~HALF FAME !!

HALF FAME !! HAVE FAME !! AIN’T FAME – A BITCH ??!!

more pix . . . from the HALF GALLERY – ‘A WAYS A WAY’ opening . . . curated by MEREDITH DARROW and DEVENDRA BANHART. LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC. JUNE 8, 2010.


a small painting by KEEGAN McHARGUE. ‘Untitled’, 2007.
acrylic on canvas, 36 x 26 in. ($6,000.)
yes. that’s Half Gallery co-owner, and BRAVO game show ‘judge’ – BILL POWERS on the left.


the show featured an arrangement of new, and curious !! DEVENDRA BANHART works on paper . . . they were small, in the range of 12 x 9 in. , and very intense. eyeballs – that could almost be taken for, well – bullet holes. very different from the works of his, we have seen in the past, which were mostly spidery line and dot and dash drawings. and usually incorporating words – and done only in black ink. these were in color and had full color spectrum-inducing backgrounds. gouache and pencil on paper. the price range ? approx $1,800. not bad, at all.
my advice, scoop one up – before they blink !!


next to Devendra’s work – was another series of attention-grabbing – graphic pencil and gouache drawings by ADAM TULLIE. gorgeous, and mysterious !!, on their own terms – they made me immediately consider just how bizarre and unpredictable a turn – Devendra had taken. the works, again seemed as priced as close to the bone as one could get – $1,200 – and still be (almost) fair to the artist. it’s definitely a buyer’s market. I mean these are unique and very complicated pieces – and very complex ones at that – not prints. a decade ago, these would be print (multiple edition) prices !!


the artist behind those very intense drawings, was at the opening – ADAM TULLIE. He had just come in from Los Angeles, where, funny great fact – he is a roommate of Devendra’s !! guess that makes him, most enviably – just one degree of separation from the flame of fame – in what most certainly must be the very epicenter of cool and creativity in good ole San Francisco.


outside, artnet scribe CHARLIE FINCH was basking in the fame of local pundit glory !!
with him is KATE CERIGO, whom he has known ever since she was a tiny tot – running around many a downtown opening in the 80’s – including those of BASQUIAT and HARING – a true downtown, Rivington and the Bowery, Lower East Side storefront artist-bred kid !!
p.s. people keep asking Kate about her necklace !!
it’s a gold-plated punched hole template – a riff off those plastic canvas and yarn projects of camp days past – that comes in a kind of new age kit with a needle and some yarn, and you embroider your own design !! (yeah, I did Kate’s – well we collaborated – she put in some stitches too, how fun !!)
check it out – its put out by: return to me !!


then Charlie took me and Kate over to his favorite nite-time after-opening hang out – the BABY GRAND – !! – 161 Lafayette corner of Grand St. (duh !!) which just happens to be one tiny sweet slice of a Karaoke !! bar !! and, who knew – a star is born !!


Elvis in the house !! CHARLIE FINCH – warbles righteous !!
I guess – a finch is a finch is a finch !!

POSTED BY NANCY SMITH – SAT JUNE, 19, 2010 9:27 AM
ALL PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH