In the first half of the 20th century, French philosopher Henri Bergson described duration as an invisible process, like sugar dissolving in a glass of water. Using this reference as a jumping-off point, the Paris-based artist Eric Baudelaire has created the film Sugar Water, which is presented at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles for the artist’s first U.S. solo museum show.
     The film takes place on the fictional Paris metro platform at the fictional Porte d’Erewhon, where a billposter descends into the station to cover a large advertising billboard painted bright blue. He continues to wheat-paste a sequence of images that depict a common car parked on an anonymous Parisian street. He continues by then covering that image with one of the same car busting into flames. The billposter continues until the car becomes swallowed up in smoke, and then remains only as a burnt-out skeleton of the former car. All the while, metro riders enter and exit the scene seemingly oblivious to the slow-motion narrative action taking place. Baudelaire hired a real billposter to lay down the imagery, but the commuters who move in and out of the station are all hired actors, enacting a sort of role reversal in which the person upon whom the single camera focuses is not an actor; the “extras” who fill the background, meanwhile, are. Eventually, this cinematic event unfolds over the seventy-two-minute film, creating a slow reflection on images we typically experience in our news media.
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“Hallo?” Jahmek Power shouts into his mobile phone, the sounds of a raging party drowning out his valiant attempts at being heard. “I’m at a pahty. I’m going to leave the building because it’s way too loud.” Once outside, the situation gets worse as party-goers start asking the artist known as Jammer for directions. “This is the pahty here. I’m doing an interview bruvva,” he says as his patience wears thin. “Because I’ve come outside, they think I work here or somefink.”
     Contrary to what it might sound like, Jammer is in fact an extremely professional fellow — particularly when compared to his fellow grime masters, like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, and Tinchy Stryder. Grime superstars (and unknowns) are notoriously unreliable, notoriously competitive, notoriously antagonistic. Jammer is none of these things. “A lot of people didn’t expect to be in the situation they are in,” Jammer says of the grime mentality. “They had a talent. They loved music. They done it and didn’t know they were going to get that much interest. I don’t think they was really ready for it. I’ve been doing this for ten years. I have an understanding of how things work and how necessary it is to let people know about what’s happening.”

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Paula Parrish, one of our favorite photographers, is the first featured artist at an event by Palatte, a place whose mission “is to strike a delicate balance between palate and palette by serving fine Belgian style gourmet dishes, artfully layered in glasses, in a comfortably romantic and visually stimulating décor”. Located just off of Madison Square Park, Palatte offers up all its walls and floors to New York-based artists to give them much-deserved exposure to a more mainstream sector of the city.
     Those interested can take part in a “night of toasts and tapas” this Thursday while surrounded by Paula Parrish’s gorgeous works. Steven, the organizer, tells us, “I was introduced to Paula’s work by a mutual friend and even though our initial intention was to do a painting opening exhibit, I liked her work so much we really wanted Paula to do it. And luckily she agreed.”

The event will take place this Thursday, August 12 at 7:30 p.m at 66 Madison Avenue. RSVP to andrea@palattenyc.com.
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Many of us would assume that life in a Buddhist monastery, void of worldly temptations and daily distractions, isn’t exactly rich with culinary temptation. However, a glance at international food photographer Jan-Peter Westermann’s new cookbook, The Chinese Temple Kitchen, proves this picture a false one. The Chinese Temple Kitchen came out this past May from German publisher AT Verlag. A food-inspired travelog of Westermann’s journey to Buddhist monasteries throughout China, the book includes over 100 centuries of recipes, accompanied by appetizing photographs of their results.
     In the Buddhist tradition, the dishes Westermann cites are all vegetarian, and although they may look complex, the recipes all use easily-acquired ingredients and are simply prepared. The ingredients are chosen for their nourishing, detoxifying effects, to slow the aging process and ultimately prolong life – perhaps only to be able to take part in such exquisite meals for longer.
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Architectural photographer Julius Shulman documented so many truly great buildings — canonical works by Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler, and Charles and Rae Eames — that it’s easy to take his skills for granted. We see the technical assurance in his pictures but credit much of their beauty to the architecture itself. A new book, Julius Shulman: Chicago Mid-Century Modernism, which documents houses by lesser known architects, puts that notion to rest. These more modest houses are burnished by Schulman’s lens so that they too emerge as masterpieces.
     This entire generation of Chicago architects was working under the immense shadows of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, modern masters who had built in and around the city. They all adapted common building technologies, like brick walls and wood framing, to achieve the deep cantilevers, full-height windows, and open plans of a modernist vocabulary. And they all adapted the long, low, interlocking volumes of Wright’s prairie style to suit simpler, smaller houses.
     The houses documented in the book are warmer and more welcoming than the Case Study Houses that Shulman shot in the 1950s, whose pristine geometries exuded high style. For one thing the Chicago houses were photographed decades after their completion, after they’d been lived in and roughed up a bit. And the houses possess a richer, darker palette. They’re finished with oak panels, rough stone facing, and colored ceramic tiles, and filled with shaggy rugs and hand-thrown pottery.
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In the oversaturated sea that is the New York City art scene, Canada on the Lower East Side somehow manages to stand out — way out. Due credit should be given to the gallery’s innate fearlessness and to-hell-with-it attitude but bottom line, Canada has a knack for culling some of the best talent around. To critics’ delight, this summer’s Homunculi brought the alchemical mythologies and freakishly skilled talents of Allison Schulnik, Ruby Neri, Matt Greene, and Matthew Ronay out to play. And just last week the gallery hosted Slummer Nights, a 4-night collaborative spectacular organized by Sadie Laska that took the most magical elements of a variety show, underground music festival, and art opening and threw it all together for one rousing good time. Canada’s resident artists offer more of the same. From Joe Bradley’s rudimentary Superman logos to Devendra Banhart’s imaginative, oscillating creatures and Sarah Braman’s found furniture installations, there’s an underlying sense of innocence, determination, and makeshift playfulness embedded in every artist Canada represents. Not to say that the gallery is all fun and games. There’s plenty of provocative, slightly off-kilter work to go around. Just ask Phil Grauer, one of the four owners/partners behind it all.
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This Portland, Oregon, threesome is known for its free-form experimental style of progressive rock. Electronic instrumentation and vocals that sound like discount Damon Albarn have resulted in Menomena being filed in the indie slot. On its fourth full-length, Mines, the trio have created a scaffold upon which to arrange its wandering jams. Not losing its exploratory tendencies or curbing its quality musicianship, Menomena has used this framework to create defined songs instead of dense, meandering sounds. More emotional than before, the unfortunately named “Oh Pretty Boy, You’re Such A Big Boy” offers honking horns and measured organ stabs that speak straight from the heart. Theatrical to the extreme, the chorus of “Five Little Rooms” blasts against tethered piano and thunderous drum work. While these two are the standouts on Mines the album has a solid hold on melody that has eluded Menomena in the past. The band is developing a distinct song structure without losing any musical chops in the process — the best of both worlds.

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We recently came across Samantha West’s photography and felt the need to share it. Born and raised in New York City, West is inspired by “the curious combination of vintage nudes, birds, Fred Astaire movies, bus rides, mermaids (and their long mermaid hair), horses, barefoot cooking, and planning trips she can’t afford quite yet.”
     Published across Europe, Asia and North America, she’s been featured in publications ranging from Vanity Fair Germany to The New York Times. Currently shooting lookbooks for several different fashion designers, West is also making time for her personal project, Musings. She writes, “I love to photograph my friends in their most personal spaces — their bedroom and bath, where intimacy and femininity reign. My focus has always been on the face, skin, pores, lips, hands. I love a unique visage. I love intimacy and honesty.” Finally, she tells us, “I love being able to see a person shine through.”
      Her gorgeous, artful images are testament to her firm belief that in photography, “it is all in the eyes.”
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The collection of works in SHRED, the comprehensive show currently on display at Perry Rubenstein Gallery, explores an artform often maligned: collage. Carlo McCormick, the show’s curator, is not only the senior editor of PAPER magazine but also a longtime defender of New York’s downtown art scene. In this show, from simple, layered newsprint cut-outs to videos comprised of animated paper silhouettes, works by such artists as Bruce Conner, Gee Vaucher, Jack Walls, and the late scene darling Dash Snow demonstrate the powerful potential of collage as a medium even as they push it to its outermost boundaries.
     Many other artists created pieces specifically for the exhibition, including Shepard Fairey, the collective Faile, Mark Flood, Swoon, Erik Foss, Leo Fitzpatrick, and Judith Supine. The show also features video works by Martha Colburn and Tess Hughes-Freeland, and a video premiere by Malcolm Stuart and Bec Stupak.

SHRED is on display until August 27, 2010 at Perry Rubenstein Gallery in New York.
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