Exciting news. OBSERVATORY has been featured in Time Out! Check out Melissa Stern's glowing article here. (And all the more reason for you to come to the space this Saturday at 8pm for Judith Schaechter's awesome lecture on beauty).
Thank you, Melissa, and thank you, Time Out New York!
Johfra "The Vision of Hermes Trismegistos" 1985
Exciting news: my feller and I have become engaged, as of this Saturday, May 1st in Vermont. Huzzah! Hooray! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
(And Johfra's chemical wedding painting above was introduced to me by Lady Lavona's glorious tumblr).
Thanks for indulging me in some off-topic news, but two of my loved ones have exciting things to share:
My feller, the twisted playwright/sexynerd/boy wonder, Matt Freeman, has a play opening soon here in NYC, which you won't want to miss. It's called GLEE CLUB (written before that show Glee ever existed, thankyouverymuch) and is a hilarious dark comedy with quite a lot of filthy language, a bit of singing, and ridiculously talented actors including Steve from Blues Clues "like you've never seen him before," as they say. It's up March 3rd - April 3rd, full info below:
Blue Coyote Theater Group proudly invites you to GLEE CLUB, Matthew Freeman’s hilarious comedy about a cut-throat men’s chorus on the verge of meltdown. A sold-out hit at the Antidepressant Festival at the Brick Theater in 2009, GLEE CLUB runs for 20 performances at the Access Theater in Tribeca, opening Mar. 3.Tickets are $25.Previews (Wed., Mar. 3–Fri., Mar 5 @ 8pm) are $15.IF YOU ORDER BY Mar. 3, ticket code WEDS10 can get you unlimited $10 tickets to any WEDNESDAY performance throughout GLEE CLUB’s run! That’s almost 60% off the regular ticket price, but this offer ends once we open so order now!
You can order tickets thru Smarttix at http://www.smarttix.com/show. aspx?EID=&showCode=GLE1 or find out more about the show and order tickets at http://www.bluecoyote.org (and check out the progress on our sparkly new website!)
ACCESS THEATER
380 Broadway, 4th Floor (@ White Street)
(Subways: N/R closest, A/C/E/6/1/9)
Starring Bruce Barton*, Robert Buckwalter, Steven Burns, David DelGrosso*, Carter Jackson*, Stephen Speights, Tom Staggs* and Matthew Trumbull.*
Sets:Robert Monaco
Lights: Wheeler Kincaid
Costumes: Jonna McElrath
Stage Manager: Susan Sunday
Press: Karen Greco Entertainment
“A hoot…stylishly mean and funny, it’s a fine dark comic showcase…”
Martin Denton, NYTHEATRE.COM“Pitch Perfect!”
Aaron Riccio, THAT SOUNDS COOL NEWS, thatsoundscool.blogspot.com
“Transportingly Delightful…Spot-On!”
Sean Williams, SEANRANTS.COM“The feel good tragedy of the year!”
James Comtois, JAMESPEAK, jamespeak.blogspot.com
“You Need To See This S**T!”
Qui Nguyen, BEYONDABSURDITY, beyondabsurdity.blogspot.com
ALSO: My sister, Emily, does phenomenal work assisting people struggling with mental illness as a recovery specialist for Care Plus NJ. She recently started a private consultancy business specializing in helping children and their families navigate the mental healthcare system and getting the guidance they need. Do check out her site and read her blog -- and please pass it along to anyone you think would benefit from her amazing insights and experience.
Remedios Varo "The Calling" 1961
I've been so busy juggling the various spheres of my life recently that I managed to miss this blog's 4 year anniversary on October 29th. Last year, I celebrated by sharing a painting by my personal patron saint, Remedios Varo. I decided to make it a tradition, since her work has such profound meaning for me, and crystallizes so much of my intention for this site -- and for my life in general.
I thought this piece in particular was an apt visual summary of my experience with Phantasmaphile over this past year. During these last 12 months in particular, this blog has been a true conduit for so many exciting developments for me: curating my first art show, starting an amazing arts and events space with kindred spirits here in Brooklyn, and meeting so many marvelous, new friends. I've learned to be much more trusting and open to whatever adventures Phantasmaphile brings my way.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart, dearest reader, for coming along on the journey. And I'm looking very much forward to seeing what this next year will bring.
I covet The Imaginary Foundation's new All-Star Pattern Seekers Trading Cards. So happy to see my main man Joseph Campbell
Wish there were some more ladies though.
Poster by Molly Crabapple
There are two things you must do this weekend if you are in NYC:
- MoCCA Festival is my favorite festival ever ever ever. It features comics and comic art, but is generally way more indie and experimental than the usual comicons. Loads of small presses and self-published stuff to be found here. It never fails to introduce me to new books and artists to fall head over heels in love with. I'll be highlighting some of my acquisitions on the site soon, but for now JUST GO, last day is Sunday, June 7th.
- Matt Freeman (playwright/boy wonder/beloved rogue) has a new play called GLEE CLUB opening at the Brick Theater's Antidepressant Festival. The play is twisted, hilarious, and melodic to boot! First performance is also Sunday, June 7th at 2pm, and are three more, so buy tickets and GO SEE IT!
Photo by Metadromos
I came across the following press release on my web wanderings:
May 8, 2009
Contact: Wendy O’Brien, WillowTree Press Author Promotions Group
Email: promo_dept [at] willowtreepress.com
REVEREND VELVET RIETH TO DISPLAY WITCHCRAFT MUSEUM
WTP Author Brings Buckland Witchcraft Museum To Midwest
Raymond Buckland gathered artifacts and placed them in a collection which ostensibly became the first museum of Witchcraft and Magic in the United States. It was officially opened to viewing in 1968. The collection continued to grow and by the early 70’s was moved, with selected pieces also being loaned to other museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In later years the museum was moved again and eventually languished in storage, unseen by the public.
More recently, WillowTree Press Author, Reverend Velvet Rieth, was appointed curator of the Buckland Witchcraft Museum. She has undertaken the task of returning the collection to its originally intended purpose - to be viewed as a historical representation, and teaching tool, for and about Witchcraft and Magic.
Reverend Rieth will be a special guest at the 2009 Heartland Pagan Festival, located at Camp Gaia in just outside of Kansas City, Kansas. She will be overseeing an exhibit of selected pieces from the Buckland Museum while at the event.
You can also donate here to help raise funds to restore the museum back to its permanent home in New Orleans.
Dan Winters/Wired
I read this awesome article in this month's issue of Wired about a strange US monument called the Georgia Guidestones. I had never heard of them before, but am now determined to see them one day in person. No one knows who had them built, though there is speculation that their multilingual engraved messages are intended to communicate with post-apocalyptic survivors and/or extraterrestrials. Like Stonehenge, their coordinates are calibrated to the sky and the movement of the stars. How cool.
Don't forget: Trinie Dalton will be presenting MIRROR HORROR, a visual discussion of the motif of mirrors in horror movies and art. It's tomorrow (Saturday) at Observatory:
Admission: Free. But bring cash for wine & copies of the gorgeous book, MYTHTYM. Trinie will be happy to sign it for you.
When: Saturday, April 25th, 7pm
Where:
Observatory (same building as Proteus Gowanus, Cabinet Magazine, &
Morbid Anatomy Library). 543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY
11215
Subway: R/M to Union Street ~or~ F/G to Carroll St.
Directions: http://observatoryroom.org/
I'm thrilled to be presenting Phantasmaphile's first event at Observatory, a very special space I've become involved with in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Trinie Dalton will be presenting MIRROR HORROR, a visual exploration of mirrors in art & horror films, as per her essay in her incredible book, MYTHTYM. Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 25th, 7pm. Free admission, but be sure to bring cash for wine & tax-free copies of her book! Looking forward to seeing you there.
Please put on your winter boots, and come out to this very fine event:
This will be the first event at a new collaborative lecture/gallery/classroom/event space I am involved in called "Observatory." The space is sandwiched between Proteus Gowanus Interdisciplinary Gallery and Reading Room, Cabinet Magazine, and the Morbid Anatomy library, all housed in a re-purposed turn-of-the-century box factory located at Union and Nevins in the Gowanus district of Brooklyn, New York. The collaborators include myself, Joanna Ebenstein of Morbid Anatomy, animator/illustrator/musician G. F. Newland, Michelle Enemark and Dylan Thuras of the Curious Expeditions blog, Herbert Pfostl of Blind Pony Books and Paper Graveyard, and video and book artist James Walsh. More on Observatory, and its many upcoming workshops, symposia, events and spectacles to come! We've got some glorious things planned...
2009 is off to a glorious start, wouldn't you say? Economics aside (and I actually believe that is a painful, yet ultimately very good thing in itself), there is much to celebrate. We've got an energizing, evolutionary new president. Numerology predicts lots of positive change this year. There is a petition going around on the internet asking Obama to establish a Secretary of the Arts position which is up to 166,792 signatures (and more if you sign).
As if that wasn't enough, here is some more personal stuff I'm excited about this year:
- Van Morrison is performing Astral Weeks live in NYC on Feb 27th and 28th, and I got tickets! He is also releasing an Astral Weeks Live CD
- My precious Promethea comics by Alan Moore got green-lit for a deluxe re-release, with the first volume dropping later this year. SWOON.
- Visionary artists Alex and Allyson Grey secured land to relocate and expand their amazing interfaith art center, The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors to a 40-acre plot of land in Wappinger Falls, NY. I truly believe this is going to be an unbelievably beautiful and important complex, and encourage you all to support their move and building by donating your time and money to the cause. Mark my words, this is will be a living masterpiece. (And the NY Times agrees).
- And on a very special note, I am thrilled to announce that I am curating a show this spring at Dabora Gallery in Brooklyn, featuring some of my absolute favorite female artists. I'll have many more details and news to share with you about this soon, but mark your calendars for March 14th - April 12th!
What better way to ring in the new year than by celebrating the release of the new Mutter Museum calendar? Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein is hosting the party tonight at the visionary Proteus Gowanus gallery in Brooklyn. The festivities start at 7pm. Happy New Year!
James Henry Nixon "The Tempest"
Looking back on 2008, it seems I've had a bit of a Tempestuous year.
It all started in April with Yinka Shonibare MBE's show, "Prospero's Monsters" at James Cohan Gallery, which was a look at the famous Shakespearean characters through the lens of colonization and imperialism.
Then in September, we saw a version of The Tempest at Classic Stage Company starring Mandy Patamkin, which was staggeringly good. A minimalist square set, accented only by sand and twinkling stars provided a perfect foil for the impassioned performances of the cast. It also contained one of the most moving wedding scenes I have ever witnessed.
A few weeks later, I watched the Greenaway film Prospero's Books
Lastly, the above inspired me to reread issue 75 of Sandman. Which is really really good, but that's all I'll say about that, for those who have not read it.
I suppose I'll complete this post, appropriately enough with:
Scott Hansen
Swann Auction Galleries is at it again. Original vintage magic posters, books, and objects are being auctioned off on October 28th at 1pm, and can be yours for the keeping. Or, if you'd rather save your pennies, you may simply visit the gallery at the following times and view the pieces museum-style:
Friday, October 24, 10-6
Saturday, October 25, 10-4
Monday, October 27, 10-6
Tuesday, October 28, 10-noon
Can't wait to go myself and snag a catalog.
My article about US shops and museums with a wunderkammern aesthetic is up on MSN City Guides today (welcome, MSN readers!), so please do give it a read - it was glorious fun to write about. For those of you who are intrigued, here is an older entry I wrote about cabinets of curiosities on this site, and below is a list of even more recommended places:
Xanadu Gallery in San Francisco
Necromance in Los Angeles
Mutter Museum in Philly
Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Abita Mystery House in Abita Springs, Louisiana
Belhaven Memorial Museum in Belhaven, North Carolina
Any others you'd like to suggest?
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