Syracuse has been going through some tough art politics lately with the surprising dismissal of Astria Superak from Syracuse University funded gallery, The Warehouse Gallery. Astria was appointed gallery director a year ago, almost instantly curating an Art Video Festival at the local art space, Spark. Many are outraged at the sudden firing and overwhelming confused on the bad decision made by the Coalition of Museums and Art Centers's Director, Jeffrey Hoone.

Some speculated the decision was due to the current exhibition up at the Warehouse Gallery, titled, "COME ON:Desire Under The Female Gaze." The CMAC heads were not too keen on the subject matter and how it would be perceived by the Syracuse public. Here is a the description of the show from the gallery website:

The Warehouse Gallery of Syracuse University launches a bold new exhibition, COME ON: Desire Under The Female Gaze, which focuses on the psychological, social, cultural and political dimensions of desire, subjectivity and pleasure.
...
COME ON reveals what is not represented in popular culture and provides a counterbalance to the ubiquitous imagery of sexualized female bodies created for mainstream heterosexual male sensibilities.

The art community in Syracuse have been growing at a fast rate thanks to Astria's influence and connections with the art world. This scuffle throws the growth back 10 steps in making Syracuse a city with a quality art community.

The backlash has succeeded in receiving many supporters for Astria as well as a blog, titled "Syracuse Loses Again." From there you can read the many many letters and press coverage about the situation. You can even read the obvious art censorship argument between Astria and Jeffrey Hoone in their email exchanges. Another interesting blog is Keep Astria.

The City of Syracuse Common Council appointed Astria Suparak to the Public Arts Commission for the period of three years, effective October 1, 2007. See The Post Standard Article.

Here is a flickr set of the COME On exhibit~

Labels: art, exhibitions, gallery, news, politics

posted by Jane Tam at 11:56 AM 0 comments

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© Jennifer Davis

Everyone knows Summer in the city is filled with many events. (Somehow I missed everything due to advanced arrangements :( Anyways, this week is one of the most eventful having Magnum hold many festivities such as reviews, openings, and drinks; also Blindspot celebrating their 35th issue; and of course, there is Jen Bekman's co-curated show with Jörg Colberg, A New American Portrait, opening tomorrow night. I'll have to stop my jb another time to see the well-publicized show.

Besides all that goes on in the art world, there's many other free events... courtesy to Freenyc.net, there's free outdoor movies, music concerts, parades, everything..... man.. I'm going to miss the Mermaid Parade this year too (Saturday starting at 2pm). :(

Labels: art, blog, cambodia, exhibitions, gallery, jenbekman, news, photo

posted by Jane Tam at 11:22 PM 0 comments

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From Russia 2007 Series by Pavel Romaniko

The Spring edition of Hey, Hot Shot! winners were announced today! Be sure to head down to the gallery on Wednesday, June 13 for the opening reception. It'll sure to be a blast and I promise to make it there this time around.

One of my favorites among the talented list of winners is Pavel Romaniko. His Russia series contain soft and intimate images of his home. He focuses on the banal and uninteresting moments; moments that you only recognize after long periods of time away from home. I love seeing other artists who use their home as inspiration since it is what I am most focused on at the moment.

Labels: art, exhibitions, gallery, hhs, jenbekman, news, photo

posted by Jane Tam at 8:45 PM 0 comments

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posted by Jane Tam at 3:31 PM 0 comments

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