Art21 Releases New Series About Young Artists in NY, 6/23

Art21, the highly acclaimed contemporary art and education organization and double Peabody Award-winning producer of Art in the Twenty-First Century (2001-ongoing) and William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible (2010) on PBS, presents a new multi-part, multi-year documentary project on the lives and work, and ideas and struggles of contemporary visual artists based in New York City. The project NEW YORK CLOSE UP premieres June 2011. The films can be seen-for free and in their entirety-on art21.org/newyorkcloseup while being syndicated to YouTube and Vimeo. A launch party and screening takes place Thursday June 23 at the ACE hotel in Manhattan from 7-10pm.

NEW YORK CLOSE UP is the first Art21 film series devoted to artists in the first decade of their professional careers, living in geographic and personal proximity. The online documentary series provides a rare, intimate look at the creative process, political and aesthetic philosophies, personal backgrounds and communities of the next wave of artists working today-artists close up.

Structured as an open-ended cinematic collaboration spanning several years, Art21 is working with artists to imagine new ways of telling stories about the artistic process unburdened by the conventions of television. With artists serving as informal guides, the series captures the realities of living and working in the city, featuring: homes and studios, live performances, exhibitions, residencies, day jobs, nightlife, and social scenes. Artworks by these artists advance fresh approaches to disciplines such as painting, sculpture, photography, performance, film, and video, while often blurring boundaries between art, dance, movies, music, and design.

The online series premieres in June with ten films on ten featured artists: Lucas Blalock, Martha Colburn, Keltie Ferris, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Tommy Hartung, Rashid Johnson, Kalup Linzy, Shana Moulton, Mariah Robertson and Mika Tajima.

Throughout 2011, the series will release subsequent films on the debut artists, broadening our view of the NEW YORK CLOSE UP universe as it presents rarely documented aspects of the experiences, relationships and opportunities of young New York artists. As the conversation unfolds, NEW YORK CLOSE UP will continue to add 8 to 12 New York City-based artists each year. The featured artists and their extended network of friends, family, fellow artists and performers, curators and gallerists reflect the dynamic, multicultural qualities that make New York City America's art capital and creative engine.

Wesley Miller, Art21 Associate Curator and co-creator of NEW YORK CLOSE UP, explains, "One might not discern from past projects that Art21 is based in New York. After developing over twenty hour-long films for public television-each requiring several years to make, and international in scope-we wanted to chronicle what was happening in our own backyard. We also want to craft stories closer to the tone and speed of the artists' own experiences. It's about listening closely to the artists in NYC, discovering the city through their eyes, and releasing films before the moment is over." Nick Ravich, Art21 Director of Production and series co-creator, adds, "This project is also about getting back to basics and experimenting with nonfiction fundamentals while being inspired by young artists and filmmakers. It's about testing new digital technologies, taking editorial risks and documenting how a community changes over time. We hope it's a catalyst for fellow producers showcasing contemporary art through microcinema."

NEW YORK CLOSE UP experiments with filmmaking and storytelling. Rather than conforming to a single genre, films in the series adopt multiple narrative styles and approaches. Social documentaries and industrial films are inspirations for a day-in-the-life portrait of Keltie Ferris and her paintings as they move through the city. Political exposés and guerrilla filmmaking provide the framework for a story revealing the implications of a Levi's advertising campaign focused on LaToya Ruby Frazier's hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. Lines between filmmaker and subject blur in a film about Tommy Hartung whose animated videos appropriate and interrogate conventions of historical documentaries.

NEW YORK CLOSE UP reveals rarely documented aspects of the creative process. The collaborative process of Mika Tajima is portrayed via a series of conversations, negotiations and directions communicated between the artist and her gallery, fabricator, artistic peers and performers. Filming Mariah Robertson's dark-room/studio in haz-mat suits, respirators, and total darkness, prompts questions about how does one document extreme processes or things that are impossible to document? At the Museum of the Moving Image, Martha Colburn experiments with improvising a screening of her work, "jamming" with many of her long-time musical collaborators as she attempts to break free from the often oppressive, time-consuming aspects of animation.

NEW YORK CLOSE UP chronicles the experience of being an artist in New York City. The series depicts artists working, socializing, shopping, partying and commuting, and bears witness to change and contrast by following artists at various stages of their career in terms of space, visibility and financial support. Shana Moulton's ability to make work in the city is contingent on residency programs for studios and itinerant performance gigs. After his day job, Lucas Blalock photographs objects on a single table in his tiny apartment, shared with his girlfriend and two roommates. Rashid Johnson constructs new sculptures in his studio in Bushwick as he narrates the investigation into personal history that fuels his work. Kalup Linzy performs at large venues with his collaborator, actor James Franco, to adoring crowds of collectors, entertainers and curators-and yet he talks frankly about struggling to make a living.

By documenting young New York artists, "what we hope to leave behind, for future generations" say Miller and Ravich, "is a rich and varied portrait of creative people in a particular time and place. We aspire to chronicle what it feels like to be an artist today in New York, what's at stake in our culture, and what it means to make art. And we want to have fun while doing it."

For more info, visit art21.org/newyorkcloseup.