Byline JC Agid – Thirty Seven East

A Requiem for a Car

April 6, 2019April 13, 2019 by JC Agid Leave a comment

A Requiem for a Car
Fire chat with Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero, special guest of Art Paris 2019

A group of bicycles is carrying on their “shoulders a dead body made-of-steel,” moving a car through the large avenues and narrow streets of Paris to its final resting place right in front of Le Grand Palais, next to the Champs Elysées. “A Requiem for a Car,” a Jaguar to be exact, is a symbol of speed, power and wealth. This invitation to slow down a humanity obsessed with haste, consumerism, and individualism is Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero art installation to celebrate the 2019 edition of Art Paris. Romero, whose art has been exhibited throughout the world and is now part of the permanent collections in North and South American as well as European museums, plays here with some of her favorite themes: automobiles and globalization.

A spanish version of this interview with Bétsabée Romero was published online by First Class Life

Ethical Fashion: UpCycle!

March 25, 2019April 12, 2019 by JC Agid Leave a comment

Ethical Fashion: UpCycle!
Fire chat with Gabriella Smith, the founder of the UpCycle Project

Passionate about fashion and an entrepreneur at heart, Gabriella Smith wanted to be disruptive. Her clothes had to be more than just a brand, more than just beautiful. “I wanted a story of purpose, respect, transparency and reasonability.” So, after a first corporate experience at Estée Lauder, she launched The UpCycle Project, “an education platform to raise awareness of the waste the fashion industry creates by developing hands-on workshops, student mentorship programs, debates, as well as innovative events and products to develop circular solutions for fashion and other industries.”

Fonda: On Becoming Jane

March 8, 2019April 12, 2019 by JC Agid Leave a comment

Last November, I had the pleasure to interview twice Jane Fonda when the French Institute-Alliance Française awarded her the 2018 Trophée des Arts. To celebrate the 2019 International Women’s Day, here is an updated article based on these conversations. The two-time Academy Award winner explained how she made a first name for herself as a young adult in France, thus becoming a major trailblazer.

FRIDA’s (back) in New York … as KAHLO

March 4, 2019April 12, 2019 by JC Agid Leave a comment

CELEBRATING FRIDA KAHLO IN NEW YORK

At least until May 12^th. First, at the Brooklyn Museum with the exhibition “Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving.”

But also, through the Mexican painter’s influence on art and fashion with the presentation of artist’s Hormazd Narielwalla’s last series of Frida collages at Art on Paper New York March 7-10.

Finally, throughout a city, which was the first to publicly recognize the art of Frida Kahlo: in New York during the late 1930s where she became a full-fledged artist.

The Three Sins of Mayra González

August 23, 2018April 12, 2019 by JC Agid 2 Comments

WOMEN CAN HAVE IT ALL | SERIES | THE THREE SINS OF MAYRA GONZALEZ

A manager at Nissan Mexico once told Mayra González that she was very talented and would have a great career in the industry, but “you have three sins,” he added: “You are young; you are a woman; and you are Mexican.”

Fast forward more than 15 years: Mayra González was eventually promoted in 2016 at age 39 to the top job at the Japanese car company’s fourth largest business unit, thus inducted to the very exclusive club of female CEOs, a mere three years after Mary Barra became the first woman appointed CEO at General Motors.