FULL MOON. UNMARKED.
It was legendary New York City nightlife celebutante James St James who lamented, in a 2001 documentary about the downtown scene, that it was in the mid 1980s when mainstream America, gripped by Reganism and a booming Wall Street machine, became hip to what was then percolating in the art scene and realized there was money to be had. It wasn’t long after that he looked out his window onto Avenue A and realized, “its all Gaps and Starbucks now.”
Nowadays, St James words could not ring truer as we sink deeper and deeper into the ‘Walmart Era’, a time when capitalism reigns above all of the virtues, and the ability to mass market products for profit is, in itself, the new art.
So as art for art’s sake becomes increasingly scarce, particularly in New York City where artists are forced to sacrifice their time to the reality of paying their skyrocketing bills, it becomes all the more necessary to safeguard the few places where creativity can still flourish unadulterated by the outside world. This is the goal (some may say a lofty one, but still an admirable one nonetheless) behind the creation of UNMARKED, a collective meeting place to share ideas and bring attention to the emerging talent so often lost among the rampant scramble to sell.
UNMARKED is the result of a desire to obtain new inspiration. The contributors from the FULL MOON collective invite you to a new dialogue in the spirit of art. We thank each of you for sharing in this endeavor to propel us toward new horizons.
Palace of Assembly
by: Dilan
Le Corbusier, a swiss architect, always dreamt of creating an ideal city and at
350 kilometers above sea level in the sweltering planes of the Punjab lies his vision. In a country that lives through its past glory, Chandigarhs imposing grid stamps indian society with a heavily european influence. A city composed of government buildings and monuments that float upon a vast artificial lake. Chandigarh is the ripple between east and west, A 1950s Corbusian ideal in a land deep rooted in tradition.
The Palace of Assembly is the solidification of the infinite western grid. Masked by a colonnade baring an inverted barrel vault that bends your periphery. The lake frames the structure mirroring the grid into the intangible. The Palace of Assembly holds a large assembly hall that pierces the heart of the structure bridging the void between heaven and earth.
To create architecture is to put in order. Put what in order? Function and objects. - Le Corbusier
In its present state the idyllic glory of the Palace of Assembly has dwindled. Time has stained its pristine exterior, the sacred lake has become utilitarian. The product of a push for a post-colonial city and Le Corbusier’s rational ideology, The Palace of Assembly stands as monument of a romanticized India.
Backwards, Into the Sky…
Photo: Austin Green
Styling: Dilan
Balaclava: models own
Human hair jacket: models own
Denim: cheap monday
Shoes: jeffery campbell (custom)
Sunglasses: Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Model: Dilan
VALA
A candid conversation with Vala Durvett
by: FULL MOON
Full Moon creators Austin Green and Joel Collier sat down with long time DJ and nightlife promoter Vala Durvett to discuss her clubland roots and what’s next for the ambitious gamine.
FULL MOON: You’ve had a long history in the nightlife scene. Can you tell our readers how it all began for you?
Vala Durvett: I started going out in New York when I was 17. I lived in _______ and used to come into the city with all my girlfriends. At the time, The “parties” I knew at home were just douchy girls drinking Frappuccinos hanging out at their friends mansions. I never had those kinds of girlfriends. My friends and I would go to pool halls and Asian clubs and try to get guys to buy us beers.
At the time, I was dating a Greek guy. He was older than me and he had a car. My girlfriends and I would end up going to Astoria with our boyfriends to the huge Greek clubs. We were mostly 17-18, but we would dress cute and I always got in. The doorman would let a few of my friends slip past the door.
While most of the girls worried about the free beers I was always fixated on knowing the people in that room. I wanted to know the doorman owner, the bouncer, the bartender.
FM: What was it like to be that young surrounded by all the attention?
VD: It was about more then just the attention but trust me, I was winning! As a 5’10 redhead in the Greek club there was a lot of attention! I remember being surprised when the Greek men would speak English for me. The attention made me start to see things differently. I saw these clubs as a business. I would go to the club and decide ‘tonight I want to meet the owner.’ I wanted to get to know everyone and for them to love me!
FM: You were a Fordham student. Tell us about your first taste of the city.
VD: College was totally different from my Bayside scene. As a Freshmen girl the idea of going out was like, lets put on the shortest mini skirt we can and go to the club in the Bronx. These girls were a step backwards from what I had experienced even at 17. Short skirts and pitchers of beer in the Bronx was not fun for me. I was like; ‘This is college? I’m in New York City!’ Still, being at Fordham was a big deal because I thought, now I’m in the city just get me downtown!
My sophomore year I hooked up and became friends with this bunch of gay guys. They were just not like the Freshmen girls I’d seen. We would take gypsy cabs and I would go with them to all the Chelsea nightclubs. That was how I got my first job.
FM: CROBAR?
VD: Yep. I started as the email girl at CROBAR. I used to collect emails for them a couple nights a week. Then Marquee opened. When Marquee opened it was an exciting time. All the sudden there was this ‘oh my god’ club just around the corner in Chelsea. It got people excited again. Chelsea was finally building and things were starting to pop.
One of the bottle hosts needed a shift covered Saturday nights so she could promote at Marquee. I jumped at it. I still collected emails on Thursdays and Fridays but Saturday I worked as a maitre d. I started getting the attention of the promoters there and it led me to gigs at the hot venues on some of the most major nights in the city.
FM: You worked your way though many different facets of the industry. How did you build on the opportunity?
VD: Suddenly, after CROBAR was surrounded by the all the ‘it girls’ from HOME, APT and SHOW and I was moving up among them. I started cocktailing, then bartending, then hosting parties. Once I started hosting I decided I wanted to learn to DJ. I still had all these connections with the bar owners and I wanted experiment.
FM: Tell us about your new projects. What is next for you?
VD: I’m working on a new fitted hat and t-shirt line, launching in the Fall. I’m a fan of the urban skate scene. Well, the skate guys-those guys are just cool- gnarly looking. They have great style. The line is focused on urban street-wear. I also want to incorporate some Spanish roots. I like the urban cholo/latin culture. I studied Spanish for years. I am creating something that’s rugged, but fun. What’s cool is that In the skate scene, gay isn’t really an issue. They’re not really in it for the gay, or not gay. There is also a different side to this sport, the guys are really chill. I want to sell my clothing to real people, like them.
FM: You’ve been in the nightlife industry now for seven years. What do you think of the new crop of promoters and parties right now?
VD: Listen, there’s always gonna be a new kid. Like who’s this Lolli- girl? Lulli-lolli pop- lolly land? Oh, Lolli-Luxe! Yeah, she’s doing a bunch of parties and djing at Webster Hall. I had no idea who she was, cool girl though.
Photo: Austin Green
Styling: Vala Durvett, Justin James
Jacket/pants by: VON
Joy division tee: models own
Location: Fortune Cookie, Lucky Cheng’s LES
DON’T PANIC PROFILES DILAN
Written by Tshepo Mokoena
Art Work by Dilan Walpola
Photos by Austin Green
Ever tired of the idea of predictable jewellery? You know, the type where the rings encircle the finger, the earrings sit separately in the ears and so on? Well, then you should get to know Dilan Walpola. This 21 year-old artist and designer is shaking things up the only way he knows how, and challenging our ideas of what typical accessories should look like. The result is a beautiful and serpentine collection that we just had to hear the story behind.
First of all, could you tell our readers a bit about yourself? How would you sum up your creative background?
I’m the son of two artists: my mother’s a painter, and my father a graphic designer. I was born and raised in Texas. From the time I was a small child I was encouraged to paint and draw, attended an art-based high school, and then moved to New York City to attend the Copper Union for Architecture. In January 2010 I was kicked out of of the Cooper Union and was homeless for 8 months. Then things started falling together and now I’m here.
What inspires you to create? How much of your influences tend to come from music, visual art or design?
For some reason I need to be creative. I always need to be drawing otherwise things just start piling up in my brain. So, designing is really a therapeutic exercise that unloads everything that is filling my head. Due to the breadth of my interests I think in different mediums which feed off each other and give me new perspective to materialize my work. It can be visualizing music, occupying art, or wearing ideas.
Claw Wrap Ring
When did you first start making jewellery? What do you think motivated you to do so?
Honestly, I started making jewellery as an experiment to stabilize my life creatively and financially during a time when I was homeless in New York City. But I always had a fascination with jewelry and this point in my life gave me the excuse to do so.
The architectural quirks of your jewellery are both beautiful and unexpected. How long has playing with sculpture and form been at the core of how you express yourself?
Most children are given play-doh as a child. It was the same for me. There is a primal connection when you manipulate clay in your hands. There is the plasticity between you and the clay; a push and pull and soon your hands are just a tool to uncover the form that’s been buried. The architectural qualities of my work are just another refined extension of these discoveries where the clay may not be tangible but an idea.
Spinal Cord Cigarette Holder
We’ve also seen that you’re ridiculously young. At what age did you notice your creative flair that maybe set you apart from most people in your class?
Haha, being young has its pros and cons; at least now I can drink legally! There wasn’t a specific moment where I realized I was different but I do know that I first felt legitimate when I was accepted into the Cooper Union. It made me question myself. Cooper Union saw something and that something was good enough to be accepted. All I needed to do then was find out what they saw. Still haven’t found it and I’m sure I never will. But the pursuit is pretty beautiful.
Talon Clip
Which of your own pieces is your favorite/do you wear the most?
The Talon Clip is pretty much a staple in my life. Its understated beauty that after while becomes a appendage of your body.
How much do you think New York influences you? Do you feel like you could have become the artist you’re growing into without the city?
Texas made me a craftsman. New York made me an artist.
Double Wrap Earring Necklace
How much of your collection do you see as a business, and how much as a body of art?
Honestly, I’m very new to the the business aspect of my work, so that is the part that is the most difficult. I see all my pieces as individual works of art and so trying to force myself to look at my work with a business mind is very difficult. I can day dream and draw for days, but when it comes to numbers… I’m hopeless.
Your rings and necklaces have a particular, dark and unconventional styling that we love. What’s been your favourite reaction to your jewellery so far?
Hmm, that’s really hard to say. There are certain canons in jewellery that have been etched into our minds. A ring fits around your finger, a bracelet around your arm, and earrings on your ears. My work tends to either morph these ideas or throw them out all together. In the end they lose most ties to traditional jewellery and just become these individual entities you share a symbiotic relationship with.
The Choice
As well as the jewellery, you also have some fine art pieces up on your site. Who are some of your biggest influences in that respect?
Okay since you brought this up I need to be honest. Most the paintings that are up on my site are from my “craftsman” days. The Choice is the only piece that I can actually legitimize as my artwork. I’m constantly influenced by my surroundings for example The Choice was created while I was reading Dante’s Inferno andFaustus. But some of my biggest influences are Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Dali, Da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Palladio. I’m deeply rooted to the past, hence my influences, but not only for their work but more importantly how their ideas pushed their boundaries.
Finally, which other brands do you see as your peers? Are there other jewellers you’d throw in the same bag as the Dilan collection? And if not, why do you think that is?
I wouldn’t like to categorize my work with others because we all discover different things from that ball of clay. We all bring something different to the table. Not to say that I like everything that sits on that table but I do have a couple of favorites: Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, Yohji Yamamoto, and Maison Martin Margiela.
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Talon Clip
DR!P DROP
Photo: Cory Dante Hall for UNMARKED.
Location: DR!P - The Grace Hotel
A Nameless Wave
By: Joel Collier
To most people the words “No Wave” mean nothing. To the members of bands involved in the “No Wave” movement, the title itself was the negation of their ideals. Musicians and artists of varying mediums came together in 1978 to form bands of their liking. They joined thought to create sounds free of outside tampering. A breeding ground for original sound was created amongst them. The result wasn’t a cohesive sound, but a definite push toward liberated music making. Genres like punk rock, jazz, blues, funk, avant garde, and experimental overlapped in new and influential ways. Many participants lived in the once burned out Lower East Side, in an era of Manhattan that remains mythical to newer inhabitants of the city. When attempting to understand the time and place “No Wave” took stage, one is reminded of the lack of “movements” presently. There are so many factors that birthed “No Wave” that are virtually impossible to recreate in the twenty-first century. However, attempting to understand it’s origins and inner workings remains important.
At the time, one New York review stated,”They really have little in common musically except their stubborn belief in the uncompromising stands they’ve taken.” Mars bassist, Mark Cunningham explains a simple bond, “There was a nice competitive energy. We did feel part of something, but I don’t think we influenced each other too much musically— maybe more conceptually, in the sense that anything seemed possible and doable.” “No Wave” filmmaker, Scott B, describes the movement best, ” What was so spectacular about this moment in time was that it was in a place the world had forgotten about and gone past. And yet some of the most ambitious artists in the world convened there, and were just reinventing the language of art and music and film all for themselves, without any real expectations of financial reward. It was like a huge lab where we were all reinventing what it meant to be an artist and a musician.”
Photo: Lizzy Mercier Descloux
We invite strangers to the cluster of “No Wave” to start with these recommendations.
Limelight
Review By: Joel Collier
Documentary: Limelight
Presented by: Tribeca Film Festival
Director: Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys)
After watching this documentary, at the Tribeca Film Festival, on the life and death of the Limelight and Rudy Giuliani’s crusade against the club’s owner, Peter Gatien, I was left questioning the current status of New York City nightlife.
We all know that there was a time in NYC when the rich and the poor partied together freely, where artists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, and the nightlife cult joined to create something progressive, almost magical. The result was a breeding ground for new ideas, an opportunity to embody fantasies, and a nightly chance to actually have fun. Most nightlife enthusiasts have come to terms with the fact that what was once, will never be again. Those who’s birth dates are post-Studio 54 and the Gatien/Club Kid era seem doomed to only ever experience the ghost of these decades.
Long time NYC Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is hailed for having brought the city out of an age saturated with crime and sexual deviance. Giuliani was a bastion for the “Disneyfication” of Manhattan. He brought in companies such as Disney to the sex-haven that was Times Square, promising them saintly surroundings. Fast-forward to 2011, and we have the corporate hell now known as Times Square.
Nowadays, most people wait in line to pay a cover to buy overpriced drinks to be surrounded by shit heads while uninspiring, soulless music blasts overhead. The fact that the party days of yore seem impossible to re-stage is a result of current constructs in the spectrum of society. The bleached white state of nightlife leaves no room for the glory that once was. The ‘en masse’ party scene served a vital purpose, one of hosting a fertile ground for creative thought and one of catharsis. At it’s core it was a product of positive undertakings. Limelight was a sign of positive growth in New York City. Without this arena for the creative stratus, an integral part of cosmopolitan society remains extinct.
One can see it in the sour-puss faces of the youths clinging to their PBR’s and precious dollar shots. Every New Yorker who experienced the nightlife mecca that once was can still feel the hollow in the air of 20th/ 6th Ave where a Mall now resides within the same walls. That inescapable feeling is a silence that has fallen over all of clubland. There is hope among small groups of youths who demand a piece of what nightlife used to be. A new underground of sorts is breathing life into a wonderful Frankenstein of their own creation. Together with key figures of nightlife past, they are carving a new NYC nightlife landscape. The freedom to use the night as a canvas for ones’ dreams, to discover creatures that inspire and music that comforts and strengthens- this is the impetus for defining a new nightlife.
Vandam Nights
Photo: Austin Green
Featuring: Miss Tomorrow, Joel Collier, Sugar Walls
BRINGING EASTERN TRADITION TO A WESTERN MOVEMENT
By: FULL MOON ART WORK BY: Olga Nenazhivina
Autoportrait 1
Looking at Olga Nenazhivinas work is like peering into an era of art where tradition and its reprise were rewritten with modern thought. Where society, culture, and free thinking became art. Her work isn’t inspired by these ideas but are the traces of this modernist movement in present day. Full Moon sat down with Olga Nenazhivina and pick apart the brain of an artist that brings Eastern tradition to a Western movement.
№5
FULL MOON: First, could you tell our readers a bit about yourself? How would you sum up your creative background?
Olga Nenazhivinas: My father is an artist and my mother is the one who loves my father and art. They always lived an artistic life and when they had me they had no doubts I would be an artist. By looking at them I had no doubts as well. They put me in old suitcase, which became my first bed and my first art studio; there I found my first pencils. My parents moved from one place to another and I drew, drew, drew.
That was a happy time. I used to draw on any surface I could possibly find: on paper, walls, and asphalt, everywhere. I loved reading books with paintings of great artists and anatomy books as a child.
My mother used to help me to finish my first drawings and father used to explain to me what composition means and how to make a drawing complete.
And when I turned four, I began to call my activity work. Most important, I knew what art was.
Now I am an adult, all my life I did what I like and studied it, but now I think I do not know what art is.
Everything is all right
FM: You are a Russian-born artist, why does eastern culture continue to have such a profound effect on your work? What aspects of western culture do you explore in your work?
ON: Yes, I am from Russia, but I grew up in the Eastern part, on the shores of the Sea of Japan, on the border with Japan, China and Korea.
The East has become a part of me. Besides, I have Asian blood in my veins, my grandmother belonged to the ethnic group of Gurans, and these people lived on the shores of Baikal Lake and had Mongolian roots.
Culture, East or West - is a huge treasure store of human history. Like any creative person, I am interested in all its aspects.
Flight
FM: You recently moved to the States. What has the transition been like for you? Do you see a difference in how art is appreciated between the United States and Russia?
ON: Rather, we can speak about the human qualities and relationships. Many people confuse art with commerce. You see, our planet is small. In general people are the same everywhere. So in my opinion, the attitude toward art is the same everywhere.
FM: If you were commissioned for an artist portrait, which artist (living or dead) would you want it to be of?
ON: I love life and people who are alive …. I would draw my artist friends, but most likely myself.
FM: In your opinion, how has the digital age (of internet and television) affected western society’s perception of art?
ON: Everything benefits real art, the digital era too. Art, both in the West and the East suffers not from new developments, but from parasites and commerce.
Виктору Цою посвящается
FM: If you had the world’s attention for just one minute, a chance to convey a singular message through your art, what would it be and why?
ON: People, be merciful! It is the core of life.
FM: Art is often described as a ‘conversation’ between the artist and their audience. What do you hope the first sentence of that conversation will be?
ON: Only about love!
Snow