*Write in to us if you go to this Brooklyn fashion show and you survive.
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*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: *
November 03, 2009
AIRE: THE SECOND FOURFOLD ROOT
A live exhibition of dark fashion works.
10:00 p.m., Saturday, November 14, 2009
319 Scholes Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11206 (L to Grand)
WEBSITE: http://events.AreYouDevoted.com
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CONTACT: Marie at Press@AreYouDevoted.com
NEW YORK — Devotion Gallery is pleased to present “Aire: The Second
Fourfold Root”, a live exhibition of dark fashion works taking place on
November 14, as part of “The Fourfold Roots of Everything”.
Since 800 B.C., philosophers sought to identify a single arche, from which
all substances are formed. Empedocles was the first to propose a set of
archai, which he referred to as “the fourfold roots of everything”. These
four roots became the four classical elements of Greek philosophy and the
reigning dogma until recent centuries. Empedocles argued that these four
elements drove the cycle of life and the changing seasons — water initiates
spring and becomes air, air initiates summer and becomes fire, fire
initiates Autumn and becomes earth, earth initiates winter and becomes water
– and, thereby, united birth and death into one continuous process.
This second “Fourfold Roots of Everything” event will focus on the second
fourfold root, air. Plato regarded air as an intermediate element marked by
its mobility, lightness, and ability to penetrate. “Aire: The Second
Fourfold Root” explores this penetration/protection dichotomy in full
detail, most notably with Cyberoptix Spring Collection
“Atmospheric/Pressures”. This collection is constructed from surplus
military balloons and tatted lace doilies, seemingly disparate materials
that stem from the same Victorian-to-Cold-War time period, when they had a
shared utilitarian purpose of protection and have, since then, been
fetishized.
Rubber has traditionally been used as protective clothing: From rain boots
to gas masks, hazmat suits to condoms, it is meant to repel fluids and prove
impermeable to corrosives and viral agents. Rubber latex gas balloons have
been used throughout military history — for scientific observation,
meteorology, espionage, distribution of propaganda, and transportation of
munitions — all with the purpose of protecting territory while at war.
During the height of World War II, the use of military balloons was extended
beyond simple reconnaissance missions to a form of tactical offensive: The
Japanese sent over nine thousand Fu-Go balloon-bombs into the eastbound
polar jetstream, one of the few attacks to ever penetrate the mainland
United States.
Fetishists currently use rubber latex in a prophylactic manner, not only to
protect and repel, but to transform the wearer into another persona through
formation of a second skin. Despite its extensive use as a fetishized
fashion object, it has yet to be used in couture in any manner other than
echoing the hyper-sexualized second skin aesthetic. Cyberoptix’s Bethany
Shorb departs from recreating a caricature of this second skin and, instead,
isolates the body from the viewer through voluminous gather, ruffles, and
masses of goffered rubber fabric repurposed from vintage military balloons.
Color, weight, and texture of the latex also play an important role in
distancing “Atmospheric/Pressures” from fetish-wear: Mottled shades of
ebony and coffee couple with its natural amber color to belie its B.D.S.M.
heritage.
Shorb complements the hand-fabricated and -repurposed rubber fabrics, both
visually and conceptually, with several forms of modified lace and tatted
doilies. In addition to their decorative purpose, lace items were used in a
protective manner: A Victorian and Mid-Century home staple, doilies and
lace runners isolated fine furniture surfaces from hot cookware, and fabric
upholstery from hair- and skin-borne emollients. In Elizabethan times,
interchangeable ruffled collars protected garments from food spills and
human sweat. “Atmospheric/Pressures” references this penetration/protection
dichotomy of lace through restrictive pilot caps, exaggerated dunce caps,
veils and other traditional religious head coverings, thereby allowing the
underlying untouchable surface to show through.
Shorb’s exclusive use and repurposing of these vintage and deadstock
materials (and subsequent hand-dying, painting, and screen-printing),
combine to envelope the conceptual exploration of penetration and protection
in a unified romantic aesthetic. Echoing the dark and Victorian elements of
“Atmospheric/Pressures”, will be fashion installations by local celebrities
Bird Ov Prey (Karbine), Mercantile (Kill Devil Hill), Sinner/Saint (Anthony
Malat), and the very elusive VDK.
“Aire: The Second Fourfold Root” will take place at 319 Scholes Street in
Brooklyn at 10:00 p.m. on November 14, 2009. This event will include
dramatic live performances — by Brooklyn-based Black Swan, Baltimore-based
Death Domain, Detroit-based DethLab, and local hero Violec (Ryan Brogan,
Subtrak) — and interstitial deejay sets by Cowboy Mark and Ghostly’s Mike
Servito. Admission will be $10 for non-members, and free for members.
(Visit http://AreYouDevoted.com for membership information.)
Contact Marie at Press@AreYouDevoted.com for further information and press
materials.
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ABOUT THE FOURFOLD ROOTS OF EVERYTHING
http://AreYouDevoted.com
“Pherepaphe: The Fourfold Roots Of Everything” opened at Devotion Gallery on
All Hallows Eve, October 31, 2009.
The name “Pherepaphe” alludes to Plato’s recontextualization of the Greek
goddess Persephone as “wise for seeing that all things in the world are in
motion” and who, furthermore, is a part of that dynamic quality.
Traditionally, Persephone is known as both the Queen of the Underworld and
the Goddess of Fertility. These seemingly disparate titles collide each
year on All Hallows Eve, a ghoulish day that also marks the harvest and
descent into winter. Persephone’s conflicting roles point to the cycle of
life and ultimately explain the changing seasons, a process Empedocles
referred to as “the fourfold roots of everything”.
“Pherepaphe: The Fourfold Roots Of Everything” visually resolves the
contradictory elements of Persephone, through her recasting as Pherepaphe
and the primordial of the fourfold roots. It makes the necessary visual
references to the dark and the sacred, but also to the organic and the
dynamic, the “in-motion” quality that Plato referred to in his renaming of
the dark goddess. This group exhibition includes in-gallery work by Arnold
Steiner, Bethany Shorb, Carrie Villines, Dan Tesene, Elisabeth Timpone,
Jeffers Egan, Keep Adding, and Sougwen Chung. A living installation of dark
fashion works in November will further underscore the dynamic and emphemeral
qualities of Pherepaphe.
“Pherepaphe: The Fourfold Roots Of Everything” will remain on display until
December 14, 2009. Devotion Gallery is located at 54 Maujer Street (near
the corner of Maujer and Lorimer Streets) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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ABOUT BIRD OV PREY
http://BirdOvPrey.com
As a practitioner of obsessive ornamentation, Jorden Haley’s work
encompasses a variety of disciplines, including traditional mixed media,
digital media, fashion and jewelry design, graphic design and photography.
His work is inspired by the juxtaposition of machinery with the organics of
nature, the pristine chaos of the digital world, esoteric occult symbolism,
antiquated typographic systems, and bog bodies.
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ABOUT CYBEROPTIX
http://Cyberoptix.com
Schooled in both sculpture and photography, Shorb creates elaborate prop,
costume, and set constructions that blur the line between editorial fashion
photography and performance art documentation. Model, wardrobe, and set
each retain the same visual and emotional weight: A hyper-saturated
amalgamation exploring the interstitial space between alluring and
repulsive, hedonism and restraint, seductive speed of the expressway and
still finality of Last Rights.
Bethany Shorb was born in 1976. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in
Sculpture, with an elective in Photography, from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Her works have been widely published in the United States and abroad. As
founder of Cyberoptix, she has designed high-tech couture for SIGGRAPH and
costumes for screen and stage alike (including Skinny Puppy’s 2004 world
tour), as featured in FiberArts and Industrial Nation. Her current neckwear
line has graced the throats of Motor’s Bryan Black and actor/director
Crispin Glover, and was featured in the New York Times Magazine, BPM, Nylon,
Antenna, Wired Blog, and the Martha Stewart Show.
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ABOUT MERCANTILE
http://KillDevilHillBrooklyn.blogspot.com
Mercantile is a collaboration between Mary Beatrice Brockman and Mark
Christopher Straiton.
Mary Beatrice Brockman attended The School Of Visual Arts to study
sculpture. After leaving, she focused her fine-art skills on restoration,
and eventually settled on pattern-making and handmade wallpapers. Brockman
meshes the absurdly real with decorative qualities, using overheard stories
(such as “The Whale Found with a Bomb in its Belly”) as a point of
departure.
Mark Christopher Straiton is wild at heart and a jack of almost all trades.
He is best-known as co-owner of Kill Devil Hill, a widely-lauded antique
shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
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ABOUT SINNER/SAINT
http://Sinner-Saint.com
Born in mid-seventies Baltimore, Anthony Malat grew up on the road. Touring
extensively with his post-punk hardcore band Universal Order of Armageddon
(and later the art punk outfits Love Life and The Bellmer Dolls), he became
well-practiced in the obsolete arts of backyard auto repair, hand-poke
tattooing, and non-denominational marriage officiation.
His line has taken on many forms over the past few years but one thing has
remained unchanged: He works alone, using outdated machines and methods,
and has used his lack of formal training to his advantage by inventing
unorthodox but practical techniques, giving his work special and unique
details.
Sinner/Saint suits have gained an international reputation for being the
most unique custom designs available today. Malat’s clients include Jon
Spencer, Jim Thirlwell (Foetus), Benjy Ferree, as well as members of The
National, Interpol, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, the New York Dolls, The Hold
Steady, Barenaked Ladies, and even N’Sync!
Sinner/Saint and Malat himself have both been press darlings, with full
articles or editorial pieces appearing in GQ, Rolling Stone, Spin, Nylon,
Black Book, V, Ha’Ir (Tel Aviv), Soma, Swindle, and countless others. He
has sold limited-run ready-to-wear collections in New York City, Chicago,
and Tokyo.
Sinner/Saint will be introducing a new subdivision that will be available
off-the-rack at limited locations and online, as well as jewelry and
accessories in association with the partners of the mentor group VDK. In
his limited spare time, Malat continues his musical career with the Bellmer
Dolls, and makes furniture and sculpture from reclaimed building materials,
as well as restoring Victorian-era homes in the borough of Brooklyn, New
York.
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ABOUT VDK
VDK is a collaboration between Anthony Malat and Jorden Haley. The VDK is
not what you think it is.
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ABOUT BLACK SWAN
http://000000swan.com
Obsessed with electronics, feathers, Native American art, pagan ritual,
fetish, punk rock, and tribal percussion, Black Swan is the brainchild of
Phoenix Perry and Margaret Schedel. Connoisseurs of the romantic and
ethereal, they create high-impact, hard-to-predict events beyond the realm
of normal expectations. Their music is reminiscent of electronica and punk,
steam boats and theremins, and breaking glass. All costumes are handmade
and designed around the art of Phoenix Perry.
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ABOUT COWBOY MARK
http://myspace.com/CowboyMark808
Mark Christopher Straiton is wild at heart and a jack of almost all trades.
He is best-known as co-owner of Kill Devil Hill (a widely-lauded antique
shop in Greenpoint) but perhaps better-so as a deejay: He has played some
of the most hallowed halls of clubland and some of the darkest basements
throughout the United States. Playing dance music of the ages, he is
generally thought-of as a rock-a-billy deejay or a techno deejay, but he
also plays everything in between.
“The single best deejay in NYC” - Jayson Diamond
“Radical Riot Raver” - Emme Evard
“Mark is techno’s Sid Vicious” - Sal P. (Liquid Liquid)
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ABOUT DEATH DOMAIN
http://myspace.com/DeathDomainMotif
Starting as a solo project of the frontman of acclaimed synthpunk band SIDS,
Death Domain is an all-analog, minimal electronic act based in Baltimore.
As is clearly referenced by the name “Death Domain” (a term referring to
biological molecules involved in the regulation of cell death), the man
behind Death Domain bridges the gap between his two main passions in life
(i.e., science and music) in order to mold a unique sound. Â Death Domain
has released multiple cassettes with future releases on 7″, 10″, and 12″
formats.”
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ABOUT DETHLAB
http://myspace.com/TeamDethlab
With the Dethlab project, Shorb and Doyle seek to define “the new black” by
connecting the dots between trends in music, fashion, design and culture:
Mashing Ballardian reality with a romance for the glory days of postpunk and
the cyberpunk future promised by Blade Runner. Like a modern day McLaren
and Westwood, Doyle and Shorb are obsessive consumers, creators, and
curators of all things dark, innovative, and beautiful — often with tongue
firmly in-cheek.
In addition to deejaying and event production, they are currently recording
original music, have facilitated happenings such as Alice In Wonderland
themed tea parties and period costumed croquet socials in abandoned
factories, and have used nearly as much fake blood as Gwar. Shorb has
performed her own circuit-bent instruments around the country as Toybreaker,
and as a member of seminal noise band God and His Bitches. Both have
collaborated closely with indie-electronic label Ghostly International on
package design and merchandise development, and share the notion of “one
foot in the gallery, one in the club.” The “Machines That Feel” series is
the best example to date of their combined interests in art, music and
social-commentary.
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ABOUT MIKE SERVITO
http://ghostly.com/artists/Mike-Servito
Mike Servito is a deejay’s deejay, a lifelong music fanatic with a truly
unique ability to move a dance floor. Fearless in his seamless transitions
from one style to another, Servito has an unpredictability and a deep trust
in his music knowledge that has garnered him a cult following and made him
an in-demand deejay the world over. Although Servito is a NYC transplant,
his deejay style is unmistakably Detroit. Inspired by Detroit radio of the
80s and local deejays in the 90s, Servito came of age in a flourishing
electronic music scene, making his debut in 1995 and immediately gaining the
attention and respect of his peers and local techno heroes. After a brief
hiatus, Servito was lured back into the game through the vigorous
encouragement of his close friend Magda, and returned to the deejay realm in
2002. Servito redefined himself, finding inspiration in the new generation
of electronic-music producers and deejays.
Mike Servito was among the original “Untitled” residents, whose ranks
include Matthew Dear, Derek Plaslaiko, Tadd Mullinix, and Ryan Elliott. He
has played multiple Detroit Electronic Music Festivals and has held court
with some of the best talent in the world, including artists from
heavyweight labels such as Bpitch Control, Perlon, Minus, Kompakt, and DFA,
as well as hometown legends Transmat, Planet E, UR, and Spectral Sound. In
2008, Servito became the newest addition to Ghostly’s deejay roster, and has
happily returned to deejaying and traveling the world playing his favorite
music.
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ABOUT VIOLEC
http://myspace.com/RyanBrogan
Ryan Brogan, the mastermind behind the Brooklyn-based imprint known as
Subtrak, came to New York via Detroit, where he began his foray into
electronic music nearly a decade ago. As a deejay, he has shared the booth
with everyone from Daniel Bell, Misstress Barbara, Kevin Saunderson, and
Juan Atkins, to Troy Pierce, Omar S., and Guido Schneider. As a producer,
he has released electro under the alias AudioRiot and minimal techno as The
Pale (with long time collaborator Christian Bloch, Denmark’s infamous techno
guru). He currently has several EPs under his belt, a recent full length
album (Toybox) released under his own name, and various side projects (such
as the insanely popular mash-up project “Trademark Technique”).
Brogan hasn’t surfaced to perform since the release party for “Toybox” on
July 4th, 2009. In response to a special request from Cyberoptix’s Bethany
Shorb, Ryan has agreed to debut his intense new live Breakbeat/Dubstep
project VIOLEC. (Think Bassnectar meets Soulwax!)
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ABOUT DEVOTION GALLERY
http://AreYouDevoted.com
Devotion is a new gallery, where space exists as a cross-section of the
world at-large. This Williamsburg-based location combines science, art,
sound, data, and complexity to reveal our existence as part of an integral
whole. Devotion Gallery is located at 54 Maujer Street (near the corner of
Maujer and Lorimer Streets) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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ABOUT 319 SCHOLES
http://319scholes.org
319 Scholes is a new architectural space in the industrial heart of Bushwick
committed to the increasing use of trans-disciplinary approaches in order to
achieve artistic communication.
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CONTACT: Marie at Press@AreYouDevoted.com
R.S.V.P.: Press@AreYouDevoted.com
RELEASE: http://AreYouDevoted.com/dev-TheSecondFourfoldRoot.pdf
WEBSITE: http://events.AreYouDevoted.com
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