~Bernadette . . .

Bernadette, sweet Bernadette, NOT !!

FILE UNDER: so maybe this is why – everybody’s new fav flavor . . . is REDNECK !!

we’re so sick of . . . artistic pretension.

SO, is it fair game, in the midst of talking about whale-on-whale intra-species violence, captivity, masked cyber-vigilantes, child suicide, and deadly child predator/bullies – to return to the art world, that happy playground (!!) and report on the demise of a used-to-be group, now exposed as: not … so much.

I always thought this group, known collectively as BERNADETTE CORPORATION, and running their own Lower East Side gallery outlet, REENA SPAULINGS FINE ART (a made-up name, bye the way, and maybe name-making was their best . . . calling ?) was way ‘too cool for school’.
as in: too self-involved with very little visual pay-off, and certainly not anywhere enough to offset their sharp-elbowed social elitism. so even though I lived close-by, I skipped going there altogether, even though for some reason, that greatly mystified me to no end, I guess they had a lot of literary-type, writer friends, tons of ‘academic’ paper and text extolled them.

their best caper was probably the stealth-like start-up of their very first storefront space on Grand St, deep into the old Yid neighborhood .. in fact they took ‘out’ an ultra-conservative womans’ clothing store and did some fairly outrageous stuff, in the big display window, with nary a sign stating that this was now a gallery. I well remember all the ole timers complaining to me . . . “what, this is a gallery. this is Fine art ? better it should have been a bakery.”

yep: Bernadette Corporation rolled on – like one big non-stop … the-emperor-who-wore-no-clothes storyline, attracting dim witted collectors like flies. well, if you can’t call the art, it’s always easier to go for what purports to be art – if it has a flashy, and key: SNOBBY …. text or tag line. not to mention the prerequisite, awesome-in-volume, and way-fawning Artforum chorus.

what is this a subversive vigilante website, or what. damn straight.
and more power to the freedom of the individual on the web, as opposed to the well-financed and mighty tarnished art publication industry. amen.
you couldn’t find a bigger bunch of sheep, anywhere.
not to mention, paid p.r. . . . just saying.

bottomline: if you bought into Bernadette Corporation, you lost.

BUT: you don’t have to take my word for it . . .

read: Bernadette Corporation ‘2000 Wasted Years’ . . . by KEN JOHNSON, NEW YORK TIMES. OCT 5, 2012

ha. ‘2000 Wasted Years’ – is right. well at least they got that part right. and no, they were not being wittily ‘self-deprecatory’ !! these guys just don’t have the required humor genes, their bio bank – it’s all self-smug inward – all the way.

see: Artists Space – ‘Bernadette Corporation – 2000 Wasted Years’ and you can pretty much come to – your OWN conclusion !!


installation view ‘Bernadette Corporation: 2000 Wasted Years’ at Artists Space, image c/o Artists Space.
the show is up thru DEC 16, 2012.
Artists Space – 38 Greene St. – in SOHO.

hmmm . . . and, you are . . . . ?