Trinidad-based artists Peter Doig and Che Lovelace are bringing their cinephilic love child, StudioFilmClub, to New York as part of "No Soul for Sale: A Festival of Independents" at X-initiative in late June. Back in 2003, Doig, originally from London, and Lovelace, a Trinidad native, started a weekly movie night (kicked off by the Perry Henzell classic The Harder They Come) out of the studio they share at the former Caribbean Contemporary Arts building, now called Building 7, in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Six years later, the club is still going strong. "It started out very simple -- people would show up before the movie started, and check out the work at the studios," says Lovelace, who recently had a solo show at Half Gallery. "The audience definitely developed, grew and diversified over the years. But it' s primarily film enthusiasts and students."
Doig, arguably one of the most successful artists of our time, has from the beginning created an original poster for each screening that then hangs by the entrance of the building. Varied selections of these posters have been exhibited in museums around the world. For the X-initiative festival, Doig and Lovelace plan to inject their Caribbean flavor into the Big Apple for four nights by featuring movies like Carnival Roots and Babylon, and playing lots of Soca music. "Yes, we want to see people wine," Lovelace says, with a smile. "Wining," in case you didn' t know, is sexy dancing, Trini-style.
X-initiative, 548 W. 22nd St., June 24-28, www.x-initiative.org.
Artwork courtesy of Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, and Peter Doig.
RSS