Hotter Than July!

Me in front of some of my paintings at the New York Art Collective, group exhibit at the Living Gallery. Photo by Steve Booth.

We're in the midst of a heatwave in NYC. I absolutely love the summer, so I won't complain - but suffice to say, there's a reason why Stevie Wonder said it's, "Hotter than July"! What's wonderful about NYC in the summer is that there are multitudes of outdoor events - concerts, performances and parties - at all sorts of venues. And I try to go to as many as I can. Instead of writing about the artful events I've been to recently, I'm just going to post some photos and let the images speak for themselves (to see more photos, go to my Instagram: @Whippedhoney). 

Additionally, a couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being included in a group art exhibition called, the New York Art Collective. Martell Oliver is an artist and organizer who's been putting together his Philly Art Collective events for some time now, and decided to bring it up to NYC. There were over 20 of us involved in the exhibition at the Living Gallery in Brooklyn; it was jam-packed with art (and yes, you guessed it, very hot!). We had a great time.

Lastly, there were a series of events that I attended in May, which I neglected to post about, but want to make mention of before any more time passes. The Queens Museum Open A.I.R. Artists Services Program got together with M.A.K.U. Soundsystem to create a series meetings: "Gathering Spaces: Who Has a Right to This Space?" There were four meetings (of which I attended two) where anyone who was interested was invited to participate in group discussions (not panels, but real open conversations) about the state of the arts/community specifically in Queens. The event locations/themes were as follows: May 5th at Flushing Town Hall, "How do we make institutional spaces more open and accessible to artists?"; May 12th at IMI Corona, "How do we share a space to build a movement?; May 19th at Terraza 7, How can businesses be accountable to communities and the culture of the neighborhood?" and; May 25th at Local Project, "How do we create and sustain artist-run spaces?" Being a Queens-based artist myself, these discussions were definitely food for thought. Also, being a part of the newly-forming group, Queens Creative Solidarity (of which many of us were represented at the meetings), it was a great opportunity to hear community concerns that we can incorporate into our work, moving forward.

Terrraza 7 music venue

"Gathering Spaces" meeting at Terazza 7

BAM DanceAfrica annual African Bazaar

International African Arts Festival at Commodore Barry Park 

Mermaid Parade, Coney Island 

Mermaid Parade, Coney Island 

Cubanismo concert at Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park

New York Art Collective at the Living Gallery

Backyard live painting, New York Art Collective at the Living Gallery

New York Art Collective at the Living Gallery

To see more pics of these events, and many others, got o my Instagram: @Whippedhoney 

Making paintings and the Soulful Arts Collective

Soulful Arts Collective group exhibit at the Living Gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn

When I applied for the Community Arts University Without Walls (CAUWW) summer program in Puerto Rico, I decided that I would launch a crowd-funding campaign (out of financial necessity) through GoFundMe. Not being too comfortable with asking people for money, I figured that I should offer “gifts” to donors in certain categories in return for their contributions. Being that I’m a painter, I planned that after I returned from Puerto Rico, I would create a series of paintings based on my experience – and I could offer these as my donor “gifts.” Once I got back home to New York, I had to sit down and start wrapping my head around what that all meant. In addition to having a profound learning experience with CAUWW, I am also of Puerto Rican descent (my dad was born and raised on the island) and so there was a lot for me to consider about the subject matter of the painting series. I wasn’t sure where to start. To get the artistic juices flowing, I simply started painting.

In the process of my starting a new series of paintings, I was offered the opportunity to exhibit my work in a group show, the Soulful Arts Collective. The show was being organized by a woman called Maninha from my capoeira group (Ile de Palmares) and all of the artists involved would be capoeiristas. (For those not familiar, capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art, which I have been practicing for about nine years so far.) I thought exhibiting at Soulful Arts Collective was a great opportunity since I had not shown my paintings in quite some time, and it would challenge me to keep my practice up. I made two capoeira-related paintings especially for the event and chose which others I would include.  

I am a self-taught artist and while I have been painting since I was about eight years old, I have never been a full-time “working artist.” I have had a day-job for all of my adult life - and while I would not consider painting to be “just a hobby,” I must admit that sometimes it falls by the wayside, as life gets in the way. I do not (and have never had) a real painting studio; I paint from home, in very close quarters. I think this is a relevant point to bring up, for a few reasons. First, as it relates to my actual artwork: the confines within which I can create (physical space, scale, time and execution). And also with regards to how it relates to me as an artist of a particular social class; the fact that I am self-taught (some would classify me as an Outsider Artist) and the fact that I have to work a day-job to support myself and cannot function as a full-time artist (which also comes with particular prejudices in the institutional art world).  I also feel that this is related to what we learned about through CAUWW with regards to concepts of Cultural Equity and Social Justice through the arts – and placing me, as an artist, within those frameworks. 

So back to the Soulful Arts Collective... On Friday, September 4^th, the event took place at the Living Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn. There were seven of us exhibiting our work and being that we were all connected to one another through capoeira, it felt like a family affair. (There was Jean Tree, Martell Oliver, Amber Ink, Brandon Valery, Abyot Thuo, Kirsten Haslett and myself.) I liked the fact that the organizer did not ask to select our works; she let us each bring what we wanted. As an artist I really appreciated this totally non-hierarchical approach to the show’s curation – the Living Gallery also seems to have that type of mission. I had not seen my fellow artists work beforehand and I was really impressed with what they displayed. The event was well-attended, DJ Lua Chea played good music, there was free beer and wine offered and everyone was in high spirits. At one point there was a live art performance piece featuring two of our capoeira teachers, Omi and Caiman, creating a painting by way of their movements (hands and feet dipped in paint, moving across a canvas). They blew everyone away!

As a painter, I work in private and the idea of taking pieces out of my house to show in public can be somewhat nerve-racking. But being involved in this exhibit was a totally positive experience for me. It was great to be included alongside other talented artists and to have the opportunity to show (and sell) and discuss my work and ideas with other people. As for my Puerto Rican painting collection, preparing for the Soulful Arts Collective definitely got my practice going. I already have a few new pieces complete. I will be making more in the coming months (some of which I will send to my GoFundMe donors) and will hopefully be exhibiting them somewhere soon.