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267 • <strong>APR</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
SKY BLACK<br />
RYAN DURKIN • CENTRICO • CLOTH & FLAME • ALT JAZZ
★ ★ ★ <strong>APR</strong>IL 05 – 22 ★ ★ ★<br />
BY<br />
RANDAL MYLER & DIRECTED BY<br />
DAN WHEETMAN<br />
RANDAL MYLER<br />
THE CLUB MAY BE CLOSED,<br />
BUT THE PARTY IS JUST HEATING UP!<br />
A rousing, raucous, sizzling musical revue.<br />
Best Featured Actress in a Musical (SOFIA) THE COLOR PURPLE<br />
ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY AT THE HERBERGER THEATER CENTER<br />
222 EAST MONROE STREET, PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85004<br />
ARIZONATHEATRE.ORG / BOX OFFICE: 602-256-6995<br />
SEASON SPONSOR: I. MICHAEL AND BETH KASSER PRODUCTION SPONSOR: ZAZU PANNEE PARK REGENT
CONTENTS<br />
8<br />
12<br />
22<br />
30<br />
34<br />
FEATURES<br />
Cover: Sky Black<br />
Photo by: Kassandra Kraus<br />
8 12 22<br />
34<br />
THE SURREALISTIC VISION OF<br />
SKY BLACK<br />
By Amy Young<br />
MODERN MANOR’S<br />
RYAN DURKIN<br />
By Jeff Kronenfeld<br />
DIVINITY<br />
Photography & Art Direction: Chris Loomis<br />
Styling: Shannon Campbell<br />
CLOTH & FLAME<br />
Ignites Adventurous Dining<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
ALT JAZZ FINDS A HOME<br />
IN PHOENIX<br />
By Kevin Hanlon<br />
COLUMNS<br />
7<br />
16<br />
20<br />
38<br />
40<br />
BUZZ<br />
Phoenix Legacy<br />
By Robert Sentinery<br />
ARTS<br />
Valeska Soares: Any Moment Now<br />
By Amy L. Young<br />
Jason Hugger’s Surreal Desert Dreams<br />
By Ashley Naftule<br />
Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
FOOD FETISH<br />
Céntrico<br />
By Sloane Burwell<br />
GIRL ON FARMER<br />
Magic Mirror<br />
By Celia Beresford<br />
NIGHT GALLERY<br />
Photos by Robert Sentinery<br />
JAVA MAGAZINE<br />
EDITOR & PUBLISHER<br />
Robert Sentinery<br />
ART DIRECTOR<br />
Victor Vasquez<br />
ARTS EDITOR<br />
Amy L. Young<br />
FOOD EDITOR<br />
Sloane Burwell<br />
MUSIC EDITOR<br />
Mitchell L. Hillman<br />
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR<br />
Jenna Duncan<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS<br />
Kevin Hanlon<br />
Jeff Kronenfeld<br />
Ashley Naftule<br />
Tom Reardon<br />
PROOFREADER<br />
Patricia Sanders<br />
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS<br />
Jamie Allio<br />
Enrique Garcia<br />
Johnny Jaffe<br />
Chris Loomis<br />
ADVERTISING<br />
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Copyright © <strong>2018</strong><br />
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Publisher assumes no liability for the information<br />
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JAVA MAGAZINE<br />
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PHOENIX LEGACY<br />
By Robert Sentinery<br />
BUZZ<br />
Last month’s Modern Phoenix Week got me thinking about our city’s legacy. The<br />
sense of optimism and innovation of Mid-century Modernism is the perfect symbol<br />
for Phoenix, a city that boomed during the post-war period. Public interest<br />
in preservation and restoration is on the rise, with the growing realization that<br />
what we leave behind for future generations is important.<br />
Phoenix has always had a rogue attitude about tearing down the past, but that<br />
seems to be changing. Successful projects like the Uptown Plaza restoration<br />
have shown developers that preservation can be profitable, and that retailers<br />
and the public are willing to pay more for character and a sense of history.<br />
One of the preservation/adaptive reuse projects that I’m most excited about<br />
is Modern Manor’s relocation to the former Paris Laundry building on 7th Ave.,<br />
slated for this summer. The iconic mid-century structure, with its prominent<br />
raked canopy and dynamic neon signage, exudes a space-age vibe brimming<br />
with optimism.<br />
Ryan Durkin, the man behind Modern Manor, has big plans for the project.<br />
Not only will it be a massive showroom for Mid-century Modern furniture and<br />
unique art, but there will be a café and bar on site and even a speakeasy tucked<br />
inside the fur storage vault. Durkin’s story is an interesting one, about a guy who<br />
always knew he would work for himself and the tenacity it has taken for him to<br />
get there (see “Modern Manor’s Ryan Durkin,” p. 12).<br />
When my father moved to Phoenix in 1947, it was a swinging little city. He was<br />
a musician and quickly found friends when he played his clarinet at jazz gigs<br />
around town. While jazz in AZ has had its ups and downs, there is currently a<br />
grassroots resurgence – but this isn’t your father’s jazz. Infusing heavy doses<br />
of hip hop, funk, prog rock and more, bands like House of Stairs, Alassane, the<br />
Color 8 and the Stakes are breaking new ground in sound with masterful musicianship<br />
(see “Alt Jazz Finds a Home in Phoenix: Six Bands on the Rise,” p. 34).<br />
Phoenix’s surrounding landscape is a big part of its appeal. Cloth & Flame is an<br />
innovative company that takes people to remote, unspoiled places around our<br />
state and then serves them farm-to-table meals. Many of their clients are from<br />
the corporate world or the wedding industry, but they do offer open-to-the-public<br />
dinners on occasion. Originally founded as hot air balloon ride company – thus<br />
the name – by a cool young couple, Cloth & Flame has grown into something<br />
really interesting (see “Cloth & Flame Ignites Adventurous Dining,” p. 30).<br />
Sky Black is one of Arizona’s most talented up-and-coming artists. His current<br />
exhibition at monOrchid Gallery (through June 1) is not to be missed. The dreamlike<br />
surreal imagery of his work is backed up by a masterful painting technique<br />
that belies his young age. He is also the co-creator of Arizona’s largest mural:<br />
over 5,000 square feet in area, it was painted on the side of the Orpheum Theater<br />
in Flagstaff over the course of two years (see “The Surrealistic Vision of Sky<br />
Black,” p. 8).<br />
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The Surrealistic Vision of<br />
SKY BLACK<br />
By Amy Young<br />
8 JAVA<br />
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Photo by Kassandra Kraus<br />
Flagstaff-based artist Sky Black currently has a couple of ways to see his work in Phoenix. There is the epic<br />
solo exhibition Before We Forget Ourselves at downtown’s monOrchid Gallery. Travelers or anyone who just<br />
wants to pop by the airport to visit the Sky Harbor Museum can also see Black’s art in Terminal 3, where three<br />
paintings are on display through August 26.<br />
Black is a native of Arizona, born in Flagstaff, who traveled around as a youth with his mother and brother,<br />
living in a few places – including the Hopi reservation – before they settled down in Michigan. Black’s affinity<br />
for Flagstaff was satisfied by regular visits to see his father and other family members, soaking up as much<br />
nature as possible on river rafting and camping trips. Back home in Michigan, especially in his early high<br />
school years, Black was an avid baseball and basketball player, considering a career in professional sports.<br />
Things took a turn, though, when he suffered an injury his sophomore year.<br />
“I decided to come out to Flagstaff for a semester,” he says, “and that’s when I really started thinking about art<br />
and focusing on that. My grandma was a professional painter, and we inherited her supplies and oil paints. I<br />
was always attracted to them. They had this mystical quality for me. Prior to that, I’d always associated them<br />
with art you would see in museums or in cathedrals. I was so attracted to the colors.”<br />
Before he got involved with the oil paints, Black says he had been drawing most of his life. “I was always<br />
sketching. Even back in first grade I remember being really good at perspective.” He cites his mother as an<br />
important part of his artistic development. “She’s an early childhood educator and would always try to bring<br />
out our best talents. I grew up with seven brothers and sisters, and we’ve all gone in different directions. One<br />
is a farmer, one a microbiologist, another is a teacher. My mom now owns and runs her own school, and I think<br />
we were her prototypes. She has a freedom-of-choice attitude and let us evolve on our own.”<br />
Around that fateful sophomore year is when Black<br />
really cranked up the sketching. “I’d spent time<br />
back and forth between Michigan and Arizona, so I<br />
became ineligible [for sports],” he says. “I also went<br />
through my first heartbreak that year and couldn’t<br />
stop sketching.” He ended up back in Flagstaff for<br />
his senior year and feels lucky to have gotten an art<br />
teacher who also gave him freedom.<br />
“The art room at school was under construction,<br />
and things were chaotic. I showed the teacher my<br />
portfolio and sketchbook, and she let me work on<br />
my own, like it was an independent study,” he<br />
recalls. “My art teachers in Michigan were more<br />
controlling, and that didn’t help foster the creative<br />
process.” During this time, Black made the first<br />
oil painting that was very significant to him, called<br />
“Radiohead,” in reference to the band that he says<br />
has been a huge influence.<br />
He went back to Michigan after graduation and<br />
worked on a large-scale project with another artist<br />
for entry in the annual ArtPrize competition. It made<br />
him need to decide between staying there to do that<br />
or taking advantage of a scholarship to NAU. Figuring<br />
that “school will always be there if I want to go,” he<br />
stayed. The pair didn’t win, but they placed in the top<br />
75 of 2,000 entries. Black says that the other artist<br />
helped him hone his oil painting techniques, so it was<br />
a beneficial choice all around.<br />
That achievement under his belt, Black once again<br />
headed to Flagstaff. He was 19 at the time, and<br />
that’s when he really started selling his original<br />
paintings. He was doing the Flagstaff First Friday art<br />
walk and took the promotion very seriously. He also<br />
found another mentor in acclaimed artist Joe Sorren,<br />
who spent many years in Northern Arizona. Sorren’s<br />
dreamy and surreal paintings have received much<br />
international recognition. “My mom has known Joe<br />
for many years,” he says. “He really gave me a lot of<br />
great advice on the narrative and storytelling aspects<br />
of my work, as well as how to handle the business<br />
side, like pricing and dealing with galleries.”<br />
“I’ve always been concerned with a narrative type of<br />
surrealism and combining things that haven’t been<br />
combined,” says Black, “and Joe always reminded me<br />
that no two artists will ever tell a story the same way.”<br />
Color choices are an early point of notice in Black’s<br />
work. He definitely shares with Sorren a tendency<br />
to present them gently. They’re soft and subtle,<br />
generally. When he does use deeper or bolder colors,<br />
they don’t come at you like a punch in the face, but<br />
they make you take notice.<br />
JAVA 9<br />
MAGAZINE
Sometimes when Black lets you rest easy as you soak<br />
up those pillowy colors, his subject matter gives you<br />
the gut hit. “Candy Cane Cart of Consumption” is one<br />
piece that exemplifies this. From a distance you’re<br />
drawn to the overloaded confectionary cart, soaking<br />
up the prettiness of its pastel presence. A closer look<br />
finds you in the midst of a deeper message about the<br />
evils of consumerism.<br />
Many of the works in Before We Forget Ourselves are<br />
timely statements on human behavior. Black says his<br />
style has evolved quite a bit. “I really got into nautical<br />
themes for a while,” he tells us. “In 2012, I was into<br />
pinks and magentas and desert landscape scenes.<br />
I explored metaphysical themes, too. In 2014 and<br />
2015, I started getting more figurative, working with<br />
people as the subject, and then I started mixing them<br />
with animals. That led to my first show with Laura<br />
Dragon at {9} The Gallery, called Our Other Selves.”<br />
He says that show was about our other<br />
personalities that we see within animals. “I wanted<br />
to show that we’re not as separate from animals<br />
as some people think, especially some religions.<br />
The way we treat animals is often ethically wrong<br />
and horrible. We are all part of this animal kingdom<br />
and we need to realize that – that was the underlying<br />
background of those paintings.”<br />
You’ll see that in the show in pieces like “Just Trying to<br />
Live Here, Too,” which features a displaced buffalo lying<br />
atop a car amid a sea of other run-down vehicles.<br />
It’s not just the engaging colors and the important<br />
social messages in the work that make Black’s pieces<br />
complete, it’s the skill. Though they’re a bit older,<br />
the nautical pieces from earlier in Black’s work,<br />
especially of ships in motion, are spot-on, providing<br />
evocative looks at the power of the sea and its<br />
sometimes-turbulent scape.<br />
“In Bloom,” a piece in the monOrchid show, is a<br />
gorgeous work. It’s refreshing that Black takes<br />
advantage of the textural abilities of oil paint. Here, a<br />
human figure is covered in flowers. With their hands<br />
over their face, the fingers are spread just enough for<br />
the viewer to see the eyes looking back at you. Thick,<br />
well-directed oil goops give it a content depth that is<br />
enveloping. The sweet floral blend, set against a darker<br />
background that looks like billowy clouds, is the kind of<br />
work that asks you to just breathe for a minute.<br />
Black also paints murals – one is the “Sound of<br />
Flight” mural on the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff. “I<br />
worked on it for two years with two other artists (R.E.<br />
Wall and Margaret Dewar),” he says. “At just under<br />
5,000 square feet, it’s the largest mural in Arizona. It<br />
was great to be able to do that for the community.” It<br />
took two full summers to finish. He also did a mural<br />
in Berlin a couple of years ago, and they’ve invited<br />
him back to do another. Black hopes that will happen<br />
before the year is up.<br />
Meeting Wayne Rainey, monOrchid’s director, last<br />
fall led to Black’s solo exhibition. “He heard about<br />
me through a mutual friend and liked my work. We<br />
met up and I showed him my murals in Flagstaff<br />
and things went from there.” In two weeks, Black is<br />
also going to start on a mural project at monOrchid.<br />
The gallery will continue to represent Black’s work<br />
in Phoenix, and the current plan is for him to have a<br />
new show there every 18 months.<br />
Before We Forget Ourselves runs through June 1. “It’s<br />
an eclectic mix of things that I gain inspiration from<br />
and things I have concerns about. Overall, I think it’s<br />
fun, interesting and thought-provoking,” he says.<br />
“I want people to look at it with an open mind and<br />
make their own interpretations.”<br />
www.skyblackart.com<br />
www.monorchid.com<br />
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12 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE<br />
BY JEFF KRONENFELD • PHOTOS JAMIE ALLIO
“If you live in Phoenix and you don’t have any friends<br />
in real estate, then you don’t have any friends.” Ryan<br />
Durkin, co-owner of Modern Manor (MM), a vintage<br />
furniture showroom located in Phoenix’s Melrose<br />
District, was walking me through his master plan<br />
vis-à-vis the Paris Laundry and Dry Cleaning building,<br />
which he recently acquired and is currently in the<br />
process of transforming into the new home of an<br />
expanded and reimagined MM.<br />
Located just north of Indian School on 7th Avenue,<br />
a stone’s throw from the Melrose Arch and only a<br />
few blocks from MM’s current home, the building<br />
was constructed in 1957. “It’s an iconic mid-century<br />
modern building in Phoenix, and I’ve always loved it,<br />
always thought that one day somebody was going to<br />
do something really cool with that building,” Durkin<br />
said. The sentiment ended up being the best kind of<br />
prophecy: the self-fulfilling kind.<br />
Not only will the move expand MM’s floor space<br />
significantly, allowing for an even larger menagerie<br />
of mid-century collectables and unique art, but the<br />
building will also include a café, bar and even a<br />
speakeasy (to be housed in the former fur vault, a<br />
climate-controlled room where people once paid<br />
to store their coats). While a specific date has yet<br />
to be set, they hope to open their doors sometime<br />
this summer.<br />
Last January, Durkin saw a short video showing<br />
a going-out-of-business sign in front of the Paris<br />
Laundry on Instagram, posted by Alison King,<br />
founder of Modern Phoenix. Durkin reached out<br />
to her and learned that not only was the business<br />
indeed closing, but that the building was also<br />
likely to be sold.<br />
“She was like, ‘You’ve got to save that building<br />
because it’s not on the historic register and<br />
someone could buy it and just knock it down,’”<br />
Durkin said.<br />
The building’s most prominent feature is a bold,<br />
upward-sweeping canopy, formerly painted baby<br />
blue, one example of the building’s Googie style<br />
(a sort of subgenre of Mid-century Modern, often<br />
featuring Space Age motifs, named for a now-defunct<br />
café in Hollywood).<br />
“I love the fact that the 1957 Paris Laundry building is<br />
being repurposed and is going to continue gracing 7th<br />
Avenue with all its Googie madness,” said Marshall<br />
Shore, Phoenix’s “HIPstorian.” Shore pointed out<br />
that the attention this project is generating is<br />
helping efforts to preserve other nearby Googie style<br />
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uildings, including the former Melrose Liquors, which will soon house a café/<br />
restaurant called The Googie on Melrose.<br />
Durkin is a busy man. When his phone refused to cease buzzing during our<br />
interview, he switched it to airplane mode, only to have his iPad instantly start<br />
ringing. But this kind of intense activity wasn’t always the case for Durkin.<br />
Durkin grew up in South Scottsdale and then Cave Creek. After high school,<br />
he bounced between SCC and ASU while he tried to figure out what to do.<br />
“Everybody always told me I was an entrepreneur and that I should be in<br />
business, because I’ve just always been that way,” Durkin said. “That wasn’t<br />
very helpful because then I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll be a business major.’ That sucked.<br />
Giant classes of microeconomics and macroeconomics. I hated it.”<br />
“I wanted something more artistic. So I started a clothing brand. That didn’t work<br />
out, so I started a different clothing brand. That was better, but I was young and in<br />
college and that ended up becoming a screen-printing and embroidery business,<br />
which I still run today. It’s called Retro Fashions, because when I started, it was<br />
vintage t-shirts,” Durkin said. That was in 2000.<br />
Durkin was still in school when he started making money and decided to drop<br />
out. His parents were less than convinced when he told them his plan. “They<br />
weren’t pumped about it. They’re thrilled now, but they weren’t then,” Durkin<br />
recalled with a laugh. “They were like, ‘No, you’ve got to finish.’ I was like,<br />
‘And then what, I’m going to have a degree to show to myself, because that’s who<br />
I’m going to work for?’”<br />
Durkin did odd jobs while getting his businesses off the ground, everything from<br />
delivering pizza to working at a spa, to being employed at a now-defunct, high-end<br />
fashion boutique in North Scottsdale called Electric Ladyland, “like the Jimi<br />
Hendrix album.”<br />
Then he met and married Kylie, MM’s co-owner and lead designer. The couple<br />
will celebrate their tenth anniversary in November. After getting married, they<br />
got a condo and needed to furnish it.<br />
“We didn’t want to go to Ikea,” Durkin said. “We wanted different stuff. I’m just<br />
a natural-born collector. I love to collect because I love the history of things. I<br />
love things that are hard to find. My wife is a natural-born designer, and she’s<br />
really good at it.”<br />
Nearly every weekend, they would drive out to places like Sun City to “bomb<br />
around estate sales and go to auctions.” They furnished their condo but<br />
inevitably found more than they needed, and usually at a price too good to not<br />
buy.<br />
“This was before everybody jumped on the Mid-century Modern thing –<br />
just before. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not like, ‘I’m old-school man, I’ve been doing<br />
this forever,’” Durkin said. “There are lots of people who’ve been doing it longer<br />
than me, but we did get in before it really blew up.”<br />
Durkin recalls deals were easy to come by then. The couple would fill their<br />
garage, sell everything on Craigslist or eBay, and then fill it again. It was a hobby<br />
that became a business. Eventually, they got a booth at an antique mall.<br />
Success built on success, and April 1, 2010, they opened the doors of Modern<br />
Manor, roughly a block west of 7th Avenue on Hazelwood Street. Despite doing<br />
virtually no advertising, the business has thrived.<br />
14 JAVA<br />
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“We just opened up and started to sell stuff,” said Durkin, who seems to<br />
revel in underplaying the skill and hard work involved. “It kept going and we<br />
kept selling stuff. We learned as we went: about designers, about how to get<br />
things upholstered, and how to put all the pieces of the business together. And<br />
just kept doing it.”<br />
Having many friends in real estate and a surplus of furniture, along with<br />
design chops, MM began staging houses. “It went from two or three a year<br />
to now we’ve got two or three a week. We’ve got 30 houses staged at any<br />
given time,” Durkin said. “We’re constantly staging, and so that’s been a really<br />
good thing for us. It’s been fun, but it’s also been a pretty lucrative way to<br />
showcase our design talent.”<br />
Another aspect of Durkin’s passion for repurposing shows in his artwork.<br />
His choice of medium is, unsurprisingly, old toys, old tools and other cultural<br />
ephemera too numerous to list. For example, he pointed out a work that features<br />
Star Wars figurines configured into the symbol of the Galactic Empire and<br />
enclosed in a frame. Having buckets of old action figures and other toys, many<br />
of which had little or no resale value due to overproduction in the booming ’90s,<br />
Durkin couldn’t bear to throw them away and has found a way to give them a<br />
second life as art objects.<br />
“It’s not very complicated, to be perfectly honest,” Durkin said. “Don’t get me<br />
wrong, recycling is great, but if I’m being blunt, I’m not all green. You know, ‘Save<br />
the planet.’ For me, it’s more that I just don’t like to waste stuff.”<br />
In another vein of his work, Durkin takes old paintings – the kind of landscapes<br />
you might see on a motel wall – and then adds discordant elements drawn from<br />
pop culture or modern references superimposed on older settings. In one, an<br />
impossibly large Lego monster peers over the horizon projecting laser beams from<br />
its eyes while a lone green plastic army man almost disappears into the landscape<br />
below. In another, Durkin adds a conspicuous iPhone into the foreground of a table<br />
setting featuring a container of eggs and vat of wine.<br />
“I mean, if it has no value, then it’s garbage. But iPhones, for instance,” said<br />
Durkin, luring me deeper into his rabbit hole. “How many people have an old<br />
iPhone that’s like five generations old just sitting in a drawer? What are they<br />
going to do with it? Nothing.”<br />
“If you think about it, it’s an incredible piece of technology, and it still has<br />
value, but it doesn’t serve a purpose in this ever-changing world of ‘We got<br />
something newer.’ It kills me to just throw it in the garbage. I would rather<br />
figure out a way to still enjoy it.”<br />
Whether it’s repurposing action figures, phones or entire buildings, Durkin is<br />
helping to preserve history with his own unique flair, proving again that one<br />
person’s trash is another’s treasure – and that there is value in not only preserving<br />
old things, but reimagining them as well.<br />
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ARTS<br />
VALESKA SOARES: ANY<br />
MOMENT NOW<br />
At Phoenix Art Museum<br />
By Amy Young<br />
Any Moment Now is a mid-career survey exhibition<br />
of work by Valeska Soares. It’s currently running<br />
at Phoenix Art Museum, where it will be on view<br />
through July 15. It comes this way via the Santa<br />
Barbara Museum of Art, as part of the Getty’s<br />
Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative, which<br />
explores Latin American and Latino art in dialogue<br />
with Los Angeles.<br />
What you will see is more than 45 multi-media works<br />
by the artist – including sculpture, installation and<br />
video – that she’s created over the last 20 years.<br />
Soares came to Brooklyn from Brazil in 1992 to continue<br />
her art career. Prior to the move, she studied<br />
architecture, which is evident in her site-specific<br />
installations; they’re made complete by a stealth<br />
understanding of space.<br />
Her installation “Un-rest,” from 2010, is one example<br />
of this. More than 120 footstools of different styles<br />
are brought together. “I collect objects,” Soares<br />
says, “and give them a new life. This river of different<br />
footstools of different ages encompasses a<br />
variety of things – tastes, styles, colors, time periods<br />
and purposes.” Beyond that, Soares isn’t concerned<br />
with providing a deeper explanation. “Museums are<br />
becoming very didactic these days,” she says. “Without<br />
a given narrative, the work becomes the narrative.<br />
Each interpretation is subjective.” It’s refreshing,<br />
actually, the self-reliant nature that she assigns the<br />
work, rather than trying to direct the viewer.<br />
She is more concerned with it presenting as a comfortable<br />
space. “We wanted it to have a friendly and<br />
homey quality to it,” she explains, “sort of a living<br />
room setting – and for another piece, a bedroom setting<br />
– where viewers can comfortably move about<br />
and get different absorptions.”<br />
Soares also emphasizes that the exhibition is not an<br />
examination of the “chronological me,” but rather<br />
both older and newer pieces converged separately<br />
in this setting that offers an intimate exploration of<br />
the work.<br />
Her “Fainting Couch” is an interactive piece that<br />
offers polarities on both physical and emotional<br />
levels. A stainless-steel bench sits low to the ground.<br />
Though there’s a pillow to the head, the natural<br />
surface of the bench doesn’t perpetuate a reward<br />
of physical comfort. Lie down, however, and that<br />
apprehension or confusion is diluted by the lovely<br />
fragrance of the lilies contained within, as their scent<br />
is released through intentional perforations. Soares<br />
mentions that it’s a bit of a play on the classic psychoanalytical<br />
couch, and that makes sense. That’s a<br />
place that can initially be uncomfortable but encourages<br />
you to find a place within yourself to release<br />
personal information.<br />
The low-hanging disco balls in Soares’ “Stop Motion”<br />
installation are riveting, whether they are indeed in<br />
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motion or settled at a standstill. You don’t know how<br />
they’re going to act or react, which the artist says<br />
gives a feeling comparable to “walking through a<br />
minefield.” Though they don’t feel quite that dangerous,<br />
there is intensity due to their unpredictability.<br />
“They’re like a vortex,” she says, adding that the<br />
piece overall involved a lot of complex design.<br />
With that piece and the others, Soares chooses not<br />
to crank up the room lighting, and that brings her<br />
desire to create an inviting setting to fruition. Rather<br />
than shining a specific spotlight that forces you to<br />
“look here,” the low light makes it easier to journey<br />
through the exhibition naturally, rather than be directed.<br />
It allows you to forget about the setting.<br />
The installation “Any Moment Now,” which shares<br />
the exhibition’s title, comprises 365 vintage dust jackets<br />
mounted on linen panels, along with four vintage<br />
library ladders. These books, with titles that reference<br />
time, come together in number to create a oneyear<br />
calendar, without any specific dates or order.<br />
The way that Soares plays with time emphasizes the<br />
importance of perspectives. She’s mapped out a calendar<br />
cycle, providing a frame for that period of time,<br />
but once again allows the viewer to fill in the blanks.<br />
Eyes journey between the titles, and the book choices<br />
are only one component that inspires reflection.<br />
Soares’ work feels egoless. She consistently stays<br />
out of her own way, so graciously that you don’t – or<br />
can’t – forget about her. She lets the work speak to<br />
you as the individual, irrespective of the entities she<br />
has created.<br />
Any Moment Now might consist of collected objects<br />
or materials that come from different time periods,<br />
but the exhibition, overall, emphasizes a timelessness<br />
that signifies the universalities contained in the<br />
human experience, exemplifying both our delicate<br />
nature and our pervasive, collective resilience.<br />
Any Moment Now<br />
Through July 15<br />
Marcus and Marley Galleries<br />
Phoenix Art Museum<br />
phxart.org<br />
Valeska Soares, Any Moment Now..., 2014. 365 vintage dust jackets mounted<br />
on linen panels and 4 vintage library ladders. Courtesy of Fortes D’Aloia &<br />
Gabriel, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and Alexander Gray Associates, New<br />
York. Installation view, Eleven Rivington Gallery, New York, 2014. Photo: Charles<br />
Benton.<br />
Valeska Soares, Finale, 2013. Antique table, 151 antique glasses, 5 pitchers,<br />
3 decanters, liquor and mirror. The Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, Miami.<br />
Photo: Oriol Tarridas.<br />
Valeska Soares, Un-rest, 2010. 128 footstools and 1 glass chair. Courtesy of<br />
Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and Alexander Gray<br />
Associates, New York. Photo: Ronald Amstuz.<br />
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JASON HUGGER’S SURREAL<br />
DESERT DREAMS<br />
By Ashley Naftule<br />
One of the most accomplished painters of the<br />
Surrealism movement, René Magritte, once said,<br />
“Everything we see hides another thing.” His<br />
paintings are full of absences and evocative imagery,<br />
floating hats, faces turned into masks, tricks of<br />
perspective. They evoke the hidden mysteries of our<br />
existence, like how a face can hide the chaotic inner<br />
world of a soul.<br />
Phoenix painter Jason Hugger cites Magritte and<br />
fellow Surrealists Salvador Dalí and Yves Tanguy as<br />
among his biggest influences. Like Magritte, Hugger<br />
seems to be obsessed with the hidden nature of<br />
things. As a painter of landscapes and still lifes,<br />
he produces work that reveals the luminous beauty<br />
hidden in displaced objects and barren desert vistas.<br />
“I’ve been painting since I was 16,” the 45-year-old<br />
artist says. Steadily honing his craft, Hugger has<br />
distinguished himself in the Phoenix art community<br />
by creating “still life landscapes.”<br />
“I paint the still life as though it were a place to<br />
be visited,” Hugger says. His oil paintings feel like<br />
windows into surreal cartoon landscapes. One<br />
could imagine a Cubist coyote desperately chasing<br />
an Alexander Calder–inspired roadrunner in the<br />
shadows of the towering objects that take center<br />
stage in Hugger’s paintings. From a sharp-looking<br />
bridge that appears like a bent musical saw to piles<br />
of standing metal columns that look like giant house<br />
keys, the strange objects in Hugger’s paintings look<br />
both alien and familiar.<br />
“I find discarded objects in salvage yards and auto<br />
shops and set them up in a still life environment in<br />
the studio,” Hugger says. In taking these objects out<br />
of context, his paintings discover hidden meanings.<br />
One thing that Hugger’s work excels at is reminding<br />
viewers just how strange and harsh the desert<br />
can be. For locals who’ve lived for years among<br />
saguaros and rocky landscapes, it’s easy to take that<br />
weirdness for granted. You certainly won’t sense that<br />
strangeness in the works of countless cowboy artists<br />
and landscape painters who litter Valley art fairs and<br />
Old Town galleries.<br />
Viewing the desert with virgin eyes reveals how truly<br />
surreal it can be. A dry land with mountains that look<br />
like cracked and misshapen skulls; phallic-shaped<br />
plants armored with spikes; flowers that bloom only<br />
once a year, often in the dead of night; slithering and<br />
crawling animals filled with poison; gorgeous sunsets<br />
dappled with the magenta hues of pollution. Throw<br />
in an elephant with giraffe legs or a hovering bowler<br />
hat, and Dalí and Magritte would be right at home.<br />
Hugger’s paintings capture our desert’s beautiful,<br />
sunburnt colors with vivid oranges and purples and<br />
soft blue skies. His oils shimmer and streak the<br />
way summer heat ripples through the Arizona air.<br />
Beautiful and lonesome, his still life landscapes<br />
beckon you to get lost in them.<br />
The Art of Jason Hugger<br />
Grinders Coffee Co.<br />
Through April<br />
jasonhugger.bigcartel.com<br />
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IRIS VAN HERPEN:<br />
TRANSFORMING FASHION<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
Dutch designer Iris van Herpen has transformed the<br />
way people think about what a garment could be.<br />
Drawing inspiration from Earth elements, technology,<br />
light and sound waves, industry and even radiation,<br />
van Herpen has surged to the head of the class after<br />
making her couture debut just over 10 years ago (the<br />
young designer is 33 years old).<br />
Born in the small town of Wamel, in the Netherlands,<br />
van Herpen studied fashion and design at ArtEZ, a<br />
design school in the city of Arnhem. Van Herpen was<br />
first noted and featured in shows by the Groninger<br />
Museum in Groningen. Members of the international<br />
fashion community have lauded her very distinctive,<br />
iconic style since she first appeared on the scene.<br />
“When she started showing with the couture in<br />
Paris is when I started seeing her in show reviews<br />
and in media. Pretty early on she became desired by<br />
museums,” Dennita Sewell, Phoenix Art Museum’s<br />
fashion design curator, says.<br />
Sewell was seeking a new acquisition for PAM<br />
in honor of the Arizona Costume Institute’s 50th<br />
anniversary in 2016. While in Antwerp, Belgium, for<br />
a meeting, she asked around: “What designer really<br />
embodies the current moment, and beyond?” Fashion<br />
critic Eugene Rabkin knew van Herpen’s assistant and<br />
arranged a meeting.<br />
After Sewell’s proposal, ACI voted unanimously to<br />
purchase the Eleventh Dress, from the Biopiracy<br />
Collection. This is a light peach-pink garment that,<br />
when photographed, appears to be constructed<br />
of feathers. Up close, in person, the flesh-colored<br />
elements resemble elongated plastic doll hands.<br />
Van Herpen is well known for her innovations<br />
working with 3D printing to produce couture<br />
garments. But she is also a master of traditional<br />
handcrafted construction, Sewell explains. An<br />
interesting challenge for visitors to the current exhibit<br />
at the PAM’s Steele Gallery, Transforming Fashion, is<br />
to try to figure out which garments were created with<br />
3D printers and which were not.<br />
In one area of the exhibit hall, samples of some of<br />
her materials are provided, and guests are invited<br />
to touch, including a textile woven from strands<br />
of stainless steel and a material that looks like<br />
miniature mountain ridges of smooth black plastic.<br />
Van Herpen has amassed a number of awards and<br />
recognitions for her work, including the Johannes<br />
Vermeer Award (2017), the Grand Prize of the<br />
European Commission (STARTS, 2016) and the<br />
ANDAM Grand Prix (2014). This exhibit originated<br />
at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and<br />
features 15 collections with three pieces each.<br />
Collections with names such as Wilderness<br />
Embodied, Spatial Reverse, Chemical Crows and<br />
Magnetic Motion line two sides of the Steele Gallery,<br />
as if on railroad tracks. A video featuring footage<br />
from many of van Herpen’s fashion shows greets<br />
guests in the entry. One of the grandest pieces on<br />
view looks like a giant fluffy fur coat from a distance.<br />
But up close the elements resemble cones melted<br />
from a soft-jellied plastic. Another “dress,” from the<br />
Magnetic Motion collection, is molded from clear<br />
plastic and resembles an ice formation.<br />
The preview show in the Kelly Eller mezzanine<br />
gallery, outside of the main show in the Steele<br />
Gallery, should not be skipped. Here you will find<br />
Refinery Smoke, a true showstopper and one of van<br />
Herpen’s most creative uses of upcycled materials –<br />
such as the metal spines from children’s umbrellas<br />
and even motorcycle chains – incorporated into<br />
wildly gorgeous gowns.<br />
Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion<br />
Through May 13<br />
Phoenix Art Museum, Steele Gallery<br />
phxart.org<br />
Portrait courtesy of: Jean Baptiste Mondino and Iris van Herpen.<br />
Iris van Herpen, Capriole, Ensemble, July 2011. In collaboration with Isaie Bloch<br />
and Materialise. 3-D-printed polyamide. Groninger Museum. Photo by Bart<br />
Oomes, No 6 Studios.<br />
Iris van Herpen, Biopiracy, Dress, March 2014. 3-D-printed thermoplastic<br />
polyurethane 92A-1 with silicon coating. In collaboration with Julia Koerner<br />
and Materialise. Collection of Phoenix Museum of Art, Gift of Arizona Costume<br />
Institute. Photo by Bart Oomes, No 6 Studios.<br />
Iris van Herpen, Radiation Invasion, Dress, September 2009. Faux leather, gold<br />
foil, cotton, and tulle. Groninger Museum. Photo by Bart Oomes, No 6 Studios.<br />
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CEntrico<br />
In the Heart of It All | By Sloane Burwell<br />
Céntrico is a recently opened Mexican breakfast, lunch and cocktail spot on the<br />
ground floor of the historic Hotel San Carlos. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call<br />
this a family affair. Two of Céntrico’s owners – Pete Salaz and Edson Madrigal<br />
– also own Bar Smith and Cafe Monarch. Jessica Madrigal (Edson’s wife) and<br />
Carmen Mora own shares in Céntrico, as well. The chef, Miguel Beltran, is related<br />
to the Madrigals. Caught up yet? No matter, really, since you’ll feel like family<br />
once you are here.<br />
Céntrico is a charmingly small spot, with a mix of high tops and regular tables,<br />
along with outdoor seating on a street-level patio. I’m never one to miss<br />
a patio, and this is a good one. Céntrico has arguably the most urban and<br />
citified patio in town, since you’re across from the light rail, the Chase<br />
building and a busy boutique hotel. One recent visit for me was a stop on a<br />
tour of haunted hotels (who knew Phoenix has more than one). Although Céntrico<br />
spends most of its time as a breakfast and lunch spot, you’ll find small plates,<br />
drinks, live music and Pete – a well-respected local DJ – providing the soundtrack<br />
on Friday and Saturday nights.<br />
Breakfast is served seven days a week, with tasty classics like Chiliquiles ($8.95),<br />
served with either red or green sauce. Add a perfectly cooked egg ($2) atop<br />
the layers of goodness. For an extra $4, add the well-prepared achiote-grilled<br />
chicken breast. We also enjoyed the Migas ($8.95), a kicky mix of chips, chorizo<br />
and scrambled eggs served with avocado and queso Oaxaca. I loved the Chile<br />
Verde Omelette ($9.50), with succulent pork (more on that later), green chiles and<br />
excellent tomatillo salsa.<br />
We loved the Queso Fundido ($9.95), a cheesy mound of Mexican cheeses melted<br />
into a pan. Spring for the chorizo upgrade ($2) and use the tasty warm tortillas to<br />
scoop it up. I’m also a fan of the Céntrico Chop Salad ($10), which comes loaded<br />
with crispy chorizo, cucumber, pinto beans, slightly sweet and crunchy dried corn<br />
and a buttermilk dressing creamy enough to round out the dish. Normally I’d<br />
suggest a protein upgrade, but I don’t think this salad needs it.<br />
Now about that succulent pork: you’ll find the Chile Verde ($9.95) in the appetizer<br />
section. To be fair, this is probably because the portion isn’t an entree-sized freefor-all.<br />
But for me it was more than enough for dinner. Served alongside were<br />
three hot and freshly grilled tortillas. This stew-like dish is a flavorful mix of<br />
soulful broth, loaded with onions, tons of garlic and, of course, green chiles, with<br />
enough kick to wake you up but not knock you over. Hunks of meltingly tender pork<br />
and a smattering of grated cheese round out the mix. It would not be exaggerating<br />
to say I almost drank the broth after making the pork disappear – it’s that good.<br />
We also enjoyed the Double Bacon Cheeseburger ($13). With beef ground especially<br />
for Céntrico, this fresh, meaty monstrosity arrives cloaked in melted colby longhorn,<br />
a mild orange and white cheese I don’t recall seeing on any burger around town,<br />
and topped with jalapeño bacon. Someone cared about making this, and you can<br />
taste it. You’ll also enjoy the excellent fries, and for $2 more you can add a salad.<br />
Consider doubling up on the chipotle mayo that comes with the burger. It’s fantastic<br />
for french fry dipping.<br />
And, of course, there are tacos. All of Céntrico’s tacos are served on freshly grilled<br />
and well-made tortillas. I envision someone’s Nana coming in during breakfast<br />
and making a giant stash, because it certainly tastes like that’s what’s happening.<br />
Served four to an order, my favorites were the Tacos de Tinga ($10), a tingleinducing<br />
chicken taco served with a fantastic poblano crema. I also enjoyed the<br />
Asada ($10), a skirt steak taco with nopalitos (cactus) and guacamole. With the<br />
steak well-cooked so the edges are slightly crisped, I found myself looking for more<br />
bits of carne asada for noshing. I would love some of this on the queso fundido in<br />
addition to the chorizo.<br />
Céntrico prides itself on the extensive mezcal and tequila menu. What impressed<br />
me was the gorgeous tray of drink fixings you’ll see near the bar – a colorful array<br />
of roasted fruit ready to be served in the drink of your choice or any of the house<br />
cocktails. Ask for a slice of roasted lemon in your drink, or better yet, ask your server<br />
for input. We found service to be attentive and sweet, sort of like eating at your<br />
aunt or uncle’s house, which makes sense given the family of families involved in<br />
running the place.<br />
Céntrico is open seven days a week, which is no small feat for a new spot. But<br />
they’ve chosen a smart path, beginning with breakfast, lunch and small plates for<br />
weekend nights. It’s great to see a place that has clearly paid attention to detail<br />
in crafting and creating the menu and drink accoutrements. They’ve done their<br />
homework – great food, music, excellent craft cocktails and one of the largest<br />
selections of mezcals in town. While Hotel San Carlos has been a part of the history<br />
of Phoenix, I’d like to think that Céntrico will have a place in its future.<br />
Céntrico<br />
Hotel San Carlos<br />
202 N. Central Ave., Phoenix<br />
Monday to Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.<br />
Friday 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.<br />
Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.<br />
Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.<br />
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Photography/Art Direction: Chris Loomis<br />
Styling: Shannon Campbell<br />
Dresses: Galina Couture<br />
Hair: Amy Freudenberg<br />
Makeup: Jalia P.<br />
Models: Miwa Williams and Kimmy Vu<br />
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CLOTH & FLAME<br />
Ignites Adventurous Dining<br />
By Jenna Duncan<br />
Photo by Kate Nelle<br />
Destination dining company Cloth & Flame<br />
combines a sense of adventure with the desire<br />
to taste and explore high-quality food. Founded<br />
about four and a half years ago by Matt Cooley and<br />
Olivia Laux, business and romantic partners, who<br />
share a love of travel, exploration and wilderness.<br />
The couple recently became engaged – coincidental<br />
because their business hosts so many weddings.<br />
“Cloth & Flame will host our wedding, however, but<br />
we won’t be in the production,” Laux says. “Inevitably,<br />
we will probably end up carrying a table or something,<br />
in a tux or wedding dress,” Cooley says.<br />
More than just a catering company, Cloth & Flame<br />
currently counts around 15 regular employees (six are<br />
on salary along with a number of regular contractors,<br />
Cooley explains).<br />
Here is the basic concept: find a mesmerizing outdoor<br />
space not often frequented by the usual hiking,<br />
mountain biking and camping crowds and host<br />
unique and unforgettable outdoor dinner, not just for<br />
celebration, but also to build community.<br />
“When we go scout and explore, it is fun to try to<br />
figure out what unique logistical challenges may<br />
happen at each site,” Cooley says.<br />
The business hosts three main types of events:<br />
corporate functions, weddings, and public-invited<br />
shared dinners. All of the dinners are hosted outdoors<br />
with unique natural backdrops and all the meals are<br />
served family style.<br />
When Cooley and Laux host an open-to-the-public<br />
dinner, they have a list of sites they love to visit and<br />
people they like to work with. Sometimes they rent an<br />
event space from state or local parks, but often they are<br />
working with private landowners and trusts.<br />
Cooley says they have a commitment to work with<br />
partners to promote conservation and help them keep<br />
their lands undeveloped. Often the places they go are<br />
not large spaces, so they keep some of their dinners<br />
small (around 40 people).<br />
Some of the unique spaces they’ve brought guests to<br />
include the Nordic Village site in Northern Arizona,<br />
the base of the Superstition Mountains, Papago Park,<br />
Joshua Tree in California and sites around Park City,<br />
Utah. Cloth & Flame often arranges transportation<br />
options to their sites, sometimes by bus or caravan.<br />
This year Arizona State Parks won the highest honor<br />
for state parks in the U.S. and Cloth & Flame will be<br />
hosting a celebration dinner for the directors. Other<br />
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Photo by Kate Nelle<br />
clients have included Uber, Tuft & Needle, Entrepreneurs Organization and<br />
even McDonalds Corp. “We had Audi out here recently. They drove all these<br />
new models that they just released up to Roosevelt Lake and we had a lunch<br />
out there,” Cooley says.<br />
“We have a really cool event coming up with the Royal Bank of Canada where<br />
we plan to go out to Saguaro Lake, build a dock and serve a floating lunch,”<br />
Cooley says. “Then we will take guests in a helicopter to the bottom of the<br />
Grand Canyon for a dinner, and later fly to the Superstitions Mountains and do<br />
a meadow-style dinner out there.”<br />
The couple that helms Cloth & Flame has a romantic story to match their<br />
wild, exciting and unique events. They met in 2009 while couch-surfing and<br />
remained friends for years. Their mutual love of the outdoors and adventuring<br />
provided opportunities to spend time together, even though they lived in<br />
different states. Laux has roots in Wisconsin and Cooley is mostly from<br />
Nebraska but has family on the East Coast.<br />
Laux has a background in chemical engineering and was working for a while<br />
in Globe, Arizona, as a metallurgical engineer. One trip, Cooley came to visit<br />
from Portland and then rode his bicycle nine hours from Tempe to Globe.<br />
“I have been so inspired and enthralled with Cooley’s personality. He’s so<br />
vivacious. I think I always had that as part of myself, but it took someone else<br />
to bring it out,” Laux says.<br />
The name and origin of Cloth & Flame, comes from a different company they<br />
started together that specialized in custom hot air balloon rides. “We started<br />
the balloon ride company first. But now we try to keep them separate because<br />
as soon as you mention hot air balloons, people think that’s how we are going<br />
to be transporting them,” he says<br />
The hot air balloon business can fly 25-50 passengers per day and will then do a<br />
meal service after the flights. Cooley says they take people to extraordinary spots<br />
that no one could really get to unless they landed there.<br />
After the balloon ride, they build their own wood tables, put out flowers,<br />
plates and settings and serve the food. The concept became so popular that it<br />
snowballed into the idea of shepherding folks to even more locations for the<br />
catered events and functions.<br />
What they serve on the table largely depends on what’s in season, what’s<br />
on-trend in the dining world, while also catering to the whims of their Executive<br />
Chef Aurore Yasinsky. “What we do very much fits into the farm-to-table<br />
movement,” Cooley says.<br />
French-chef Aurore Yasinsky, previously of Vogue Bistro in Surprise, Arizona,<br />
has what Cooley and Laux describe as a big personality and an eagle eye for<br />
quality ingredients. “We serve exciting foods that people don’t usually see in<br />
restaurants,” Cooley says.<br />
They generally source organic and naturally produced foods and their meals<br />
are hyper-seasonal. Executive chef Yasinsky and their other chefs work<br />
directly with local farmers, such as Crooked Sky Farms, along with local<br />
vendors like Hayden’s Flour Mill as well as local sources for butter and other<br />
dairy products.
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Photo by Alex Leiphart
Photo by Kate Nelle<br />
“Aurore loves food, whole food. She’ll go visit<br />
Farmer Frank from Crooked Sky and see some<br />
onions, pull one out of the ground, start nibbling<br />
on it and ask: ‘Hey can I pick some of these? They<br />
seem ready,’” Cooley says.<br />
At the group meals, everything is served familystyle.<br />
Menus are posted approximately one week<br />
prior to the occasion, in case any guest has a<br />
dietary restriction that needs accommodation. “It’s<br />
kind of an educational process because people don’t<br />
often rub shoulders with the food [sourcing] process,<br />
so they don’t actually know when the vegetables they<br />
like are in season,” Cooley says.<br />
Cloth & Flame also has a guest chef program<br />
where they invite drop-in chefs, some well<br />
known like Aaron Chamberlin, others who don’t<br />
necessarily have restaurants of their own.<br />
At present, Cloth & Flame maintains a business<br />
office downtown near Cartel Coffee. But they are<br />
Photo by Kate Nelle<br />
currently in planning to buy a larger facility to use<br />
as their catering staging kitchen.<br />
They are also developing an idea for a luxury<br />
camping (glamping) resort near the Superstition<br />
Mountains and are working with Chuck Backus,<br />
formerly of ASU, who owns some of the last<br />
private property on the way to the Peralta Trail.<br />
Cooley and Laux are envisioning a large visitors<br />
area and welcome center along canvas tents made<br />
from steel and wood structures. The concept will<br />
be similar to an eco-resort, like the ones that are<br />
popular in Mexico or the Caribbean. “I would say<br />
the Superstition Mountains is one of the most<br />
iconic areas in our state,” Cooley says.<br />
While the couple continues to plan for the<br />
future and dream big, Cloth & Flame will host<br />
its first pop-up urban dining experience April 19<br />
at Cityscape. They plan to block off Central Ave.<br />
between Washington and Jefferson and have<br />
invited chefs from the surrounding restaurants<br />
including The Arrogant Butcher, Blue Hound<br />
Kitchen, Chico Malo and Squid Ink Sushi.<br />
The idea for this open-to-the-public dinner is to<br />
expand beyond amazing outdoor spaces into other<br />
offbeat, fun or unlikely spaces. “It’s amazing how<br />
many ideas can come together from people who<br />
support us and are so adventurous,” Cooley says.<br />
If you would like to try the Cloth & Flame urban dinner<br />
experience, plan to book a seat early, as most of their<br />
events sell out fast. Visit clothandflame.com for prices<br />
and details.<br />
JAVA 33<br />
MAGAZINE
Alt Jazz Finds a Home in Phoenix<br />
By Kevin Hanlon<br />
Photo by Sean Deckart<br />
When Lord Kash of The Stakes arrived for our interview at The Lost<br />
Leaf, his bandmate Ben Scolaro asked him how his day was going.<br />
“Everything at once,” the day-worn Kash replied, and with a deep<br />
breath, he shook off what residue remained from his day and rose to face the<br />
present. “Let’s do this.”<br />
If you didn’t already know, Phoenix is quickly becoming a hotbed for jazz fusion<br />
of various forms. In the last five years, the city has seen many of her hometown<br />
bands rise from house parties and small clubs to the larger stages usually<br />
reserved for national touring acts. Last month, Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra<br />
held their Laugh to Keep from Crying album release party to a packed house at<br />
the Van Buren with Jerusafunk, The Stakes and many other special guests. All<br />
three of these bands include musicians who claim jazz influences. But to put<br />
it simply, Phoenix is inundated with musical talent, and it’s time to go out and<br />
grab a ticket.<br />
34 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE
Photo by Sean Deckart<br />
Photo by Elaine Thomas Campell<br />
Alassane<br />
We start with Alassane, the brainchild of keyboardist<br />
Greg Diarra, joined by drummer Caleb Michel of<br />
the Afro-Cuban All Stars and bassist Bailey Zick of<br />
Jerusafunk.<br />
On a Tuesday night in February, Alassane appeared<br />
at The Lost Leaf for what was only their third show.<br />
A series of strobe lights silhouetted the trio against<br />
a drawn curtain that separated them from the<br />
unsuspecting crowd, and the music began. From<br />
there, the listeners were quickly transported far<br />
beyond any conceivable expectation.<br />
Diarra’s haunting vocals sailed over contagious synth<br />
hooks and ominous bass lines as listeners rejoiced<br />
in awe at the Wizard of Oz–like spectacle that played<br />
out before them. Michel’s drumming was sublime<br />
and emotional, with equal parts beauty and violence.<br />
Heads bobbed and bodies swayed as all were drawn<br />
to a single breath. If you had a pulse, you could feel<br />
the music within each and every vein of your being,<br />
straight down to your bones, where it cleansed<br />
your spirit and illuminated your soul, forcing you to<br />
question pain, accept truth and honor beauty.<br />
“It’s been a work in progress for quite a while,”<br />
Diarra tells me outside a recent gig at Arcosanti, the<br />
arts community located just north of Phoenix. Diarra<br />
mentions a few influences in contemporary jazz –<br />
Kneebody, The Bad Plus, Tigran Hamasyian – and he<br />
refers to these artists as contemporary heroes. Much<br />
of Diarra’s inspiration for this project comes from the<br />
simple fact that he’s been listening to these artists<br />
regularly for quite some time.<br />
Even though Diarra has found influences in jazz,<br />
he doesn’t consider himself a traditional or even<br />
legitimate jazz musician. Instead, he prefers to refer<br />
to himself as a pop songwriter. In Diarra’s view,<br />
it’s not so much that jazz is back in vogue, as it is<br />
that the listeners of pop music have become more<br />
sophisticated.<br />
“There seems to be an expanse at what an audience<br />
is able to hang with. Our ears are evolving,” Diarra<br />
explains. When asked to describe the genre of<br />
the music he writes, Diarra admits that his goal<br />
is for such an explanation to not be possible.<br />
When pressed, he offers the long-winded tag,<br />
“contemporary art-rock, influenced by prog-jazz.”<br />
The Geibral Elisha Movement<br />
Geibral Elisha of The Geibral Elisha Movement has a<br />
different name for their version of the alt jazz genre,<br />
which he explains was coined by David Moroney<br />
(aka Mitch Freedom) of Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra:<br />
spiritual jazz.<br />
Elisha is equal parts musician and spiritual explorer.<br />
His shows are largely improvised and do not include<br />
lyrics. His bandmates are an ever-revolving cast of<br />
virtuosi, intent on pulling the spirits of the crowd<br />
through the depths of the unknown and up to the<br />
peaks of imagination.<br />
Elisha is not like most of the other jazz musicians in<br />
town. He did not study jazz in college or spend time<br />
memorizing the standards note for note. “I don’t<br />
JAVA 35<br />
MAGAZINE
Photo by Jeff Southwick<br />
think that’s what guys like Miles Davis or Bill Evans<br />
wanted us to do,” Elisha says. “They were playing<br />
their own music, which is often overlooked.”<br />
Phoenix’s own KJZZ first introduced Elisha to jazz.<br />
Elisha’s father was a regular listener of NPR talk radio,<br />
and he would often leave the radio on throughout<br />
the day. At some point in his youth, Elisha began<br />
to notice that the station would switch over to a<br />
different kind of programming at night. “I didn’t know<br />
what it was,” Elisha explains, “if it was music or<br />
magic. I just knew I liked it and I had to learn how to<br />
play it.”<br />
After his discovery, Elisha told his parents that he<br />
wanted to learn the piano. He took a few introductory<br />
lessons before he resolved to learn the instrument on<br />
his own by ear. “I probably sight read [music] only as<br />
well as a second grader reads a book,” admits Elisha,<br />
explaining that he aimed to find a way to tap into<br />
something greater than himself. From that source,<br />
along with years of practice, he was able to find his<br />
own musical path. Like Diarra, Elisha feels that his<br />
project has been years in the making, and he says<br />
that after a long time of playing like other people,<br />
he’s finally begun to play like himself.<br />
Elisha credits Phoenix’s musical renaissance to the<br />
large amount of diversity in the city. Music like salsa,<br />
jazz, samba and bossa nova were all a result of<br />
cultures coming together. “When you bring cultures<br />
together and they mesh, beautiful things happen,”<br />
says Elisha. “That’s what we have in Phoenix, a<br />
melting pot.”<br />
The Stakes<br />
While Alassane and The Geibral Elisha Movement<br />
are more closely aligned to progressive experimental<br />
jazz music, there are other artists in Phoenix who are<br />
incorporating jazz in different ways. The Stakes are<br />
often referred to as a hip-hop band, but anyone who<br />
has been to one of their shows can tell you that they<br />
exhibit a multitude of musical stylings.<br />
“The Stakes have something for everyone,”<br />
says pianist and founder Ben Scolaro. “There’s<br />
definitely hip-hop and R&B in our music, but our<br />
jazz backgrounds influence our harmonies and<br />
arrangement choices, and from there you’ll find<br />
rock ’n’ roll, soul and even classical music.” Scolaro<br />
explains that on their song “Unified,” the band<br />
employs a classical chord structure in a hip-hop and<br />
rock fusion that’s unlike music you’ll find elsewhere.<br />
Lord Kash, one of two MCs for The Stakes, remarks,<br />
“This group is essentially people who don’t speak<br />
the same language coming together to communicate<br />
through music.” For The Stakes, it’s all about<br />
community and bringing diverse listeners together.<br />
Lord Kash notes that this mind-set has enabled him<br />
to take hip-hop to places it doesn’t normally go.<br />
Perhaps the clearest representation of The Stakes’<br />
spectrum was exhibited when they went from playing<br />
a show at The Nash, Phoenix’s most revered jazz club,<br />
to a show at the Van Buren, opening up for hip-hop<br />
veteran Too Short, in a single day this past February.<br />
The Color 8<br />
Another Phoenix band that blends hip-hop with jazz<br />
is The Color 8, but that’s pretty much where the<br />
comparisons end. The first time I encountered The<br />
Color 8, they were in the middle of a head-banging<br />
rock jam reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine,<br />
with guitarist Kal Benion wailing his way through a<br />
raucous solo.<br />
Once the song ended, the band switched things up<br />
and went into what I can only describe as cool jazz.<br />
Saxophonist Austin Charles, dressed in recital attire,<br />
played the crowd a sweet, sensual solo that evoked<br />
dream-like imagery. He was joined by vocalist Lee<br />
Water, who cooed R&B vocals while bassist Jeremy<br />
36 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE
Photo by Killian McKeowen<br />
Photo by Jessica Miller<br />
“Jerm” Smith kept a cool bass groove over Emmett<br />
Nash’s tight pocket on the drums. But then, just as<br />
quickly as before, the band launched into their most<br />
vicious song, “Raw,” in which Charles puts down<br />
his horn and transforms into his alias, The Dapper<br />
Rapper. He was joined by MC Clev Pro on the mic,<br />
and the pair proceeded to tear the audience from<br />
their comfort zones into the palms of their hands.<br />
On a phone call while on a recent tour, Charles<br />
explained that the band often doesn’t know what<br />
songs they’ll perform until they get up on stage. “It<br />
all depends on the energy,” he says. “There’s nothing<br />
wrong with having something structured, but if the<br />
energy shifts, what you had planned might not go<br />
with the energy that’s there in the present moment.”<br />
House of Stairs<br />
Garrison Jones, the keyboardist for House of Stairs,<br />
cites free expression as the cornerstone element of<br />
the band’s music. The group is made up of Jones,<br />
vocalist Holly Pyle, drummer Stephen Avalos and<br />
saxophonist Shea Marshall, along with a revolving<br />
cast of guest members in their live performances. The<br />
band formed after Pyle, Jones and Avalos met while<br />
performing around town at the various jazz jams, like<br />
the one held on Sunday nights at The Nash. Not long<br />
after their inception, the trio began to write their own<br />
original music.<br />
The members of House of Stairs each have different<br />
musical backgrounds, including studies in classical<br />
music, progressive rock and even metal. But<br />
according to Pyle, the music consistently finds itself<br />
in jazz.<br />
Pyle utilizes a loop machine to create spacious vocal<br />
harmonies that fit perfectly with Jones’ melodic<br />
sorcery and Avalon’s relentless drumming. The band<br />
likes to change the rhythm, tempo and key signatures<br />
of their songs to keep themselves and their audiences<br />
interested. As a result, no two House of Stairs shows<br />
are the same. “We’re constantly trying to test the<br />
boundaries of a piece,” says Pyle. “We want to keep<br />
our songs present, and we’re constantly changing, so<br />
we try to make the music change with us.”<br />
Hyperbella<br />
One of the most recent additions to the Phoenix<br />
music scene is the neo-soul/jazz-funk project<br />
Hyperbella. The band comprises guitarist Cassidy<br />
Hilgers, pianist Carly Bates, bassist Brenden McBride<br />
and drummer Marcus Leatham.<br />
Hyperbella has been together for less than a year,<br />
but they’ve already managed to create an impressive<br />
sound that is both cathartic and danceable. Their<br />
soulful melodies are tied together by tight funk<br />
grooves, transcendent solos and powerfully<br />
enchanting harmonies. Any fan of Hiatus Kaiyote will<br />
quickly find a new local favorite in Hyperbella.<br />
Many of the musicians mentioned here grew up in<br />
Arizona and credit the state’s various high school<br />
and college jazz programs for introducing them to the<br />
possibilities of jazz and performance. More than a<br />
few of the musicians wished to pay their respects to<br />
those musicians who came before them and paved<br />
the way for jazz in Arizona – many of whom still<br />
perform in Phoenix. Whatever your taste, do not miss<br />
this amazing alt jazz music happening around this<br />
great city of ours.<br />
JAVA 37<br />
MAGAZINE
GIRL ON FARMER<br />
Last<br />
week while headed into the library, I was<br />
walking behind a guy with flowy hair and wearing<br />
what can best be described as “groovy” pants. I<br />
had my eye on him because he was definitely the<br />
most interesting thing in view. When he got up to<br />
the doors he waved his hand with a flourish, like<br />
a magician, and the door automatically opened. I<br />
was very excited and impressed to see this. Then<br />
I realized it was an automatic door and wondered<br />
about what I had just witnessed. Did he always do<br />
this when he was going into a building? Did he know<br />
I was walking behind him? Did he maybe somewhere<br />
secretly think he was a little magical? Why?<br />
My disappointment that it was an automatic door is<br />
nothing new. I love magic. I really want to believe<br />
that it’s real. Actually, to be honest, despite<br />
facts and information that says otherwise, I do<br />
believe that some of it is real. Years ago, there<br />
was a show called “Breaking the Magician’s Code.”<br />
It was a supposed magician who wore a goofy<br />
looking mask and showed how tricks were done.<br />
I say “supposed” because everyone knows once<br />
you take the magician’s oath you cannot, under any<br />
circumstances, break it.<br />
I swore I would never watch the show, in solidarity<br />
with the real magicians. A few months ago, I broke<br />
down and watched an episode. It was horribly tacky<br />
and poorly done. The “magician” wore this goofy<br />
looking tribal mask to protect his identity and the<br />
voiceover guy spoke in a hushed tone explaining the<br />
trick. And, it revealed a trick that everyone knows<br />
is fake anyway! Sawing a lady in half? Duh. I know<br />
people are not able to be physically cut into two<br />
separate parts and then put back together without<br />
blood and stitches being involved. Now, take my<br />
watch off without me knowing and make it reappear<br />
in my back pocket – that’s real magic, buddy.<br />
Everything magical gets taken away as you get older;<br />
Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and of course<br />
the Magic Mirror. In case you don’t know, Magic<br />
Mirror was part of the PBS show “Romper Room.” It<br />
was early children’s television and was pretty much<br />
a sweet lady, Miss Molly doing fun stuff with a room<br />
of kids and puppets. At the end of each show Miss<br />
Molly would check in with all the kids and ask if they<br />
had a good day. After all those lucky in-studio brats<br />
shouted “yeah!” we peasants at home knew it was<br />
our turn for some attention from Miss Molly.<br />
“OK, friends at home, now I’m going to look through<br />
the magic mirror,” she’d say holding up what looked<br />
like a hand mirror but instead of the reflective area<br />
38 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE
Sawing a lady in half? Duh. I know people<br />
are not able to be physically cut into two separate<br />
parts and then put back together without<br />
blood and stitches being involved. Now,<br />
take my watch off without me knowing and<br />
make it reappear in my back pocket – that’s real<br />
magic, buddy.<br />
being a mirror, it was solid. Next came the magical chant, something like “romper<br />
bomper stomper boo,” and the mirror would start swirling all crazy. Next thing<br />
you knew, there was Miss Molly’s face in the mirror. This is when, as a kid sitting<br />
on the floor in the living room, shit got serious. Miss Molly was looking through<br />
the TV at you. “Oh, I see Jimmy and Jonny and Tammy. There’s Billy and Susie<br />
and Fran having a special day.” She went on for a minute straight while I sat on<br />
the floor and leaned forward, my eyeballs practically touching the TV, hoping to<br />
give her a better look inside my living room. “Hi Miss Molly! Hi! I’m having a<br />
good day,” I would whisper. Nope, no luck.<br />
Once I was older, it was no surprise that “Celia” was not a name that slipped<br />
off Miss Molly’s tongue. But at the time, I thought she could see me and always<br />
felt dissed when another show went by without being named. That was until my<br />
brother decided to smash my dreams into tiny pieces. Poetically, I like to say, he<br />
smashed the mirror. One sunny morning when my mom was on the phone and<br />
smoking a Kent Golden Light out the kitchen window, my brother, who claimed<br />
he was too cool for “Romper Room,” came in the living room and spied me one<br />
inch away from the TV screen. “What are you doing,” he said as he barged in.<br />
I shushed him immediately. Didn’t he know? With a name like Jon, he was in a<br />
great position to be seen by Miss Molly! He watched as I crossed my fingers,<br />
held my breath and then waved at Miss Molly, trying both luck and flailing arms<br />
to draw her attention. “You’re stupid! She can’t really see you!” he said as he<br />
dashed outside. I tried to get back at him with a weak attempt of “I’m rubber<br />
you’re glue” but my heart wasn’t in it. I was too upset about Miss Molly and her<br />
lame-ass mirror.<br />
Before you think my brother is too much of a mean kid, I’ll let you know I was a<br />
late believer in most things. I was something like 10-years-old holding out for<br />
Miss Molly to see me through her mirror and say my name. I was probably on<br />
the threshold of what would be diagnosable as an emotional disorder, so my<br />
brother probably saved me some visits to a therapist. I had a hunch for years that<br />
the Magic Mirror didn’t really have any powers but I much preferred believing in<br />
magic. One of the drawbacks of getting older is that the magical, fun things are<br />
taken away and not-fun, real adult responsible things take their place. Possibly,<br />
this explains why the man with the groovy pants pretends to wave his hands and<br />
abracadabra the door opens. It’s just more fun.
NIGHT<br />
GALLERY<br />
Photos By<br />
Robert Sentinery<br />
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1. Lovely Leah Kolakowski at Heard Indian Fair & Market<br />
2. Terrance from First Place Coffee<br />
3. Marshall and Forrest at Match<br />
4. Princess Sapphire in a dress by Della at Indian Market<br />
5. Phoenix artists Michelle and Christine<br />
6. Deise’s red candy sculpture at Art D’Core Gala<br />
7. Bassim and Shauna at the Artlink Gala<br />
8. Pretty Persians at Calvin Charles Gallery<br />
9. Joshua and Kenny from Phoenix General<br />
10. They call her Mello Jello…<br />
11. Model trio at the Found:Re Hotel
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12. Mark Freedman and Lisa Hoffner at Eric Fischl Gallery<br />
13. Mackenzie with her Phoenix College art teacher<br />
14. Bill Dambrova’s opening at Eric Fischl Gallery<br />
15. Snapped this duo at Phoenix General<br />
16. Tara Logdson’s opening at Short Cut Gallery<br />
17. Jennyfer and Jana at Bill’s opening<br />
18. Shaliyah and Gabriel on First Friday<br />
19. Behind the counter at Phoenix General<br />
20. Yuko’s opening at the Icehouse<br />
21. VIP lounge with Fausto at Indian Market<br />
22. New Mexico artist at the Heard<br />
23. Gracie’s Tax Bar with Audrey and friend<br />
24. Bringing home the ribbons at Heard Indian Fair<br />
25. Phoenix General for Tara’s opening<br />
26. Native American storyteller at the Heard<br />
27. Lara and Olivia at Framed Ewe<br />
28. Flamenco with Carlos and Yumi at Tapas Papa Frita<br />
29. Tapas Papa Frita with chef Joseph
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30. Lovely Linda and Rosa at Sanctuary Resort<br />
31. Jennyfer Stratman’s opening at Calvin Charles<br />
32. Heard Indian Fair and Market with Josh Rose and co<br />
33. Modeling Rosa Kilgore’s jewelry<br />
34. Decked out at the Heard<br />
35. Bill Dambrova’s opening at Eric Fischl Gallery<br />
36. Kyllan Maney’s public art piece at Scottsdale Arts Fest<br />
37. Legend and pal at Short Cut Gallery<br />
38. Vino blanco at Calvin Charles Gallery<br />
39. Oscar with Mayor Stanton and mayor hopeful Kate Gallego<br />
40. Stephan and his fiancé at AZ88<br />
41. Aileen has a booth at Scottsdale Arts Fest<br />
VISIT<br />
US<br />
ONLINE<br />
w w w . J A V A M A G A Z . c o m
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42. Artlink’s Art D’Core Gala<br />
43. Pretty trio at Bentley Projects<br />
44. Climbing the mountain of LOVE<br />
45. Chris and his lady Popsicle<br />
46. These dancers performed at the Gala<br />
47. Celebrating 30 years of Art Detour<br />
48. Lovely model at Art D’Core<br />
49. My old pal Anthony and his pretty date<br />
50. All together now at Art D’Core<br />
51. I almost wore my top hat and antlers too!<br />
52. Cheers to Miwa and Gary<br />
53. Laura is passing the {9} Gallery torch to these two<br />
54. More fun at PHX GEN<br />
55. Snapped these guys at Bentley Projects<br />
56. Holding down the fort at monOrchid<br />
57. Nicole Olson’s second Canal Convergence performance<br />
58. Strangeness at the Icehouse<br />
59. Cheyenne Randall mural at the Heard Museum
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60. William and his pretty date at Art D’Core<br />
61. Heard Indian Fair “Best of Show” winner Jamie Okuma<br />
62. Bradley and Joe at Jennyfer’s opening<br />
63. Good looking pair at the Artlink Gala<br />
64. Jeff gets bookended at Found:Re Hotel<br />
65. Snapped at Match<br />
66. Malena’s censored work makes an appearance at Bentley<br />
67. Yai and Liz at Art D’Core<br />
68. More Art Detour fun with these guys<br />
69. The Garment League meet up at Found:RE<br />
70. Art couple Lee and Sarah<br />
71. Sagrado Galleria’s Sam Gomez and artist Edgar Fernandez<br />
72. More Art D’Core fun<br />
73. Art Detour Friday Night fete at Found:RE<br />
74. Sam is in town from Portland<br />
75. Promoting The Garment League’s “On Central” event<br />
76. Snapped this trio at Bentley Projects<br />
77. Liliana and pal show up for Artlink’s Gala
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78. Rani G provides the soundtrack<br />
79. Randy Slack with his selected artist Megan Koth<br />
80. Taking in Sky Black’s amazing solo show at monOrchid<br />
81. Dorina and Alison at Art Detour’s Friday fete<br />
82. Tiff with her grad school buddies<br />
83. Artlink president Catrina Kahler and hubby Chris<br />
84. Found:RE curator Mike Oleskow and artist Niki Woehler<br />
85. Jim, Helen and Bill at the Lodge<br />
86. The Garment League in the house at Found:RE<br />
87. Johnny’s bro is visiting from out of town<br />
88. Ed Wong is dressed for St. Paddy’s Day<br />
89. Pretty bartender at the Sicilian Butcher<br />
90. Joe and Steve at the David Wright House<br />
91. Monica is bringing some Asian flavor<br />
92. Edgar Fernandez’s exhibit at Gould Evans<br />
93. Ben was helping host the Modern Phoenix wrap party<br />
94. Colorful gals on the MoPho Home Tour<br />
95. Kalia and her beau at the David Wright House
INTRODUCING<br />
PAWAKA<br />
NOW AT<br />
GET YOUR FESTIVAL<br />
ON , PHOENIX<br />
5538 N 7TH ST<br />
(602) 283-4503