(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings January 10–16, 2020
Alien art form
He wants to believe.
A Texan artist will unveil a series of delicate
sculptures inspired by the search for alien life
at the Brooklyn Public Library this weekend.
Dario Robleto, one of the two creators behind
the library’s “Stars Down to Earth” exhibit, on
display at the Central branch, will show off his
work and discuss the wonders of the cosmos at
an opening reception on Jan. 13.
Robleto’s sculptures, built from domes of clear
acrylic, hand-cut paper, and polished sea shells,
are designed as gifts for potential visitors from
outer space. Shells have often been presented
during first encounters between human groups,
he said, and their curved forms feature the universal
mathematical Fibonacci sequence.
“Shells not only have this lineage of gift exchange,
they can also serve as the physical embodiment
of a fundamental equation in nature,”
said Robleto. “It’s a beautiful example of life
following an equation, that’s highly likely life
on other planets also follows.”
The sculptor recently worked as an artist-inresidence
at the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Institute in California and at the Breakthrough
Initiatives, and much of his work was
inspired by watching those researchers search
for messages from far-off planets. Some pieces
came directly out of stories he heard at the research
stations.
For example, a piece titled “Moonflower,”
was inspired by a family photo that an Apollo
16 astronaut planted on the moon in 1972. Robleto’s
piece imagines that photo, coated in plastic,
taking root in the moon soil and sprouting
into an acrylic flower-like form.
“That is one of the most humane moments
of the whole mission,” Robleto said.
Robleto said that, based on his time with exobiologists,
it is highly likely there is some other
form of life out there in the universe, but that
intelligent civilizations are very rare, if they
exist at all.
“The leap to intelligent life seems less likely,
or just more rare,” he said.
The rarity of civilization makes life on Earth
all the more special, said Robleto, and his talk
will touch on both his art and environmental
concerns.
The exhibition also features work from environmental
artist Mary Mattingly, whose sculptures
and photographs look at extractive industries
and the threats they hold to biological life.
Mattingly will discuss her work at the library’s
Leonard Branch in Williamsburg on Feb. 20.
“Stars Down To Earth” at the Central Library
10 Grand Army Plaza at Flatbush Avenue in
Prospect Heights, (718) 230–2100, www.bklynlibrary.
org. Opening reception Jan. 13; 6:30–9
pm. On display through March 13. Free.
— Kevin Duggan
ART
Strip artist Brooklyn Paper cartoonist collects 10 years of saucy sci-fi comics
By Jessica Parks
Brooklyn Paper
He’s ahead of the curves!
A sexy sci-fi comic strip has finally
reached its climax, exploding into a
520-page graphic novel. “The Complete
Curvy” collects 10 years of the weekly
webcomic “Curvy,” created by Flatbush
resident Sylvan Migdal, who also works
as a web designer and illustrator for this
newspaper.
The series was born from Migdal’s experience
as a comic book artist at a highbrow
fine arts college. Instead of creating
a literary graphic novel filled with subtle
metaphors, the artist said he found himself
sketching a story of sexy princesses,
wizards, and caramel cockroaches.
“I was trying to figure out how to do
work that I was excited about and how to
impress my professors and peers with what
a fine, fine artist I was,” Migdal said. “So
I was racking my brain trying to think of
how to do comics that were in that vein,
and then this comic kind of happened as
a reaction against that.”
Migdal also wanted to create an inclusive
erotic novel, one that would be
a fun and exciting read for audiences of
any orientation. But it took a little while
to work out the kinks in his art style, said
the author.
“I had to develop my artistic skills to
draw naked people that didn’t look like
a pile of legos,” Migdal said. “But also
drawing images that were representing
body positivity and figuring out how to
get that on to the page.”
The story follows Anais Phalese, a
Brooklynite who meets a visitor from
another world — Fauna Lokjum, the Liquorice
Princess of Candy World — who
is on the run from an arranged marriage
to a supervillain. The two hop across dimensions
and explore their sexualities
while trying to save the world from Fauna’s
would-be fiance.
Migdal’s art style evolved over the years,
and for “The Complete Curvy” he added
color to the original black and white panels
— an element that adds more context
to the story, the artist said.
“Candy World, as depicted in the original
comic, was colorless, so I wanted to
bring color to it and be able to bring that to
life,” Migdal said. “I was able to do some
very nice effects with these colors.”
Migdal’s experience working at a Brooklyn
Paper also helped to solidify Anais as
a Brooklynite, just as the local newspaper
experience helped to forge his own identity
as a King County resident rather than
a generic New Yorker.
He also incorporated some landmarks
and elements of the borough into
his story that locals might recognize,
Migdal said.
“The school handball court that is the
magic monolith that much of the overarching
story centers on is based in a particular
school in Fort Greene,” he hinted.
Read “The Complete Curvy” at c.urvy.
org, or order the collection from ironcircus.
com. $50.
MUSIC
Winter blues
It will blow the borough away!
A long-running Manhattan jazz festival will
expand to Brooklyn next weekend for the first
time in its 16-year run, bringing a marathon
of swing, bebop, and free jazz to a half-dozen
Brooklyn venues on Jan. 17. Bringing the Winter
Jazz Fest to the city’s most creative borough will
give local jazz lovers a chance to soak up hours
of eclectic tunes while close to home, said the
event’s organizer.
“We were confident
that the audience in
Brooklyn would be hungry
for the music,” said
Brice Rosenbloom, who
lives in Fort Greene.
Brooklyn’s jazz scene
has expanded in recent
years, noted Rosenbloom,
with new spots cropping
up all over the borough,
including Bushwick’s Sultan Room, Bedford-
Stuyvesant’s Bar Lunatico, and the Made in NY
Jazz Cafe in Park Slope.
The marathon of music, however, will take
place solely at venues in northern Brooklyn, including
Music Hall of Williamsburg, National
Sawdust, Brooklyn Bowl, and Rough Trade in
Williamsburg; and at the House of Yes and the
Sultan Room in Bushwick. Each venue will host
between three and six different performances
during the night, with most starting around 6
pm and continuing past midnight.
Audience members with Festival passes can
hop from venue to venue during the fest, which
provides a great opportunity for discovering new
music, said Rosenbloom.
“People go see stuff they know, but there’s
also an opportunity for discovery because even if
one venue is full, there’s space at another venue
down the street,” he said.
The Brooklyn marathon will feature plenty
of hometown talent, including a three-act run of
Brooklyn bands at the Music Hall of Williamsburg,
featuring jazz and hip-hop fusion act QNA
at 7 pm; experimental Brooklyn artist L’Rain at
8:15 pm; and Phony Ppl (pictured), a five-piece
staple of the Brooklyn jazz scene, at 9 pm.
The Winter Jazz Fest, which started in 2004,
will also host marathons in Manhattan on Jan.
10 and 11, along with discussions about gender,
health, and social justice in the jazz scene. The
Winter Jazz Fest has become a showcase for upand
coming artists with a progressive message
in their work, said Rosenbloom.
“It’s become a beacon for artists who have
something to say in their music,” he said.
Winter Jazz Fest Brooklyn Marathon (at various
locations in Williamsburg and Bushwick,
www.winterjazzfest.com). Jan 17; 6 pm–1 am.
$35 ($75 VIP). — Ben Verde
Photo by Ben Verde
Home coming show
Comedian shares her long, hard road to pleasure
By Bill Roundy
Brooklyn Paper
She’s come a long way, baby!
A Fort Greene comedian has
finally had her first orgasm —
and she wants to tell you all about it!
The creator and star of 2018’s “Molly
Brenner is Not Coming,” will perform
her new show “I’m Coming” at Park
Slope’s Union Hall on Jan. 12. Brenner
said she was very happy to update the
autobiographical material.
“When I first decided to write
‘Molly Brenner is Not Coming,’ I
really hoped I would have to update
it,” she said. “I pictured the triumphant
sequel, with all my adoring
fans… Mostly I was just very happy
and elated.”
The hour-long comedy show describes
Brenner’s victory over vaginismus,
an involuntary muscle spasm
that can make any kind of sexual activity
painful. After performances of
her last show, she was deluged with
COMEDY
advice from audience members.
“Everyone had these tips,” she said.
“It was really heart-warming how
badly people wanted me to come. I
felt this community form around my
orgasm. That was really sweet.”
Other audience members told
her that they were grateful to hear
Brenner’s light-hearted take on a seriously
personal topic.
“I think it is helpful to people who
have vaginismus or who haven’t had
an orgasm,” she said. “Everyone’s experience
is different, but I get a lot of
people who relate. People appreciate
that I’m being open about it.”
The new show, she said “goes a little
deeper” into the issues that were keeping
her from experiencing the Big O.
“It’s not just about ‘How does this orgasm
happen,’ ” she said. “It’s about my
relationship with pleasure, and about
things that can make pleasure difficult
to let in. It’s got some nuance.”
Brenner has traveled the world with
her show, performing at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival, Orlando Fringe Festival,
and in Boston and San Francisco,
but this will be her first performance
in her Brooklyn home. Plans
for future shows are “still simmering,”
she said.
The Jan. 12 performance will feature
two opening acts: comedians Ophira
Eisenberg and Dulce Sloan, who
Brenner said are both hilarious, and
who straddle the same sort of genres
as her solo act.
“The show’s at the intersection
of stand-up and storytelling, and I
wanted someone who got that vibe,”
she said. “And I always book people
I look up to.”
“I’m Coming,” at Union Hall 702
Union St. between Fifth and Sixth
avenues in Park Slope, (718) 638–
4400, unionhallny.com. Jan. 12 at
8 pm. $12 ($10 in advance).
Come quick: Head to Union Hall on Jan. 12 for Molly Brenner’s
orgasmic new show “I’m Coming.” Photo by Jackie Abbott
Winter Jazz Fest Photo by Kevin Grady
Big book: Cartoonist Sylvan Migdal
has released the complete collection
of his web comic “Curvy.”
Sylvan Migdal
/www.winterjazzfest.com
/www.bklyn-library.org
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/unionhallny.com