trops

Xingzi Gu’s “Pure Heart Hall”

Editorial /

Installation view of “Pure Heart Hall” by Xingzi Gu at Lubov Gallery

I love when a gallery is in an off-beat, walk-up, possibly residential building. I like when you have to be buzzed in, or make an appointment, or be led by only a small, inconspicuous and un-explaining sign with the name of the gallery on it. It adds a little suspense to your average city gallery day. This was the case for “Pure Heart Hall” by Xingu Gu at Lubov Gallery, running from April 27th- July 13 in Chinatown, NYC. 

I usually find new artists and gallery openings because I keep my eye on art in the city. This time, I found an image of a painting by Xingzi Gu online– “Rouge”. I thought it was so beautiful, I loved the way the artist treated the paint. I loved the way the figure was treated. It all felt very fresh to me.

Xingzi Gu, Landline, 2023-24, via Lubov Gallery

The physical quase-inaccessibility of the show lies in discord with the press around it. I was easily able to find more works, and more about the artist, who shared their views on their understanding of the body and its aura, and how that manifests in their paintings. All very interesting. I had such good fortune that there was a recently opened exhibition of the artist’s work near me.

The paintings were in oil and acrylic on canvas, applied thinly, which added luminosity to the paintings and didn’t conceal the delicate pencil and raw canvas underneath. Some paintings were hung and some were on the floor, leaning against the wall. The figures of the paintings were youthful and somewhat ambiguous, surrounded by vaporous auras of color. They had geometric or botanical motifs and the fantastical scenes suggested the spiritual. The narrative feels open ended, which only further draws the viewer into the haze.

Xingzi Gu, Untitled (Ruddy or Ruddy Ice), 2024, via Lubov Gallery

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Editorial

Norooz

Event /

Bako performing at the Trops celebration of Norooz, Photo by Derek Davis

On March 21st, the Trops celebrated a special Bohemian Wednesday full of music, poetry, and dance. The evening was in celebration of the Spring Equinox and the Persian New Year, Norooz, at Manero’s of Mulberry in Little Italy, NYC.

Nowruz / Norooz, Farsi for “new day” – is an ancient festival celebrating the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The vernal equinox has been observed as the beginning of the new year for more than 3,000 years in different regions, including the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and others. As UNESCO puts it, the return of spring has great spiritual significance, representing the triumph of good over evil and joy over sorrow.

The night included special performances by

Daniel Carter, Mehrnam Rastegari, Martin Shamoonpour, Khadim Sene, Ilka Scobie, Isaiah Barr, Jonathan Harris,

Judith Dimitria, Iam Forde, DJ Darius

Trops celebration of Norooz, Photos by Derek Davis

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Event

Workshop with Kanami Kusajima

Event /

Kanami is interviewed by Amelia A during their artist talk

On March 6th 2024, Trops Foundation presented a Bohemian Wednesday Workshop with Kanami Kusajima in NYC.

Kanami Kusajima is a dancer, choreographer, and performing artist based in New York City. She is well known for consistently performing at Washington Square Park since November 2020, known as “Let Hair Down,” combining live painting and improvisational dance. Her unique style of dance has captivated the city and awarded the artist recognition and media attention.

Kanami’s performance featured David Kennet and Manami Aoki. The event was a fundraiser for disaster relief on the Noto Peninsula in Japan. After the recent devastiating earthquake, one of the biggest issues is that the Noto Peninsula infrastructure is damaged, and limited, making aid difficult to the area. Since so many roads are closed, many people who survived the earthquake have suffered because of the lack of access to resources and supplies. Funds went to Hokuriku Charity Restaurant, who creates and distributes meals for affected areas.

Moments from the Trops Workshop with Kanami

Compilation of Kanami Kusajima’s workshop and artist talk with Amelia A

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Event

Workshop with Ibrahim Kandji

Event /

Ibrahim Kandji and friends at the Trops Workshop.

The Trops is proud to present the works of Ibrahim Kandji “Uneek”. This Senegalese artist is based in New York City and creates contemporary street art at his unique studio in TriBeCa.

On January 3rd, 2024, the Trops hosted a Workshop at 333 Church St. in NYC. The night featured live music by Adjua Ajamu, boxing by Hudson Boxing, poetry readings and an artist talk with Uneek and Amelia A.

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Event

How To Look At Art: Formal Elements

Editorial /

Utagawa Hiroshige, Autumn Moon on the Tama River, Japanese, ca. 1838, via The Met

Diving deeper into the art, Alexandra Kosloski uses design principles to unpack the language within visual compositions in the “How to Look at Art” series.

Continued from Part 1

Part 1

Moving past the basics of visual analysis, we can look into the work for the formal elements and the principles of design. The formal elements of art are basic terms we use to communicate visually; line, light, color, shape, pattern, space, and time.

Line

Linear marks made by artistic mediums like paint or pencil are actual lines. Implied lines are not made physically but still can make up the composition– dotted lines that don’t connect, the horizon in a landscape, the pointed hand on the outstretched arm of a figure.

Carmen Herrera, Untitled Estructura (Black), 1966/2016 © Carmen Herrera; Courtesy Lisson Gallery

Notice the vertical actual lines and jagged, horizontal implied line in Herrera’s work.

The direction of lines can indicate meaning. Viewers can draw from their own real world experience. Horizontal lines, like a sleeping body, could indicate rest, peace, or inactivity. Vertical lines may suggest aspirational reaching or standing at attention. Diagonal lines would suggest action, like all the diagonal lines of a runner. Curving lines may suggest movement, or the organic lines of nature. Line quality– if a line is thick or thin, or sketchy or bold– can also convey meaning.

Ogata Korin, Rough Waves, ca. 1704-9, Courtesy Met Museum

“Rough Waves” strives to capture the amorphous tide in ink.

Light and Value

Art may utilize natural and artificial light, like in sculpture or architecture. In 2D art, artists use value to represent shades of light and dark. Artists manipulate light to create form by mimicking shadows and plasticity in 3D objects. Value can also portray emotion. For example, high contrast visuals look dramatic.

Sante D’Orazio, White Beluga Whale at Coney Island Aquarium, 1975

The harsh contrast between light and dark brings intensity to the mood of the photo.

Color

Color consists of three properties. Hue– the state of a color, like red or blue; value– lightness or darkness within a hue; and intensity– the dullness or saturation of a hue. Color can be warm or cool, which affects the viewer’s experience. There is a lot to learn about color theory because color is so subjective. It interacts with its environment and the colors around it, and can be very complex. Color is also largely symbolic, like the colors of a nation’s flag, or red being the color of passion.

Josef Albers, Homage to the Square: With Rays, 1959, © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The interaction between the colors causes our eye to see them differently.

Texture and Pattern

Texture can be tactile or visual. A marble sculpture of a figure would be physically smooth to the touch, but visually, the artist might represent soft flesh or sinuous muscle. Texture and pattern are related, as pattern may be perceived as texture and vice versa. Pattern is an arrangement of repeated form, and they can be natural, like in leaves and flowers, or geometric, with mathematical shapes and lines.

Egyptian, Leaf Pendant, ca. 1390–1352 B.C., Courtesy Met Museum

The pattern is meant to mimic the appearance of a natural leaf and add texture.

Shapes

Regular shapes are often geometric and identifiable like triangles and squares. Irregular shapes are organic and spontaneous, like a patch of light or a mark made by a paintbrush.

James Turrell, Meeting, 1980-86/2016, at MoMA PS1, Copyright Hugh Pearman

The shapes create the space of the architecture around the viewer.

Space

Artists can portray space in 2D art by employing one of many illusory techniques, like by manipulating vale or scale. A complex technique is by taking advantage of perspective. There are a few methods of perspective, but generally, the artist considers the natural experience of a viewpoint and tries to mimic it– or, as popularized by the cubist movement– defy it. 

Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-6, Courtesy Met Museum

The blue mountain seems far away, past the houses.

Time and Motion

Time and motion functions differently across mediums. As we view sculpture, we observe several viewpoints as we move through or around it. Painting and drawing can have an illusion of motion through mark making. Film, dance, and other performance depend on time and motion.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622-1625, Photo by Daniel Kelly

“Apollo and Daphne” seems to have a sequence of motion as the viewer moves around the sculpture.

Next, we activate the formal elements by understanding how they make up design principles.

Continue to Part 3

Part 3

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Editorial

Keeping The Faith, November 2023

Exhibition /

Style Writing by Jona Cerwinske at Keeping the Faith

The Trops presents community paintings created live in NYC’s public spaces, representative of the sort of pieces that were done on the walls, streets, and trains that manifested into a global movement. Mark making attached a figurative significance to the individual spirit that guides self-expression in these exhibitive spaces; however, in their original contexts, the art of writing was not necessarily intended as a painting in the western sense of the word. These works, painted by legendary living writers, are contemporary developments of the Style Writing tradition that bring the vitality of the culture into canvas. 

Featuring:

KEO VFR JONA

SOZE RIFF

Keeping The Faith, Video by Avery Walker

The opening reception for Keeping The Faith presented musical performance by Daniel Carter and Ebrima Jassey, as well as a screening by Producer Plug, featuring Big Boo and The 45 King.

Train Writers

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Ebrima Jassey (left) and Big Boo (right) at Keeping The Faith, Photos by Adel Saad Abouelalav

Style Writing

Learn more about the Style Writing tradition by visiting our page for the culture.

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Style Writing by Soze at Keeping the Faith

Style Writing by KEO at Keeping the Faith

Performance by Daniel Carter and Ebrime Jassey at Keeping the Faith, Style Writing by RIFF

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Exhibition

How To Look At Art: Visual Analysis

Editorial /

Alex Katz, Homage to Monet, 2009, via Andrea Rossetti, 2016

In the “How To Look At Art” series, Alexandra Kosloski guides readers through the multifaceted journey of art appreciation, fostering a deeper understanding of the emotions and stories woven within the work.

“Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun”

Mikhail Baryshnikov

To begin to understand a work of art, it helps to know any context you can, including the artist’s name, the title of the artwork and the year it was created. This information is often provided, which is useful in considering the historical context, like why the artwork was created, who it was created for, and what movement it was a part of. These details can lay the groundwork for how to look at art. For example, the identity of the artist, or the era they are from may have a large impact on the meaning of their work. Sometimes I look for this information first, and sometimes I look for it last so I can look at the artwork without any preconceived notions. The more artwork you look at, the more you’ll begin to recognize automatically, like the style of a specific movement.

Look at the work and think about what you see. Also, think about what you don’t see. Try to look at art without immediately projecting your feelings or interpretation onto it. It may not be what it first looks like. Meaning can come to you very softly and slowly, you don’t have to rush to that point. First, observe the content–  who or what is on the canvas and how is it presented? Notice all of its parts. Then consider how the artist manipulated the content and what they might be trying to communicate through it.

Keep an open mind. You should always assume that the artist meant to make the work look that way. If the painting looks weird, the artist wanted it to look weird. It’s not every artist’s goal to make a painting look representational or naturalistic.

Rene Magritte, The Treachery of Images, 1929, via MoMA

It’s a matter of style. Style can be dependent on the individual or the culture. Sometimes art is idealized, meaning it looks somehow more perfect than reality. Sometimes, art is expressionist, which usually looks a little chaotic and wild, and is meant to communicate emotion. Sometimes art is entirely abstract and is only expressive marks or random pieces. Don’t assume the artist didn’t have the skill to make art lifelike, beautiful, or the way you think it should look. That’s irrelevant. If you’re focused on what you think it should be, you’ll miss out on what is actually there.

Jamie Nares, Back Then, 2021

Then, try to use your observation to piece together what is being depicted. Consider the figures and what they represent, and if there is a narrative or theme being portrayed. Make connections to what you already know. If the work is abstract, observe the marks made by the artist. What is the overall mood of the artwork? How does it make you feel?

In Part 2, we continue into a more detailed analysis of art.

Continue to Part 2

Part 2

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Editorial

On Message Off Grid (March 2022)

Exhibition /

Performance at On Message Off Grid

March 2022

On Message Off Grid was a 2022 installation by Jona Cerwinske in collaboration with the Trops in New York City. Presenting works created in situ, On Message Off Grid showcased the gallery format as the ultimate studio visit as the artist created additional works across the streetscapes of NYC. 

Plato’s allegory of the cave was intended to show  “the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature.”

The allegory consists of a family who has lived their whole lives in a cave with no natural light. The only things they see are shadows cast on the wall by a fire. They see these shadows as real figures and learn from them as if they were aspects of real life. One day, someone finds a way out of the cave. They first are overwhelmed by the light, and soon realize that what they were looking at were the actual forms of the shadows they had been seeing their whole life in the cave. 

When the person goes back into the cave and tells the other about his discovery, they become angry and do not want to see his reasoning, plotting to kill him. The purpose of the allegory of the cave is to show that the reality of life often contrasts with the version of it that we interpret.

“I create in a marriage of two art forms that rebel against each other. I come from a generation when galleries did not accept anything from the street. And, vice versa, the street wanted nothing to do with the galleries. I had to experiment with what that looked like, combined.”

Jona Cerwinske

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Exhibition

NYC Parks: FSG Park (Part 4)

Public Art /

Keo and Kanami Kusajima at FSG Park, July 2023

First Street Green Park opened in 2008, sits between Houston and E 1st street, and had formerly been an empty lot between two buildings. Today, it is a site that highlights the best street art of the moment, and brings visitors together with murals, music, community and cultural events.

Art by Trasheer at FSG Park, July 2023

Like a gallery, the art changes regularly, and FSG Park has democratic approach. It holds open calls for art, but also features some of the most notable muralists, and is proud to include artists from all over the world. The Trops has collaborated with FSG Park at Keeping The Faith and Above Fresh Air, sharing a goal of community participation through the arts.

Work in Progress at FSG Park, July 2023

The appeal of FSG Park is in its ephemeral nature but unchanging mission. Visitors can always depend on being impressed by new graffiti, live music, performance, and good energy. FSG is for everyone. In this way, it’s a true manifestation of New York City street arts and culture. It brings out all of the best parts of the city– art, culture, style, diversity, charisma, collaboration– and shares them on one lot in The Lower East Side.

Art by KEO at FSG Park, July 2023

The Trops spoke with Anthony Bowman, Park Administrator, who shared some history of the park.

Video by Avery Walker

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Public Art

NYC Parks: Central Park (Part 3)

Public Art /

Lithograph by Julius Bien, Central Park (Summer), 1865, via the Met Museum

Central Park, and all of its features and amenities, demonstrate the intent that designers Olmsted and Vaux had in 1858– to create a social space where New Yorkers could come together to connect with nature and enjoy arts and culture. The vast park contains listless hidden gems and art drops, but below are a few highlights. 

The Literary Walk

The Mall and Literary Walk is the wide walking path lined with trees and benches, located mid-park at 66th St. The path is renowned– it was part of Olmsted and Vaux’s original design of the park. Today, it is populated with vendors, musicians, and artists, it has been featured in many of the famous movies filmed in Central Park, and the path leads the way to many favorite spaces in the park. It is named the “Literary Walk” because of the sculptures of notable writers that it features, including William Shakespeare, an art drop that can be found using the Trops Mobile app.

William Shakespeare, Photo by Avery Walker

Chuzo Tamotzu, Central Park South, 1935, via the Met Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Located on the edge of Central Park facing 5th Avenue, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a significant and beloved institution of art history in New York City. The museum has one of the largest collections in the world, with a diverse and endlessly fascinating breadth of art works. Between the Met and Central Park’s Great Lawn sits the obelisk known as “Cleopatra’s Needle”.

“The Indian Hunter”

“The Indian Hunter” by John Quincy Adams Ward, was first built on a smaller scale before it became the life size bronze monument that we see in Central Park today. The Met Museum describes some of the history surrounding the statue:

“With his statuette of a Native American youth and his dog, Ward answered the call for sculpture modeled by home-based, rather than expatriate, artists in a realist style. He imagined an Arcadian hunting scene, a stark contrast to the reservation system by then established to confine Indigenous peoples to U.S. government-specified tracts of land.”

John Quincy Adams Ward, The Indian Hunter, 1860, via the Met Museum

Anonymous, Central Park, Statue of The Indian Hunter, 1860, via the Met Museum

José de Creeft, Alice in Wonderland, 1959, Photo by Avery Walker

Conservatory Water 

Many water features can be found in Central Park, and the Model Boat Pond at Conservatory Water is a popular favorite. Visitors can watch the races of miniature boats and yachts on the pond, and it is an ideal place for relaxing. The scenery also draws guests towards one of the most adored statues in Central Park, Alice in Wonderland. 

The sculpture was donated by philanthopist and publisher George Delacorte, as a gift to the children of the city and in honor of his late wife, who loved literature and would read “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” to their children.

Find “Cleopatra’s Needle”, “The Indian Hunter”, “Alice in Wonderland” and many more art drops and hidden gems on the Trops mobile app, available in the app and google play store.

Video by Avery Walker

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Public Art

NYC Parks: Prospect Park (Part 2)

Public Art /

William Merritt Chase, Alice Gerson in Prospect Park, 1886, via the Met Museum

Prospect Park, the crown jewel of Brooklyn, NY, is admired by tourists and adored by locals. The green space, spanning 585 acres, is nestled in the middle of several charming Brooklyn neighborhoods. Since its opening in 1867, the park has been a place of leisure for New Yorkers in the busy city. Below is a guide to some of Prospect Park’s art drops. 

Grand Army Plaza

Reminiscent of Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, Grand Army Plaza features an arch in honor of Union Civil War soldiers. The space holds the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, open on Saturdays year round. Grand Army Plaza serves as a striking transition from the city to the verdant park.

Grand Army Plaza, Photo by Avery Walker

Lookout Hill

Lookout Hill is the highest point in the park, and offers a beautiful panorama view of Manhattan and Brooklyn. A great time to visit is in the late fall, after most leaves have fallen, and the hill has the best visibility. There, you can also find the Maryland Monument. This art drop is a tall Corinthian column that commemorates the Maryland 400, the group of Maryland soldiers who fought at Lookout Hill almost a hundred years before the park opened.

The Horse Tamers, Machate Circle, Photo by Avery Walker

Machate Circle

Machate Circle is the grand south entrance of Prospect Park. Like Grand Army Plaza, designers Olmsted and Vaux envisioned the space to be a palatial transition from busy city to peaceful park. Here, you can find “the Horse Tamers”, using the Trops mobile app. This entrance leads right to the Prospect Park Lake, a popular place for fishing and leisure.

Hiking Trails

Prospect Park features several hiking trails. As the weather cools, fall is the perfect season for hiking and spending long hours out in the beauty of nature. See the leaves change in Brooklyn’s oldest forest.

Find “The Horse Tamers”, “The Maryland Memorial”, Grand Army Plaza and more art drops and hidden gems on the Trops mobile app, available in the app and google play store.

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Public Art

Keeping the Faith at FSG Park

Event /
Keeping The Faith, July and September Edition featured live painting, special performance, music, and marketplace, in collaboration with Mindful Matter Market, FSG Park and Friends From New York.

July 23rd

Keeping the Faith Part 1 took place in FSG Park in New York City on July 23rd. Featured artists included KEO and VFR, as well as HAON, WANE and Al DIaz. Live performance was by Kanami Kusajima.

September 10th

Keeping the Faith Part 2 took place in FSG Park in New York City on September 10th. Featured artists included SOZE, SPAR and Jona and tunes from Revolve, as well as Alkaline Vegano in attendance. Live painting was performed by Duster and Friends.

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Event