• Art Organization: MaryJo Maliekel, Boots Contemporary Art Space

Boots Bides Farewell to MaryJo

Today is my last day at Boots because I am going back to Boston College to pursue my art history degree. It was an unique experience, one that showed me the behind-the-scenes workings of an non-profit artist run space, the ins and outs of publishing BootPrint, and meeting international artists. Knowing little about the arts in St. Louis, Boots exposed me to all the exciting art thats currently happening throughout the city. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in working within the arts to check out internship opportunities here at Boots Contemporary Art Space. Although I’ll be in Boston, be sure to attend the opening exhibition, Holiness: In 3 Parts solo show by Theaster Gates on the 18th of September. 

• Art Organization: MaryJo Maliekel, Boots Contemporary Art Space

Boots Visits Appejay Media Gallery

While in India, Juan William Chávez, the director of Boots, had the chance to visit an amazing space, the Appejay Media Gallery. Its mission is to “showcase high quality, experimental work in new media and emerging technologies from India and abroad.” Even though it is currently undergoing restoration, Juan was given a private tour of the space. Appejay projects new media onto unique surfaces; they range from projections on basic video screens, to intricate projections on the glass facade of the building and on hanging tarps in the outside courtyard. One past exhibiting artist at Appejay is Shilpa Gupta, who, interestingly enough, also recently exhibited at the New Museum when I saw the The Generational: Younger than Jesus exhibition. Click here to check out Appejay’s website.

• Art Organization: MaryJo Maliekel, Boots Contemporary Art Space

Boots, Asma Kazmi, and the Hijras

Asma Kazmi (far left) and the Birthday Girl

Director Juan William Chávez  was invited to India by artist Asma Kazmi, who has been working in Delhi for the summer on her recent project involving the Hijra community. Kazmi recently exhibited her work at Boots in the spring of 2009  in her exhibition titled, Relation-Chute II: Meditation on My Slaughter.

In her new project, Kazmi has been working with Hijras, a transgender community who see themselves as belonging to a third sex, often dress as women, and live in the margins of society. For more information about Hijras, go to this Wiki link.

Juan got a brief glimpse into the complex life of the Hijra community when he was invited to a birthday party at their hostel, located in a neighborhood of Old Delhi. At this celebration, 30 hijras were dressed for the occasion:  full makeup on, hair done, and jewelry including bright colorful glass bangles, gold ornate earrings, and ruby filled toe rings.  The birthday party started off with dancing in the street to the beat of two drummers. A huge crowd of onlooking neighbors quickly formed. When the dancing came to an end, the party moved indoors to the rooftop where puri and chickpea lentil curry was prepared on the spot by two men.

Cutting the Cake

Dinner was delicious and ended with a huge birthday cake! It was an amazing event; Juan was appreciative of the hospitality and generosity of the hijras, an underground society weary of strangers because of public discrimination and prejudice. It was definitely the highlight of the trip…and quite the extravaganza!!

• Art Organization: Boots Contemporary Art Space

Boots’ On Location: New Delhi

Changing light bulbs

The director of Boots, Juan William Chávez, just came back from his trip to New Delhi, India. Invited by past exhibiting artist Asma Kazmi, whose exhibition Relation-Chute II: Meditation on My Slaughter opened at Boots in early 2009, Juan went to take a sneak peek at Kazmi’s current project with the hijra community. He explored the vibrancy of Delhi, from its colorful markets and bustling streets of Old Delhi as well as researched the New Delhi contemporary art scene, which has had a Flash Art focus in the recent years. Click here to check out highlights of contemporary Indian art.

Rishikesh and the Ganges River

Delhi, as the capital of India, is an important city in the large subcontinent. With a population of around 16 million residents, Delhi’s primary spoken language is Hindi. Some famous sites around Delhi include the Red Fort; largest mosque in the India, Jama Masjid; and of course, the Taj Mahal, located in Agra, a few hours away by train from Delhi.

Stay tuned for more blog entries on Boots‘ trip to India.

Bustling Streets of Delhi

• Art Organization: MaryJo Maliekel, Boots Contemporary Art Space

NYC’s Art Scene

This past week I went to New York City for a family vacation. The director of Boots, Juan William Chávez, recommended that I visit the MoMA and New Museum so that I could see what museums in other cities were doing with their spaces and compare it to the art scene in St. Louis.

At the MoMA, I saw Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection—a massive collection of 2,500 drawings bought by Harvey S. Shipley Miller, a trustee of the Judith Rothschild Foundation. Receiving the collection as a gift in 2005, the MoMA showcases a tailored selection of its recently acquired collection, 354 drawings to be exact, for the very first time. As I walked through the space, I was immediately overwhelmed…and happily so. On the walls, drawings were seemly haphazardly arranged on the walls, sometimes as many as 20 drawings hung on one wall. Works by Donald Judd hung side by side work by Gordon Matta-Clark. To hear Christian Rattemeyer, Harvey S. Shipley Miller Associate Curator of Drawings, discuss the exhibition, click here: http://moma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/36/featured

The Generational: Younger than Jesus exhibition at the New Museum had a unique feel: one full of energy and youth. The Generational is a triennial exhibition held at the New Museum, and this time, the targeted generation was artists younger than Jesus, 33 years old. The exhibition showcased 50 artists from 25 different countries, many of whom were exhibiting at a museum for the first time. A surprising number of works involved volunteers and museum attendants, from a museum attendant eating a banana and disposing its peel on the floor of the gallery [Installation (Banana Peel) by Adriana Lara] to a volunteer sleeping through the museum’s open hours on a white bed after taking sleeping pills (Chu Yun’s This is XX). Many artists commented on today’s culture including AIDS 3D collective in their piece, OMG Obelisk, and Liu Chuang, who in his piece, Buying Everything On You, approached random pedestrians and bought everything they were wearing at that particular moment. The exhibition was on five floors, first through fifth floor, due to the unique architecture of the museum itself, a stack of seven metal rectangular boxes. Here’s a link to the exhibition’s homepage:http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/411/the_generationalyounger_than_jesus

Looking back on the trip, I found it fun to compare the art scenes of St. Louis and New York City. I’m not sure which city I like better, but St. Louis is definitely reining in the art gap between the two cities with its new sculpture garden, Citygarden. Be sure to check out Katherine’s blog entry on the two city-block downtown garden.

• Art Organization: MaryJo Maliekel, Boots Contemporary Art Space

BAZUCO

Q: What do Bogota, Columbia, custom merchandize, and dynamic live performances have in common?

A: BAZUCO MEDIA CORP.!

Here’s a preview of Boot’s exciting final exhibition of the year:

Started in Bogota, Columbia, Bazuco Media Corporation will be Boot’s closing exhibition of 2009. Founded by artist, Juan Obando, and designers, Juan Rios and Juan Ospina, Bazuco (BZC) has infiltrated  numerous media outlets including the television, radio, and world wide web, by producing live web shows that stream collaborative and unique music to the world. BZC has ventured into the fashion world, designing its own prints and posters that comment on today’s world driven by popular culture. In Columbia, BZC was selected to exhibit its work at Colombia’s ‘Salon Nacional de Artistas’ in 2008, and now hopes to imprint upon the international community by flying its flag at the city where the two great rivers, Missouri and Mississippi, meet.

Stay tuned for more updates on BZC’s exhibition coming to Boots in two weeks.

• Art Organization: MaryJo Maliekel, Boots Contemporary Art Space, MaryJo Maliekel, Boots Contemporary Art Space

Boot’s Summer Intern

Boots would like to introduce you to our summer intern, MaryJo Maliekel. She will be blogging about art events at Boots and in St. Louis this summer. MaryJo is an upcoming sophomore at Boston College studying art history and graduated from John Burroughs School. When she is not looking at art, MaryJo enjoys working at the organic garden on BC’s campus, and travelling with a camera in hand—welcome MaryJo!