DailyHeights

Brooklyn Museum of Art

Originally uploaded by Frank Lynch.

Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky

Through January 15, 2006

Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, 5th Floor

The first major retrospective of the internationally renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky will bring together more than 60 works by the Toronto-born artist from both public and private collections.

Burtynsky, a modern-day counterpart to nineteenth-century landscape photographers, examines the intersection between land and technology, creating images of unorthodox beauty. His subjects include locations that have been changed by modern industrial activity such as mining, quarrying, rail cutting, recycling, and oil refining.

Several adventurous projects have taken Burtynsky on a worldwide quest to photograph extraordinary landscapes. Most recently, he traveled to the construction site of the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric engineering project, located on the Yangtze River in the People’s Republic of China. The dam is of unprecedented proportions, and it has required the relocation of millions of people. In addition to the dam itself, Burtynsky also photographed upriver sites of mass displacement, where residents destroyed their own homes at the behest of the government, recycling many of the materials in order to rebuild on higher ground.

“Madhat Kakei is born as a Kurd in Kirkuk in northern Iraq, and has aspired for painting since he met with an old, travelling painter on a mountain lane in his childhood.” Read more at madhatkakei.com.

An Exhibit at the Kurdish Library: The Art of Madhat Kakaei

Meet Madhat: Reception, Thursday, Oct 6, 6-8 pm
The Kurdish Library, 144 Underhill Avenue (corner of Park Place)
Brooklyn, NY 11238; Contact 718 783 7930; [email protected].

Visit: Prospect Heights Message Boards

Hey, it’s Ellis G, the Cobble Hill chalk artist known for copyrighting his sidewalk creations. He told me that his work has been written up recently in the Daily News and Time Out. Here he is taking a break from his waiter job at Sorrel, the “New American” restaurant at the corner Carlton and St. Marks.

LINK: Sorrel Restaurant Open at Carlton and St. Marks [Prospect Heights Message Boards]

From An Englishman in New York: I came across this great garden sculpture on Sunday evening a couple of blocks from our apartment in Brooklyn. It looks to have been made from an old clothes horse, some old wire and a couple of pieces of plastic or glass. (Corner of Prospect Pl and Flatbush for anyone in the neighborhood who wants to see for themselves.)

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FLUTE wrote in the Daily Heights message boards: “I was standing around [near the corner of Underhill Ave. and Park Pl.] one day this past fall, just looking at the buildings and noticing that there were a number of lovely brownstones with missing cornices. As I was pondering the reason for this, a very tiny woman, dressed all in black — a dress from head to toe — almost burkha like. Her grey hair was pulled back severely in a bun.”

“She asked me what I was looking at and I told her I was wondering about the the lack of cornices on those particular buildings. She asked me if I was an architect, and I said no. She told me that she was an architect, had gotten her Master’s in Architecture from Columbia in the 1930’s or 40’s. She then proceeded to tell me about her home, and how she had a Kurdish museum there, as her late husband was a Kurd. She invited me in and gave me the grand tour of the museum, which takes up her entire parlor floor. It’s quite amazing and she was exceedingly friendly and informative.”

“After my tour, I thanked her. Mischievously, I questioned her about the vines growing on her home. I said, half jokingly, that as an architect she must be aware that the vines eat away at the mortar between the bricks and ultimately destabilize the exterior wall of her home. She told me yes, she was aware, however, she enjoyed the privacy it afforded her.”

“Just one of those small magical things that happen in New York.”

Kurdish Heritage Foundation of America
345 Park Place, Brooklyn NY 11238. (718) 783-7930.
Site Address: 144 Underhill Ave.
Director: Vera Beaudin Saeedpour
Description: “Our purpose is to collect, preserve and make available materials on Kurdish history and culture through on-site visits, exhibits and special projects. The Kurdish library is a research institution; the Kurdish Museum focuses on folk arts and crafts.”

[Thanks to rhodamine for the photo!]

If your idea of a weekend getaway simply means getting off of your block for a few hours – but not too far away – dailyheights is right there with you. This is basically the showcase showdown of weekends (the first place showcase showdown, not the sloppy second place one that the contestant with less money is forced to bid on.)

Read more …

On the walls at Gallery on Dean (backroom of Tavern on Dean). Unfortunately, I lost the text description. And I’m not sure if the show is still up. However, it’s worth clicking here to see a larger-size image, including 4 paintings. The idea is that the artist is taking well known subjects from classic paintings and putting them behind the wheel of classic automobiles.

Prospect Heights artist Bill Batson writes: “I use the word ‘noir’ to express the drama and mystery that comes with spending so much of our time in public spaces sitting next to total strangers … on hard surfaces, often staring blankly ahead, framed by advertising, years of our life are spent in this anonymous travel mode … as the world becomes more digital, people on opposite sides of the globe have more contact with each other than we do with our seat neighbors. What will it take to eliminate barrier of alienation that is the line between random strangers and a community?” [Read more after the break…]

Subway Noir: Drawings by Bill Batson
June 26, 2005 – August 7, 2005
Opening Reception: Sunday, June 26, 2005; 4-7 p.m.
Calabar Imports, 820 Washington Ave. btw Lincoln and St. John’s Pl.
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
RSVP: [email protected] | 718-638-4288
Read more …