iDrawing: July 2010

Friday, July 9, 2010

Drawing Music :: In A Gallery

Selected 9 pieces from the "Drawing Music" series are currently on display at the ICO Gallery as part of the group show "Reflecting on History OR What Became of My Red Star". Olga Monastyrskaya, the curator, did a fantastic job of brining 15 Russian-born artists together in this show. There must have been well over 500 people on our opening night!

Here's to my first gallery exhibit-cheers!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Drawing Music :: Fedorov+Volkov+Medeski+Ribot+Smith.

This was not just another concert. A riveting, overwhelming flood of energy filled (Le) Poisson Rouge last week, when 5 of my favorite musicians took the stage. The unusual thing about this performance was in the fact that 2 of the 5 musicians were Russian, and the other 3 - American. I have admired them separately for years, went to concerts and sang along to lyrics I knew by heart. And then..somehow, somewhere in the universe, they found out about each other. They met. They clicked. They recorded an album and went on stage to perform together. It was unbelievable. The language barrier was irrelevant - only pure musical symbiosis. They were meant to be and they knew it, and the excitement flowed from stage into the audience and back. I don't remember when was the last time I experienced such powerful, emotional, beautiful immersion. The name of the collaborative album is RAZINRIMILEV, and the participating musicians are Leonid Fedorov (vocals, guitar), Vladimir Volkov (upright bass), John Medeski (piano), Marc Ribot (guitar), and Ches Smith (drums).