The night I didn't meet James Gandolfini. A typical New York story.

Hot off the computer, my newest film, Nightcar. A helter skelter urban experience on a rainy night. Nightcar, with music by the remarkable Conrad Cummings, is a tone poem, perhaps even a love poem, to New York City.

It even has a typical New York story to go along with it... One of the nights when I was filming oncoming lights in the pouring rain, standing in a gutter on lower Broadway, a car drove up. The passenger in the car began waving his arms, I flicked my attention away, thinking, "not another one." He kept waving and waving, finally the car pulled away. I turned to Kurt (of Susan and Kurt blog fame) who was standing behind me. He was convulsed with laughter. Whats going on? I said. Didn't you see James Gandolfini? He was waving at you and laughing to beat the band? Well, No I didn't. But you know, in New York famous people trip over you all the time, so contained within Nightcar is the New York story of the night I didn't meet James Gandolfini.

Mr. Gandolfini. I dedicate this film to you.



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No How, No Where, Noho

Something new...


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Loaded

Last weekend I passed a gun shop and the word loaded flew into my mind. Loaded not as in gun but as in memory. Weegee's image (above) immediately flashed up. After I snapped a my own gunsmith photo, I was intrigued by the window display—it seemed to fit in with a more modern (perhaps timely or post modern) image reference. And lastly as I turned away, there was Bruce Willis, complete with graffiti, definitely post modern in its culture of celebrity. Personally, I prefer the window display, so where on the spectrum does that place me? Fully loaded?



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Happy Lunar New Year

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Modern Romantic American Landscape...Why does this sound weird?

I first saw Valerie Hegarty's work in a public project on the High Line in New York City. A painting being "reclaimed" by nature. Her work amusingly turns the conceits of landscape painting on it's head while also seriously investigating the meaning of landscape painting in the context of American history. A local artist, she also had/has a work on view in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum.

Party Gras 2010

It's the third blizzard out the window, The Saints won (maybe Hell is frozen over), I'm filming Lunar New Year, we had a cold and windy sweetie pie day, and it's Mardi Gras.

In good New York Therapeutic tradition, I saw these avatars for Kurt and myself that embody the recent events: dirty snow, Superbowl, Year of the Tiger, Valentine's Day and Fat Tuesday. Add in the run-up to my ACA show (in the main gallery), shake it up and what do you get?

...too bad the story ends in jail, maybe it's a good place to sleep?!!??, just kidding. Party on...



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Videos on Broadway Open Call

OPEN CALL Point us to your artistic videos to be considered for exhibition at the Videos on Broadway exhibition space. We are looking for artists, young or old, serious or funny, etcetera or etcetera.

Videos on Broadway is a new project created by Susan Shaw to showcase contemporary art video to a diverse audience in New York City. Videos on Broadway provides emerging artists an urban location and video monitors to showcase their video art. Using a glass front building on the famous street of Broadway, we will give both the artist and the public a unique and free experience to contemporary new media.

We will show new work by artists from around the world. Videos on Broadway will use film and video to reflect the artists personal interpretations of social, political, psychological and spiritual themes.

The video below was a proof of concept test. The viewers are watching a rough cut of Susan Shaw: Nightcar. It was freezing yet people still stopped to watch. How great is that? We are still putting together the funding to be able to this right i.e. including things like announcement cards but we are nowhere without you. Please point us in your direction. E, W, N, S...

Kurt's view #2

Another recent photo I like. This one shot with his Lego camera, out the studio window.

Kurt's view

Just really liked this photo of his. It has the content he so loves, and the shapes, the frame, and the color are so sophisticated...

Leonardo...Drew

I stopped by Sikkema Jenkins Saturday night for the opening of a solo exhibition of new work by Leonardo Drew. He is a friend via my time at the Vermont Studio Center. He creates dynamic large-scale sculptural installations, which incorporate created, manipulated and found materials such as paper, wood, tree branches and roots, rust and mud. His work stuns with humble materials in the service of sophisticated shapes and arrangement. His opening was all abuzz, and he oh so added to the general excitement wearing a bowler and a pair of peacock feather pants.