Friday, January 25th Like the Spice hosted the latest in its monthly dinner series, the Animal Dinner. Mariyam Nayeri catered the event for a great crowd. The food was delectable from the apple and fennel salad to the sea bass with salsa verde and the chestnut honey pear upside down cake.
Adding to the enjoyment of the evening were Allison Edge and Tatiana Kronberg who each talked about their pieces in Deer Art, why they are drawn to animal imagery and why they think so many artists are using animals in their work at the moment.
Capping it all off was Sharita Star who told us about Chinese astrology's use of animal symbolism, made predictions for a few lucky guests and told us about the coming year based on both Chinese and Western astrology.
Pernod, sponsor of our dinner series, was there again pouring delicious cocktails including Absinthe Minded, a crowd favorite. There was even Pernod dessert made by Mariyam...Pernod affogato with espresso!
In the end it was a wonderful and stimulating evening. Join us for a future dinner and you'll see for yourself how truly wonderful these events are.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
A Vegetarian Friendly Animal Dinner!
Ain't No Party Like A Puppet Party.
As a part of January's Williamsburg Every Second, where galleries in the Williamsburg Gallery Association stay open late on the second Friday of the month to host parties and events, Like the Spice was psyched to host the Castle Critters. These fuzzy trouble makers and their ringleader David Marin entertained and informed gallery visitors as they visited Deer Art: Animal Imagery in Contemporary Art. (Show closing February 3rd...don't miss it!)
We learned about puppet performance, showmanship and a little about life. Then the puppets rocked a little to some of their favorites including Lou Reed, Christina Aguilera, Macy Gray and The Eagles. Not a bad range for felt and craft fur! Check out the video of some of their performances.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Claw, Claw, bite, bite Dinner it is!
At Like the Spice, we've got a history of making guests feel at home. This month is no different, as we host a dinner fit for the king of the jungle! Come enjoy our Animal Dinner, themed to match our current show, Deer Art. This month's dinner is catered by Mariyam Nayeri, who included a mission statement with her menu. She writes, "Our approach to food is rooted in creating beautiful and simple dishes using fresh, seasonal and local ingredients that are served with passion and style." We've seen the menu and it looks delicious (here's just a little preview: pan roasted sea bass with salsa verde, roasted chicken with lemons and herbs, and sweet onion tart with rosemary ... plus more!)
Our Animal Dinner offers you a night that's positively soaked in art. As you dine you'll enjoy a talk by Tatiana Kronberg and Allison Edge two of the artists participating in our current group show, and then 2008 is the year of the rat in Chinese astrology our very special guest will speak about what is to come in the new year! Served family style in the gallery itself, our dinner series is designed to let you enjoy a scrumptious meal while having a thoughtful conversation with strangers. Let yourself be inspired together by the stunning array of animal imagery hanging on our walls. Just $50 per person covers dinner, drinks and entertainment. Dinner is served at 8:00pm. Sponsored by Pernod.
Reservations are required, so make your reservations before Wednesday, January 23rd. Call us at 718.388.5388 or email info@likethespice.com.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Its a neighborhood affair! Pacing Tiger and friends.
Visible from dusk 'til dawn, Like the Spice brings some wildlife to our asphalt jungle in the form of Johnna MacArthur's Pacing, a site-specific video installation in the gallery's newest show: Deer Art: Animal Imagery in Contemporary Art. Like the Spice, which is just as much about community as it is about art, once again entices the average passerby as much as the seasoned connoisseur as we all take delight in glimpsing the tiger for the first time. Whether a surprising discovery during a walk home from running errands, or part of a well-planned evening stroll
Friday, November 30, 2007
Deer Art!
Deer Art: Animal Imagery in Contemporary Art
December 15th – January 11th 2008
Opening Saturday December 15th 6:30-10:00pm
You’re trapped like a deer in the headlights…you can’t run from the upcoming show at Like the Spice.
We hope it don’t run you down.
Images of animals have been increasingly prevalent in contemporary art recently…you can't spit at an art fair without hitting two deer, a bear and probably a sasquatch. Exploring the urgency animal representations have had recently, this show includes works that explore several different aspects of the relationship between animals and culture.
In some works animals stand in for people, they are vulnerable or ferocious in ways that reveal more about the human condition than about the animals themselves. This is the Disney approach, where animals are used to illuminate character types and traits. An owl becomes a wise old man and a fox is always the trickster. Other works use animal imagery for its psychological associations: totemic symbols for forces of nature, threatening or shamanistic, these animals confront us with their unpredictability and archetypical wildness. The unsettling sight of eels crawling over each other. The horror of confronting a predator in the wilderness. This psychological take is complimented by an approach that recognizes our tenuous and mediated contemporary relationship with nature as commodity, test subject, lifestyle accessory and fashion trope. The first dogs in space. The kitten as makeout voyeur. These ideas of course inform and resist each other and some works borrow aspects of each mode.
In the fable of the Scorpion and the Frog, animals cannot help but be what they are...this show asks whether people are any different or whether animals are really that transparent.
This show includes works by Amy Hill, Thomas Clark, Seth Cohen Cair Crawford, Ondine Crispin Allison Edge, Abby Goodman, Jason Head, Undine Brod, Tatiana Kronberg, Max Liboiron , Eric LoPresti, Johnna MacArthur, Philip Simmons, Chadwick Whitehead, Grace Teng, Rachel Lowther, and Steven Tabbutt.
With a special closing performance Friday January 11th 2008, 7:30-10:00pm by Castle Critters.
