Talk In New York

<em>Surprisingly original and interesting works are found at the Clio Art Fair, labeled as the “Anti-Fair for Independent Artists”. The event is worth knowing about since, without prominent advertising or publicity fanfare, it is devoted to works by independent artists, and mounted twice a year in Manhattan. Judging from the latest autumn edition it is something which all interested in art generated by individual passion and dedication, and separated off from the commercial engine of gallery and media-generated trends, should visit, with a good chance to notice and acquire works not yet on the publicity treadmill, which appeal to one’s personal taste and acquisitiveness. </em>

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/P1100076.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/P1100076-1024×683.jpg” alt=”At the entrance on 335 West 35 Street off Ninth Avenue, high white walls and ceiling surround the generous white partitions on which displays are hung in individual artist booths, stretching in two lanes to the far back wall” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6543″ /></a> At the entrance on 335 West 35 Street off Ninth Avenue, high white walls and ceiling surround the generous white partitions on which displays are hung in individual artist booths, stretching in two lanes to the far back wall

Among many artists there doing good and interesting work without a commercial gallery boosting their appeal, though not without hope of investment as well as emotional gain if you buy them before they are ‘discovered’, were these:

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100112.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100112-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Stanislav “Slawek” Goc explains his selection of four of his thematic and story telling “Reflections” to fellow exhibitor Catherine Lee from faraway Sydney in a show who draws artists of all kinds and regions globally” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6452″ /></a> Stanislav “Slawek” Goc explains his selection of four of his thematic and story telling “Reflections” to fellow exhibitor Catherine Lee from faraway Sydney in a show who draws artists of all kinds and regions globally

One standout in terms of individual voice and imaginative technical flair was Polish born, Indianapolis resident <strong>Stanislaw Goc</strong>, who signs his photographs simply with his familiar name <strong>Slawek</strong>.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100089-e1547608427396.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100089-e1547608427396-683×1024.jpg” alt=”Slawek, Top, September 11th, Aluminum plate, 24.5&quot; x 33&quot;, $1,700 and Old Jew, Aluminum plate, 24.5&quot; x 33&quot;, $1,800″ width=”640″ height=”960″ class=”size-large wp-image-6546″ /></a> Slawek, Top, September 11th, Aluminum plate, 24.5″ x 33″, $1,700 and Old Jew, Aluminum plate, 24.5″ x 33″, $1,800

In his main very individual initiative, Slawek announces his work as <strong>Reflections: one of a kind photography</strong>. The title marks a novel technique in which he follows his muse by seeking inspiring juxtapositions of sidewalk and automobile window displays with the reflections of passers by and the city that the glass simultaneously presents. He is constantly adventuring with his camera in this way, he laughed, shooting stills and short movies. “I can’t sleep at night wondering where I will go next!”

These dual compositions yield intriguing themes, uncovered by Slawek’s imagination, which are both culturally resonant and as evocative as any intentionally staged. This is true even though his open-minded search uncovers them unexpectedly, he says, in a voyage of discovery which is initially more serendipity than purposeful. Yet in being liberated from narrow expectation, it results in totally original compositions, artfully composed by Slawek’s eye in hand with Destiny, which he prints on aluminum plate with little cropping or alteration.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100114.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100114-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Networking with fellow independent artists is a big benefit of the Clio Fair – Slawek explains his aims to artist exhibitor from Sydney Catherine Lee” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6455″ /></a> Networking with other independent artists is a big benefit of the Clio Fair – here Slawek explains his aims to fellow artist exhibitor from Sydney Catherine Lee<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100121.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100121-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Networking with fellow independent artists is a big benefit of the Clio Fair” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6457″ /></a> The pleasure of explaining one’s aims to a working colleague

<strong>Art market conundrum</strong>

Artists who have to make their own decisions about what to present to the public far from their working studio can be forgiven if they play their hand more cautiously than they would naturally like, since they are faced with the marketing problems which agents and galleries exist to take off their hands, especially in New York which is a dynamic market unlike any other.

Slawek seemed to be an example of this overly cautious approach to marketing his work in New York for when he opened his book portfolio of his past years of work it revealed many images that seemed more striking and complex than the four he brought on this trip from Minneapolis.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100247-e1547766362171.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100247-e1547766362171-683×1024.jpg” alt=”Stanislaw &quot;Slawek&quot; Goc shared his Reflections portfolio book of other examples of his oeuvre which seemed more immediately intriguing that the four he chose to exhibit ” width=”640″ height=”960″ class=”size-large wp-image-6575″ /></a> Stanislaw “Slawek” Goc shared his Reflections portfolio book of other examples of his oeuvre which seemed more immediately intriguing that the four he chose to exhibit<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100244.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100244-1024×683.jpg” alt=”A closer look at the page opened above” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6576″ /></a> A closer look at the page opened above<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100242.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100242-1024×683.jpg” alt=”On the left page, Slawek&#039;s Dilemma, which he included in the Clio Fair, with his comment that the representation of 9/11 combines a face crossed with a stream of blood” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6580″ /></a> On the left page, Slawek’s Dilemma, which he included in the Clio Fair, with his comment that the representation of 9/11 combines a face crossed with a stream of blood

<strong>Inappropriate restraint</strong>

Another artist who seemed to have held back her most powerful work was Catherine Lee, a painter with studios in Sydney and London, whose printed resume stated her aim was to produce “engaging and thoughtful provoking work .. to amplify socially controversial and provocative topics that are often considered taboo”.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100135-e1545111670354.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100135-e1545111670354-683×1024.jpg” alt=”Catherine Lee from Sydney, Australia presented six works which some might have viewed as less dynamic and engaging than the works in her portfolio which she also had with her, though certainly less likely to be banned by the blue nose administration of her art school. ” width=”640″ height=”960″ class=”size-large wp-image-6461″ /></a> Catherine Lee from Sydney, Australia presented six works which some might have viewed as less dynamic and engaging than the works in her portfolio which she also had with her, though certainly less likely to be banned by the blue nose administration of her art school.

Yet her paintings at Clio were far from provocative. The problem may have been Catherine Lee’s experience in running into a provincial mindset at her art school in Sydney before she graduated. A bluenose administrator literally imposed a censoring curtain on her sexually explicit images in the school’s annual show, and this absurd event seems to have had the unfortunate effect of curbing her unrestrained exploration of feelings aroused by the electricity of sexual contact. Instead of more works in that line, her choice of paintings to display in New York leaned far into the abstract compared with her powerful earlier work, which was nevertheless readily available in her portfolio as above and below.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100147.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100147-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Catherine Lee shows two of her works not shown in her exhibit, including Pressures and their Places (right) in her series on the theme of sexual emotion that was to us far more developed and creative than the abstracts she hung on the wall at the show, a contrast seen in Slawek&#039;s choices as well. ” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6458″ /></a> Catherine Lee shows two of her works not shown in her exhibit, Pressures and their Places (right) and (illegible) on the left, in a series on the theme of sexual emotions that was to us far more developed and creative than the abstracts she hung on the wall at the show, a contrast seen in Slawek’s showing as well.<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100146-e1545110224667.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100146-e1545110224667-683×1024.jpg” alt=”A single image of Pressures and their Places, in her portfolio of the dynamic and expressive series, which perhaps clarifies why it won her a provincial minded censoring at her art school exhibition at the start of her international career” width=”640″ height=”960″ class=”size-large wp-image-6459″ /></a> A single image of Pressures and their Places, in her portfolio of the dynamic and expressive series which won her a provincial minded censoring at her art school exhibition at the start of her international career

She was also able to show us on her phone an image of herself standing outside her exhibit in Sydney carrying a notice which expressed the strong exception she took to the untoward repression of her artistic instincts.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100168-e1545110859551.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1100168-e1545110859551-683×1024.jpg” alt=”Catherine Lee&#039;s answer to the banning of her strongly themed art from the annual show at her art school was to dress in appealing lingerie and stand outside her curtained exhibit with a notice that reads &quot;The university believes that you are not intelligent enough to decide what level of erotic art you want to see. I have therefore been forced to present a censored piece for this exhibition. This is my way of displaying my work in a free way and to add what they have tried to take away.&quot;” width=”640″ height=”960″ class=”size-large wp-image-6460″ /></a> Catherine Lee’s answer to the banning of her strongly themed art from the annual show at her art school was to dress in appealing lingerie and stand outside her curtained exhibit with a notice that reads “The university believes that you are not intelligent enough to decide what level of erotic art you want to see. I have therefore been forced to present a censored piece for this exhibition. This is my way of displaying my work in a free way and to add what they have tried to take away.”

There were other artists of note who did seem to have brought their most dynamic work, however.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100265.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100265-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Bryant Small was exhibiting work with an unusual method to accomplish his canvases” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6572″ /></a> Bryant Small was exhibiting work with an unusual method to accomplish his canvases<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100268.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100268-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Detail of the above work by Bryant Small” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6571″ /></a> Detail of the above work by Bryant Small<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100278.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100278-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Bryant Small discusses his unusual approach to fashioning his work with an enquirer” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6570″ /></a> Bryant Small discusses his unusual approach to fashioning his work with an enquirer<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100224.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100224-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Rachel Goldsmith creates her paintings with an electric pen that extrudes her chosen color in plastic onto a surface formed by an array of wires” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6581″ /></a> Rachel Goldsmith creates her paintings with an electric pen that extrudes her chosen color in plastic onto a surface formed by an array of wires<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100204.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100204-1024×683.jpg” alt=”LauraLee Franco beside her Storm Fear (2017) Oil paint charcoal 60″ x 40″ $2500″ width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6582″ /></a> LauraLee Franco beside her Storm Fear (2017) Oil paint charcoal 60″ x 40″ $2500

<strong>Surprise ending</strong>

Perhaps the most remarkable result at the fair was which artworks sold out completely. The whole group of photographs hung on the wall by Denver’s Amanda J. Armstrong emded up with red dot stickers, even though the nature of the images might have led some viewers to feel they were the least likely to find buyers of all the art in the Fair.

<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100300.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100300-1024×683.jpg” alt=”Is there a lesson in the fact that the entire wall of these grotesqueries by photographer Amanda J. Armstrong of Denver sold out? Was it a signal that New Yorkers seek emotional impact above all in their art purchases, and that above all in their art purchases, and that even the sensationally ugly may fit their requirements very well?” width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6565″ /></a> Is there a lesson in the fact that the entire wall of these grotesqueries by photographer Amanda J. Armstrong of Denver sold out? Was it a signal that New Yorkers seek emotional impact above all in their art purchases, and that even the sensationally ugly may fit their requirements very well?<a href=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100304.jpg”><img src=”http://www.attendnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/P1100304-1024×683.jpg” alt=”A closer look at one of the works by which sold out from Amanda J. Armstrong, The Body Obscura #2, 2018, a photograph, 20&quot; x 16&quot;, framed at $300″ width=”640″ height=”427″ class=”size-large wp-image-6564″ /></a> A closer look at one of the works by which sold out from Amanda J. Armstrong, The Body Obscura #2, 2018, a photograph, 20″ x 16″, framed at $300

With the huge array of choice tea blends on the wall, the three globes of AthleTeas are lined up for tasting on the counter of a crowded store

Tea lovers gather at Harney’s to taste Athleteas for athletes, latest three of over 250 blends

Harney’s in Soho is a rich resource for tea lovers, presenting for tasting, purchase or sit down enjoyment leaves from sources in India, China and Ceylon and as far flung as Rwanda or even Italy (dried olive leaves from the South) mixed into over two hundred and fifty inventive but rich and always tasteful blends from Sally’s Secret black tea with its notes of Black Pepper and Rosepetal to the distinctly earthy but still delicate Rwanden RuGeri, a tea benefiting from the slow processing possible in Rwanda which escapes the humidity and heat of India, to Osmanthus Oolong, with its tiny flowers from Fujian Province in China turned into a heap of particles which yield such a dense tea that it can be infused more than once as its flavor develops.

Tasting at Harney’s demands full attention to the subtleties of expert blending

This afternoon’s event marked the new partnership between Harney’s and Dr Mara Smith, the specialist in tutoring Olympic athletes how to train their bodies with the right mental attitude to reach peak performance, by presenting three different new ‘Athleteas’ for sampling at the tasting counter of Harney’s long and recently efficiently remodeled retail space which is on the south side of Broome Street just East of Broadway. The middle of the extensive wooden counter featured three glowing rosy round globes of AthleTea, one for ‘performance’ with caffeine (orange mango) and one for ‘performance’ without caffeine (Get Your Passion Berry AthleTea) and one for ‘recovery’ without caffeine (the soothing Go to Goji).

Dr. Mara Smith designed her new blends for Harneys to enhance athletes mindfulness of past and future performance

All this according to Mara, a warm, lively woman in sturdy black spectacles who believes that tea drinking is the way for high performing athletes “to carve out time for reflection on past progress and to focus forward” on future accomplishment, and is working with many athletes who now wish to move from health drinks toward tea. Of course this should appeal as well to all healthy people who are not actually athletes, she says, since as the Nike saying has it “If you have a body you are an athlete!”

Apart from the large canisters of specialty teas that line the wall behind the serving counter in a solid block of 250 teas, Harney’s has a small space at the back for people to sit with tea or even coffee (recently added) and a slew of intriguing extras to buy lining the wall opposite, including “Homesick” candles to remind one of home, tumblers with inscriptions like NEW YORK HOME, decorated mugs especially for “Little Miss Busy”, “Mr Grumpy”, “Little Miss Chatterbox” and other children, attractive leaf motif tote bags, and black baseball caps with legends front and rear (“Hello with “Goodbye”, or “Books” with “Join The Club” , or “This is Tea” and “Harneys”.)

Tea enthusiast Michele presents the three AthleTeas now available to make you pause and be mindful of past and future considerations in your athletic progress

Mousing the Google map of Harney’s location on Broome just East of Broadway in Soho (take the Lex subway to Spring) and you notice that there is no listing for thousands of Yelp or Google reviews as for other much less notable places. Yet there are often crowds outside the doors when it opens at 10.30am daily (closes 6.30pm)

Evidently Harneys is discreetly British in style in selling itself as well as its tea by relying on word of mouth to advertise its top tea level social and commercial presence, for as the cap says, truly “This is Tea, Harneys”. Yet in only seven years it has established this, still the only offshoot of its home base in Millerton, in upstate New York, as indeed the tea place in New York par excellence.

Emeric Harney has remodeled the store into a beautifully efficient system for selling his top teas, and plans to expand the seating for those who wish to sample them along with crumbly scones with clotted cream right then and there

One can only hope that, as Emeric Harney the third generation owner of this flagship in fashionable Soho now crowded with visitors from foreign countries where tea is often more established than here, says is the plan, Harneys expands the size and comfort of its restricted seating area to a level consonant with its leadership of what one hopes will be a continuing advance of the more enlightened and healthy alternative to coffee in too caffeine addicted New York City.

Freedom through music
An unobtrusive comedy much better than the simple description in the Soho International Film Festival program at Village East Cinema at 2nd Ave and 12th st, The Eccentrics: On the Sunny Side of the Street is an intelligent Polish mix of amusing social commentary, spy mystery, and political satire which is also a fine philosophical celebration of upbeat, soulful swing as a come together refuge from atrocious politics, in this case the wooden and dangerous absurdities of Communism in the fifties in beleaguered Poland.

This very accomplished film is a delicate, many petaled rose of good humor, satirical intelligence and unexpected takes on what would be in lesser hands a straightforward tale, but after a brief slow start when the underlying deadly seriousness of the Polish war and postwar experience is quickly established, every scene is made interesting by a skilfully provocative script by Wlodzimierz Kowalewski (it’s his original novel) and effortless acting by all.

A wholly interesting and amusing standout shouldn’t be blushing unseen on the festival program at Village East Cinema (189 2nd Avenue), where it will be run once at 8pm-10pm on Tuesday, June 20, and we advise anyone with a taste for worldly wit and emotional teasing of the most sophisticated yet pointed kind, the most achieved in Polish comedy that has been seen in Manhattan for years, should make sure to catch it.

For that will be the only chance here to catch what is the current cap from 2015 to director Janusz Majewski’s body of work which is widely admired in Poland and abroad. The Eccentrics unreels a deadpan saga where every scene is a pleasing turn and interesting surprise, from the unexpected bonding of official and suspect just returned from London exile over a piano which leads to the suspiciously easy recruitment of good players for his big band renditions of American Patrol and many other top tunes, to the romantic denouement where the uphill seduction by our hero of his personally challenging lead singer (“I won’t tell! – the less you know the more you’ll care!” is her reply to his post success inquiry as to her past life) crumbles catastrophically, revealing that it is political machinations behind the scenes which fill the story with intriguing off kilter interruptions.

Book Expo 2017 May 31 Wed-Jun 2 Fri: Nothing like this huge, multilayered annual celebration of books, the ultimate in handy briefings of the cutting edge on science and current affairs of every field. A great must-go event, bursting with books and book fans of every kind, booksellers, popular authors, and long lines for signed copies of current and future hits.

But key aspect is that it also contains academic press treasure troves of past, present or forthcoming individually polished gems of scholarship and independent research in science and other solid topics, works which unlike the daily or even weekly or monthly media news and talk shows benefit from authors who take personal responsibility for the accuracy and quality of their work, completed outside the confines of government and corporate walls where censors and pr spokesmen prowl.

So get excited about BookExpo coming up fast in NYC at Javits on May 31 Wed to June 2 Fri, its for all those interested in books on paper between hard or soft covers as the last easily available repository of the latest worthwhile information from independent authors that unlike the fleeting smartphone or desktop screen display does not vanish into virtual reality, but remains stationery on the page ready for reference with precise marking or emendation or query in the margin, inside real physical books placed within manual grasp on a nearby bookshelf, or displayed open on the desk next to the working screen, or on the bedside table to stabilise one’s last waking moment before peaceful slumber induced by the restful quiet of the night broken only by the turn of the page, that’s what we are talking about and looking forward to – Manhattan’s greatest annual showplace of ideas!

In our case, our particular interest is the state of the academic publishing industry as part of it gravitates to competing more significantly with the trade press, which renders a lot of deep data more accessible, and in the state of science publishing, especially in the first days of a new era where the new President of the US is apparently happy to remain in total ignorance of what science reveals about the state of the world and its future, and to contradict it whenever it conflicts with his personal interests and profit motive, or his belief in himself as the most admirable human being in the world.

James Simons, at $1.6 billion, was the nation’s best-paid hedge fund manager last year, according to Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine. Credit Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

No evidence that top hedge fund managers know what they’re doing

Half the most highly paid last year did worse than the market.

One of the most egregious aspects of unrestrained capitalism is the obscene amount of money skimmed by the top club compared with the struggles of those they live off.

Come back Karl Marx all is forgiven!

“Things became so tough last year that big money managers found themselves sitting at the negotiating table with their investors, offering lower fees and better terms for sharing in the returns.

“It’s a moment in time where you’re going to see a cleansing of the hedge fund industry,” said Adam I. Taback, head of global alternative investments at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.”

NYTimes DealBook:

Hedge Fund Managers Don’t Always Beat the Market, but They Still Make Billions
The 25 best-paid managers earned a collective $11 billion in 2016. But some big names, like William A. Ackman and John A. Paulson, did not make the cut.

By ALEXANDRA STEVENSON MAY 16, 2017

Good performance, mediocre results or even downright ugly returns. When it comes to hedge funds, it scarcely matters. Even as some investors begin to sour on these high-priced stock pickers, the top fund managers still haul in enormous paychecks.

The 25 best-paid hedge fund managers earned a collective $11 billion in 2016, according to an annual ranking published on Tuesday by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine.

Even managers who had a tough year were able to cash in. Nearly half of the top-25 earners made single-digit returns for their investors, a lackluster sum in a year when the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was up 12 percent, accounting for reinvested dividends.

The top earner of 2016 was James Simons, the former code breaker for the National Security Agency and the founder of Renaissance Technologies, who made $1.6 billion. Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates who is best known for his philosophy of “radical transparency,” came in a close second with $1.4 billion. Further down the list was Robert Mercer, the co-chief executive of Renaissance and one of the biggest backers of Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, who earned $125 million.

But some of the best-known names in the industry — including William A. Ackman, John A. Paulson and Edward S. Lampert — failed to make the list. Also missing from the list: women.

As usual at the Times, no comments space offered on a fertile topic!