100+ New York City Stories: Unscripted conversations with artists, entrepreneurs, small businesses and everyday people. Filmed, interviewed, edited & shared by LaRon Batchelor.
Michael Anthony Pegues, a fixture of the downtown art scene and true NY icon has finally found a home at FB Gallery to present his vision. “My small story is that as an artist I relied on a lot of things and that one thing was creating something on canvas.” The Measure of an Artist is the culmination of Michael Anthony’s life-long dedication to his art. We walk around the gallery as Michael shares the story behind some of his paintings, his story and the power of art. The show highlights the struggle, passion, and rise of a man fully aware of his unique aesthetic. His work displays child-like innocence coinciding with complex subject matter.
Since 1996 Michael Anthony has had his work consistently shown with an eye fixed on fame—his equivalent to credibility. However, this is the first large scale show to honor his vision rooted in the long New York tradition of the self-made, struggling artist. Never has he shared his story so unabashedly through not only painting, but also multimedia depictions of himself. His colorful and expressionistic strokes on canvas recount his resiliency through homelessness, theft, and ultimately his never ending hope and belief that he will be finally recognized as a true original.
“Art is a way to keep memory of things.” Inspired by the true and fascinating story of Issei Sagawa, a Japanese man who engaged in acts of cannibalism while living in Paris, K-narf pushes the limits of how sex is portrayed in art—insisting on creating a jarring dialogue between images and the story behind them. “It was 1981 so there was a lot of press..so when he [ Issei] arrived in Japan he became a small celebrity..started being invited tv shows..he became a food critc for japanese food magazine…a mascot for meat chain restaurant and a porn actor.” Yummy Yami is a series of collages made from photographs of window displays of pornographic movie theaters in Tokyo and shots of French butcher shops. With the juxtaposition of images of raw meat and softcore erotica, Yummy Yami evokes the same discomfort as Sagawa’s story. Opening April 11/May8 @ FBGallery 368 Broadway, suite 209 @Franklin Street.
On June 11, 1981, Issei Sagawa, a 32 year old Japanese student in Paris, invited a young Dutch woman named Renée Hartevelt for dinner at his apartment under the pretense of translating German poetry. After she arrived, he shot her in the back while she was reading. He then began to carry out his plan to consume her flesh.
After two days of eating her various body parts, Sagawa attempted to dump the mutilated body into a lake and was seen in the act. He was later arrested by the French police. His wealthy father provided a top lawyer for his defense and he was able to claim insanity. Sagawa spent a short time in a French mental institution, but was soon extradited to Japan where psychologists all found him to be sane but “evil” and thus it was legally impossible to hold him. As a result, Sagawa checked himself out of the mental institution on August 12, 1986, and has been a free man ever since.
Sagawa now lives in Tokyo and is a minor Japanese celebrity. He is often invited as a guest speaker and commentator, he has written restaurant reviews, appeared in a pornographic film, and in a TV commercial for a Japanese restaurant chain.
“What is interesting too is to look at tomorrow better than to look at yesterday . we need to know what happen yesterday to be able to do what will be tomorrow.” We met at a Williamsburg bar via my friend Louisa. They are both in town for his NYC exhibition at the FB gallery (April, 11, 2011). Born in France, this is K-narf’s first time in NYC. About K-narf: Echoing the origins of street art by posting his works on public walls. Both conceptual and experimental, K-narf work documents, recycles and collects the “unusual,” bringing it to the forefront and reminding us all that the medium of photography is not limited to truth-seeking, but can also be a toy to create, play, and challenge audiences.
For the past decade K-narf has lived and exhibited worldwide including Japan, Australia, France, Singapore, USA, and Italy. His work has been shown, among others, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale (US), Museum of Sydney, Japan Foundation for the Arts, The Yves Klein Archives, The French Embassy in Tokyo, Issey Miyake (Paris) , the Clic gallery in NYC and now FB gallery.
I came across Harley-Davidson filming a video in SOHO for their new bikes. Joe, the manager of the NYC dealership, shares the story. “The main question we get asked a lot is how much do they cost..the stereotype is that Harley-Davidson are $50,000 but they start at 8 and the most popular is the Iron 883 ..they are least expensive model at $8,000.”
Free Style Arts education programs have taught thousands of students how to unlock their inner artist and fine-tune their multiple intelligences as tools for exceptional learning and communicating. Through unique projects that can be integrated into most curriculums, students make art with NYC artists in the ways art is being made today; giant sculptures, T.V. shows, abstract paintings, music videos, fabric costumes, cartoons, and much more. P.S.1 MoMA, the Queens Museum of Art, the New York Hall of Science, the New York Parks Department, and Socrates Sculpture Park are just some of the museums and institutions that have featured Free Style Arts projects through their education departments.
“I’m just raising money through tapping.” Tap dancing on the #2 express train is no easy feat but Joshua is tapping for his Penn State College tuition; thus,for him, its just another stage. I filmed his performance as we weaved from 72nd to 42nd street and had a quick chat. He was featured in yesterdays New York Times newspaper. I was on the right train at the right time.
A beautiful day New York got even better when I came across Brooklyn’s crunk–punk trio Ninjasonik filming a music video @ Tompkins Sq park,LES. I filmed 2 takes from the making of their video “Turned Up” directed by Jason Goldblatt. I likes the track. Here is the soundcloud link for “Turned Up“. In addition, Ninjasonik paid homage to The Warriors, the campy 1979 cult classic about gang warfare in NYC in their 2011 video for “Moshpit” .
Michael Hobbs , Illustrator & Converse Skateboard Footwear Designer
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”Inspiration happens once you put your hand to it, put it on paper and you put it to motion. You get inspired but then you have to make it live and everybody has tons of ideas, but its the people that actual put those ideas in motion are the ones that are like..somewhat groundbreaking..creating culture in lot of ways.” When he is not illustrating he is designing skateboard footwear at CONVERSE. Our conversation takes place at the launch of Kustome Collabo sneakers and covers global skate culture, his story and advice.
Phil Pabon: Branding iphone Accessories, Fashion and Media
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”My small story started maybe 25 years ago in the business as a dancer..backup choreographer, took me around the world…brought me to HipHop..HipHop brought me to fashion..fashion brought me to the future..” Phil Pabon, CEO Prolific Media & Management
”When I first became homeless, I use to pray that I die for 6 months…that was back in ’87″ Jerry,52, may be homeless but his mind isnt. I met Jerry in Tribeca. Our conversation is inspiring to say the least. The street lights are on a timer. They come on and off every 2 minutes. Jerry’s face begins to appear at the :35 second mark. He shares his story, a new year’s resolution, tips if you become homelsss, this favorite Bible passage and strongly suggests that everyone “diversify their finances”.
