What's Newark Got To Do With It?

Episode 13 • Gardy St. Fleur: Pushing the Culture

My first question, at the beginning of any phone call to my good friend and colleague, Gardy St. Fleur, is “What are you up to?”. And he usually answers “I’m here doing my part.” His “part”, in his own words, is “pushing the culture”. That pretty much sums up the passion and commitment Gardy has for discovering, rediscovering and elevating BIPOC artists. I’ve always believed that art has the power to address and answer issues around social justice, equity and access. And you’ll hear, at the beginning of our conversation, how Gardy puts this belief front and center of his multi disciplined art practice.Gardy is a Haitian-American art advisor based in New York City. He was born in Haiti and moved to Brooklyn with his family when he was a child. His father collected work by Haitian artists and Gardy began buying art at the age of 14.Gardy is known for curating unique pieces of art from around the world for prestigious clients, as well as his own personal collection. He has advised athletes including basketball players Kyrie Irving, Courtney Lee, and Caris LeVert, as well as ballet star Misty Copeland. We first met at a New Year’s party that I gave almost 13 years ago. I’ve been fortunate to witness and benefit from Gardy’s professional journey in the art world ever since. So listen in on our conversation at the WhatsNewarkGotToDoWithIt.com Podcast, by clicking on the black bar at the beginning of this text, and get to know how Gardy continues, through his art advisory, art management and art collection practice, to navigate the art world on his own terms. One of the earliest artists that Gardy St. Fleur championed and whose work he collected, was that of Ionel Talpazan (born Ionel Pârvu). Talpazan was a Romanian self-taught outsider artist. He arrived in New York City where he became known in the late 1980s for his paintings of UFOs. He died in New York at the age of 60 on September 21, 2015. Phillips Auction House tapped Gardy St. Fleur to organize a sale-within-a-sale of the “The New Now” auction in 2021 titled “The Crossover” (gallery exhibition installation, middle photograph). Gardy (red hat) leading tour at the exhibition (photo below) It was comprised of 13 new works by emerging Black artists. “The Crossover” brought in just over $311,000, all of which was put toward initiatives in Haiti and New York run by Project Backboard, a Memphis-based nonprofit that rehabilitates public basketball courts and commissions artists (photograph above) to make work for these sites. St. Fleur is shown here (right) with artist William Villalongo (left) discussing one of his works of art with Caris LeVert, a former Nets guard, at the Susan Inglett Gallery in New York City. Early in his career St. Fleur immersed himself in all areas of the art world, such as taking on the studio manager responsibilities for Villalongo. Photo: Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times “The Front Lines'“ by artist Deborah Roberts. Gardy St. Fleur collaborated with Galerie Mitterrand in May 2023 to mount an exhibit of her work in Paris.

Episode 12: LOLA FLASH Pictures The Pulse of Queer Space & Time

Photographer Lola Flash grew up in the Newark suburb of Montclair, a wealthy and diverse commuter town 12 miles west of New York City. We ran into each other in Woodstock, NY in 2021 during my visit there to see an exhibition at the town’s Center of Photography. My friend and colleague, Charles Guice, who curated the exhibition, Woodstock Vision: The Spirit of a Generation Photographs by Elliott Landy, was giving my wife and I a tour of the exhibition when we bumped into Lola, who was currently an artist-in-residence at the Center. I’m an admirer of Lola’s photography practice and we frequently saw each other at events and exhibitions in NYC. Fortunately, during our conversation, I discovered that Lola grew up in Montclair and that led to reminisces of our youth in that area of Essex County, and subsequently, to this interview. Working at the forefront of genderqueer visual politics for more than four decades, photographer Lola’s work challenges stereotypes and gender, sexual, and racial preconceptions. An active member of ACT UP during the time of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, Lola was notably featured in the 1989 “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster. Their art and activism are profoundly connected, fueling a life-long commitment to visibility and preserving the legacy of LGBTQIA+ and communities of color worldwide. Flash has work included in important collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA, the Whitney, The National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Brooklyn Museum. They are currently a proud member of the Kamoinge Collective, and on the Board of Queer Art.Lola received their bachelor's degree from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Masters’ from London College of Printing, in the UK. Lola works primarily in portraiture, engaging those who are often deemed invisible. Flash’s practice is firmly rooted in social justice advocacy around sexual, racial, and cultural difference.The images that accompany this podcast can be seen by visiting the website: whatsnewarkgottodowithit.comThis interview took place on May 16, 2022.lolaflash.comEstablished in 1988, The Autograph Gallery’s mission is to champion the work of artists who use photography and film to highlight questions of race, representation, human rights and social justice. In April of 2019 the gallery, located in London, England, mounted an exhibition of Lola’s series ,titled [sur]passing. Emphasizing varying shades of skin tone, these larger-than-life portraits feature a spectrum of global diasporic figures posed against urban skylines - probing the impact of pigmentation on black identity and consciousness. "Flash’s photography pays tribute to those who courageously navigate contested zones of existence, transforming dissident sexualities and complex cultural identities into productive sites of exploration, reclamation and occupation" - Renée Mussai, Curator, [sur]passing ExhibitionThree images from that exhibition: The Autograph Gallery’s main exhibition space for Lola’s [sur]passing exhibition. Lola Flash, DJ Kinky, London, 2002 Lola Flash, Thato, Cape Town, South Africa, 2002 In 2021 The Museum of Modern Art acquired and exhibited seven works from Flash’s Cross Color Series, originally created in the late 80’s. These are two pieces from that series: Lola Flash, U is for Upside Down, New York City, New York, 1993 Lola Flash, AIDS is Killing Artists, Self-Portrait, Provincetown, Massachusetts c. 1990 To see the entire Lola Flash Cross Color photographs acquired by MoMA: https://www.moma.org/artists/133450 Flash, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio created 10 (ten) editions of this piece, Silence Will Not Protect You, for Queer|Art. Lola Flash, Queer|Art Mentor and Trustee, created this second annual Queer|Art Artist Neon Edition, Silence Will Not Protect You, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio.December 2021. Inspired by their history with ACT UP and AIDS awareness activism with Gran Fury, Flash highlights the text, “Your Silence Will Not Protect You,” originated by writer, educator, and feminist Audre Lorde at the Modern Language Association’s “Lesbian and Literature Panel,” in 1977. The powerful quote later served as the title of her posthumous collection of essays, speeches, and poems in 2017. This neon edition radiates connection between Lorde’s work and ACT UP’s seminal statement, “Silence=Death” and creates a clear throughline of queer liberation and activism from then to now—and onward into the future. Flash, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio, has created only 10 (ten) editions of this work, all of which are available for purchase from Queer|Art’s online shop.Looking Forward: Lola Flash and Sadie Barnette in Conversation. Getty Center, Sunday Oct 09 2022 The Kamoinge Workshop is a collective of Black photographers formed in New York in 1963. Its legacy continues today with members upholding the group’s mission to honor, document, preserve, and represent the history, culture, and lived experiences of the African diaspora with integrity and respect. During this conversation, Kamoinge member and photographer Lola Flash talks with multimedia artist Sadie Barnette about their unique approaches to history, our current moment, and Afrofuturism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHAhsbLuk8ATo embrace the spirit of Afrofuturism and create paradigms liberated from Western cultural hegemony, Lola created Syzygy, the Vision, an ongoing self-portrait series where the artist transforms herself into a representation of every Black person subjected to the horrors of racism, sexism, and homophobia. The series takes its name from an astronomical term for where the sun, earth, moon, and/or planets align to create an eclipse. Flash adopts this straight-line configuration to contemplate the pasts, presents, and futures of Black people across time and space. There will be a total of 100 images when Lola completes the series. http://www.lolaflash.com/syzygy Lola Flash, Milky Way, 2021. From the Syzygy, the Vision series. In the collection of The National Museum of African American History and Culture. The National Museum of African American History and Culture recently purchased seven of Lola’s photographs through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.: https://nmaahc.si.edu/lgbtq/lola-flash Lola Flash, Lola Flash, 2008. Included in the collection of The National Museum of African American History and Culture. PICTURING BLACK GIRLHOOD: MOMENTS OF POSSIBILITY. EXPRESS NEWARK | PAUL ROBESON GALLERIES, Newark, NJ Feb 2022 - July 2022 “This international exhibition featured over eighty-five Black women, girls, and genderqueer artists - ranging in age from 8 to 94 - who work in the mediums of photography and film and have a sustained practice exploring the theme of Black girlhood. Black girls are our most innovative cultural producers, community connectors, and trendsetters, but their contributions are rarely recognized and their lives are largely invisible in our dominant culture. In contrast, this exhibition considers Black girlhood as an essential stage of development, an integral moment of political awakening, an embattled site of representation, and a critical source of artistic inspiration throughout the globe”.: https://www.expressnewark.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Picturing-Black-Girlhood-Wall-Text.pdf Lola Flash, Tenzin, 2008https://www.expressnewark.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Picturing-Black-Girl-Press-Images-Captions-sampling-1.pdf

Episode 11: SOULEO: Showing Out in Harlem, Newark and Beyond

Peter “Souleo” Wright curates entertaining and informative events, exhibitions, and cultural programs. Souleo has collaborated with noteworthy institutions and brands, including the New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Museum of Arts and Design, Columbia University, Barnard College, Newark Museum of Art, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, and AARP. Souleo's work has been widely covered in outlets including the Associated Press, NY Times, The New Yorker, NBC, and more. Souleo is a graduate of Brown University.His focus on education and amplifying underrepresented stories are paramount to his curatorial mission and practice.For more information:SouleoUniverse.com or IG: @souleouniverseI first met Peter “SOULEO” Wright in Harlem in 2012 through a mutual friend and colleague, Leanne Stella, founder of Art In Flux Harlem. He curated an exhibition at her gallery titled “Art Enology” that featured the works of artists who repurposed wine bottles into elaborate works of original art. Both Souleo and Leanne introduced me to a newly vibrant art scene that continues to grow and has reestablished Harlem’s prominence as a global art center. The Pandemic hasn’t slowed Souleo down. His most recent exhibitions in Harlem, NYC and Newark, NJ, dynamically illustrate his amazing ability to bring the intersection of art, fashion, and celebrity to a widely diverse audience. Check out the images in this episode on the website: What’s Newark To Do With It? “Styling: Black Expression, Rebellion and Joy Through Fashion”, in September 2021 was an exhibition curated by Souleo at Nordstrom’s NYC Flagship store. Souleo poses in front of a photograph by Kwame Braithwaite in a digital installation by artist Dianne Smith. The exhibition, in association with Long Gallery in Harlem, featured the work of 15 contemporary Black artists and is a celebratory exploration of style within Black culture as a historical form of creative expression, rebellion against oppression and a source of joy as inspired by movements such as the Harlem Renaissance. Paintings, photography and wearable art were represented on each level of the store as customers traveled up the store's main escalator. as well as a pop-up shop where customers can purchase wearable art and prints featured in the show. Photograph by Ruben Natal-San Miguel “Styling: Black Expression, Rebellion and Joy Through Fashion” exhibition featuring three “African Diva Project” paintings by Margaret Rose Vendryes. Newark Arts celebrated its 20th Newark Arts Festival in October with a headline exhibit honoring legendary entertainer and New Jersey native Dionne Warwick. Dionne Warwick: Queen of Twitter was curated by Souleo and sponsored by Audible, in partnership with the GRAMMY Museum Experience™ Prudential Center. The exhibit featured original artwork inspired by the humorous, sassy, profound, and inspirational tweets of Ms. Warwick, plus rarely seen archival material including items from Ms. Warwick’s personal collection. Featured Artists: Lavett Ballard, Pamela Council, Jo-El Lopez, Beau McCall, Dianne Smith, and Felandus Thames. Image: Detail of one of Beau McCal’s artworks. When the Dandy meets Afrofuturism. Left: Portrait of Souleo for the Dandy Style Tutorial Zoom session on October 28, 2021 as part of the “God Is A Dandy” virtual event at the Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers, Newark, NJ. Curated and moderated by Souleo, it was a virtual mini-symposium on Black dandyism, generally defined as a style of dress that combines African Diasporan elements with European influences. Right: Jerry Gant, the late, legendary multidisciplinary artist’s unique dandy style is included in a film that is part of the exhibition. “Showing Out: Fashion in Harlem”, a multimedia exhibition presented by the Schomburg Center, and curated by Souleo, in honor of the 55th anniversary of the Harlem Institute of Fashion opened in September, 2021. HIF was founded by trailblazer Lois K. Alexander-Lane. Souleo said that his aim was to help bring greater attention to an "underrepresented piece of fashion history" that was important in helping to preserve, document, and support Black creatives in fashion. Images above: Souleo giving a tour of the exhibition the Spectrum News broadcast. One of the models wearing contemporary fashion and the interior photograph of one of the exhibition installations. Harlem Institute of Fashion (HIF) founder, trailblazer Lois K. Alexander-Lane. Souleo, left, and partner Beau McCall, recently shared their story on “National Coming Out Day”, via a virtual event “LGBTQ+ Lessons on Creativity and Connecting Generations”.

Episode 10: Kevin Maynor Is Creating Pulitzer Prize Winning Opera in Newark, NJ

Declared as, "one of the very greatest bass voices of the century", Kevin Maynor has sung throughout the world in both opera houses and concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to The Beijing Concert Hall in China. As a recitalist Maynor has received praise throughout North America, South America. Europe, Australasia and Africa as well as Asia including India and China. Maynor has scored success in over 65 operatic roles in five different languages.Kevin is the founder and Artistic Director of Trilogy: An Opera Company, which began in 2004. The inception of Trilogy: AOC followed a conversation between Sharpe James, former Newark mayor and Kevin Maynor. It was to be a cultural gift to the people of Newark, New Jersey. Initially developed as a one-off festival, Trilogy: AOC's success led to the formation of a committee and its continuing productions. Trilogy: An Opera Company is a 501c3 company. Trilogy: An Opera Company made its debut at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center on November 23, 2014. The World Premier of FIVE was presented by Trilogy at NJPAC on November 12, 2016. Five, the three-act opera by internationally acclaimed composer Anthony Davis, with libretto by Richard Wesley, premiered at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ. It is based on the story of the infamous 1989 Central Park Five case in which five teenagers were wrongly accused of molesting a woman jogger in New York City’s Central Park. It was later renamed The Central Park Five and premiered on June 15, 2019, at the Long Beach Opera and went on to win The Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2020. Again, by composer Anthony Davis, with Libretto by Richard Wesley. Trilogy productions include, among many others, Nat Turner, Frederick Douglas, Harriet: A Woman Called Moses, Robeson: The Opera, Emmett Till, Othello, Nat Turner and Blake.Maynor has a diploma from the Manhattan School of Music, a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Bradley University, a Masters degree from Northwestern University and an Honorary Degree from the Moscow Conservatory. While in Bologna, Italy he studied with Paula Molinari at the Teatro Communale di Bologna. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Indiana University in Bloomington.https://www.trilogyaoc.comGuest Co-Host: Dr. Ashley Jackson enjoys a multifaceted career as a highly sought-after musician and collaborator in New York and beyond. She’s the daughter of a Newarker. As an orchestral harpist, Ashley performs with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolis Ensemble, the Qatar Philharmonic, and is the principal harpist of NOVUS NY, the contemporary music orchestra of Trinity Wall Street. She appears regularly with the Harlem Chamber Players. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at Hunter College. Dr. Jackson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University.http://ashleyjacksonharp.comCheck out the images in this episode on: What’s Newark To Do With It? The Trilogy’s Opera FIVE opens as the story’s mysterious narrator, The Masque (Kevin Maynor) — in his trench coat, hat, and red and white-painted face — surveys the neighborhood of Harlem, NY. Left: Kevin Maynor. Right: Maynor as Hunding in Trilogy Opera Company’s presentation of Richard Wagnar’s "The Valkyrie”. Kevin Maynor as OTHELLO in Trilogy Opera Company’s production. Trilogy Opera Company’s production of Richard Thompson’s SASSY based on the life of Newark music icon, Sarah Vaughan. Album cover, featuring Kevin Maynor, singing the repertoire of famous American bass baritone, film actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson. In 2017 in Central Theater, at Central High School, Trilogy Opera presented NAT TURNER by composer, librettist, and pianist Michael D. Raphael. Trilogy Opera Company presented this production of BLAKE, by H. Leslie Adams, on April 30, 2021. The many operatic roles performed by Kevin Maynor.

Episode 09: Artist & Activist Emma Wilcox: Changing the Order of Things in Newark, NJ

In this episode Emma Wilcox shares her unique view of art spaces and the overarching power of eminent domain and how it shapes the places where we live and work. She is a photographer concerned with environmental justice, land usage, eminent domain, and the role of individual memory in the creation of local history. Emma was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, lived in Florida before arriving in New Jersey. She is co-founder, with Evonne M. Davis, of Gallery Aferro, an artist-owned alternative arts space in the heart of Newark, New Jersey’s downtown district. Founded in 2003, it is home to two major public exhibition spaces in a 20,000 sq. ft. building at 73 Market Street, offering exhibitions, events, and a studio residency program available all year-round. Emma’s solo exhibitions include: Where it Falls, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA and William Patterson University Galleries, Wayne, NJ, 2012, Emma Wilcox, 2010 at Gitterman Gallery, New York, NY, Salvage Rights, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 2009 and Forensic Landscapes, Jersey City Museum, 2007. She is the recipient of a Harpo Foundation Grant for Where It Falls, a NoMAA Creative Grant, a NJ State Arts Council Fellowship for photography, the Camera Club Of NY residency, the Newark Museum Residency and was a core participant in Night School at the New Museum in 2008. She was featured on Women in Photography, and was reviewed in Art In America. She participated in Emerge 7, Aljira, Newark, NJ and AIM 29, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY. http://www.emmawilcox.org/ https://aferro.org/Check out the images in this episode on: What’s Newark To Do With It? Emma Wilcox presenting “Art & Audience” on TEDxNJIT in 2016. Emma Wilcox, b.1994, 2011, silver gelatin print. Emma Wilcox, Where It Falls, 2012, digital screengrab of google earth imagery Juno Zago, At times I feel like a Sasquatch, 2020 People’s Open Mic Online at Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ Jesse Wright, Hattie & Edgar In Mandeville (Abraham & Sarah) Victor Davson, Misogyny Papers/Apology II, 2020 Gallery Aferro Co-Director Emma Wilcox, Gallery Manager Candace Nicholson, and Registrar Juno Zago Gallery Aferro Exhibition, Images, left to right: Phone receiver by Alexander Andrews, Phone box by Daniels Joffe, I, John de Conqueror: A New Spelling Of My Name by John Gavin White Evonne Davis, left, and Emma Wilcox owners of Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ