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Coney Island Artist Takeshi Yamada’s Post-Sandy Odyssey

Posted in art, tagged Coney Island, Hurricane Sandy, Immortalized, Odyssey, rogue taxidermy, Sandy, Takeshi Yamada on April 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

Before Sandy: Takeshi Yamada with Baby Mermaid in his Coney Island Studio. Photo via AMC Immortalized

Tonight at 11 PM, Coney Island artist and rogue taxidermist Takeshi Yamada competes against a challenger in a “Heaven and Hell”-themed taxidermy contest on the 8th and final episode of AMC’s reality series “Immortalized.”

“I really don’t care about the others, Takeshi is the only one I want to watch,” says one of his fans on the series’ Facebook page. We agree, but he is one of our Coney Island friends. Yamada and his sea rabbit Seara are often seen strolling on the Boardwalk and we missed their usual promenade on New Year’s Day and Opening Day. The pair have been on an odyssey since Sandy. Says Yamada:

One of the themes of the show was “Odyssey.” It was exactly what happened. I faced Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy tried to kill me. It actually destroyed my house with over five feet of water lashing into my sculpture room, bedroom, and living room. And I saw it before — that is why I shipped my first art work [for Immortalized] a week before. If I hadn’t sent it, it would have been completely destroyed.

In Episode 3, “Odyssey,” which aired in February, Yamada displayed a bat-winged, dragon-tailed five-headed goat/fox monster with dragons circling above it and a hand-painted backdrop depicting hell. The “Heaven and Hell”-themed taxidermy art will be revealed in tonight’s episode.

Art of the Day: Street Art by RAE in Coney Island

Posted in art, tagged Brooklyn, Coney Island, RAE, street art, urban folk art on March 18, 2013| 3 Comments »

Street Art by RAE in Coney Island, March 16, 2013

Brooklyn street artist RAE created this wonderfully quirky sculpture the other day in Coney Island. The figure made from a chair and pieces of a police barrier strikes a debonair pose in his shiny metal top hat and painted cane. We hope he sticks around. In January, RJ Rushmore of street art blog Vandalog named RAE one of the “10 Street Artists to Watch in 2013” in an article for Complex:

Rae practices good placement, which is one of the most important considerations for exciting street art. He installed a sculpture at a New York City Subway station entrance that looked like a piece of public art and a mural in Chicago that took into account the surrounding trees. I can’t wait to see what he tries next.

ATZ has been following RAE’s work via twitter ever since one of his works popped up on a Coney street corner opposite the Cyclone. Good placement!

Street Art by RAE in Coney Island, March 16, 2013

Art of the Day: Dedicated to Coney Island by Tom Duncan

Posted in art, tagged Andrew Edlin Gallery, Armory Show, Dedicated to Coney Island, kinetic sculpture, Tom Duncan, visionary art on March 6, 2013| 1 Comment »

At The Armory Show – Dedicated to Coney Island by Tom Duncan. Mixed Media. 1984-2002 . Andrew Edlin Gallery

At the 100th Annual Armory Show, which opens today for invited guests at Piers 92 and 94 in Manhattan, the Andrew Edlin Gallery will be showing Tom Duncan’s kinetic sculpture “Dedicated to Coney Island” (1984-2002). Previously on extended loan to Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum, the 8’x 7.5’x 7′ kinetic sculpture combines real and imagined attractions, including a whirling Wonder Wheel and Loop-O-Plane, Steeplechase Funny Faces, sunbathers, a beached whale, and a moving subway train.

Duncan’s family moved from Scotland to New York City after World War II. His memories of hanging out in Coney Island as a teen inspired the intricately detailed piece. “At a time when a kind of cultural amnesia seems to be the order of the day, in which young people lack real experience with war, and in which the cultural richness of places like Coney Island are being replaced by the corporate aesthetic of Disney, Duncan’s work functions as an important record of the way the world once was,” says a press release about the artist’s work.

The Armory Show, March 7-10, Piers 92 & 94, Hudson River at W 55th Street, New York, NY. General Admission, $30. Students $10.