{"id":42407,"date":"2020-10-18T07:04:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T12:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/?p=42407"},"modified":"2020-10-21T17:32:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T22:32:28","slug":"daniel-giordano-katy-grannan-kara-hamilton-we-the-people-art-in-america-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/the-bomb\/2020\/10\/18\/daniel-giordano-katy-grannan-kara-hamilton-we-the-people-art-in-america-2\/","title":{"rendered":"~DANIEL GIORDANO, KATY GRANNAN, KARA HAMILTON . . ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ \/ Art In America"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nNewburgh N.Y. based artist . . DANIEL GIORDANO,
\nPhoto by KATY GRANNAN in her new portrait series, ‘We The People’, 2020,
\nnamed for the recent KARA HAMILTON series of brass pins calling upon the country . .
\nto vote !!
\nimage via Art in America \/ courtesy SALON 94<\/a><\/p>\n

Daniel is wearing one of the ‘We The People’ pins in his hat, and another at his neck.<\/p>\n

the absolutely striking & deeply poetic photo . . is featured in a resonant essay, A NEW MEANING FOR ‘WE THE PEOPLE’<\/em>, written by GLENN ADAMSON for Art in America, and posted this past Oct 13, 2020.
\nsee: ‘A New Meaning for We The People’ by Glenn Adamson – Art in America<\/a><\/p>\n

some take-aways:<\/p>\n

~ “Toronto-based artist KARA HAMILTON (is) best known for her sculptures, featuring pieces of concrete, brass instruments, and other found objects . . originally trained as an architect \/ she also makes actual jewelry, a practice she’s been able to maintain during the coronavirus lockdown.”
\n~ “as a medium of communication, campaign buttons have been swept into the desk drawer of history \/ but for Hamilton, that made the genre all the more attractive.”
\n~ “she set to work, carving a series of designs in pink wax & then casting them in brass.”
\n~ “tears are a recurrent theme, rolling forth from an eagle, a bumblebee, an elephant, a flower.”
\n~ “repeated throughout . . are the letters ‘US’, referring at once to America, and those who live in it together.”
\n~ “KATY GRANNAN . . has been a close friend of Hamilton’s since the two women attended graduate school at Yale some twenty-five years ago.”
\n~ “Grannan’s signature strategy: making intimate (photo) portraits of complete strangers.”
\n~ “she says that photography, for her, ‘is almost an excuse to engage with people’ . .”
\n~ “For the photographs in support of ‘We the People’, Hamilton & Grannan chose Newburgh, New York, as their shooting location. . one of those rough-and-ready Hudson Valley towns that boomed for decades before finally going bust \/ but a few factories still operate & other s have been converted into artists studios, indicating a nascent wave of gentrification.”
\n~ “Newburgh is also a place of historic importance, having been Washington’s headquarters during the last year of the Revolutionary War.”<\/p>\n

the pins are being sold via SALON 94, all proceeds going to charitable causes: FairVote & the Earthjustice Action Center.<\/p>\n

some of my<\/strong> notes:<\/p>\n

~ the varied & very diverse subjects of the series, don’t seem to be identified by name, least not as the photos are titled \/ presented . . in this article.
\n~ but, now you know, that’s . . Newbugh-based artist DANIEL GIORDANO, who in fact works out of an old squat brick warehouse – that formerly manufactured winter coats, and was his originally Italian immigrant family’s generations’ old business, now defunct.
\n~ sometimes the old industrial warehouse is also the site of pop-up shows \/ street parties curated by Daniel, often in partnership with friends \/ though now it is mostly a multi-level showcase \/ including storefront, for his own work \/ mostly sculpture. a huge upper floor serves as his studio. Daniel is like an intellectual-magnet-on-steroids, by nature, and so the place has become a hotbed of local artistic community energy, and of the growing Hudson Valley art community at large . . and is therefore, now referred to lovingly, or at least with honest respect: as ‘Vicki Island’ for its many facets !!
\nthe pop-up gallery was indeed called: Vicki<\/a>.
\nnamed for Daniel’s aunt Vicki, who used to run the last phase of the coat manufacturing.
\n~ go INDIE !!!!<\/p>\n

~ one last \/ very personal take-away:
\n re Grannan’s . . ‘seeing photography as a way to engage with strangers’ \/ yes !! that’s for sure.
\nbut in my case, I don’t take portraits of strangers per se, so much as I get drawn to ‘strangers’ to me, in the art world \/ drawn to their talent, like a moth to flame. the more unknown, and indie – the better !!
\nthat’s how I know Daniel. <\/p>\n

~ and, ps he wasn’t a ‘total’ stranger to Katy, as he has been friends with Kara – through her friendships within the Newburgh community.<\/p>\n

~ and one last \/ very off-the-wall, personal observation:
\nit’s completely a vast vast wonderment, and very compelling to me, as to how . . a ‘blonde’ Italian or at least of said ancestry . . appears to channel, and so poetically: Native American.
\nand, it’s not just the hat, because it doesn’t channel: cowboy \/ at least, not to me.
\nits something about the posture. the spray of violet flowers at his wrist.
\nit must be that indie . . rebel spirit !!
\nthat authentic connected-ness to the landscape.
\nand the way that landscape is staged around him \/
\nsuch is the power of photography. and in this case, Katy’s.<\/p>\n

Kara’s pins . . also speak to Native imagery, as re-told through her eyes.
\nand, it’s a good<\/strong> thing to re-tell native folkways \/ and in any means possible – keep it alive, and not just flickering. Native imagery and thought, has become a newly & increasingly powerful stylistic on the art & thought of this land again, and that’s always a good thing.
\nit is only: win win. and if it sends you scrambling \/ looking with new eyes at Native American art and folk crafts \/ seeking out written poetry, and origination tales – so much the better, and . . amen.<\/p>\n

these photos, but obviously particularly with regard to this one of Daniel . . resonate with the need to give both ‘poetic’ and ‘political’ voice . . to all the ancestors \/ both Native & immigrant . . who smashed up against each other in the past \/ but now hold the fate of the country in hand.
\nas we realize the Native American ancestors – had so much right, and we had so much . . wrong.<\/p>\n

long live the ancestors !!
\nlong live the new . . rebels !!
\nlong live . . Indie !!
\nlong live . . DIY !!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nVICKY ISLAND, Newburgh, N.Y<\/a>
\nsite of Vicky . . hardcore Indie \/ sometime pop-up gallery
\nDANIEL GIORDANO’s Studio, HQ . .
\nhis authentic upstate ancestral \/ early industrial \/ family-run Hudson River warehouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newburgh N.Y. based artist . . DANIEL GIORDANO, Photo by KATY GRANNAN in her new portrait series, ‘We The People’, 2020, named for the recent KARA HAMILTON series of brass pins calling upon the country . . to vote !! image via Art in America \/ courtesy SALON 94 Daniel is wearing one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42407"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42418,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42407\/revisions\/42418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}