit the website:
www.blueboxgallery.com
From March 12-20 the exhibition will be reinstalled in the RSPOP-UP Shop, also at The Roger Smith Hotel.
We’ve been working really hard over the past few months to make this exhibition a reality. We’re really excited and hope that you will come out to view Gabe’s stunning video sculptures, have a complimentary Belvedere cocktail and toast the occasion with us!
Also, to further celebrate this auspicious event please join us later on in the evening for a much-deserved after-party! We will be setting up shop in the basement of Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St.) starting at 11pm.
Music by The Tomcats and Gabe BC.
Roger Smith Shorts Premier, 3/10 @7pm
Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by DanielKalmar in Art at Roger Smith, Arts
Live streaming video by Ustream
We are proud to announce that the ’09 Roger Smith Shorts will be premiered and released Live to the internet on Wednesday March 10, 2010 at 7 pm in Lily’s at the Roger Smith Hotel. Here is additional info. Don’t miss it!
In August of 2009, 6 short films were created in a heat wave at the Roger Smith Hotel. The 2009 Roger Smith Shorts Directors are Daniel Brothers, Sean Cunningham, Sherng-Lee Huang, Jacob Mendel, Dmitry Povolotsky, and Ted Wallach. During the Roger Smith Shorts Film Festival Workshop we hosted several industry workshops, panels, music events and parties to celebrate this week long film festival. It was an epic week of blitz creations hosted at the Roger Smith Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
Meet the Filmmakers
The 2009 Roger Smith Shorts are;
“The Honeymoon Killer” by Shreng-Lee Huang
“Suite 15″ by Jacob Mendel
“Clean The Room” by Dmitry Povolotski
“Rabid Rocky” by Daniel Brothers
“Hotel Genius” by Ted Wallach
“On the Rocks” by Sean Cunningham
Be sure to check out the Live release of the Roger Smith Shorts on Wednesday March 10, 2010 at 7 pm @RShotel. The Shorts will be available online after the release in case you missed it so be sure to watch them and share them with your friends.
Thanks for watching.
John Knowles
RSH & Panman Arts present: Like The Spice Gallery Group Show
Posted on 05. Mar, 2010 by DanielKalmar in Art at Roger Smith, Arts, Hotel
Featuring the work of Jason Bryant, Allison Edge, and Ross Racine March 19th, 2010 – April 18th, 2010 Opening Reception: Friday March 19th 7-10pm Roger Smith Hotel 501 Lexington Ave Lobby Gallery, and Solarium Gallery 16th fl.
Like the Spice and the Roger Smith Hotel are pleased to announce that they have joined creative forces to present a group show featuring Like the Spice artists Jason Bryant, Allison Edge, and Ross Racine. The Roger Smith Hotel, a positive, open and friendly spot in Midtown Manhattan, nestled amongst the skyscrapers, is not just a hotel, but also a location for guests and visitors to get a taste of the up and coming New York arts scene. Located at 501 Lexington Avenue with its Solarium Gallery on the 16th floor, has had a long history of hosting creative and entertaining exhibitions that stimulate thought and conversation. Like the Spice is extremely excited to be invited and why we think our artists will fit their style perfectly.
In the lobby of the hotel you will find the shapes of spirals, explosions and clouds that mirror the strange psychology of Quebec-born artist Ross Racine’s fictional suburban developments. Ross has shown extensively across the United States and Canada. His “digital drawings” are hand-drawn directly by computer, creating communities that could be taken from some otherworldly Mapquest. They are in no way photographs, yet still carry a convincing feel, leaving you with the assumption that someone, somewhere, has been to see these communities in person.
Come join us on opening night, March 19th, as we begin our very exciting month-long stay at the Roger Smith Hotel! And please come to view more of these artists’ works and more at Like the Spice as we will remain open and will be hosting our own exhibition on site!
Second Sundays Classical Guitar Series: Thomas Viloteau
Posted on 12. Feb, 2010 by DanielKalmar in Art at Roger Smith, Arts
Sunday February 14th, 4pm
Born in Paris in 1985, Thomas Viloteau began his musical education at age twelve in Port St. Louis (France). In 1998, he entered the Escuela de Música Juan Pedro Carrero in Barcelona, Spain, where he studied with Maité Rubio, as well as participating in numerous masterclasses with Alvaro Pierri. Two years later, he entered the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Barcelona where he studied with Joan Furio. In 2001, Thomas received a Fondation Zigmund Zaleski scholarship to study under the direction of maestro Alberto Ponce at the Ecole Normale in Paris, where he graduated with a Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste in 2004. Entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris that same year, Thomas studied in Roland Dyens’ class while also working with Judicaël Perroy.
Thomas Viloteau has been placed first in several competitions, including the Salou Guitar Competition (Spain), the Segovia International Competition in Linares (Spain) and the Ville d’Antony International Competition in Paris. As the winner of the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, in September of 2007 he embarked on a seven month concert tour in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, playing over fifty concerts and teaching several masterclasses. In 2009, he was awarded a scholarship by the Milton Salkind Scholarship Fund to study under the guidance of professor Marc Teicholz at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he graduated with a Professional Studies Diploma. He was the first guitarist selected by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to play at the Kennedy Center as part of the Conservatory Project.
Thomas Viloteau plays a guitar by the Australian luthier Greg Smallman and is endorsed by Savarez strings.
co-presented by the NYCCGS and RogerSmithArts
The Penthouse, 16th floor
The Roger Smith Hotel
Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese
pay at the door, cash only
Valentine’s Special
$35 per person
Brunch and Guitar Concert ticket
(Brunch 11-4pm includes a Mimosa or glass of wine, amuse bouche, main course and dessert
please bring your brunch receipt up to the concert to receive your concert ticket)
For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com or cal 212.339.2092!
Elena Andujar @RShotel for the love of New York and Flamenco!
Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by DanielKalmar in Art at Roger Smith, Arts
We became friends with Elena initially through the Iberian Festival, which was an annual Spanish cultural event, held at the Rog, that featured culinary superstars such as Santi Santamaria, the Cándidos and their Cochinillos, Don Felix Duran from the paradisiacal Pyrenean town of El Quer Foradat and many, many more. With Elena’s collaboration, the festival evolved from a primarily culinary event to a broader celebration of Spanish culture and a new focus on flamenco and on Andalucia in general.
She arrived in NY that year – almost 10 years ago – with her nine year old son, Antonio, in tow and moved in to the Roger Smith for a month. During the festival, Elena sang and danced a few nights per week, with little Antonio attending each tablao and occasionally stepping out to dance a few moves or drum on the cajón…a crowd-pleasing foreshadow of the talent he would later develop! When he wasn’t performing with his mom, he would cruise the hotel, a relative Eloise let loose in a new a fabulous place, full of interesting things and people.
Elena Andujar, born of a Sevillana and a New Yorker, uses flamenco to bridge the cultures that she represents. Her work includes festivals, self-produced espectáculos, master classes and even early-stage plans to make a movie of her life story, set here and there. Her bigscreen career began when she was cast in the movie Devil’s Advocate along with flamenco great, Tomatito, to perform with Al Pacino.
So…as we knock around the idea of reviving the Iberian Festival, we’d love to hear your feedback! Let us know your thoughts!
Pedro Sousa Photography Exhibit in the Roger Smith Lobby Gallery
Posted on 30. Jan, 2010 by aleksdegtyarev in Art at Roger Smith, Arts
The Exhibit is Open: January 4 – March 12, 2010 Roger Smith Hotel Lobby Gallery 501 Lexington Ave. The Opening Party: 2.26.10 Time: 7:30pm @ Roger Smith Solarium Gallery
Last Studio Visit by Marlo Brown
Pedro Sousa and I have an enduring relationship; for a long time he wanted to kill me. His rage towards me wasn’t unwarranted. If you know anything about me, Marlo, you wouldn’t suspect otherwise.
In 2000 we were both attending Stony Brook University. Pedro had a sweet studio on the fourth floor of Staller Art Center. He was sharing the space with several artists and it was no-holds-barred-art-making-central.
Pedro is a photographer, so naturally he kept his tools at his studio space. Why wouldn’t he? It’s not like anyone went back home in those days or took days off from making art-stuff. While other artists prized their brushes and oil paints, Pedro’s payload was about eight cameras and loads of lenses.
On one particular day I remember visiting the collective studio space. A girlfriend of mine hung out with that crew and she probably wanted to see her ex-boyfriend who shared the studio with Pedro. To say I knew these art-folk would be an over statement. I maybe had met some of them once or twice. It’s a good bet I didn’t know anyones’ name. And if Pedro was telling this story, I’m pretty certain he would stress the exclusive nature of those studios. This was a tight knit community to which I wasn’t even worth spitting on. I was a freshman, but i certainly did not regard myself as such.
Back in those days I wasn’t easily impressed. Everything and everyone, that is, besides me, was “pretentious.” Being in a room of older more “established” males was not doing anything positive for my ego. Clearly these were a bunch of pretentious dicks! With a judgment of that caliber I took out a cigarette and lit it.
I almost remember smoking it out the window…
That was it. The rest was related by Pedro in a death threat back to my girlfriend of that time. He accused me of burning down the studio, but in more visceral words than that. To this day no one really knows if the cigarette I was smoking was the cause of the fire. One party believed it was. I believed otherwise.
What’s more, nobody cared for apologies which later morphed into half-excuses. In fact, certain members of that studio still consider me an arsonist and a prick, and I very well maybe a prick. But, I can tell you dear reader, that it was not my intention to create this animosity nor to burn down any studio.
Why am I telling this story here? Well, it’s a testament to Pedro really. He lost the most in that studio and at the same time he was the first to forgive me. After we moved on beyond that mishap, I was able to clearly see that here was a guy that was neither pretentious nor a prick.
Pedro is one of the most driven guys I know. He’s got the skills to rally people for a cause. To get shit done! Straight out of college he opened a gallery in a dead art zone known as Long Island. It is a miracle that his space held out for six years –packing out the house at every opening.
That was almost all Pedro’s work. While others spoke of a vision he executed his. He enabled other artists and himself by having a space to show work. For artists that is a huge deal! Having an art show means that you must produce. If you keep producing your work matures, you build a portfolio worth showing, collectors become interested, etc. Pedro fostered not only this space but its culture as well. He created a community where people could experiment and show those experiments. I was no exception.
Under terms that I would not burn down the gallery Pedro let me into this culture. I felt a belonging and now other people were looking at me as the pretentious dick. It was a great feeling. We were able to pull off all sorts of great events and spectacles: film festivals, experimental video nights, vaudeville art shows and other performances. The space like the people around it were in constant evolution.
When Pedro closed the gallery it was a surprise, but he listed the fact that he was spending too much time doing administrative work and not enough time producing art as a major factor. Sure, now that I am curating both the Solarium Art Gallery and the Lobby Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel, I can relate. That is why I proposed an art show to Pedro as well as a co-curatorial role.
That is the relevance of community, of friendship, of culture. It is the ability of relation. To be able to relate is far beyond understanding. That is the torch that we carry and pass to each other. Back and forth it goes…
Forty Weeks: A performance-installation By Kata Mejía (Videos)
Posted on 28. Dec, 2009 by AdamWallace in Art at Roger Smith, Arts, LAB Gallery
Forty Weeks: A performance-installation
By Kata Mejía November 9-13th, 2009
At the LAB Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel
“Forty Weeks” is a performance-installation that celebrates the miracle of life and the act of giving birth. It represents the time a mother carries her child during pregnancy and explores various aspects of motherhood including nurturing, the relationship between mother and child, and the intimacy of breast feeding. The artist uses repetition to present the first stages of life as an accumulation of time and a period of growth.
Forty Weeks, Part I
Forty Weeks, Part II
KATA MEJIA is a performance artist with a background in painting and dance who lives and works in Philadelphia, USA. She graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Masters degree in Performance in 2004. She received her BFA from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellin. She has been awarded several grants and scholarships, including the James Nelson Raymond Fellowship in 2004, the Trustee Scholarship from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, a Colombian Government Scholarship for Graduate Studies abroad, and a Graduate Studies Scholarship from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 2002. Kata Mejía received a 2009 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
www.katamejia.com
THE LAB (for installation + performance art) is a New York based, converted storefront turned fishbowl producing 20+ fast paced performance art and installation exhibitions annually. Aimed at the furious midtown foot traffic, THE LAB’s programming is designed to confront modern relationships between art and audience and seeks to force interaction between high energy, “outrospective” exhibitions and nearly 25,000 daily passersbys. For more information, call 212-339-2092, or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com.
www.thelabgallery.com
Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concert Series 2009-2010
Posted on 15. Nov, 2009 by AdamWallace in Art at Roger Smith, Arts, Chamber Music Series
Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concert Series 2009-2010, co-presented by the NYCCGS and RogerSmithArts, is proud to announce the 2009-2010 season.
Concerts begin at 4:00 PM and take place in the penthouse recital space of the Roger Smith Hotel, located at 501 Lexington Ave. at East 47th St. (see map).
Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese.
For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com or call (212) 333-2092.
September 13 – Valerie Hartzell
October 11 – Max Zuckerman
November 8 – Alberto Rodríguez Ortiz
December 13 – Anthony Bez
January 10 – Gabriel Bianco
February 14 – Thomas Viloteau
March 14 – Daniel Acsadi
April 11 – Pia Gazarek-Offermann
May 9 – Brad Richter
June 13 – Dieter Hennings
July 11 – Atanas Ourkouzounov
Artist Interview: Carrie Ahern and Olek talk about “Covers”
Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by AdamWallace in Art at Roger Smith, Arts, LAB Gallery
The LAB (for Installation + Performance Art) is pleased to announce a new collaboration between visual artist Olek and choreographer Carrie Ahern. “Covers, a morphing crochet installation presented to the Midtown-Manhattan passersby from within the fishbowl confines of The LAB Gallery will occur every Monday, Wednesday and Friday September 9th through September 25th during the evening rush hours (5:30-6:30pm).
Oleks three wearable sculptures, handmade of mostly recycled synthetic materials using classic crochet techniques and connected into one large crocheted sculpture, will be entered, separated and transformed into evolving images by performers Carrie Ahern, Jillian Hollis and Agata Oleksiak. The performance installation will raise questions of how ones own desires are projected onto the static objects one sees in store windows, and investigate how our desires shift when the objects become live women, both moving and changing the shape of the objects, and vulnerable to the audiences gaze. What is the residual relationship to the objects once disinhabited by the performers and left as a new static installation?
The live performance transformations will occur September 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, and 25th, 2009 from 5:30-6:30pm. The installation will be on view 24/7 September 9th 25th, 2009.
For more info on the artists visit www.carrieahern.com and www.agataolek.com.
Photography Show Opening: Dave Prutting
Posted on 09. Sep, 2009 by AdamWallace in Art at Roger Smith, Arts
On Tuesday, September 8 photographer Dave Prutting had an opening reception for his photography show “Italy in 8″ in the lobby of the Roger Smith Hotel. The show is on display from July 15- October 15, 2009.
“Italy in 8″
Dave Prutting in the Lobby of the Roger Smith Hotel
Photograph by Julian Mackler
Photographs from opening night, by John Knowles
Mike Holland plays piano in Lily’s after the opening in the lobby
