Saturday, February 19, 2022

Gallery Watch: 'Beetlejuice' by Faith Icecold at Housing

Interview by Clare Gemima 
Photos courtesy of Faith Icecold 

Faith Icecold is a craftsperson from planet Earth. In 2018, Faith Icecold was a Studio Immersion Project (SIP) Fellowship recipient at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop

I interviewed Icecold about their solo show “Beetlejuice,” currently running at Housing, 191 Henry St. on the Lower East Side, until Feb. 25. We discussed ceramics, Icecold’s inspirational figures, and some systemic issues that run through art’s history. 

How would you describe your artistic practice? 

My practice is an attempt to perform art therapy on myself, to create some version of balance of the mind and soul under global anti-Blackness. Also, my practice is a reactionary response to artworks that I strongly dislike or find offensive for various reasons. 

So basically, my practice is about making diss tracks to help myself feel better under global anti-Blackness. I believe most artists want people to forget that all new art movements started as diss tracks like “x is fucking terrible, let me show ’em how it should be done…” 

I also hold onto the one strict rubric: if the artwork isn’t a fraction as good as Brandy’s album Full Moon, then was it really hitting? I make pretty things for myself, and I am happy when other people enjoy the pretty things I create as well. 

At the beginning of 2021, I wasn’t sure if I would survive to see 2022 and thought to myself, “Nah, I need to do ceramics somehow before I die.” So, I said “fuck it” and sent Woody De Othello a cold email to ask him if I could come to California to work at his studio, to have kiln access and to work alongside a Black artist I respect. (Othello and Alake Shilling changed the course of ceramics forever — quote me on that). He said yes, so I ended up living in the Bay Area for the first part of 2021. 

That is literally the only way I could’ve made ceramics at that point in the pandemic. I am forever grateful to Woody for extending a gesture that all degree artists should be able to make toward non-degree Black artists — helping them have access to afford to make art. Two works from my time in Oakland are in “Beetlejuice.”

What have you learned about ceramics in the process of crafting “Beetlejuice”? 

Working on “Beetlejuice” was an adventure, to say the least. What I fully grasped from making this exhibition is the idea that ceramic art continues to be divorced from its non-degree Black origins. Nine out of 10 Black people in Amerika cannot afford to even take a one-day “try-out” ceramics course. “Beetlejuice” would have been mostly ceramic works, but I did not have my own kiln after working with Woody,  so I had to wait to take a community-studio course, which was very expensive.

It wasn’t until the fall of 2021 that I had access to a kiln to make my clay works. In community-studio courses, I am usually the only Black person. Having very few Black peers in a mostly white studio, plus being in a large art studio during that stage of the pandemic… plus finding time to have open studio time while working full time, plus only having a shared shelf in the kiln for making works made it extremely difficult to finish. 

Due to my lack of kiln access and seeing a Rosie Lee Tompkins show while in California, I was pushed toward fiber arts where yes, it would be amazing to have my own studio, but a lot of fiber art can be made “at home.” 

Once I have my own kiln, I will be able to create more freely and more frequently. Working with clay is one of the only things I do not hate in this hellish world. I wish that all Black people had access to ceramics — not just well-off people who can afford to take classes or those who can afford to have and run their own kiln.
Could you explain the soft/hard practice to someone unfamiliar with this terminology? 

Soft/hard references materiality. It is a system of relational aesthetics. Soft materials like light, air, fiber or water interact with hard materials like stone, steel, glazed ceramic or glass within the same piece to create a version of harmony. 

Getting into Barbara Chase-Riboud’s rope and metal works made me realize that the best sculptures have soft materials that are activated through close conversations with hard materials. I believe there is a “soft” and “hard” version to all materiality if the material is guided in a way. But then there are materials that are in-between, like plasma, which is not fully hard nor fully soft. 

Mixing up molecules through materiality establishes a dynamic of musicality within art, like when one instrument plays a sustained note while another instrument is playing a series of moving notes all at the same time. Soft materials determine hardness, and hard materials determine softness — they help define each other. For me, blending a variety of textures introduces depth when it comes to sculpture. 

To quote Beetlejuice’s checklist, “All of the craftwork in this show exists without a personal studio, a BFA, or an MFA.” In response to this, I would like to ask: Where has this work been made? 

All of the craft-driven objects in “Beetlejuice” were made in my bedroom or in shared community-studio spaces. The art world likes to downplay that poor people cannot afford to pay rent on a place to live AND pay rent on an art studio at the same time (especially during the pandemic). 

What are your thoughts regarding “institutionalized” art learning? 

I can go on for days about art of the academy and its mountains of anti-Blackness and other forms of exploitation, but what I will say is that all degree art (Black AND non-Black) is just watered down non-degree Black art. All of it. 

I did not pursue a BFA because I did not even think that was an option as a Black person. And I cannot afford to get a BFA even now unless it is a full ride, which is a rarity for most Black people. Almost all degree artists are not poor, and the academy wants to flatten that fact. Like, even if I did get a full ride, I wouldn’t be able to afford supplies to make work as often as fellow students.

Is there a reason you have chosen not to pursue a university qualification in art-making, and if so, why? 

It is not about choice. Black people do not have autonomy under global anti-Blackness, and “alternative options” only present themselves once a Black person has enabled and/or enacted “enough” anti-Blackness. I center non-degree Black art because we are the most marginalized in the art world but get stolen from the most. It’s all systemic. Almost all non-degree Black artists do not get material support they need until they are old, about to die or dead already. There are very few exceptions, but they are usually non-degree Black people that render Black people for non-Black consumption or they render things like a Black police person or a protest. 

What defines your works as “remixes”? 

The only “original” art pieces are the first cave paintings and the first craft objects ever made, all of which were made by Black people. So, I am fully aware that nothing I make and nothing anyone else makes in 2022 is “original.” Someone else has done it before all of us, so the best approach is to fully identify who came before me and what movements came before me to figure out how to add to the source instead of doing the exact thing someone else has already done. 

The language of remixes is born from Black culture, and most Black people already understand that concept — like how Black people cover the same track, but each cover is not the same, or how Black people will create remixes of pre-existing tracks and build directly from the source. All good art is a direct “response” to an “original call.” All artists copy but not all artists (spell)cast and transform. 

How long did it take you to create this body of work and was there any technique in the process that you had no prior experience with? 

One day in May, toward the end of my shift (where I stand for most of the day), the idea for the mini quilts and most of the works for the show came to mind. Art-making sometimes feels like you are reaching into a space with no lights, searching for something you need but cannot describe, and then suddenly, you’ll pull something from the ether/the void to build upon.

For “Beetlejuice,” I learned glass fusing, learned to quilt, learned to make jewelry and simple beading, learned to wet felt, learned to sew, learned how to flock materials, and learned how to apply ceramic decals. I wanted “Beetlejuice” to be an ode to non-degree Black craftspeople that came before me, so my idea was to showcase Black craft in various interconnected craft-based skill-sets. 

What piece in the show challenges you the most? 

The wet felt piece was probably the “most challenging” only because I learned how to do it by watching a YouTube video and wasn’t sure if I was “doing it right” the whole time, but it worked out. Also, the ceramic tile piece — only because I made each tile for the piece myself before adding the decals and learned to do the decals by watching a YouTube video too. 

What piece in the show do you resonate with the most or are the proudest? 

I am proud of the entire show, like I really did a solo show in NY while working full time during multiple waves of this pandemic. All without rendering Black bodies for non-Black consumption, or using the poor Black experience as materiality, or using Black suffering as materiality, or using my family as materiality! 

I look at some of the pieces now, and I am honestly shocked that I finished all of this new work within a year, and most of it involved new processes to me. I hope non-degree Black artists who came before me are proud of my work in “Beetlejuice” because non-degree Black art determines the flow of all art movements globally. 

We are the past, present and future of art and craft. I plan on “retiring” from art criticism and center my focus on making art and trying to stay alive/afloat under global anti-Blackness.


.  

Housing is open Wednesday-Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. at 191 Henry St. between Jefferson and Clinton.

~~~~~~

Clare Gemima is a visual artist and arts writer from New Zealand, now based in the East Village of New York. You can find her work here: claregemima.com

Allouche Gallery opens a temp space on 2nd Avenue

Allouche Gallery has left the Meatpacking District for a new home this spring in SoHo. 

In the interim, they are using the for-lease retail space in the newish residential building at 24 Second Ave. (at First Street) for a show titled "VoilĂ  L'Afrique," featuring the works of Jimbo Lateef, Dankyi Mensah, Bamouin Sinzè, Oscar Nelson and Ayi Mensah. (Read more about it here.) The exhibit is here through March 12. 

The pop-up gallery is open Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

2 new Citi Bike docking stations for Avenue A

The Citi Bike expansion in the East Village saw the arrival of two new docking stations on Avenue A this past week ... with 41 docks between 11th Street and 12th Street outside Steinerville (above) ... and 41 docks between 13th Street and 14th Street...
In November, DOT reps told a Community Board 3 committee that "demand shows 1,804 docks [are] still needed in CB3." The proposal calls for an installation of 683 docks for now, with more capacity coming by extending existing stations. (Find the presentation here.)

Other new Citi Bike locations include Fifth Street at Avenue A, Fourth Street at Avenue B, Seventh Street at Avenue B, Sixth Street at Second Avenue and 14th Street at First Avenue (SW corner) and 10th Street at Second Avenue. 

And for anyone keeping tabs on parking around Avenue A, the removal of the abandoned dining structure Thursday outside the former August Laura gave back four spots on Sixth Street ...

Friday, February 18, 2022

Friday's parting shot

Please do not bang on glass plastic. 

 NOTED at the East Village Prescription Center on Avenue A and Third Street... pic by Stacie Joy...

You give love a bad...

 

Dehd's new single, "Bad Love," debuted this week (appropriately enough on Feb. 14 and featuring another rather campy-goofy video — this one is still a fave) ... this is the Chicago-based band's first single from the upcoming album Blue Skies, out on Fat Possum May 27.

And Dehd will be at the Bowery Ballroom on May 24.

[Updated OMG] An Avenue A product available on Avenue A: an investigation

The other day, EVG reader Nancy shared a photo of Avenue A napkins, which she said she purchased at Key Food on Avenue A.

This email caused some confusion in the EVG Newsroom. As far as we knew, Avenue A products — some 370 strong (for real) — were sold exclusively at Associated.
We thought Nancy was confused... perhaps she was at Associated on Avenue C and Eighth Street. (We make this mistake all the time and only realize it when we don't hear any Mike + the Mechanics or Glass Tiger playing via the store sound system.) 

So we headed over to Key to see for ourselves. 

We don't recall ever seeing Avenue A products here. (Then again, we never realized that Key sold firewood, which was upfront by the birdseed and those big tins of Keebler Export Sodas that no one has bought since 1994.) 

Sure enough, one pack of Avenue A napkins was left this morning ...
... seemingly a popular pick at $2.99...
So we don't know why (at the moment) an Avenue A product reserved for Associated, Met, Pioneer and Compare Foods brands ended up here. 

Meanwhile, the firewood is nearby now...
Updated 7:33 p.m. 

Thankfully, EVG Senior Key Food Correspondent Stacie Joy is on the case now... 

An explanation: According to the store, the issue is that this brand has just become available at the distribution warehouse. So the warehouse is where KeyFood/ManDell shops, and you can select/order anything listed as available at the warehouse. This brand is now listed as "available," so Key bought it and stocked it. 

There are three products from this line now at Key: the napkins, paper towels and, oddly, crackers.

The 1980s East Village as seen through the lens of photographer Peter Bennett

Last June, we reported on the passing of Arthur Enrique Guerra, the founder of Guerra Paint & Pigment on 13th Street. The post included a photo of Guerra's mural on St. Mark's Place of John Spacely, aka Gringo, from 1983. Peter Bennett took that iconic photo of the Gingo mural. 

Bennett, a native New Yorker who now resides in Los Angeles, recently shared more photos from the era. He grew up in Greenwich Village and lived in the East Village from 1979 to 1988. (You can read more about him here.) He gave us permission to post these EV street scenes from the 1980s. (Top photo is outside the former Love Saves the Day on the NW corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street.

Here are a few more shots from his archives (click on the image to go big)  ...  

St. Mark's Place...
Second Avenue at Seventh Street...
Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place (NW corner) ...
Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place (SW corner) ...
Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
Fifth Street at Avenue D ...
Fifth Street near Avenue C...
There are some more photos here

If you liked these, perhaps we can have an encore one of these days. Thanks to Peter for sharing!

Looker has closed on Avenue B

A for-lease sign is hanging now on the door here at 42 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street, marking the official closure of Looker. 

The bar-restaurant, serving vegan bar food and cocktails, debuted this past April... a sibling to the former occupant here, Post. (Post is open in a larger space around the corner at 217 E. Third St. between B and C.) 

In an Instagram message, ownership told us that business was off, which was made worse during the omicron-fueled COVID surge in December and early January. 

Thank you to Vinny & O for the photo

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Thursday's parting shot

Last Christmas, I gave you my beer 
But the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears 
I'll give it to someone special 

As seen today in Tompkins Square Park... thanks to Eden for the pic!

[Updated] City is removing abandoned curbside dining structure on Avenue A and 6th Street

City crews are on the NE corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street this morning dismantling the abandoned dining shed outside the now-closed August Laura. (Thanks Goggla for the pic!) 

As of this writing, they have yet to remove the restaurant's longer structure on Sixth Street.

As previously reported several readers-residents have complained about the structure on the Sixth Street side. The bar-restaurant August Laura closed in the corner space here in early December. Neighbors say the space has become "a 24-hour shooting gallery."

Complaints to the city on these two structures date to Dec. 23.

To be continued...

Updated 9:46 a..m. 

Sixth Street side is coming down... pics via Goggla....
Updated 2 p.m. 

And later... thanks to Steven for the photo on the Sixth Street side...

Eileen Fisher makes 9th Street closure official

Photos by Steven

As a follow-up to our previous post (from Feb. 7) about the Eileen Fisher storefront on Ninth Street: The shop has made its closure official.

The Eileen Fisher sign was removed from the storefront ... and there's now a note on the front door  ...

The note reads in part: 

After much thought, we have decided to close our 9th Street Eileen Fisher store. 

We thank you for being part of this special community and will miss you.

The outpost had been closed since late August for "building maintenance." There were rumors the shop had closed in early February, though there wasn't anything official about it made public.

This was Fisher's first location, opening in 1987. Her brand grew to 50-plus shops around the country and sales in various department stores.

As Manhattan Sideways wrote this about the Ninth Street outpost: "[I]t is not even owned by the larger corporation behind the other shops, but rather by Eileen Fisher herself. Sample garments are sold here – some that never made it into production. Many of the pieces found here are different from what is in the rest of the line each season." 

[Updated] Verameat closes on Feb. 22

Updated: Vera has decided to close the shop on Tuesday, Feb. 22 — with a 65-percent off sale going on until then.

While on the topic of Ninth Street ... several EVG readers have noted the for-rent sign hanging in the front window at Verameat at No. 315 between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Owner and designer Vera Balyura announced (via Instagram) last month that her lease was up here in April... and she was debating what to do next. Perhaps close her physical locations (here and in Brooklyn) and go online only? 

As for staying in this spot... unfortunately,  the landlord apparently isn't interested in negotiating a deal for her to stay (she also had to pay full rent during the pandemic when the shop couldn't even open). 

Balyura has been selling her unique jewelry designs from here since 2011. 

You can follow the shop on Instagram for updates... and visit the store in the weeks ahead.

Measure what you eat at DM Restaurant

DM Restaurant opened earlier this month on the SE corner of 10th Street and Fourth Avenue... officially 71 Fourth Ave., the first retail tenant for the deluxe 10-floor cantilevering condoplex that arrived here in 2019.
This month, ownership received administrative approval from CB3 for a liquor license at this location. The online questionnaire describes DM's food as "Asian fusion (both Chinese and Korean)."

Several EVG readers pointed out this opening ... though no one we know has eaten here just yet.

The DM's Yelp page notes that this is the first North American outpost for the brand with 200 locations worldwide. 

And per the name, you order your food by the decimetre/decimeter. The menu features a variety of wings, fries, beef patties, etc. ... not sure exactly how this all works if someone wants to go investigate...

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Some happy campers on 10th Street now as NYPD relocates RV

The camper that had been parked on 10th Street east of First Avenue is no longer on the block. 

Updated 11:30 a.m. 

The NYPD explains what happened in a tweet... As noted here, some unhappy residents who lived nearby painted messages outside (and on) the camper late last week with directives such as "move" ... "leave" ... and "Camper time to go."

Those messages remain on the sidewalk.

Photo today by Steven

Uncle Johnny is closing on Avenue D

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated: Uncle Johnny's last day is now Feb. 21.

Uncle Johnny Grocery Deli Supermarket is closing at the end of the month on the SW corner of Avenue D and Fifth Street. 

Sources told EVG contributor Stacie Joy that the lease is expiring at this grocery where the hot prepared foods, such as roasted chicken, rice and beans and tostones, are a draw. 

We don't know how long Uncle Johnny has been here (a long time) ... Stacie recently stopped by the store as the shelves were starting to empty ahead of the March 1 close date...
Avenue D is also served by Met Fresh Supermarket, Food Emporium, USA Super Stores and various small markets-delis.

9th and C looks to be home to the second coming of former LES cantina La Flaca

An EVG tipster shares these photos of the former Esperanto space, which apparently has a new tenant.

A sign on the door here on the NW corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street for the USPS includes the names La Flaca and Robert Gonzales ... 
Gonzales, a native of New Mexico, operated La Flaca — billed as "New York's premier New Mexican bar and restaurant" — during a 10-year run (2010-2020) down on Grand at Suffolk. Looks as if they're just starting to settle in here and have yet to appear before CB3 for a new liquor license.

Esperanto quietly closed sometime in 2021 after 22 years in service.

A look at a few of tonight's applicants to appear before CB3's SLA committee

Here are a few of the applicants who are scheduled to appear virtually tonight during CB3's SLA Committee meeting... (we already covered the return of the Brindle Room here).

• Milk Burger, 321 E. Houston St. (Questionnaire here)

The quick-serve burger joint with an outpost in the Bronx is slated for this block of East Houston between Attorney and Ridge (storefront photo above from a few weeks back). 

Erik Mayor, an East Harlem native, opened his first Milk Burger in that neighborhood (since closed, and there was some early drama there). He's seeking a full liquor license for this spot, 

El Maguey y La Tuna closed here in 2018 after the landlord reportedly doubled the rent.

• Salang Group LLC, 225 Avenue B (Questionnaire here)

A bar-restaurant serving an omakase menu is applying for a liquor license for the second-level space between 13th Street and 14th Street that currently houses the closing-soon Pouring Ribbons

The still-unnamed establishment is proposing daily hours of 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. with the occasional jazz musician or two for entertainment, per the questionnaire online for the public.

As for Pouring Ribbons, their last week of service is March 23-26, per Instagram.

• E. Village Bar, 153 First Ave. (Questionnaire here

Brooklyn Dumpling Shop founder Stratis Morfogen is opening a rock club here at the former Coyote Ugly between Ninth Street and 10th Street. (The questionnaire on file at the CB3 website lists the establishment's name as E. Village Bar while the New York Post called it E.VIL Rock Club in an article last fall.)

This concept dates back to 2017 (another flashback here) when E.VIL had designs on 64 Third Ave. (later going to the Ainsworth). 

In any event, E.VIL 2022 has proposed daily hours of 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. in a room with a maximum occupancy of 110. 

--

The public meeting meeting starts tonight at 6:30 via Zoom. Or by Phone:  +1 646 518 9805, +1 929 205 6099 (Meeting ID:  921 9931 7942)  

Former Red Square art hauled away

There hasn't been much happening in recent weeks (so we're told!) along 250 E. Houston St. now that workers have demolished the one-level strip of storefronts here between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

One bit of activity: A reader shared these photos from Saturday... when workers hauled away the street sculpture that had been installed for years above the former Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins...  ... and by the way, does anyone know who created this sculpture with the Einstein license plates (among other items)...?
Our previous posts at this link have more background on what's been happening to date here.

As we first reported on Jan. 18, there is a permit on file with the city for a 6-floor residential building on this property. 

However, sources tell us that this was just a preliminary filing to allow for the demolition ... and that the plans for the building will actually be closer to the size/scope of the adjacent 13-floor residences at 250 E. Houston St., the former Red Square that opened in 1989