First Tuesdays Presents Phil Demise Smith

When: January 3, 3017
Where: Espresso 77 Café, 35-57 77th Street, Jackson Heights, NY 11372.
Time: 7:00 — 8:30 PM (open-mic sign up at 6:30)
Cost: $5 minimum purchase at the food counter.
More Information: Richard Jeffrey Newman

Phil Demise Smith is an editor, poet, writer, musician, artist, and teacher. As poet and editor of Gegenschein Press (recipient of National Endowment for the Arts/CCLM grants), he has been published in numerous magazines and books including “What I Don’t Know For Sure” (Burning Deck) and “Periods, selected writings 1972-1987” (Gegenschein). He has given numerous poetry readings in the U.S. and Europe. As a musician, Smith was part of the New Wave/Punk Scene in NYC, fronting two bands (The N.DoDo Band and Didus and the Fabulous Mascarenes). From 1976-78, he produced over fifty shows of music, poetry, art and dance, at his iconic NYC performance loft: The Gegenschein Vaudeville Placenter.

In 1987, Smith began to pursue his interest in painting and has had numerous one person and group shows in the U.S. and Europe including a one-person exhibition in 2012 at the Musée Création Franche in Bégles, France. In 1994, he opened his first gallery, Wares For Art, in Soho, NY. Since then, he has curated dozens of art shows and produced performances of music and performance art. He is the U.S. representative for several European and American outsider artists and has written articles on the subject for Raw Vision Magazine (UK) and Out of Art (Netherlands), among others. From 1999-2015, Smith taught at P.S. 41 (The Greenwich Village School), in Manhattan. During that time, he developed and taught what he calls “Expression Art”, a unique curriculum that is a perfect supplement to the traditional art class because it doesn’t emphasize technique but rather focuses on the process and attitude toward writing and making art, allowing every student to succeed in their own individual way. He has published 13 issues of EX41, a magazine of his students’ poetry and art based on the ‘Expression Art’ method. Phil Smith is on the boards of Pure Vision Arts (New York) and Creation Franche (France).

This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. through public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.