PHOTO COURTESY PERES PROECTS/BERLIN
. . . if you happen to be in BERLIN, you can catch the tail end of the JOE BRADLEY installation at PERES PROJECTS. the show is up thru: SAT, JUNE 9, 2007
it ran from APRIL 27 – JUNE 9, 2007.
the same show, was apparently also up, previously at PERES PROJECTS/LOS ANGELES,
where it ran from MARCH 3 – 31, 2007
JOE BRADLEY, ‘KURGAN WAVES’, CANADA, JAN 2006
~JOE BRADLEY/PERES PROJECTS/BERLIN/last weekend | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 8th, 2007, 1:05pm
DONALD BAECHLER at the recent booksigning/launch for BRIAN BELOTT’s first printed book,
‘Wipe That Clock Off Your Face’, a PICTURE BOX ‘artist book’ publication,
PRINTED MATTER, Chelsea, NYC, May 24, 2007
Brian Belott is a studio assistant in the Donald Baechler studio, in Chelsea.
bottom photo, from left: BRIAN BELOTT, DONALD BAECHLER
Photos: Nancy Smith
DONALD BAECHLER, the new ‘Godfather’, re-visited . . .
Although Donald Baechler has been a pretty successful artist, ever since he first arrived in New York, (in the late 70’s), he sort of existed as the ‘man without the big myth’, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, who went on to become larger than life: Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Julian Schnabel, to name a few . . .
Asking SIMON CERIGO, our artlovers critic-at-large for a few early recollections, he said:
“Looking back, Donald was pretty hot pretty much from the moment he hit New York City, must have been late 70’s, .. 78-79. By early 1980 he was a bonafide presence on the
NYC art scene, in great part because of his connections to the hot German painters of that time, especially WALTER DAHN and DOKOPIL. In fact, Donald achieved critical cache at the time, by spending a year in COLOGNE, probably 1980. One of his early successes, was his exhibit at the RED BAR, in January of 1982. Donald was one of the first artists to show with TONY SHAFRAZI in his seminal gallery on Mercer Street, in Soho, even before KEITH HARING. He wasn’t really known as a ‘generous’ or gregarious out-going type – but he was respected for his career skills, business sense, and ‘real estate acumen’ – being one of the first of the downtown crew to actually buy his East Village apartment, and, to go on to make money off his successive residence/studios consistently”.
His 2nd floor residence/studio on CROSBY STREET, became notorious in the late 90’s when one of his assistant/entourage players, CHRIS KELLEY, a young art historian and fledgling curator, fell to his death from Donald’s balcony. Chris Kelly was fooling around, mugging for a documentary film camera, that was pointed at him, from the street, supposedly held by a SURFACE-TO-AIR principal, when he basically leaned over into a dive, that landed him head first into the concrete sidewalk below. The story goes that he was later found to have had the equivalent of 5 bags of heroin in his system.
It was about the same time, the late 1990’s, that Donald’s studio assistants really began to make a name for themselves – mostly through the antics, and big mouth – of ALFREDO MARTINEZ, who worked for Donald, at this time, mostly stretching canvas, and gessoing down his large fabric collaged paintings. As well, Alfredo and the afore-mentioned Chris Kelly had begun curating shows for the nascent JOSH HARRIS/Pseudo.com organization, and that scene really mushroomed, as one might imagine, when Josh began to put his dot.com millions behind the productions. MARTINEZ really made a big bang, when he returned one season from Donald’s summer house in Amagansett, almost blown to pieces by a handmade explosive device, he had set off on the beach one night.
Now, back in the present – in 2007, curiously, the one thing that is really setting Donald apart from his early 80’s contemporaries, and creating a very distinct aura around him, is the increasingly independent successes, and diverse artworld paths & ambitions of his key studio ‘alumni’. As these artists continue to become increasingly full time players on the scene – the DONALD BAECHLER ‘myth’ that never was, suddenly comes alive, out of nowhere. There really is no other artist on the scene, going way back, or at least within ‘living memory’ – whose assistants have gone on to become so dynamic, in their own right. The ways things are going, the effect is just going to keep on snowballing.
BRIAN BELOTT is a case in point. . In fact, he still is one of Donald’s main studio assistants. ALFREDO MARTINEZ, and CHRIS KELLY, as mentioned, worked for Donald for several years. BRENDAN CASS worked for Donald for many years, and is now represented by the same Swiss dealer that reps Donald’s work in Europe. TAYLOR McKIMENS also worked for Donald, for many years. When he first stepped foot in NYC, (from the California/Arizona desert), the first thing he did, was look up Donald, whose work he admired, and he immediately landed his first break, a job in the Donald Baechler studio.
In a recent studio visit with Taylor, we spied several Donald Baechler pieces on the walls. (as we did when we visited BRIAN BELOTT recently). Taylor pointed out that many of the young NYC artists currently dominating artlovers pages, had passed through Donald’s artworld domain. He also told us … “it would be a big mistake to think that Donald let his assistant crew do much more than execute his thought-out pieces, and that in fact, Donald was relatively speaking, a pretty much hands-on artist within the studio.”
Even THE ENGER BROS, art twins Matt and Mark Enger, of EXPLODING SKY, who often grace artlovers reports, have been doing for custom silk screen work for Donald, going way back, and still get commissions from his studio. A new addition to the Donald Baechlor studio crew, is Lance de los Reyes (aka Rambo).
No matter what else is said about Donald, you can’t deny his eye for talent. and he must somehow turn loose the inner individual talents and ambitions, of his artist/helpers, rather than squish them down. Its a very unique situation – one, that is, I believe, going to lead to an increasingly positive in-depth re-evaluation of his art.
see more pix of DONALD BAECHLER at: BRIAN BELOTT’S RECENT BOOKSIGNING
see pix of DONALD BAECHLER’S work, spied on the walls: BRIAN BELOTT STUDIO VISIT
visit: DONALD BAECHLER’S STUDIO/website !!
DISCLAIMER: yours truly, NANCY SMITH, sold several archival quilt & embroidery pieces to DONALD BAECHLER in the late 1990’s, and sometimes acted as a freelance archival quilt/fabric/remnant consultant/evaluator. Donald would pay premium prices for top-notch pieces, and respected all archival advice, such as, which pieces were too valuable to gesso onto paintings. ALFREDO MARTINEZ introduced me to DONALD on this professional level.
~DONALD BAECHLER/the ‘GODFATHER’/re-visited | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 6th, 2007, 9:41pm
LOT 403
DONALD BAECHLER
Coney Island NYC, 1988
Acrylic, polyurethane and fabric collage on canvas. 31-1/2 x 23-5/8 ins.
Initialed, titled and dated “DB 88 Coney Island NYC” on the revrse.
ESTIMATE: $15,000-20,000
SOLD FOR: $31,200
PART II
CONTEMPORARY ART
MAY 18, 2007 NEW YORK
PHILLIPS de PURY & COMPANY
~DONALD BAECHLER/PHILLIPS/MAY 18 | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 6th, 2007, 9:08pm
www.artsinbushwick.org
~BOBO in BUSHWICK !!!/SAT | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 1st, 2007, 11:04am
‘FRANKFURTER FREAKOUT’
A FRANKIE MARTIN PERFORMANCE
SAT JUNE 2, 2007 – FROM: 3 – 6PM
as part of the ASSUME VIVID ASTRO FOCUS installation
JOHN CONNELLY PRESENTS – 625 W. 27th STREET
~FRANKIE MARTIN/PERFORMANCE/JCP/SAT | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 1st, 2007, 10:41am
LOLA SCHNABEL (top photo) and VITO SCHNABEL, (left, bottom photo), with KATHY GRAYSON, ‘POWERS OF TEN’
opening, NICOLA VASSELL private exhibition space, Soho. May 11, 2007
Photos: Nancy Smith
JULIAN SCHNABEL’S daughter, LOLA, has a small painting in this appointment only space. NICOLA, who curated the show, is known by some as a Director at DEITCH PROJECTS. KATHY GRAYSON, also a Director at DEITCH PROJECTS, for quite some time now, has 2 interesting paintings in the show, as well.
work by STEFAN BONDELL, ALEX KWARTLER, PATRICIA TREIB, KON TRUBKOVICH and
DUSTIN YELLIN is included in the exhibit.
The space seems to be Nicola’s residence/loft in which she is trying out exhibiting art.
its open by appointment only: nicola@deitch.com
~LOLA & VITO SCHNABEL/KATHY GRAYSON/NICOLA VASSELL | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 31st, 2007, 1:45pm
JULIAN SCHNABEL (right) with TRACEY EMIN (center) and Rome gallerist, LORCAN O’NEILL,
at the Nov 5, 2005 opening of Tracey Emin’s, ‘I Feel Your Smile’, Lehmann Maupin, Chlesea, NYC.
Archival Photo: Nancy Smith
HOMEBOY JULIAN SCHNABEL scored the BEST DIRECTOR award at this year’s CANNES FESTIVAL (2007) for his newest film: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.
this site has some great pix of Julian in a tux accepting the award:
http://en.ce.cn/subject/cannes/canneswinner/200705/28/t20070528_11513097.shtml
see: the artlovers report, NOVEMBER 2005 – with the original TRACEY EMIN coverage
~JULIAN SCHNABEL/BEST DIRECTOR/CANNES | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 31st, 2007, 1:01pm
PHOTO: Nancy Smith
BRIAN BELOTT – ‘Wipe That Clock Off Your face’ – is artlovers first ever:
* recommended summer reading *
TOP TEN REASONS WHY:
1. THE COVER and the back cover, too !!!! (love that 2 tone i and o)
2. The HEIGHT, WEIGHT, SIZE and FEEL of the book. (like a hardbound COLLEGE NOTEBOOK – but like, back in the day – when they really made them right!)
3. The ATTENTION to DETAIL, its even got beautifully rounded page corners, inside that hardbound cover, without zip sacrifice to CREATIVITY.
4. PICTUREBOX stepped up its game, & actually, who could think it possible, went to the next level – with this production.
5. It’s a musical page turner – you open it up – it starts with a bang & doesn’t let up.
6. The Lay-out & FONT CHOICES: including those 0f the 2 essays; with their CHILDRENS BOOKS hommage. (particularly reminds us of: Lio Lionni, esp ‘FREDERICK’S FABLES’ 1985, PANTHEON BOOKS)
7. The TABLE Of CONTENTS
(What is Time?, The Magic Tree, Needing Money, How to Make Problems, & Sometimes a Person Has Accidents). NOT !!!
8. 51. No Two People (Belott Drawings) & of course!!! 44. Estrellita
9. CHAPTER NINE (Belott Found Photos – arranged tres artfully. wow)
10. did we say: the TITLE PAGE: ‘THE VALUE OF BELIEVING IN YOURSELF – THE STORY of RUDY’. … and trust me!! he ain’t called Rudy for naught. !!!.
‘Wipe That Clock Off Your Face’ – by BRIAN BELOTT – a DAN NADEL, PICTURE BOX INC PRODUCTION
PUBLISHER: Dan Nadel
ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN: Circle & Square – www.circle-and-square.com
PRODUCTION: JON VERMILYEA
WISDOM: FRANK SANTORO
DVD ASSISTANCE: CHRISTOPHER FRAGA
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM: CANADA
BOOK LAUNCH (NYC) & available at: PRINTED MATTER
~BRIAN BELOTT/Wipe That Clock Off Your Face | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 30th, 2007, 9:53am
PHOTO: COURTESY PICTUREBOX, INC
BRIAN BELOTT – ‘Wipe That Clock Off Your Face’ –
had its release party at PRINTED MATTER – 195 TENTH AVE (bet 21st & 22nd Sts)
last THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007 & was featured on the artlovers homepage for that week.
“BRIAN WILL SIGN AND DEFACE ALL BOOKS AND PEOPLE”
‘Wipe That Clock Off Your Face’ is a 96 full color page, hardbound book and is published by DAN NADEL at PICTUREBOX, INC. The publication also includes a CD/DVD inside a back cover pocket, “that offers the artist’s acclaimed ‘Found Images’, a digital slideshow of over 2,000 photos, with an exclusive full-length soundtrack of original sound collages.”
The book retails for $35 and is available at: PRINTED MATTER
BRIAN BELOTT – ‘Wipe That Clock Off Your Face’ is:
PUBLISHED BY: PICTURE BOX, INC
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM: CANADA
(BRIAN BELOTT IS REPRESENTED BY CANADA)
PHOTOS FROM THE BOOK LAUNCH at PRINTED MATTER
SEE THE RECENTLY POSTED: BRIAN BELOTT STUDIO VISIT (2007-05-22)
for a PEEK at some of the preliminary musings for the book.
~BRIAN BELOTT/PICTUREBOX/Wipe That Clock Off Your Face | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 30th, 2007, 9:37am
PETER PEZZIMENTI photographed at BRIAN BELOTT’S STUDIO, Nov 13, 2006
Photo: Nancy Smith
see more of the BRIAN BELOTT STUDIO VISIT – just posted: 2007-05-22
PETER PEZZIMENTI often plays diverse musical instruments with Brian Belott, as they did at the recent book launch of BRIAN BELOTT’S PICTUREBOX BOOK – ‘Wipe That Clock Off Your Face’.
(photos post: THURSDAY MAY 31, 2007)
PETER PEZZIMENTI and BRIAN BELOTT helm a ‘found sound’ program on WPS1 MoMA ART RADIO (WPS1.ORG) called: ‘Lost and Found Sound’.
PETER PEZZIMENTI is also the drummer for the well known downtown burlesque band – FISHERMAN TRIO.
They play OTTO’S SHRUNKEN HEAD, 538 E. 14th St. (bet Ave A & B), the first Monday of every month.
PETER PEZZIMENTI currently has his first one man show up at MONYA ROWE GALLERY.
called: ‘Kings Don’t Mean A Thing’ – the show runs from May 17 – June 23, 2007
MONYA ROWE GALLERY – 526 W. 26th St. #605
here’s a link to a large abstract painting of his, previously posted on artlovers:
PETER PEZZIMENTI OPENS Thursday May 17, 2007
the card for the show: PETER PEZZIMENTI – ‘Kings Don’t Mean A Thing’
the card image: ‘Two Chambers’ (detail), 2007, oil and latex on wood and cardboard,
16 x 20.5 ins. is indicative of the main body of work in the exhibit, small heavily layered oil paintings,
on cardboard, which are all completely abstract in the purest sense.
photos from the ‘Kings Don’t Mean A Thing’ opening
~PETER PEZZIMENTI/man in the middle | Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 30th, 2007, 8:32am
