La Pregunta Arts Cafe
1528 Amsterdam AveNew York, NY 10031-8940
(347) 591-6387
www.lapregunta.net
"Freedom"
"Sean Bell"
"Bad Girls Having A Party"
"M.J. Tribute"
"Trees"
"41 Times"
Sunday, July 19, 2009
La Pregunta Arts Cafe
New York, NY 10031-8940
(347) 591-6387
www.lapregunta.net
"Freedom"
"Sean Bell"
"Bad Girls Having A Party"
"M.J. Tribute"
"Trees"
"41 Times"
Monday, May 25, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
New York Times Review
Cameau/Mandingo
Adelphi University Center Gallery,
South Street, Garden City.
Through Feb. 22.
(516) 877-4460.
Didier Cameau and Iyaba Ibo Mandingo have strong ideas about linking material, method and message. Both are in the early phases of their careers, but have had busy exhibition schedules since they began to show in the mid-1990's, shortly after completing art school. Mr. Cameau's studio is on Long Island; Mr. Mandingo works in Connecticut.
Chains, hammers, scraps of metal or concrete are among the found objects that Mr. Cameau uses in sculpture that features precisely considered balance, tension and form. The reasoned configurations and their cool exactness often contrast with the toughness of the industrial objects. Mr. Cameau seems to be fascinated with the cognitive space between inventive design and historical associations with selected materials.
His symbolism is quiet but effective. Past physical effort is part of the message conveyed by the three hammerlike vertical shafts in ''Freedom, Enterprise, Expiditus.'' The five-foot-high ''Ascension,'' the largest piece, places a taut chain inside a rear cavity as if it were now to be regarded as a frozen relic.
Mr. Mandingo turns interlocked human limbs into rodlike, semi-abstract diagonal lines that create dynamic action as they sweep across his boldly colored and patterned paintings. A rod's extremities will sometimes morph into a hand or foot, offering visual clarification of the artist's theme for this series: the universality of love. His intention of specifically underscoring the African heritage comes across in pairs of heads treated as traditional tribal masks, and in powerful background patterns that are inspired by schemetized textile designs.
Adelphi University Center Gallery,
South Street, Garden City.
Through Feb. 22.
(516) 877-4460.
Didier Cameau and Iyaba Ibo Mandingo have strong ideas about linking material, method and message. Both are in the early phases of their careers, but have had busy exhibition schedules since they began to show in the mid-1990's, shortly after completing art school. Mr. Cameau's studio is on Long Island; Mr. Mandingo works in Connecticut.
Chains, hammers, scraps of metal or concrete are among the found objects that Mr. Cameau uses in sculpture that features precisely considered balance, tension and form. The reasoned configurations and their cool exactness often contrast with the toughness of the industrial objects. Mr. Cameau seems to be fascinated with the cognitive space between inventive design and historical associations with selected materials.
His symbolism is quiet but effective. Past physical effort is part of the message conveyed by the three hammerlike vertical shafts in ''Freedom, Enterprise, Expiditus.'' The five-foot-high ''Ascension,'' the largest piece, places a taut chain inside a rear cavity as if it were now to be regarded as a frozen relic.
Mr. Mandingo turns interlocked human limbs into rodlike, semi-abstract diagonal lines that create dynamic action as they sweep across his boldly colored and patterned paintings. A rod's extremities will sometimes morph into a hand or foot, offering visual clarification of the artist's theme for this series: the universality of love. His intention of specifically underscoring the African heritage comes across in pairs of heads treated as traditional tribal masks, and in powerful background patterns that are inspired by schemetized textile designs.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Plans for '09
peace family, dis blogging thing is new 2 me so bear with...my years are kinda weird cuz i measure them from bday 2 bday, making my new years resolution then. so this year the resolution was 2 increase the focus...in the past i've suffered from having 2 many irons in the fire, then as the year draws to a close i find myself with a bunch of half completed projects. my fortieth year on dis planet will be focused completion of 3 things... 1]my novel "sins of my fathers" which is now in editing stage...been calling myself a poet 4 a while, got a chapter book of my work that's been out there 4 about 8 years, sold over 10,000 copies, but writer, ohhh dats a scary word...i love reading and my hope is that the lessons i learned from the masters Ellison, Baldwin, Morrison, Reed, Hurston...leaks into my work. 2]mount a major exhibit of my paintings, which i'm in the planning process of locking down with a one man show at the gallery of n.c.c with a tentative run date of jan thru march 2010[dis is some real kool shit...i'm syked]i've been a visual artist since i can remember,i always wanted to be a artist, in college i change majors from business to fine arts behind my parents back, they flipped when they found out..."bouye arwe no bring u com a merrica fu tun no artist!"...3] the organizing of a world tour with my play 'self portrait'...i can feel the play beginning to take on a life of its own...the theater is exciting, like making love to someone u desire after a long wait of lusting. it is probably the most underdeveloped of my artistic expressions, but i feel a comfort on the performance stage that makes me want to devour any new thing i can learn on how to be better. Everything is beginnig to feel irie again...i didn't realize it would take so long to recover from my visit with homeland security.
march 16 2009 2:20am
i went out to support broda influence's poetry event tonight...sista Tantra was the feature, it was wonderful seeing her, we broke into the poetry world 2gether over ten years ago at our home base the world famous BROOKLYN MOON...her energy is a fresh breeze on a quiet third world morning. I was taken aback by the reverance the next generation of poets have for my work. It feels like the glare from def poetry jam is finally beginning to wear off. I hear substance returning to the sessions, no more poets looking to leap frog some politically correct bag of poems onto and hbo stage. I'm still waiting for my generation to create an art movement that echos the hopes of the BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT, slam poetry does not fill the void. It caters to the natural ego present in any artist worth his or her salt, creating the best this and the best that in a society that already submits to a photocopied blue print of what sucess means. I'm sleepy...peace
april 26 2p.m
peace family i told u u were gonna have to work wid me on this blog thing. I haven't check in since last month...what have i been doing? Well the play is really begin to grow into a beautiful thing, in the past month i've performed it about a half dozen times in harlem & bridgeport. People are really beginning to react...i love the immediate feedback of a smile or a telling um huh. On Mondays Wednesdays & thursdays i work as a master teaching artist in new york...this year i have all third graders, in the bronx on mondays at p.s 87 we're working on a sock puppet theater on wednesdays it's song written in brooklyn on thursdays it's west Afrikan mask @ ps 154[Harriet Tubman]in harlem we're using card board and other recycled items...there's a picture of Harriet hanging i the office that looks like something from a family album, she is so beautiful an regal sitting as an elder. I feel deeply compelled to stand before her picture and pay my respects each time i enter and exit the building. I LOVE MY JOB...I'M SO GLAD I PAYED ATTTENTION IN ART CLASS...peace talked wid ya soon...
may 3
peace family just touchn base wid ya...everything is kool and the gang...last night i went by gallery 1212 in bport 4 some jazz...dis blind kat nathan on drums and his trio fuzucked dat place up...i did an excerpt from the play, got some really irie feedback, we are definately on the right trax...the guerilla art attack was also a success...this is my latest campaign against the "art world" i have decided not to submit to their standards of operation ie. starving artist submits their slide, which can take an arm and a leg to prepare to pompous curators who use some magical method to decide which artist is the new thing and the others on their desk are relagated to a pile marked return to sender. Once this "lucky" artist is selected they must then endure the bullshit discretion of said curator who will pick over their work like a fat chef at the market looking for the best cut of meat...and then you receive the lovely news that you will be giving the gallery 50% of your sales...so in order to repay the gallery for promoting and hopefully selling your work you have to price yourself out of your peer group in order to bring home what you think your work is worth. I say fuzuck...dat Guerilla Art is here to challenge these dead museums and galleries and their outdated approach to helping artist survive. Look 4 me in your neighborhood an local news publication...no wall or fence is safe no gallery or museum is excempt from the attack of GUERILLA ART....
may 27 1:09am
peace family another check in...school year is coming to an end, which means my three master teaching artist gigs are almost up...which means i'm bout 2 be back in da starving artist bracket again...it's kool that where i do my best creative shit...this summa i'm planning to get my vending on to the max...hit da road wid my paintings, my ear sculptures, my wire sculptures and some T-shirts...plus some propaganda 4 guerilla art and do my thang...the GUERILLA ART campaign is going real irie, we hit two spot so far an abandoned building in bridgeport ct. the old bricks sat nice behind my art...and the purple bridge in stamford ct. it used to be a traffic bridge now thanks to old age its a foot bridge and the latest GUERILLA ART GALLERY...definate take a moment and check out the videos and pix from our installations...Terrance is becoming a world class photographer before my eyes...his prespective is refreshing...thanks cobbs...lets move da fcuking earth mahne...be on the look out for propaganda material ie. T-shirts, bumper stickers...mandingo out...
june 24 2009
peace family another check in...we did another spot wid da guerila art...the f.d.r drive at the 125st entrance ramp in harlem...dat shit was excellent...people were rubberneckec checking out my shit[hey dat rhythms]...i just got back from a week in the west indies...home is always home...i am completely ready to begin building a studio\house on the piece of land i have there...the pace is condusive[sic]to an artist's meditation process...get u some land there anywhere in the third world white people have been doing it for generations...rocked da play at casa frela in harlem on the 13th u gotta come check it out...
july 29 2009
peace family another check in...back in va spending time with the family...my daughters are become young ladies oni adina is 16 femi will be 15 on thursday...just got invited to bring the play to armenia and take the guerilla art to prague in october...we're gonna be putting together a series of shows over the next 2 months 2 raise the funds for our plane tickets...just finished the 5th read of sins of my fathers is almost ready...i need 1 more major edit and then it's off to the printers...still focused on the 3rd world 40 is coming soon september 6...got a feature a poetz realm n bport on the 8th if ya in town come check me out...don't 4get the play this weekend gallery 1212 bport ct.
august 22 technically 23 it afta 12
my eldest child my first son malik jamal DeCruise turned 20 today...damn time flew...i can still remember holding him in my arms...life is good, being a father is one of my greatest joys...my 40th will be here in a couple of weeks...damn time flies or yeah i said dat already...but that my theme for the next decade 'time flies' it keeps me focused on 2morrow...iyabart LLC is doing well we're prepping to launch it as a full multi media art company in a few months...all of the focus rite now is on the trip to yerevan armenia in october from the 1-10 with play...the novel sins of my fathers is coming along beautifully we just found a freelance editor so all u editors who tried to rob me with dem ugly ass price quotes fcku you...sins will be ready 4 consumption black history month 2010...peeeeeeeeeeeaaace!
march 16 2009 2:20am
i went out to support broda influence's poetry event tonight...sista Tantra was the feature, it was wonderful seeing her, we broke into the poetry world 2gether over ten years ago at our home base the world famous BROOKLYN MOON...her energy is a fresh breeze on a quiet third world morning. I was taken aback by the reverance the next generation of poets have for my work. It feels like the glare from def poetry jam is finally beginning to wear off. I hear substance returning to the sessions, no more poets looking to leap frog some politically correct bag of poems onto and hbo stage. I'm still waiting for my generation to create an art movement that echos the hopes of the BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT, slam poetry does not fill the void. It caters to the natural ego present in any artist worth his or her salt, creating the best this and the best that in a society that already submits to a photocopied blue print of what sucess means. I'm sleepy...peace
april 26 2p.m
peace family i told u u were gonna have to work wid me on this blog thing. I haven't check in since last month...what have i been doing? Well the play is really begin to grow into a beautiful thing, in the past month i've performed it about a half dozen times in harlem & bridgeport. People are really beginning to react...i love the immediate feedback of a smile or a telling um huh. On Mondays Wednesdays & thursdays i work as a master teaching artist in new york...this year i have all third graders, in the bronx on mondays at p.s 87 we're working on a sock puppet theater on wednesdays it's song written in brooklyn on thursdays it's west Afrikan mask @ ps 154[Harriet Tubman]in harlem we're using card board and other recycled items...there's a picture of Harriet hanging i the office that looks like something from a family album, she is so beautiful an regal sitting as an elder. I feel deeply compelled to stand before her picture and pay my respects each time i enter and exit the building. I LOVE MY JOB...I'M SO GLAD I PAYED ATTTENTION IN ART CLASS...peace talked wid ya soon...
may 3
peace family just touchn base wid ya...everything is kool and the gang...last night i went by gallery 1212 in bport 4 some jazz...dis blind kat nathan on drums and his trio fuzucked dat place up...i did an excerpt from the play, got some really irie feedback, we are definately on the right trax...the guerilla art attack was also a success...this is my latest campaign against the "art world" i have decided not to submit to their standards of operation ie. starving artist submits their slide, which can take an arm and a leg to prepare to pompous curators who use some magical method to decide which artist is the new thing and the others on their desk are relagated to a pile marked return to sender. Once this "lucky" artist is selected they must then endure the bullshit discretion of said curator who will pick over their work like a fat chef at the market looking for the best cut of meat...and then you receive the lovely news that you will be giving the gallery 50% of your sales...so in order to repay the gallery for promoting and hopefully selling your work you have to price yourself out of your peer group in order to bring home what you think your work is worth. I say fuzuck...dat Guerilla Art is here to challenge these dead museums and galleries and their outdated approach to helping artist survive. Look 4 me in your neighborhood an local news publication...no wall or fence is safe no gallery or museum is excempt from the attack of GUERILLA ART....
may 27 1:09am
peace family another check in...school year is coming to an end, which means my three master teaching artist gigs are almost up...which means i'm bout 2 be back in da starving artist bracket again...it's kool that where i do my best creative shit...this summa i'm planning to get my vending on to the max...hit da road wid my paintings, my ear sculptures, my wire sculptures and some T-shirts...plus some propaganda 4 guerilla art and do my thang...the GUERILLA ART campaign is going real irie, we hit two spot so far an abandoned building in bridgeport ct. the old bricks sat nice behind my art...and the purple bridge in stamford ct. it used to be a traffic bridge now thanks to old age its a foot bridge and the latest GUERILLA ART GALLERY...definate take a moment and check out the videos and pix from our installations...Terrance is becoming a world class photographer before my eyes...his prespective is refreshing...thanks cobbs...lets move da fcuking earth mahne...be on the look out for propaganda material ie. T-shirts, bumper stickers...mandingo out...
june 24 2009
peace family another check in...we did another spot wid da guerila art...the f.d.r drive at the 125st entrance ramp in harlem...dat shit was excellent...people were rubberneckec checking out my shit[hey dat rhythms]...i just got back from a week in the west indies...home is always home...i am completely ready to begin building a studio\house on the piece of land i have there...the pace is condusive[sic]to an artist's meditation process...get u some land there anywhere in the third world white people have been doing it for generations...rocked da play at casa frela in harlem on the 13th u gotta come check it out...
july 29 2009
peace family another check in...back in va spending time with the family...my daughters are become young ladies oni adina is 16 femi will be 15 on thursday...just got invited to bring the play to armenia and take the guerilla art to prague in october...we're gonna be putting together a series of shows over the next 2 months 2 raise the funds for our plane tickets...just finished the 5th read of sins of my fathers is almost ready...i need 1 more major edit and then it's off to the printers...still focused on the 3rd world 40 is coming soon september 6...got a feature a poetz realm n bport on the 8th if ya in town come check me out...don't 4get the play this weekend gallery 1212 bport ct.
august 22 technically 23 it afta 12
my eldest child my first son malik jamal DeCruise turned 20 today...damn time flew...i can still remember holding him in my arms...life is good, being a father is one of my greatest joys...my 40th will be here in a couple of weeks...damn time flies or yeah i said dat already...but that my theme for the next decade 'time flies' it keeps me focused on 2morrow...iyabart LLC is doing well we're prepping to launch it as a full multi media art company in a few months...all of the focus rite now is on the trip to yerevan armenia in october from the 1-10 with play...the novel sins of my fathers is coming along beautifully we just found a freelance editor so all u editors who tried to rob me with dem ugly ass price quotes fcku you...sins will be ready 4 consumption black history month 2010...peeeeeeeeeeeaaace!
Cool Justice
Cool Justice
War On Immigrants Continues Unabated
By ANDY THIBAULT
ColumnistLaw Tribune Newspapers
May 12, 2003
There's a giant poet locked inside the Hartford jail. He's a father of five and a teacher. He's a friend to senior citizens. The people of Stamford need him. His family needs him. Justice demands that he be freed immediately. The poet, Iyaba Mandingo, is also a painter. He was put on a deportation list last month because the government claims - falsely - that he did not respond to an INS request to attend a hearing for deportation. He never received notice, after faithfully attending all previous appointments. Immigration officials arrested Mandingo on April 17 - his 10th wedding anniversary - a few days after he gave a controversial poetry reading in Stamford. Mandingo learned then that he had been ordered deported in March 2001. His case is typical of hundreds around the country as government officials, in a supposed hunt for terrorists, expel our friends and neighbors. Eighty years ago the government rounded up Italians on false charges; today, it's mostly people of color. Mandingo, 33, was a Little League baseball All-Star not long after moving to Stamford more than 20 years ago from Antigua in the West Indies. He played offensive tackle and defensive end for Westhill High School, eventually growing to stand about 6-feet, 4-inches tall. He won a football scholarship to a college in Iowa. He's as American as you and me. "He's a good, decent guy," Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy told me. "He's a very gifted artist, and he participates in the community in a positive way." From the mayor and the director of the senior center to boyhood pals, school officials and the statewide arts community, there is a groundswell of warmth and support for Mandingo. He recently won a $35,000 commission to paint murals for a school in New Haven; work was to begin in June. The New York Times said his art turns "interlocked human limbs into rodlike, semi-abstract diagonal lines that create dynamic action as they sweep across his boldly colored paintings." Many admire Mandingo's strong, uncompromising poetry about slavery, racism and economic injustice. Fans cite a soft side: One does not have to agree with Mandingo to be his friend. The system wronged Mandingo twice-first because of his race, then a second time because of negligence, an inept bureaucracy and the current political hysteria. In college, Mandingo was wrongly accused of a crime. His lawyer did not want him to go before a local jury, so he accepted a plea bargain. The Iowa courts treated the case so lightly a felony charge was substituted with a misdemeanor. Authorities let Mandingo finish a semester at college before serving a 30-day sentence. Still, he had pleaded guilty to a crime he did not commit, and this blemish has stalled his quest to become a U.S. citizen. He subsequently married a high school sweetheart. They have five children. Mandingo's entire extended family became citizens - with help from U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays and U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd-except for him. His lawyer at the time of the immigration amnesty period of 1987-88 failed to file a permanent residence application on time and was reprimanded. Still, Mandingo never missed an immigration appointment. He was told he would not be deported, but that he would get a notice in the mail. He never did. The property manager at his Stamford condo filed astatement with immigration authorities stating that all 70 units have had mail delivery problems. Mandingo's new lawyer, Michael Boyle of North Haven, is trying to get his case re-opened. The government has made five children fatherless. The good citizens of Connecticut cannot let this action stand. Give us back out poet, our painter, our friend.
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