~’THE SOCRATES ANNUAL 2018′ . . CLOSING PARTY / PART I . . ANTONE KONST, RONEN GAMIL, NICHOLAS MISSEL

I did . . .
make it to ‘THE SOCRATES ANNUAL 2018’ closing party / Sunday March 24, 2019.
it was quite the wonderful time, with beautiful outdoors weather, right on the water, overlooking the iconic East River – with clear views Manhattan.
and, with many charming, very approachable, often clearly, and/or inadvertently . . interactive pieces, to wander about.


ANTONE KONST, with fellow Brooklyn-based artist, JOHN SZLASA.

note: large MARK di SUVERO raw metal sculpture in the background / his outdoor sculpture studio, is adjacent.
I was told di Suvero actually donated the slice of land, Socrates Sculpture Park is located upon.


ANTONE KONST, ‘Free Peddler’, 218, seen from the back, where all the interactive action is.
note: the “Lady and the Tramp” vibe, most jolly, loyal . . little dog.


the cutest . . albeit slightly ‘deconstructed’, doggie.


the ‘free exchange’ ‘backpack’ / ‘shelves’ of the ‘itinerant peddler’.
the was the ‘interactive’ element: take something / bring something. free exchange.
I got a free pot of garden blooms to take home, I guess my pix – are what I brought in exchange.


but make no mistake, this peddler is . . female.
with quite the strangest, most stubborn & determined, but maybe weary . . face.
it’s a lot of . . walking, with a heavy load.


well, at least she has a nice Woody Allen-type . . sun hat.


RONEN GAMIL, ‘HOME (-) AND GARDEN’, 2018.
Steel, drinking cans, aluminum, copper wire, plexiglas, flooring, paint, perennial woodland plants, compost, bulbs, woodchips, bricks.
each tent – assemblage: 18 x 32 x 32 in.

moving on from Antone’s larger-than-life, story-book peddler, the next thing to catch my fancy . . . .
were these ‘hobbit-sized’, or perhaps . . even tinier ‘houses’, for ‘fairies’, wood nymphs, or just plain ole Beatrix Potter squirrels, and the such. they seemed both magical, and shamanistic.


little ‘habitats’, made from re-cycled materials, surrounded by very cozy woodlands, they def seemed lived-in, home to small creature families, and most curious . . in a wonderful, innocent, smoke coming out of the chimney, childhood book way.


this set seemed like . . little hi-rise McMansions, with multiple floors, and big floor-to-ceiling windows, fit for a prosperous mouse family !!


these seemed more like tents fit for small adventurous . . hobbits, or gnomes.

so imagine my surprise, when I looked up the artist on the Socrates website, and found that, however playful and imaginary & also storybook – they seemed in person, in text . . they lived a more ‘political’ reality !!
with talk of “homeless encampments” ???

I had trouble connecting the dots, though maybe an agenda was . . necessary to get the project taken seriously, and/or considered ?? considered ??

see: RONEN GAMIL – PROJECT / SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK


I mean, wasn’t it enough of a creative leap, to connect re-cycled soda cans – with animal shelters, albeit of the Beatrix Potter fashion ?
it’s an interesting case of theory – leads to Fiction and Fanciful day dreams.
I could see him selling brightly colored nylon ‘tents’ for American dolls, at Wallmart – as opposed to making human-size tents for stressed-out & desperate homeless. though I suppose instant, mobile ‘nylon’ or recycled material shelters are perhaps a very good idea – for humanity.
such as where the present world is & where, it’s heading to be.

interestingly, Mr. Gamil’s real-life travels, have included homeless camps, around the glove. According to his bio on the Socrates website, he’s a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn in 1980. He received his B.A. in 2008, and a Masters of Urban Planning in 2009, from the City College of New York, so he def has some very bona-fide academic roots / pun intended . . because he’s also a professional gardener !!
in fact, he is currently the horticultural supervisor at Prospect Park !!

see: RONEN GAMIL – BIO / SOCRATES SCULPTURAL PARK


things took a decidedly more desolate, and brute / dystopian tone, with these collapsed forms – of human making.
one part, after-STAR WARS / one part, pre- MAD MAX.

NICHOLAS MISSEL, ‘The Read Deal: Soft Touch & A Gentle Push’, 2018.
Silicone Rubber / 12 x 7 x 4 / 10 x 6 x 5 ft.

“A pair of enormous limp silicone machines, the Park’s compact loader, and a decommissioned bulldozer, that will lie sprawled across Socrate’s lawn. Cast from working pieces of equipment involved with traces of dirt, rust and debris, the sculptures can be understood as a meditation on global patterns of industrial production, material circulation, and the sustainablity of existence on earth.”
~Socrates Sculpture Park
see: NICHOLAS MISSEL – SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK WEBSITE


funny, how old machines – have such . . old human souls.

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH




~ANTONE KONST . . GOOD-BYE for now, ‘FREE PEDDLER’ / SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK / CLOSING PARTY SUN MARCH 25 / 3-5 PM

‘THE SOCRATES ANNUAL’ GROUP SHOW – is closing today, SUN MARCH 24, 2019 . . with a reception / 3 – 5 PM
SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City, Queens NY 11106

entrance is free, but please RSVP at their link above.

more on: ‘The Socrates Annual 2018’ – Socrates Sculpture Park

image via Instagram @annntone




~JOSH HARRIS . . scoops up the press, NEW YORK POST, WALL STREET JOURNAL & WIRED !!

JOSH HARRIS – THIS MAN, COULD TELL THE FUTURE.

or:

FERAL . . . is a 5 letter word.

ANDREW SMITH’s book on Josh . .
and the early 1980s dot.com era in general,


‘TOTALLY WIRED’ / ‘THE RISE AND FALL OF JOSH HARRIS AND THE GREAT DOTCOM SWINDLE’
,

originally published in 2012, has just been re-released, by Black Cat publishers . . hot on the heels, of the 10th anniversary of the astounding, 2009 Sundance Grand Jury prize – win of the documentary, ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ . . . the story of Josh Harris / which netted director ONDI TIMONER, her notable, second Grand Jury prize at Sundance.
(Her first was for ‘DIG’ . . Brian Jonestown Massacre & The Dandy Warhols).

the new release just came out on the 19th of March 2019, & it’s already burning up the charts / if the reviews are anything – to contend with !!
it’s . . . hot. hot. hot !!

Josh, and his ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ brand – is just so complicated / and has so many facets, so many depths of field, all the way from wholesome, ritualistic artifact (lol, Quilts), to evil, to creative, to visionary, to web innovation, to commercial product (i.e. art, movies and book), that it’s no no surprise that the 3 reviews I know of, . . not only reflect Josh, in vastly different ways, but also reflect the agenda/program, of the publisher on which – they have popped up.

which makes for a really, jolly literary party.

1. of course, being a . . New Yorker (!!),
my fave is the one that surfaced today . . in the NEW YORK POST !!!

BAD BOY, JOSH !!!

side note: my kid, Theo, now all grown-up and very fine, thank you, . . .
was the 9 yr. kid shooting off the big guns !!
I mean, it was a party about the FUTURE, right ? kids, future, get it ?
when all the press came out back then, and some of it was very very X rated, & over-the-top notorious, & TRUE (!!) I got called into the principal’s office to explain why I should not be sent to child protection services immediately / turns out my kid’s middle school philosophy teacher was sitting at the ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ MoMA NYC premiere, almost directly behind us, (scratch a middle school teacher, find a movie nerd), and he had also recognized Theo in the film . . (amazing what a small world NYC can be !!).
Long story, short: it was just gun props, (under Alfredo Martinez supervision, OY).
and the ‘quilts’ were in a separate area. (not) (ok, sort-of).

oh, lord how can you not love . . the NEW YORK POST.

there’s JOSH, in full-blown Luvvy the Clown persona, (in the dark shades), looking like a serial killer clown, if not worse.
right next to: OMG !! AOC / Ocasio-Cortez !!!
though they got one fact wrongo, it was $80 million !!, not $50.
but, otherwise . . it’s pretty much all Josh, all true, and all . . BAD, BAD, BAD to the bone !!!
quick, and witty – it’s a great read.

sample paragraph:

re: the Pseudo ‘tech’ offices . . .
“Pot smokers held ‘Code Green’ meetings during office hours, and at night things got even wilder. Though Harris usually stuck to whiskey and cigars, he acquired a 6-foot-high glass bong for one party, described by one eyewitness, as ‘bigger than my bathroom’.”

re: future-vision, the web & being declared the godfather of social media . . .
“And yet, despite his highly public failures, there was one thing Harris was successful at – predicting the future. As he told one interviewer in 2009, ‘We’re moving into a world where our status and value will be measured by how many people are watching us’.”

have some fun tonight, read it for yourself: ‘How Josh Harris, a dot-com party boy worth $50M lost everything in an instant’, by RON HOGAN, NEW YORK POST / MARCH 23, 2019

2. second up, is the review in the WALL STREET JOURNAL, that surfaced yesterday, FRI March 22, 2019 – on their prestigious OPINION PAGE.
and, if you google it online now – it’s at the top of their most read list. (!!)
btw: it refers to Josh’s fortune as . . “$75 million on paper”.

most remarkable features ?

the article’s title !!: “Social Media’s Patient Zero” (!!!!!!!!!)

and second, written by someone name of, WILL LEITCH . .
it is written from the point of view, of someone who 19 years ago, had been a young kid who had just caught the tail-end of the Josh Harris experience, the smoke trail / just missing out on the ‘party’ – by under 30 days !!

“I moved to New York in January 2000, fascinated by Mr. Harris even if I didn’t know him personally. At the time the tech bubble popped in April of that year, however, Mr. Harris’s company was already in tatters. His investors had pulled the plug, and he retreated into odd art projects like ‘We Live In Public,’ for which he outfitted a loft in Soho with cameras in order to document every moment of his and his then-girlfriend’s life for an online audience. Like many undertakings of that era, ‘We Live In Public’, was grander in concept than in execution, and by around Day 70 both Mr. Harris and the girl had moved out. So who lived in that apartment instead, to entertain the theoretical (but mostly non-existent) on-line audience ?
Me, actually . . .
“I had cameras on me, but I wasn’t doing anything worth watching, and no one was paying attention anyway. The audience had changed the station entirely. As we now know, they were about to tune into something much more interesting: themselves.”

read: ‘TOTALLY WIRED’ REVIEW, by WILL LEITCH, WALL STREET JOURNAL / MARCH 22, 2019

3. third is for nerds only, and/or people who want the facts, and raw details – from the source. and I mean source.
as in: sacred water / running stream / journalist meets medicine man.

‘This Guy Predicted Society’s Thirst for Internet Fame – in 1999’ / WIRED
written by the book’s, ‘TOTALLY WIRED’ . . author, ANDREW SMITH !!!


(note: classic quilt – grid / organization = riff on social networking inter-linkedin-ness)

“Josh Harris may have been the first internet millionaire in New York.
As founder of Jupiter Communications and New York’s first online media portal, Pseudo.com, he rode the web 1.0 dotcom boom to a fortune of $85 million.
But as the 1990s ramped up, his view of what the internet would do to us, darkened, and he spent his fortune on a series of lurid social experiments aiming to demonstrate what he saw. The biggest was an ambitious millennial happening called ‘Quiet’, which Andrew Smith writes about in his new book, ‘Totally Wired’.

“1999 …

“Where to start ?” . . . .

“There are similarities between ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Quiet’, but the dissimilarities are significant.
Where ‘Big Brother’ would be tightly edited, directed and as stage-managed as ‘The Truman Show’, ‘Quiet’, would be feral, unedited, and interactive, with each participant given their own Japanese-style sleeping pod, fitted with CCTV camera streamed live to their own channel . . .”

read up & . . BE AMAZED: ‘This Guy Predicted the Future’ by ANDREW SMITH, WIRED / March 15, 2019




~GIFC . . good-bye from NYC / had a super great time !!

. . . ART FORAGING !!!!

at: GIFC / GOT IT FOR CHEAP . . .

where: ARMORY WEEK / THE HOLE, THE BOWERY / DOWNTOWN NYC.
when: SUN MARCH 10, 2019 / ONE DAY ONLY – ALL WORKS / ALL SIGNED ORIGINALS / NO PRINTS . . . $30 / CASH & CARRY !!!


NH DEPASS . . .


JANE FERRY . . .


yep !!
I found one of mine !!
a ‘cut-out’ paper collage / riffing on both:
Japanese Edo Period woodblock prints & contemporary Japanese love for all things, folk art & esp. ‘Americana’.

I cut-out images from a vintage, kid’s ‘Japanese Art’ coloring book !!
& flowers are cut-out from standard issue – Garden Catalogs.
Signed & dated, March 2019. 9 x 11 in.


OONA BRANGAM-SNELL . . .
it was a such trip . . watching the pieces ‘talk’ to each other.


setail, OONA BRANGAN-SNELL.
I def was, so . . feeling a kindred, magical, ‘impish’ . . spirit.


oh, and under there / there’s another one of mine !!
hello .. Mr. Samurai !!

painterly faces by . . GRETA DONAHUE.
the randomness / the diversity / the infinite parade of so much unique expression – was a big part of the excitement.


foraging for art / seriously !!
watch: my GIFC CLIP !!


foraging for art / seriously !!


foraging for art / seriously !!
you had to be quick, the moment you put something down, in hesitation, it was gone.
and then you felt real bad, as it walked away – to another home !!

ps: you could also, in a blink: turn around, and come face-to-face . . with the main exhibit.


the space between the tables, laden with GIFC !!
and, the formal exhibit walls – was excitingly, perilously – lit purple, and very narrow.


I hadn’t really noticed til then – that THE HOLE gallery walls, were actually ’rounded’ where they meet the floor.
a way to break down that . . White Cube ?
very very nice.


I mean, seriously: rounded corners, too.


and seriously, you could turn around & look at the exhibit too.
RY DAVID BRADLEY.

ok.
a few more . . . !!!


SOTYMAE . . .


ANGELA LEYVA . . .


ANNA SIMSON.

ps: yes, there were – a lot of women artists – on the GIFC table !!


Madeleine . . .


and . . the most curious of the lot ?
‘primitive’, loose / realist paintings of birch branches . . holding smokin’ ciggies ?
by AUSTIN SIEGURT.

and yes, a good time – was had by all.

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH




~GIFC . . THE HOLE / ARMORY EDITION /TO-DAY . . SUN MARCH 10 / 5 – 8 PM

BIG, BIG GIFC / GOT IT FOR CHEAP . . . POW-WOW at THE HOLE, today !!
SUN MARCH 10, 2019 / 5 – 8 PM
EVERYTHING . . is $30 a pop !!

THE HOLE, 312 BOWERY, NYC 10012

check out: GIFC / GOT IT FOR CHEAP / O-OLA aka ZERO ZERO GALLERY, LA

The Hole is proud to announce their . .
“second year hosting the GOT IT FOR CHEAP (GIFC) guys in the gallery. This Sunday March 10th we host the armory Edition of their international traveling worlson paper extravaganza. Hundreds of artists participate making works on paper and every piece is $30.
Well-known artists and lots and lots of emerging artists come together to contribute over a thousand works, laid out on tables throughout the gallery. It is $30 to enterwhich gets you one work of your choice; first come, first served !Yiu can buy as many as you want.Or just hang out and have some drinks and enjoy our current exhibitions.”
~THE HOLE Press Release

the range of works coming in – is as amazing and diverse as you would expect.

some of my faves:


above:
DEAN CHRISTENSEN . . .
image via Instagram @deansace_official


above:
JUSTINE NEUBERGER . . .
image via Instagram @gifcworldwide


above:
ELIOT GREENWALD . . .
image via Instagram @gifcworldwide


above:
NH DEPASS . . .
image via @nhdepass


above:
JULIA SERVINO . . .
image via Instagram @gifcworldwide


above:
KIRSTEN DEIRUP . . .
image via Instagram @gifcworldwide


above:
NANCY SMITH . . . collage, 2019. 9 x 11 in.
yes !! lol !!!!
I have 4 pieces – in the show !!
image via Instagram @gifcworldwide

GIFC . . .

at THE HOLE – AMORY EDITION / ONE DAY ONLY / SUN MARCH 10, 2019 / 5- 8 PM


plus there are . . 2 totally absolutely awesome exhibits – up at the THE HOLE !!
RY DAVID BRADLEY


RY DAVID BRADLEY, ‘$S”xx{‘, 2019.
Dye Cotton tapestry. 55 x 75 in.
with . . stage lighting !!

this is the room – where the GIFC tables are going to be set up.


and, in the side room !!!!
‘SNAKE PIT’ – by JOAKIM OJANEN !!!!!

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH / except where noted.




~ANTONE KONST . . DISTURB THE NEIGHBORS

on the other hand,
if you are looking to figure out the best ticket, among the absolute ‘horde’ of
’emerging’ artists . . clamboring on top of each other, to get your attention this weekend,
ANTONE KONST . . . would be a best bet.

ANTONE KONST, in . . . ‘Hi Friends’
a 3 person group show / opened MARCH 27
& runs thru . . . APRIL 24, 2019
DTN / DISTURB THE NEIGHBORS 339 E. 90th St, Suite D, Uptown, NYC 10128

note: with extended hours this weekend


ANTONE KONST, ‘Juggler’, 2019.
epoxy clay, glitter, acrylic, oil, canvas.
78 x 48 in.
(>$10,000)
image via Instagram @annntone


ANTONE KONST, ‘Juggler’, with a peek . . at a STEPHEN BENENSON canvas, at right.
image via Instagram story @annntone @jpirello

ps: the top/first image . . has the truer hue of blue,
but, the this image – is great for scale & general context of the show.
check the show out, for sure.
this small apt art gallery, albeit with big ambitions (!!), and a most dedicated following, will provide a much welcome respite – from the vast & chaotic art fairs.




~SCHOONY . . DISTASSI X CONTRA / POPPIN’ MAD . . GREAT !! / & BIG PARTY TO-NITE SAT MARCH 9

HEADS UP: IT’S A BRIT INVASION !!!
BIG !! PARTY !! TO-NITE AS WELL !! / SAT MARCH 9 / STARTS at 6 PM
DRINKS, MUSIC, GREAT ART & GOOD COMPANY !!!

DISTASSI ART X CONTRA GALLERIES !!!
LONDON X NEW YORK !!!

A LDN X NYC COLLAB / SHOWCASING . . . THE GREAT SCHOONY !!!

at CONTRA GALLERIES
122 W. 26th St, Floor 5, NYC 10001
HRS: FRI til 6 PM / SAT & SUN: 12 – 6 PM

RUNS THRU . . . SUNDAY MARCH 10

PIX FROM THE WILD, OPENING PARTY . . LAST NIGHT / MARCH 7, 2019:


great to finally see them up, up close & personal.
capturing the maybe / could very well be . . future in a heartbeat.
beautifully rendered.

Schoony, ‘Boots’ graphite Edition, 1/10
Fiberglass, 2019
($19,500)


Schoony, ‘Boy Soldier Panel’
Fiberglass, 2019
($13,000)


detail, ‘Boy Soldier’
unbelievable . . what a statement.
a promise.
a dare.


classical modelling – with a determination,
that seems . . ingrained into the very DNA.
just you – dare me !!
KA-BOOM.


get it together, world / or . . this I promise you.


street fashion . . meet up.


I see your true colors . . .
from left:

Schoony, ‘Branded Off White’, 1/10
Fiberglass, 2019
($19,500)

Schoony, ‘Branded Louis Vuitton’, 1/10
Fiberglass, 2019
($19,500)

Schoony, ‘Branded Supreme’, 1/10
Fiberglass, 2019
($19,500)


that is, so !!! so !!!
in-your-face / in your arm.
Schoony, ‘Branded Louis Vuitton’, 2019.


‘XL’
in-your-face.
in-your-arm.


The Love Child kills the . . DJ station.
the party temp goes way way up, when this ‘artist/dude’ gets behind the audio.


as JOSHUA will attest to.
the show attracted . . a supremo, gritty / edgy crowd.


CHRIS MARTINE of . . Contra.


DISTASSI X CONTRA !!! . . . . . LONDON X NYC !!!
KA-BOOM !!!!!

MICHAEL HOWES/LONDON, MATT McGLYNN of CONTRA, ED SANDERS/LONDON, BOE/DISTASSI/LONDON.

see: DISTASSI ART


also noted, Delta2 got the color up and running, on the custom subway car.

Delta2, Aluminum subway train, 2019.
($3,000)


they . . moved the RICHARD HAMBLETON down lower . . all the better to see.
the large, horizon-focused, gloriously metallic ‘landscape’, had been hung high up previously.
now it was eye-level, an eye-poppin’ eye-level at that.
it’s outrageously . . gorgeous.
if he hadn’t been so street bitter, Hambleton could have been a modern-day . . Turner.

RICHARD HAMBLETON, ‘Beautiful Painting’, acrylic on wood panel, 1994.
signed & dated. incredible condition.
(price upon request)


you could feel Hambleton’s tightly wound, aggressive energy . . in the way the surface was obsessively . . incised.


even his signature – was like a knife wound.
a branding, not unlike the Schoony arm-branding . . above (!!)


ALFREDO MARTINEZ, Gun Drawing.
I’m always going to be a die-hard fan.

ALFREDO MARTINEZ, gun drawing. 2017.
on hand-made collage paper, with colored marker.
at $1,000 / an outright . . steal.
wake-up . . my peeps, run & jump. & put your $$$ down.


just as we were about to say good-bye . . .


AL DIAZ (SAMO) shows up . . .


to make his mark !!


SCHOONY X AL DIAZ
LDN X NYC
DISTASSI X CONTRA

I always thought, or imagined, that ‘Schoony’ . . stood for: schooled by NY ???


LDN X NYC
DISTASSI X CONTRA

HERE’S YOUR – TICKET !!!
THIS WEEKEND ONLY / DON’T MISS THE . . . JOY-RIDE !!!

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH




~SCHOONY !! . . at CONTRA / OPENS TO-NITE / THURS MARCH 7

‘NYC X LDN’ !!!!!!

‘DISTASSI X CONTRA’ !!!!!!

CONTRA GALLERIES & WHITEHOT MAGAZINE . . .

present . . ‘NEW YORK via LONDON’

a ‘transatlantic’ collaborative exhibition during Armory Week which will feature works . .
from the esteemed collections of London’s Distassi Art and New York’s own . . Contra Galleries.

Original pieces by such legends as: RICHARD HAMBLETON, SCHOONY, and Delta2 will be on show . .
“giving contemporary art fans a unique opportunity to see them all in the same room.”

see: ‘NEW YORK VIA LONDON’ / CONTRA

OPENING – THUR MARCH 7 / 6 – 9 PM
and running thru . . . SAT MARCH 9, 2019
CONTRA GALLERIES, 122 W. 26th St, Floor 5, NYC 10001


@mistermatttoyou: The Kids Are Alright . . . Come see our special collaborative exhibition ‘New York via London’ . . . featuring works from the esteemed collections of London’s @distassiart (Distassi Art) / thanks to my guys across the pond @howzi888 and @boe_distassi (Boe Distassi). The show will include never before seen works by British sculptor . . @schoony_art . . aka SCHOONY (!!),
and NYC street legend . . Richard Hambleton.
image via Instagram @mistermatttoyou


@mistermatttoyou: From London with Love.
ps: in the background . . work by @_smetsky / Art of Smetsky
image via instagram @mistermatttoyou




~MY . . INTERVIEW / on WHITEHOT MAGAZINE – BY NOAH BECKER

NANCY SMITH – INTERVIEWED ON . . ‘SURVIVING – THE 80s ART SCENE’ !!!
EDITED BY NOAH BECKER, who chose . . the BEST PHOTOS, btw !!

thank you, Noah !!
so sweet.

**
**
**

check it out: INTERVIEW WITH NANCY SMITH – BY NOAH BECKER / WM / WHITEHOT MAGAZINE

ps: loving some of the feedback, all the way from: go girl, to “omg you ROASTED Walter Robinson”,
to . . “you were such a natural beauty”. (!!)

pss: Oh Walter, hush up, that’s the way it was !!
I don’t know why people are driven, to kill the very things – they love ?
he gave me my first break, and then he gave me . . the pink slip !!
keep the pink slips, in the paintings – darling !!

back in the early naughts, (lol)
at artnet, we used to have a saying: ‘what Walter giveth, Walter can taketh away’,
because he was quite fickle in building somebody up, art critic-wise, and then – giving them cold shoulder, next time.
little did I know, how true that was.

of course, the elephant in the room – is MARY BOONE.

she just got a little more time in the Big House, 2-1/2 years / 6 months more than Alfredo got – for his Basquiat scam.
I remember going to her openings, and being just dumbstruck, speechless.
everybody was there, it was electric, and that’s not even the half of it.
she was so cute and chic, a gamin, and she had everybody . . around her little finger.

now, she’s going to jail, for fraud, and I’m . . an indie cult star.

it’s . . def hard to grow old, esp coming up through the rough & tumble / stab-you-in-the-back art world,
but, there’s also something ‘irresistible’ about hanging around long enough,
to see how it all – shakes out.

Thank you again . . Noah !!

and, a big, big shout-out to my friends at ESSEX FLOWERS, who blew the interview up so big – on Insta !!
I’m really grateful, it’s been a hard-knock / hard-core life.
hey, but at least I ain’t . . ‘art blind’.
life is good.




~MADAME ROSA’S 80s ART PARTY / CONTRA / PARTY PIX !!

MADAME ROSA’S 80s ART PARTY
CONTRA GALLERIES
THURS FEB 28, 2019

note: the exhibition – is still up, and running.

things were really – starting to come together.


a great series of clips, focusing on goth street legend, RAMMELLZEE,
screening at the entrance.


looks like the ‘subway car’ was taken over by Delta2 !!
in clean black script.
Delta2, aluminum subway train, 2019.
($3,000)


left: street legend COSE TDS, with the show’s curator: LINUS CORAGGIO.


COSE shows me his work, on his iPhone !!


in the back room, custom ‘motorcycle’ by LINUS CORAGGIO, in the foreground.
in fact, all the metal work sculpture was by the show’s curator, LINUS CORAGGIO.
the first painting on the left, looking very Mondrian, with the big Keith Haring influence is by LA II.
and, yes !!
that is an early KEITH HARING on cardboard – at center, 1983.


a much smaller, metal ‘bike’ sculpture, by LINUS CORAGGIO.
great display table, btw / Restoration hardware !! Airplane series.


yes, that’s my famous Keith Haring, ‘chalk Angel’- on cardboard, from 1983.
Keith drew this white chalk angel, on a large discarded refrigerator box he had picked up off the street, outside the Red Bar, in the East Village . . one night – drew the chalk angel, and then handed it over to me, as thanks for returning his sketchbook, which he had passed on to me, for safe keeping – at his super chaotic, wild, & scarily over-crowded opening, at Fun Gallery, a few months back.

when we got it back home to our storefront on Rivington St, my hubby, East Village gallerist, collector, and artist . . SIMON CERIGO, painted the background white / thinking to add it to his appropriation work (!!). a few days later, Haring had sky-rocketed to international fame, and we framed it. so, it’s in pristine condition, Simon’s ‘signature’, and all.

KEITH HARING, chalk Angel on cardboard. 1983
60 x 23 in. (unframed)
the area of the actual drawing, approx. 19 x 23 in.
collection: NANCY SMITH, KATE & THEO CERIGO.


ANTHONY HADEN-GUEST.
my KEITH HARING 1983 chalk angel, behind him.


RICHARD HAMBLETON’s art works at Contra, they command a pretty hefty price, the larger ones – in the hundred thousand $$$ range.


ALFREDO MARTINEZ gun drawing. colored marker on DIY collaged paper.
I guess Alfredo is pretty much, 80s – in spirit.
($1,000)


Delta2 at Rosa’s Art Party, a peep of his new work to the side.


Delta2’s new work looked supremo – in the all-white ‘film shoot’ room.


RAMMELLZEE, mixed media , 1988.
I had never seen these before. very cool. very nice.


a newer work by Fab 5 Freddy. 2018.


M. HENRY JONES, with one of his signature lenticular portraits.
fun fact: his (bouncing-off-the-walls) studio on Ave A, was the original site of Simon’s early East Village gallery,
SIMON CERIGO GALLERY on AVE A.

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH