~BILL POWERS !! BRAVO !!


BILL POWERS and MEREDITH DARROW, at the HALF GALLERY, NYC. JUNE 8, 2010
PHOTO BY NANCY SMITH

BILL POWERS, with independent curator MEREDITH DARROW, at the opening of ‘A WAYS A WAY’ a small but way totally intense show, curated by MEREDITH DARROW and DEVENDRA BANHART !!
the show opened last night, June 8, 2010 at the HALF GALLERY, of which Bill is a co-owner, 208 FORSYTH ST. on the Lower East Side – just south of Houston.
the show featured strong and, I suppose you could say – elegant – but very visual – work by 8 artists – more pix from the opening coming up – soon !!
in the meantime, you can check out: HALF GALLERY !!
(and, no Devendra wasn’t there – he is on tour !!)

BILL POWERS looks to be one cool dude – and let’s hope so for his sake – as the NYC art world – or so they say !! looks to take its place of pride besides other talent search shows, cooks ? models ? housewives ? Jersey boys ? on the BRAVO Channel – with its debut broadcast tonight – WED JUNE 9, at 10PM/9PMCentral !!
first off I have to tell ya – and Kate will attest – I am a huge huge fan of the HOUSEWIVES – all of them !! meaning ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK CITY and NEW JERSEY !! and yes, I too marvel – at what comes out of KELLY BENSIMON’S mouth !! but hey, its obviously – give me beauty over content – rules – or I’d be on it – instead of my bit turn in WE LIVE IN PUBLIC !! !! and I love love the JERSEY SHORE !! but I do hate all those top talent model / fashion designer / cook shows.

from the advance clips – slipped in while TERESA GIUDICE buys her darling little GIA, who just turned 9 – a tot-sized ATV – and treats her and her pint-sized pals to an all-pink spa birthday party !! (hey and I like Gia – she’s cute, and funny. and she’s pretty real, till her mom gives her the shuush signal !! – for a pint-sized reality star. and what about that NEW JERSEY accent – you go girl – keep it !!) – while TERESA and husband JOE are being outed in the press for their $11 MILLION BANKRUPTCY FILING !! – tell me about it, Joe.

. . . “WORK OF ART” – executive produced by SARAH JESSICA PARKER – looking to being called a loser twice-over this season – promises to be, not just lame, but seriously wannabe – esp in the ‘art’ talent department. and JERRY SALTZ – never the rolling stone last word on the art scene – he likes to think he is – esp among anyone I know – oh my god – a turn on national T.V. might just close him down, and hopefully not the whole NYC art scene with him. memo to Jerry – a star turn on Bravo T.V. – does not a star is born ? – make !!

ok ok – I am gonna watch it – and if I’ve been unjustifiably unkind – I’ll own up !! but hands down I bet – Bill Powers is gonna be the only – cool kid on the block.


from the left: JEANNE GREENBERG (HEIRESS/GALLERIST), JERRY SALTZ (art critic/NEW YORK MAG), the generic hostess, BILL POWERS (HALF GALLERY CO-OWNER), and SIMON de PURY (founder of the auction house that bears his name).

see: BRAVO T.V. !!

POSTED BY NANCY SMITH – WED JUNE 9, 2010 4:37 PM

UP-DATE: WED JUNE 9, 2010 10:06 PM

look like they’ve been bumped 1 hr. up, or is that back ?
. . . according to most the current schedule on BRAVOTV – the debut hour of ‘WORK OF ART: THE NEXT GREAT ARTIST’ is on at 11 PM.

UP-DATE: WED JUNE 9, 2010 12:02 AM

well. it wasn’t that bad, or as bad as I thought, it would be. Jerry actually handles himself pretty well, though he usually isn’t one for “skills” – and this was one very skill-based test. a portrait. abstraction and conceptualism did not rule. He had the best line – “I think you are being a little defensive.” !! BILL POWERS had the greatest suit on. everyone seemed a little formal – the first time through the gate. put it this way – no one. not a one, cracked a joke or a smile. I guess its the Trump factor. Sarah Jessica Parker – the most pro – on-a-stage – came across the most self-conscious, funny right. ok and sorry for the generic host bit, CHINA CHOW. though truthfully she didn’t have much to say. (and I kept thinking about those after-parties, HARING and BASQUIAT, SCHNABEL and SALLE – at MR CHOW’S back in the early 80s !! flashbacks that cast a harsh light on these Newest Nextest Greatest proceedings. let’s not even go there. SIMON de PURY was helped by his accent – in his TOM GUNN role. He did in fact make some pretty down-to-earth assessments. Him and that great striped, multi-hued pin-striped wallpaper. JEANNE GREENBERG came down right on the side of trendy.

In what looks like they are taking a cue from AMERICAN IDOL – the talent seems to be going to judged by ability to genre. would I watch it again ? – maybe just to see how genre splitting and obvious – the next task will be. the winner was too much the cute kid for me. I like the the big round guy in the blue shirt the best. no disrespect – am I allowed to say that. I forget his name – he did the portrait of the clown guy – I liked how he photo-shopped his realist portrait – with beat-up-ness, bruises and spelled out ‘kitten’ on his subject’s fingers, but mostly, truthfully, I just liked his manner and what he said – he was a nice ‘big easy’ for a change. the girls were too diva and mostly reminded me of the fashion runway shows with Heidi.

the best part of the night ? the DREW BARRYMORE ‘covergirl’ commercial on the TOP CHEF finale !! caught while waiting for ‘NEXT GREAT ARTIST’ to spool. BRAVO is actually a great place to catch the hottest trends. their ads are looking more and more web-based everyday.

actually the key to the show’s ultimate irrelevancy has to be that unfortunate and played-out – turquoise – of the show’s logo – it shoulda been – a deep bright red !!
and forget Sarah Jessica Parker or even that hint of the up-coming mystery guest, ANDRE
SERRANO. I’d like to see Banksy come on and demolish the proceedings. maybe with RUSSELL BRAND in tow !! nope. the show just ain’t top talent, I’ll stick with the housewives, thank you. and the movies.