What is love in New York? With 8 million people in the city, you’ve got plenty of fish in the sea. Sure, dating in New York is fun, but so many people are constantly busy and in a rush–too committed to their professional dreams to commit to a lover. But sometimes, when we come home after work and open a bottle of wine, we remember the stunning blue eyes of that girl who we saw on the subway. Then, we become hopeless romantics who believe in second chances and try to find someone who we think we let go in this urban jungle–on Craigslist’s Missed Connections page. Here are some posts that might bring a smile to your face:

1. Love is a Starbucks sign

2. Love is when finally a nice cable guy named Billy comes around

3. Love is the first sight of a cracked laptop screen

4. Love is when you talk about selling underwear on Craigslists at their house…

5. Love is at the steak house and not your girlfriend

6. Love is not defined in law books

7.Love is like Darlene who probably kicked your ass

8. Love is…in your beard.

9. Love is like a short summer dress

10. Love is unrequited

11. Love is playing Pokemon Go together

12. Love is like the toughest skateboarding trick

13. Love is long lost and forgotten

Rooting for you, NYC lovers.

Edited by Brianna Arrighi

The post What is New York Love: Missed Connections appeared first on The Urban Watch Magazine.

1. Jamel Shabazz

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Jamel Shabazz was one of the foremost street photographers of the 70’s and 80’s. Focusing his lens on the people of his Red Hook neighborhood, Shabazz captured the beginnings of hip-hop culture and fashion. He stood out from other street photographers of the time in his treatment of the subjects. Shabazz rejected the typical candid style and instead posed New Yorkers in deliberate ways. In doing so, Shabazz captured the attitude and pride of Black and Latino New Yorkers across the boroughs.

2. Nan Goldin

Through her gritty, intimate images, Nan Goldin showed the world a darker side to the city. Her work throughout the 80’s and 90’s focused on drug addiction, love, abuse, sex, and friendship. She perfected a documentary style that didn’t gloss over raw subject matter. Goldin depicts New York as the backdrop for real life, bringing the city’s anonymous denizens to life in the backseats of a cab or shoebox apartments. Her most profound work, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, was an ongoing project that resulted in a 45-minute slideshow of over 700 photographs, now showing at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art until February 2017.

3. Bill Cunningham

There’s no name more synonymous with New York fashion photography than Bill Cunningham. He originated of the mode of street style photography still practiced today. During his career with the Times, Bill Cunningham captured New York’s most fashionable—whether they were a random passerby or Anna Wintour herself. Known for his blue workman’s jacket and bike, Cunningham could be easily spotted in his blue suit jacket, biking through the streets to document New York’s ever-changing style and scenery. Although Cunningham passed away earlier this year, his penchant for capturing a certain je-ne-sai-quois in his subjects created an unforgettable legacy.

4. Diane Arbus

New York native Diane Arbus’ work brought some of the city’s most unseen residents to the forefront.  Born in NYC in 1923, Arbus focused on those whom society at the time would have shunned. People with deformities or birth defects, transgender people, circus performers, and the generally weird were her favorite subjects. Despite ending her own life at age 48, Arbus created a transformative body of work that set a prec

edent for photographers to come, documenting the beauty that often comes out of the odd or marginalized.

5. Marcia Resnik

Marcia Resnik is known for photographing New York’s most famous faces, including Andy Warhol, John Belushi, and Anthony Bourdain. Resnik frequented classic venues like CBGB’s, Max’s, and the Mudd Club during their prime, staging shots of influential stalwarts of the New York music scene in the 70’s, portraying the likes of Johnny Thunders, Iggy Pop, and John Lyndon. The photographer documented a pivotal time in the city’s art scene, immortalizing these antihero revolutionaries in her photos and most, recently in her book Punks, Poets, and Provocateurs: New York City Bad Boys 1977-1982.

Edited by Brianna Arrighi

The post New York City Through the Lens appeared first on The Urban Watch Magazine.

Harlem

1. “Make Me Feel Like A Woman” – Long Gallery 

Now – November 13

This group exhibition is exploring notions of gender through the work of Linda Gallagher, Ted Partin, Daniela Puliti and Tiffany Smith.

2. “Past Present” – Elizabeth Dee Gallery

Now – October 22

The first in the gallery’s upcoming Research Series, “Past Present” explores the work of Annette Lemieux, whose work in the 1980’s coincided with the beginning of “picture theory.”

Lower East Side

3. Vittorio Brodmann – Gavin Brown’s Enterprise (Grand St.) 

October 14 – November 13

Check out Vittorio Brodmann’s brightly colored work, full of looping abstraction and absurd figures in this solo show.

4. “Detected Reality” – Richard Taittinger Gallery

October 13 – November 27

This new show at LES stalwart Richard Taittinger features Russian duo Recycle Group, whose work utilizes industrial materials to explore issues of waste, consumption and other ails of modern civilization.

5. Benjamin Butler – Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery

October 21 – December 4

Get lost in Benjamin Butler’s hypnotic close-ups of nature in his forth exhibition at Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery.

Chelsea

6. “Trade Winds” – Casey Kaplan Gallery

October 27 – December 17

Hugh Scott-Douglas’ cyanotype prints have one foot in the past and the other in the present, using outmoded technology as the basis to create ghostly, beautiful images on textiles.

7. “Further Evidence – Exhibit B” – Galerie Lelong

October 21 – December 3

Galerie Lelong is partnering with P.P.O.W. to present Carolee Schneemann’s two-part solo exhibition; a meditation on bodies in captivity which features installations, film, and video work.

8. “Selected Works from The Democratic Forest” – David Zwirner Gallery

October 27 – December 17

David Zwirner is showing selections from photographer William Eggleston’s magnum opus, The Democratic Forest—a collection of 1980’s images of rural America and Eastern Europe.

Brooklyn

9. Jon Pestoni – Real Fine Arts (Greenpoint)

Now – October 29

Jon Pestoni returns to Real Fine Arts for his second exhibition with the Greenpoint gallery, continuing to expand upon his wet-into-wet painting technique.

10. “TELEVISION” – 99 Cent Plus Gallery (Bushwick)

October 7 – December 18

Sarah Largess & B.Thom Stevenson are coming together to curate an enormous group show featuring the work of the likes of Chris Oh, Cali Thornhill DeWitt, Morgan Blair and more.

11. Coco Young – Interstate Projects (Bushwick)

October 21 – November 20

Interstate Projects is hosting photographer and filmmaker Coco Young, whose work uses light and collage-style composition to create compelling images.

Edited by Brianna Arrighi

The post What’s Good in the Hood? The Best NYC Art Galleries to Visit in October appeared first on The Urban Watch Magazine.

I just graduated from Emerson College in Boston. Emerson is so liberal and LGBT-friendly that it has a half-joking, unofficial slogan of, “Gay by May or your money back.” With that being said, there was a wide variety of gay men to choose from. I just wrote that as if I actually took advantage and dated within the Emerson community while there. I didn’t.

New York is supposed to provide an even larger pool of gay men, scurrying between Westside bars on any given Friday or Saturday night. A new episode of Scream Queens is reason enough for us all to congregate and scream YAASS! in unison on a Tuesday night. These are social events in safety zones where we can be who we want to be. Actually, a man could wear a dress through the middle of Harlem and no one would raise an eyebrow nowadays.

For some, these streets and bars are far safer spaces than their own homes– especially if they’re still living with their parents. One would think I could sidestep this by pulling up a barstool and finding fellow cocktail enthusiasts for dates. But no, I have to go on the internet so I can find project men who just want to gulp a good ole IPA.

Once upon a time a guy named Lance and I matched with the magic of mutual right swipes on Tinder. The utter romanticism of it all started with flat messages to each other while I stood in line for three hours on Bowery to acquire access to the Drake pop-up shop and a sunburn. He would punctuate messages with the zest of, “Thanks, man.” Talk dirty to me.

I screenshotted his Tinder profile and sent it to a girlfriend: 27 years old, St. John’s grad, 6’0, and a cosmopolitan balance of Venetian vacay shots and shirtless bathroom selfies. Find you a man who can do both.

Not much gets past my sleuthing gal pal as she pointed out, “26 miles away?!”

Yup, Lance lived on Long Island.

Now, Manhattanites catch a lot of flack for not being open to dating off of our little island of perfection, the very axis on which the entire universe revolves. We may have to pay double for it, but we don’t even need to leave for Olive Garden! Of course, exceptions can be made for some Brooklyn exploring: a night of industrial pub-hopping with hipsters in Williamsburg here or a concert at Barclays Center there. Otherwise, no dates from Long Island, Jersey, Westchester, or… shiver… Connecticut.

Once I rode over the George Washington Bridge from my Harlem abode for dinner, a movie, and dessert with a guy, who paid for everything. That was worth it. But it isn’t always worth it. Part of why we don’t date outside of Manhattan is because we don’t want to go all that way to be disappointed and we would feel bad if they traveled for us.

So, Lance decided he would visit me in Manhattan: score. But other than strolling around Central Park, he seemed like he was at a loss for other things do in the city… Said the guy from a Long Island suburb. Museums! Bars! Restaurants! Shows! Tourist traps! All in Manhattan! But meeting in Central Park it was.

I sat on a park bench near the southwest entrance on a sunny August afternoon. I was numb off of mimosas since this was post-brunch on a Sunday. Lance kept giving me updates as to just how horrendously late he was going to be. An hour and a half later, we met.

He was hot in person, just under my height and his nose wasn’t as big as his unflattering selfie angles suggested. His normcore, monochromatic grey t-shirt and shorts pairing was a sexy kind of lazy. I liked him!

Conversation was a little stiff as we talked about his stable office job and I tried to explain to him what it’s like feeling like the floor is about to fall through a freelance writer and television production assistant. He had a lot of questions regarding moving to a place in the city, seeing as he was trying to escape living at home with his parents.

“How do you move all your stuff?”

“Umm… Packing light and multiple Uber and subway trips.”

We were getting really personal, guys. So much so that he wanted to have dinner over at AG Kitchen on Upper West Side. Actually, he was just hungry and I needed a cocktail to get me through this. After all, I was physically attracted to him. He was just nervous and dull.

He ordered a burger. I ordered chips and guac with a Manhattan. He even tensed up over my drink order upon finding out the whiskey and vermouth contents of it.

Then, as the server was collecting our menus, it hit me. It was an impulsive question and one that just shot right out of my mouth, impaling him to the back of the booth, unable to escape.

“Are you out to your parents?”

Blind-sided, but not missing a beat, he replied with a blunt no. He asked me the same and I repressed an eye roll to compliment my “Of course.”

“They’ve known since I was a child,” I easily explained.

“How? I don’t get how people can say that,” he exclaimed, frustrated.

“I liked Little Mermaid and they took me to my first Lady Gaga concert when I was 16,” I shrugged.

I deflected the tension by making him try a sip of my Manhattan. He couldn’t handle its strength.

In an effort to charge his phone, we next sat at a Dunkin’ Donuts and sipped coffee. At my suggestion of him charging it at my place he froze. Finally, I asked him just why he had swiped right. He said I have nice eyes. I then asked him his type. He said “athletic and masculine.” Ah, of course, and so goes the ideologies of a closeted gay man. #masc #DL

I expressed my wanting to go on a movie date with a guy, objectively. He said he’d be willing to do that as a second date, even suggesting Suicide Squad, a piece of cinematic excellence loathed by many, appreciated by me. I kissed him on the cheek and he returned to Long Island, never to speak to me in person again.

I wasn’t too bothered by it. After all, being closeted is a deal breaker for me. I’ve worked all my life, and have been out since 17, to live comfortably with my sexuality. I expect the same in a partner. Plus, Long Island. Ugh.

But Lance would still Snapchat or text me on occasion on Fridays, with always the same message, “Happy Friday.”

Whenever I would press him about when the movie date was going to happen, he would just respond with, “haha.”

I finally made the mature, millennial decision to delete him on Snapchat. I don’t keep guys from apps on there seeing as my uses of the dog filter and face swap features are my social media at its most intimate. Tell him, “Boy, bye.”

Then, a few weeks after no communication, he texted me, “Hey, Cooper.” I tensed up, but shot the breeze with him. Then, the next morning, I decided to beat him to the punch and apologize for deleting him on Snapchat.

He hadn’t even noticed. Did he not wonder where all of my flawless, first-attempt selfies had gone?! Anyways, I explained I had assumed he didn’t want to see me again and then proceeded to re-add him.

We still haven’t seen each other again. We don’t really talk. But then, out of the blue, about a week ago, on a chilly, fall Saturday night, he texted me from out of the blue that his dog had been diagnosed with a terminal cancer and given weeks to live.

Over the next couple days, I got Snapchats of the adorable Bichon. He told me the pup said hi. I told him to let me know if he needed anything. His response?

“Thanks, man.”

Edited by Brianna Arrighi

The post OUT in Manhattan: Straight Up or With a Twist? appeared first on The Urban Watch Magazine.

Curious to learn more about what it takes to step into New York’s fashion scene, I had the pleasure of interviewing upcoming fashion designer, Nora Gardner. She is a women’s wear designer focusing on cooperate attire who just started about two years ago.

What inspired you to create your own fashion brand?

As a woman working in a professional environment, I felt there was a need for the clothes that I wanted to wear. I wanted to feel confident and comfortable in my clothes while remaining appropriate in a professional work place.

As a new designer, what are the challenges you face in this business?

While having a great product and knowing my market but not being from the fashion industry, it was hard to find proper distribution channels
and retail partners. Establishing brand identity and awareness is key and is one of the main challenges that a brand must overcome to be successful.

What makes you unique from other designers?

I have a background in finance and I’m inspired by the women I used to work with. I also do all the designs and run the whole business myself. I am equally passionate about both aspects of the business.

Why did you decide to start your fashion brand in New York City?

I lived and worked in NYC and am inspired by New York City executive women. I want to continue to build my business in New York which is, in my opinion, the capital of both finance and fashion.

How do you envision your line or brand in five years from now?

I would like to become the primary go-to resource for high quality women’s work wear. I would like to expand the line to include separates and accessories, partner with major retailers, and become an international brand.

Written by Ayesha Alim

Edited by Brianna Arrighi

The post Nora Gardner: Designing for Powerful Women and Breaking into New York Fashion appeared first on The Urban Watch Magazine.