In the days following Hurricane Sandy, one of the thousands of widely posted, shared, and retweeted images of the storm's aftermath was a beautiful photo of the sidewalk outside a waterfront warehouse in Red Hook that had been stained blood red by the receding floodwaters. The color came from the studio of Bosco Sodi, a Mexican artist who works with large quantities of pigment and whose space had filled with over seven feet of water. “I lost everything,” Sodi told ARTINFO during a recent studio visit. “I work with a lot of pigments, and I had maybe 2,000 pounds of pigments here that I have collected all my life from India, Morocco, Mexico, Turkey. I lost 18 paintings. Some of them were already sold and paid for. But it also makes you understand that art is ephemeral.” Now, most of the artists in Red Hook have rebuilt their studios and gotten back to work, but many other residents are still reeling, so Sodi has organized a fittingly ephemeral art event to help raise money for neighborhood recovery efforts. “Vivere,” on May 11, will feature a half-dozen opera singers performing 12 opera songs — from La Traviata's “Sempre Libera” to “Summertime” from George Gershwin's “Porgy and Bess” — against a series of different artist-designed backdrops, interspersed with live jazz.
“I wanted to do this as a happening, not a typical concert, and make it something fun and simple, not pretentious in any way, make it a party,” Sodi said. “It involved a lot of work, but I like it because for me it's like making an exhibition, it's been almost the same process, but it's been a very nice experience. Everybody has been very positive and helpful.” The Mexican opera singer Mauricio Trejo, a close friend of Sodi's, took care of the musical component, while the artist recruited friends to create the massive paintings that will serve as backdrops, including Mickalene Thomas, Douglas Gordon, Teresita Fernandez, and Natalie Frank, as well as Red Hook locals like Dustin Yellin, Ray Smith, and Ron Gorchov— who contributed a stunning composition of two fiery orange ovals against a beaming blue backdrop with green paint flowing down the canvas. Sodi's own contribution to the series, a shining silver dot against a pictch black background, matches his current series of sculptural wall pieces in black and silver pigment. The 13 original works will be sold in an online auction through Paddle8.
“Carmen McLeod [who runs Sodi's studio] reached out to us and thought it would be a good platform for featuring the auction works and also promoting the event itself and the people involved to a larger audience,” said Holly Greenfield, Paddle8's head of benefit auctions, Americas. “Because the event itself is really more about getting people together in the community and there are all these different performances, and it’s less about art-buying, it's good to have an outlet for some of the great works that are being made for this online where people can purchase it and find out about it.”
All the proceeds from sales of tickets and the paintings will go to Restore Red Hook and Red Hook Volunteers, two groups that continue to provide vital aid to residents, businesses, and artists in the neighborhood. In fact Sodi’s reassembly of his studio was helped along thanks to a grant from Restore Red Hook. “All of us have received money from Restore Red Hook,” he said. “We have applied for a lot of grants, but with Restore Red Hook they just called us one day and gave us a check. Obviously we filled out some papers and things, but it was smooth. They have done a wonderful job.” He hopes that between tickets to the event and the paintings, “Vivere” can help raise over $100,000 for the groups.
“Artists are experts at dealing with problems,” he added. “We're experts at rebuilding. We're used to dealing with accidents, and arranging ourselves with whatever we have. So we have been very lucky, but let's not forget to give something back.”
“Vivere” takes place May 11 at Bosco Sodi's studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Click here for tickets.
To see the artist-painted backdrops created for “Vivere,” click the slideshow.