Mirror Dancers (part 2), Spank NYC Actions 3 w/ BigArt Group from Spankzine on Vimeo.
SpankMixTape2010 by SpankNYC ABOUT SPANK NYC ART ZINE & PARTY EDITORIAL PHOTOS 72DPI | 300DPI
ABOUT SPANK NYC ART ZINE & PARTY
Art with a beat, baseline and not a little “you betta work” attitude.
One part magazine, one part party machine, one part perfumery, one part high school teacher assigning the bad ass-est homework you've ever been assigned, Spank has already taken over NYC, and now it seems it'll soon have the rest of the world in its good time–groping hands...
– OUT.com / Popnography.com (intro to video interview)
A crazy mélange of DJs, live performance, art and the coolest crowd in town…stars of NYC indie-flick Shortbus chit-chatting with strident models…effervescent dancers dressed as testicles…Xavier and Yozmit will wow you, sexy street band Street Hero will arouse you, but watch out for En Subtitles, whose act, when we saw it, included emerging from a giant vagina wrapped in face placenta…sure to be a hit with UK crowds with a more discerning taste when it comes to club music.
– Adam Lowe, Editor, Bent Magazine, London
Spank offers some of the same ephemeral distractions as your typical gay street rag (e.g., seminude party pics), but it wallops the competition by enlisting an impressive roster of lensmen and writers to partake in the decadence.
– OUT.com / Popnography.com
It’s kind of nice that it’s hard to define. I think it’s kind of an inclusive party-focused art collective. Anyone who is at one of our events is Spank."
– DJ Will Automatic, Spank Zine
Celebrating its third anniversary with the release of a special 3-D issue on December 11 is quarterly publication Spank Zine, around which orbits the liveliest nocturnal New York art/club scene the city has witnessed since the early ‘90s. Not only does Spank Zine seek, curate and celebrate cutting edge queer art, literature and music, it represents a welcome antidote to the bland banality that is mainstream aspiration gay culture. For many, the cutely kinky titled Spank Zine may be the most important, representative and fun alternative queer arts magazine on newsstands today.
Spank's Jason Roe, William Lynn, Sean Bumgarner
Printed in various sizes (zines have ranged from 4” x 4” to 8” x 8”) on 100lb matte coated paper stock, each issue is equal parts photography, painting, drawing, fiction and fashion, meticulously edited, designed and produced by Sean Bumgarner (Sean B), William Lynn (DJ Will Automagic) and Jason Roe. In addition to works curated expressly for Spank, artists are regularly given “HomeWERQ,” an open call to send in art, photos, poems, drawings, and stories, based on a theme, such as “Saturday morning cartoons/after school special,” “Fantasy,” “Bubbles,” and “Robots.”
The Dazzle Dancers
Spank Zine was born of the trio’s desire to document and nurture the wildly creative culture flourishing on the dancefloor of their popular Spank Party, held in warehouses and lofts across Downtown Manhattan.
The common mission of Spank Events, Spank Zine and the companion blog Spankartmag.com, Facebook and Twitter pages is to provide a platform to celebrate the work of queer artists and performers while providing a bit of magic, a pumping disco/house/electro soundtrack (by the zine’s DJ Will Automatic and Sean B) and vote of confidence.
While Spank Zine remains quarterly, Spank events occur monthly, almost invariably in non-traditional spaces –including two distinct series of events: Spank Live (staged performances) and Spank Actions
(audience participation). Below are examples of three performances from each that left the crowd gagging for more:
Spank Live
1. Performance troupe enSubtitles as three naked adult-sized hip-hop babies being born, rapping to the beat, then double-dutch jump-roping…with their umbilical cord.
Dangerkat interpreting Armando's house classic "100% Of Dissin' You."
2. Dancer Dangerkat’s vogueing bootydance to end all bootydances, with secret plants in the audience popping up, jumping on stage and falling in step throughout the number.
3. Huge inflatable floor-to-ceiling squid creature sculptures, with internal strobe lights, inflating, deflating and swaying over the crowd
Spank Actions event poster.
Spank Actions
1. Two figures covered in balloon animal sculptures (above) moving to the middle of the dancefloor and wrestling “to the death,” popping all of the balloons to reveal two guys in underwear.
Human Mirror Balls.
2. Out of the darkness, accompanied by a drastic change in the music to full-on orchestral disco, the Human Mirror Balls appear (above), dazzling the crowd with beams of reflected light, while being bombarded by bubble machines.
Ana Matronic.
3. The Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic (above) in the DJ booth, MCing song-style over the music, calling out the fierceness of particular dancers on the floor.
At Spank Actions: LA DJ Victor Rodriquez, NYC DJ Gant Johnson, Lady Miss Kier.
Drawing luminaries from the New York City art, music and fashion worlds, Spank fans and party regulars include a who’s who of queer culture’s most colorful personalities–among them The Scissor Sisters, John Waters, Lady Miss Kier, Mike Albo, Gio Black Peter, Justin Bond, Cazwell and Ladyfag.
Heather Litteer, edSubtitles, Yozmit.
Favorite Spank stars include bands Street Hero, Best Mate and Milan and DaLipstyxx, singers Xavier, Farrad and Heather Litteer, dancers Dangerkat, Yozmit, and The Dazzle Dancers, outrageous performance troupe enSubtitles (One Half Nelson, Clifton Brown, and Erickatoure Aviance), spoken word legend Paul Alexander (of The Ones) and Big Art Group.
A highly collaborative trio, the Spank lads have also produced events with a variety of widely recognized and respected arts organizations, most notably MoMA PS1 (The Museum of Modern Art affiliate in Queens), The New Museum, Envoy Enterprises and X Initiative.
Spank even has its own scent: Bitch&TUFF, conceived as a companion to Spank Zine’s two-year anniversary issue and “inspired by men after sex, jockstraps and steam rooms.”
Revealing, revolutionary and riotously fun, Spank Zine is the centerpiece of the Spank scene, representing the next trend in gay publishing, a global revolution in queer culture and a welcome return to nightlife realness. Invest! Buy a copy, advertise, and go to the next Spank event. More info at spankartmag.com. •
• 750 issues printed quarlerly
• www.spankartmag.com 18,000 unique views/month
• E-mailing list: 2371 members
• Facebook friends: 2444
• Twitter followers: 413
Feb 26 | Sat | 9:00 p.m. | NYC | Spank X Escort X Midnight Magic!!!
*Escort is the17-piece disco orchestra that you have definitely heard about; now you get to see them live!!! Midnight Magic is also live this special night. Their song “Beam Me Up” is everywhere, we here at SPANK have been living for it!! Very excited for this very special event! Click link above for details
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About.com | Spank + Black Party Expo | March 2010
Bent | UK | August 2010 | feature
NextMagazine.com | 12/8/09 | Q&A
NewNowNext.com / Logo TV / MTV) | 12/8/10 | Spank Actions 3-D party
NY Press | 12/14/08 | First Anniversary party review
OUT.com / Popnogrophy.com | 3/17/10 | Video Interview
OUT.com/Popnography | June 2008 | Critic's Pick
PAPER Magazine | April 2010 | Beautiful People 2010 List
