Leaping Links

Welcome to Almost March,
To kick off this month we thought we might entertain you with a few links to things we're are enjoying at the moment.
Some are old some are new some are here and some are there but all of them have something in them we like thus we share them with our friends.

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So now in no particular order here we go:
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Hedi Slimane: Fashion Diary - Paris January 2008
Incredible black and whites of immaculate young men wearing exemplary menswear. Explore some of the other cities and years for more of the same.

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Rogers v. Koons: Design Observer
A lengthy yet well written and thought provoking artist v. artist piece about what else the world of art and "copying" and "interpretation". Touches on quite a few important questions about fine art and commercial art and what they mean in today's landscape.

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Elephant's Graveyard & Eat Sleep Work Play: Fine Graphic Design from Across the Pond
A couple friend's of ours doing some real outstanding graphic work in London and worldwide. Be sure to notice Elephant's exquisite use of type and understanding of space. As well as ESWP's innovative approach to both the layout of books and photo shoots.

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SHOWstudios: YSL Homme A/W 2008-09
Leave it to SHOWstudios & Yves Saint Laurent to push the boundaries beyond the seamlessly boundary-less world of fashion. This year in Paris rather than do the traditional model catwalk thing creative director, Stefano Pilati chose to present a triptych short film that is to say the least stunning.

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Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
Seriously brilliant conceptual concert originally filmed in 1983 at The Pantages Theatre with a budget of $1.2 million raised by Byrne & company. It features some of the most advance technology of the times including a 24 track sony digital recorder, the first of it's kind used in film. In addition 8 different cameras catch every angle and detail, some of the highlights include David's now iconic "big suit" and an incredible exhibition of his dance moves during "Life During Wartime" as shown below.



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Jermey Scott: Fashion with a Adolescencent Flare
Born of Missouri Studied in Brooklyn this kid has fun with fashion and celebrities have taken notice. Sometimes it can be a bit kitschy but is always well put together and cohesive.

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Be Kind Rewind: Trailer
The much anticipated and now released new flick from the genius Michel Gondry staring the hit or miss Jack Black and corky Mos Def promises to entertain. We are loving the fusion of the lo-fi design with the always classic Windows 98 decor. Sure they might have ripped off a bit of our design aesthetic but we'll just take it as a compliment.
(Look forward to an upcoming review of the Be Kind Rewind Exhibition @ Deitch Projects in the coming weeks)

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A last minute addition:
Gregor Graf: Hidden Town
Just stumbled on this gem, what happens when you remove all traces of life both commercial and traditional from Oxford street in London? You get the results above. An impressive idea and execution by the Austrian artist Gregor Graf. If you happen to be in London check out the show at the Austrian Culture Forum.

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We hope you found something in there of interest and managed to waste or (gain? maybe) a few hours in the meantime.

On a closing note, this blogging stuff can be difficult/time consuming so if anyone out there has any brilliant ideas or links for us it will be welcomed with open arms.

Bask in the glory of the weekend.
Safer than Fort Knox,
The Nutopians

LadiEs NitE in E. Williamsburg

humble arts, in collabo w/ ladies lotto presents:
"31 under 31: young women in art photography"
sunday march 1 @ 7pm

the gallery
@
3rd ward
195 morgan ave (corner of stagg st.)
e. williamsburg
L train to grand/morgan

a night & show devoted to the ladies, we just picked up on this via the massive world of the internet & random emails. looks to be a hott one with a plethora of young talented ladies who take pictures.




ahndraya parlato is just one of the thirty one who's work will be on show.
however their are 30 others amongst an in-gallery portrait studio, dj 24court (possibly from a queens subway station) and an open bar. if thats not enough to motivate you to get out on a sunday and see some art than perhaps nothing will.

in a bit,
nutopia
forum

Spot On Heather

Today we would like to congratulate one of the crew, Heather Courtney on a wonderful spread featured in Adbusters. Its in the current issue so next time you are at newsstand pick up a copy and have a look. More of this brilliant series will be featured in an upcoming edition of Nutopia Magazine, so watch out.

We love to toot our own horn and show off your work so if anyone else has graced the lovely pages or covers of any periodicals old or new we would love to show it off. Whack it on the old scanner and send it over or put it in our hands and well make it happen.

Till the next time,
The Forum

An Aperture Evening with Andrea Modica

Good Afternoon,
We hope y'all had a nice weekend and for all our peoples in the new york metropolitan area we hope you are enjoying this pleasant weather.


We wanted to let all of you know about a wonderful lecture series hosted by Aperture and presented by Parson tomorrow night featuring the photographer Andrea Modica. For those not familiar with Modica's work it is a blend of reality and fantasy focusing on an imaginary town called Treadwell in upstate New York. In a place where anything is possible endless narratives begin and end without reason or thought, fantasy becomes reality and forces us to question our sense of what it is. Think Big Fish but but imagine Tim Burton with eyes of an 8x10 view camera with black & white film loaded and not quite so mental.





Andrea packs a heavy list of galleries and museums worldwide that her pictures hang in and also has the prestige of a Guggenheim Arts Fellowship ('94) & Fulbright-Hays Research Grant ('90) under her belt. It looks to be an exciting and educational evening with a truly inspiring artist & woman.

Thank you much to Melanie for bringing this event to our attention and hope to see some of you there.

We Say Good Day,
The Nutopia Forum
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From the Aperture Website:
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Andrea Modica
Parsons Lecture Series

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
6:30 p.m.

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

A series of lectures hosted by Aperture and presented by the department of photography, Parsons The New School for Design.

A Guggenheim fellow, Andrea Modica has exhibited her work extensively in the United States and Europe. Modica’s photographs are held by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Smithsonian Institution; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Bibliothque Nationale in Paris.

A longtime professor and guest lecturer, Modica is currently an associate professor of photography at Drexel University. She resides in Philadelphia and Lunenburg, Vermont.

Bits & Bobs of The Moment

First and foremost we would like to thank all of you for another brilliant forum night & a send very special thank you to Emma Reeves for sharing her time with us. Her honesty and insight was greatly appreciated and received.
We look forward to next month's show night & lots of new work to chat about.

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Now on to some business, which we have plenty of at the moment;
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Number One; Our very own, Mr. Laszlo Konrath has an image in a group show hosted by Capricious & Drunken Sailer for the magazine Nobody is Famous in New York.
It looks to be a good time with plenty of exciting work, free booze and loud (possibly thrash) music.

103 Broadway @ Berry, Brooklyn
6PM Launch Time

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Number Two; The New York Photo Awards. This was brought up a fair few times last night but we just wanted to reminded everyone once again, the deadline for entry is April 14th. This should be a rousing competition and sensory overload for our (& the judges) eyes and minds alike. We recommend you get involved and enter, when else are you going to have the chance to have your work curated by the likes of; Mrs. NYTimes Mag Kathy Ryan, The Magnum Man Martin Parr, Lesley A.(Aperture) Martin & The Tiny Vice himself Tim Barber.

http://www.newyorkphotoawards.com/

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Numero Tres; An interesting post on Platon's lighting setup from a blog about lighting; Strobist has been brought to our attention by Melanie. Thankfully she did as all the traffic from that site crippled our own for a short period of time this morning. However it is an interesting read and has even more enlightening (& extremely entertaining) comments below it.

The Simple Light
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/02/simple-light-platon-videos.html

WSJ Copycats
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/03/neat-ad-campaign-built-around-photo.html

A note on the WSJ bit, as the many comments suggest we are going to talk to that "intern" about his persistent light metering problem.

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And Lastly; As we are in New York there are quite a few excellent shows on offer we thought we might highlight to get you thru the weekend. For the fashion minded lot of us, The Sartorialist at Danziger Projects ends its reign this weekend. And just down the road a bit at Lehmann Maupin Gallery The Juggernaut that is Jurgen Teller is in full on swing. Both shows are Highly Recommended by the Crew.


Danziger Projects
521 West 26th Street


Lehmann Maupin Gallery
540 West 26th Street

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One more note; just arriving in seconds before posting time, Tonight! Brian Finke Opening @ ClampArt (Cheers Sara) Looks to be a good one filled with Flight Attendants, Bodybuilders (of the Male and Female gender), Cheerleads, Football Players & Frat Boys if thats your thing.
Be There or Be Clamped!

ClampArt
521 - 531 West 25th Street

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Again thanks to all who came out last night we look forward to seeing yall next month
& Thank You Again Emma, one more time.

That brings us to the end of this post,
as always Cheers & Massive Respect fellow Nutopians.

Close Encounters of Penn Kind

It seems we have a bit of "legends" or "master's" theme fill our blog posts as of late so we shall carry on with it.

Close Encounters
Irving Penn
Portraits of Artist and Writers

This man needs no introduction or fancy written up "bio" because if you don't know of him then frankly you may be in the wrong industry. The Morgan Library & Museum is holding an on going show (Jan 18th - April 13th) featuring 67 breathe taking portraits of some of the finest & classiest artist and writers of the time. These images have stood the test of time and span an awe inspiring era from the 1944 portrait of painter Giorgio de Chirico to the recent 2006 image of Jasper Johns. For good measure at least one print for each decade of Penn's work is represented.

Cheers to Steven for bringing this event to our collective attention.
Respect
NutopiA

Here is a bit of what will be hanging on the walls:

Platinum Prints By The Grand Doyenne of Photography

Something To Do this Week;
12 Platinum Prints hosted by
The Staley Wise Gallery from
the legend herself, Lillian Bassman.


This should be quite an interesting night & show.



Bassman, born 1917 in our local Brooklyn is what you truly call a photographic pioneer. She is regarded by many as the last great woman photographer of the post war era and has an impressive resume to back it. She spend the 40's as a forward thinking fashion photographer & art director at the always classic Harper Bazaar. She was responsible for most of the distinctive black & white experimental yet romantic imagery that helped define the magazines style. In the 50's she was working at Junior Bazaar with emerging young photographers of the time such as Avedon, Frank, Faurer, Newman & Himmel. Into the 60's her photographic style began to take form and she was soon in constant demand shooting campaigns for Chanel & Balenciaga.



As her work began to become more and more defined with her strong black and white moody images it clashed with the changing landscape of fashion photography in the 70's. She slowly became disenchanted with this world of imagery and surrounded herself with more personal projects. In a fleeing attempt to free herself from the past she had a bit of Boston Tea Party but with 40 years of negatives rather than tea. After all of this she is still going and still making innovative images now incorporating the use of digital technology & color. Her work, current and past stands as a test of time and provides us with a unique perspective on the world of fashion.

Fair play Mrs. Bassman, our hats off to you.
TNF
Oh yea, she is 91 years old and going to be there, so you really have no excuse.

The Tom Waits & Bob Dylan of Photography

"You know, never sort of spiked or peaked in fame or talent, just always really consistent."





Today at the forum we would like to salute a multi-talented, legendary and all around good guy, Dan Winters. Recently Platon & Dan were the lone photographic judges at the SPD Awards were they had a chance to converse and share ideas. Platon had nothing but great things to say about Winters when he returned to the studio.

Dan has won plenty of awards and shoots for all the big magazines and ad campaigns and was even "knighted" by Kodak in 2003 as an "Icon" in their "Legends" section. One may think all those shinny awards and big words might go to his head but quite the contrary. It becomes apparent after viewing his eclectic body of work he is passionate not only about photography but life.

His work spans many styles or sensibilities as he calls it but he is mostly recognized for his celebrity portraiture. However his scientific and illustrative photography are not to be missed as well. Too see what we're saying jump over to his site and have a look for yourself; http://www.danwintersphoto.com/




Stay tuned to the Nutopia Magazine & Blog as we are working on featuring the personal work of Dan Winters along side other forum members. We look forward to a fruitful & collaborative relationship with this great man and artist.

If we pull this off it will be a major victory - showing personal artwork from aspiring photographers (Nutopia Members) along side one of the all time greats . No Hierarchy here, just inspiring substance.

On that note, raise your glass or what have you and join us in a salute to the illustrious Dan Winters.

Cheers and Respect from the Forum Crew.

Nutopia Magazine: Issue 4

//////Welcome to February//////

-We would like to start off the month with the launch of Issue 4 of our magazine-
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Nutopia Magazine
This month we have featured the work of:
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Wesley Rose
Melanie Ross
&
Platon

:Enjoy:

Also a big what up to the boys at Duckie Brown, the Nutopia Crew checked out their brilliant new collection at Bryant Park this afternoon. Well done.

To all a Super Weekend,
NF