Laylah Amatullah Barrayn is no stranger for TRACE readers who had a chance to encounter her in a feature story on her photography collective, She Shootin’ in our Fall 07 issue. KINDRED COOL is Barrayn’s new photography project that uses the relationship between Ralph Ellison, Romare Bearden and Albert Murray as an inspiration for documenting other friendships forged and fostered through a shared appreciation for jazz. Through photographic portraits, KINDRED COOL showcases the diversity of the jazz diaspora, that is, individuals who are inspired by American classical music: jazz. The subjects of KINDRED COOL are a motley crew of jazz educators, vocalists and instrumentalists, rappers, aficionados, journalists, publicists, dancers and painters. A partial list of those photographed for Kindred Cool are Ellis Marsalis, Ladybug Mecca, Randy Weston, Mos Def, DJ Spooky, Vijay Iyer, Rhonda Ross, Brian Jackson, Farah Jasmine Griffin among many others.

KINDRED COOL
Photography by Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
On View: August 3 - September 14, 2008
Opening Reception: August 3, 2008 - 3pm
Museum of Contemporary African Disaporan Arts (MoCADA)
80 Hanson Place, Brooklyn, New York 11217 www.MOCADA.org

For more info, visit kindredcool.org

Graffiti, once the bastard child of art forms makes a mainstream appearance this year that links graffiti with fashion and function. Tatoot, a debut line of backpacks and messenger bags, allows graffiti artists to showcase their work legally and aims to help clean up city streets by providing them an outlet.

Founders Eddie Shabot and David Ben David created a classic old school/new school battle pitting ten artists — five from each group — against one another to design a bag. Winning designs went on to be manufactured and with that Tatoot was born. Propelled by contributing artists the design competition is on going and welcomes any graffiti artist to enter.

Contest winners are decided by online vote and the design goes into production, bags are sold at Foot Locker; Dr. Jays; Foot Soldiers (Miami); Michael K. and Up Against the wall (NYC). To enter the competition or vote for a bag here, to check out the bags on sale now here.

Kicking off August 1st, the Big Chill Festival at Eastnor Castle Park in Herefordshire, UK is just about the coolest — sorry for punning — festival I’ve heard about this summer. For one, that Icelandic art band Sigur Ros is having their film ‘Heima’ screened as part of BFI’s multi-media programme, which will run throughout the festival until August 3rd. I’ve been trying to see this film for months now. From what I’ve heard, it’s the visual equivalent of their gorgeously unearthly soundscapes.

On the film programme, Gypsy Caravan will also be screenings (stayed tuned here for a longer post and interview with the direction coming up!)

Also up, Orchestra Baobob, Thievery Corporation, Blk Jks, Lykke Li, Little Dragon, Natty, DJ Krush, Flying Lotus, and Leonard Cohen.

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & Adrian Sherwood are also on deck — visually and musically, respectively — as part of the ICA’s festival series. Sherwood’s spinning the dub soundtrack “On U” and Perry paints the visuals, literally, live.

Camp out here and get more festival info here.

Think you have what it takes to be a designer? EDUN LIVE, Bono and Ali Hewson’s ethical t-shirt clothing line, has been assisting and increasing employment and trade in South and East Africa since their company began in 2005. Every EDUN t-shirt produced is made from 100% African organic cotton. Now, you have a chance to join the Grow to Sew  movement by showcasing your artistic talent and supporting a good cause.EDUN LIVE is looking for ‘green-themed’ entries that will make their blank cotton tees pop with color and creativity. The winning design will be printed and sold at the VIRGIN MOBILE FESTIVAL, held in Baltimore, MD on August 9th & 10th. The winner will also receive an EDUN LIVE wardrobe valued at $1000, and 10% of the proceeds of all t-shirts will go directly to EDUN LIVE’s initiatives in Africa.The contest closes on July 24th, so get your creative gears grinding and enter your designs here.

Frustration. Anger. Resentment. Confusion. These are just some of the emotions that suffuse Karen Parker’s World. In his new exhibit, Douglas Kolk creates a personalized narrative of a young person’s struggle to come to terms with her sense of selfhood. Long concerned with the questions of identity, Kolk’s mixed media collages and paintings have attempted to portray the modern individual’s confusion with finding his or her own place within the world.

At Arndt und Partner gallery in Berlin, Kolk was given a freedom to experiment with new media. His single brushstroke wall portraits of young women, such as Rapunzel, function as a reflection of a young woman’s hauntingly hollow perception of self. However, it is really only with a series of sculptures, the artist’s first, that one really gets a sense of Karen Parker’s confusion. Simply entitled Karen Parker, one sculpture is of a young woman wearing a mask, in a state of undress. Perpetuating the sense of a non-existent sense of identity, the sculpture seems like an accurate depiction of a depressed woman.

Venturing through the gallery rooms will take you to the extremes of your emotional landscape and will leave you questioning your sense of self and the social constructs that have allowed the development of an entire generation of confusion.

Check it out here.

Primarily focused on blurring the traditional and contemporary representations of class boundaries, Kehinde Wiley’s subjects have primarily tended to be young African-American men, straight from the streets of Harlem. But World Stage: Africa, Lagos - Dakar at Studio Museum Harlem is moving beyond the boundaries of the urban New York landscape. Taking Wiley’s well-known style and transplanting it to a global spectrum, the new series of 10 paintings were conceived in temporary studios set up along his travels through Nigeria and Senegal. Consequently, traces of regional architecture and textiles have found their way into his new works.

Although his stylistic signature has always been juxtaposing the elements of traditional renaissance portraiture with that of urban African–American culture, this new exhibit gave Wiley the freedom to represent the historical dynamics between power and privilege in an entirely new setting. Suffusing his works with a hint of the post-colonial, Wiley paints his subjects in poses replicated straight from independence–era statues scattered around Lagos and Dakar.

Whilst these new paintings retain a powerful vibrancy, there is arguably a loss of the familiar garnered in Wiley’s earlier works. The instant identification garnered by the Harlem-based settings of his earlier portraits is somehow lost when transferred to the African landscape. But this new dimension in Wiley’s artistic realm is producing iconic results that are sure to resonate with a bigger crowd than ever.

A whimsical fantasyland of wooden beams and hanging glass canopies, Frank Gehry’s first project in the UK is about to become reality. Having been selected by the Serpentine Gallery to participate in an innovative architectural program, Gehry was given 6 months to design, construct and erect a temporary summer Pavilion in London’s Hyde Park. Following in the footsteps of Rem Koolhaas and Oscar Niemeyer, Gehry’s Pavilion is ninth in the Serpentine’s series as well as being his first UK project.

To describe the structure as conceptual is somewhat of an understatement. Held up by 4 steel columns, the pavilion is a scintillating labyrinth of overlapping glass panes and protruding wooden beams. But despite the convoluted aesthetic of the Pavilion, there is an undeniable functionality embedded in Gehry’s concoction. Described as an “urban street”, the pavilion will serve as a promenade linking the park to the Serpentine Gallery itself.

And whilst the placement of timber catapults and steel planks may seem to some absurd, wooden benches are scattered around the pavilion making it an attractive space for aimless wandering and self-reflection.

More here.

The International Center of Photography’s most recent exhibit is bringing Japan back to New York City. Heavy Light, featuring photography and film from 13 of Japan’s most talented artists show that there is more rising from this island nation than just the sun. From Hiroh Kikai’s stunning black and white street portraits to Miwa Yanagi’s eerie theatrical re-creation of childhood fairy tales, the exhibition represents a link between traditional culture and emerging elements of Japanese society.

Asako Narahashi’s series Half Awake and Half Asleep in the Water blends the turbulence of nature with the futuristic urban architecture that lines Japan’s coast. Asako’s images evoke an isolation that could only result from floating just out of reach from the safety of land.

Masayuki Yoshinaga’s video installation showcases the modern rituals of Japan’s infamous motorcycle gangs. His light screen display of Lolita Gothic fashion is also a must-see. Photographed in some of the most famous trend-setting districts in Japan, such as Harajuku and Shibuya, Yoshinaga’s collection explores bizarre and daring Japanese street style.

Don’t miss out on this illuminating display, running now until September 7th. More info here.

A videotape of a bloody-faced woman wearing a Viking helmet and carrying around a giant piece of foam Swiss cheese may seem like an odd choice to categorize as a work of art. But Harry Dodge and Stanya Kanh’s piece captures the crude, gritty, symbolic, fantastically quirky and somewhat funny spirit of their work. The previously describe Viking woman (portrayed by Ms. Kahn herself) is the subject of Dodge and Kahn’s video piece “Can’t Swallow It, Can’t Spit It Out.”

The video piece was screened back in 2006 by the Elizabeth Dee Gallery and later included in an exhibition (”Eden’s Edge”) at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles as well as tapped for the Whitney Museum Biennial.

Ms. Dodge and Ms. Kahn first met in San Francisco in 1993 where they were part of a burgeoning performance art scene. They began working together — Kahn is usually in front of the camera while Dodge is the behind — in Los Angeles where they created their first short titled “Winner” back in 2001. Dodge and Kahn’s roots in performance art are apparent in their video art as characterized by the improvised dialogue and movement in their pieces.

Their latest work “All Together Now” (26 minutes and 34 secs) is a bit different in the sense that the character’s identities are not clear — they wear blue and white hoods. These hoods prevent dialogue — the improvised quality that has garnered them much success.

“All Together Now” is currently in display at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery till August 2, 2008. More info here.

With the glut of “designer toys” cluttering shelves and display cases and floating around the interweb, it has naturally become a bit more difficult for designers and artists to distinguish themselves from the plastic masses. Difficult, but not impossible.

Enter The Mirf.

No, it’s not a blaxploitation-era Kung Fu flick about a housing project super who’s visited in the night by a mystical cockroach—the body of which houses the spirit of an ancient Wu Shu master—who then blesses said super with near invincibility and the fighting skills of the 12 most powerful Shaolin monks of antiquity, thus allowing him to clean up the streets and kick some Vice Lord ass, ending their reign of terror, getting the girl and generally saving the day and all that jazz.

Though that would make a pretty dope flick, The Mirf’s got little to do with the stuff of Kung Fu legend. The brainchild of 1134NYC’s graffiti duo Mint and Serf and NYC’s art toy house Thunderdog Studios, the Mirf is truly the first of its kind: a graffiti-inspired, wall-mountable soft-vinyl toy. Available in four different colorways (with 200 pieces of each), the Mirf’s creators consider the piece more of a sculpture than a toy. Getting bump from design and graffiti world luminaries such as HAZE, Claw Money and Carlo McCormick, as a bonus the limited edition piece comes in so fresh and so clean packaging which features a slide out box, silver foil and a two-sided, flocked blister tray.

And to bleed off the steam that’s been building since hype over this paradigm-shifting piece of soft-vinyl deliciousness first buzzed about the Lower East Side a month ago, 1134NYC, Thunderdog Studios, Rogue Status and Vapors Magazine are putting their power rings together to drop the Mirf bomb in dual Left Coast launch events tonight and Thursday night. New York hip-hop trio Team Facelift will be holding it down at both events. With that said, expect lots of nudity (thank you Fat Jew), more than a few Jewish girls from Long Island, a tangerine bathrobe or two and possibly even some drunken, passionate Mirf chants (most likely in the nude). You know you love it.