on the far right – man-in-the-news – art collector & top CITIGROUP energy trader – ANDREW J HALL – or as he is more commonly known in art circles – JOHN HALL – here seated with members of GELITIN – at the closing party for their live-in 7 day performance piece/installation, ‘TANTAMOUNTER’. LEO KOENIG GALLERY, NYC. NOV 23, 2005.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
FIRST POSTED ON THE HOME PAGE: MON AUG 17/2009.
. . . MR. HALL finds himself at the center of an escalating WALL STREET CONTROVERSY – REGARDING “OVER-SIZE” BONUSES – being paid out by “tax payer” bailed-out CITIGROUP … even though he had a contract with CITIGROUP, and made them over a BILLION DOLLARS in the last year – as head of their energy trading desk.
see: artnet/AUG 4/2009
see: DAILY RADAR/JULY 25/2009
for more on: the 2005 GELITIN EVENT/artlovers 2006-02-04 !!
and a background essay: GELITIN ‘TANTAMOUNTER’ !!
and p.s. – yes !!
that is JIM DRAIN and NAOMI FISHER – making out – on the left, of the photo.
in fact, Miami-based artist & photographer NAOMI FISHER was – and was the only female – in there – with those wild and sex crazy GELITIN guys !! They were all ensconsed in the TANTAMOUNTER ‘replicating’ installation for 7 days, never surfacing until the closing party, so – guess they were pretty happy to see each other, though JIM seemed to have been visibly relieved to see Naomi in one piece, safe and sound. Naomi on her side of things, though obviously happy to see him and apparently oblivious to everything else – looked like she had had – the time of her life. and no wonder, it was one of the best art performances to hit NYC – e-ver !! and that’s saying a lot.
~MAN IN THE NEWS/& HOPEFULLY NOT SCREWED/ANDREW J HALL |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 29th, 2009, 7:32pm
ZIEHER SMITH – the new daddy financed 3,500 S.F. – D.O.A. (DEAD ON ARRIVAL).
no talent. no content. no vision.
p.s. buzz on the street – has it costing him more than half a million big ones – to build this sand castle to himself !!
ZIEHER SMITH – the new I-20 !!
like I said: dudes – if you can’t take the heat – STAY OUTTA THE KITCHEN !!
~D.O.A./DEAD ON ARRIVAL |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 28th, 2009, 10:32am
in production.
~OD’D & DEFINITE DEAD/DASH SNOW |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 27th, 2009, 7:06pm
JONAH FREEMAN – JUSTIN LOWE: BLACK ACID CO-OP
DEITCH PROJECTS / WOOSTER ST.
JULY 2 – AUGUST 15, 2009
SEPT 24, 2009:
sorry for so long in getting this up – but who wants to write about the dead ? esp when a couple of weeks later, Dash Snow really died ?
of drugs. alone. and distressed. for real.
who wants to trash artists, when just being one is already bad enough. but esp when they are friends of your friends. when they’ve done stuff – you’ve really really liked. and were expecting a huge success.
the summer of 2009 was really tough – and – the last thing you needed was to find yourself invited to a party – that you really were left out of ? where the hype was high – but, the hospitality was low.
it was, sadly – the blockbuster that blew it.
though Roberta gave it a nice enough write-up. but I think that was mostly because it was a narrative-friendly type thing. not an art-magic type thing.
she had a nice descriptive take, but not a very cutting edge. I guess what I am trying to say, was you can’t deny there was a lot to look at, and wander through, but bottomline for what supposed to be real knock-out – there was just not enough: wonder. magic. or visual punch.
art wise – it was a simply a big production that just didn’t fly. distressed sinks, and all. painted t-shirts and jars. but no real light bulbs. like ? look no further than Michel Gondry’s recent Deitch exhibit, ‘Be Kind, Re-wind’. a brilliant set construction, a brilliant ‘construct’, as in idea . . even DAN COLEN and DASH SNOW’S ‘NEST’, also at Deitch – and a very simple deconstruct – killed this one, hands down. actually all the woodiness of Black Acid Co-Op brought to mind the URS FISCHER installation, of a few years back – his Bird House made of bread, at GBE – which if placed side by side in time and space – with Black Acid Co-Op could have taken this whole month-long multi-construction down – with one dough-y arrow.
even the opening night party – that wasn’t – was a bust. this was the kind of scene that yelled for an all out open bash – instead it was a hush hush private dinner only for the chosen few. no beer, and everybody else who made it there on the opening night, through buckets of pouring rain – was left feeling like losers. and too bad, because NYC was open to embrace the guys whose METH LAB had put the MARPA BALLROOM on the map – and had blown everybody away – at ELEANOR CAYRE’S MIAMI STATION, ART BASEL DEC 2008.
even Jeffrey is scaling back on the cards and posters. there were none. but this was the email invite.
actually pretty cool. but the change of name – from some variation of METH LAB – and the underscoring of the DEITCH PROJECT BRAND – might have been a bad sign, of things going south in the north.
JUSTIN LOWE
JONAH FREEMAN
unfortunately the first room in the labyrinth – looked like a Holiday Inn bland – exam room. I hated it.
even with the see-thru window.
this room was blaringly white with crazy lighting that messed up the pix. I also hated it too. I can’t remember ever hating something so much before. that’s pretty bad. and those wigs. it wouldn’t have made it past a high school art class.
it was funny to watch the captain of the ship, JEFFREY DEITCH, in a room I hated.
. . . well, they designed a room to be spied upon, not I.
all the rooms had break away exits into other rooms or hallways. or dead ends. the newspaper collages are not very inspired.
this doorway to nowhere – was a little more – impressive.
the meth lab – still the best part. totally awesome.
if you followed ALEXANDRE SINGH’S work, who had been a partner in the earliest METH LAB days – you might think he had a hand, esp in the empty soda bottles. he had done a few big sculptures using empty soda bottles in NYC. like at White Columns a way back.
of course if you were lucky enough to catch JUSTIN LOWE’S ‘HELTER SWELTER’, (see: HELTER SWELTER/scroll down !!) at OLIVER KAMM’S GALLERY, way back in the heady days of 27th Street, SUMMER 2006 – you might wonder – what went wrong, this time. ‘HELTER SWELTER’ was not only a brilliant re-creation, minutely detailed, of a NYC bodega in the small entryway of the gallery, but it opened up into an amazing communal and totally off-the-wall open space, where gallery goers could sit in a dark space on hand knit rugs !! and they did !! – and this ’empty’ space actually took up most of the remaining the bulk of the gallery – behind the magic school bus. guess you had to be there. esp opening night. believe me, that was some party. but, even then, it was almost as if Mr. Lowe’s ambitious intentions over-shot the small gallery and aimed (sorrowfully) for a big-time DEITCH BLOW-OUT. How sad but true, sometimes you have to watch out – for what you wish for. and although the bodega and the school bus were a re-creationist’s dream – again the contrast between the highly detailed storefront entrance and the bus – against the empty inner room – was the dynamic that made the whole – take off. that gave the painstaking re-creations – heart and soul. took it one big step up – into legendary. they for sure could have used something along these lines in Black Acid Co-Op Summer 2009. the minute detail amidst the spatial ‘construct’ was what blew the ‘HELTER SWELTER’ out of the water. it was the contrast between the highly involved ‘sets’ and the mysterious, cave-like people space that made magic. there were even seats to sit on, on the magic school bus !!
totally love love this scenario. they should have just had the whole place empty and then, the METH LAB.
or created like a faux trailer trash park diorama around it. with lots of cheap folding garden chairs to sit on, and a few strings of desolate XMAS lights. and then with all the money they would have saved – they could have thrown a huge bash all month long. with lots of free beer and red wine, and BBQ !! quelle vie.
brilliant, or what.
I think they got it all wrong. was it the Deitch input ? instead of filling the whole place with so much other (and for the most part dead !! noise) all around it – they should have done the complete opposite. taken a cue from ‘HELTER SWELTER’ and made it: void. and METH LAB. or party and METH LAB.
I didn’t see the Marfa METH LAB, or see enough pix or buzz – but I think the big success and impact of the METH LAB, in Miami, must have been that it was done the stairs, in the basement, of this gorgeous brand new hi tech hi rise tower !! must have made it feel even more, like a clandestine Meth Lab, for real !! and, of course apart from all the raves about the cutting edge art – all you hear about the MIAMI STATION – was what a great party ELEANOR CARYE threw – so voila. there you have it. METH LAB in play, artists at work, vs. Black Acid Co-Op – totally co-opted.
Roberta loved this part, too.
but then you had to leave the METH LAB .. and it was all pretty much, downhill.
oh oh another room – I really hated.
it was like they had to have small pieces – to move. to sell.
and it was pretty desperate going.
the next room was even more tedious.
there was some half-hearted attempt with real-time camera surveillance – and, these were the only 2 monitors.
myself, having lived through the surveillance juggernaut that was JOSH HARRIS, ‘QUIET’ and ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ – I could only gasp – with shock – at the missed opportunity, to say the least.
well, this scene – was what it all should have been like, around the METH LAB !!
I was wondering where I had gotten that image of a folding garden beach chair.
you know at some point you came across a Chinese herb shop.
but I still hate that cold long oblong window type structure used again. so blah. what kind of entrance way is that for an herb shop.
it was like a great idea, but poorly conceived. like they didn’t have enough time or money to do it right.
and the lead-up, was all wrong. just a waste of a good idea. it became distracting. strenuous to keep turning into mind-eating replicas.
like so what. give me the METH LAB.
ok. but save it for another time, another exhibit, another year.
though there were some hand painted t-shirts down here, that were to die for !!
of course, there was a tour de resistance at the top of the stairs.
these guys tried their best to out-do – all past DEITCH PROJECT ghosts.
you know I love all things cowboy and Indian – but this just didn’t take off – for me. it just seemed tedious.
more me me me. they shoulda just hung some real quilts.
it made me cry for the days of the CLARE ROJAS exhibit. if you saw it, you know what I mean.
look it up in the Deitch archives.
these guys should stick to sinks. they do the best sinks, ever.
ok. but so what when the day is come and gone.
and yes, the shelves were good. but missed out in the – whole treatment, the whole show gone awry.
an interesting detail.
ok. awesome.
outside on the street, reality mirrored the distressed re-creation, but for real.
the sign says: where’s my bail out ?
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
FROM THE HOME PAGE – THURS JULY 2, 2009:
to-nite – an opening at DEITCH PROJECTS on WOOSTER. Jeffrey D is probably gonna wipe the summer must-see block-buster spotlight – right out from under Gavin — with the opening of his, Jeffrey’s, brand new NYC version of the JONAH FREEMAN & JUSTIN LOWE – ELEANOR CAYRE/MIAMI STATION hit – ‘HELLO METH LAB’ – resurrected here as ‘BLACK ACID CO-OP’ !! bet both openings will be huge mega-crush – events.
WRONG !!
Gavin’s was a huge party. Jeffrey’s was a dud.
turned out the Black Acid Co-Op opening wasn’t really a public opening. though if you braved the pouring rain, you could get in with the invited guests ? which was alright if you didn’t mind feeling like a loser, since it was a close quartered maze – that was much better navigated with lots of space. as opposed to crowds. the dense & detailed installation covered every inch, literally, of the gallery space.
that alone was awesome, I guess.
I heard it took the 2 artists, JUSTIN LOWE and JONAH FREEMAN, with 10 full time interns, a whole month of 24/7 to complete. but overall, it was uneven and it didn’t look they had had enough time to sit back and get it – 100%. it was uneven. there were some amazing parts, there were some static parts, and there were some dead zones. put it this way: it lacked the fire power to catch your imagination and run with it – of the recent MICHELl GONDRY installation, created on a lot less labor and parts. and though one had to marvel at how hard these BLACK ACID CO-OP artists had worked to create their best, finely detailed grimy environs, is that an end to itself ? though I did love the METH LAB kitchen. it was great to see it up close and personal.
but the experience became unrelenting. deadening your senses to what lay around the corner of the many twist and turns. in fact the whole show became a kind of JEFFREY DEITCH vs. GAVIN BROWN … enterprise … in my head. whereas Gavin provided a huge welcome-all BBQ, and all the beer you could drink – with picnic tables, and even overhead tents on the sidewalk in case of rain, hard core art fans who made it through Friday’s super heavy rains the night of the Deitch opening found naught to greet them, except the spectacle of the unsocial and uptight Deitch ‘leader’ in his yellow linen suit, reveling in his usual self-congratulatory state, amidst the smug uncoolness of the disproportionate number of ‘insiders’ – who made sure to tell you – they were waiting around for the private afterparty !! It left a bad taste – to what should have been a huge street bash.
only made the more pathetic – by the spectacle of the dude who was handing out about 2 dozen homemade chocolate cupcakes he had brought along to disperse in honor of his girlfriend’s birthday !! if that didn’t capture the irony of the moment – and so poetically, I don’t know what could.
yeah, I had been really looking forward to seeing what those 2 METH LAB dudes were all about, but DUDES – if you are going to have a party – have a party !! better to have deleted just one of those grimy re-creation dead-end corners, and at least budgeted for some beer.
maybe even – a few stacks of your own cupcakes ??
and as the night progressed with very little flair or fun, I found myself wishing it had come off with just a little more inspiration – and a lot less detail. It ultimately devolved into such an unrelenting – look at me me me me. it took real no new leaps of imagination. for NYC, anyways. I hated the white room, the white paneled entranceways. the bookcase-surveillance room was totally underserved and unawesome. I dunno, maybe some old time deck chairs strewn about for people to sit on and to let them watch the comings and goings – would have made it more accessible, and strange. not to mention less stifling. physically and intellectually. after awhile it got to be so – so what … o-v-e-r-l-o-a-d. which was too bad. maybe it just needed some more old time – art !!
come on, you can take 2 steps directly out the gallery’s front door, and across the street – are the same dirty corners, except, for real.
BLACK ACID CO-OP, for all its good intentions, hard labor, and parts – was just one big conceptual grind. an overbearing hype job, that had left its initial party – way behind.
~BLACK ACID CO-OP/PRETTY MUCH DEAD |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 27th, 2009, 5:22pm
GAVIN BROWN FLIPS THE BURGERS, HIMSELF !!
‘THE LIVING AND THE DEAD’, GBE. OPENING NIGHT PARTY. JULY 1, 2009.
SUMMER 2009 – GAVIN BROWN THREW THE BEST PARTY – HANDS DOWN !!
A BIG SURPRISE STREET BBQ – OPEN TO ALL – TO CELEBRATE THE OPENING OF HIS SUMMER GROUP SHOW – ‘THE LIVING AND THE DEAD’, running JULY 1 – AUGUST 7, 2009.
. . . it was a big big street party/BBQ with Gavin himself grilling up the burgers all night long. Rare sunny summer weather held, as if to smile down on the festivity, though there were some tents put out as a precaution. Gavin is a great host and everybody had a great time. Happy spirits prevailed, as friends got on their cellphones and word of the good time quickly spread. the only complaint – the long line for the free flowing beer inside – but, hey you got to stand under that – really funny – URS FISCHER piece !!
Gavin was still flipping, non-stop – well into the nite. you could go back for as many as you wanted !!
the scene from across the street – Gavin Brown’s enterprise – in the West Village.
(hi, KATE !!)
BORIS RASIN, (above), KENNY KOMER, and JERRY BLACKMAN have work in the show – the main reason I came by !!
BORIS RASIN. happy to see us, too.
we got to meet . . . JENNY BORLAND, who works behind the front desk at GBE – and who curated ‘THE SUM AND ALL PARTS’ – independent venue show – in BROOKLYN – recently featured on artlovers.
. . . as well as BEAU RUTLAND, the co-curator of ‘THE SUM AND ALL PARTS’.
with him, his charming girlfriend – artist LANA SYNDER – whose work was included in that off-the-beaten track – but worth the trek – exhibit.
we got there . . . just in time to catch – GEORGE CONDO !!
George, or Georgie, as his old pals call him – has been recent fodder for thought on artlovers. the MUGRABIS apparently consider him the next BASQUIAT !! sorry, but think DASH SNOW just edged you out on that crown, George. but, look on the bright side – you are still alive and well and walking around. and your piece in the show doesn’t look too bad, either. artlovers aside !!
but tell, me – if GEORGE CONDO isn’t a dead ringer for SEVERUS SNAPE – aka – POTIONS MASTER and PROF. of DEFENSE AGAINST the DARK ARTS at HARRY POTTER’S HOGWARTS, who is ?
and, look what he names his painting, LOL !!
GEORGE CONDO’S painting – ‘The Apparition’, 2009. oil on linen. 40 x 36 ins.
(I’d be interested to know the price ?)
our fav piece – cause it caught the spirit of the SUMMER of 2009 – right on !! no doubt about it.
KENNY KOMER & BORIS RASIN – aka ronkom – ‘Economics 101’ !!
you put your dollar bill in – you get 3 quarters, back.
(and it worked.)
on the right – KENNY KOMER !! with pal TOM LUCZAK.
KENNY KOMER had an individual piece in the show – a fishing rod, whose pretty much invisible line – was attached to the opposite wall – at a very precarious angle, to passersby.
another young artist – MICHAEL CAPUTO – had an opening night – showstopper.
a 2 person crew had to be engaged in a non-stop mop up – it was one – quickly melting block of ice.
MICHAEL CAPUTO.
HAIM STEINBACH was there with his young son.
. . . and, he actually leaned over to fine tune his piece !!
HAIM STEINBACH, 2009. ‘Untitled (Hulk)’.
another of our fave pieces – just cause it was so dismembered, so deconstructed !!
in the midst of that – just a little bit – very – serious company !!
DAN COLEN !!
work in progress. 2009. glass backboard, hardware, rocks, silver leaf, oil paint.
the other really deconstructed piece – we really dug, also on the floor …
MICHAEL E. SMITH, ‘Untitled’, 2009. vomit, sweatshirt.
(well, it really spoke, volumes – and, most eloquently – to me . . . shows you where my head’s at – an out-of-time – oracle – swimming, mostly unrequited – in a vast sea of artworld losers. or is that posers. funny how losers and posers – don’t rhyme.)
instead of artlovers – should’ve called this site: ‘MINORITY REPORT’ !! as in, yeah – the movie !!
but our most fav piece, right up there with KENNY KOMER & BORIS RASIN’S money-stealin’ ‘Economics 101’ – was JERRY BLACKMAN’S free-standing – ‘lips’ – ‘Untitled (To Amelia)’, 2008. mixed media.
(and, now we EVEN like it, maybe even more – than his Dam anchor !!)
OMG, we didn’t even get it – the first time around – that it was – FAUX WOOD !!
but someone else did !!
ROBERTA SMITH scrutinizes Jerry Blackman’s – ‘tongue-in-cheek’ – lips !!
. . . wow – she even bent over, to touch it !! caught red-handed !!
the man – JERRY BLACKMAN.
(behind him, GEORGE CONDO’S – ‘The Apparition’ !!)
early supporter of Boris, Kenny and Jerry. artlovers critic-at-large, gossip maven, music critic, and WOODSTOCK veteran (and some would say, note the shades, indoors – he never came back) . . . SIMON CERIGO.
a lot of class A losers in this town – made their art collection fortunes off Simon’s smarts, paying
him, only in good times, as in weed – not the other green stuff – $$ – that really matters. that’s what happens – when you are a class A push-over for partying.
well lookey here – BORIS RASIN had a stand alone piece in the show, too. one of his (now known !!) small paintings.
BORIS RASIN, ‘Tonight on Charlie Rose’, 2009. acrylic on canvas. 22 x 28 ins.
cool, or what. I wish GBE would put prices – on their work description sheets.
we spied – BRICE MARDEN.
also celebrity artists – RACHEL FEINSTEIN and JOHN CURRIN.
Rachel had a cut-out piece in the show.
RACHEL FEINSTEIN, , ‘The Orphan’, 2009. wood, aqua resin, and oil enamel.
a serious looking, ANDREA ROSEN.
the party was still going on strong – outside, as we got ready to depart. and, the summer sun was starting to set. KANA TOGASHI and KATE CERIGO.
Kana and her mom are about to open a small vintage clothing and flower shop – in Greenpoint – called SAFFRON. Good luck with your new venture.
see, the sun has set, and people are still coming to join the fun !!
IVORY and SHELTER SERRA.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~THE LIVING AND THE DEAD |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 27th, 2009, 5:21pm
THE SUM AND ALL PARTS – CURATED BY JENNY BORLAND & BEAU RUTLEDGE
featuring work by: PAUL BRANCA, GORDON FAYLOR, RYAN FOERSTER, JAIME GECKER, KENNY KOMER, BORIS RASIN, DAVID ROTHENBERG, RYAN ROWLETT, KIRBY SALVADOR, LANYA SYNDER, LeROY STEVENS, HEIDI TURPIN.
the show ran: JUNE 18 – JULY 26, 2009.
at a vacant storefrontish space in BROOKLYN, near McCARREN PARK and MATCHLESS.
THE SUM AND ALL PARTS – was the best show – in an independent alternative venue – SUMMER of 2009.
Its young independent curators, JENNY BORLAND and BEAU RUTLEDGE put a very potent group in action.
The opening, a big party, at the beginning of the summer – was kind of eerie, and special, too.
First up, it was a somewhat coolish and rainy night – not enough to keep you sidelined, but a drizzle that turned you wet – as you made your way to the space – which was far from mass transit, and led you through what felt like a vacant no man’s land. At one point you could intersect with the huge ghostly spooky McCARREN PARK playing fields. but you could also just as easily wander into local fav dive band bar MATCHLESS for some of the best MAC & CHEESE around – $4 bucks – buys you a pretty good portion.
Second, it was the first chance to see some new work by KENNY KOMER and BORIS RASIN, in a while, but what made it so special – was that their piece ‘ECONOMICS 101’ – totally rocked !! the spirit of the summer, and also we got to see some of their individual works. never knew Boris was a ‘realist’ painter !! never knew Kenny was an abstract ‘fielder’ !!
check out: KENNY KOMER/BORIS RASIN/website !!
PHOTOS FROM – THE OPENING – JUST POSTED !!
check out: THE SUM AND ALL PARTS/2009-09-02 !!
~THE SUM AND ALL PARTS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 27th, 2009, 5:20pm
Film Review
AUGUST 27, 2009 by JAN ALBERT
WE LIVE IN PUBLIC
There’s not too many films I can say this about, but I have seen WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, opening Friday, 8/28/09 at the IFC Center on 6th Ave, 3 times already – with pleasure, fascination and a vague sense of discomfort about what it all means.
Directed by Ondi Timoner, this 2009 Sundance-winning doc about dot.com king, Josh Harris, (the film bills him as – “the greatest internet pioneer you’ve never heard of”) is such a densely packed, visually stunning 88 minutes, you’ll jump on and emerge slightly stunned from the roller coast ride that was the JOSH HARRIS life story – before he vanished suddenly from the NYC art scene in 2004. Downtown artworld denizens, including Nancy Smith, the founder of this very web site, as well as many other wide-ranging witnesses are interviewed, about the rise and fall of this oddball Oz.
. . . that is Nancy Smith, with her son Theo, in one of the film’s posters, top image – above.
That’s JOSH HARRIS – in the transparent ‘bunker’ shower at QUIET !! in the following image – above.
Although he is an extreme character, anyone, who grew up as the kid of separated parents, coming home to an empty house and a warm TV, can identify with Josh’s childhood. He fed and entertained himself and absorbed most of his lessons about human relations from Gilligan’s Island, his favorite show. Our story really kicks off in the late 1980s, when Harris, just out of college, sees with astonishing clarity that the Worldwide Web (then just a tech toy at a few universities) will change the world utterly and completely.
The brilliant young market researcher starts pumping out data predicting the Internet will ultimately attract the eyes and ears of the nation, replacing magazines, newspapers, radio and TV. Businesses line up to pay for the oracle’s advice on how best to utilize the web and when his first company, Jupiter, goes public, Josh Harris suddenly has (very) big money to play with.
It was an era, as one person in the film, puts it, when computer nerds become Gods because they knew how to set up a modem. Timoner does such an entertaining job of explaining the financial machinations of the first dot.com boom/bust, that even number-challenged viewers such as myself understand how in short order, Harris became a multi-millionaire.
What did he do with his cash? One witness terms it, “The most entertaining expenditure of money I have ever seen”.
In 1994, he started Pseudo.com, a big online party, decades ahead of the curve. It attracted the downtown art and music crowd and featured some of the first interactive programs, with streaming video. You had to have the patience of a Buddha to watch it in the days before broadband, but even the good old reliable TV news magazine, 60 Minutes, could sense something big was happening. It traveled down to Soho to interview Harris at the Pseudo studios, where the brash young visionary declared, “I’m here to take 60 Minutes out.”
Harris, like the rest of his generation, loves the spotlight and notes, how in Andy Warhol’s day, everybody wanted to be famous for 15 minutes. “Now, everybody wants to be famous for 15 minutes every day.”
He alarms his investors and attracts even more attention when he stops wearing suits and ties and shows up at board meetings as his artworld alter ego, a deranged clown, dubbed “Luvvy”, in full make up and costume.
When he started Pseudo, he was worth $80 million (from the sale of Jupiter – the first-ever web trend tracking site) and, he went on to spend a good chunk of that dot.com dough celebrating the turn of the millennium by staging a happening on a scale of such exuberance and excess, nothing like it had been seen since NYC in the 60’s or maybe since shortly before Rome started burning.
Artworld observers and participants such as Jeffrey Deitch, Leo Koenig, Donna Ferrato, and Alana Heiss still talk about QUIET-WE LIVE IN PUBLIC – as it was called – with awe and wonder.
Harris had the ground floor of an old factory building, (as well as the 4 full floors of an adjacent building!!) at the edge of Chinatown, just south of Canal Street, gutted, and then paid a small group of artists and provocateurs to install a chapel, communal dining hall, bathroom, showers, bed pods, an interrogation room, a firing range, equipped with dozens of machine guns, oh, and 75 cameras, placed throughout the environment. It got to be that up to 100 artists, and counting, were invited to come live and work in the installation around the clock as in-house crew. He announced that food, drink, everything was free, “except the video we capture of you.” Once in, they weren’t allowed out and Harris, like an impassive “puppet master” sat back to see what would happen. If that wasn’t party enough, he then opened the whole place up to the public 24/7 and huge crowds of art fans and New Year’s Eve revelers alike, poured in, in ever-increasing waves, during that last week of 1999.
Wading through the hundreds of hours of footage Harris gathered and stored away for almost a decade, Timoner captures the escalation from the delight of performing on camera 24/7, to the detachment about being watched peeing, sleeping and having sex all the time like moneys in a zoo. There are emotional breakdowns, bad behavior, exhibitionism, and even a short but potent flip-out by one artist (ok. this site’s Nancy Smith), which got her temporarily evicted from the cabal, until the whole jamboree was shut down permanently by the FDNY on the morning of January 1, 2000.
But the best is yet to come: (Did I tell you this film is just 88 minutes long?!) Since Harris filmed virtually everything he did during this period, we have the pleasure of watching him fall in love and undertake his next project. This time, as Harris remembers, he is “the rat in the maze.”
Josh and his girlfriend, Tanya, (who is also interviewed, looking back at the intense time they shared) had motion activated cameras placed in every part of their loft and decided to”live in public”, inviting web viewers to watch and comment on their relationship around the clock. They begin with much-hyped media coverage and the
“Feeling that love will conquer all,” and there are some fun moments, my favorite being when Tanya misplaces her wallet and asks viewers to text and tell her where it is !
But let’s face it, there’s enough pressure on young love without an audience and I’ll just cut to the chase here. Harris finishes the experiment alone and on the toilet, reading the financial pages and calling his bank to learn that he is broke.
But that’s not the end of the Josh Harris saga. Timoner rediscovers him in 2005 living quietly on an apple farm in upstate N.Y., preparing to make his comeback.
What does Josh Harris do now that the vision of the Internet he predicted has finally become reality? Now, that there are face books for people who don’t read and people sharing what they had for breakfast online? Now, that TV is trying to keep up by focusing cameras on Jon and Kate, The Real World, Big Brother, and The Biggest Loser?
See the film to find out what happens next, but let me say the ending is no let down from the mesmerizing trip Ondi Timoner orchestrates throughout WE LIVE IN PUBLIC.
see: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC/the official website – with TRAILER !!
~WE LIVE IN PUBLIC |
Posted in Movie Reviews | By Jan Albert | August 27th, 2009, 2:52pm
LAST !! WEEK !! to catch the ‘sleeper’ show – of the SUMMER – it runs till AUG 30, 2009 !!
JERRY BLACKMAN – ‘SUMMER SESSION’
JULY 11 – AUG 30, 2009
DAM STUHLTRAGER – BROOKLYN
first off, with a lot of galleries, even the big ones, cutting back on cards to save money – we have to note how great Jerry’s card is – and, on – both sides !!
they are printed on glossy postcard stock – 4 x 6 ins.
JERRY BLACKMAN’S – ANCHOR.
some kind of resin and super hi-tech paint-texture job on the wood simulation parts.
Leah Stuhltrager told me it goes for $8,500.
If I were of – JOHN HALL – pockets – I would snap it up – in a nanosecond.
if I were a little bit of a cheesier collector. like you know who, [fill in the blanks yourself] – [“just because my family has 80+ Picassos doesn’t mean we’re wealthy”] – I’d get them down to $6,000, maybe even less – and promise to come round for more … maybe.
(since I’m only me – I can only roll around on my – ‘called it first’ laurels – and watch everyone else – make the dough – later on, down the road. what else is new.)
another interesting aspect of the show – is the insight provided by the detailed background notes.
from left: KENNY KOMER, JERRY BLACKMAN, and BORIS RASIN.
. . . . the Anchor behind them.
KENNY KOMER, JERRY BLACKMAN and BORIS RASIN.
all three are local NYC boys and, recent COOPER UNION grads, SCULPTURE MAJORS – STUDIO ART BFA PROGRAM.
wood detailing – ANCHOR.
what did we say: just like a BOBBY FLAY THROW- DOWN – minus the food !!
KATE CERIGO – also a local NYC kid & recent grad BFA – SVA – graphic design.
BORIS RASIN and KENNY KOMER – also had break-out shows of their own this summer.
coverage on that – coming up next !!
p.s. Boris and Kenny told me a funny story at the opening. the afternoon of the opening, to celebrate – they took Jerry fishing off of some local NYC waterway. a Long Island bay, I think. you rent a boat with crew for about $40, or was it $40 each, well anyways – Boris was the only one to catch something. he caught a shark !! a baby one. part of the deal is – the crew cooks you lunch with your catch – so they ate shark !! and Boris even got the rest of the fish wrapped up, raw – to take home. I found this ‘fish-tale’ a little hard to believe – – so they whipped out their cellphones and showed me pix !! and, yep it]]there it was – a (small) shark – sure enuff !!
check out: KENNY KOMER & BORIS RASIN/website !!
check out: JERRY BLACKMAN’S website !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~JERRY BLACKMAN/SUMMER SESSION |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 26th, 2009, 12:12pm
* ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – CELEBRATE BROOKLYN *
* PROSPECT PARK BANDSHELL – FRI AUG 14 / SAT AUG 15, 2009 *
* see: THE BOWERY PRESENTS*
* SIMON CERIGO reviewed ANIMAL COLLECTIVE for artlovers way back in APRIL 2006 *
* see: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE !! *
* he is also a big big fan of PANDA BEAR !! *
* it’s also the 40th ANNIVERSARY of WOODSTOCK – and our music reviewer, SIMON CERIGO was there !! *
* he says: “I was 17 and rollin’ around in the mud. high on drugs and looking for free love” – does anything ever change !! *
* SIMON says … ” legendary” San Francisco art dealer .. JACK HANLEY, with whom he recently reminisced about WOODSTOCK – at JACK’S – AUGUST 6th – NYC gallery opening, [see below for link] – agreed – that past films on the gathering – had downplayed the mud. the new documentary – seems – “to get that aspect – right.” *
* he continues .. “though I fell asleep, after partying non-stop for 3 days !! – during THE WHO – I caught all the big acts – incl SANTANA, who were totally new to me. being a hard-core music fanatic even then – I had caught the rest of the acts – the month previously – at the legendary, but not as well known, ATLANTIC CITY POP FESTIVAL. *
* SUMMER 1969 – THE SUMMER OF LOVE *
* check out: JACK HANLEY/NYC/’California Investigative Healing’ *
* organized by: KAL SPELLETICH *
* running AUG 06 – AUG 29, 2009 *
* p.s. SIMON says the opening was a nice party – good crowd and, they served up – plenty of grilled hot dogs, free flowing beer, and cupcakes !! *
FIRST POSTED On THE HOMEPAGE: FRI AUG 14, 2009
~THE SUMMER OF LOVE |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 17th, 2009, 6:57pm
above: KENNY KOMER & BORIS RASIN – ‘ECONOMICS 101’ – !!
pretty much the way it is – THE SUMMER OF 2009 – !!
. . . you put your dollar in – you get – 3 quarters back !!
‘ECONOMICS 101’ . . . was recently featured on the artlovers homepage – the piece surfaced in GAVIN BROWN’S SUMMER SHOW, ‘THE LIVING AND THE DEAD’ – which just came down last week (Aug 7, 2009).
see: GAVIN BROWN’S enterprise
INSTALLATION PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
. . . hard to believe this weekend – is – the 40th ANNIVERSARY of WOODSTOCK !! what a difference 40 years – make !!
not only was artlovers music critic & art commentator at large – SIMON CERIGO – at WOODSTOCK – he was 17 !!
and, some people – would say – he never came back, never mind remember anything, except the huge amount of recreational drugs (hash being the potion of choice) he ingested – “along with whatever else they were doing there ” . . . but he does remember all the groups he saw, incl yes !! JANIS JOPLIN & JIMI HENDRIX !! he says he “only missed THE WHO, because he passed out (right in front of the stage during their performance !!) from sheer exhaustion – 3 days of non-stop hard core partying – had taken their toll !!
. . . but – small world – circles and karma and all – SIMON knows all 3 of the young stars of this summer’s NYC art scene – KENNY KOMER, BORIS RASIN & even JERRY BLACKMAN – from back in the day – when they were students at COOPER UNION, and Simon was a part time director/consultant/curator at the now defunct CAPSULE GALLERY !! in CHELSEA. circa 2003/04.
KENNY and BORIS were encouraged to do their first ever gallery-produced site-specific piece – under the sidewalk – and Jerry was the gallery intern !! those were the days !! KATE (CERIGO) – Simon’s daughter was just a kid, when she came to the CAPSULE openings – an art student at LaGuardia High School, which in fact – Boris and Kenny, and I think even, Jerry had also attended. it was kind of a shock to them, this summer – esp Boris – for some reason – when KATE showed up at their multiple openings – to find yes !! time flies, Kate is all grown up – and graduated from SVA, GRAPHIC DESIGN – last SPRING 2008 !! now they know how – the old timers feel. and what, they are all of 27 ? 28 ?
LOL !! its great to watch the local talent grow up and R-U-L-E !! all 3 most definite – caught, …. make that DEFINED !! – – – – the SUMMER WAVE of 2009.
KENNY KOMER & BORIS RASIN – with their collaborations – and, individual pieces in an inspired & sharply edited – independent show in BROOKLYN, called ‘THE SUM AND ALL PARTS’, (JUNE 18 – JULY 26, 2009), which was curated by JENNY BORLAND & BEAU RUTLAND; as well as with works in the afore-mentioned GBE SUMMER FEST: ‘THE LIVING AND THE DEAD’.
JERRY BLACKMAN had a piece in that GBE show as well, the big free-standing floor piece – the interlocking lips – that looked they were made of wood but were really some kind of plastic resin or acrylic (?) painstakingly treated to look like wood – !!
and, he actually has an even more amazin’ piece, an ANCHOR !! still on view at DAM STUHLTRAGER in BROOKLYN (JULY 11 – AUGUST 30, 2009). more amazin’ – because:
1) I liked the idea of an ‘anchor’ over the ‘interlocked lips’ – which I thought was kind of a played-out image – unless he was being really, and I mean capital R – REALLY !! – iconic ? …. I really liked the anchor’s, free spirit, newness of oldness image, its very shape and dimensions, and the low-fi way it just sits against the wall. even though its so big.
plus, being semi-autustic – or is that – high-functioning autistic – ?? – I just really love plastic. retro, new & sci-fi.
I have to say – I haven’t loved a piece so much since catching GEORGIA GRAY & JORY RABINOVITCH’S one day wonder – outdoor – low-fi sculpture – show – of the just past Spring 2009 – (and, they are both also COOPER UNION students !! coincidence – I don’t think so !!) – ‘I MS. GRAND PA’ – pix of which are going to post this FALL 2009 – as the SEASON’S teaser – “I told you so !! that great !!” – post – !!
I think in truth – I’ve been hoarding them !!
and that brings me to recall – last year’s 2008 – SUMMER SLEEPER – PATRICK GRIFFIN’S – ‘COUNT THY BUTTONS’ at THE JOURNAL (BROOKLYN) !! also with great ‘resin’ pieces – over-size wall ‘buttons’ – that caught the ‘teen’ spirit of that day – !!
but, wait, I daydream in color – back to the here & now – !!
2) what I also liked about this ANCHOR piece of Jerry’s – was that unlike the GBE lips – he has left segments ‘undone’ – that contrast – the transparent resin or plastic – to the other parts – that are hand-worked and carefully detailed – to look like, and simulate wood.
so – its as great as watching – A BOBBY FLAY THROW-DOWN – except without the motion !! and the food !!
see: JERRY BLACKMAN/SUMMER SESSION/DAM STUHLTRAGER !!
P.S. – SIMON CERIGO – definitely feels:
1. the financial sector – !! – has been much more ‘creative’ – than the art world – in the past year.
and, 2. if you wanna see a walking talking cautionary tale – up close & personal – of what happens to guys who party too hard, courtesy of hanging out with too many trust fund babies, I believe his term of choice – is – “blood-sucking no-talent vampires” – you couldn’t beat Simon. Not only will they bleed you dry for info, and build huge (art) collections around your smarts – and, leave you penniless – but, they’ll steal your groupies, too !!
~ECONOMICS 101 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 14th, 2009, 12:21pm
