#SNEAKERCULTURE: GET YOUR KICKS AT THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM

You might not realize it but “tennis shoes”, “sneakers” and “kicks” got their start in the mid-nineteenth. But in the 20th century high and low-end sneakers have become a global obsession. The Rise of Sneaker Culture is the first exhibit to explore the social history and cultural significance of the footwear now worn by billions on earth every day.

The exhibition includes some 150 pairs of sneakers, and looks at the evolution of kicks. The show mines the archives of Adidas, Converse, Nike, Puma, and Reebok as well as private collectors like hip-hop artist Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, sneaker guru Bobbito Garcia, and Dee Wells of Obsessive Sneaker Disorder. Also featured are pieces by Prada, other major design houses and designers, as well as those made in collaboration with artists like Damien Hirst and Shantell Martin and artist Tom Sachs‘ creations. Film footage, interactive media, photographic images, and design drawings contextualize the sneakers and explore the social history, technical innovations, fashion trends, and marketing campaigns that have shaped sneaker culture over the past two centuries. The Rise of Sneaker Culture is at the Brooklyn Museum through October 4, 2015.

Thomas Dutton and Thorowgood. Running Shoe, 1860–65

Converse Rubber Shoe Company. All Star/Non Skid, 1917

Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik. Modell Waitzer, 1936. Adidas AG

Nike. Waffle Trainer, 1974

adidas x Run–DMC. 25th Anniversary Superstar, 2011

adidas. Micropacer, 1984

UMA x Undefeated. Clyde Gametime Gold, 2012

Nike x Tom Sachs. NikeCraft Lunar Underboot Aeroply
Experimentation Research Boot Prototype, 2008–12

THE NEW YORK WHEEL WILL BE 60 STORIES TALL!

Whatever happened to The New York Wheel, which just started construction on Staten Island five years ago? It was supposed to have a concert venue, beer garden, playground and be the tallest Ferris in the U.S.. At 630 feet and 60 stories tall – 80 feet taller than the one in Las Vegas and almost 200 feet taller than the London Eye .

The 40-minute ride was to have drop-dead views of the NYC skyline, the Statue of Liberty and each glass pod will hold 40 visitors, operating until midnight. The downside? It’s in Staten Island. That and it’s not being being built.

According to New Repulic,

…the Staten Island Advance wrote that $400 million of the reported $580 million in funding had already been spent—a whopping $250 million had gone into the parking garage alone; $80 million to recently terminated contractor Mammoet; $30 million to keep the site running.

At this point, The Wheel would need some three million visitors a year, according to an estimate by Hunden Strategic Partners, just to break even. “Even if The Wheel were built, what was the exit strategy to pay off the investors?” asked Friedland, the NYU professor. “Can the cost of a ride really sufficiently cover the debt service?”

The Staten Island Advance also reported that some $300 million more would be needed to complete the project. In September, the city rejected a last-ditch request by the developers that tax-free bonds be issued to make up the difference in funding. Since the project was privately funded, it was hard to know how much money The Wheel had or needed. There were rumors that the Highbridge loan had fallen through. “So far, what we’ve seen in this case, unfortunately, is a project that is not going to be economically viable,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. By fall 2018, the cost of completion had reportedly ballooned to over $1 billion.

With the project on indefinite delay and looking increasingly unlikely. In January 2018, it was terminated. Nine months later, the project was pronounced dead.

In the end, Staten Island came away with a parking garage.
“The developers of The New York Wheel are proud to have delivered a state-of-the art, modern 325,000 square-foot garage structure,” spokeswoman Cristyne Nicholas said.

Others aren’t so pleased. “It’s unfortunate that we’re stuck with the ugliest part: a parking garage that blocks the view from Richmond Terrace,” David Goldfarb, a former president of the St. George Civic Association, told The New York Times.

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE UNKNOWN NOTEBOOKS

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn and died just across the river in Manhattan too young an age. In his short life, he filled many notebooks with poetic fragments, wordplay, drawings, and observations. The subject matter was a blender-full of pop culture, race, class, and the history of the world. His work sells at auction for millions and he’s become one of the most popular and valued artist of his day. He was influenced by cartoons, advertising, Pop art, street culture, politics –which is to say pretty much everything. This show gives insight into the importance of writing in the his process and the notebook pages on display contain gestation of his iconic imagery –tepees, crowns, skeletal figures, and expressivefaces— that makes appearances throughout his big paintings, as well as early drawings that relate to his series called Famous Negro Athletes. This is the first major exhibition of the his notebooks. Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks features 160 pages, along with related works on paper and large-scale paintings. The exhibit runs through August 23, 2015 at the Brooklyn Museum.

KEHINDE WILEY ACCUSED OF "SEDUCING AN ART PUBLIC COWED BY POLITICAL CORRECTNESS..."

Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic at the Brooklyn Museum has been a highly anticipated show but apparently, not EVERYONE loves this artist. Kehinde’s work raise questions about race, gender, and the politics of representation by portraying contemporary African American men and women. The artist uses the conventions of traditional European portraiture and the show includes some sixty paintings and sculptures.

A lot of people love his work and with good reason. In a world where the performing arts are lauded 24/7, the visuals arts has few art superstars and Kehinde is one of them. Not since Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat has there been such clamoring at opening for a young artist. I’ve met him a few times through friends who collected his work early on. At Art Basel Miami Beach (up until recently) Kehinde would organize a fishing trip with a small group, and then the next night have a huge fish fry party for a few hundred of his real and extended family, friends and admirers.

But as I mentioned, not everyone loves Kehinde. The Village Voice published a controversial piece two weeks ago by Jessica Dawson (who, for the record, is 40-something and white) that STILL has everyone up in arms. To back up a bit, Wiley’s portraits are of real people. He invites individuals, often strangers he encounters on the street, to sit for portraits. In this somewhat-collborative process, the model chooses a reproduction of a painting from a book and reenacts the pose of the painting’s figure. By inviting the subjects to select a work of art, Wiley gives them some control over the way they’re being portrayed. In the Voicearticle, titled provocatively, “What to Make of Kehinde Wiley’s Pervy Brooklyn Museum Retrospective?“, Dawson writes:

“… look closer at the 50-some objects — painting, sculpture, stained glass — and you’ll see predatory behavior dressed up as art-historical affirmative action. Wiley’s targets are young people of color who in these pictures are gussied up in the trappings of art history or Givenchy. Judging from Wiley’s market and institutional success — in his fifteen-year career, this is his second solo at the Brooklyn Museum — Wiley has proven himself a canny operator seducing an art public cowed by political correctness and willing to gloss over the more lurid implications of the 38-year-old artist’s production.”

Burn, right? Not that this one review should overshadow the show or the work itself. It does stop one cold to see that an art critic, thinks this way, and doesn’t edit themselves but “goes public” with the idea. Here’s another head-scratching excerpt:

“What Wiley and his subjects do behind the scenes may be none of our business, but his paintings kiss and tell. Saint Andrew grinds his crotch against a wooden cross, and in case we don’t quite get it, Wiley has painted free-floating spermatozoa across the canvas… 

In what world is a Yale-minted artist who lures young men into his studio with the promise of power and glamour not predatory?”

Wow. Everyone sees works of art differently, no doubt, and a critic is certainly entitled to their opinions, but this reviewer seems to be getting at something else. Some subtext, I’m reading as more than vaguely homophobic. Wiley is black and gay, not that it matters, but the implication seems to be that he is using his power as an artist in the “wrong way”. Nevertheless, don’t let this review color YOUR view of the work. If you find yourself in Brooklyn between now and May 24th, go and see the work yourself. For more info go here.