Sifting through recycled magazines for materials to create her elaborate cut paper constructions is a process Kirsten Kindler calls “hunting and gathering.”  The Richmond-based artist collects and collates images into thematic groupings: cars, architectural details, electronic equipment, stairways and other signifiers of acquired domesticity.   From these miniature facsimiles of luxury, Kirsten Kindler builds intricate structures that serve as delicately fraught monuments to material culture.

I came upon Maya Brym’s rare breed of paintings by chance. I was flipping though a magazine, and her works reproduced within gave me pause.  They stuck out as odd for our time. Hybrids of still life, abstraction, and nature painting, these pictures radiated a kind of psychological intensity akin to Georgia O’Keeffe or Henri Rousseau—artists whose singular styles bucked the trends of their days.

This past October, public artist Leon Reid IV’s latest project “Tourist-in-Chief” was selected for realization by the 2011 Art In Odd Places festival.  For one day, Reid transformed the classical equestrian statue of George Washington located in Union Square, NYC into a contemporary monument to tourism. Washington’s look was updated through the use of large scale props – such as an “I Love NY” hat, a camera, subway map, and shopping bags – to better reflect the current social climate of Union Square Park while also sparking people’s curiosity as to what Washington’s role was in New York City history. 

Subtly rendered graphite musings surrounded by vast areas of white paper, the drawings of David Poolman contain both an aching sweetness and a sense of foreboding.  What I want to say – but shouldn’t – is that the work is pathetic, in the most impressive of ways.  It inspires a quiet sense of empathy, the source of which is not entirely nameable.

In April of 2011, thirty three graffiti writers and street artists transformed the windows of the former Donnell Library, just paces away from the MoMA, into a virtual time capsule of art on the streets in New York City.  Co-curated by Daniel Feral and Joyce Manalo, the aptly named “Pantheon” presented an art historical timeline that is a part of New York City’s unique legacy. 

Like most people, I have a long list of projects begun but never quite finished. These incomplete starts are psychologically burdensome – stirring up feelings of guilt, self-doubt and a general sense of wasted time and labor. 

On November 8, 2010, Peter Dobill met up with Rafael Sanchez to discuss his performance work while enjoying a meal at Dojo Restaurant in New York City. PETER:  What is your background coming into performance art and how did you start out? RAFAEL: I started doing make shift performances in high school around, 16 or 17.

Mischievious and playful, Laura Keeble’s sculpture broaches political topics in a conversational way – wittily interrupting the monologue of everyday life.  The London-based artist creates unsanctioned public art that is surreptitiously dropped into high profile locations.  Working against traditional ideas of monumentality, Keeble’s impromptu street installations are uncertain and fleeting- questioning the presumed permanence (and authority) of sculpture.

Holly Faurot & Sarah H. Paulson met with Peter Dobill in their Brooklyn studio on May 4, 2010. The following is an excerpt from the hour-long interview. SARAH: On your website and in your artist statement, you refer to your performances as “actions.” Why is that? PETER: I don’t really like to use “performance” because for me it implies that there is always an audience present.

Willoughby Windows transforms 13 vacant storefronts into a street level gallery, bringing art directly to the community. Over 14 well known artists, all with roots in street art, have contributed to this project, most creating site specific works. This network of visual experiences can help redefine how people visiting, working and living in Downtown Brooklyn think about and interact with their environment during a time of transition.