VIVA CHILE PROJECT

Get these while they're hot! These totes were a collaboration between Chilean artist, Elisita Punto's design and Brooklyn based Kayrock's screen printing. Elisita, who once worked at Kayrock when she lived state-side, was excited to reunite and collaborate with them again. Now, these were specifically made for Viva Chile, so limited quantities (31 left, to be exact) people! For $20, you can own this awesome tote.

Think of it this way, the totes are a triple threat, they're functional, they're a piece of art, and all profits go to a good cause...oh they look great too -- make that quadruple threat!

You can make payment by clicking on the donate button to the right of this. We will contact you to confirm payment and shipping address.

Sorry I haven't updated, but I needed a little vacation right after Viva Chile and before reality hit again...

Now I'm revitalized and am happy to let you know, Viva Chile was a success! The food was devoured, the wine was thoroughly enjoyed, the art looked great, the bands were awesome, and your host, Alex Goldberg, kept you engaged and the funnies coming! There was also an auction of donated goodies that went on throughout the night, and could not have been possible without these local businesses:

READ MORE
Bustin Boards
Chelsea Photographic
City Lights Publishers
Desert Island
empanadas ¡dpm!
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Frames on L
Gary Golio
Graceful Gardens
Greenhouse Holistic
Haab
Harefield Road
Honey & Hazel
Hueso Records
I Coppi
Kayrock Screenprinting
Made
Matilda
Prize Fighter Cutlery
Puro Chile
Southside Guitars
Sprout
Taco Chulo
Teamscreen
The Bagle Store
Wines of Chile
Woodley & Bunny


A big thanks to them and for everyone who came out to support -- you were the icing to the cake!

Guest post: Cern one

I was born in NYC.
I started doing graffiti in Queens around 1990, on the streets and train lines..I simultaneously started doing it everywhere.. Outside and drawing all the time, I stopped doing anything else in school.

Street art is different here because the older generation for the most part still feels graffiti represents the city being out of control and don't respect it as an artform. I think other places are more open to it. But people come here from all over, so there is often a good mix of styles here.

Heironymous Bosch, Lee Quinones, Mode 2, Skeme, my friends, and most artists in general influence my work.

READ MOREI'm always working on oil paintings that take me a long time. Trying to finish some murals before winter. And painting a backboard for the NBA, which will be shown in Miami for Art Basel in December...And always some top secret stuff ......

My style is often romantic, dirty and clean. I like to try new things, and revisit things as well.

Tonight see Cern work his magic at the event! He's got a nice large canvas, kindly donated by Artist & Craftsman, to keep him busy. That piece will later be auctioned off. Do bring in something he can work on for you -- perhaps a board, a small canvas or child?

See you there!

With one day left, things feel like the day before a Broadway show opening (not that I would know anything about that), but let's just say it feels a lil chaotic. But enough complaining....

Here's an image of some of the donations that will be auctioned/raffled tomorrow! We've got books--good for reading, gift certificates--good for shopping or re-gifting, dinners for 2--good for a date you'd like to impress, and many more items...

Items worth noting, because they cost a little more then we tend to carry in our wallets (so you'll want to bring dinero or a debit card, there's an atm nearby): a skateboard from our local board shop, Bustin Boards, a lovely hand made guitar strap and homemade guitar FuzzFace pedal clone, donated by Southside Guitars, and a few dinners for two from the kind of restaurants you go for special occasions...or your parents take you to when they're in town.

I almost forgot, the skateboard will get tagged up, live, by Cern, one of the many talented Chilean artist that will be exhibited tomorrow. Come check it!

Guest post: Soft Skin

Soft Skin is a band from Brooklyn formed in 2010. Bassist Tom Morrill and guitarist Andrew Mailliard met while attending the Rhode Island School of Design, after which the two moved to New York and formed the basis for the band. Tom soon met singer Jack Richardson; a recently stateside musician from London, England, working at a small art studio space. Ideas were exchanged and the group began writing songs together. Drummer Calvin Cupino, an NYU student, finalized the band on drums, and Soft Skin began playing shows in the spring.

With less than a week left before the big day, things seem to be moving at lightning speed -- with exciting things happening everyday. I can't even keep you guys posted!

Last week I got in contact with empanadas ¡dpm!. They're a duo based out of Brooklyn that make a variety of delicious empanadas and alfajores. You may have seen them this summer at Crest Fest or at Mean Red's outdoor concert with Asobi Asesku and Golden Triangle.

They were very kind in offering a special treat to be served at the cocktail hour. They call it la humita empanada. It's vegetarian and made with sweet corn, red onion, mozzarella and red pepper flakes. Cannot wait!

If you've never made made an empanada, watch the video, and see the hard work that goes into these baked goodies.

Guest post: Bluejay

Enthralled by the potential for chaos in pop music, Bluejay lives in a house hidden from public view. There, they chisel at their tropical screamo systems-funk and live a life both monstrous and sophisticated.

By day an architect, an engineer and an art dealer, Brad, Matt and Zach forge a new archetype for New York ’s changing social world: upwardly mobile concept punks charging each atom of their lives with creativity. Guided by Paul Newman, Dan Flavin and the Red Sox, they plant a slime garden of good will.

They subsume a myriad of wild ideas into a towering pillar of harmony as they seek to answer the ultimate question: What happens not after but before we die?

With their forthcoming first full-length Bluejay hopes to bring the music industry to a close in early 2011.

Image from Bluejay

When did you get into photography?
My older brother used to take photos with a classic Nikon FM and I remember I really enjoyed the sound when he would shoot..clapfff

Then in 1992 I went with a group of students to "La Tirana”, a 7 days street religious party in the north of Chile full of dancers and lively music. Somebody gave me a camera and I started to shoot....it was pretty cool, I remember I couldn’t stop shooting these dancing "diablos" dressed with such nice costumes...That´s how everything started…I love this memory.


READ MOREWhat do you enjoy about photographing?
I love to capture images, but not every image, just certain places that appears in my way -- as a kind of vision....afterwards I need to capture that, as an obsession. I don’t consider myself as documentary photographer in fact I have a terrible back up of my own history.

I notice many of your photos have a path or a road, what is that about??
That’s what I was talking about before...its a kind of an obsession. I started No Ending Roads series in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I remembered I was riding a bike and looking for location spots, and suddenly I find these stairs with no end (off course they had an end, but I couldn’t see it from my view point) and that situation made me think about my emotional situation at that point of my life.....it´s a kind of poetry about how life goes and the image of that feeling.

What camera do you prefer using? do you prefer digital or film?
For my artwork I prefer film, slide film is my choice, specially Fuji, Provia 100 or Velvia 50. But in Chile it’s almost impossible to find film, and when you do, it’s really expensive, like 18 dollars per roll. That’s why now I’m working with a medium format digital camera...
Anyway, I still shoot with my Holga, and with my Nikon F90x that takes really nice pictures! And I’m using my super8 for moving images...working with these "old slow formats" makes me just so happy.


Maria Luisa Murillo is 31 years old. She lived 8 years in Barcelona, Spain and then moved to Santiago,Chile almost 2 years ago where she is currently living and working.

Maria Luisa is working on creating a solo show in Chile. Stay tuned for that!

Photo via Maria Luisa Murillo

Big shout out to Dk, who made this awesome flyer at a moments notice! Check his work out...

In case you do that social networking stuff, here's the invite to Viva Chile. Invite all your friends, family, neighbors, dancing partner, whoever.

An FYI, lots of silent auctioning and raffling will be taking place, so prepare! Bring your cash, check books, money orders. Sorry credit cards will not accepted.

Guest post by Beach Combers

Beach Combers was formed in the spring of 2010. Dayna, the band's singer and guitar player, had recorded dozens of rough tracks on her computer in her bedroom and was eager to play shows and record with a full band—if only so people would stop telling her that her bedroom wasn't a recording studio. Eduardo (drums) was an old friend (not really) and an excellent drummer.

The band began playing live in August and never looked back. Eduardo's brother, who is even more Portuguese than Ed, hopped on the bass and the two-piece became three. Their only release so far is a 3-song demo, aptly named "Demo" but they plan to release an EP late this fall and a real record next spring. Their lo-fi, grungy, girly sound is not unlike if the Moldy Peaches shared a bunkbed with Vivian Girls. And what fun that would be.

If you want to catch them before Viva Chile, they'll be playing Glasslands with Cassie Ramone, 1/3 of the Vivian Girls, on September 19th.