Marielle DeLuna & Antonio Miniño in front of her photographs | photo by Decia Bodden

In she walks wearing one of New York based Dominican fashion designer Peter Hidalgo‘s latest creations for Spring/Summer 2012, a turqouise Mosquito dress that asserts her readiness to conquer the world and create all opportunities. She has a lot to celebrate, a dream come true to most artists and even bigger accomplishment for someone from the small pond of Dominican Republic to the mecca of Art and Design.

Marielle DeLuna is an emerging photographer who said yes to living her passion later in her life. From being an American Airlines employee to owning Marielle DeLuna Photography, she has broken molds with her unique personality and love for the obscure in a land where this practice is most unconventional.

She is not a stranger to adversity having received “shade” from purists for her radical views and tell-it-like-it-is personality. Sticks and stones that will never affect an outstanding mother raising a beautiful family, an anchor that reminds her of what is really important at the end of the day. Judging by their participation in one of the photographs being displayed at the Broadway Gallery in SoHo they support her passion wholeheartedly.

Marielle took some time to answer some questions for The Happiest Medium.

When did you fall in love with the lens? what inspires you?
Marielle: Since I was a child I love Art… My inspirations come from old and romantic paintings; the paintings are a dream to me, a secret or a mysterious kind of beauty.
Beauty can be created and represented by a dream, or fantasy, sometimes romantic and sometimes repugnant.

How did you get involved with Broadway Gallery and this exhibit?
MDL: Thanks to my dear friends Chloe Fernandez and Peter Hidalgo, both in fashion actually.

Marielle DeLuna

How has being a native of the Dominican Republic influence your Art? how does it add to it and how does it make it challenging?
MDL: In Dominican Republic traditional photographers and art buyers are mostly interested in folkloric Art and Destination Photography, which is why I think I’ve been mostly influenced by International artists, but there is a part of our history that really inspires me and makes me dream of the past and the people of yesteryear forcing me to look for other ways of expression…. Our Colonial Zone is full of history and very rich in untold stories that I try to catch with my eye and translate with my lens.

What is next for Marielle DeLuna?
MDL: A Fantasy Book.

~~~

Marielle DeLuna’s photos were on display through February 2nd at the Broadway Gallery in SoHo NYC.

Related Posts:

• Entrevista: From Vermont To NYC – Playwright James Lantz And The Bus
• Entrevista: Until We Find Each Other (Midtown International Theatre Festival)

By now we’ve all heard the tale of how that little statue came to be known as “Oscar” (“He looks just like my uncle Oscar!”) and whether it’s true or not it’s just yet another testament to the fact that we love to make comparisons.

Today, in honor of the 83rd Academy Awards we bring you Cindy Murphy’s Oscar Doppleganger Diptychs starting with the most nominated of the bunch . . .

Bill - Woody Allen

Woody Allen has won three Academy Awards and been nominated a total of 21 times. He has more screenwriting Academy Award nominations than any other writer and is tied for fifth all-time with six Best Director nominations.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Judy - Judi Dench

Dame Jude Dench has been successful on the stage and screen (both large and small). Theatre goers celebrated her work in The Royal Shakespeare Company where roles included Lady MacBeth; she’s taken over the role of M in the new Bond franchise appearing in six films and she was the beloved Jean (Pargetter) Hardcastle for nine seasons on the long running BBC television series As Time Goes By.

Dench won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Elizabeth I in the film Shakespeare in Love.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colleen - Hillary Swank

Hillary Swank got her first Oscar nomination (and win) for portraying Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry in 1999.  She quickly followed up this stunning performance with another one; garnering another Best Actress Oscar for playing a boxer in Clint Eastwood’s 2004 film Million Dollar Baby.  Her two time nomination and win lead to her now famous and oft-quoted remark: “I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve this. I’m just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream.”

Congratulations to all the nominees this year!  And remember, we’re all winners.  Even those of us watching at home . . .

Related Posts:

• Doppleganger Diptychs – Unleash Your Inner Drag Queen
• Doppleganger Diptychs – Funny Ladies
• Hey! You Look Just Like . . . Introducing Doppelganger Diptychs

HARVEY FIERSTEIN as Albin/Zaza (© John Lehrer)

Have you heard the news? This week Harvey Fierstein joined the cast of the musical he created in 1984 – La Cage Aux Folles . . . a musical I was so obsessed with in high school that I banked my birthday and Christmas presents so that I could see it not once but twice. I wanted to play the role of Albin so badly  that I spent waaaaay too much time in front of my mirror pretending to be an over-the-hill 50 something man transforming himself into a glamorous showgirl via “A Little More Mascara” (when life is a real bitch again, and my old sense of humor has up and gone, it’s time for the big switch again – I put a little more mascara on).  It felt perfectly natural back then, but I think I would laugh if I walked in on my 14 year old self pretending to be a world-weary french female impersonator.

Because unlike, say Mame, which is a role you can eventually grow up into, I always knew that no matter what happened I would NEVER, NEVER grow up into a man who could then play a woman. Sadly, I’m left with just being stuck as a woman.  Most days, I’m okay with this.

But hey! Who says women can’t drag it up a little every now and then? So, this week, in honor of Harvey, La Cage, men who attempt drag, and women who do too – we bring you . . . non-gender-biased Drag Queen Doppleganger Diptychs:

Related Posts:

• Doppleganger Diptychs: Bring On The Oscars!
• Doppleganger Diptychs – Funny Ladies
• Hey! You Look Just Like . . . Introducing Doppelganger Diptychs

If you missed my interview with Cindy Murphy last week take a second to catch up – she is one talented lady with a great eye and an even greater sense of humor.  Which is why it’s only fitting that for the first official instiallment of what will be a biweekly event we focus on the Funny Ladies in her series.

Of course it also doesn’t hurt that one of those diptychs is me (ahem).  Like Cindy said in her interview, “What I look for is not a perfect match but rather some element that is strong enough to create the effect of “twinning”. Sometimes it’s hair, sometimes it’s a smile. Usually a combo though of two elements.” So for my match Cindy found Fran Drescher because of “same smile, same wicked twinkle in the eyes”. Not to mention the fact that both Fran and I spent a night dancing on the hallowed floor of 2001 Odyssey. I, on the other hand, managed to tame my Brooklynese accent long ago, unless I’m driving and then we’re pretty much idendical on all fronts.

Next up is Wendy and her doppleganger, Catherine O’Hara, who has been making people laugh for years.  In the last ten years or so she’s been particularly known for her standout work in the Christopher Guest mocumentaries Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.

Wendy | Catherine O'Hara

Rounding out today’s trio is Kate who is doing a good Tina Fey here – thankfully the more glamorous Fey and not the Fey-as-Palin.

Kate | Tina Fey

Keep checking back for more of Cindy Murphy’s Doppleganger Diptychs – the next smiling face might be your own!

Related Posts:

• Hey! You Look Just Like . . . Introducing Doppelganger Diptychs
• Tina And Amy: Last Night In Paradise: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Doppleganger Diptychs: Bring On The Oscars!
• Doppleganger Diptychs – Unleash Your Inner Drag Queen

Cindy Murphy is her name - Doppelganger Diptychs are her game

Back in the ’90s when Ricki Lake had her talk show and was pretty much at the height of her career (if she only knew it then!) it was kinda unavoidable for me to be compared to her – especially since she was still riding the coattails of her Hairspray fame (You should see me do the Madison).  Yup, during the mid-90s, working in mid-town Manhattan, hardly a day went by without someone randomly calling out “Hey, Ricki!” to me as I went about my day.  Sure, the pleasingly plump curves had a little something to do with it, but there was more to it – I was friendly, bubbly – and just like Ricki I also looked good holding a microphone and nodding in a concerned fashion when asking questions such as “Now, what exactly is ‘the down-low’?”. Of course, it’s not like anyone actually thought I was Ricki Lake – they were just acknowledging the similarity.  If there’s one thing people enjoy doing, it’s pointing out similarities.

Here’s where Cindy Murphy comes in.  Cindy not only enjoys finding similarities between two people, but she’s got a great eye for it, and lately has been doing more and more of what she’s coined Doppelganger Diptychs.  What started as something Cindy did to relax or switch gears during a stressful day became a bit of a phenomenon among her friends as more and more of them started asking her to find their  very own doppelganger.

With such talent it’s only fair that Cindy get an even wider audience to enjoy her work, so The Happiest Medium will now be featuring Doppelganger Diptychs on a regular basis.  Today, we sit down with Cindy to find out how it all started, where the name came from, and what she looks for to make that perfect match.

Cindy Murphy: Round Halloween time this year, I was posting pictures to Facebook of my husband and myself in costume and while on Facebook I thought I could put together an album of past Halloween pictures. So I gathered them up and posted them and then I thought, Wouldn’t it be fun to see the real character/actress/person next to our costumed one? I found a pic of Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein from the movie and put it opposite my own picture and thus Doppelganger Diptychs was born!

And the name!  Tell us about that delightful designation.

The name Doppelganger Diptychs came from using one of my favorite words, doppelganger, which I had learned way back in college during a Hitchcock film class.  Then a photographer friend posted something about how he liked the “diptych” I had created when doing a side-by-side portrait of my high school friends back in 1984 and now at our reunion. I can’t resist a good alliteration and therefore, Doppelganger Diptychs is the name. I can’t resist creating logos either and that’s why I have one.

So, after the Halloween Diptychs, what were some of the next Doppelgangers you went in search of?

Initially I trolled my Facebook page for pictures of my friends who’ve always reminded me of someone (usually a celebrity) with the thought of finding a good likeness. Now I get a lot of requests from people who say, “Do me!” Sometimes I have someone in mind when I go searching, but alot of time I don’t. I study my friend’s image for a while, get a notion and start looking. I think of actors/actresses first usually, but often branch out to noted people including authors, musicians, and even works of art–I paired my friend Christa’s wedding photo with a pre-Raphaelite work that happened to be titled, “The Bride”!

Also put the Pope next to my husband!

Well the one with your husband as Pope John Paul II is almost too good to pass up!  Then what?

I scan the results from the image search and often find one or two that fit the bill. What I look for is not a perfect match but rather some element that is strong enough to create the effect of “twinning”. Sometimes it’s hair, sometimes it’s a smile. Usually a combo though of two elements. Hair and nose, smile and face shape, etc.

You’ve made this into quite an in-demand thing – why do you like doing it so much?

It’s like a “coffee break” for my brain. It’s not relaxing necessarily but it takes me away and “reboots” my brain in a good way! I am mostly very satisfied with my results and from the reaction of my friends, I have a knack for it! I try to find matches that would make the person feel good and even flattered. No one wants to see their photo next to a dud.

Absolutely true!  Well, thanks Cindy, for coming on board.  Can’t wait to see the next round!

___

And for those of you who are interested – yes . . . Cindy DID do a Doppelganger Diptych of me, and found I actually matched up to someone other than Ricki Lake.  But that’s for another week!

Check back – we’ve got more of Cindy’s great Doppelganger Diptychs in the coming weeks.  Who knows, maybe one of those smiling faces might be yours!

Related Posts:

• Doppleganger Diptychs – Funny Ladies
• Doppleganger Diptychs: Bring On The Oscars!
• Doppleganger Diptychs – Unleash Your Inner Drag Queen

AHEAD OF TIME

Ruth Gruber didn’t just report the news. She made it.

See the trailer:
New York Times Arts & Leisure Article on the Film
Jewish Journal Interview with Ruth Gruber

****

Brooklyn Heights Cinema 70 Henry Street Brooklyn NY 11201

brooklynheightscinema.com

Reel Inheritance & Vitagraph Films present AHEAD OF TIME Exclusively in Theaters in New York and Los Angeles The youngest person to earn a PhD, at age 20 in 1931 (and as an American in Germany no less!). The first journalist to explore the Soviet Arctic region at age 24. A participant in a secret war-time mission to escort Holocaust refugees for President Roosevelt and on the scene to report on the infamous Exodus ship’s attempt to reach Palestine with Jewish refugees. Her photos informed the world. Born in 1911, Jewish American author, photojournalist, humanitarian and adventurer Ruth Gruber was always ahead of her time.AHEAD OF TIME, the directorial debut of award-winning cinematographer Bob Richman (September Issue, An Inconvenient Truth) relates the remarkable real-life journey of Ruth Gruber, a spirited woman who rejected the gender boundaries of her generation – leaving Brooklyn for studies in Berlin, where she witnessed the rise of Nazism and began documenting her observations. An impassioned foreign correspondent, she began her illustrious career with the New York Herald Tribune, is the award-winning author of 19 books and even had tea with Virginia Woolf!President Harry Truman told Ruth Gruber in 1946 that all the problems in the Middle East were because of oil and–64 years later–things haven’t changed. Celebrating her 99th birthday on September 30, 2010, Ruth Gruber was not content to simply witness the most defining events of the 20th century, she participated in making that history! Bring your daughters to meet Ruth Gruber. She will inspire and charm the whole family! Executive Produced by: Denise Benmosche, Patti Kenner, Doris Schechter Meet Ruth Gruber, Director Bob Richman, Producer Zeva Oelbaum in person at select shows. Check our website or your local newspaper or movie ticketing website for showtimes and appearances. Ruth will appear only in New York.In Theatres in New York on September 24 Brooklyn Heights Cinema 70 Henry Street Brookly, New York 11201 718.596.7070Showtimes: Friday – Sunday: 2:30 PM, 5:00 PM, 6:45 PM Monday – Thursday: 2:30 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:15 PM *AHEAD OF TIME is scheduled to run 9/24 – 30 at this theatre. If the film is in theatres longer in NYC, details will be on our website or in your local paper or theatre listing website. Always check the theatre website to confirm showtimes. For more information see: www.aheadoftimethemovie.com Find AHEAD OF TIME on Facebook! Do you have a group that wants to come to see AHEAD OF TIME? aheadoftimegroupsales@gmail.com _______________________________________

Related Posts:

• ‘Chloe’

United Colors of Benetton

Name: Marielle Lindsey
Occupation: J. Crew Manager
Age: 28
Zodiac: Taurus
Favorite Restaurant: Chat and Chew.
Longs for: a good milk shake.
Fears: a good milk shake.
Beliefs: “When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.”
Where is she going: Checking out the Silk Road Project‘s cultural exchanges.

Ensemble from United Colors of Benetton.

The Wo(Man) In The Window is a fictional non-factional profile.
Any resemblance to real people is completely coincidental.
In the event of a coincidence then you are fabulous.
We should meet for cocktails.

Related Posts:

• The Wo(Man) In The Window
• The Wo(Man) In The Window

Urban Outfitters ©Antonio Miniño

Name: Erica Marshall
Occupation: Student
Age: 20
Zodiac: Scorpio
Favorite Restaurant: Shake Shack Upper West Side.
Longs for: new android phone.
Fears: her roommates boyfriend’s boxers on the bathroom floor.
Beliefs: John Mayer should be left alone, he’s a truly nice guy.
Where is she going: 7:55pm showing of “Dear John” at AMC Loews Lincoln Square.

Outfit available at Urban Outfitters Upper West Side.

The Wo(Man) In The Window is a fictional non-factional profile.
Any resemblance to real people is completely coincidental.
In the event of a coincidence then you are fabulous.
We should meet for cocktails.

Related Posts:

• The Wo(Man) In The Window

Barneys CO-OP ©Antonio Minino

Name: Jessica Heart
Occupation: Accountant
Age: 24
Zodiac: Capricorn
Favorite Restaurant: Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar, Midtown Manhattan, NYC.
Longs for: finding love in the right places.
Fears: roaches, freaks out every time she sees one.
Beliefs: “There’s no place like a happy hour.”
Where is she going: ladies night with her college friends that are also New Yorkers… It’s still cool to try and pretend you belong in Sex and the City right?

Dress and belt available at Barneys CO-OP Upper West Side.

The Wo(Man) In The Window is a fictional non-factional profile.
Any resemblance to real people is completely coincidental.
In the event of a coincidence then you are fabulous.
We should meet for cocktails.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

I have to admit, it has been hard for me to wrap around the idea of posting The Wo(Man) In The Window after the earthquake that hit Haiti. I was thinking of using the column to inform on ways on how to donate and help – but you can check out the extremely helpful Washington Post article. A lot of Arts organizations around NYC are also donating part of their proceeds to help the Haiti relief. Right here on The Happiest Medium there is information on The Improvolution’s LoveFest, donating their proceeds.

Acrylic on Masonite by Bernard Sejourne

Being Dominican, something I was always immersed in and appreciated about Haiti is their artwork. Somewhat childlike, simple, yet vivid, they are characterized for  celebrating their women, people, rural landscapes, spirituality and crop life, it captures a passion in the way they celebrate who they are.

Acrylic on Canvas by Henry Robert Bresil

I hope these images change those of CNN and other news channels – not as a way to ignore what has happened- but as a way to celebrate the possibility of a rebirth and a rebuild. Some Haitian galleries in the US are donating all proceeds from their sales to the reconstruction of their city.

Related Posts:

• The Healing Power Of Laughter … Improvolution’s Lovefest Donates To Haiti