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New York City

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, NYC (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez September 17, 2018

Was back in New York City with Mrs. Perez last week for a quick weekend getaway; primarily to catch lo-fi folk/rock act Waxahatchee at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village (check out the pics HERE). With the weekend rain dragging into Monday, we decided that a visit the only major art museum open on a Monday would be the perfect way to spend the afternoon, so we hopped a cab to NYC’s famed Museum of Modern Art. We had been there several years ago but brought my mother along who pretty much laughed her way through the museum (“You call that art?!!!”) and wanted little more than to get out of there as soon as possible. I returned this past week accompanied by Mrs. Perez, my camera and a few good lenses – but first, a little history.

Founded in 1929 by by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.) and two of her friends, Lillie P. Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan, the Museum of Modern Art officially opened on November 7, 1929, nine days after the Wall Street Crash(!). It was housed in six rooms of galleries and offices on the twelfth floor of the Heckscher Building at 730 Fifth Avenue (corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street). At the time, it was America’s premier museum devoted exclusively to modern art, and the first of its kind in Manhattan to exhibit European modernism.

Former New York Governor and Vice President Neslon Rockefeller became president of the museum in 1939 and that same year MoMA opened to the public in its new (and present) location on 53rd Street. The new location was renovated and designed by the modernist architects Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone (Stone’s other notable works include Radio City Music Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.).

In 1997, the museum undertook a major renovation and expansion designed by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi with Kohn Pedersen Fox, one of the largest architecture firms in the world. The project, including an increase in MoMA’s endowment to cover operating expenses, cost $858 million in total. The project also nearly doubled the space for MoMA’s exhibitions and programs and features 630,000 square feet of space. The Peggy and David Rockefeller Building on the western portion of the site houses the main exhibition galleries, and The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building provides space for classrooms, auditoriums, teacher training workshops, and the museum’s expanded Library and Archives.

The Museum of Modern Art is considered by many to have the best collection of modern Western masterpieces in the world, including more than 150,000 individual pieces in addition to approximately 22,000 films and 4 million film stills. Since 2012, the museum is open seven days a week and admission costs are $25 for adults, $18 for seniors and $14 for students (children 16 and under are free). TIP: Avoid long lines and buy your tickets online at www.moma.org – you’ll thank me afterwards.

Brought my camera along this time (still photography is allowed) so here are a few photographs of some of the art that caught my eye, enjoy…

Let’s kick things off with “City Dreams” by Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez which consists of sculptures of imagined buildings and cities that reflected dreams for his country, his continent, and the world. The sculptures are created from a range of everyday materials and found objects — colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps — all meticulously repurposed and arranged.

“Fall of the House of Usher” (1979) by Italian artist Mario Merz (1925-2003)

An art tour discusses “Mademoiselle Pogany” (version I, 1913), a sculpture of Hungarian artist Margit Pogany, by pioneering Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957)

Images from MoMa’s “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980” The exhibition explores themes of large-scale urbanization, technology in everyday life, consumerism, monuments and memorialization, and the global reach of Yugoslav architecture and includes more than 400 drawings, models, photographs, and film reels…

The Werner and Elaine Dannheisser Gallery features two towering wood sculptures by German sculptor Thomas Schütte and views of the city…

“Edge of Town” (1969) by American artist Philip Guston (1913-1980). Comical hooded Klan figures first appeared in Guston’s works after one of his Los Angeles murals was vandalized by the Ku Klux Klan in 1933…

“Do the Dance” (2005) by American artist Elizabeth Murray (1940-2007)

A couple perusing a portfolio of forty screenprints and lithographs from German artist Sigmar Polke (1941-2010)

“The Last Supper” (1986) by American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987). From Carolyn Lanchner, MoMA Curator of Painting and Sculpture: In differentially vitiated colors, Dove Soap’s logo in rose and General Electric’s in muted blue announce their presence at the holy scene. God, having separated light and darkness, found his creation to be “good,” and, according to its slogan, GE, with beneficent intent, “brings good things to light.” And did not the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus at his baptism in the form of a dove? One might suspect a radically recast, reimagined transubstantiation. The much more brightly colored price tag of fifty-nine cents is more difficult to justify; might it be the cost of a Woolworth’s copy of The Last Supper?

“Reanimation” installation featuring four videos (color, sound and silent) on custom screens within a prefabricated house structure by American artist Joan Jonas

“American People Series #20: Die” (1967) by female, Harlem-born artist Faith Ringgold. The frenzied spectacle depicted here evokes the race riots that engulfed the United States in the 1960s

“Glenn” (1985) by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)

Young girl observing “Vir Heroicus Sublimis” (1950-51) by American painter and theorist Barnett Newman (1905-1970)

More than three thousand Bell-47D1 helicopters were made in the United States and sold in forty countries between 1946 and 1973, when production ceased. Its designer, Arthur Young (1905-1995), was also a poet and a painter and consciously juxtaposed its transparent plastic bubble (made in one piece rather than in sections) with the open structure of its tail boom. The bubble lends an insectlike appearance to the hovering craft, which generated its nickname, the “bug-eyed helicopter”. This was the “whirlybird” featured in the M*A*S*H movie and television series.

Claude Monet’s “Water Lillies” (1914-26). In this triptych of three mural sized panels, Monet depicted his Japanese-style pond covered with water lilies, at center, shimmering with reflections of clouds overhead…

One of my faves from the MoMA, Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte’s peculiar “The Menaced Assassin” (1927)

“The Lovers” (1928) by René Magritte (1898-1967)

Art lovers admiring Pablo Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907)

“The She-Wolf” (1943) by American artist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)

“The Congo Queen” (1946) by Haitian artist Hector Hyppolite (1894-1948)

“Expansion in Four Directions” (1961-62) by Swiss artist Max Bill (1908-1994)

One of the most recognized pieces of art in the world, “The Starry Night” (1889), an oil on canvas by the Dutch post-impressionist painter and one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The painting depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (a commune in southern France), just before sunrise…

“Masks Confronting Death” (1888) by Belgian artist James Ensor (1860-1949)

Mrs. Perez snapping a photo of Jackson Pollock’s “Easter and the Totem” (1953)

“Interior with a Young Girl” (1905-06) by French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

“Goldfish and Sculpture (1912) by Henri Matisse

Young woman snaps a photograph of yet another work by Henri Matisse, “Dance (I)” which is a preliminary version of a painting made by Matisse in 1909 at the request of Russian businessman and art collector Sergei Shchukin. The final version of the work, completed in 1910 and named “Dance (La Danse)”, resides in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Before we knew it, MoMA was closing and this security guard here looked like he was ready for a nap. Another work by Matisse (yeah, I really liked his work) “L’Atelier Rouge” (1911) hangs in the distance…

Our visit to the Museum of Modern Art was over after just over three hours. Happy we returned to this gem of an art museum. We’ll be back…

Even more art museums

I’ve got a thing for art museums. Whenever I travel, I’m always looking for an art museum to visit – and I’ve been to a few. Besides the MoMA, check out my images from The Solomon R. Guggenheim, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I’ve also visited Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, National Museum of Art of Romania, and the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya (which replicated the spiral design of the Guggenheim) in Mexico City. Yeah, I’ve got a thing for art museums.

September 17, 2018

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez July 26, 2018

written by Dan Perez

Was back in New York City with the family a few weeks ago and a family trip to NYC is usually accompanied by a trip to an art museum. Last week I shared a series of photographs from our first visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art (photographs HERE). Now, the Whitney was founded in 1931 by a wealthy and prominent American socialite and art patron named Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Today, I’d like to share several photographs from our first visit to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on NYC’s Upper East Side. And guess what? That’s right, Solomon Robert Guggenheim was also rich.

Born in 1861 in Philadelphia to a wealthy mining family (some guys are just born lucky, yes?), Guggenheim studied in Switzerland at the Concordia Institute in Zürich before returning to the United States to work in the family mining business. Already a multi-millionaire in the copper business, Guggenheim later founded the Yukon Gold Company in Alaska in 1906. He retired from his business in 1919 to pursue full-time art collecting and began displaying his collection of old masters at his apartment in the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

In 1937, Guggenheim established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, a leading institution for the collection, preservation, and research of modern and contemporary art that operates museums in Venice, Italy, Bilbao, Spain and in the United Arab Emirates. In 1939, he and his art advisor, abstract artist Baroness Hilla von Rebay, opened a venue for the display of his collection, the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, on East 54th Street in NYC.

By the early 1940s, the museum had accumulated such a large collection of avant-garde paintings that the need for a permanent building to house the art collection had become apparent. Guggenheim and Rebay commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright, a pioneering American architect and interior designer, to design a museum for a lot that Guggenheim had acquired on Fifth Avenue. Wright, a narcissist whose life was marked by scandal, debt and even murder, dispensed with the conventional approach to museum layout. His plan was for the museum guests to ride to the top of the building by elevator, to descend at a leisurely pace along the gentle slope of the continuous ramp, and to view the atrium of the building as the last work of art.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Hilla von Rebay, and Solomon Guggenheim with a model of Wright’s design for the new museum, Plaza Hotel, NYC 1945

The museum’s now-iconic spiral design recalls a nautilus shell, with continuous spaces flowing freely one into another. The open rotunda afforded viewers the unique possibility of seeing several bays of work on different levels simultaneously and even to interact with guests on other levels. Wright’s distinctive cylindrical building turned out to be his last major work, as the architect died at age 91, six months before its opening. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened to the public in 1959, ten years after Guggenheim’s death on Long Island in 1949.

So that’s a little bit of history. The Guggenheim Museum is a must-see NYC attraction and proved to be an excellent way to spend a few hours with the family (especially during what was a rainy, sweltering summer day in the city). Admission is $25 for adults, $18 for students and kids under 12 are free. Photography is allowed (and you know I never travel without my camera and a few good lenses) so here are a few images I snapped at this remarkable art museum. Enjoy…

The museum

First thing first, the views of the Guggenheim upon entering are pretty fantastic…

Constantin Brâncuși

My daughter taking a good look at “The Miracle (Seal [I])” by Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1957). Considered a pioneer of modernism, Brâncuși is one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century. His exhibition is ongoing…

Assorted works by Brâncuși

Alberto Giacometti

The works of Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti dominated the museum as part of his exhibition, which runs through September 12. Giacometti was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. Philosophical questions about the human condition, as well as existential and phenomenological debates played a significant role in his work…

Bronze sculpture “Mains tenant le vide [Objet invisible])” (1934) by Alberto Giacometti

Thannhauser Collection

Plenty of work from the old masters in the museum’s Thannhauser Collection, including “Three Bathers (Trois baigneuses)” (1920) by famed Spanish artist Pablo Picasso

One Hand Clapping

Viewers watching Chinese visual artist Wong Ping’s “Dear, can I give you a hand?,” a rather unsettling video about a sexually frustrated elderly man and his seductive daughter-in-law. Installation features custom-modified LED panels and numerous plastic wind-toys and is part of the “One Hand Clapping” exhibition that explores the ways in which globalization affects our understanding of the future. The commissioned works, by five different Chinese artists, represent a range of traditional and new mediums, from oil on canvas to virtual-reality software…

“Spring River in the Flower Moon Night 4” (top) and “Spring River in the Flower Moon Night 1” (2017) by Chinese artist Duan Jianyu

Virtual reality installation by Chinese artist Lin Yilin

In “Possible Music #1” (2018) artist Samson Young turned to physical modeling, a practice in the field of computer science, to create a multilayered sound installation that interrogates our search for truth, and music’s unsung role in shaping humanity…

Part of Chinese artist Cao Fei’s “Asia One” installation includes a painted and decorated motorized tricycle, color video, and items with logo of JD.com

More Museum

The museum is a piece of art in itself…

More Giacometti

More works by by Alberto Giacometti (and me goofing off)

It was raining the day we visited so I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the outside of the building (which is also pretty remarkable) but our visit to this iconic New York City art museum was everything it was cracked up to be. So if you haven’t already OR if you happen to find yourself in New York City, make a few hours for the Guggenheim Museum – you’ll be glad you did…

Even more art museums

Check out my photographs from my visits to other art museums: Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, National Museum of Art of Romania, the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya (which replicated the spiral design of the Guggenheim) in Mexico City. Yeah, I got a thing for art museums.

July 26, 2018

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

Mulberry Street, Little Italy, NYC (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez July 24, 2018

written by Dan Perez

DID YOU KNOW that between 1870 and 1915, New York’s population more than tripled, from 1.5 million to 5 million? At its peak, the Lower East Side (in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan) was one of the most densely populated places on Earth, with 500,000 people crammed into four square miles. It soon became the first American slum in 1880 with 37,000 tenements housing nearly 1.1 million people, mostly one or two room apartments with no running water and bedrooms often without any windows at all.

During this time, mass immigration from Italy led to a large settlement of Italian immigrants in lower Manhattan. This area became known as Little Italy, once the epicenter of Italian American culture, encompassing 30 city blocks. By the late 1930s, Little Italy was 98 percent Italian and Mulberry Street (named after the mulberry trees that once lined Mulberry Bend) is often described as the Main Street of Little Italy.

On the left, one of the more iconic photographs of Mulberry Street at its teeming, turn of the 20th century peak taken by the famed documentarian Jacob Riis in 1900. On the left, Mulberry street today by award-winning photographer Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao. Jacob Riis (1849–1914) was born in Ribe, Denmark and immigrated to New York on a steamship in 1870. Upon his arrival in New York City, Riis struggled his way through various jobs — ironworker, farmer, bricklayer, salesman — all jobs that gave him an up-close look at the less prosperous side of the American urban environment.

Riis landed a job as a police reporter with the New York Evening Sun and worked in the poorest, most crime-ridden areas of the city. These were generally neighborhoods where immigrants lived in deplorable tenement houses. He began to bring a camera with him to document what he found in these neighborhoods, and the conditions in which these people lived. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; who were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography (you can see more examples of his work HERE).

As for Little Italy, the population began contracting dramatically starting in the 1950s, when large numbers of the middle and upper classes moved to the growing suburbs. Rising rents and changing demographics (most notably the expansion of Chinatown) have contracted it further and today its core is centered on the restaurants and food shops of Mulberry Street between Canal and Spring Streets.

During our family trip to NYC earlier this month, we checked into the Solita Soho Hotel our first day there (I was attending a show at Le Poisson Rouge later that evening and the hotel was walking distance from it). The Solita (a very friendly place to stay in NYC if all you’re looking for is a place to lay your head at night) is also walking distance to what is left of Little Italy and on our second night, we walked over to Mulberry Street for dinner (outdoor garden at Da Nico Ristorante, great food and atmosphere). When we came out of Da Nico’s, I noticed the streets were closed to vehicular traffic and bustling with people. After walking for about a block, I quickly headed back to our hotel room for my camera. Why? Well, I’ll let the photographs speak for themselves…

Sure, there are probably more souvenir shops than restaurants but Mulberry Street (between Canal Street and Broome Street) still retains the quickly disappearing remnants of its past. Mulberry Street is closed to vehicular traffic on weekends from 5pm-midnight through Sunday September 9, 2018 for Little Italy Pedestrian Mall so if you haven’t visited this iconic street (it was our first time), make it a priority to have dinner there (and walk the streets afterwards) on the weekend.

Oh, and the Italian-American festival of the Feast of San Gennaro (which began in 1926) still takes place there (this year September 13-23) with the entire street blocked off to vehicular traffic for the street fair. It is the largest Italian-American Festival in New York and possibly the United States. The 11-day festival includes live music, carnival games and most of all food! I just might see you there…

July 24, 2018

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

The Whitney Museum of American Art (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez July 11, 2018

written by Dan Perez

So I was back in NYC last week and as I am wont to do when I travel, I decided to drag my family to yet another art museum (they pretend to hate them but I know that deep down they actually enjoy them). We’ve already been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (photographs HERE) and the Brooklyn Museum (photographs HERE) so this time, I picked the Whitney Museum of American Art – known informally as “The Whitney”.

The Whitney was founded in 1931 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), a wealthy and prominent American socialite and art patron after whom the museum is named. Mrs. Whitney was inspired to become an artist herself after visiting Europe in the early 1900s. Because of her wealth and status, she worked under an assumed name but by 1910 she became a well-regarded sculptor exhibiting her work publicly under her own name. Her sculptures can be found all over the world including at the Washington Heights-Inwood War Memorial, the Women’s Titanic Memorial in Washington, D.C. and on the Victory Arch on Madison Square on 5th Avenue in NYC.

With the aid of her assistant, Juliana R. Force, an American art museum administrator and director, Whitney had collected nearly 700 works of American art and in 1929, she offered to donate over 500 works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the museum declined the gift(!). This led Whitney to start her own museum, exclusively for American art, in a converted row of houses on West 8th Street in Greenwich Village in 1931.

In 1954, the museum left its original location and moved to a small structure on 54th Street connected to and behind the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street before relocating again to a larger structure on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue at 75th Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1966. After grappling with space problems, the museum returned to the West Village in a new 200,000 square foot structure designed by Italian architect and engineer Renzo Piano. Construction began in 2010 and was completed in 2015 for a cool $422 million.

Today the Whitney focuses on 20th and 21st century American art. Its permanent collection comprises more than 21,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, films, videos, and artifacts of new media by more than 3,000 artists. It was our first visit to “The Whitney” and we spent several hours perusing the offerings of this fine museum. Time very well spent. Brought along my camera, here are a few photographs – enjoy…

From the exhibition ‘Mary Corse: A Survey in Light’ which approaches the question of light through painting…

“A Woman in the Sun” (1961) by American realist painter Edward Hopper

Henry Koerner’s fascinating “Mirror of Life” (1946)

A young woman observing “$199 Television” (1961) by Andy Warhol

“Standing Lincoln” (1912) by Daniel Chester French, one of the most prolific and acclaimed American sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries…

“Baptism in Kansas” (1928) by John Steuart Curry

One of my favorites at the Whitney, “The Family” (1955) by Charles Alston, an African-American painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher who lived and worked in Harlem. Alston’s 1990 bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. became the first image of an African American displayed at the White House…

“The Lord Is My Shepherd” (1926) by American painter and muralist Thomas Hart Benton. His fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States…

“Office Girls” (1936) by Russian-born American painter Raphael Soyer

The Whitney Museum boasts four terraces and exterior staircases that let museumgoers enjoy sweeping views of the city…

A young woman takes a seat on one of the outside terraces of the Whitney next to “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” (2008), a steel rendering of a rifle’s crosshairs by African-American artist Rashid Johnson. The title is borrowed from a 1988 song by Public Enemy, whose logo features an image of crosshairs…

Another one of my faves, “The Subway” (1950) by American figurative painter George Tooker

“Employment Agency” (1937) by artist Isaac Soyer, a social realist painter who often portrayed working-class people of New York City in his paintings…

“Stop The War” protest posters from the Whitney’s “An Incomplete History of Protest” exhibition which looks at how artists from the 1940s to the present have confronted the political and social issues of their day…

“Felix, June 5, 1994” by artist AA Bronson depicts Felix Partz, one of Bronson’s collaborators in the Toronto-based collective General Idea. Partz died in 1994 of an AIDS-related illness…

African-American artist Carl Pope’s brilliantly disguised installation, “Some of the Greatest Hits of the New York City Police Department” addresses the history of police brutality in New York between 1949 and 1994. The inscriptions, which include the names of people who were killed or brutalized as well as the officers who committed the acts, were written by the artist using trophies and plaques made specifically for law-enforcement use…

A young man ponders the meaning of artist Melvin Edwards’ barbed wire “Pyramid Up and Down Pyramid” (1969)

My daughter takes a break under “New No’s”, a poem written after the election of Donald J. Trump and acts as a declaration against the drift of American society toward what is most un-American. Designed by Paul Chan and Badlands Unlimited, a book publisher…

Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s “Untitled” (America) (1994–95), which consists of twelve light strings, each with forty-two 15-watt lightbulbs and rubber sockets, hangs in the museum’s grand staircase…

Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo’s “Cosmotarrayas” combine handmade fishing nets and collected objects, many from Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. It’s part of the museum’s “between the Waters” exhibit…

My wife and daughter admiring the work of NYC based artist Cy Gavin’s “Aubade II (Spittal Pond)” (2016). The painting, made up of acrylic, chalk and oil on denim, is part of the collection of Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave…

And a good time was had by all…

Check out my photographs from my visits to other art museums: Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, National Museum of Art of Romania and the Museo Nacional de Arte and Museo Soumaya in Mexico City (yeah, I got a thing for art museums).

July 11, 2018

Blog Photography Sound and Vision

My Weekend at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez May 25, 2018

written by Dan Perez

(Le) Poisson Rouge is a multimedia art cabaret founded by musicians on the site of the historic Village Gate on the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in New York City’s Greenwich Village. The venue, which is dedicated to the fusion of popular and art cultures in music, film, theater, dance, and fine art, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and has prided itself in offering the highest quality eclectic programming.

This past weekend I made the trip up to NYC to hang out with my youngest brother Ruben who was celebrating his birthday. Now, whenever I’m in NYC, you’ll always find me at Le Poisson Rouge at some point (check out my some of my past visits to LPR HERE) and this particular weekend was no exception. The diversity of this particular weekend’s acts, however, really spoke volumes about the quality eclectic programming Le Poisson Rouge claims to pride itself in. They weren’t kidding.

As many of you know, I never travel without my camera so I’ll let the photographs do the talking. Let’s start with this past Friday, shall we? First up was Argentine guitar virtuoso Hernan Romero and his flamenco/Latin jazz fusion…

Later that evening, The Fresh Kids of Bel-Air took the stage (as they do Every Friday night). This septet of NYC-based musicians have come together to put on the most dynamic live 90s show in the city…

On Saturday night, the lovely ladies of Wasabassco (world-renowned for their disarmingly sexy combination of contemporary striptease and top-tier variety and named “ONE of the TOP 10 Best Burlesque Shows in the World” by Travel Channel) brought their House of Deveraux show to the LPR stage. Hosted by The Golden Glamazon Sydni Deveraux…

Late Saturday night (and EVERY Saturday night) featured the “Back to the Eighties” show with Jessie’s Girl, the world’s best 80s band. I’ve seen these guys perform close to twenty times over the years, never gets old…

Sunday night, black metal act Pillorian took the stage, shrouded in darkness. Now, there’s no better test for a venue’s sound system than blackened walls of guitars, power drumming and guttural vocals and Pillorian sounded glorious…

And on the last night of my NYC stay (Monday), South Florida-bred Roosevelt Collier (aka “The Dr.”) and his pedal steel guitar rocked the house with members of Snarky Puppy in a mean set of dirty funky blues…

I think I’m gonna rest my case here because as far as eclectic programming goes, Le Poisson Rouge delivers what they promise. So if you happen to find yourself in NYC, make it a priority to check the LPR events page and see what’s playing – you never know what you might get…and that’s a beautiful thing.

May 25, 2018

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

VolvoTango: Pier 45, New York City (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez October 4, 2017

written by Dan Perez

So I’m in New York City a week ago for about five days on a work (and play) assignment and on my last full day there (a Sunday), my younger brother Ruben takes me out for brunch in Battery Park City and afterwards, we walked up to Pier 45 at the end of Christopher Street and the West Side Highway. He told me they have an outdoor “milonga” (a social event or location for tango dancing) there every Sunday and that it was a cool place to just hang out and “people watch”.

He was right.

Every fair-weather Sunday, starting at around 1pm until about 6pm, Argentine Tango dancing takes place under the gazebo at the end of Pier 45. It’s called VolvoTango and it’s a free, or rather a pay-what-you-wish event, hosted by Tango instructor Steve Beltzer, who started the outdoor tango events playing music from the car stereo of a Volvo. Beltzer calls it his “mission” to “expose the tango to the public” and get people feeling as passionate about the sexy dance as he does.

In an article I came across online, the Tango is described as not being about leading and following; but about dancing. “A great tanda (a turn of dancing) is magical coming together of two sentient, creative beings ready to make something happen in motion, in harmony with each other, with the music, and with the room. Both individuals are creating the dance in fluid response to the sensuous ebb and flow of the music.”

Now, I never travel without my camera and as I pulled it out of the bag on Pier 45, I realized that this “magical coming together of two sentient, creative beings, in harmony with each other, with the music” was not just something you’d hear a judge say on TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance”. It was what I was witnessing. It really was special and I couldn’t help but try to capture it with my camera. I think I might just have succeeded enough. That it was an absolutely glorious day in NYC surely helped. Enjoy…

Check out the schedule for upcoming VolvoTango events in NYC, grab a pair of dancing shoes, and create a great “tanda” of your own…

October 4, 2017

Blog Live Music Photography Sound and Vision

JJ Sansaverino’s Downtown Jazz Jam | Carroll Place, NYC (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez October 3, 2017

written by Dan Perez

A couple of weeks ago, I traveled up to my old stomping grounds of NYC for some work and a little play. On my first night in the city, my little brother Ruben invited me to see a jam session going on at Carroll Place on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Trusting my brother’s better judgment, I went along. And boy was I glad I did. Really glad.

Veteran NYC guitarist Joe “JJ” Sansaverino has worked with the likes of George Clinton, Shaggy, Sean Paul, Super Cat, Shabba Ranks, the Jungle Brothers and continues to perform worldwide with reggae legends Maxi Priest and Shaggy. His special guests for his “Downtown Jazz Jam” on this particular evening were Jamaica West Indies Bass Phenomenon Taddy P and NYC jazz fusion saxophonist Curtis Haywood II. Also featured were veteran NYC musicians Nate Jones on bass, Jason Patterson on drums and Jared “Red” Jacobs on Keyboards.

Now, I don’t know how to put it any other way than these guys friggin’ killed it. One of the best live performances I’ve seen. Period.

I brought my camera along and snapped a few photographs that might not allow you to “hear” how great the music was, but it clearly illustrates the passion behind the music. And for those of you in New York City, JJ is back at Carroll Place on October 12 at 8pm with sax player Will Donato. If you can be there, be there. You won’t be sorry. Promise.

JJ Sansaverino on left and Taddy P on right

Bassist Taddy P

Curtis Haywood’s sax was smoking. For real.

Jared “Red” Jacobs on Keyboards

Jason Patterson on drums

Nate Jones on bass

Great time with my brother at Carroll Place, which has a great food menu as well and offers an intimate setting for live shows. Check out JJ and Will Donato on October 12th. You’re welcome.

October 3, 2017

Blog Featured (Soledad)Films GRAFSTRACT Sound and Vision

GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance | A Short Documentary Film

by Dan Perez August 7, 2017

written by Dan Perez

Filmed in the Bronx back in the summer of 2014, my short documentary film “GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance” has just completed a rather surprising three year film festival run that included screenings in 13 different countries as well as Los Angeles (where it won the “Best Street Art Film” award at the 2015 New Urbanism Film Festival), New York City (2016 Bronx International Film Festival) and several states in between.

The film is now available for public viewing (scroll down to watch the film subtitled in Spanish or Italian) and you can read up on on all the who, what, when, where and why on the film’s official page. So enjoy the film and feel free to let us know what you thought of it in the comments section below (and feel free to share!). Thanks, in advance!

Here’s the film:

GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance from DanPerezFilms on Vimeo.

La película subtitulada en español:

GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance [SPANISH SUBTITLES] from DanPerezFilms on Vimeo.

Il film sottotitolato in italiano:

GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance [Italian Subtitles] from DanPerezFilms on Vimeo.

From Left: James ‘Sexer’ Rodriguez, myself, SinXero, and John ‘Crash’ Matos [Day 1]

From Left: Chris Stain, Billy Mode, James ‘Sexer’ Rodriguez and SinXero [Day 2]

From Left: Luis ‘Zimad’ Lamboy, James ‘Sexer’ Rodriguez, SinXero, and John ‘Crash’ Matos [Day 3]

Me and my “Production Assistant”, my daughter Miranda. That’s a wrap!

August 7, 2017

Blog Photography Places & Spaces

The Inaugural Urban Art Fair in New York City (In Pictures)

by Dan Perez July 5, 2017

written by Dan Perez

So, this past weekend, I took the family to New York to celebrate my wife’s 50th birthday (er, I mean, 35th birthday!) with family and friends (we live in South Florida, you see, but grew up in New York). We had a lovely dinner party on Saturday night but I hadn’t really made any plans for the following day. Fortunately, my street art loving little brother suggested we check out the first edition of the Urban Art Fair at Spring Studios in New York.

The fair, which kicked off on June 29 and ran through July 3, had its first and second editions in Paris in 2016 and April 2017 and is dedicated entirely to celebrating urban art and graffiti. With more than 20 international galleries hailing from Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong, Miami, and my old stomping grounds of the Bronx, I figured this was an ideal way to spend a free weekend afternoon in NYC.

So we headed downtown to Spring Studios in the heart of Tribeca with Mrs. Perez, my teenage daughter, but without my Lumix GH4 and my usual assortment of lenses. I wanted to travel light so I trusted the camera on my HTC 10 to get the job done (did you know it can shoot in RAW?). It did.

Here are a few images from the first edition of the Urban Art Fair in New York City – enjoy…

“Preservons La Creation” by French artist Sebastien “Mr. D” Boileau. Made of upcycled spraycans, the image of the white-bearded man only shows up when you photograph it with a cellphone camera. The painting will set you back a cool $120k…

NYC street artist DAIN

“Merde in USA” by French artist Sebastien “Mr. D” Boileau

Italian artist Tomaso Albertini uses angular segments of cardboard to create his work…

Mauritian (an Indian Ocean island nation) artist Gael Froget

“Tomato Soup” by French street artist Pimax

Me and the family admiring the work of the Bronx’s own John “Crash” Matos

Series of photographs by Henry Chalfant, an American photographer most notable for his work on graffiti and hip hop culture…

Urban art lovers enjoying the collection of art and photography…

“Lost Values” by Los Angeles based artist Kaï Aspire

No urban art fair would be complete without the work of England-based artist Banksy

“Moving Forward” by NYC based artist Logan Hicks

Mrs. Perez admiring the work of French-born, Los Angeles-based street artist Thierry Guetta, aka Mr. Brainwash

British artist Prefab77

“Head-in-the-wall (child)” by American artist Mark Jenkins

“Freedom” by Romano of the French street art collective Le Mouvement

Mural by Paris-based street artist Hopare

Assorted works by iconic American artist and social activist Keith Haring {RIP}

“Sobre la resistencia” by Spanish artist Mesa

French artist Nowart

Alicia Keys by French street artist Noé Two

Irish artist Fin DAC

John Lennon by French artist French artist Nowart

A pair of paintings by French street artist Seaty

Urban fashion also on display…

View from above…

Live painting by French street artist Noé Two on the roof of Spring Studios

Views from the rooftop…

For an art lover like myself (and my family), the Urban Art Fair in New York was a lovely way to spend a few hours on what was a lovely summer day and an overall lovely weekend. Watch for it next year…

Love street art as much as I do? Check out my NYC street art documentary films “The Candle” (the inspirational story of how NYC street artist Marthalicia Matarrita and her brothers overcame poverty and harsh living conditions through their passion for art) and “GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance” featuring urban artists SinXero, James “Sexer” Rodriguez and legendary Bronx graffiti artist john “Crash” Matos.

July 5, 2017

Blog Films Sound and Vision

“The Candle”: A Short Documentary Film about the Power of Art (and Family)

by Dan Perez February 22, 2017

written by Dan Perez

“The Candle” is a short but sweet documentary film I shot in the Bronx in the summer of 2013. The film introduces you to Marthalicia Matarrita, a Dominican/Costa Rican artist raised in New York City with her two brothers, Tomas (older) and Jorge (younger). Encouraged by her mother, Marthalicia and her brothers realized a passion for art at a very young age; and during a very difficult time in their lives.

I came across Marthalicia during an internet search for Bronx street artists that summer. My younger brother Ruben and I were in the process of creating a video series on street artists and I was looking to feature someone from my old stomping grounds (I was born and raised in the Bronx). I found her art style, a fusion of nature and the harsh realities of inner city life, fresh and appealing so I reached out to her by phone and that’s when she told me that her two brothers were also artists. The proverbial plot had just thickened.

I met Marthalicia face-to-face for the first time a few days after our initial conversation as she was working on a mural project at the Tinton Avenue projects in the Bronx. I was able to arrange an interview with her and her brothers Tomas and Jorge for later that evening. When my brother and I arrived for the shoot, we entered a sweltering tenement basement used by Marthalicia and her brothers as an art studio. What followed was a series of interviews where the many hardships this family had to endure came to light. Financial hardships had stripped the family of resources most of us take for granted; the family of five found themselves in a small one-bedroom apartment and even a homeless shelter. Their passion for art, however, provided an escape – even when the electricity went out.

During the shoot, I also came to learn that it had been several years since Marthalicia and her brothers had actually come together to paint. Watching them work the canvas together with their own distinct styles over several hours of what turned out to be a long steamy night, I couldn’t help but feel I was part of a special moment for this family; I think they felt it as well. And as I edited this short film in my own studio back home in South Florida, I felt all the more fortunate to have spent the evening with a family that had overcome so much…

And I learned that art has a power to give joy in even the harshest of environments. It was a good lesson.

The film has been screened in a handful of small film festivals over the years since it made its premiere at the 2014 Indie Boots Film Festival in Chicago. It has also screened at film festivals in Los Angeles, Trenton (NJ), San Antonio, the Dominican Republic, Buenos Aires, and Barcelona.

It’s a modest little film shot over the course of just one afternoon and evening but the message it carries is poignant. It’s also a film that I’m very, very proud of. I hope you enjoy it (your feedback is welcome!).