Daily Archives: December 2, 2013

Interview with Geraldine Benfante


Geraldine Benfante enjoys doing landscape art, and has been drawing since she was eight years old. She didn’t want to be dependent on her art for a living, so she went on to pursue a nursing degree alongside the art degree. Benfante resides in Queens, and fund-raises for the local East Elmhurst Public Library. Here’s my artist interview. Enjoy!

Stained Glass Windows

Stained glass windows in The Church of the Holy Trinity

One of the first things I notice when I step into a church (albeit, rarely), are the colorful stained glass windows. In almost every church in NYC, you can bet on one or two stained glass windows. Art is very prominent in religion which is proved with keen detail in the architecture of the churches and in past paintings and sculptures based on biblical passages. Stained glass windows were considered less art and as the world’s first picture books. Since most people could not read the Bible, the church painted the biblical stories on the windows to teach and spread their message.

In the Church of the Holy Trinity, there are 17 stained glass windows and they were all designed by one man, Henry Holiday of England. This is one of the few churches in which all its windows possessed one unique style of one man. Obsessed with colorful costumes and dramatic situations, Holiday set out to give a biblical narrative through his work. With his contribution, Holiday has made the windows one of the most prominent features of the famous church.

Artist Interview: Bing Huan Chen

Hello, this is my interview with artist Bing Huan Chen. He moved here from China during the cultural revolution, and did a lot of contract work for governments and buildings in order to stay financially afloat. Eventually he settled down in NYC area and started to teach art students in his home studio! Unfortunately, I was unable to get any pictures of his art; he had it stashed away in some forgotten corner of the house. But nonetheless, enjoy!

 

 

Sewoong Kim – Guitarist

Meet Sewoong Kim, a musician who moved away from fame to pursue a dream. Originally a very popular electric guitarist in Korea, he formed a gospel band in New York and will hold his second concert in the summer of 2014. Make sure to turn the captions on because the interview was done in Korean!

 

Aware of the Gehr(y)

Last week before the Thanksgiving break, I went to pay a visit to my high school for Alumni Day. My school is located in Tribeca and so I decided to walk through City Hall to get there. While walking I noticed the building pictured above. It is the Beekman Tower at 8 Spruce Street. It was designed by architect Frank Gehry and it was his first skyscraper. I never realized that it was completed and upon further research I found out that it was completed two years ago. As a high schooler I used to always walk by the building as it was under construction. Designed by an architect superstar or not, I thought it was ugly then and still think its an eyesore. Many praise it as one of finest skyscrapers to have risen in New York. To me, it will always look like an uncompleted building still waiting to receive its finishing touches.

The Art of Food

Magnolia Bakery in NYC

Presentation is key. In food, presentation could rival taste. New York bakeries around the world, specifically create beautiful pastries to lure people in. Restaurants actively engage in “plating”, the culinary term for creatively presenting food on a plate, to make their dishes seem tastier, and most importantly, bigger. There are many techniques to create edible art. Many chefs change up plates (from circular to rectangular), drizzle colorful sauces, and sprinkle herbs and spices.

This edible art is encouraged because it makes the food interesting and if it looks interesting, people will want to try it. You know how you promised yourself you wouldn’t eat another cupcake until you went back to the gym? But then you passed by that bakery with that favorite red velvet cupcake and for some reason those sprinkles and the cream cheese frosting look extra inviting and well, your resolve breaks. That’s the power of edible art. We eat with our eyes just as much as we eat with our taste buds.

Complexions

Watching “Complexions” at the Joyce Theater was a novel experience for me. I’ve watched dance performances probably a hundred times before but never one in a setting like this. The fact that everything in the theater was copyrighted reminded me right off the bat that this wasn’t one of my old dance recitals but a real professional debut.

The first act, I have to admit, was particularly boring for me. Perhaps it was because I was expecting something more exciting than what I was given. I understood the ferocity in the dancers’ faces and their movements but nothing really stood out. Eventually, I shamelessly dozed off until intermission.

The second act was my favorite one. Maybe it was because I had just woken up from a nice ten minute nap but I think it was mostly because of the specific part of the act where one of the dancers was engaged in shadow dancing. While another couple was in the middle dancing, this lone dancer was dancing against a white background. The lighting emphasized his shadow against the background and it created this really cool simulation. Suddenly, it felt like the dancer wasn’t on stage but that he was in the back doing his own thing. There was also another part where all of the dancers got up and close to the edge of the stage. They were so close to the audience that you could hear their deep breathing loud and clear and watch drops of sweat glide down their faces. It was kind of disturbing to see this because I’m used to the classical ballet dancer: the ones that are in sync and perfectly composed. I think the choreographer purposely put this in to ignite some kind of feeling in the audience.

The third act was, without a doubt, the liveliest. In fact, if they had thrown in some singing, it could’ve easily been a musical. Not that I’m complaining. I love dancing that follows beats and rhythms because that is my comfort zone. Unfortunately, while exciting, the act loses points for originality.

All in all, it was a very different experience watching this dance performance in relation to my old dance recitals. I wouldn’t exactly pay to see this again but I’m glad I did.