We Are All Born Cynners

April 21, 2022

Muses come to us in all forms. For the artist Mab, she draws inspiration from "Cynthia the doll," the beloved doll of the character Angelica from the classic Nickelodeon cartoon "Rugrats." Mab's brand "Cynner," centered around Mab's real-world interpreation of Cynthia the doll named "Cyn," stretches the bounds of what is possible through muse with impressive levels of interpretation: Paintings of psychedelic landscape with nude renderings of Cyn scattered throughout; full crochet gimp-esque suits of Cyn; and, experimental editorial shoots with models in bold and doll-like makeup complete the full fantasy. The strength of obsession seems to empower "Cynner" and compels the viewer to experience the same obsession as well.

But to Mab, Cynner is not just about Cynthia the doll. In Mab's own words, "Cynner is an existence, a being, a symbol. In my universe, Cynner is a deity with my similar features. She embodies the unapologetic comfort of her uniqueness and boldness. Cyn doesn't mute herself for others comfortability. Her freaky hair that obviously has been through a lot shows the resilience she has throughout the world."

Text by Saam Niami
Interview & Photos by Michael Janey
Creative Direction by Mab
Dresses by DressCynner
Hair by Luisa Po povic using Freaky Beautiful Wigs
Makeup by Angie
Production assistance by Ulysses

In one of her latest interpretations of Cyn, "The Dress to Cyn In," Mab has constructed full-size airbrushed dresses that are jarringly realistic and feature real nipple piercings. For the photoshoot, conducted by photographer Michael Janey, Mab chose to feature models of different gender identities, including Mab herself. The shoot is an orgy scene where the models all radiate nudity yet no intercourse is performed, leaving the viewer to behold an aura of sex without witnessing the act.

Michael Janey spoke to Mab for office about Cynner, what gets her out of bed, and the taste of happiness. Spoiler alert it's bubblegum.

Who are you? Where are you from? Birthday?

Tamia LeAnn Brown. New Haven, Connecticunt. June 15th

What’s a Gemini's greatest flaw?

“When you’re the absolute best, you get hated on the most.” – Kanye West

What is the best birthday gift to you?

Spaghetti art.

What gets you out of bed?

An egg Sandwich with brioche bread and Siracha.

Top four things that are "To die for"?

Eccentric furniture design, a distinct musky aroma, plants, and a candle lit bath after a long day.

What does Cynner mean to you? Where did she come from?

Cynner is based off of the kooky Cynthia doll from Rugrats but it all began with a vision. It was important for me to embody what it means to be unapologetically you. Taking your insecurities and imperfections and turning them into what makes me so ethereal. The toddlers put Cynthia through so much turmoil but she remained the star in her show. With cunt outfits she was ready to take on the day.

But back to the staple Cynner has on my life. I praise Cynner because of the power it holds in my life and the ways it's helped me fully tap into my femininity and my being resilient in this world while not only being a freelance artist out in New York but also a Black woman.

What was your life like when you started Cynner?

I didn’t choose Cyn, I started off as a realist painter which came with so much pressure, I grew bored. I needed a stimulant to make me fall back in love with art again. Cyn chose me.

Cynner comprises design, crocheting, 3D Design, 2D Design, animation, etc. How do you manage all these mediums? Did you make everything we see?

I get bored of doing the same thing, so I not only like to switch it up but I like to pick up new skills and get closer to my 'Super Saiyan.'

Who and what type of things inspire you for the brand?

Everything. That’s why I have to be so picky of what I allow around me.

What's "The Dress to Cyn In” really about?

"The Dress to Cyn In" is a part of my "Exhibitionist" series that pushes the social norms of feeling like we need to suppress intimacy and vulnerability in the age of social media, especially afte rthe traumatic events we all have encountered in this world. Being told to always distance our desires and hide ourselves only made me want to rebel and do the total opposite now to gain that back. Why is it when I'm out in public I all of a sudden am more easily anxious?

In this shoot we conducted a performance art of an orgy without the actual act of sex! Looking at the shoot you can feel the strong feeling of that very same vulnerability on set. I wanted to test the idea of crude intimacy and vulnerability between the Black bodies of all binaries.

Who is Cynner for?

We are all born Cynners.

List of things in the scene or nightlife or in New York that inspire you.

The DJs that play sets that take you to another place. When the icons work together and make groundbreaking shit. Ballroom scene. The fashion, of course! Creators who really live to create and create to live and keep this city alive.

What affect do you want to create upon the world?

My recent body of work celebrates the woman's body and sensuality unlike the early renaissance that used nudity to show sin, vice, and shame. So in introducing this I hope that it can help greedy thirsty ass men that catcall women just for showing some skin and shame us for wanting to embrace this work of art given to us.

What do you have to say about foot fetish requests?

I’m for it. I’ve grown to fall in love with my feet and definitely see them as a prized possession. So anyone looking for feet pics hit me up.

What do you call home when you're here? Community you're a part of?

Home is where the heart is. All those that live in Cyn.

Supernatural experiences?

Have you ever had the best orgasm of your life and astral projected into an alternate universe?

If any food could take over the world, which one would it be?

Mushrooms.

What's your favorite video game character?

Lu Bu from Dynasty Warriors.

Karaoke song of choice?

Sanctuary by Utada.

Success or happiness? What does it taste like? What does it look like?

If I’m going based on taste, I choose happiness because it tastes like bubblegum. If I'm going based on looks, success because it looks like tarnished silver.

Cremation or burial? Are cemeteries outdated?

Neither. My last wish would be to host an extravagant dinner party and have all my hot friends have a piece of me in a five course meal. Cemeteries have always been a bit sketchy for me. Do you actually believe that you are still in the ground when the cemeteries are over capacity and that they are not going to just end up digging you up to make space and that you're going to just end up being cremated anyways?

Parents influence on you?

Fuck conforming to the normies.

Art

Luna Luna: Surrealist Spectacle Lands in New York

November 21, 2024

In the 1980s, André Heller, an Austrian artist, singer-songwriter, and former actor, was looking for a new place to showcase his art. He had already taken to gardens, creating a colorful, surrealistic character using 40,000 flowers, and to the skies, organizing a 'fire theatre,' which involved an over-the-top fireworks show complete with steel-frame sculptures set on fire. But he had never tried out a fair.

So began "Luna Luna." Created as the world's first art carnival, "Luna Luna" combined the spectacular with the absurd, showcasing original rides and attractions from rising and already-at-the-top artists in Hamburg. Nearly forty years since its debut, followed by foiled plans for a worldwide tour, breached contracts, and 44 storage containers, the art fair has finally returned, calling New York home after re-debuting last year in Los Angeles.

By Hailey Johnson
Photography by Delvin Claro and Sabrina Sarnitz, courtesy of Luna Luna LLC

On a recent evening in Hudson Yards, a small carousel featured characters in quirky, Twister-like poses and an outstretched dog with seven legs. (Almost a century old, the rides are no longer rideable.) Goofy wooden sculptures were elevated in another corner, some of them cross-eyed or with a horn for a nose. A geodesic dome glowed, with Gregorian chants hovering somewhere above it.

"It's an art experience like no other," Michael Goldberg, Chief Experience Officer of Luna Luna, said recently. "People get to see artists do things they've never done before," he added.

Goldberg, founder of Something Special Studios, a creative agency behind many Nike campaigns, was determined to resurrect “Luna Luna” after reading about it online in 2019. Goldberg shopped for investors, eventually teaming up with DreamCrew, a media company co-owned by the rapper Drake. (Details on the company's investment remain vague; sources have reported that DreamCrew spent over "100 million dollars.") In 2022, an intensive restoration process began, with a team of artists reviving many of the original works, which had remained in boxes in a Texas warehouse for over thirty years. Several had been in pieces. (The team reportedly had to rebuild each work "bolt by bolt.")

That night, at the Shed, fourteen out of the original thirty-five works were on display, including the small carousel (Keith Haring), the goofy sculptures (Kenny Scharf), the neon dome (Salvador Dali), and a towering Ferris wheel decorated in drawings of stick figures, upside crowns, and references to Jim Crow (Basquiat). Missing works are in a "constant state of restoration," Goldberg said. Meanwhile, new attractions are joining the line-up. For the New York show, the Puerto Rican duo Poncilí Creación was commissioned to create "PonciliLand," a blink-and-you-miss-it section where guests "can create fantastical characters out of custom building blocks." Poncili also developed floating characters, inspired by performers who circulated the original “Luna Luna” fairgrounds in 1987. Known as "Lovers," the two characters, large and dreamlike, teetered to one side, mumbling the kind of nervous groans one does before a fall. (They never ended up falling.)

I asked Goldberg if, given that today's culture doesn't quite look or feel the same way as it did in 1987, there was any hesitation in showing some of the original works. On a back wall, a tribute featured Manfred Diex's "Palace of the Wind," a show featuring performers who fart into a microphone; on another, two ornate pedestals held sculptures of spiral poop.

"I don't see any reason why we wouldn't show any of these works," he said. "A lot of the time, art is exclusive and uninviting. The big difference between “Luna Luna” and other art experiences is that it has many sides to it, and things that have a bit of humor and playful energy. "As for "Palace of the Winds,” the decision to keep it was simple: farting is universal. He went on: "The “Crap Chancellery" is, conceptually, one of the most important works in “Luna Luna.” Daniel Spoerri's dad was killed in the Holocaust, and the work was inspired by Albert Speer, who was Hitler's architect. He took the facade of what was meant to be a Nazi shrine and turned it into the facade of a bathroom with two steaming statues of shit standing on the outside. These works are extremely important and are things that we would definitely want to honor and draw attention to."

As “Luna Luna” further develops, the show will likely change. "It will continue to evolve as we go to different cities in response to the spaces that we pop up into and in collaboration with the local city," Goldberg said." With it, there will be new characters and new stories to tell. One aspect that won't change, though, as Goldberg assured, is a long-held sentiment about a potential partnership. At one point, early on during the original “Luna Luna” era, McDonald's wanted to buy into it. Heller said no, adding that he "didn't want it to feel like Disneyland." Goldberg agreed. Nonetheless, as I watched Kenny Scharf's dizzying swing ride go around for what felt like the hundredth time, with the cartoon characters decorated on it blurring together (one with a villain's grin, another morphed into a martini glass), I couldn't help but feel like maybe I was at Disneyland, only not as robbed, but just as entertained and exhausted by its rides and fantastical characters, and wanting to go again.

Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Art

Pamela Sneed’s Speaking Tongue opens at Dashwood Projects

November 15, 2024

Pamela Sneed’s latest exhibition, Speaking Tongue, will be on view at Dashwood Projects from November 20 to December 21. The show features twenty watercolor and ink paintings inspired by her recent trip to Kenya, where she was deeply moved by the elegance of giraffes, the landscapes, and the energy of Nairobi.

Blending her background as a poet and visual artist, Sneed’s work reflects on themes of identity, nature, and connection. Her paintings capture the beauty and spirit of the animals she encountered, alongside reflections on her own experiences as part of the African diaspora.

This exhibition marks Sneed’s first solo show with Dashwood Projects and will be accompanied by a new book, also titled Speaking Tongue, to be released in December.

By Enzo Holdt
Artworks by Pamela Sneed

Art

Tiebreaker - Alvin Armstrong

November 15, 2024

There is a moment of silence right before the play. Just before the racket strikes the ball as it hangs weightless in the air, breathless and charged. It’s the fleeting yet decisive instant that can alter the course of the match, determining who wins and who loses.

Alvin Armstrong depicts this crucial moment in his new exhibition Tiebreaker, symbolizing the risks and rewards of competition. It’s an implication of something else at stake, where athletes push not only their bodies, but their spirits to the absolute limit.

The dynamic figures embody the strength, grace, and agility juxtaposed by the vibrant color palette evoking not just the joy of competition but the charged energy of the court.

Tiebreaker is opening Thursday, November 16th at Anna Zorina Gallery.