The "Sky’s the Limit in the County of Kings" sculpture. Photo: Noemie Trusty. Courtesy The DUMBO Improvement District and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
In the shadow the Brooklyn Bridge, a monument to another icon of the borough has been erected—that of hip hop legend Biggie Smalls. Standing nine-foot tall, the sculpture pays homage to Kings County musical royalty in both style and function. Adorned with a crown and holding a scepter-cum-microphone, his stainless-steel body is embedded with solar-powered speakers that sound out a playlist curated by DJ Mister Cee, the man credited with kickstarting Biggie’s career.
The decision to pair classic sculptural techniques with modern technology is a bricolage somewhat akin to hip hop itself, artist Sherwin Banfield tells Artnet News: “I’m a traditionally trained figurative sculptor and wanted to take something classic then remix or sample it with something new and fresh.” Cast in the Brooklyn foundry owned by Bill Makky, best known for bronzing the Wall Street Bull, the work is dotted with references to Biggie, most obviously in the form of his first studio album enmeshed in the piece using resin. The sonic sculpture is the latest art project funded by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and the Dumbo Improvement District, two organizations dedicated to enhancing the cultural life of local public spaces. With the 50th anniversary of hip hop approaching, the organizations thought it fitting to celebrate Biggie, née Christopher Wallace, a musician who was a trailblazer for the genre before being killed at the age of 24.
Sherwin Banfield with the sonic sculpture of Biggie Smalls. Courtesy of the artist.
“Giving space to new kinds of monuments and works is what a public art fund is all about,” said Alexandria Sica, President of the Dumbo Improvement District. “This is a spectacular piece that will greet countless New Yorkers.”
Titled “Sky’s the Limit in the County of Kings,” the sculpture was Banfield’s response to a call for New York city artists to propose a work to stand at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. The Queens-based artist had previously sketched out a design for a monument dedicated to Christopher Wallace, so when his cousin told him about the open call, he promptly polished the shelved project and sent it over. “The location had a profound impact on the work,” Banfield said. “It’s on a hill, and I wanted viewers to ascend towards a regal monument and be welcomed with open arms and two essential human qualities: the voice through a microphone and love via a heart.” The Parsons-trained artist has previously received New York commissions for sculptural pieces in Van Cortlandt Park and Riverside Park. The public art installation is the latest Brooklyn art tribute to Biggie following a pair of murals in Bed-Stuy and a commemorative MetroCard released on what would have been his 50th birthday. The work will remain on display through Spring 2023
A former Forth Worth, Texas, police officer was found guilty of manslaughter Thursday in the 2019 shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her home.
www.cnn.com
The fact that this was not a jury of her peers, justice will has been served!!!
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global banking giants are starting a 12-week digital dollar pilotwith the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the participants announced on Tuesday.
Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Mastercard Inc and Wells Fargo & Co are among the financial companies participating in the experiment alongside the New York Fed's innovation center, they said in a statement. The project, which is called the regulated liability network, will be conducted in a test environment and use simulated data, the New York Fed said.
The pilot will test how banks using digital dollar tokens in a common database can help speed up payments.
Earlier this month, Michelle Neal, head of the New York Fed's market's group, said it sees promise in using a central bank digital dollar to speed up settlement time in currency markets.
This will be the death of freedom. All bank accounts will be directly attached to the government and we will no longer be able to use cash.
The MADNESS Of IT ALL. But. I'm A FOOL. In WS TAKE OVER . Of words. Like SCIENCE. What A World We LIVE IN. Wouldn't It Be MORE SIMPLE To GIVE TRANS PEOPLE THEIR OWN Definition And EXPLANATION Of What A WOMAN LIKE ME IS NOT. MADNESS OF IT ALL.
Payton Gendron, the anti-Black racist terroristic demon that murdered a dozen Black people at the Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, NY, will plead Guilty under 1 condition: and that is to not face the death penalty.
The evil caucasity, cowardice, lack of full accountability, and outright entitlement! They would laugh him out of court if he was Black. Talk about trying to pressure innocent people to have mercy for themerciless. Login to view embedded media
Seems to say to hell if they were born in the states, Black immigrants specifically should be shut out of society. Many agreed with the message and the image.
Jay z and the machine really have some ppl thinking he's the greatest.Nas has better albums and I love all of em except hip hop is dead.Jay z's 1st 3o4 weren't good or was barely good
This page includes information and relevant materials for upcoming and past meetings. Upcoming Meetings December 14, 2022 and December 15, 2022, In-person Meeting Meeting Notice and Agenda Notificación De Reunión y Agenda Meeting Materials To provide public comment during the...
oag.ca.gov
I'm just curious and want to spark a little productive discussion as reparations by state are becoming more popular.
Since foreign languages are helpful for many reasons, including memory, IQ enhancement, job opportunities, and cultural understanding, then why wouldn't it be a great idea to teach your children how to speak at least one foreign language that would benefit them in their geographical region; especially FBA children.
The languages that I would recommend teaching FBA children (when they're growing up) is French, Spanish, or Chinese.
The reason I've chosen these languages specifically is because they have weight within the global world and market, so they have more value than other arcane and non-well known languages.
If you know a foreign language and you're FBA, then please teach your children that language; it'll help them tremendously in the future, and they would appreciate it.
Alkaline Tacos: Soak walnuts for at least 6 hours or overnight, then blend it. Stir fry with baby bella mushrooms, tomato, onion, green bell pepper and spinach or desired vegetables. When done, put in romaine lettuce as a wrap/taco.
Login to view embedded mediaI'm just here to see who says "let's investigate the Black cop's past" instead of keeping the blame on the white pig who falsely arrested him.
.. back when it first started, it logged $1.07 million spent with Black owned businesses in 6 weeks (most of that, probably in the DC area, where the project is based, so I would say nationwide it was 3x that in 2020. Now, I'm sure it's $5-8mill more in 2022) ...
I think it's important to keep showing what we can do quantitatively when we all get on code ...✊🏿
I see they have another promotion ... Check out the site, if you can #B1
This new tech is blowing me away. It's called ChatGPT! There's so many ways to use it! Ask it a question and it gives you some of the best answers I've seen from A.I.. Check it out I'm sure you can use it for blog posts, websites, courses, any kind of content and best of all it's free to use right now. Hurry before they start charging for this awesome software!
People who steal other people’s packages are horrible individuals and deserve punishment. Once all homeowners defend their property (like in the two videos I will share), I believe we will see a decline in these crimes. What do y’all think? Login to view embedded media
The new Michael Jordan Trophy, which will be given to the NBA's MVP, weighs 23.6 pounds and stands 23.6 inches tall, a mash-up of Jordan's No. 23 jersey and six championship rings.
LOS ANGELES — As the capstone to a sweeping overhaul of its trophy collection, the NBA on Tuesday unveiled a redesigned MVP trophy that was renamed to honor Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. While the Michael Jordan Trophy bears his name and includes several nods to his Hall of Fame career, the 59-year-old insisted during the nine-month design process that the formidable bronze sculpture not be in his likeness.
“For Michael, naming the award in his honor was recognition enough,” said trophy designer Mark Smith, a retired Nike executive and longtime Jordan confidant. Instead of mimicking the spread-legged dunking pose featured on the Jordan statue outside Chicago’s United Center and on his “Jumpman” logo, the Michael Jordan Trophy features a basketball player soaring out of a rocklike stand and reaching up to grasp a crystal basketball. Smith eschewed other ideas, such as re-creating memorable playoff shots against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989 and the Utah Jazz in 1998, in favor of a universal silhouette that symbolizes a player’s rise to greatness. Though the trophy’s figure is bald like Jordan, he isn’t depicted in a Bulls jersey and his shoes don’t bear Nike logos. Zion Williamson’s dunk made the Suns mad and should put NBA on notice “[Jordan] wanted the player who wins this trophy to think about his own journey,” said Christopher Arena, who oversaw the redesign as head of the NBA’s on-court and brand partnerships team. “His vision was that the player who wins this would see his own hard work reflected in the trophy, not just a statue of Michael Jordan. He didn’t want the trophy to be him taking the ‘Last Shot’ or jumping and fist-pumping.”
The trophy nevertheless includes several subtle tributes to Jordan, who has owned the Charlotte Hornets since 2010. The trophy weighs 23.6 pounds and stands 23.6 inches tall, a mash-up of Jordan’s No. 23 jersey and six championship rings. Similarly, the trophy boasts a striking 23-sided crystal basketball and a six-sided nameplate. The black base has five sides and descends at a 15-degree angle, referencing Jordan’s five MVP awards and 15-year career with the Bulls and Washington Wizards. Careful observers of the statue will note that the player’s upper body is lighter and brighter than his lower body. Victor Solomon, a Los Angeles-based artist who will manufacture the Michael Jordan Trophy, said the gradual color change represents the struggles that an MVP must overcome during his career.
The Michael Jordan Trophy features a rock base and a gradient design that symbolize the challenges an MVP must overcome during his career. (Andrew Kenney/NBA) “This player is breaking out of this rock and breaking out of this raw form,” Solomon said while showing off the finished product at his El Segundo studio. “This hand-burnished gradient technique takes it from that rough grittiness, to symbolize where the player came from, to the warm tone at the top. As you go up the form, the figure becomes more finely tuned and more formally realized. This is the journey from rawness into excellence as they’re reaching up for the diamond ball.”
Arena said selecting Jordan as the MVP trophy’s namesake was a straightforward decision given his accomplishments and his status as one of most revered icons among current players. Jordan’s five MVP awards — he won in 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1998 — are tied with Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell for second all-time behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s six with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA renamed its Finals MVP trophy after Russell in 2009 and unveiled a Social Justice Champion award with a trophy in Abdul-Jabbar’s honor in May. Following Kobe Bryant’s death in 2020, the NBA renamed its All-Star Game MVP trophy after the Lakers legend. When the NBA updated its Larry O’Brien Trophy before the 2022 Finals, it also added Eastern Conference finals MVP and Western Conference finals MVP trophies named after Celtics forward Larry Bird and Lakers guard Magic Johnson, respectively.
The MVP trophy was previously named after Maurice Podoloff, the league’s first commissioner. Last week, the NBA announced that it had created a new award, to be presented to the team with the best record at the end of the regular season, that would be named in Podoloff’s honor.
Additionally, the NBA conceived new trophies that honor significant figures from the league’s history in conjunction with its major end-of-season individual awards: the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy for Defensive Player of the Year, the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy for Rookie of the Year, the George Mikan Trophy for Most Improved Player and the John Havlicek Trophy for Sixth Man of the Year. To complete the lineup, the NBA created the Clutch Player of the Year award and named its trophy after Lakers great Jerry West. These end-of-season award trophies were designed by Solomon, who sought to create a cohesive feel for the awards with 15-inch crystal cylinders that sport a net design on the back. Suspended inside each cylinder is a gold “Trophy Man” that, Solomon said, was an “anthropomorphized version of the NBA’s logo posed into an orientation that referenced the namesake or the theme of each trophy.”
The Wilt Chamberlain Trophy, given to the NBA's Rookie of the Year, features a suspended gold “Trophy Man” palming basketballs in each hand, a pose inspired by a photo of the Hall of Fame center. (Andrew Kenney/NBA) (NBA) The Rookie of the Year trophy was inspired by a photograph of Chamberlain palming basketballs with both hands simultaneously, while the Clutch Player of the Year trophy features a West-like figure shooting a jump shot. The Defensive Player of the Year has the figure crouched in a defensive stance with one hand raised, and the Most Improved Player trophy pays homage to the “Mikan Drill” with the player practicing a layup.
The trophy naming process was exhaustive, with input coming from across several departments in the league office and from the National Basketball Players Association’s executive committee as the NBA attempted to “slot” decorated former players alongside its existing awards. “As we recognize the league’s top performers each season, we also pay tribute to the legends who embody these prestigious awards,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. Olajuwon, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, was selected in part because he is the league’s all-time leader in blocked shots. Chamberlain was tabbed for Rookie of the Year because he won the award in 1960 by averaging a league-leading 37.6 points and 27 rebounds. Havlicek, who won eight titles with the Celtics, helped popularize the super-sub role, but he retired before the NBA began handing out its Sixth Man award in 1983. West was nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game heroics.
The updated award trophies are intended to last until the NBA’s 100th season, but the league has other new designs in the works, including a trophy that will be named after former commissioner David Stern and a full refresh of the WNBA’s collection. Jordan will receive the original Michael Jordan Trophy, which Arena said will serve as “the exclamation mark on his five.” Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic will be the first active player to receive a Michael Jordan Trophy in recognition of his 2022 MVP award; the NBA will retroactively bestow its redesigned trophies to the players who won major awards during the NBA’s 75th season. “When fans look at the Michael Jordan Trophy, I hope they see elegance,” Arena said. “He was such an elegant player.”
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