3rd Ward Brooklyn/Antistrot Mural

by Peter Aleksa

This weekend I got a chance to check out the Antistrot mural at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, I was a bit late in getting over to see the mural and missed all of the performances that the group staged to accompany it.

The six member, Netherlands based Antistrot collective create neurotic works that, while they come from six different places at once, avoid seeming disjointed. The multiple images and themes all manage to flow.

If I were to give you a completely inadequate one-line description of their work it would go something like this: A lot of sexual imagery juxtaposed with dinosaurs and simians. Filled with naked women and guns it speaks to new the american dream. Yet, there's something very off putting about the way in which the sex is offered up. It's very cheap and objectified and you get the feeling these women have been used many times before, while the men come off as predatory.

The 3rd Ward building itself is a pretty cool space located in a largely industrial area of East Williamsburg at 195 Morgan Ave at the corner of Stagg. For a quick description of 3rd Ward, here is this from the 3rd Ward mission statement:

3rd Ward is a 20,000 sq. ft. workspace and studio facility for artists & creative professionals, located in East Williamsburg. Our facility was formed based on the needs of contemporary artists and creatives whose work is often multidisciplinary... By helping artists pursue professional careers and creative projects, 3rd Ward is spearheading a movement that aims to create a permanent artist community in Brooklyn. ...space includes a photo studio, wood shop, metal shop, dance studio, audio/music recording & rehearsal studio, digital media lab, post production suite, conference room, large shared office space, and computer lab...

The staff there seemed pretty friendly and helpful and it appeared like there was a good amount of activity going on. Definately seemed like a good creative environment and basic membership runs $30/month for a one year membership. So, fucking check it out already...

Faile NYC Solo Show 06.09.07

by Peter Aleksa

As I first enter the warehouse on Chrystie St, announced by a large yellow 'Faile' Banner hanging above the entrance, I'm greeted by a metal statue of an orally fixated boy with a look in his eyes that I can't quite discern, something between nervousness and sadism. This opening theme, representative of an emotionally neglected yet over-protected society, stares you in the face as you enter, and returns a number of times throughout the exhibition. There are a number of common themes and images splattered throughout the show: images of Mao Zedong, images of women in danger, desperately needing to be protected by a strong hero of a man, and alternately women with a sense of power, holding a gun, or simply holding out. But it is this first theme of menacing vulnerability that everything else seems to run a connective thread through the works.

The expansive warehouse is an appropriate setting for Faile's work and a number of the artists' consorts mill about the entrance, while a deejay (i use this term loosely) runs through an eclectic playlist, lest you thirst for some aural stimulation.

The works--displayed on canvas and on a collection of stacked boxes--are intricately layered works combining elements of wheatpasting, stencil, and comic art. All these techniques converge to form a juxtaposition of words, speech bubbles, ads, and assorted images of pulp heroines, cultural icons such as Mohammad Ali and Chairman Mao, and distorted surf imagery of dashing young men on surfboards wearing horse heads atop bodies you would expect to see topped with beaming, all-american features and a perfectly coiffed do. Images and themes extend across panels and seem to continue into spaces beyond the canvas--blurring the line between the works on display and the broader canvas on which the collective is used to working.