A Rose in Spanish Harlem + Love Warrior + Five Elements Ninja : New York City ups
June 27th, 2016 by Mr. C
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The triple headed monchhichi crew at Planet Chocko did our fair share of exploring NYC last Saturday as we covered Spanish Harlem all the way
down to Chinatown. Some of the notable events that we attended included stopping by two art exhibits powered by two iconic female street artists.
Hi-ARTS Gallery hosted “A Rose in Spanish Harlem” which featured the works of Sandra Fabara aka Lady Pink. Pink is a legendary 1st generation graffiti artist from NYC,renowned painter,muralist,educator, & just a plain one woman badass outlaw solely responsible for inspiring a whole new generation of street artists – male or female. A Rose in Spanish Harlem includes Lady Pink’s latest prints, paintings, & woodcuts that displays various stages of her creativity these past several years. The subjects she paints almost always involves a strong female figure that emanates the beauty and power of femininity all the while being graceful. Lady Pink’s exhibition will be on display from July 16th – July 30th, 2016. Viewing hours: Tuesdays,Thursdays, & Saturdays 2-7pm
Hi-Arts Gallery
304 E 100th St, New York, NY
www.hi-artsnyc.org
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Meanwhile, 100 blocks down south on the same Island of Manhattan – lives a fun designer Toy Store on Forsyth Street called My Plastic Heart. Here is where another renowned graffiti artist & designer from NYC – Maria Castillo aka TooFly is having her “Love Warrior” art print exhibition. Love Warrior represents feminine power and a heightened sense of spirituality. The drawings of Toofly’s warrior figure reminds me of the indigenous and tribal type that symbolizes
strength and power! Castillo’s Ecuadorian heritage and upbringing on the streets of New York City serves as the inspiration that helped put her ancestral experiences into a form of art in order to relay the message of love, spirituality, & freedom. I absolutely love the style, colors, & bubble lettering of Toofly and Lady Pink. The flow and boldness of their hand lettering expressed on wall murals in aerosol – amazing! Toofly and Lady Pink are superhero writers in my book!
Love Warrior exhibit runs until July 1st. Get that Native Soul!
My Plastic Heart
210 Forsyth Street
New York NY 10002
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(Master Shi Yan Ming + RZA at introduction of Five Element Ninjas @ Metrograph)
To cap off the night, I attended a screening of one of my favorite classic Shaw Brother Kung Fu films directed by Chang Cheh – 5 Element Ninjas (1982) aka Super Ninjas aka Chinese Super Ninjas as RZA would remind us! I knew it as Chinese Super Ninjas from my VHS bootleg copy that I bought from the great 43rd Chamber store! This event was billed as RZA’s dream double grindhouse feature including 5 Element Ninjas + Shaolin vs Wutang. Shortly after the press release, the theater announced they couldn’t get the print of Shaolin vs Wutang on time and House of Traps would be the replacement. RZA was still scheduled to introduce the films and be present for a Q&A afterwords. Throw the WU’s in the air! As to no surprise, 5 Element Ninjas is a blood soaked revenge film with an evil school of renegade kung fu fighters scheming to eradicate another school in order to reign supreme in the kung fu world. Shaw Brothers made sure to throw in the stereotypical anti-japanese sentiment with the ruthless and heartless Japanese ninjas as they dispatch the chinese by any means necessary! Those sneaky japs! 5 Element Ninjas is an encyclopedia of excellent weapons fight choreography with video gamish like battles and background settings. The only thing that wasn’t retro about the screening which I actually appreciated was that the film was not english dubbed but in its native mandarin. 5 Element Ninjas is a vicious little film that displays first rate acrobatic kung fu skills especially with traditional weapons. The movie is filled with wall to wall action, has colorful content, violent with guts and gore, and what else, contains lots and lots of ninjas! Five Element Ninjas is available from various distributors including Tokyo Shock and Celestial. This one belongs in your Kung Fu DVD database for sure! Oh, don’t forget to see and hear what RZA had to say about his experiences
with Kung Fu films and how it influenced him and his Clan at the Q/A after the film below!
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