blogchelsea

Cape Advisors on Venus Mural

Dave Comfort, project manager for Cape Advisors, the developer for 100 Eleventh Avenue, confirmed the new building will obscure 80-90% of the mural. He said they have only owned the property for a year, so that Martin's claim that they have known for two years is inaccurate.He said they have had several meetings with Knox, Christine Quinn, City Council President and Councilmember Lou Fidler regarding the mural. He said that they are close to an agreement regarding the large whale mural proposed for a site on West Houston street., "We are happy to contribute to Knox's new mural.," saying, "The only thing we can't do is change the design of the building."

The mural was painted in the 1970's. Dennis Crawley, who worked at the Bayview Correctional Facility in the 1990's, said that after several years the mural began to fade. He contacted Martin to see if he would be interested in restoring the peeling mural. Martin obtained funding, in part, from a grant from Johnson & Johnson. Crawley, who now works at the Queensboro Correctional facility, said that Martin changed the mural slightly during the restoration. "There was a big red circle in the upper right hand corner. Knox put a wedge there instead of a perfect circle. He said he had his reasons."Sherry Mazzocchi

Artist Knox Martin Weighs In On The Destruction of "Venus"

Over the weekend, several real estate blogs were alerted via e-mail to "the impending loss of a New York City skyline landmark: “Venus”, a ten story high mural painting by renowned New York artist Knox Martin (www.knoxmartin.com) on the south side of Bayview Women’s Correctional Facility at 19th Street and 11th Avenue. Construction of the twenty story condo tower by JEAN NOUVEL on the parking lot adjacent to Venus will soon quietly block it from view forever."

Sherry Mazzocchi spoke with "Venus" artist Knox Martin. Martin told Sherry that “The most scandalous thing is that the developers knew about this for two years and never told him about their plans.” Martin is currently planning to paint another mural downtown at West Houston and Clarkson Sts. The mural will be dedicated to saving the whales. He needs about $70,000 to complete the new project. Perhaps the developers could pony up some money to make up for the destruction of "Venus."

Martin will be interviewed on Channel 2 today between 5:00 - 6:00.

Madison Smartt Bell at 192 Books

In 1791, Toussaint Louverture led the only successful slave revolution in history. In one way or anther Madison Smartt Bell has been writing about him for twenty years.

Bell, who read from his newly published biography of Louverture last Friday evening at 192 Books, is the author of several works, including a trilogy of Haitian novels—All Soul’s Rising, Master of the Crossroads and The Stone That the Builder Refused.

While he is renowned in Haiti, Louverture’s story is not well known in the United States. No English language biography has been written about him since the 1940’s. The Haitian slave revolt was deliberately kept quiet, especially in the French and British Caribbean. And it never became part of the history taught in American schools.

The American Revolution, which had “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” as its battle cry, was essentially a tax revolt, said Bell. The French Revolution, which proclaimed, “Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood,” was a class revolt. In both cases, it was understood that these new found human rights were only for whites. And, if Thomas Jefferson’s view had prevailed, for property owning whites. The Haitian Revolution was the only revolution to extend these rights to all people, not just whites.

Bell said that both Louverture and Napoleon, who fought each other for the fate of Haiti, had a lot in common. Both rose from backward, obscure places to become the most powerful men in their homelands. As Bell writes in the introduction, “François Dominique Toussaint Louverture can be called the highest achieving African American of all time.”

-Sherry Mazzocchi

Advertising Stunt of the Day

Via Gothamist, Cirque du Soleil shills for Microsoft outside of the the Terminal Building on 11th Ave between 27th and 28th Streets.

Protest Space: A Grassroots Gallery

Ed Hamilton, who also contributes to blogchelsea, wrote about Protest Space for this week's issue of Chelsea Now. Chelsea resident Ellen Levin started Protest Space in September of last year because she wanted to give the community a space where they could talk back to the powers-that-be through art. The current exhibit, "America for Sale," runs through March 3, 2007.

Burgers & Cupcakes

Over on Chelsea.ClickYourBlock the early reviews of Burgers & Cupcakes are mixed. It seems that the burgers are tasty, but that they run out of cup cakes and the choice of flavors available at any given time is limited. They look like they have too much frosting to me, so I won't be trying one anytime soon.

Most importantly we just want to know why the location on 23rd Street has the god awful spinning cupcake on top of the awning while the one in Hell's Kitchen does not. It seems patently unfair that we should have to tolerate this visual abomination. Send the Chelsea cupcake to Hell!

Binge Drinking is Alive and Well in Chelsea

New York City just published its Annual Summary of Vital Statistics, an in-depth survey of New York’s overall health. A handy feature allows you to enter any zip code and retrieve a Community Health Profile.

How does the Chelsea/Clinton neighborhood stack up? Compared with the rest of the city:

• the death rate dropped by 15% in the last decade, in line with overall declining rate in Manhattan.

• more likely than most New Yorkers to have health insurance

• less likely to be obese

• more likely to engage in physical exercise at least 3 times a week

• in 2004, had the highest rate of primary and secondary syphilis—8 times the overall New York City rate.

• have twice as many adults living with HIV/AIDS

• twice as likely to die from HIV-related illnesses

• more likely to engage in binge drinking and be hospitalized for alcohol-related issues.

• More likely to be hospitalized for drug related issues.

Ping Pong?

A blogchelsea readers asks:
"Can you play ping pong at chelsea pier or pier 63 in the winter? Please let me know and thanks, I don't think you are a pipsqueak."

Does anyone know?

Vertigo-Inducing Real Estate Scam

For 5 million dollars, you can buy a condo with a garage attached and an elevator to bring your car up to the 18th floor. You can get your head examined for a lot less, but what fun would that be?
If you don't have a car, you can use your garage-in-the-sky as a wine cellar -- the architect who designed the building actually suggests this! -- or maybe you can keep your lawnmower in there in case you have to mow your shag carpet.
This ridiculous amenity is supposed to protect the rich from paparazzi -- I guess that's the best rationale they could come up with -- though a simple garage in the basement would probably suffice. I suppose that the evil stalkers might be able to sneak into the basement through a storm drain or something.
I have two questions: 1. Will the rich be able to drive through their living rooms and crash through a plate glass window into the Hudson like in the movies? 2. Once they find out they've been bamboozled and decide to commit suicide, won't the carbon monoxide fumes asphyxiate everyone in the building? --Ed Hamilton