you wanna see . . chaos, baby ?!!
blasting out-of-control fires, death valley deserts, barreling cars, & blown-up starry . . skies !!
then, get your sorry ass down to FREDDY’S DIVE BAR – in BROOKLYN.
‘MANY MOONS’ . . .
Paintings by ALBERT SHELTON aka @REALIST_RADIO (IG)
On View until . . . SUN SEPT 3, 2023
FREDDY’S BAR & BACKROOM* /
627 5th Ave., Brooklyn, NY
HRS: 12-4 AM
MON & WED: COMEDY
TUES: RESIDENCIES
THURS: BURLESQUE
FRI & SAT: MUSIC / see website for upcoming events
*not to be confused with FREDDY’S UPSTATE / which is a re-commissioned rural church /
curatorial project run by . . Josh Abelow
~ALBERT SHELTON AKA REALIST RADIO / ‘MANY MOONS’ / FREDDYS / BROOKLYN / up thru . . SEPT 3 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 24th, 2023, 12:29pm
I am very sorry to tell everybody . . .
that ALFREDO MARTINEZ aka The Real Fake Basquiat / passed away in his sleep, this past Sunday Aug 20, 2023.
After a long illness, may he be . . . at peace.
he was something like, 54.
ALFREDO MARTINEZ, with one of the big guns he used to assemble from online parts, in his New Jersey studio.
March 28, 2020.
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist
a young 30ish, ALFREDO MARTINEZ, just hitting the art scene / at a presentation he did at EXIT ART, curated by KENNY SCHACTER.
Soho, NYC. March 25, 1999.
Archival Photo by: NANCY SMITH /
shown inserted into a large paper ‘quilt’ / I did of Alfredo, and his work, for one of his group shows, that never materialized, but that’s – a whole other story (!!)
NANCY SMITH, ‘ALFREDO MARTINEZ SOUVENIR – PAPER QUILT’, 2021.
with archival 35mm photos, original exhibition invites, glue stick, mylar, card-stock, etc.
approx. 6 x 6 ft.
(left), JOSH HARRIS, of ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, and Pseudo fame; and . . . ALFREDO MARTINEZ re-enact the famous Andy Warhol + Basquiat pose / to commemorate Josh’s facilitation of Alfredo’s safe return from secret detention in China, (I absolutely kid you, not !!).
Photographed in Jeff Gompertz’s loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, in the summer of 2010.
Archival Photo by: NANCY SMITH / also inserted into my ‘ALFREDO MARTINEZ – SOUVENIR PAPER QUILT’, of 2021.
JEFF GOMPERTZ built the 99+ resident artists’ pod hotel that featured prominently in, ‘Quiet’, the early tech / surveillance-wired, $1 million+ dollar, New Year’s Eve blow-out bash / and, no-holds-barred, 24/7 interactive art installation, which spanned multiple floors of a gritty, old downtown warehouse, in Tribeca, on Broadway, that Josh Harris and Pseudo, his early dot.com / multi-media company produced – to celebrate the Dawn of the 2020 Millennial, and which also included / one of Josh’s many anti-technology touches, a live stripper window, until neighbors complained. and which managed to run for almost 2 weeks, despite tons of outrageous press / until it was shut by the PDNY, the NYFD, and FEMA, all the same time !!
they thought at one point, we were a suicide cult. / nope !!
we were just bio-humans about to hit the new age of computers and social media, big time / and, we weren’t going – quietly. even as we created it, bye the way.
catch that – if you can. and yes, that was B-I-O, with a capital B.
ALFREDO, ran the notorious ‘shooting gallery’, stocked with real, and very big guns, that anyone could take a turn shooting, under the supervision, of a gun pro, of course in the basement. (and, there were no accidents by the way, which was pretty crazy considering the entire place was open to the public 24/7 for almost 2 weeks, and there were open, and I mean: FREE!! bars on every floor, pretty much almost every night. (I kid you, not !!)
In fact, Josh and Alfredo were able to get the ‘Shooting Gallery’ up and running; with a ‘FILM PROP-PERMIT’, which in a way – it was,
as ‘Quiet’, the exact, and extreme opposite of it’s moniker, and that’s an under-statement / and it’s frontier, tech-era streaming, live surveillance – went on to become the heart and soul, of ONDI TIMONER’S 2009, Sundance Grand Jury Award winning documentary . . ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, which has an ’86’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, by the way.
and it’s still – very much alive, and kicking.
and therefore, so will be: Alfredo. RIP.
~ALFREDO MARTINEZ / RIP |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 22nd, 2023, 6:21pm
DARLA ROSE TAYLOR . . . . . !!!!!
DARLA and the DARLINGS . . . !!!!!!!!!!
DREAM POP – COME & GET ME . . . !!!!!
LIVE with . . . DJs DIRTY PRESTON, THOMAS SCHMID & MICHAEL WYNNE /
HIGHLAND PLACE & MAPLEWOOD AVE., MAPLEWOOD, N.J. / 6 PM SHARP / SAT AUG 19th.
def, listen to the track: Darlaa – ‘Shadows’ / Distrokid
and, check out: . . . @darlaamusic on Instagram
~DARLA and the DARLINGS / MAPLEWOOD, NJ / SAT AUG 19 / 6 PM SHARP !! |
Posted in Indie Music Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 18th, 2023, 4:20pm
speaking about: MAGIC . . . !!
there’s LIGHT & SOUND / in them there, plants & water !!
ESTEBAN CABEZA de BACA, HEIDI HOWARD / WAVE HILL AQUATIC GARDEN
photo via Instagram @wavehill
‘LIGHT FROM WATER’ . . .
WAVE HILL’S next exhibit, begins – this SAT AUG 19, 2023 /
the exhibit, in Wave Hill’s GLYNDOR GALLERY, “features collaborative works by artists HEIDI HOWARD & ESTEBAN CABEZA de BACA, some inspired by Wave Hill’s stunning Aquatic Garden.”I have always been fascinated by ponds,” comments Howard about the experience of creating work in that serene garden space, “My mother – LIZ PHILLIPS, also in the show – grew up next to a pond and spoke about it as if it were her best friend.” For Cabeza de Baca, the Aquatic Garden is special “because of how it reflects light in water and water buoyantly refracts light, which became the guiding principle for the exhibition.”
the exhibit runs thru . . NOV 26, 2023.
def, see: WAVE HILL PUBLIC GARDEN and CULTURAL CENTER
4900 Independence Ave., BRONX, NY 10471
see: more about: ‘Light from Water’ – WAVE HILL WEBSITE
note: the ‘ARTISTS RECEPTION’ is on – SUN SEPT 17, 2023 / 1-4 PM
~HEIDI HOWARD, ESTEBAN CABEZA de BACA, with LIZ PHILLIPS / ‘LIGHT FROM WATER’ / WAVE HILL / BRONX NY / SAT AUG 19 – NOV 26, 2023 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 18th, 2023, 12:27pm
there’s magic – in them, there . . . weavings !!
one of the reasons I’m so attracted to SAMANTHA BITTMAN’s current weavings,
apart from the incredible . . color-ways !!!!
is because they are based on, or more properly: inspired by . . !!
traditional, early American weaving, specifically, utilitarian / bedspread coverlets.
as I repair early American quilts, and completely by hand-stitch by the way; the history and development of early American textile handicraft – is obviously of great interest to me, just as say; Shaker sweater knitting is – to Emily Bode.
Samantha’s weaving style predates Shaker times, and goes all the way back to – colonial times.
SAMANTHA BITTMAN, Large Weaving, ca. 2023
image via Instagram @forelandcatskill / Catskill Weaving School
Samantha’s recent series of loom-based artwork, are . .
“Block Double Weave” in structure, which was used in early American coverlets.”
“detail of an Overshot coverlet. Courtesy RUTH BIGEL ANTIQUES, New York City” /
photo illustration in: ‘The Knopf Collectors’ Guides to American Antiques’, ‘QUILTS, with Coverlets, Rugs & Samplers’, A Borzoi Book / Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc / First Printing, 1982.
(in my personal vintage crafts book collection).
above: Above is a traditional Colonial ‘Overshot’ woven coverlet, which was also produced in Colonial times.
here is the brief text / from the ‘The Knopf Collectors’ Guide’:
OVERSHOT WEAVING:
“Made on four-harness looms, Overshot coverlets are among the earliest American woven bedcovers. The name ‘overshot’ describes the weaving technique. The horizontal, or weft, threads were allowed to skip, or ‘overshoot’ three or more vertical, or warp, threads at a time, giving the coverlet a thick but loosely woven appearance . . . The warp threads were generally made of natural, undyed cotton, and the weft of dyed wool. The cotton added strength to the textile while the wool gave warmth. Overshot coverlets made after 1830 used a colored warp as well as multicolored wefts. Patterns usually combine stripes, squares, and diamonds, using a ‘floating’ weft of colored thread over the plain background. Because of the narrow (home) loom frame, (then in use), these coverlets were always made of two pieces, (which were then attached, by being ..) seamed up through the middle.
In the South it was believed that an uneven seam would turn away evil spirits, and insure good luck for the person who used the spread.”
FYI:
that’s something akin to the early (universal & colonial) quilters’ belief . . that an ‘error’ showed the hand of G-d was present in the quilt / if you can’t celebrate a tiny mistake in a patchwork quilt, or it seems, in a hand-woven coverlet, you shouldn’t be a quilter, nor it seems – a weaver / as mistakes happen, on all hand-made items, and you can’t just unravel the whole thing, and start again / it’s too laborious, especially for a utilitarian object / and who knows !!!! / the next piece – might have even bigger mistakes.
plus, it’s also the universal, but especially early American Puritan colonist / crafts persons’ concept of needing humility vs. vain pride / only G-d is perfect. sometimes you will even come upon old patchwork quilts that have an obvious ‘mistakes’, such as an inverted shape, wrong color, or totally ‘off-the-grid’ patch – that was deliberately placed / so as to insure divine presence and a plea for humility. inspiration is bigger – than ‘utilitarian’.
creation is a – lofty endeavor.
and, just because . . . !!
I came across this image – while doing research for the above.
nevermind divine, skilled, and magical / I would call this: ECSTATIC.
“Detail of an overshot coverlet (indigo blue wool and white cotton) found at Pleasant Hill, Shaker Village”.
‘Shaker Textile Arts’, Beverly Gordon, 1983.
Published by the University Press of New England,
with the Cooperation of the Merrimack Valley Textile Museum and Shaker Community, Inc.
Hanover, New Hampshire and London, England.
(in my personal vintage crafts book collection).
~Traditional American COVERLETS / Colonial Era Weaving / SAMANTHA BITTMAN / with a side of . . SHAKER !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 18th, 2023, 11:06am
looking – right on point . . . !!!
seems SAMANTHA BITTMAN . . .
is the artist-founder of @catskill_weaving_school, with a new branch at FORELAND CATSKILL, UPSTATE NY,
as well as an associate branch in E. Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY.
FALL CLASSES ARE – NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION . . . !!!
see: CATSKILL WEAVING SCHOOL
CATSKILL WEAVING SCHOOL . . . is an artist-run weaving school based in Catskill,
at Foreland Catskill /
and will occupy gallery space on Water St. – in the Foreland Catskill Flagship Building /
110 Water ST., Catskill, NY. 12414
CATSKILL WEAVING SCHOOL at FORELAND CATSKILL
image via Instagram @forelandcatskill
Large weaving by – SAMANTHA BITTMAN
image via Instagram @forelandcatskill
~SAMANTHA BITTMAN . . CATSKILL WEAVING SCHOOL / FORELAND CATSKILL, UPSTATE NY |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 17th, 2023, 12:44pm
thru . . SEPT 16th !!
Various Small Fires, Los Angeles . . .
“is pleased to announce the opening of a group show curated by Los Angeles-based textile artist DIEDRICK BRAKENS,
on August 12, 2023. The exhibition ‘Shaping Color’ brings together 6 artists to explore the relationships between color and process in their respective practices.”
Various Small Fires, 812 N. Highland Ave, LA, CA 90038
hrs: Tues-Sat / 10am – 6pm
featuring artists: ZALIKA AZIM, OLIVER STRAND, SARAH CROWNER, SAMANTHA BITTMAN, DONALD MOFFET, BAKARI AINYELE
SARAH BITTMAN, ‘Untitled’, 2023.
image via Instagram @vsf
installation shot, for scale
image via Instagram@vsf
VSF, LA
image via Various Small Fires
~SAMANTHA BITTMAN . . included in ‘Shaping Color’ / CURATED BY DIEDRICK BRAKENS / VSF / VARIOUS MALL FIRES, LA / |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 16th, 2023, 3:54pm
so, I’m posting monthly throw-back photos – on WHITEHOT MAGAZINE . . !!
the title: ‘Art Lovers New York: Trippin’ Down Memory Lane with __________’ . . !!
last month I did . . NATE LOWMAN / Episode 1: Tombstone Nate !!
see: Episode 1: Tombstone Nate
this week I posted: ‘Art Lovers New York: Trippin Down Memory Lane with Billy Grant’ /
Episode 2: Billy Be Good !!
see: Episode 2: Billy Be Good
above: that would be . . . . BILLY GRANT
at the opening of ‘Riddle of the Sphinx’, Dearraindrop’s huge, blow-out show, at Deitch Projects,
Soho, NYC. June 2004
I think that’s his mom – in the background.
archival / copyright photo: Nancy Smith
read: the Whitehot article – for all the info.
****************************************************************************************************************
above: that would be: JEFFREY DEITCH . . . almost 20 years ago !!
attends the Dearraindrop opening of ‘Riddle of the Sphinx’, in a Dearraindrop custom patched / Prada suit.
Deitch Projects, Soho, NYC. June 2004.
archival / copyright photo: Nancy Smith
read: the Whitehot article for all the info.
and, YES !!
you’ve seen that DEITCH photo circulating all over the web . . and, even in a few unauthorized MFA thesis papers btw, which wrongly claim authorship, and, yes at Yale !!
unbelievable, and, absolutely unacceptable /seriously.
it’s been a big money-maker for me, as I most definite go after – unauthorized use. and big time.
& I assure you I have the 35mm negative – to prove it’s mine.
so don’t you be lifting my pix, losers.
~VINTAGE BILLY GRANT & JEFFREY DEITCH / WHITEHOT MAG / PHOTOS BY NANCY SMITH |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 11th, 2023, 8:59am
one of my very fave photos of the summer . . . !!!!
SHILOH BLUE (left), and EMERSON BORAKOVE . . .
of the 2 person band: Untitled Noise Night, performing at Stone Circle Theatre,
Ridgewood, Queens, N.Y., July 15, 2023.
image via Instagram Story @pleather_mommy
Photo: Emily Janowick (@pleather_mommy)
check out: Untitled Noise Night on IG / @untitled.noise.night
~UNTITLED NOISE NIGHT / SHILOH BLUE & EMERSON BORAKOVE / STONE CIRCLE THEATRE / PHOTO by EMILY JANOWICK |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 9th, 2023, 10:00am
speaking of SHILOH . .
“LET US IMMORTALIZE THE IMPULSE” . . . . . !! !! !!
SHILOH BLUE . . designed the cover art for her 2 person band / untitled noise night / first published project
‘UNTITLED NOISE NIGHT: AMERICA’S NEW FAVORITE PAST TIME’ – NOW OUT ON BANDCAMP & STREAMING SERVICES
INCL. YOUTUBE – LET US IMMORTALIZE THE IMPULSE
‘UNTITLED NOISE NIGHT’ is: “shi and em’s very loud band” & the category is: “angrient’ . . . (!!!)
all photos via Instagram @untitled.noise.night
also, check out: Shiloh Blue / IG @mtavictim
@untitled.noise.night: “IN APRIL of 2023, two functioning power outlets were discovered to be attached to the base of the scoreboard at the very edge of the SUNY Purchase baseball field. Untouched by anybody but the wasps living in the rain-cover, the outlets vibrated with life and potential.
Less than a day later, Untitled Noise Night carted & carried the most powerful sound equipment we could access across the length of campus, landing at the scoreboard. And as the sun set overhead, we plugged in, turning everything up as high as it could go. The resulting sound traveled about halfway across campus, flooding dorm rooms and outdoor quads with the textures and tones we were creating from our nest in the baseball field. It was the loudest thing any of us had ever done in our entire lives, and suddenly every moment was worth twice its weight in gold.
The album is a full recording of that performance, ending with campus police (and 4 RAs) making an irate appearance after about a half hour.”
@untitled.noise.night: “The goal of this performance was to replace America’s favorite pastime, baseball, with something that more accurately reflected the American identity. Our notion is that baseball with its rules and clear cut steps to follow doesn’t match the aimlessness of living in the modern United States. By performing improvised drones on a baseball field turned stage, we supplant the past notions of American prosperity with the current American reality of aimless insanity.
The Big Nothing aesthetic, associated with endless highways, dilapidated infrastructure, gentrified real estate hubs filled with colored facade apartment buildings, dried out truck stops, and corporatized agriculture growing food exclusively for animal feed is the overpowering atmosphere of the modern United States. Therefore we present a new national anthem, a new favorite pastime, a new clarity with which we can learn to love the mini mall even for all its faults. And what is being more American than being harassed by law enforcement purely for self expression? Proof that we had achieved in creating America’s
new favorite pastime.”
TEXT: BY ‘UNITLED NIGHT NOISE’ BANDMATES: SHILOH BLUE & EMERSON BORAKOVE
~SHILOH BLUE / UNTITLED NOISE NIGHT |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 7th, 2023, 5:21pm
