strand

A captivating image from Paul Strand that caught my attention at the exhibition on Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand mounted by the Met - I was lucky enough to finally see it on the day it closed and wished I had been able to go back three or four more times. There is something about the immediacy of this shot. It's everything I strive for.

Dirt

Issue 4, 1975. Mark Morrisroe @ Artists Space

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aipad

Finding inspiration at the AIPAD show.

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An evening of video art at the Harlem salon of Antonio Ortuñio.

dzama

from 'Behind the Curtain' at David Zwirner.

got pride?

got pride?, originally uploaded by ridavio.

I hope you got plenty, I got a bit myself. In New York City this year, I actually missed the Pride Parade/March, what have you. Visiting an art opening at Clifton Benevuto in SoHo, my friend and I got so caught up in chatting with the artists and drinking Bloody Mary's that by the time we biked back up to the village it was nearly 4pm and the 'Parade had passed by!' You can see a full album of this gallery day you know where.

Tehom

From ridavio. This video documents the installation of Tehom, the first solo show of artist Angelo Musco. It took five days to install 191 pieces in the Carrie Secrist gallery in Chicago. When Angelo returned with his footage, I cut it together with an interview we had taped previously. The goal here was to capture the momentous effort of installing an exhibit that was the culmination of two years of work from concept to completion.

The Making of Tehom

From ridavio. Two years ago Angelo Musco started production on Tehom. I documented one of numerous photo shoots that took place in a private pool on a penthouse rooftop in Tribeca. It was a beautiful day and the small cast of models was upbeat and very creative that afternoon. After months of shooting, Angelo would continue work for two years creating an underwater world with an architecture of tens of thousands of nude human bodies. As he explains in the video, Tehom comes from a Hebrew word in Genesis signifying the great deep of the primordial waters of creation. The final piece will stretch 48 feet long and 12 feet high with some figures reaching nearly life size. As I edited the action from above the water and cut it with the photos Angelo was taking below the surface, I attempted to evoke the feeling of Tehom, the deep, as seen in the details from the final work toward the end of the video. Tehom exhibits at the Carrie Secrist gallery in Chicago, opening May 1 and running through July 10, 2010.

oh mickey!

 

@ Scope Art Show 

mobile

It was one of those random Sundays: a random phone call, a random encounter on St Marks, a random lunch at MoMa. The Tim Burton was worth it, but crowded - wait for the tourists to go home. And this was all that I saw of the Orozco exhibit, since I opted for Bauhaus on the 6th floor, which I highly recommend before it closes next month. There are some real gems, for the Klee alone, go.

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aranea

From ridavio. Angelo Musco is a New York-based artist who works with the human body to create his art. His work is impressive, and being able to participate in the creative process with him is always fun. While I was in Turkey when his large shoot happened, I was able to interview him later after he completed the piece and edited this 'making of' with footage shot by a volunteer.


To create Aranea Angelo needed an enormous quantity of naked bodies. In September he held a photo shoot in Asbury Park, NJ. Around 80 models were recruited to participate. The convention hall on the boardwalk was closed to the public at midnight and for over five hours Angelo and his assistant Danielle worked with the models to create the numerous shapes needed to form the piece.

As Angelo explains in the video, the word Aranea defines a genus of orb-weaving spider thus the creation of the piece consisted in weaving a web with human bodies. The photos taken this evening were mostly used to create the negative space of the web. Several additional photo sessions were held in his New York studio to create the positive elements.

To finish the project Angelo and Danielle worked for several months, and in the last 2 months for 12 - 20 hours a day, to create a web with over 52,000 bodies. The final piece is an 8' X 16' photograph in four panels. Aranea exhibits at Pulse Art Fair in New York City, from March 4 - 7, 2010. Angelo is represented by the Carrie Secrist gallery.

murmek

For those of you catching the art shows in Manhattan this weekend, stop by the Bridge Art Fair to see Murmek, the most recent work of Angelo Musco. I happen to be in this piece, so I was on hand to capture the making of Murmek last September. What follows is the choreography of a photo session in which the naked human body is the raw material for the art work.

alveo

A perfect weekend, beautiful sunshine, a pool, soft breezes, good company, what more could you ask for? When Angelo Musco asked me to model for his Alveo project how could I refuse? The concept of this piece has something to do with bodies immersed in a pool, where the water will be altered to look like honey. The bodies form shapes like a honeycomb, and, well, you can extrapolate the rest. When I looked at the footage later, I couldn't figure out what happened with one particular clip - until I came to realize that Tim had taken the camera to shoot me when I was in the pool. If you listen closely you can hear him disclaim to Ron that he is trying to keep Ombretta, his wife, out of the shot. In the end Ron couldn't get Ombretta's ring out of her navel - Angelo will have to photoshop it out. Be warned, there is human nekidness in this video - for the sake of art, or course :) Turn your audio up to catch the nuances - No bubbles! No Bubbles!