illusive self is now alive!

Curating this show #illusiveSelf was an unforgettable experience to be expanded on when I stop moving around so fast.  The past 10 weeks since I was moving out of the NYC apartment have been so dense with experiences  that I have to accept that reporting fully on any of them will come way after - when I'm sitting still in Jamaica over the holidays...preparing for the last leg of this journey:  to Sierra Leone. 

But after all the hard work and challenges of this past week - the show is open and up, and the opening night was by all accounts a success!

For me the greatest rewards as curator are:

1) the artists are happy and feel proud of the show they are in.
2) the visitors sense the thematic continuity of the show and are intrigued, moved, and provoked by its content
3) the gallery director and other art professionals see a future in the concept and offer opportunities for expansion.

Well... Check.  Check. CHECK!!!

What more... what more could I possibly ask of God and Mother Universe for curatorial debut in New York City?  Nothing!   Well... hmmm... an NYT review would be nice...LOL

And now to packing, shipping, and preparing for the next show in Jamaica...as an artist... ;-)

Post by SeBiArt i•ma•gine | e•volve.

SeBiArt News: New Work/Shows, New Book, and Now Curating!

Coming full circle. 

Over a decade after graduating from my school as an  Acting/Theater major, I just showed my work in the Hewitt Gallery of Art at Marymount Manhattan College. 

This was really a personal milestone because I took photography elective classes here while pursuing my degree...NEVER intending to become a photographer. All thanks to Prof. Millie Falcaro who taught me how to do formal portraiture and dark room processing all those years ago, and who invited me this year to do this show. So fitting too that I showed my family portrait work, Neue Rootz, taken in Germany/Czech Republic 4 years ago,  just weeks before setting off to do the same trip again with my mom. In fact, I'm blogging this all from Nuremburg right now!

Just goes to show...you never know what the future holds. 

Life is kinda funny and neat like that sometimes eh?

 

 • • • 

 COMING IN OCTOBER

 Watch this space for show dates!

•

It's time again for ArtfromtheHeart with the Vanderbilt Republic

  

I have 3 pieces in the show

 ♡

 October 19th

Get your tickets HERE!

photo!

•


Finally The Other Hundred book release is upon us!

ReCap:

    
  
The Other Hundred is a book project initiated a few months ago by the pan-Asian organisation, The Global Institute of Tomorrow [G.I.F.T.] based in Hong Kong. 

A Worldwide photo-call was announced and featured on the BBC, explaining the reason for this work.  The Jury received over 11, 000 submissions from 158 countries...    100 were chosen.
I am one...for Jamaica...with a portrait of street artist and painter: Delroy Anderson
 
See The Other Hundred Website

 Book available on Amazon  

  • 

Branded, We Walk

New Solo Show

Sept 30 - Oct 28th

 NH3 Gallery/Splashlight Studios, New York

Music by DJ Belinda

Hors d'oeuvres by Sean John/Spur Tree Lounge

•

Guest curating the show  
illusive self 

at the Taller Boricua Gallery, NYC

"An interpretive visual conversation of immigrant identity

retention, destruction, and (re)Creation."

Submissions now open through October 1st
 

 Artist Announcements October 15th.

Show Opening Nov 15th

More Info here:

~ About the Show

~ Guidelines

~Application

Conceptualized by Guest Curator: Berette Macaulay

Gallery Director: Fernando Salicrup

• • • 

 COMING IN NOVEMBER

 • 

New Solo in Jamaica!  

More news on this a bit later...



---  

If you have trouble viewing the content of this post, please visit the blog directly: http://sebiart.blogspot.com

Thank You

The Scary Business of New Beginnings...

They say you should do something that scares you everyday… Well, check!!

Moving they say is among the top traumas a person can experience, and prior to a couple weeks ago - this whole business of moving out and giving up everything I own was a great conversation piece that inspired only release and celebration...and zero fear.  Then suddenly one day recently, that all changed.  Everyday since has been an exercise in recalling the meditative and spiritual work of this year - and remembering to breathe.  The challenging asanas I've pushed myself in yoga all year to do, I call on now as practice in the asana of release.  Funny that I find myself clinging so tightly now just as I'm about to let go. 

I heard Rev. Bacon say in an interview with Oprah last week that change is like the tumult in a plane.  Pilots explain that when the craft is about to break through the sound barrier the cockpit shakes the most and the body of the craft is at its most unstable.  I love this.  Kind of like the constricting  trauma of the birth canal before air and light; but this new analogy is serving me right now. I'm breaking through the sound barrier - my apartment is the cockpit, and I'm wanting to grip for security before releasing to the cruising altitude on the other side.   Deep and interesting process to observe on a daily basis.  

I'm now at the 2 week mark and I FEEL my body poised and sharply focused on the task at hand.  There is not a single moment for renegotiation left.  It's do or bust. And I'm doing this most involved work WHILE preparing for immediate travel and 3 exhibitions!  Of course.  Hahaha.  But stoop sales are the biggest 'DO' right now and I don't particularly enjoy them because I feel like I'm in a fish bowl brandishing my panties for the world to stare at!  That said - I've been ushered prior into this process by the presence of friends and family so I could get my feet wet.


But unlike those other days where we've had mini impromptu stoop parties, today I had my first solo stoop sale and it was not only a real physical work out, but a true test of breathing away the histrionics, overcoming the fears and getting necessary work done.  I set this all in motion when I decided to release my life here in New York,  and so I have to go through these logistics - which are hardly as romantic as the reasons or the stories behind them. 
       
So...I didn't have the hand holding today that  my little heart yearned for, but such conditions yield deep spiritual truths about where to hold energy and how to stand in an exposed vulnerable space with your center in tact.  It's not easy watching people assess the worth of your belongings...that for you  are so rich with sentimental value.  But with each breath, I experienced the liberty that this entire move is ushering me towards.  And added to that, I was called and visited by sweet souls all day who delivered gems of deep encouragement for this soul work.  Even the guys in the clothing store across the street watched my stuff for me when I had to walk away or show someone my stuff for sale inside the apartment. It's remarkable how sweetly held I was by strangers and new neighbours and passersby who questioned and then celebrated my reasons for my move. It emboldened my sense of courage to continue, to sit in my fish bowl and get about the business of releasing my things, my emotional attachments, my fears, my ego...

These moments are the practice for when I am untethered and on my way to Sierra Leone at the end of the year.   This is the TRUTH right here.  Wow.  Yemaya. 

Humbled • Scared •  Determined • Grateful. 

SeBiArt News: from the Bat Cave :)

Bursting at the seams so straight to it!

1)
A few weeks ago I was one of 4 artists* accepted by jury into the Annual Mutual Gallery SuperPlus Under 40 Artist of the Year competition in Kingston, Jamaica. 

I'm working in an entirely new image making process for a project titled:   

ReKON: differenzierte Möglichkeit (trans. Reconstruction: Differentiated Possibility). 
It is most arduous, frightening, and fullfilling process on a daily basis - and I'm quite certain the finish will be an unexpected aesthetic to us all.   Such intensity requires I be quiet and staunchly disciplined to get through it...hence "Bat Cave".

here's a sneaky peek from the inside:

2)

Three images I shot earlier this year in downtown Kingston (Trench Town, Tivoli, and the Waterfront) were accepted for the annual JCDC/National Gallery of Jamaica competition.  I received the bronze prize for Waterfront Divers on Kingston's Edge this past Sunday.  Yayyyyyy!  This work will be up through August at the National Gallery of Jamaica - if you're on the island check us all out.

3)

In the last couple of weeks I was informed that my portrait work series Neue Rootz was selected as 2nd place winner in CCNY's 2012 National Annual Juried Photography Competition!!  I can hardly believe what I am typing - I'm still soaked in shock.   The jurors were Elisabeth Biondi - who over the last 20 years worked at The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Stern, and APERTURE as the Visuals Editor, Director of Photography, and contributor respectively, and in other distinguished roles in publishing and academia. And the other juror, Martine Fougeron - is an accomplished fine art and editorial photographer/contributor to the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine.  I'm completely elated to have them view my work - let alone select me for 2nd place.
                            
Quote from the email notice:  

"We are happy to say the jurors, after many hours of carefully considering each entry, felt that your submission was particularly strong, and that you have been chosen as the second-place winner of this year’s competition. Congratulations on behalf of the entire CCNY board and staff!"

 OMG!!!

The winning spots are 1st, 2nd, and tie for 3rd place plus 12 honorable mentions.  Congrats to all the artists, who I'm sure are as excited as I am. 


See official announcement on the CCNY website.

---

4)

I submitted work to the Vanderbilt Republic (whom I showed with last year at 25CPW Gallery) and made it through the curatorial and voting phases - yayyy - so I will show with them again this month in AFTH 2012 (Art From The Heart)show at their new Gowanus Loft Location in Brooklyn, New York. 

These folks are the most playful and sweetest group of seriously solid quality artists around - because the founder of VR, George del Barrio sets the energy that way.  Light light light!

http://vanderbiltrepublic.com/

5)
Last but so not least - I just got back from Costa Rica. I went down to breathe sweet life into a new multidisciplinary project collaboration with local friend actor/artist Olger Ignacio Gonzalez and NYC friend/dancer/teacher/choreographer Roger C. Jeffrey.  It's a baby of a project now, but this was such a beautiful and INTENSE creative trip that it will have its own post later in the year after further development.  But for now - think dance/film/photography/social-art project.  Yummy-liciousness.

Roger snappin' lights of inspiration - hahaha :)

Lft to Rt: Roger, Margarette, me, Olger. As you see we got to hang with my mama too!

 

Roger and Olger: Plaza de la Democracia

More photos + show dates and gallery locations coming up in another post soon.

This year keeps slapping me and hugging me at the same time people! Happy Summer to you all - hope to see you at a couple shows - and live-life-live-life-live-life and lift someone in a hug too while you're at it!

*Other 3 artist in Mutual Gallery show in November:
Olivia McGilchrist, Leasho Johnson, and Marvin Bartley

RELATED POSTS:

Next SeBiArt Show - New York City/Central Park West (Nov 2011)
SeBiArt News: Running on Joy (July 2011)
SeBiArt Getting Award for LIQUID (July 2010)

 

Show Follow Up: AFTH with The Vanderbilt Republic

So my debut last week with The Vanderbilt Republic at 25CPW Gallery was a wonderful success.  The pop up (one night only) gallery exhibit entitled Art From The Heart was seen by over 500 visitors which is what you call a kick ass event man!  And as I understand it - there will be a book featuring all the work of the artists in the show, which will be available via VR's Artifacts Store.   I suggest checking it out.  With such a large group of shooters represented, it is truly a rare thing to say that all the art was good.  But seriously, ALL the art was good - it felt great to be in such company.  Jo-Anneke van der Molen (curator) made funky use of the space and represented us well.  

AFTH/Vanderbilt Republic photos at 25CPW Gallery by Justin Lynch

And now that the surprise is over with (remember I didn't know what they were gonna show from my submission packet), the piece they chose was a pinhole camera portrait I took of Mark Sink this summer.  YeeHAW!!! And I STILL have yet to blog about THAT experience - IE.  my Pinhole and Collodion Wet Plate apprenticeship with Denver based master shooter - the Sink himself.  Once I'm outta the pressure zone with these shows that will come...

...next up: Fountain Arts Fair during Art Basel Miami Beach week! 

Art From the Heart 2011 from The Vanderbilt Republic on Vimeo.

RELATED JOURNEY POST: 

Next SeBiArt Show - New York City/Central Park West! (Nov 2011)

Next SeBiArt Show - New York City/Central Park West!

Hey guys - here's a flyer for my next show - it's a pop up gallery group show Art from the Heart(AFTH) with a really cool new organization called the Vanderbilt Republic (VR).  AFTH is in it's 2nd year and it's going up in a uber sweet spot - 25CPW Gallery (click here for their FB page).  It's gonna be a treat - come if you're free, up for buying some affordable art, or just ready for some fun!

Oh and what I'm showing is a surprise even to me - they selected one piece from my batch of submissions and refuse to tell me which one! Anyway you can preview some of the pieces (mine not included) at the link provided above. 

More online information can be found through these links. 

The press release: http://vanderbiltrepublic.com/pr

The Facebook event: http://facebook.com/event.php?eid=197593476984040

 Check out this Vanderbilt Picture Story preview featuring the curator Jo-Anneke van der Molen at work - if you squint and concentrate you'll see some of my work!  haha

AFTH2011: First Look from The Vanderbilt Republic on Vimeo.

As always - thanks for your support PEOPLE!! 

Oh - and stay close by - more news coming your way about my next show in December...in Miami!  YeeeeHAW!!!  

♡♡♡

Jamrock Talk, Jamrock Walk

Got a few posts building up in me and while I'm getting all caught up in drafting them... the weeks are going by.  So forgive the slight incongruity here - but I need to quickly put up a couple of thoughts and 'shares'.

As some of you know for the past few years - and stemming out of my public school teaching experience with ALATetc and Art for Progress -  I've been working in a volunteer capacity to create educational art workshops/community projects with a couple of organizations; namely CITYarts, Studio 174, and INSCAPE Foundation.  It's all been a bit slow, but the relationships built have been steady and consistently inspiring.  My 'fave orgs' you see listed always in the sidebar is a record of my alliances thus far, and new to the list is Save Our Jamaica - founded by a most passionate soul and loyal Jamrocker - Raxann Chin.   

foto by SeBiArt

Raxann and I have partnered in deep conversation and intention to merge our efforts where ever needed to compliment/assist groups we are individually affiliated with.  The promise and potential of this is invigorating and inspiring to say the least.  With SOJ, Raxann is passionately trying to create a stable financial platform of support for established and new community building organizations on the island of Jamaica. 

foto from SOJ website

Please visit her website here: Save Our Jamaica

Check and LIKE the SOJ Facebook page.

Please spread the word - and volunteer what you can in this movement, whether it be contact resources, donations - financial or goods, consultation services, field work in workshops, PR, or any other talent or tangible gesture you can offer! 

 

There is great potential here for true collaboration with visual and performing artists, writers, educators, entrepreneurs, tech specialists, etc, and a host of community advocates in all fields to build up a nation of unspeakable talent, potential, and spirit.

---

The next item - just to get this up - is: with the tsunami of protests racing around the globe, it was a matter of time before it hit the US shores.  The Occupy Wall Street protest (sparked originally by Adbusters back in July [great magazine btw!]) is strong, expanding exponentially, and inspiring.  It makes me think of a rant I put up last year (the e-Con Highway) during the midterm elections about the economic disparities in the world, and the vulgar division of wealth and poverty that glows blindingly on a daily basis - and created a good chunk of the messes we're all swimming in now.  Naturally it makes me think of my countries Jamaica, and Sierra Leone - both of which (but SL even more so), are near breathlessly struggling to stay at the surface of this tank, let alone above it!  So I had to share a post from a fellow blogger, which was written specifically from a Jamaican point of view about the London riots.

For further reading about the Occupy Wall Street Protest:
1) The Demand List
2) Growing Support for OWS - Day 19 Support from Unions 10/05/2011

Jamaican Till I Die!: Whites have become Black ...WTF?

foto from Jamaican Till I Die blog

RELATED JOURNEY POST:  The e-Con Highway (Nov 2010)

foto by SeBiArt

 

Inconsistency of optional identities

Sometimes I feel like a shit photographer with just a bunch of 'great' ideas.

Sometimes I feel like a great photographer with either stupid ideas, 

     or worse, 

     NO IDEA.

Most times I don't feel like a photographer at all

Just a dreamer, a shapeless artist with intangible ambitions, 

     itching to move away from 'craft' 

     and more into seeing, 'be-ing', believing

Living with a childlike heart and precocious lust to rewrite the world 

     with the pen of my lens 

     to create a new vision

     or version

     of reality

Cuz sometimes this version sucks!

Pier @ 79th Street, near the Boat House Basin, New York City

SeBiArt upcoming show dates

Hey Jamrockers and New Yorkers,

I have a couple of shows coming up in both spots - soooo between the lot of you, some of you in either place should be able to check my work out on one of the dates!  Ha - mouthful!  I'm still high on back painkillers okay.   :)


Okay so first there's the JCDC/NGJ Traveling Showcase featuring all the award winning works from the National Visual Arts competition. And yep-yep - my award winning Liquid Trees image from this summer will be featured! HellZ-yeah! So if you missed it at the National Gallery - check it at one of these spots.

See Details here (click image for larger view): 

Next up is Critical Mass, a group exhibit at HeadQuarters Gallery in TriBeCa, NYC.  The event will be hosted by Art for Progress, featuring original works by 16 artists and curated by Natalie Kates.  All works will be for sale through the gallery and will be up for only two days!  

Details here (click image for larger view):  

As for my current creative efforts(funny that I rarely discuss my actual day-to-day-creative-work-life on my blog...I wonder why that is...hmmmmm....chin scratch...ANYhoo), I've been working on a series called BRANDED since the Spring.  Gonna dive into that in my next jotting.  

I broke up with Self-Sabotage...

...it wasn't working out.
 

Self-Sabotage wanted me to give all my free time and energy to others, and to leave none for myself

Self-Sabotage wanted me to cocoon myself in deprecating thoughts of incompetency and undeserved discounts of my dreams, thus  deafening me to the best wishes and praises of others

Self-Sabotage didn't want me to do what I truly wanted, it only wished for me to live in yearning all the day long

Self-Sabotage made me push people I loved away, made me late for important interviews, auditions, or opportunities. Sometimes it made me forget important appointments - or remember them and JUST CHOOSE not to show up.

Self-Sabotage has been known to keep me busy or absent from the lives of some I love causing me to miss out on bonding opportunities

Self-Sabotage always promises things or experiences for tomorrow but never lets me act today

Self-Sabotage lets me eat badly, too little, or too much, and tells me not to care about my appearance because no one is looking or cares

Self-Sabotage exhausted me to the point where I neglected my health, then made me spend money on needless things so I could be in debt and unable to help myself when I was in need and ready to care for myself

Self-Sabotage tells me I'm too fat, ugly, stupid, lazy, untalented and thoroughly unlovable

Self-Sabotage made me withdraw from others, and from living by telling me that I would be left behind anyway

But...

Self-Sabotage wasn't there for me when I woke up one day and realized I compromised my values;

It didn't care that I didn't 'live for today'; that I didn't 'follow my dreams'; that I would curl in my bed alone at night wondering if anyone will ever hold me again.

It tells me to trust no one, open up to no one, love no one - so that it can keep me to itself.

It's always there, always been there, but doesn't love me.

It advises me but never in my best interest. It always talks to me but always lies. It runs everywhere with me but keeps me stuck in the shit hole I dug for myself.

SO, one day, I stopped arguing with Self-Sabotage.

I stopped trying to outrun it, outsmart it, or fight it.

Instead, I turned and faced it, embraced it, ate it, and shat it out.

Alas, it really wasn't as powerful as I let myself believe it to be; but it lay lots of eggs though...in caviar numbers...and every time one hatches, I try to eat it before it grows. I can't let them grow to dominate my thoughts and actions - life is just less fun and more exhausting that way.

The truth is I'm full of love, open curiosity, and a zest for life.

I'm healthy, strong, talented, beautiful, damn smart, and highly adaptable - and I simply adore using these gifts in the service of love and progress with other loving, strong, beautiful, thoughtful, passionate, and open individuals.

Now I dare to live at the height I dream myself to be...with not one, but five amazing companions:

Compassion, Humility, Gratitude, Self-Respect, and Self-Love

_________________

+++Note about this post:

I wrote this during a very quiet period in the winter/spring of 2009. I was spending my days working quietly on my photography, dreaming, meditating, doing my yoga, spending time with loved ones.  But before I was able to post it - SB grabbed on to me for a last fling - spiraling me into a series of every habitual action listed above, condensed into a few short weeks.  I simply could not post this until I was sure the break up was for real.  

Everything I've been posting on this blog has in one way or another been tied to a most specific cleansing journey that I refer to often in my jottings.  Every living moment, in work or play, has been a conscious one designed to move me away from this beast, and the drive to stay clear in this has come from looking at these words, with the determination to post them exactly one year from the date I wrote them down.  

Now surely, there's all sorts of bullshit still to wade through - such is life, n'est pas?  But at least I say today with a smile and a little sass that SB calls no shots in this house anymore.  :) 

Take charge of your inner house!

"Living never wore one out so much as the effort not to live."
 
~Anais Nin~