Project Captured Video

The Goings-on

It's been a long while, over a month, but a lot has been happening.

Check me out on twitter: markcorece for minute by minute thoughts and updates.




This Sunday I will be speaking on WVON radio radio 1620am--you can listen live online!--where I will be discussing my coming feature length documentary Freedom of Identity, the Afro-Diasporic experience and just about anything that relates to Boricua, Blackness, art, and how all of these things can oppose and merge. Along with friend and documentary subjects Xavier Luis Burgos and Carlos Flores. Sunday November 21st, 3:20pm Central!



I will be interviewed by author Ytasha L. Womack (Author of Post Black)about my work and my views on my generation in the context of art and all of my identities. Check my blog within the next week for the interview. I update it with purpose.




Also on December 18th I will be showing some of my photographs at the artist collective space RESIST (2708 W. Division) thanks to the invitation by the fantastic band South Sol.


Here are a few links following the shows in Chicago and St. Louis (for those who could not make it) and a link to my latest article on The Daily Voice reviewing Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls.

http://www.noiredigerati.com/home/2010/11/5/visual-artist-mark-corece-presents-hanging-dry-solidarity-th.html


http://www.mademonarchs.com/archives/7345

http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2010/11/for-colored-girls-no-seriously-002668.php



My new website and a story on me in Deluxe Magazine coming soon.

Keep it artsy.

Latent Post: Art Around Chicago

It's important to show your peers love (not saying I'm on Banksy's level) and go out and support, you never know what might inspire you.

These are some out and about pics of myself and friends checking out the works of Sam Kirk, Hebru Brantley,Hugo Style, and Banksy, among others.

Don't forget to come and RSVP to Hanging Dry--info below--in Chicago (0ctober 29th, Digital Hydra 6pm 320 N. Damon) and St. Louis (October 23rd, 5pm Shi Salon 1900 Olive Street)

RSVP: tgprmedia@gmail.com

Flash4ward: Hanging Dry Promotional Photos

Photos by Christopher Free
http://christopher-free.com/

Check out this superb photos with the great Chris Free.

Because you need to know...

Some might say we are in a cold war today. Especially in this post-sexual-revolution world we live in. Our rights are up for grabs yet our sentiments and reactions are lackluster. It's important to pick out the allusions in today's writings (knowing our past gets us going elsewhere) and give in to our firey desires to change our current reality; a suicidal, disconnected, "reality" show driven, stagnant world.

Read War Diaries. A book edited by Tisha Bryant and Ernest Hardy(one of my favorite thinkers). It's a book to make sure you "stay woke" and it explores the ins and outs of our human interactions in the most intimate ways possible (at least so far; I'm still investigating it myself). Poetry and Prose. Short and Long. Dense and Deep.

To the battlefield.

Hanging Dry Photo Exhibit

HEY!

It's been a bloggin-while since I've been on here but I plan on updating this more regularly now.

I wanted to inform you of my upcoming shows. (ABOVE) The full description is below but it's a dope collaborative effort that will be worth your while. More info about some possible surprises and opportunity. To RSVP on facebook just search Hanging Dry Photo Exhibit (Chicago or St. Louis) or just come! Tell a friend to tell a frined

A Photographic Parallel of The Puerto Rican and Black Existence; Solidarity Through Photography

Music and Refreshments.

Hanging Dry, A Photographic Essay
...
In an often proclaimed advanced society with technology galore, a wide array of food that ushers us through infinite historical cultural corners, and change being the mantra of today,vThe writer, photographer, and filmmaker Mark Corece finds it ironic that parochialism and identity politics inhibit much needed human connections.

Dry Hanging is a black and white photo exhibit that aims to highlight the often-unclear symmetry of the Puerto Rican and black existence; a relevant relationship since the Puerto Rican airborne migration in the 1930s to the Black Panther movement—coupled with the Young Lords movement-- in the 1970s. Although, Corece's work will depict contemporary life while, of course, alluding to the past. Consider the parallels of drying clothes on a laundry line. Without a face or any reference can you tell who own the clothes? Perhaps if you knew
who brought to life the guayabera, dashiki, fitted cap, or draping white dress, the pins and ropes would make more sense.

The multi-city exhibit will serve as a visual explanation and, seemingly, voyeuristic peer into the mind of the creator's inspiration for his upcoming feature length documentary Freedom of Identity: A film that explores the pluralism within Puerto Rican identities—in Chicago and Puerto Rico—connecting history to today’s truth.

The exhibit explores the strength of old wisdom, youthful zeal, and the, at times, harsh reality of the relationship between diasporic people and their geographic landings.

M. Corece REEL

Welcome to my multimedia blog:

M. Corece Feb 2010 Video Reel from M Corece on Vimeo.

A Philosophical Message from Van Hunt

"The Announced Intellectual Renaissance" 

"I believe that at the essence of high-minded civilization lies the heart of the independent thinker. At no time has society needed so honest an offering as a free man's art and craft-as right now. I have committed myself to a way of life that is uncompromising-and includes nothing malicious, derogatory, frivolous or culturally digressive in the work that I present. 
But, In the past I have passively/ aggressively attempted to sell my music with the brand of 'ghetto music'...music born out of (and for) the underbelly of Negro society. While the story I painted of my experiences is certainly true, this attempt to paralell my talents with street life was one of desperation. It was a short-sighted and impulsive calculation.....to get my music heard. It was, simply, an insult to myself. the reality is that the origin of my talent remains a gift that comes from a place much older, deeper, richer and more alive than anything that an unfortunate byproduct of our times could ever hope to create. Proper credit to the development of my talent goes to my enablers, my mentors and my own self- determination...not to anything that belies intellect, is demeaning to what culture should aspire to or is lacking in integrity. I shall never again bow down-in any measure-to insecurity, corporate or peer pressure-to do anything other than my very best and most honest. 
I sincerely regret ever having associated myself with the ignorance people have perpetrated upon themselves in the name of survival. I will be the one to qualify what is survival and what is success for me. And, If I am to be one or both, it will be based on the merit of my work alone. 

--Van Hunt" 

Stylish Lexicon

From time to time I'll provide a new word so you can have all powerful diction. You'll be able to tell your friends, "While you're feeding your ego I'll be feeding my lexicon!"

Today's word is:

Beau Monde

(BO mond)

Noun

It means the world of fashion; high society; fashionable society.

Sentence:

In today's withering economy only the beau monde can afford the pretentious clothes from last week's Yves Saint Laurent fashion show. (not a lot of context here but you get the point!)

Now you try. Use it in as many sentences as possible.

What am I listening to this morning?

Erykah Badu-A.D. 2000

Because it's Informative....

Aside from my blog, the internet has tons of blogs you can read about myriad topics. 

Below are my top five blogs (in no particular order) that I think YOU should read.

1. www.claycane.net

-If you want brilliant stories that will make you laugh out loud and the latest movie reivew, celeb interview, or pop culture rolled up in a hilarious ball, Clay has you covered. 

2. rodonline.typepad.com/

-The journalist Rod McCullom provides the latest news on LGBT culture and headlines from around the world. 

3. www.thedailyvoice.com

-Black America's daily news source. A website that provides new articles everyday on every angle of black communities. 

4. ernesthardy.blogspot.com

-If you want to catch noteworthy Youtube videos, thought provoking art critiques, and fla-out "deep" post, the author, Ernest Hardy, of Bloodbeats Vol 1. & 2. will tantalize your mind.

5. chicagoist.com

- I like to know what's going on in my local community and so should you. Check out laist and newyorkist too.

Why should you read these? Like Jada Pinkett Smith said in A Low Down Dirty Shame "Because it's informative..." Check out the clip below, she says it at about 2:28

Good Mornings....(The Gone Butterfly)

(The above photo (now titled good morning) is by Mark Corece!)
Good Morning new day, good morning facebook, good morning extra bold starbucks coffee, good morning twitter, good morning yahoo horoscope, good morning 'do these skinny legs make me look too feminine?', good morning 'nah I'm just over-reacting', good morning CNN,  good morning 'damn I don't want to go to work.' Good morning....

A poem to start your day; by me

Remember butterflies?

The ideal ones.

The black and orange ones.

They flicker and flutter around hoping for a taste.
They crowd around one another trying to create a certain effect.

Sometimes butterflies disappear and they are only imagined.
Their being is forged only enough to suffice being.

But when they are present, they hover in one spot pounding, pounding.
Butterflies are mystical.
Butterflies are beautiful orange and black mysteries.

These days we can only, at least, hope for prototypes.
Don't fret, butterflies will get their day again.

The day will be ideal, filled with orange and black dreams.

You wont forget their mystique. 

Remember them?

The Core of A Soul: Mark Corece

I'd like to re-enter the blog sphere by telling you about the newness of me. 

I want to provide a space of uninhibited free expression (as free as the internet will allow me to be). I want to present true, honest, unabashed self. Gritty, morning breath, puffy-eyed, inconsistently half-ass me. 90's raised, politically driven, radically minded human me. 

The poetic photographer whose films write stories with acrylic film. The person who is in a relationship with being single and whose spirituality is rooted in love with innate goodness (goodness that gets better with growth). Moody, anti-fad (the antithesis of it) garment artist. An unhealthy vegetarian (who is a healthy carnivore) who eats fruit for snacks. 

The son of a 'Son's Mother' whom he loves dearly. Compassionate about those who crosses his path. A person who will give you a pallet on his floor when he only has one blanket. A person whose name has a dark past and it is truly part of his creative extract.

I am Art, 360.

Whitney vs. Jennifer: Who sings the best national anthem?

Each year since 1967, it has been the tradition of the Super Bowl to have someone sing the National Anthem. They've had a mix of genres and genders, and races.
Singers like Barry Manilow, Diana Ross, and Luther Vandross have all contributed their versions of the Star Spangled Banner to America.
However, much of the online debate has focused on three key ladies. Vanessa Williams, no? Not even Mariah Carey. YouTube viewers have been squabbling on about, yep you guessed it: Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles.
They've been ranking them back-to-back with the only consistent number one spot going to Ms. Houston.
I decided to compare and get in on the competition myself.
First, I want to give kudos to JHud for coming with her A-game, looking great, and singing their socks off even after her recent tragedy.
Of course I listened to Jennifer Hudson's 2009 Super Bowl rendition first and I must say initially it sounded great, until I clicked on a link to Beyonce's 2004 version followed by the popular 1991 Whitney Houston version.
How to decide? Well I have my own things I like to look for in music--being a singer and a guitar player in my former band--I like originality and vibrancy but not overdone.
YouTubers seemed more empathetic to Jennifer (and so am I for that matter), so it was hard to get past that, but I realized this is a fierce competition and only one can win.
I chose 1 part I really enjoyed from each:
Whitney
She was by far the most effortless. Her microphone was on a stand below her shoulders--and she still had great power--and she looked like she was having a good time. But I must say when she recited the line "Gave PROOF through the night" it gave me chills, along with her overall arrangement.
Beyonce
Many people instantly have negative reactions to her. Why, I'll never know. My favorite note was when she sang "land of the freeEE." How can anyone slip into a different octave so quickly? Oh and she said brave twice, nice. Plus the epic musical composition always wins me over; she should try that more often.
Jennifer
I'll be honest. I didn't expect much from J-Hud. I didn't like her latest album, and well, besides her power, something is usually missing (in my humble opinion). She proved me wrong this year. It felt like she was wrapping a satin blanket around my body with her voice. It was soulful and arranged just for her. But her "home of the brave" ending sealed the deal quite well for her.
My rank? I'll have to agree with most YouTubers and put Whitney as my number one. Depending on my mood, Beyonce and Jennifer might get switched, but after Sunday night, Jennifer is going in my number two spot. Who can deny the soul she put in Sunday's performance (live or not)?
Maybe Faith Hill was my close fourth, minus the bagpipes!