Amateur Hour
Andrew and Peter Sutherland
6-9PM Thursday October 22nd
621 W 27th St, NYC
It's Time
David Benjamin Sherry
Published by Damiani
Wednesday September 30th 6-8 PM
33 Bond St
New York, NY
Memorial for Dash Snow
Thursday, October 1, 2009
3:30-7:00PM
East River Amphitheater on the East River
3 blocks South of Houston
2 blocks South of Williamsburg Bridge
Walking bridge at Cherry St.
All are welcome to attend
13APOSTOLI
Alessandro Di Giampietro
Opening September 22 7PM
September 22 through October 17
Via Medardo Rosso 19, Milan
When did you start drawing and making art?
Not until 2005 really, and at that point it certainly wasn’t informed or interesting at all. I studied a pretty academic-heavy mix at high school; Law, English, Chemistry and a horrible amount of Mathematics. In my last year I started to notice some of the more creative things going on around me. I regurgitated the street-art-character crap that I found on the net. Not because I found it particularly exciting deep down, but because it made me feel, as someone who had never worked creatively at all, that I could just draw like all these other kids were doing. And from that very narrow starting point, I managed to find a few people who were working in ways that really did interest me. People that thought about it.
Do you feel free of the expectations placed on a classically trained artist? Or is it the opposite?
I suppose its just different, a different set of expectations. The fact that they are more self-imposed expectations has the tendency I think to make the work a little more reflective or insular. I’m starting to learn what I want to achieve or portray, so from that understanding comes the judgment of the work. It will be interesting to see how that set of values changes once I start studying art next year. If I can develop a balance then I think it will be a positive experience. Who knows.
What kinds of projects are you working on right now? How did those come about?
I’m trying to put together some cover/booklet artwork for Ghoul’s first album release. I knew Ivan (singer) through uni, and our bands started to hang out and play together. I’m praying they decide to put it out on vinyl, trying to raise some funds for that. I’d love to start working on some larger paintings. A few little booklets are in the works. A magazine publication tentatively called “By George” which some friends are looking to set up. I want to spend more time talking to the people around me with interesting ideas. I’d love to publish some of my brothers’ drawings. He draws with a complete abandon that is really exciting; it’s about nothing but the marks themselves. I’m going to start compiling them I think.
Does your band’s (Bearhug) music influence your work at all?
The idea of making music with a group is much more processed than working alone visually. It’s not just about one point of view, not with Bearhug at least. It’s so dependant on a constant input from everyone in the band, and so the final songs are always amalgamations rather than attempts to just produce one person’s idea. I think having the ability to work on both is definitely beneficial. Balance, rhythm, they are the obvious links. There are things that I can express musically that I haven’t learnt to communicate visually, and vice versa, so they can substitute for each other and that relieves some of the frustration. And to be so close to other people while they are producing and creating is invaluable, it’s so important for me to observe how other people approach these things.
How do you feel about fine arts coverage in the media, in general? Is that a reason why you’re interested in starting a publication of your own?
It’s definitely influenced this desire to put something else forward. The larger media outlets here in Sydney seem to have a very “event” based approach to the Arts; exhibition as weekend attraction. To find writing genuinely interested in extending ideas surrounding the Arts is quite difficult. So our main aim with the publication is not necessarily the direct promotion of individual artist’ work, but promotion of an ongoing dialogue between the Arts and a wider public. We would hope to see each issue of the publication form part of an ongoing whole, rather than a series of loosely linked releases.
What’s the art scene like in Australia? Do you fit in with that at all?
Like anywhere I suppose there will be the work that really inspires you personally, and there will be other ninety five percent of the work that you just don’t communicate with at all. If I were being overly critical I would say that there is a penchant here to simply rehash ideas that are coming from overseas. I can understand that as a point of instigation for a creative process, but it gets dangerous when it cements itself, and I think that happens a lot, especially in Sydney. There are communities that will develop, collectives, but most of the time they are pushing this really limited, confined idea, rather than promoting a diverse output. Like twenty kids all making character based graffiti canvases or whatever. If that is genuinely what interests you then fine, but it’s not exactly leading to anything. It’s a bit incestuous in terms of thinking. But obviously this is all generalization. There are people making great work too. Bababa International are brilliant, guys that really put a lot of thought into what they want to do. I saw a great installation last week by Zoe Coombs Marr; this inverted room with mountains on the ceiling and mirrored goggles that made it feel as though you were plummeting to Earth. So there is always good stuff going on, it’s just a matter of being able to pick out what is personally engaging.
You have a really deep understanding of art history I’m told. How does that knowledge affect your artwork? How so? Why do you think you pursued such an understanding?
I actually haven’t studied art history or theory in any structured way. I did a Design degree for two years but dropped out, so I definitely lack a proper chronological understanding. But what I think I gained from that absence was the ability to develop my own curriculum. I’ve been able to come across things at my own pace and concentrate on what speaks to me personally. Rather than a broad overview of the requisite topics, I’ve had the chance to spend time on what excites me, which I’m grateful for. I might not have a constant trickle of new information passing by me from a course book reader, but to be able to stumble across something alone, and then pursue it, is important. And I like to have that same sense of searching within the work that I create as well. It’s about looking for something rather than illustrating what I already know. That being said, I do plan to go to art school next year, and hopefully combine the two. I just enjoy reading about the way other people think about or approach art.
What’s your creative process like?
It’s mostly in sketchbooks or single sheets of paper. None of the work so far has been too elaborate, usually just a single medium in each piece. Just minimal collages or pencil drawings or pastel scribbles. Because I want it to be more about searching for something, concentrating on the materials and looking for something within the process, it’s rare for me to work on anything for an extended period. I can’t really leave something one day and come back to it the next because I lose what it was I was thinking at the time and then there is no cohesion. I can become a total prick if I think I was close to something and I lose it. So it can be intense just very quickly.
I know this is really tough question, but is there a really big project that you’d like to accomplish down the line?
I think a series of books would be great. And I need to start working large scale. I’d like to get to a point where the good work outweighs the bad work. I want to work on a few musical projects. At the moment I just want everything to combine and build as I go, so that the big project is made up of all the small projects.
What do you feel your role is as an artist? How does that show up in your work?
I started talking about this, about the role of the arts, with my girlfriend just the other day. I’m still way to young and ignorant to formulate a proper answer. At a personal level it is quite easy I suppose to say that I do it because I feel the need to. “This is an expression that purely belongs to me”. For me to put this out there is to say “This is how I see” or “This is how I think.” And rather than expecting it to succeed necessarily as a form of direct communication, I would hope to develop the idea that there is no single form of collective communication or expression; That by increasing the variety of output in the world, I show simply that no two people can be expected to respond to the world in the same way.
What sorts of ideas do you communicate through your artwork?
I think so far the work has a lot to do with an idea of cumulative understanding, of interrelations. The nature of searching without necessarily having a specified outcome. A means of communication for communications’ sake. An understanding of the value of expression in itself.
What things from your life make their way into your work? What inspires it?
I work in a second hand bookstore and a majority of the time its just frustrating retail busy work like any other job, but its great to be able to stumble across books I’d never think to read otherwise. In April I found a book called “Notes of an Anatomist” by Frank Gonzalez-Crussi. He worked as a physician his whole life, and the book is a collection of essays that use his experiences within the medical field as a basis for some really interesting social/philosophical discussions. I think I just love having an insight into alternate perceptions of the world. So I’m really in awe of well-written art criticism like Robert Hughes and John Berger. I think its exciting to see something like that come full circle, where rather than having a linear process that starts with the creation of an artwork and ends with the subsequent criticism, the response to the work is able to inform further creation.
Here, 2008-2009
Oil on limestone polymer on panel
56” x 53”
Oil on limestone polymer on panel
56” x 53”
Shift, 2008-2009
Graphite, conte crayon and gouache on paper
44.5” x 42” (47" x 44.5” framed)
Graphite, conte crayon and gouache on paper
44.5” x 42” (47" x 44.5” framed)
Jessica Dickinson
Exhibition open through September 27.
35 St. James Place, NYC
Gallery Hours
Wednesday - Sunday, 12PM - 6PM
How did you come about photography?
When I was 16, my aunt gave me her old Olympus OM4 SLR camera, and I started snapping pictures of my friends and of stupid things. I studied for a few years at A-Level and Foundation, but then I bailed out to skateboard and shoot pictures freelance for mags like Vice.
When did you first feel that you were really talented as a photographer? Or has that still not happened?
(laughs) I’m not sure I thought about it as literally as that, but I like what I take pictures of. Sometimes I will get a picture back and it will surprise me in a good way, or in a bad way, but it’s all about learning. If I shoot something and it’s shit, the next shoot will be better because I’ll know what was shit about it. I think the biggest part of being a ‘talented photographer’ is to be particularly cynical and to know what you love and what you hate.
So you’re saying there are good days and bad days? Or that you’re always hypercritical of your own work? Do you think that’s just the way that it has to be?
I think that so far in my ‘professional career’ I’ve made one bad shoot, but then I thought it was so terrible that I re-shot it. In fact, the reason it was bad was because what they asked me to shoot wasn’t my initial idea. There was some bullshit about the clothes being really expensive and, as I couldn’t get them all dirty and fucked up, the turnout was all stupid and posey, When I re-shot it, we got some shit clothes from crappy brands instead so we could mess them up. I am hypercritical about my work, which sometimes makes it hard. I think a lot; one week I’m in love with my pictures and the next I hate them. You need to be completely honest with yourself, because no one else will be.
What kinds of things inform your eye, if you think about it that way?
I guess if I'm asked to think about it in that way, things that inform my eye are everything and anything. I get a lot of my inspiration from my friends, skateboarding and films.
What do your friends think of the photography or the particular images that they’re in? Are they willing subjects? Why?
My friends are all really into it. When they’re taking part in something, they can’t imagine the turnout, but the finished picture is always a great memory for them. All of them are willing and open to what I do, which works out great for me.
Do you think you will ever try to do a film? Why or why not? Maybe a skating film?
I’m considering it at the moment. I’m thinking about making a three-minute 8mm film just as a test to see what happens. It will be about skateboarding for sure though. I’m thinking about a couple of things, so maybe one of those will pop online soon. We’ll see.
Any skate videos or films in particular? Why those films?
I’m really influenced by skate videos that aren’t just tricks. There is so much more to skateboarding and when people recognize that, that’s when an amazing skate video happens. The Anti-Hero video Tent City is a good example. I find the b-roll footage and the in between moments, that are normally shown while the credits are rolling, more interesting than the trick sections in the video. It’s having a big influence on what I’m working on now, which is a project about skateboarding.
I also used to be really in to 16mm films. I remember being at secondary school in the art computer room and my friend Jack, who now runs Huh. Magazine, showed me this film which was shot on a 16mm camera. It light leaked almost constantly and I thought it looked dreamy and beautiful, which influenced quite a lot of my pictures for quite a while. It still does, but not as much.
Your friends are very heavily featured in the photos. Was this deliberate or was it just the way that it happened?
My friends being in my photos are mostly down to the fact that there aren't really any other people I like to take pictures of. I'm not interested in making a 'model' look interesting because their pose is super awesome… I just want to record real things that happen in young life.
Is there a perception of life that you wish to convey, how much do you intend to leave to the mystery of the viewer?
There definitely is a lifestyle that I'm trying to convey. Most, if not all of my pictures are centered around 'youth' and being stupid. I like to be vague and allow the viewer to relate to what they think is happening, rather than telling a specific story.
When I was 16, my aunt gave me her old Olympus OM4 SLR camera, and I started snapping pictures of my friends and of stupid things. I studied for a few years at A-Level and Foundation, but then I bailed out to skateboard and shoot pictures freelance for mags like Vice.
When did you first feel that you were really talented as a photographer? Or has that still not happened?
(laughs) I’m not sure I thought about it as literally as that, but I like what I take pictures of. Sometimes I will get a picture back and it will surprise me in a good way, or in a bad way, but it’s all about learning. If I shoot something and it’s shit, the next shoot will be better because I’ll know what was shit about it. I think the biggest part of being a ‘talented photographer’ is to be particularly cynical and to know what you love and what you hate.
So you’re saying there are good days and bad days? Or that you’re always hypercritical of your own work? Do you think that’s just the way that it has to be?
I think that so far in my ‘professional career’ I’ve made one bad shoot, but then I thought it was so terrible that I re-shot it. In fact, the reason it was bad was because what they asked me to shoot wasn’t my initial idea. There was some bullshit about the clothes being really expensive and, as I couldn’t get them all dirty and fucked up, the turnout was all stupid and posey, When I re-shot it, we got some shit clothes from crappy brands instead so we could mess them up. I am hypercritical about my work, which sometimes makes it hard. I think a lot; one week I’m in love with my pictures and the next I hate them. You need to be completely honest with yourself, because no one else will be.
What kinds of things inform your eye, if you think about it that way?
I guess if I'm asked to think about it in that way, things that inform my eye are everything and anything. I get a lot of my inspiration from my friends, skateboarding and films.
What do your friends think of the photography or the particular images that they’re in? Are they willing subjects? Why?
My friends are all really into it. When they’re taking part in something, they can’t imagine the turnout, but the finished picture is always a great memory for them. All of them are willing and open to what I do, which works out great for me.
Do you think you will ever try to do a film? Why or why not? Maybe a skating film?
I’m considering it at the moment. I’m thinking about making a three-minute 8mm film just as a test to see what happens. It will be about skateboarding for sure though. I’m thinking about a couple of things, so maybe one of those will pop online soon. We’ll see.
Any skate videos or films in particular? Why those films?
I’m really influenced by skate videos that aren’t just tricks. There is so much more to skateboarding and when people recognize that, that’s when an amazing skate video happens. The Anti-Hero video Tent City is a good example. I find the b-roll footage and the in between moments, that are normally shown while the credits are rolling, more interesting than the trick sections in the video. It’s having a big influence on what I’m working on now, which is a project about skateboarding.
I also used to be really in to 16mm films. I remember being at secondary school in the art computer room and my friend Jack, who now runs Huh. Magazine, showed me this film which was shot on a 16mm camera. It light leaked almost constantly and I thought it looked dreamy and beautiful, which influenced quite a lot of my pictures for quite a while. It still does, but not as much.
Your friends are very heavily featured in the photos. Was this deliberate or was it just the way that it happened?
My friends being in my photos are mostly down to the fact that there aren't really any other people I like to take pictures of. I'm not interested in making a 'model' look interesting because their pose is super awesome… I just want to record real things that happen in young life.
Is there a perception of life that you wish to convey, how much do you intend to leave to the mystery of the viewer?
There definitely is a lifestyle that I'm trying to convey. Most, if not all of my pictures are centered around 'youth' and being stupid. I like to be vague and allow the viewer to relate to what they think is happening, rather than telling a specific story.
Do you have any sort of crystallized take on what it’s like to be young, or are you just trying to capture it as you see it? Anything can go here, being 20, living in London, being part of a vibrant art scene, the music scene….
I have specific ideas of what it is to be young that mostly revolve around skateboarding. I recently got into a bit of a rut with photography. After a while I realized it was because I was making pictures that weren’t completely honest. I was getting frustrated, thinking of situations that represent youth to be pictured when I should have been out living them.
How did skateboarding get to be such a big part of your life? How young where you when you started?
I think it was because it was the first thing I felt a real part of. I went through a period of time where I was basically up to no good with idiots that I used to go to school with. Then I started skateboarding and got in with a different crowd of people and noticed a complete change of mentality for the better. I started when I was about 15 I think, I spent so much time at Sainsbury’s car park in West Wickham near my house with my closest friends learning tricks and fucking around. There were so many good Sainsbury’s times. One evening there we intercepted a delivery of bread for Sainsbury’s, which was about 1000 loafs of bread. We then had a bread fight for about an hour. We managed to cover an entire car park with slices of bread. It was ridiculous. The security guard for Sainsbury’s face was priceless; the shock was so funny. There is one photo in existence of it, which is on my friend Toby’s old phone. I’m going to try to get hold of it.
What influences your life outside of photography? And how does that affect your work?
Skateboarding has changed how I see photography and what I like about it. There are a few photographers that I really admire within the skate scene who capture something raw and real. Though it may sound quite narrow, right now everything is centered pretty much on skateboarding.
Have you ever been surprised with the reaction that the photos have gotten? Why or why not?
Well, when I was organizing my first solo exhibition at the Claire De Rouen gallery, we sent out an email with a flyer to their mailing list. The next day we received a call from an angry man about the image on the flyer, which was the picture that is on the front of my book – the naked homeless man in Soho. The man said he was going to phone the police about the picture. I was kind of half hoping the police would come to the opening and arrest me or something, but they didn’t. I’m not sure why they would arrest me though and I’m not sure what this guys big problem was, it’s only a naked person. Maybe he is the only person in the world that isn’t naked under his probably tweed attire.
Normally I get really good reactions, all my friends like what I do so that’s the most important thing for me.
Was that nerve-wracking at all? I mean, your first solo exhibition and you’re stirring up all this unwanted attention from people far outside the intended audience….
Nah, I thought it was funny; we all did at the shop. It made the setting up of the show slightly less boring!
What kinds of images did you select for the book and why?
The pictures I selected for the book were a series I was working on since 2006. The initial edits for the book were fairly different, though I worked with my publisher (Morel-Books) on getting the final book looking how I wanted it to. Its sometimes quite hard to look at your own work and think about it in terms of a book, so I was constantly asking the opinions of my friends and just about anyone else who would talk to me about it.
I selected these images because they tell a story, everything about the book is very carefully considered. The pictures are in a specific order for a reason, and the way it is laid out has been made with particular intentions. I like to see pictures in a very plain environment with no distractions, the images should all be able to stand-alone in white space and be strong. I made it in a very similar way to how I exhibit my work. The images in the book itself have specific meanings and feelings that I am trying to put across, but I hope that people have their own interpretations of it all.
So do you see yourself as a storyteller? What kinds of stories do you tell, if so?
I don’t really consider myself as a ‘storyteller’. There are stories to my images, but that’s only because they were moments in my life. I mean, I’m kind of a storyteller, there just aren't any words! (laughs) So I don’t think that should be considered a story. The story of the book is my outlook on life, each picture tells a little bit more, but it’s not meant to be seen the same way I see it. It’s meant to be read however the viewer wants. It can be about anything really. The new things I’m working on are a little more specific.
What other kinds of things do you anticipate doing in your career?
I'm not sure to be honest. All I know right now is that I'm working on a couple of ‘zines and a new book all to be out soon-ish. All in talks or being shot right now, so I guess you will have to wait and see.
THE OPEN
Sebastian Black
Alison Blickle
Eoin Burke
Scott Campbell
Borden Capalino
Whitney Claflin
Caleb Considine
Christian de Vietri
Abigail DeVille
Peter Demos
Keltie Ferris
Aaron Gilbert
Kathy Grayson
Evan Gruzis
Josephine Halvorson
Midori Harima
Joshua Abram Howard
Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline
Adam Krueger
Eva LeWitt
Brendan Lynch
Cassandra MacLeod
Ted Mineo
Alyssa Pheobus
Cassie Raihl
Theo A. Rosenblum
Chelsea Seltzer
Patricia Treib
Antoine Wagner
Didier William
Saya Woolfalk
Sebastian Black
Alison Blickle
Eoin Burke
Scott Campbell
Borden Capalino
Whitney Claflin
Caleb Considine
Christian de Vietri
Abigail DeVille
Peter Demos
Keltie Ferris
Aaron Gilbert
Kathy Grayson
Evan Gruzis
Josephine Halvorson
Midori Harima
Joshua Abram Howard
Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline
Adam Krueger
Eva LeWitt
Brendan Lynch
Cassandra MacLeod
Ted Mineo
Alyssa Pheobus
Cassie Raihl
Theo A. Rosenblum
Chelsea Seltzer
Patricia Treib
Antoine Wagner
Didier William
Saya Woolfalk
10 September - 25 October 2009
Opening reception 10 September 6-10PM
Juergen Teller
10 september – 17 october 2009
Opening reception 10 September 6-8PM
Opening reception 10 September 6-8PM
Lehmann Maupin
540 west 26th street
New York
Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles Etc. (1965-66)
George Landow (aka Owen Land)
HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE
Tauba Auerbach
September 03, 2009 — October 17, 2009
Deitch
76 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
Salty Sap Green Black
Ida Ekblad
September 9, 2009
6-9PM
The Journal Gallery
168 N 1st St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist, is currently in Massachusetts General hospital with Pneumonia. He is expected to return to the sangha in 14 days.
This month I was honored to have the opportunity to spend a week with Thay at Stonehill in Massachusetts, such an incredible and inspiring presence. I wish him a prompt recovery.
Roden Crater
James Turrell
In 1979 James Turrell purchased Roden Crater; a 400,000 year old, 3 km wide extinct volcano crater northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. For the past 30 years he has been working on transforming it into a naked-eye observatory, specifically for viewing celestial phenomena. Turrell predicts to open the crater for public viewing in 2011.
Moonmilk
Ryan McGinley
Released/Delivered September 10, 2009
96 pages
23.5 X 16cm
Edition of 1000
Foreword Raphael Gygax & Brian Dillon
R.I.P. Dash Snow
(1981-July 13, 2009)
Downtown New York artist Dash Snow died last night (July 13, 2009) of a heroin overdose.
He was 27 and leaves behind his daughter, Secret Magic Nico Snow.
The 2009 Vice Magazine Photography Exhibition
Terry Richardson
Ryan McGinley
Roe Ethridge
Tim Barber
Torbjørn Rødland
Maggie Lee
Dana Goldstein
Annabel Mehran
Doug Biggert
Ben Ritter
Jamie Lee Curtis Tæte
Harry Benson
Richard Kern
Stephen Shore
Jerry Hsu
Keiichi Nitta
Peter Sutherland
Logan White
Angela Boatwright
Nicky Lesser
Ed Zipco
July 16 - August 17
11AM - 6PM, Tuesday - Saturday
Spencer Brownstone
39 Wooster St
New York, NY
The I Ching, “Yì Jīng”, Classic of Changes or Book of Changes; also called Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. The book is a symbol system used to identify order in random events.
The text describes an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy that is intrinsic to ancient Chinese cultural beliefs. The cosmology centres on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change.
In Western cultures and modern East Asia, the I Ching is sometimes regarded as a system of divination. The classic consists of a series of symbols, rules for manipulating these symbols, poems, and commentary.
John Cage
Norton Lectures 1988-89
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector.
A leading figure in the post-war avant-garde; Cage was without a doubt one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century, especially in regards to experimental music and theory.
Kirana Center for Indian Classical Music
Study With La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela
In 1970, Pandit Pran Nath (1918-1996) established his first school, the Kirana Center for Indian Classical Music, in New York City. Under the direction of his disciples, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, the Kirana Center continues to provide a unique opportunity for musicians and students of both Eastern and Western music to study singing and the art of raga according to the method of Pandit Pran Nath. Pandit Pran Nath was the foremost disciple of Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan Sahib, acknowledged master of the Kirana gharana, which descends from the legendary Gopal Nayak (c. 1300) of the Dhrupad Govarhari gharana, also known as the style of Krishna.
Vocal music training differs from instrumental training in that the singer’s own body becomes his or her instrument. For this reason, all instruction takes place on an individual basis; each student is taught according to the structure of his own body and its capabilities. The nature of the teaching is entirely practical—the student learns by imitating phrases sung by the teacher. From the first lessons, the student sings with the accompaniment of the tambura. This ancient instrument, literally worshipped in our tradition, provides the harmonically rich drone tones which are the basis for intonation development. In this method, all elements of the work—voice production, breath control, ear training, pitch recognition, intonation, rhythm, and special vocal techniques such as ornaments (gamaks)—are woven together and taught concomitantly with the knowledge and differentiation of raga. When the student begins to learn compositions, Marian Zazeela provides tabla accompaniment. In addition to voice and raga,Marian Zazeela teaches khayal style tabla, which she learned directly from Pandit Pran Nath and his first tabliya in the U.S., K. Paramjyoti, specializing in the serene vilampits and madhyalayas.
For instrumentalists, one of the best ways to study raga is first to learn the intricate sargam patterns of the alap of each raga with the voice, and then to apply this knowledge to their instrument. After the student becomes familiar with the basic alap patterns, the lessons can continue on the instrument, if the student’s instrumental technique is sufficiently advanced.
The teaching is open to students at all levels, beginners through advanced, amateurs and professionals. This approach, with its emphasis on perfect intonation, profound musical feeling, and the historically spiritual orientation of the Kirana style, can be of great benefit to those who want to improve their musicianship, as well as those who want to pursue this particular branch of musical knowledge.
As the first western disciples of Pandit Pran Nath, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela have performed and taught the Kirana style of Indian classical music since 1970. They accompanied Pandit Pran Nath in hundreds of concerts throughout the world. In June 2002, La Monte Young was conferred the title of Khan Sahib by Ustad Hafizullah Khan Sahib, the Khalifa of the Kirana Gharana and son of Pandit Pran Nath’s teacher, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan Sahib. In 1999, Jung Hee Choi became a disciple of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in the study of music and art, with the classical Kirana tradition gandha bandh red-thread ceremony in 2003. Since 2007 she has been a teaching assistant at the Kirana Center.
Vocal music training differs from instrumental training in that the singer’s own body becomes his or her instrument. For this reason, all instruction takes place on an individual basis; each student is taught according to the structure of his own body and its capabilities. The nature of the teaching is entirely practical—the student learns by imitating phrases sung by the teacher. From the first lessons, the student sings with the accompaniment of the tambura. This ancient instrument, literally worshipped in our tradition, provides the harmonically rich drone tones which are the basis for intonation development. In this method, all elements of the work—voice production, breath control, ear training, pitch recognition, intonation, rhythm, and special vocal techniques such as ornaments (gamaks)—are woven together and taught concomitantly with the knowledge and differentiation of raga. When the student begins to learn compositions, Marian Zazeela provides tabla accompaniment. In addition to voice and raga,Marian Zazeela teaches khayal style tabla, which she learned directly from Pandit Pran Nath and his first tabliya in the U.S., K. Paramjyoti, specializing in the serene vilampits and madhyalayas.
For instrumentalists, one of the best ways to study raga is first to learn the intricate sargam patterns of the alap of each raga with the voice, and then to apply this knowledge to their instrument. After the student becomes familiar with the basic alap patterns, the lessons can continue on the instrument, if the student’s instrumental technique is sufficiently advanced.
The teaching is open to students at all levels, beginners through advanced, amateurs and professionals. This approach, with its emphasis on perfect intonation, profound musical feeling, and the historically spiritual orientation of the Kirana style, can be of great benefit to those who want to improve their musicianship, as well as those who want to pursue this particular branch of musical knowledge.
As the first western disciples of Pandit Pran Nath, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela have performed and taught the Kirana style of Indian classical music since 1970. They accompanied Pandit Pran Nath in hundreds of concerts throughout the world. In June 2002, La Monte Young was conferred the title of Khan Sahib by Ustad Hafizullah Khan Sahib, the Khalifa of the Kirana Gharana and son of Pandit Pran Nath’s teacher, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan Sahib. In 1999, Jung Hee Choi became a disciple of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in the study of music and art, with the classical Kirana tradition gandha bandh red-thread ceremony in 2003. Since 2007 she has been a teaching assistant at the Kirana Center.
Individual Lessons with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela
Fees: $150 per hour, with a two-hour minimum
If you are interested in studying, you may fill out the form below and return or mail to:
Fees: $150 per hour, with a two-hour minimum
If you are interested in studying, you may fill out the form below and return or mail to:
Kirana Center for Indian Classical Music
275 Church Street, New York, NY 10013
If you would like to give a brief description of your background and musical experience, please use the back of this form, or send a resume by mail or by email to mail@melafoundation.org.
(Text directly from MELA)
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