~Gelatin/Gelitin/TANTAMOUNTER 24/7

Gelatin

from left, in cap, GELATIN’S GABRIEL VON LOEBELL, and, ALI JANKA, (center), with collector, JOHN HALL, (right) at the closing party for ‘TANTAMOUNTER 24/7’, LEO KOENIG GALLERY, NYC, Nov 23, 2005 .
( …that’s NAOMI FISHER and JIM DRAIN smooching on the left)

The Viennese performance art group, GELATIN put on one of the most intriguing and art smart of the PERFORMA 05 (the First Biennial of New Visual Art Performance, NYC) events. They built a huge live-in “replicating” factory that took over 99% of the gallery space. Gelatin, and their suprise live-in house guest, artist NAOMI FISHER, were completely enclosed, with no windows, and no way out for an entire week. Holed up with a stock of food and lots of raw art & thrift shop materials, they handmade reproductions of objects, which anybody who wanted to, could enter into their “replicating” lair, by way of a little conveyor belt trap door and voila, after a little bit of time, the yellow light bulb would flash on, and the original and the replica were ready to be retreived.

Gelatin now likes their name to be spelled – GELITIN – the story goes that they recently had a show in Japan & that was how their name was spelled & they liked it better like that.

Gelatin-yellow light

Sean Shanahan, who trekked in from Jersey, with his GELATIN ‘Tantamounter 24/7’ replica – that’s the top of the entry port.

more photos from the installation
: GELATIN ‘Tantamounter 24/7’
(scroll down to the bottom of the report – GELITIN photos start at row 19)

Photos: Nancy Smith




~JIM DRAIN & ARA PETERSON/’HYPNOGOOGIA’

Jim Drain -art work

JIM DRAIN and ARA PETERSON open ‘HYPNOGOOGIA’ at DEITCH PROJECTS, Wooster St, Soho, NYC, Nov 4, 2005.

A show of huge rotating geometrically patterned spheres, a roomful of hypnotic spinning disks, and a walk-in mirrored video kaleidescope. Pictures are worth a thousand words, follow the link.

JIM DRAIN & ARA PETERSON, ‘HYPNOGOOGIA’

Photo: Installation Shot, Nancy Smith




~JAPANTHER

Matt Reilly-japanther

Ian Vanek-japanther

MATT REILLY (top) and IAN VANEK are JAPANTHER … outrageously talented & over-the-top performers, JAPANTHER served up a knock-them-out dead performance at the afterparty for the book launch of CHARWEI TSAI’S ‘LOVELY DAZE’, which was held at a tiny dive, ICU Bar, on the fringe of NYC civilization, an almost bleak stretch that still exists for a few streets, where the boundaries of the West Village and Chelsea haven’t yet hooked up in glorified gentrification. Seeing this band in that locale was the kind of artworld moment we all live for…. its down in the photo report captions that links at the bottom, but it’s not redundant to say it again: for all of you who came to New York – to seek out firsthand live band experiences that left you in a state of shock & awe – I have just one word for you – JAPANTHER, JAPANTHER, JAPANTHER – the next time you see or hear that word – you just jump & run & get there.

more JAPANTHER photos from ICU, NYC, Oct 22, 2005

Photos: MATT REILLY, top, and IAN VANEK, bottom, who are the NYC band JAPANTHER, in performance for the Charwei Tsai, ‘LOVELY DAZE’ art quarterly afterparty, at ICU BAR, on the fringe of the West Village, NYC, Oct 22, 2005
Photos: Nancy Smith




~Joe Grillo meets John Waters

Joe Grillo meets John Waters

joe shows signature

Joe's signature

JOE GRILLO, of the artist collaborative DEARRAINDROP, meets JOHN WATERS, for the first time, and asks for an autograph, Grillo style, at the SPENCER SWEENEY opening, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, NYC, Sept 10, 2005.

Photos: Nancy Smith

more photos from the: SPENCER SWEENEY opening

photos from the most recent NYC DEARRAINDROP show, ‘Members of The Island’ ,
at Diesel Denim Gallery, in Soho, which had its opening on June 15, 2005




~MATTHEW DAY JACKSON/Fortunate Son

Matthew Day Jackson

the card for MATTHEW DAY JACKSON – ‘FORTUNATE SON’ – his first major one man show which ran from Nov 5 – Dec 22, 2005, at PERRY RUBENSTEIN GALLERY. As American as they get, the imagery included Native American iconography and made use of such materials as: inlaid needlepoint, scorched wood, woodburned drawing, mother of pearl, abalone, yarn, tooled leather, skull beads, and even, sculpey!

The show’s card, with its dramatic photograph of the artist beside a huge bonfire, is one of the best uses of the newest rage in NYC show card/invites, which is to use hard, very heavy, in fact, impossible-to-fold ultra heavy card stock, and often the larger the better. At a relatively large, but still reasonable 8 x 10″, and with its beautiful imagery, it is just the right size to still make it into a commercial plastic protector sleeve, and is one of the few (high production) cards which really does rate being kept as a collector’s item, in itself.

MATTHEW DAY JACKSON – ‘Fortunate Son’




~Nate Lowman/MACCARONE

Nate Lowman card

NATE LOWMAN opened ‘THE END and Other American Pastimes’ at MACCARONE – 45 Canal St – on Nov 6, 2005. Another great card, it wasn’t on heavy stock, and it wasn’t oversized, but it was a great image, and !! it was super glossy and the back peeled off, so it could be used as a decal sticker ! The show was as individualistic and quirky as the card.

In fact, there was an immediate buzz surrounding the show: check out why for yourself –

Nate Lowman at Maccarone




~Dan Asher/bird of prey/GBE/passerby

Dan Asher

DAN ASHER, large photograph from his show, ‘bird of prey’ which opened at GBE@Passerby, NYC, on Oct 14, 2005
Photo: Nancy Smith

Dan Asher’s show ‘bird of prey’ was one of the best shows of FALL 2005, which, for no good reason, slipped by under the mainstream radar. ‘bird of prey’ was a one man compilation of photographs that ranged from stupendous iceberg and aurora borealis landscapes to extreme and violent illegal ‘backyard’ wrestling events that flourish in the mid-west – with a few Middle America portraits thrown in for good measure.

‘bird of prey’




~Kayrock & Wolfy/One Sixpack Short of a Hippie Death Cult

KAYROCK

KAYROCK aka KARL LAROCCA , at the opening of ‘KAYROCK and WOLFY – One Sixpack Short of a Hippie Death Cult’, Jessica Murray Projects, NYC, July 13, 2005

Wolfy

WOLFY aka JEF SCHARF aka Little Giant Robot Zero at the opening of ‘KAYROCK and WOLFY – One Sixpack Short of a Hippie death Cult’, Jessica Murray Projects, NYC, July 13, 2005

KAYROCK and WOLFY are the powerpack duo behind KAYROCK SCREENPRINTING, which recently did the knock-down graphic design for the DEITCH PROJECTS produced, downtown art scene survey book, ‘LIVE THROUGH THIS: NEW YORK 2005’.

KAYROCK SCREENPRINTING has made artist editions for: Cory Arcangel, Matthew Brannon, Cecily Brown & Fred Tomaselli; and posters and t-shirts for The Liars, The Rapture, & The Yeah Yeahs, just to name a few.

more photos from: ‘KAYROCK and WOLFY – One Sixpack Short of a Hippie Death Cult’

Photos: Nancy Smith
note: it appears that Jessica Murray Projects has recently closed.




~STEVE POWERS/Coney Island Dreamland

Steve Powers

STEVE POWERS .. the creative inspiration and originating force behind DREAMLAND ARTIST CLUB, the CREATIVE TIME project on CONEY ISLAND, which invites artists to re-do the amusement and Boardwalk signs. Steve Powers is photographed here in his DREAMLAND ARTIST CLUBHOUSE, CONEY ISLAND, BROOKLYN, NYC, June 18, 2005.
Photo: Nancy Smith

more photos: DREAMLAND ARTIST CLUB 2005

The slogan on the DREAMLAND Poster was (a good one to keep in mind always, esp in the artworld):

    DREAMLAND ARTIST CLUB 2005 & CONEY ISLAND USA REMIND YOU:
    FAST NICKEL – better than – SLOW DIME.

    Here are the images on the other side of the poster:

    Dreamland #1

    Dreamland #2

    Dreamland # 3




~Tom Moody/ART@#!>WORK

Tom Moody

TOM MOODY, artist, musician & blogger, at work in his cubicle in the best alternative show of 2005, if not the entire decade ….. ‘ART< #*/>WORK’, 520 EIGTH AVENUE, bet. 36 & 37 Sts, MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, on some office floor, NYC, May 10, 2005

TOM MOODY ……” looking happier than any man sipping KOOL-AID from a plastic cup inside an office cubicle deserves to be” .. or something to that effect (Tom Moody on his blog commenting on the >finally!< posted artlovers coverage of the show!!) too bad, not too many art world aficiondos, even the hard core ones, could make it so far out of their way, as to hit this show in Mid Town !!! what a loss - well the bright side is - it makes a case for photo coverage. what a great show, from TONY LUIB's mindblowing - super skilled, super inspired - installation - that's all I can say, I'm still stunned by it, see the photo link below!!! to CAT MAZZA's KNITPRO trademark swatches - to the super low-key funny 'Please squeeze me office supplies' by MICHELLE ROSENBERG - this show reigns supreme. only THE INFINITE FILL SHOW curated by CORY & JAMIE ARCANGEL can be put in the same sentence. ‘ART^.&!>WORK’ photos

Tom Moody’s blog

and yes, he is MOODY!

Photo: Nancy Smith