Lori Zimmer x Rebaroque x Scope New York

Lori — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:00:50 +0000

Scope New York is less than a week away! I’m going a little nuts getting everything sorted, but I’m super excited. Over the last year or so, I’ve felt very lucky to have so many talented friends in so many different areas. Now, I’m able to combine many of them in this special sound installation by mixing art, design and music. Rather than just playing an iPod, I wanted to have musician friends and artists curate playlists. the World’s Best Ever will be curating all day Thursday, march 3rd, check out their playlist selectors below. I’m really excited for the musician day, which includes Andy Rourke of the Smiths and my favorite crooner, Brian Newman, who I covered on NNE awhile back. I am going to be dancing the whole week. I hope you can visit! I am super duper nervous. No sleep til then…Previews of the pieces to come. x

About the Project:

Debuting at SCOPE New York, The Rebaroque Artist Series Sound Wall, curated by Lori Zimmer, combines our passions- art, sustainable design and music. Each Rebaroque sound panel is made from vintage fabrics, frames, hand painting and high quality Pyle speakers, and hook right up with your iPod or smart device. We’ve selected 20 artists to create unique collaborative pieces that not only look great on your wall, but play your favorite music as well. Artists include Beau Stanton, Claw Money, Cycle, Ellis G, Gaia, Ian Kuali’i, Jim Avignon, Jon Burgerman, Jonathan Viner,M11X, Martin Wittfooth, Mr. Kiji, Nathan Pickett, Orlando Reyes, R OSTARR x Madluv, Ryan Bradley, Sharktoof, Tara McPherson and Vesta.

The pieces will be wired together- creating a wall of sound, which will play a curated program during the fair. We’ve asked some of our favorite artists, musicians and publications to put together the sounds and songs that inspire them, including Gogol Bordello, DJ DB’s BLURRRing Radio, Kid Zoom, DJs Ole Koretsky and Andy Rourke of The Smiths, jazz musician Brian Newman, pop culture blog The World’s Best Ever and more.

About REBAROQUE:
Rebaroque was created from fine artists Mikal Jessie Hameed (aka M11X) and Rebecca Paul’s love for art, history, sustainable design and music. Using all recycled and sustainable materials such as vintage frames and fabrics with hand detailing, the pair have created a line of design meets art meets functional sound panels. Each sound panel functions as a piece of art that hooks into your iPod or smart device. Rebaroque asks us to use our favorite music to interact within the spaces we live or work in, and then redefine how we all think about music and our homes.

Thanks everyone! Can’t wait.

Ryan Bradley

Lori — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:51:50 +0000

Ryan Bradley’s pastel portraits can be easily mistake for a manipulated digital file. His rendition of flesh is so real, with supple continuous color, that one must almost stick their nose to the surface to his fine strokes of pastel.

And ironically, that is primarily how he works, sometimes so close to the canvas or paper that his nose smudges the work he has just done. His incredible skill at photo realism is especially exceptional, as Bradley is legally blind. In the late 90s, as a freshman in a photo class at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Bradley noticed that his photographs were coming out slightly blurred. Blaming his camera, he discovered it was in fact his eyesight, as he tried others’ cameras, which yielded the same results.

His eyesight has gradually been deteriorating over the last 10+ years, yet his artwork has not suffered in the slightest.
Bradley has used Israeli model Adi Neumann for every one of his pieces. This may seem like a monotonous idea, but instead it illustrates his process, highlighting his skill and design. Using the same model allows the viewer to experience Bradley’s artistic vision and intention, rather than being distracted from the comparison of beauty from one model to the next.

His process is long and meticulous, taking months to complete each piece. His OCD doesn’t allow for shortcuts, which is also evident in his apartment/studio, which is a tiny Chelsea space with only the bare essentials- bed, easel, fire place and scores of art books, all neatly stacked according to size.

His first step is photographing Adi, then blowing up the image to a large size he can draw from. The second step takes the longest. Using a sheet of plastic with an adhesive backing that he affixes to his paper, which he hand cuts an intricate pattern into with an Exacto knife. Slowly but surely, he cuts tiny swirls, removing the excess plastic, which can take up to two months. Working in pastels, the rendition of Adi is then applied to the paper. Here is where is rich tones come into play, as Adi is recreated.

And finally, possibly the most wasteful part of all- when the pastel is complete, almost half of it is tossed into the trash. Bradley peels the remaining adhesive plastic away to show his handiwork of two months previous- the detailed pattern work. The result has the effect of a ghost. Fragments of a girl looking you dead in the eye, a whirl of patterned smoke rich with detail.

Bradley has been working hard on his next solo show at the new Chelsea location of Lyons Wier, that is set for early 2012, where he will be exploring abstract pieces in pen and paint to go along with his whispery abstracts of Adi.

Modart » Ryan Bradley

Lori Zimmer x Rebaroque x Scope New York

Ryan Bradley