~NATE LOWMAN/A Dog From Every County

Nate & leo
NATE LOWMAN, LEO FITZPATRICK, COLLECTIVE HARDWARE. LOWER EAST SIDE, MARCH 8, 2009

nate # 1
NATE LOWMAN, COLLECTIVE HARDWARE. MARCH 8, 2009

nates card 2005
you may think its jaded – but NATE LOWMAN hit the nail on the head, way back in 2005 !!
with – this card for his NOVEMBER 2005 show at MACCARONE. not only was the message an early warning – civilization as we knew it – death threat come true – but it was one of the all-time ever, great NYC show invite cards. in fact – it wasn’t even technically a card – it was a super glossy decal sticker !! (7-1/2 x 3/3/4 in.)
see: the original post !!

of course, par for the course, right now – anyways – there was NO card as last month’s Nate Lowman outing !! cards are going the way of HUMMERS – and too friggin’ bad !! o.k. paper kills forests, and costs more money, in every kind of way – but still cards were nice souvenirs – I hope they aren’t dead dinosaurs altogether.
it wasn’t so long ago that galleries were competing – on who handed out the hardest biggest cards. ok. we’ll leave it there. connect your own dots !!

nate press release

but you could get a low-fi xerox-type mass-quality paper – press release at the gallery desk. I guess that was fitting enough. (see next image.)
there’s great PIX of the installation on the: gallery website !!
left hand margin/PAST EXHIBITIONS.

nate keystone
NATE LOWMAN, ‘Nipton Road’, 2009. Alkyd on canvas, 66 x 46 in./IMAGE COURTESY: MACCARONE WEBSITE
some of the the canvases, the grave-yard headstone – TOMBSTONE !! – series – were carefully hand-painted to look like blown-up newspaper images – assuming a very low-fi (pixalated) technology profile, in fact – much like the cheaply printed gallery press release !!
alkyd paint, a form of industrial paint – seems to be very suited to be diluting, and here appears – looking just like – like black ink drips on the succulent canvas bed. in fact at first, I thought they were silkscreens.

nate's logo
the first thing that greets you, is Nate’s personal ‘logo’ – over-sized.
if RY ROCKLEN’s show was about ritualistic magic, homelessness & society in tatters – NATE LOWMAN’s was more like a crazy personal corporate society death wish. ok. don’t hate me, but kinda like HEATH LEDGER going out as the JOKER.

Nate's logo # 2
they felt like sculptures, but they were really paintings, painted on shaped canvas.
the one above was titled: ‘Thank you for’, these two are called: (left) ‘Thanks for nothing’ and, (right) ‘Rules Drools’.
you have to give Mr. Lowman credit – his titles are – just as drop dead smart as his paintings.

logo up-close
it was strange to see – how different the ‘logos’ looked – up-close. even though they were so seemingly simple graphics. or glyphs, really.

nate monika
a classic abstract painting gone bad !! upside-down – it said: ‘BRING BACK MONICA LEWINSKY’.
you knew from that moment – you were in the presence of a bad boy / thinker.
NATE LOWMAN, ‘The Grass is always meaner’, 2006. Bumper sticker and latex on linen.

nate # 2
you know, like the pirates have their flag – the bad boys have theirs !!
what the hell – the show was completely off the wall – crazy and stupid – just like America.
in fact what I loved best about the show was – how much it was about: AMERICA.

nate # 3
NATE LOWMAN, ‘Lump Sum’, Alkyd on canvas. 84 x 125.5 in.

what was also cool – was how this part of the exhibit was pushed over to one side of the too-huge front space – all the happy faces cavorting and mirroring our wrecked havoc of a lifetime’s playground – and then the other series – the headstone/tombstone graveyard paintings were all flung out like rural tumbleweed in the too-huge back room. like the people in the cities all living close together, and the people in the country all flung out on rural roads – but, both dying.

Nate # 4
portrait of a slice of American city . . . and commercialism, mass media gone wrong, duh.
NATE LOWMAN, ‘Pecker’, 2009. Alkyd, mixed media on canvas. 17.5 x 20 in.
if you don’t get the reference – you need to read the tabloids, media pages. can’t spoon feed you babies every little footnote.

Nate # 5
this what the BOWERY really used to look like, before all the celebrity Japanese DJs and hip hop clubs took over. you could live in a storefront on Rivington – for zip – while the locals OD’d around ya. or the bums set small trash fires for fun. I know, cause I did. live there, not set fires !! till they bought me out.

nate # 6
fridge.

Nate # 7
ok. the back room . . . . and I mean – back – as – in – backwoods – room.

nate # 8
the neon sign says: “SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT”.
NATE LOWMAN, ‘I shit you not’, 2009, neon sign, plastic box. 84 x 53 in.

nate # 7
crosses are so big this season. revise. JESUS is so big – this season. yo, its not me, being unsacred – what the hell. The NEW MUSEUM’s current show is titled: ‘THE GENERATIONAL: YOUNGER THAN JESUS’ – meaning only artists 33 or younger were allowed in the show. as if that weren’t bad enough – the NEW YORK TIMES review on the show was subtitled: ‘YOUNG ARTISTS, CAUGHT In THE ACT’ – as if, you know – caught in the act usually means – walking in on somebodies having illicit SEX !! what the hell.
I like Nate’s cross reference – so so so so much better. its a really stark – what the hell. all the more so since these steel crosses are actually straight off the back of – NYPD tow trucks !!

. . . A LITTLE ASIDE BACK to HOLLAND COTTER’S review of: ‘YOUNGER THAN JESUS’ (NY TIMES APRIL 10, 2009) – well the work struck me as wishy washy – what do I know – but loved how Mr. Cotter ended his article; “In any case, a generational challenge has already been taken up elsewhere. A small commercial gallery called BLT, on the Bowery across from the New Museum, has announced that its May exhibition will consist exclusively of artists born before 1927. Louise Bourgeois, Lucian Freud and Ellsworth Kelly will be among the participants. The show will be called ‘Wiser Than God.’ ” !!

of course, our good friends JOHN HODANY and LARS MONRAD VAAGE, of the artist/gallery collective, NATIONALMUSEUM, over in BERLIN, GERMANY – trumped all this arbitrary curating – months ago with their groundbreaking, and now eriely presentient show: ‘FUCK THE LITTLE MAN’ – also know as – the ‘TALL ARTIST SHOW’ !! where, it wasn’t age – but height – that got you in – or left you out !!
Curated by LARS MONRAD VAAGE and GEORGE BARBER, DECEMBER 2008. you had to stand 6 ft – to get in.
see: FUCK THE LITTLE MAN/opening
see: more background !!

nate # 9
“I’m a loser – so why don’t you kill me ” – Beck !!
NATE LOWMAN, ‘Loser’, 2009. Alkyd on canvas. 40 x 30 in.
. . . is this ‘Gallow’s humor’ ?
it’s so – DEATH WISH !!
it’s so COWBOY !! it’s so AMERICANA !! in fact, we’re gonna start calling him – ‘TOMBSTONE’ Nate !!

nate # 10
L-O-S-E-R – !! – love it !!
seems everyone around me is a loser, or else losing their jobs, late in their rent, moving to New Mexico where whole houses only cost $450 a month. people here are rolling their own cigarettes, and counting their subway money like never before. it just used to be mad money, loose change. not anymore. now its like $10 bucks – before you even turn around. its like: go to Brooklyn, or eat. I choose: eat !! and everybody’s a joker.
HELLO !! ENDLESS LOVE CREW – ENDLESS LOVE – I GUESS, NOT !!
.

nate # 11
LOSERS UNITE !! we need a LOSERS – UNION !! JOKE, NOT ME!!
homeless encampments are creeping up everywhere. unlike California, no tents here – that’s West Coast middle class homelessness – ours just down and out in cardboard boxes, and in piles of rags and old dirty clothes.
and the locals ? they’re socking you in the face & running off with your cellphone. cellphones & iPods – the flavor flav crime of the city streets.
its one or the other – if you have a job – you’re facing losing your hard-earned iPod / if you don’t have a job you’re facing losing your home. no doubt about it. its pretty much a generational thing too – wow – just like the NEW MUSEUM !! cause everyone wants $10/hr entry level kids taking over the jobs. even in the art world. case in point – PACE GALLERY – is rumored – well, more than rumored – to have let go all of their long time art handlers, some of whom have been there for years – to let a new lower-paid bunch jump the gate. sad but true, even the lowly art handlers, a traditional survival slot for young artists in this city – have to watch their backs. in this trickle down economy. even the printers, who used to print those glorious art cards of not so long ago – must be going belly-up. where are all these people going to go / not everyone can fit into New Mexico !!

nate # 12
detail, NATE LOWMAN – ‘LOSER’.
. . . Tombstone – Americana, or what !!

Nate # 13
detail, NATE LOWMAN – ‘LOSER’ .
. . . Americana, or what !! fading away.

nate # 14 AAA

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH – MARCH 21, 2009

FROM THE ARTLOVERS’ HOMEPAGE: WEEK OF APRIL 13-19, 2009 !!

* well, thinkin’ bout the RY ROCKLEN SHOW – got me thinking bout he recent NATE LOWMAN show. It was up at MACCARONE – and it just came down to make way for a VITO SCHNABEL PRODUCTION – see: MACCARONE *

* there aren’t any images from that new installation – up on the gallery website, yet – but here is an interesting link to a great photo of VITO SCHNABEL – “at home” !! *

vito 2008
VITO SCHNABEL at his home in the West Village, NYC. artworks by RON GORCHOV.
PHOTO BY: AEUICHI CHULKIN/THE NEW YORK SUN
(p.s. I like the GORCHOV pieces – they look great, here.)

* but the projected gallery spaces spoken of in the article by ERICA ORDEN (APRIL 30, 2008) – posted almost a year ago – to the day – don’t seem to have materialized. perhaps in a wiser move, considering the times – the young Mr. Schnabel looks to be working out deals to present his shows in already established venues. as for his current project – artist VAHAKN ARSLANIAN – here is the best link ? – out there on the web, for now *

* can’t say the title of this VITO SCHNABEL PRESENTATION at MACCARONE really rocks – it’s way too played out, and never mind CAPT. SULLY SULLENBERGER, what’s with JESUS !! – this month ? the only image available looks or falls a littel flat, too. sorry – but, that’s just the truth. I dunno, maybe it would look better in a grander setting, like the “at home” one, above ? *
* if I wanted – found art – from discarded windows, but esp cardboard – I’d much rather spring for local homeboy – CONRAD CARLSON !! see: SECRET ROBOT PAR-TAY – scroll down !! *

conrad carlson
ARTWORK on FOUND MATERIAL – by CARL CARLSON – SECRET ROBOT/BROOKLYN. OCT 11, 2008
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH

* so, that brings the circle back round to NATE LOWMAN – whose recent MACCARONE SHOW – really – !! – was a r-e-a-l-l-y
great show. it definitely withstands a serious look-back. not only was it on par with RY ROCKLEN’S recent NYC debut, but it had a great title, too: ‘A Dog From Every County’ !!
see: installation shots/gallery website/PAST EXHIBITIONS/RIGHT HAND MARGIN !! *

hokus
one of the coolest animated graphics around – HOKUS POKUS FOKUS on aNYthing’s GLOB !! – (scroll down GLOB – til you find one) – not to mention underground-type questions – the kind, that really matter !!

* as for LEO FITZPATRICK – who really is a good DJ – aNYthing posted a sweet little Q&A with him – a little bit – back in MARCH of this year !! in their HOCUS POKUS FOKUS column !! *

* in fact – aNYthing’s GLOB – is on a roll !! *
* check out the latest – HOCUS POCUS FOKUS: it’s Q&A time with AGATHE SNOW !! *

* and, if you have a (really) strong stomach – don’t miss their take on:
the recent TERENCE KOH after-party – which they charmingly title – ‘THE SWEET SMELL Of SUCCESS’ !! *