what’s a ‘thread’ – bout indie drawing about, without invoking the street mysticism of FARO !!
talk bout looking out & beyond. insider outsider. lots of puns, here. think on it. eyeballs.
yeah, and I just got it. faro = pharoah. oh, dummy, mummy, and me.
EGYPT: talk about the mother-lode of Lodge cults !!
I met FARO at the opening reception for PANTHEON: A HISTORY OF ART FROM THE STREETS OF NYC.
one cool young dude, if I ever did see one, no pretensions. all talent sitting quietly on the couch.
quick to open a conversation, slow to open up. but, who needs words – just hand me those stickers.
each one is hand-signed individually. giving it up, and back at ya – to the universe.
the true . . . the one & only = open = source code . . . the art of the street = the art of the web. no rules.
PANTHEON: A HISTORY OF ART FROM THE STREETS OF NYC
WINDOW EXHIBIT – OPEN 24/7
THE DONNELL PUBLIC LIBRARY – OPPOSITE MoMA
20 WEST 53rd St – bet 5th & 6th AVE
the show runs: APRIL 2 – 17, 2011. so, don’t blink, square eyes.
see: pantheonnyc.com
~DRAWING: FARO |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 12th, 2011, 10:31am
BORIS RASIN – WHOSE DRAWING THAT IS ABOVE – FROM HIS CREEPY LODGE PORTRAITS – INVITES Y’ALL . . .
to what’s . . . SURE TO BE AN AWESOME INDIE ART DRAWING SHOW . . . THIS WED APRIL 13, 2011.
FROM 7-10 PM.
at THE SAPPHIRE LOUNGE – 249 ELDRIDGE ST – JUST OFF HOUSTON – on the LOWER EAST SIDE.
TWO BANDS WILL BE PLAYING: BARKHOUSE and THE FINKS.
BORIS SAYS: BE THERE, OR BE COMPASS AND SQUARE.
AMEN.
~DRAWING: BORIS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 12th, 2011, 10:03am
FILE UNDER: yeah this site is comin’ at ya, straight from the heart of an artist . . . sorry dude.
(if you want it all to be about – you.)
. . . I guess I’ve been seeing a lot of drawing that reminds me of my own . . .
plus the fact that so much of it was based on my study of Japan’s cultural history . . . there and back.
through the looking glass . . . whatever. Japan, oh yeah.
I dunno maybe it was because there was so much witchcraft and goblins, not to mention introspective women.
that I found so much relevance. the Edo Period woodblocks also are what got me into a lot of comic world art.
step up, decades.
to the recent RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA show – ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – which had no drawings – go figure. of course this made me want to slap up mine – next to the those 10 ft. high letters. just as big and black, just as much a part of that white box gallery breakdown as those gorgeous gangly hand-wrought line drawing spray paint letters. FEAR.
it woulda been a totally – presentient – homage to Japan . . . or what.
scary presentient and obviously way ahead of its time – cause it had no chance of ever happening, except in my dreams. funny how: in your dreams dude, is a kind of fuck-off get-lost, write-off, isn’t it.
BUT: then I just realized – oh yeah, one of those drawings had actually made onto a gallery wall in NYC . . . and coincidence. coincidence. it was a wall that Gavin Brown also oversaw – as well. though, of course I had to put it there, myself. and it was kinda like walking thru fire. FEAR EATS THE SOUL, even then.
back up just about 2 decades.
the Lower East Side – Rivington School – when it really was. in the late 80s, early 90s.
it was DAN ASHER who told me GAVIN BROWN was doing something radical at his gallery time-share of 303 – back when it was on Greene St. in Soho. (and what a break-up that must have been. Lisa Spellman and Gavin Brown, the daggers still hang from the clouds – it was before my time as a gallery observer proper, so I can’t really tell you anymore than what is the obvious.)
anyway: it was radical – an open gallery – anybody could go put something up on the walls. like street art – except gallery art, breaking down the white box. so I went with my stencil, and put this black line Sharpie drawing up on the wall – about 2 ft. high. It was 1992, and the show was called: ‘Writing on the Wall’ – maybe the first time writing was referenced to art – on walls – not sure. but could be. it was an early use of stencil – for sure. never saw it used before – but it seemed the only recourse to transferring my drawing – without projecting it.
NANCY SMITH, ink sketch – for stencil. ‘WRITING ON THE WALL’, CURATED BY GAVIN BROWN.
303 GALLERY, SOHO. 1992.
actual image 2 ft. high. black marker. directly on wall.
underneath it I wrote in script: ‘torn by the desire to paint’ . . . as in forever torn by the creative force – from ever being capable of being normal. oh yeah. that’s me. in a nutshell . . .
I had Theo with me – he was a toddler in a stroller. I remember being struck by fear – when I went in to put it up. I may as well have been tagging the Empire State building. no one else was there except Gavin and he said: what do you want ? and gave me the evil eye. big time. the walls were mostly empty – word of the show hadn’t hit the street, yet.
I dunno why, but there is something eternally dorky bout me – and outsiderish that I just can’t seem to shake . . . unlike some people who land beautiful and fit in . . . but are inwardly insecure and anxious. I landed completely fearless and secure in my vision – but for some completely baffling reason, this manifests a dorky exterior. don’t ask me why. and Gavin would not cut me any slack.
people tell me that’s just how he plays the game – but I’m not so sure.
I have seen him pour on the charm when he wants to. I guess they have to ration it . . . so as not to burn out ?
at any rate. completely terrified, under my breath, I’m: fuck you – it’s an open call. I’m putting up my ‘writing’, and I did. caught between a rock and a hard place. as ever. caught between vision and acceptance. caught between powerful inner forces and no outward acceptance. but mostly caught between absolute awe for his having had the idea and abject humilation that I didn’t make even – the ‘open’ – cut. what a loser.
tell me about being driven by the desire to paint, again. say what ?
may as well face a firing squad.
and he never a said another word to me. even when I came to the opening a week or so, later . . .
I entered just when someone, I guess one of his best buds – shot off a BB Gun, or was it a paint gun – were there such things back then, full of red paint. I felt one with the red blast. oh yeah.
but when the show went down, there was only one image that had not been scribbled over with other people’s shit – once word spread – that it was open – it got busted wide open. and that was mine.
end of story. funny how it’s so true what they say: no matter how much things change, they remain the same.
in my notes from the time, I see I wrote a quote from RICKI LEE JONES – something like: “but I know that the world you make – inside your head, is the one you see – all around you . . . ”
amen.
once a loser, always a loser . . . but pretty scary – right on, or what. just nobody knows it.
guess that’s why – I was born to ‘blog’.
otherwise I’d just be another Kiki Smith, Elizabeth Peyton. you name it.
I, Nancy Smith – giving new meaning to the term: late bloomer. loser.
indie all the way. when I die I’ll be up there with my soul bro, Mark Enger, laughing down at ya’ll – for missing the boat-ride of your lifetime, or what.
or, maybe this is the boat-ride. the web-taxi. the writing on the wall-less lawless web aka the ‘social’ media – the hive, the wall-less gallery up in the sky . . . existing solely on air waves – powered by an aggregate populist brain wave. yet which archives, for ev-ah !! a tribute contrarianism – if I ever did see one.
yin yang. the energy of opposing forces at the heart of it all, since the beginning.
the beauty of binary patterns. reproduction code.
hey. but I can follow a web ‘thread’ or what. love how that unknown, unmarked silence – just opens up like a ship’s hull – slicing through a water.
as long as the motherlode server system is up . . . and running.
DEDICATED TO: JAPAN, APRIL 2011 – NOW OFFICIALLY CLASSIFIED AS A No. 7 – THE MAX – NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE, oh, yeah / may be I should call that drawing, after the fact: what the hell . . . just happened.
SAY WHAT ? TORN BY THE DESIRE TO PAINT, . . . what about – to live !!
~DRAWING: NANCY |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 12th, 2011, 9:53am
OR: HOW WE BEGIN TO REMEMBER . . .
AND, WHY NOT !!??
OR: I GOT – YR – NUMBER, EVEN WAY BACK THEN . . .
OR: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCY !! – APRIL 9th . . . FLAMIN’ AIRES, and let’s leave it at that !!
AND, yeah these are MY DRAWINGS !! two in pencil. one in pen and ink – ca. mid-1970’s !!
they accompanied my M.F.A. thesis – on: JAPANESE ART & IT’S INFLUENCE ON CONTEMPORARY ART !!
go figure !!
no, they have never been shown, except when they were exhibited for my masters show. as if that did me any good. way back in Montreal. you had to be a color field [painter back then, anyways.
but that’s ok with me – cause I’d rather be right on, as in: ahead of the curve – than dead.
and I see – its my ‘words’ you’re reading, for the cutting edge – aren’t ya !!
my total dream birthday wish ?
to have them reproduced, there’s a whole series of them . . . like 10 ft. high, in black paint on plywood, right smack in that RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA – ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – communal dining room. oh, yeah.
Japan and all.
I guess you could call them – self-portraits – taken through the lens of (Edo Period) Japanese art & back again !!
(Edo Period: 1603-1867).
NANCY SMITH, ‘WHY NOT ?’. pencil. ca. 1974.
NANCY SMITH, ‘UP YOURS !!’. pencil. ca. 1974.
NANCY SMITH, ‘HOW WE BEGIN TO REMEMBER’. pen & ink. ca. 1993.
(actually this one, in pen & ink, came from a later series, done in NYC.)
DEDICATED TO MY BUDDY MARK ENGER – ALSO BORN APRIL 9, 1963 – DIED JAN 7, 2011.
AND MY SOUL BRO, IF I EVER DID SEE ONE. I GUESS THAT MAKES ME – YOUR SOUL SIS-TAH.
AMEN.
~DON’T LOOK BACK, NANCY !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 9th, 2011, 1:40pm
FILE UNDER: DON’T LOOK BACK – WHAT THE HELL.
YEAH . . . I AM LOOKING BACK – the CINDERS FUNeral, damn if I didn’t feel I had died and gone to heaven !!
THE CINDERS FUNeral – DEC 30, 2010 – the very last event at 103 HAVEMEYER – which is now apparently – a bar !!
STO, or as he likes to say: sTo !!
KELIE and STO – Cinders co-founders . . .
the evening was a-m-a-z-i-n-g . . . so magical.
for starters: the musical guests had such high energy, and sounded so great. I guess its thanks to Sto – there is such, or was such a great sound system at the storefront gallery. a rarity in my experience. just saying.
truly I felt as if I had died and gone to heaven.
not joking.
KELIE BOWMAN
NICK KUSZYK . . .
or – as he’d like to be know !!
PETE VOGL of BOW RIBBONS
at right: WILLOW GIBBONS of BOW RIBBONS
RYAN SAWYER
TUNDE ADEBIMPE
GEORGE FERRANDI
KATE with PORTS BISHOP
DAVID SELF outta NORTH CAROLINA – first night in the Big Apple, and finds himself at the Cinders FUNeral.
you go, boy.
TURNER WILLIAMS
ALEX DREWCHIN, TURNER WILLIAMS, GREG FOX and JONATHAN COWARD – of many bands, incl Brooklyn’s own: THE GUARDIAN ALIEN.
ALEX DREWCHIN – lets it rip . . .
EVAN GREENFIELD and ERIKA SOMOYGI with little baby girl . . . River
ERIKA and RIVER – River was 8 mos old at the time.
CINDERS GALLERY
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
THE CINDERS FUNeral, BROOKLYN. DEC 30, 2010.
~DON’T LOOK BACK: the CINDERS FUNeral . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 9th, 2011, 12:26pm
STO – BEND OF THE WORLD
OPENING RECEPTION SAT APRIL 9, 2011 / 7-11PM
DJ AMERIKA BAMBAATAA
the show runs thru MAY 1, 2011.
SECRET PROJECT ROBOT
210 KENT AVE and METROPOLITAN (ENTER ON RIVER STREET AROUND BACK)
SECRET PROJECT ROBOT IS OPEN ON WEEKENDS: 1-6 PM
and check out: CINDERS GALLERY – THEY HAVE BEEN POSTING SOME REALLY GREAT – STUFF !!
~OPENING . . . sTo BEND of the WORLD |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 9th, 2011, 11:19am
SUPPER . . . ?
no, almost.
LAST !! SOUP KITCHEN !!
at GAVIN BROWN’S – RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA’S SHOW COMES DOWN – THIS WED APRIL 16, 2011.
I AM ALREADY CRYING – RIVERS !!
AND REMEMBER, YES !!
. . . . . FEAR – DOES – EAT THE SOUL !!
FEAR/RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA – FEAR EATS THE SOUL/IMAGE COURTESY: GAVIN BROWN’s enterprise
see: soup no soup
see: GAVIN BROWN’S enterprise
~LAST . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 9th, 2011, 11:12am
BETTER KEEP YOUR RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA T-SHIRTS – UNDER WRAPS – IN CHINA !!
OR: THE BIG DIFF BETWEEN CHINA & THE GOOD OLE USA !!
and yeah, just maybe CHARLIE SHEEN bad as he is – says it all.
DON’T BE CAUGHT WEARING THESE FIGHTING WORDS – FROM THE NYC-BASED RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA T-SHIRT SHOP – IN CHINA.
what ever happened to:
Sticks and stones can break my bones – but names will never harm me ?
guess not if you are in a sensitive political bind . . . RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA right on the mark. again.
first Japan, re: creating what is essentially a presentient ‘fall-out’ communal survival shelter.
now, China, re: artistic suppression. or is the world we live in – just so friggin obvious.
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA/GBE T-SHIRT NO T-SHIRT
AI WEIWEI – IMAGE COURTESY/REUTERS/BBC NEWS
according to BBC NEWS – PROMINENT ARTIST AI WEIWEI was stopped from boarding a flight out of Beijing this past weekend, and “there has been no contact with him since, and no comment from the police.”
“One of his assistants told the BBC he had been held by border guards as he tried to get on a flight to Hong Kong.”
“More than 20 dissidents and activists have been held in the past weeks.”
“China’s authorities appear on edge over calls for a so-called Jasmine Revolution, partly inspired by pro-democracy movements in the Middle East.”
see: BBC/CHINESE ARTIST AI WEIWEI STOPPED/APRIL 3, 2011
see: HYPERALLERGIC HAS SOME GOOD FACTS on THE UNFOLDING SITUATION
including: a reference to the APRIL 1, 2011 report – CHINA:THE BIG CHILL by NEW YORKER CORRESPONDENT EVAN OSNOS “which notes that the Chinese government is in the midst of the biggest crackdown on free expression ‘in years’.”
and: has a fascinating – LIVE BLOG on events as they occur
wow – it’s a good thing our homeboy – ALFREDO MARTINEZ – GOT OF THERE – LAST SUMMER. HE WAS HELD IN SECRET DETENTION in CHINA FOR SEVERAL MONTHS LAST SPRING/SUMMER 2010 & HE DID MAKE AI WEIWEI’S ACQUAINTANCE – WHILE IN CHINA. IN FACT ALFREDO & JOSH HARRIS HAD RECENTLY APPROACHED AI WEIWEI ABOUT DOING A VERSION – OF JOSH’S WIRED CITY – OVER THERE.
DON’T THINK CHINA HAS THE RIGHT SENSE OF ‘HUMOR’ – TO PUT UP WITH OUR HARD-CORE NYC HOMEBOYS.
see: ALFREDO MARTINEZ ESCAPES SECRET DETENTION IN CHINA/LOST & FOUND In WILLIAMSBURG
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH/TIRAVANIJA T-SHIRT SLOGANS at GBE/MARCH 5, 2011
~LOSING . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 7th, 2011, 5:08am
FILE UNDER: MORE T-SHIRTS. Charlie Sheen just not fast enough – on the patent action.
skateboard legend JEFF GROSSO says it all . . .
at the VANS WARPED TOUR 2011 KICK0-OFF PARTY – in NYC for the first time.
HOLY SKATE BOWL !!
MORE – NEW HOUSE OF VANS – VANS WARPED TOUR 2011 – PIX GOING UP NOW – SCROLL DOWN !!
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH – at the new HOUSE Of VANS, BROOKLYN. MARCH 25, 2011.
~WINNING . . . the greatest game of all |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 7th, 2011, 2:54am
MARK ENGER – EXPLODING SKY WORLDWIDE – LIMITED EDITION T-SHIRT – NOW AVAILABLE on artlovers !!
that’s it. that’s the final straw.
we’re gonna put a store up on the site – until we get the tech issues resolved – it’s gonna be on the low-down.
the store will archive on our: ‘IF I HAD $200’ – column !!
ALFREDO MARTINEZ – HUNGER STRIKE – PRISON DRAWING ca. 2002.
Our very first offering:
the last 2 – MARK ENGER/EXPLODING SKY WORLDIDE – ALFREDO MARTINEZ HUNGER STRIKE T-SHIRTS.
artlovers/NANCY SMITH commissioned MARK ENGER to custom silk-screen this limited edition T-Shirt in 2003.
only 12 were individually hand-printed – and each is hand-numbered on the back.
plus one A.P. – which JOSH HARRIS owns.
The image is a drawing ALFREDO MARTINEZ sent me – via mail – while he was incarcerated in prison – for his notorious BASQUIAT FORGERY CAPER . . . .
one of his earliest ‘prison drawings’ – it is a self-portrait of himself – tied down and being being force-fed – while he was on hunger strike . . . needless to say – his first month in prison didn’t go too well – for either him or the warden !!
talk about a head-on battle of the wills.
Alfredo claims he stopped eating mostly because they wouldn’t let him do his art.
I think it would be safe to add: and because he has ‘authority issues’ . . . which were heightened by the maximum security he was held under – due to his uncanny ability to make weapons – out of anything . . .
plus for same reason – he was deemed too much of a threat to be released into the general prison population . . . so he had some pretty hardcore company. mostly mafia types. crooks. swindlers.
let’s not even get into the new friends he made during his 2-yr. stay . . . suffice to say, when he came out – that was his worst period.
yeah, its true – what they say: you come out much worse than when you went in – and leave it at that.
anyway – it took a while for the prison authorities to figure him out. (no say.)
his hunger strike lasted for something like 33 days and ended when they let him make art, but ONLY drawings !! on hand-made paper – he created from flour and water out of scrap jail paper. a skill which he claims a fellow inmate, a Russian forger taught him. he drew the images with food dyes – which he patiently concocted from common kitchen food produce, like Jell-o, and instant food packets, as in ketchup, tea, and coffee – mixed with water. “millions” of instant coffee packets to make an eye-dropper of color !!
and they put him to work – in the prison kitchen !!
if that won’t end a hunger strike – what will ?
the limited edition (12 + 1 A.P.) hand-screened T-shirt has a silk-screened product label – on the back lower right hand corner:
NANCY SMITH IMPRINT: 01
ALFREDO MARTINEZ DRAWING FROM FEDERAL PRISON
THE M.D.C., BROOKLYN, N.Y.
SILKSCREENED AT EXPLODING SKY WORLDWIDE
JULY 01, 03 N.Y.C., U.S.A.
LIMITED EDITION OF 12. THIS IS NO. ____
I ONLY HAVE 3 – LEFT !!
THE FIRST – NO. 10 WAS SCOOPED UP – BY THE GUY WEARING THE T-SHIRT – RIGHT AWAY – at $40 !!
THE LAST TWO – ARE SIGNED – ON THE BACK. BELOW THE IMPRINT LOGO – BY ALFREDO MARTINEZ, himself.
ALFREDO SIGNED THEM – THIS PAST WINTER 2011 – IN HONOR OF – OUR FRIEND & ARTIST, THE RECENTLY & TOO SOON DEPARTED, MARK ENGER.
They are all printed in black ink on: ANVIL pre-shrunk 100% cotton white T’s. all are size L – MEN’S.
THEY ARE AVAILABLE AS FOLLOWS:
NO. 8 – IS AVAILABLE TO THE FIRST PERSON – WHO COMES UP WITH: $80 !!
NO. 11 – IS AVAILABLE TO THE NEXT PERSON WHO COMES UP WITH: $120 !!
TO ORDER – PLEASE CONTACT ARTLOVERS AT:
if.i.had.200@gmail.com
shipping & handling outside of NYC – additional $20.
paypal, check or money order accepted – as well as plain ole cash.
let’s see whose really reading this site !!
we will archive your name as part of the post – or – you can request to be anonymous.
DEDICATED TO MARK ENGER 1963-2011
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~LIMITED EDITION MARK ENGER T-SHIRT |
Posted in If I had $200, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 6th, 2011, 11:01am
