Tonic for Aphasia

I'm afraid of aphasia. The act of listmaking is a tonic, affirming: I can think, I can write. While lists can sum up fears (bills, tasks, cons/pros) the act of writing itself nonetheless always works for me as a more primitive summing up of things: I can think, I can gather my thoughts (sane.)

Running for the hills!

(from left to right)
Emma Wilcox, Evonne Davis, Katrina Bello, Kylie Lefkowitz, Dahlia Elsayed, Marcy Chevali.

This has been a very exciting experience interning for Gallery Aferro. I have been interning for three weeks now and I am happy to say that everything is going well. I have been working with a lot of different artist already, many of which I quickly became friends with.

I first heard about Gallery Aferro through my school at Mason Gross, School of The Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. I didn’t really know what to expect but I felt that Gallery Aferros’ internship in Social Media could really benefit me in my field. I have always appreciated art and over the years I have developed a visual arts background and continued with a concentration in design as a B.F.A undergraduate.

A lot of the work I do for Gallery Aferro involves the management of their Facebook updates, tweets on Twitter and uploads on YouTube. I occasionally post blog entries too as you can see! I have worked well before with video editing and my experience in design has really helped my work at Gallery Aferro. They seem to react strongly to my work and I appreciate the real world experience they offer me. I have been working really hard to be apart of this world and finally everything is coming together in this internship.

I work along side a man named Danny DeLiberato, who like myself is a Social Media intern at Aferro. Together we tackle all sorts of different projects our superiors want us to push out for their Gallery. He is an incredible asset to Gallery Aferro and a strong person to work with. Our first big project was the closing reception here at Gallery Aferro. Danny was able to put together a LIVE-POD-CAST of the performing art work done by Irvin Morazan.

Irvin Morazan performed an amazing ritualistic performing during the closing ceremony at Gallery Aferro. People all over the world were able to live stream his performance, which everyone was ecstatic about. I don’t want to give away too much in this post since we are working on his footage right now and that in itself will be a whole new post but we really excited with the video and how successful the live stream became. Irvin mentioned that his girl friend, who wasn’t able to make it to his performance that night, actually pulled over at a gas station and watched the live stream through her cell phone!

The night itself was really fun, I been wanting this for a long time and it is only going to get better. I met a ton of interesting people that night, and if I missed anyone you can always contact me! I am always happy to make new friends and look forward into meeting everyone who is interested in the arts.

Definitely keep up with our online channels; we will be pushing out a lot of work during our internship at Gallery Aferro. Many of the new friends I have made are studio residents at Gallery Aferro. I am very interested in interviewing the artist and everyone can get a better grasp of who everyone is soon.

Hope everyone enjoys our future post and video uploads!

My name is Kevin Hau, Facebook me!

Hyperallergic! Born this Way! Actual Artists Seen Within!

Dahlia Elsayed studio, from Hyperallergic


I was at a breakfast yesterday for arts and cultural organizations and Essex County elected officials at the Newark Museum's (awesome) Ballantine Room. I fear, and hate to think that I may have sounded as if I was being sarcastic, but with total and naked sincerity, I invited everyone to come to the gallery tomorrow, Saturday October 22, from 11-6 to meet the resident artists. Actual, living artists, who come in various genders, color, sizes, ages and temperments. Who have bills, jobs, sometimes kids, who drink the same coffee as other folks, drive the same roads...So now I may be being a bit sarcastic, but my point is that while sometimes being an artist means veering wildly off other life trajectories or otherwise being "different", we are not some tribe apart, and that a good place to start arts planning would be talking with some artists about Newark, and their experiences of the city. I mean this with total sincerity. Part of the values behind our education offerings at Aferro such as tours and Identity Blueprint are to demystify "what an artist looks like," and hopefully model that an artist can look like anyone. The residency is urban and open 24/7 to help make it accessible to all kinds of people, all kinds of people who are artists.

As with many issues, many of us begin to care about the arts either because we are artists (duh), or because we have kids who are creative. Many Gallery Aferro supporters have told me that they invest in the arts, volunteer, etc because their kids may end up growing up to be artists. A wonderful NJVLA lawyer who helped Aferro years ago told me that he volunteers his services because his child's drawings are at his desk, reminding him that, um, as they say, you're born this way. Parents the world over have learned that you can discourage the kid, but more often than not, you can't take the desire out of them. They will just keep painting/drawing/etc.

Anyway, please visit the studios tomorrow. The ENTIRE BUILDING will be open from basement to the 4th floor, and there is so much to do and see. And, yes, actual live artists will be there.

Live Stream of Irvin Morazan's Back to Brick City 8 PM Tonight

What are you doing tomorrow? Go to the Closing Reception and Performance by Irvin Morazan

Please join us for the closing reception of Personal Effects, Scabs, Bandages and Skeletons: Caroline Mak, Barbara Wallace: Facts and Figures, and GlassRoots: Collaborations with Matter on October 21, 7-10 PM.

At 8:00PM there will be a special performance , "Back to Brick City" by Irvin Morazan.

Feel free to investigate the exhibits and come enjoy the performance.

Personal Effects:
Personal Effects is a sprawling exhibition presenting the idiosyncratic, street art based collection of photographer Eric Wolfe, and featuring works by more than 65 international artists including SWOON, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Faile, Bast, Kara Walker, Brian Eno, Claes Oldenburg and Anna Gaskell.

Scabs, Bandages and Skeletons:Caroline Mak:
By performing and enacting a series of repetitive transformative actions – whether it is painstakingly braiding and knotting length of tubing, or tearing and gnawing through slabs of foam – through the physicality of my actions, I bestow upon the material an ability to further decay, multiply or spread beyond its original confines. The systems that emerge in my installations contain references to disciplines ranging from topography, biology and the decorative arts. Natural processes are translated, reflected and re-created in my installations. In the process of construction, systems become apparent in the spaces they are assigned to, each self-contained worlds with their own inherent logic.

Barbara Wallace: Facts and Figures:
Sculptor Barbara Wallace’s spare, confrontational installation in the Liminal Space consists of two large scale sculptures representing the full-sized figures of a man and a woman, and a series of sculpted portrait heads based on the individuals from the artist's inner circle. The works are created in the faux-bronze technique that Wallace has mastered

GlassRoots: Collaborations with Matter:
Gallery Aferro and GlassRoots are proud to unveil an exhibition that includes works created by young artists, teaching artists and artist friends of GlassRoots. The exhibition takes inspiration from the three states of matter. At its most elementary level, matter is anything that takes up space. The states of matter refers to the three classical states that matter can take- gas, liquid and solid. Through a highly collaborative process, the works on exhibit represent the artists’ attempt to interpret and reflect the unique qualities of glass and its ability to be transformed into expressions of themselves in one or more of these states.

If you can't make it to Newark Irvin Morzan's performance will be streamed LIVE at 7:45pm. All you have to do is click the link below and Gallery Aferro will be streaming live on your computer. Don't miss out on any of the Closing Reception!
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gallery-aferro

New Work/Newark

Jomar Statkun/Nadja Frank

Number two pencils.

Scabs, Bandages and Skeletons by Caroline Mak.

Among her pieces shown, the one titled “Peeled”, which consist of used pencil shavings, ask the reason of why was this done. It shows the previous life of the pencil as if an object had a life but how does an inanimate object have a life?

It is greatly interesting to see the pieces of the pencil shavings being put back together to create the new discombobulated Frankenstein creation of what it once was however. The visual design the line of each layer creates is very textural and snake like in appearance. This was definitely one of my favorite pieces.

I have always enjoyed artwork that is interesting and fundamentally interactive. Caroline’s art work captured me as the viewer in its space. The way everything was set allows me to be physically be immersed within their world.

Each of the pieces shown were set in a way where they were separate functional works of art that made you step around or through them which I highly enjoyed. I have always found that sculpture is not always just meant to be seen from one point of view but the entirety of it. It was great to understand the spatial structure of her work which in corporates the objects around them.

There were a wide variety of different techniques used by Caroline. On top of the series of sculptural objects she recorded a video of her work showing the futility and tediousness of her process. That in-it-self feels more of what she was going after.

“I attempt to show the absurdity and futility of my repair & reconstruction process, but ultimately creating a whimsical and humorous collection of objects that also speaks to the materiality of many of our second hand and discarded objects.” – Carol Mak

I agree perfectly with her description of her work. In an instant I noticed many of her materials used and related them to what I knew. I found a lot of it to be uplifting.

The show is still going on until October 23’rd, be sure to check it out.

-Kevin Hau, Social Media Intern @ Gallery Aferro