From Whitewall Magazine:

Curator Jasmine Wahi’s exhibition opened at Gallery 151 last month with an impressive line-up of artists and a powerful and important curatorial impetus. “The Least Orthodox Goddess” comes from a personal and sincere attempt to address the physical, emotional and psychological contexts under which a woman’s self-awareness and body is perceived.

Wahi has always focused her shows on ideas around the empowerment of women, lending a lens by which we see works of artists as reiterating strength rather than instigating passive sympathy.  This current exhibition has conversations along that line through the works of artists Julie Heffernan, L’OR, Wardell Milan, Divya Mehra, Leila Lal, Peter Gronquist, Carrie Mae Rose, and a collaborative series by Anjali Bhargava and Swati Khurana.

The show in itself is constructed around a fictitious narrative around of a character that unequivocally embodies the idea of “Least Orthodox Goddess,” constructing a story of who this female archetype is.

The works included are meant to be looked at from what Wahi describes as “ the lens of an anthropologist and an archeologist who uses the discovery of both utilitarian objects and cultural evidence to create a well-rounded understanding of a newly discovered civilization.” Gronquist’s Untitled(2013), a taxidermy deer head with gilded gold horns that grow out into weapons, function as symbols of power, much like traditional religious iconography. Here, though, a new language for power is being created. It’s a language of empowerment rather than oppression through specific symbols.

Read the full article HERE.

From ARTE FUSE:

The very first time I walked into Gallery 151 was its original pop up location on the Bowery. In the summer of 2011, I attended a show by graffiti artist legend Fab Five Freddy (Fred Brathwaite). It was a bare bones industrial feel space as they were there temporarily but they presented eye-popping art. At that time, I was still working in a museum and not writing for AF yet – now that feels like centuries ago. Fast forward two years later and on a balmy night last July 18th, Gallery 151 came back with a vengeance on West 18^th Street. AF walked into a sleek, high end and very chic space for the group show The Least Orthodox Goddess. The show curated by Jasmine Wahi included nine artists that explored the core of the Goddess character as expressed in their contemporary art of various disciplines. Featured in the show were Goddess inspired pieces from: Anjali Bhargava, Peter Gronquist (who was reviewed by AF recently), Julie Heffernan, Swati Khurana, Leila Lal, L’OR, Divya Mehra, Wardell Milan, and Carrie Mae Rose. AF badass lens warrior, Max Noy, captured some scenes from the least orthodox gallery set up and the various denizens that came out to pay homage to art.

Read the full article HERE.

Alec Baldwin has pulled together a selection of his favorite rock photos, to be exhibited this weekend only in New York. The collection features iconic images of legends like David Bowie, John Lennon, and The Rolling Stones. But why? Baldwin told us this afternoon, “Jody Britt is a very old friend of mine. I am a fan of her dad’s work and the work of several of the photographers in the collection. Rock and roll photography was an essential part of that whole period of my life. I mean, who didn’t have a Beatles poster in their bedroom? Who didn’t have Robert Plant, Dylan, the Stones, Hendrix, Santana, Yes, the Who, the Dead, the Doors, you name it, on some wall?”

As for seeing those bands back in the day, Baldwin said he saw “Zeppelin in DC in ’77 [years after The Song Remains The Same was filmed], and The Who at the Garden in ’74. Memory is blurry, but the train ride to the Garden was… exhilarating.”

You can see the full article HERE.