under the camera skin with san francisco photographer beryl fine~

31 Aug

M: Hello Beryl Fine! Tell me, why do you take photographs?

B: I take photos to remind the world of the beauty that surrounds us. Life can get so intense, it’s nice to be reminded of that.

M : Anyone and everyone can take a picture, what, in your opinion, makes a photograph a work of art?

B: It varies on the intent of the photographer. Art is at a point where nonconformity and working within a space, without boundaries, is customary. If the photographer has intent and takes on a concept or an idea that they are trying to communicate, than that effort in itself makes the photo a work of art.

M: Some of your work and some of the subjects you depict might be considered ugly (trash heaps, urinals, Billy Bob Thornton) by the average person. Is it your intention to redefine what is beautiful and what is grotesque through these images?

B: Yes, I think that narcissism and vanity are rather grotesque. While much of our culture praises beauty in taking on one traditionally accepted shape- I hope that my photos bring to light the idea that beauty, no matter its’ shape, can be just as appreciated. My world growing up was very much influenced by media-driven notions of beauty. I had to completely step out of that way of that thinking to challenge it.

M: Curiosity seems to be the hallmark of a good or a great photographer. What secrets do you wish to unfold in regards to your work?

B: Usually that comes down to the people I’m shooting. Most of what I think people find so curious about my subjects is that they are “abnormal” and that they live a typically atypical existence. The truth is that they are abnormal and atypical and that is what’s truly intriguing about them. Their reality is what keeps people fascinated. When people look at my subjects they see the stuff fiction is made of but actually these individuals just simply live in reality. The only secret that I want to share is their reality.

M: I love that you do not particularly glamorize your subject matter; your work tells the truth straight up and often sans gloss. Is there a statement on modern beauty that you’re making or is it simply an aesthetic preference?

B: Modern beauty has mutated into this pretense of surgically, digitally exaggerated features. It’s a bit intense… I just wanna explore imperfection and reality for a moment.

M: Why bike messengers?

B:  Bike messengers are icons; completely independent, ruthless street rogues. I thought that it would be interesting to take them out of their urban city backdrop, juxtaposed with a stark white, seamless backdrop (much like Avadon) so that we can see them as they actually are.

M: Is beauty ordinary?

B: I think so.

M: Many Native American cultures believed that a photograph can imprison the soul. What if they’re right and you have unknowingly condemned legions of innocent people to wallow in an eternally frozen afterlife!?!

B: Damn, well that would be a bummer but meh…

M: Name one image in your memory, if you will, a transcendant or romantic flash in time that you do not have a photograph of but wish that you did…

B: Dude, that shit haunts me. Those moments constantly appear and than I just let them fade away…

http://berylfine.com

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“Art, Art, Art, Fuck the Devil…” Q & A with NY Artonaut Michael Alan

16 Jul

Still From Michael Alan's Living Installation at Kenny Scharfs' Cosmic Cavern

M: What, Michael Alan, is your quest? Continue reading 

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Deconstructing the Director’s Chair, an Interview with Rob Roth~

13 Jun

Rob Roth is an art animal. He is a cross-media, cross-disciplined, genderbent visionary engaged in his own perpetual renaissance that is simultaneously personal, profound and professional. I caught him by the tail in between a flight from Paris and just prior to his upcoming Wolfboy performance of NIGHTVISION at The Wild Project in The East Village, NYC.

Continue reading 

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Shoe Party!!!!!!!!!!!!Muffinhead Takes You Kicky Kamikazee Shoe Shopping…

3 Jun 1ice cream shoes

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!Muffinhead and Eric Schmalenberger Present: BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday, May 28th @ Red Lotus Room/Brooklyn

6 May

Muffinhead & Eric Schmalenberger Present:
BANZAI!!!!!
Art and Performance Blitz
Saturday, May 28th 8PM-3AM
Memorial Day Weekend

Red Lotus Room
893 Bergen St. Brooklyn, NY 11238
(Between Classon & Franklin)

DJ SCOTT EWALT
Special Guest DJ LADY MISS KIER Continue reading 

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Visco Inferno!!!!! A Talk on the Wild Side with Photographer & Gate Crasher Gerry Visco…

21 Apr

Mz. Gerry Visco

Hi Gerry, who are you fucking lately?

I am fucking MYSELF. Why? Because I do it better than anyone else. I’ve had my heart broken too many times and put my own work onhold because of various dysfunctional boyfriends and a husband. So, NOW it’s Gerry Time. Right now I’m focusing on my work; pleasuring myself is safer. One of the platforms of Gerrification means up with dildos, down with sex. That’s a joke, but I’ve always been very sensual and eroticized, open to exploring all fantasies and mad passionate sex even if it ends in a disaster and it usually does. I have doubts about whether sex and love are compatible on a long-term basis. Like Warren Beatty, Wilt Chamberlain, Charlie Sheen and Geraldo Rivera, I’ve had thousands of sex partners so I don’t feel bad about being celibate for now. Of course, I would love to fall in love again, so hang onto your hats, this could all change in a nanosecond.

I almost fell out of my chair when I heard that you are a yoga instructor. YOU HAVE A BAD TEMPER AND ADHD! How does that work exactly? Continue reading 

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Pandemonia in Full Swing!!!!!!! An Interview with the U.K.’s Premier Couture Provocateur…

12 Apr

M:What are you hiding?

P: Oh, only just about everything.

M: Oscar Wilde once said, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth.” What truth are you expressing to us? Continue reading 

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One night at Disco 2000 by Soigné Deluxe

5 Apr

Soigné Deluxe, Self Portrait

I was working on my Smurfette with go-go boy painting when I felt my body twitch. I needed to dance right NOW.

Ohh, what to wear??? Oh I know! I will wear my body suit with a jillion eyes on it…” Yes, yes… Continue reading 

…AND i QUOTE! 20 Favorite Axioms from Penny Arcade

1 Apr

Penny Arcade, Photo by Jasmine Hirst

 

1. You can’t call yourself a fierce dyke and ask for safe space in the same sentence.

2. Longing Lasts Longer

3. I found the Bermuda Triangle! It is between my legs! Everyone who goes there disappears from my life! Continue reading 

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Munch Gallery and Muffinhead are Proud to Present: “To:Japan /Love, New York…” Art Auction Benefiting Victims of the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami

17 Mar

Munch Gallery and Muffinhead are proud to present:

“To:Japan
/Love, New York…”
Art Auction Benefiting Victims of the Japan Earthquake and the Pacific Tsunami
Opening Exhibit and Auction:
Saturday, March 26th 8-11pm
www.munchgallery.com
Continue reading 

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