Hasta La Ideas

Parisian street artist brings his gritty vision of Oz to NYC

As rebels against not just art world norms but against conventions for public space, many see graffiti as by definition disagreeable. Artists like Ugly-Kid Gumo embrace that position, providing commentary through art that originated on the street. Gumo’s raw, emotional figures and faces draw attention to the flaws and fallacies in our urbanized society by literally and figuratively staring straight at them.

The 30-year-old Parisian street artist Nicholas-Gumo first became involved in underground public art while he was still in high school. Going on to graduate with a degree in fine arts from Paris’ Ecole Supérieure des Arts Appliqués, since then he has taught art to children and dabbled in fashion design before turning back to graphic arts.

Gumo’s work emphasizes the cruelty of life in the city. “It’s a constant questioning and reinterpreting the brutal code of the city, again, especially in the suburbs—its plasticity, or rather the abstract figurative aspect of it,” he explains, continuing, “it depends on the moment, it depends on the music in the MP3. It’s brutal, romantic as a dinner with black light.”

Often the urban environment itself becomes the medium (like in his graffiti paint chips series, pictured top and below) with materials varying based on his location. When in Paris, the artist works mainly on the streets of the city, but while in NYC most of his process takes place in his studio location—even bringing in chunks of plaster from Paris to pursue his passion in the remote location.

Oz, the mythical city created by L. Frank Baum and perpetuated by Judy Garland, figures as a driving force in Gumo’s work. According to Gumo, attempting to understand the world around us is comparable to making sense of Oz. “These stories are actually metaphors for the social problems that plague the American society but which are transferable to every corner of the world or human lives. Oz is never far from us,” he suggests.

The mythical city is the only recurring thread in Gumo’s work, as he prefers to work organically from a feeling, rather than basing it on an abstract idea. “When people ask me to describe my work, to explain which wave I’m close to, I just want to answer: I don’t know. I’m honest. I don’t have a strategy or a project study, only maybe with OZ. I was too bored at school because we needed to justify our reasons and explain our influences. I find nothing more annoying. The important thing is that we’re here and together.”

New York got a preview of Gumo’s collection,”Oz, le visage du mal,” in a one-day gallery showing last fall, but his first solo show at Dorian Grey Gallery, curated by Marianne Nems opens tonight. It includes a wide variety of Gumo’s work, ranging from spray paint on paper and acrylics on canvas to cardboard and mixed media. The reception tonight from 6-7pm will have a live performance, “Mask,” by performance artist Blizard, and the show runs through 24 July 2011.

NYC’s urban gardening supply store with a mission

Behind the many verdant closets and kitchen-corner produce installations increasingly tucked into NYC apartments, you can often find the expertise and passion of urban gardening advocate and entrepreneur Aaron Moore. Splitting his time between his two City Hydroponic supply stores in New York’s Bronx and Brooklyn boroughs, Moore not only supplies the growing green gardening movement but proactively tackles the challenges of sustainable indoor farming with a focus on low-income neighborhoods, working to increase access to fresh produce and education about healthy living

The staff of socially-responsible gardeners and urban growers at City Hydroponic can help with any indoor or outdoor gardening needs, whether growing with soil, water or nutrient mist. Stocked with all of the equipment necessary to set up functional hydroponic (growing solely with water and no soil) or aeroponic (spraying exposed root systems with a nutrient mist) farms in any space, ranging from a studio apartment to a suburban home, the shops are fully committed to the craft, stocking the highest tech tools in the trade. They offer a full line of fluorescent, HID, metal halide and high-pressure sodium lights, full hydroponics and aeroponics systems, nutrients, fertilizers and knowledgeable employees who will gladly explain everything from potting soil to building drainage systems.

For budding urban farmers feeling intimidated by all the lights and gadgets, City Hydroponic periodically offers month long sessions of free hour-long classes on Saturdays. The comprehensive course starts with the basic concepts of hydro and aeroponic gardening and proceeds with how to produce and maintain a functional farm.

Moore, a huge advocate of food justice, feels education is as important as access, and by delivering these free classes to the community he hopes to push the green movement forward. “We need to generate a market from a grassroots level by educating our consumers, giving them confidence so they can partake in the green movement, and help them be successful in it.” His agenda includes increasing knowledge about where your food comes from, why quality is important and how creating your own fresh produce empowers you as an individual.

While Moore’s goal might be lofty, it’s also relatively simple. The concept was born from bearing witness to the poor dietary habits in his neighborhood and the urban landscape at large. “In the communities that we are in there is an abundance of food but there is not an abundance of quality food,” he says. Rather than attempt to reverse gravitation toward what is available—typically highly-processed foods with grave nutritional consequences—his work comes down to changing what is available by creating a DIY supply chain that’s doesn’t price residents out. “We are trying to bring quality food to the masses, to all neighborhoods, not just those that can afford it. We want to make it more affordable in general, to teach people whats good food and what’s not—and if its not readily available, show them how to grow their own!”

As food culture in America continues to diversify and the importance of healthy living becomes more apparent the movement will push this type of localized urban agriculture to the forefront of nutrition. Moore shows how anyone is capable of creating fresh organic produce right in their home, reducing carbon waste, soil and water usage and generally promoting a sustainable, self-sufficient way to stay healthy.

A progressive design conference looks at modern architecture for an aging population

If design is about problem solving, the stereotypical nursing home—sterile, isolated, generally depressing—is perhaps one of the institutions most in need of an overhaul.

In an effort to change traditional retirement living, Architizer co-founder Matthias Hollwich came up with New Aging—a conference consisting of hands-on workshops and discussions about progressive development for age-related living spaces.

Also a partner at NYC-based architecture firm HWKN, Hollowich hopes that together with other architects, designers and visionaries they can create projects that will bring a sense of playfulness and community for the elderly through functional design.

Speakers at the conference include Manuel Ocana of the Santa Rita Geriatric Center on the island of Menorca, Spain; Arnoud Gelauff of the De Plussenburgh Apartments in Rotterdam, Netherlands; Erhard Kinzelbach of the Hainburg Nursing Home in Hainburg, Austria; Daniel Cinelli of the Newbridge on the Charles in Dedham, MA; HWKN of Aging in Africa in Cote D’Ivoire; Madeline Gins of design firm Architecture Against Death; and several other prominent figures like Jeurgen Mayer H, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Joel Sanders.

New Aging will be held at the UPenn School of Design where Hollwich previously taught advanced design studios focused on re-thinking the nursing home. The two-day conference takes place on 1-2 October 2010 and is open for registration to the general public and students for $285 and $35 respectively. For more information, visit the New Aging site.