~LARRY LI . . . . . .’BAD LUCK TIGER’ is alive & pounces / SAT JAN 15 NYC

BAD LUCK TIGER STRIKES / NYC SUBWAY / SAT JAN 15, 2022

DON’T EVER UNDER-ESTIMATE / THE POWER OF YOUNG, CUTTING EDGE CONTEMPORARY ART / especially when it intersects with . . . ANCIENT FOLKLORE.

TURNS OUT . . .
IT WAS A DARK, DARK PRIMAL SATURDAY, the day of my previous post on LARRY LI, and his strong, strong, crimson-red / and, passionate, inaugural show for WILL LEUNG’S new . . and, first solo gallery space / which is located in the still gritty Lower East Side.
#willseeart
Another Place Gallery.

I was hesitant to put words into (Tibetan Buddhist) thought clouds, re the title of the Show, ‘Bad Luck Tiger’ – when I first considered writing up this striking show, so I thought I’d be – just a little bit ‘cavalier’, to lighten the gray overcast day – and, look on the bright side of Bad Luck, stressing how wonderful it was – that such a young and talented, (Chinese-American) artist, based in L.A. & whose works speak to ‘real issues’ . . had found his way into Will’s heart, & thus took a bite out of the Big Apple art scene – along the way.

sadly, sadly my fear & premonitions – came to strange evil fruition.

a vibrant, beautiful, 40 year-old Professional Chinese-American woman, with a whole lot of life before her, a whole lot of living and promise ahead of her – was shoved to her death / into the path of an oncoming subway train, at Times Square station – by a seriously deranged, mentally ill, homeless (African-American), and very evil man, who said according to the media, something like: “I can do it – I’m God.”


see: “Woman Pushed . . .” – NEW YORK TIMES / JAN 16, 2022

note: the enchanting ‘mosaic tile’ / New Year’s Eve themed / mural artworks in the city’s large traffic hub, the Times Square Subway Station /. . greatly beloved by people from all walks of life – for its somewhat gritty, but delightful depiction of true-life / Big Apple street culture – are by 1980’s Lower East Side artist . . JANE DICKSON.

those who know her work from the early days, including myself – are totally captivated by how her usual medium of dark velvety oil pastel – translated so well into the colored bits of tile, especially as her usual pictorial backgrounds are deeply dark, and stormy – and here in the rumbling MTA station – they come to life . . amazingly !!
even against the open white spaces of the classic white ‘subway’ tile / tunnels.
what comes to life / what goes to death ???
is there really, a definitive line / in 4 dimensional . . thought ?
Jane’s New Year’s Eve ‘celebrants’ . . . are a bit sad, tired, weary, and bleak – for all the joyful commotion / in a word: true New Yorkers.


image via Art Papers
see: ‘Jane Dickson and Times Square Mural’ – Art Papers, Interview by WILL CORWIN, 2018


LARRY LI, ‘The Last Supper Before the Revolution’, 2020
now on view at . . ANOTHER PLACE NYC / @anotherplace.nyc
oil, acrylic, gel transfer, and gesso on canvas
68 x 56 x 1.25 in.
image via Instagram @anotherplace.nyc