PRESS
“Satellite Collective is still going strong, continuing to foster collaborative artistic exchanges across disciplines. The list of artists who’ve taken part in the collective’s initiatives—transdisciplinary filmwork, dialogic live performances, artist-led exhibitions and residencies, plus programs in financial services and professional development led by artists themselves—is long, varied and impressively hybridized.”
“In Violence, Beauty, and Resistance: Draper and Robertson vs. Societal Decay, artists Kevin Draper and Lora Robertson deliver an urgent and visceral dialogue on the cultural ruptures and systemic failures that define our time. On view at Mriya Gallery in Tribeca, this ambitious joint exhibition—presented by Satellite Collective—confronts the aestheticization of violence and the necessity of resistance with a striking blend of sculpture, photography, and conceptual rigor.”
“Just as there is beauty in the small things, there are a million tiny horrors—a mechanical coldness underlying the minutiae of life, each moment of domestic and urban life ticking in the back of our heads like a time bomb. In reconciling the stark, everyday violence of modern living with the human need for beauty and harmony, Satellite Collective featured artists Lora Robertson and Kevin Draper have discovered a reverberating, revolutionary space in their art in which pain and suffering can co-mingle with simple, childlike beauty, uncovering a vast swath of emotional ground which floods the head in a staggering orchestral manner.”
“Behind these two sculptures were a pair of miniature combat planes that looked like the real-life manifestations of the painted airplanes of Malcolm Morley (British-American, 1931 – 2018). The vehicle as a dual symbol of speed and destruction puts Draper in an interesting position in Art History as the Italian Futurists of the early-20th Century also investigated similar themes in the years preceding the First World War (a real motorcycle was even included on a nearby plinth).”
“Satellite Collective aims to open up the stage to diverse artistic practice, producing alternate channels for performance to envelope the audience—expressing the theatrical and choreographic gesture, sound, décor, film, stagecraft and storytelling into a total artwork.”
“In terms of inspiration, Satellite Collective bubbles over with creative energy.”
“Certain aspects of the evening felt novel, like the abundance of live, original music, played by the Satellite Ensemble…. …commendably seamless. These are people who know how to produce a show.”
“Satellite Collective is an admirably cooperative endeavor and a peculiar one….Seven composers, three choreographers, one filmmaker, two writers, one lighting designer and three costume designers contributed, with some of those people wearing multiple hats. Even for a sampler, that’s a lot of creative voices.”
Brian Seibert, New York Times
“New York-based Satellite Collective enlisted dancers from the New York City Ballet to dance on the church roof, and a film of the performance by Lora Robertson and Kevin Draper, with music by Stelth Ulvang of The Lumineers, was screened at the 92nd Street Y. “
“…a group of likeminded musicians, singers, spoken word artists, visual designers, choreographers, and dancers, “collaborating as equals, globally and virtually.” – They’re young, in many cases talented, serious and dedicated to their craft. The pieces on the program speak of melancholy, loveliness and yearning.”
“…a performance of something that every artist already knows, which is that art is not made in solitude; it’s made out of other art.”
“The interdisciplinary aspects of the production are the group’s best feature: the projections and artwork are haunting; the live chamber music on strings, piano and guitar is richly sonorous.”
“…their attention to detail, presentation and live music is especially impressive…. this show felt cohesive in its structure and approach…. black-and-white geometric projections were created using mathematical formulas. They managed to be intriguing without distracting, suitable and yet also sleek.”
“…it’s fascinating how some of the original message endures even when transmitted through performance, installation, painting, prose, and any other of the diverse media.”
“In tandem with Mr. Draper’s backdrop the dancers looked as if they were slicing at stalks of wheat in an open field beneath a harvest moon. The initial effect was beautiful.”
“Oh Gott, die See ist so groß und mein Boot so klein”, lautet der Satz, mit dem alles begann. Vor fünf Jahren setzte Nathan Langston dieses Gebet eines bretonischen Fischers in die Welt, um sein medienübergreifendes, künstlerisches Experiment Telephone zu starten.”
“Edie Leaves Twice was a beautiful stop motion short film by Lora Robertson, with libretto by Kevin Draper and scored by Ellis Ludwig-Leone. The film is the second installment of an ongoing trilogy…The imagery was rich, colorful and deliciously abstract… It was a brilliant, fun and a unexpected sweet treat…I’d love to see again…..”
“Founded in 2010 by Artistic Director Kevin Draper and based primarily in New York and Michigan, Satellite Collective has accumulated a significant number of contributing artists, and has commissioned over forty works through its collaborative process, with the goal of providing opportunities to explore ideas that the artists believe will influence the future.”
“They are the emerging artists, the millennial, contemporary, twenty-something generation of up-and-coming thinkers, movers, shakers, dreamers, drifters and lovers…While the young, recently launched presence above and throughout the arts world may be faint amid so many countless fixtures of essentially eternal stars, it is so bright and close to home.”
