SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER & NANCY SMITH – POP-UP ART SHOW & PARTY
CHINATOWN STOREFRONT – BOWERY & BROOME / SAVE THE DATE – SAT JUNE 6, 2015
DETAILS – TO POST JUNE 1st
SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER, and NANCY SMITH – NYC, 1982
ARCHIVAL PHOTO BY SHELDON MOSKOVICI – COLLECTION: NANCY SMITH
BACK WHEN, WHEN EVERYTHING — SEEMED POSSIBLE, ALL OUR DREAMS & VISIONS.
SIMON’S SON, THEO CERIGO – INVITES Y’ALL TO A BIG ONE DAY/ONE NIGHT POP-UP ART SHOW & PARTY . . .
CELEBRATING THE ART WORK of THREE FRIENDS, TWO of WHOM ARE GONE to THAT BIG STUDIO in the SKY, and the 3rd, his mom NANCY SMITH – runs this site.
SIMON CERIGO, ‘CHARCOAL HEAD with PAPER FANS’, ca 1984.
charcoal, acrylic paint, found paper fans on paper. 38 x 50 in.
COLLECTION: THEO CERIGO & KATE CERIGO
NANCY SMITH, ‘BLUE TAMBOURINE, OLD ITALIAN TAROT CARD’ SERIES, ca. 1984.
acrylic paint on paper, 38 x 50 ins.
COLLECTION: THEO CERIGO & KATE CERIGO
oil stick on paper, 20 x 28 ins.
COLLECTION: THEO CERIGO & KATE CERIGO
PHOTOS OF ARTWORK: NANCY SMITH
~SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER & NANCY SMITH / POP-UP SHOW – SAT JUNE 6 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 18th, 2015, 3:40pm
the local YALIES – JOIN THE FRAY – and, stick by their guy – !!
“in terms of SALTZ vs STORR . . . JERRY SALTZ is a lounge act.
Have a show with some titties in it and he will write a review.
Have a nice ass and he will write a good review.”
“Also ‘Rob’ has only been there since 2010/11 . . . if the art world is so fast that we should have the next hottest artist in 5 years . . then NO thank you !!!!!!”
artlovers: why the hell, not ? have the art world be so fast.
and YES, the art world can be that fast !!
in fact, that’s when it is at its best. other-wise it can be pretty banal for all that anybody else claims,
and not only DO YOU KNOW YOU IT, you being all the new wave of up and comers, not just the Yalies, who are a strong contingent this year in particular, but YOU WANT TO BE – . . THAT HOT artist, rising to the top, really really fast, really really badly !!
like within 1 year of getting that hard-won Greenpoint apt, or that postage stamp-sized Bushwick studio. if not just so that you can pay rent, but so that you can actually eat, too.
and, further . . tell me it isn’t so.
for any newbie who hasn’t scored a gallery, no matter how shaky, within 6 months of getting here, depression lurks around every corner, every new Facebook friend’s event, is a crisis.
it’s a veritable musical chairs, egged on by social media !!
bring on the Greenpoint – Yalie shipping containers !! now, that’s a well-done solution, D.I.Y !!
olordy, I can just imagine it, the competing newbie pop-up shipping container – wars !!
anyway, I heard on the grapevine, that “ROB STORR is an incredible educator who is not doing the Columbia (!!!!) thing – which is to be hip and fashionable.”
artlovers: Rirkrit Tiravanija . . . are you gonna take that – lying down ?
the composite newbie: “I am biased, but I went to YALE because I don’t care about the SALTZ’S in the world. I don’t care about the VITO SCHNABEL’S. I make work. I make ideas, and I really believe that most of my classmates in the graduate program feel the same.
also, YALE gives incredible FINANCIAL AID and scholarship – much more than most other schools. I would never have been able to study there if ROB had not restructured the program from the BOCHNER/HALLEY days – they used to have LOBSTER DINNERS.”
STOP – RIGHT THERE. NYC CRITICS – LOVE THEIR LOBSTER.
artlovers: well friggin no wonder BOCHNER/HALLEY got so many students into galleries here, everybody knows that’s the way into the critics’ inner circle here – give ’em a lobster dinner. if SIMON, SIMON CERIGO, RIP was still around, he’d be chirping in right now, like a little song bird !!
ghost of SIMON CERIGO: private, LOBSTER dinners, bring ’em on !!
key to many a success.
back in the day, when MIAMI BASEL was just baby stepping it, they threw huge LOBSTER-LOADED BUFFETS here in NYC – to get the NYC collectors on board. I often saw that power duo, ROBERTA & JERRY . . at the private, night-before-opening lobster-laden previews at DAVID ZWIRNER.
artlovers: SIMON . . . if truth be told, adored and worshiped at the altar of ROBERTA !! Roberta and he always greeted each year, esp as the years grew into decades, with many a casual pleasantry, and much info exchange, on Simon’s part. Robert a was more tight-lipped, being the paid professional.
Simon could always tell when I had written something really outrageous, or in frank opposition to her point of view . . . just by her expression !!
then he’d rush home, and exclaim, what the f did you write – ?!!
in fact, whenever she stopped to converse with him, no matter how briefly, he would rush home to report it like a grade A report card. then he would call CHARLIE FINCH to make the requisite nightly report – his encounter with Roberta headlining the night’s events.
back to Zwirner.
SIMON was probably the only starving artist – they let in to the lobster previews. I mean the dude did get around, he spread the buzz, and he liked – that Zwirner European agenda.
for sure Simon jump-started the tidal wave craze for . . . THOMAS RUFF.
starting with the first online found porn blurry images of 2001, 2002, and 2003.
come to think of it, Simon was a bit of a ‘lounge’ act, himself !!
but he also totally loved THOMAS RUFF’S blurry landscape photos and, the crazy abstract ‘Substrat Series’ . . .
as for Roberta ?
Simon would have been very hurt that she and Jerry didn’t show for his memorial, or even make one dedicated line – addressed to his untimely passing, back in Jan 2013 – in either of their press platforms.
although both the OBSERVER and artinfo came up with some well-written, much appreciated, and not forgetting the character at hand . . entertaining obits !!
archival photo of SIMON CERIGO, when he was just about your age, 28 or so.
when he was a newbie – hoping to make his mark on the scene, the photo was taken just before he was about to split Montreal for NEW YORK, and never look back.
PHOTO: SHELDON MOSKOVICI – COPYRIGHT / COLLECTION: NANCY SMITH
the archival – exhibit card for:
CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS. the self-titled show ran November 21, 2001 through December 21, 2002.
(wow, right after: 9-11 !!)
Reception: November 20, 2002, 6 to 8 PM
DAVID ZWIRNER, 525 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011
collection: THEO CERIGO / SIMON CERIGO ARCHIVES
the card is on real solid hard stock, a full 8 x 8 in. – that’s the way they made ’em, back in the day.
SIMON . . . used to collect all the cards from the shows he saw, which is pretty much every show that ever happened in NYC. uptown and downtown. there was no real Brooklyn – yet.
he didn’t do early Cinders . . too much fun !! all the better for me !!
we tried to divvy up the scene between us, so we pretty much – had it all covered.
he did mainstream, Soho, Chelsea and uptown, including the auctions. the last big uptown opening he made,was the inaugural show of . . Venus Over Manhattan.
I did underground, and the BREAKING FAST / HARD CORE. street art.
I generally hate uptown, I like . . just being born. fast, and no money !!
Simon liked . . money guys.
even though they used him, and spit him out. ok, so what, he got into a lot of huge parties.
and every now some ‘user’ collector, of the uptown Japanese mafia elk – would throw him $1,000 bucks – for a DAN ASHER.
better boot up, newbies. this is a tough town.
samurai/warrior/flaneur.
that’s what it takes.
~JERRY SALTZ vs ROBERT STORR – ROUND TWO !! SIMON CERIGO CRASHES THE TALK PARTY – !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 16th, 2015, 8:24am
on the other hand, if you just want some smooth sailing, traveling, and hobo ‘trainin’ vibes, to jump start your day. .
if you go to CLOCKTOWER RADIO now, you can catch the sweet musical vibes of: EN ROUTE – MAIDEN VOYAGE.
check out: EN ROUTE: MAIDEN VOYAGE HOSTED BY: CLAIR PETRUCCI / CLOCKTOWER RADIO
more info: EN ROUTE: MAIDEN VOYAGE
wow, take another look – at that photo: copyright JOHN VINK, from the series USA: Hobo-2/05/1986: Hobo going from Denver (Colo.) to Spokane (Washington) by freight train.
image via CLOCKTOWER PRODUCTIONS/EN ROUTE: MAIDEN VOYAGE
now, that’s one cool – photo.
the definite run-away, antidote to . . take-down, throw-down art critic / artist-on-artist turbulence, just don’t fall off – !!
oh, the wonder of it – all !!
~DJ CULTURE . . smooth sailing / Photo by JOHN VINK / CLOCKTOWER RADIO |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 15th, 2015, 9:12am
on the topic of hearty, evil & tres contrarian artistic turbulence . . .
“Philly-based, synth-pop song writer, musical explorer and mischievous singer KATE FERENCZ will be LIVE in the studio for . . Playing Hooky!”
CLOCKTOWER RADIO / clocktower.org/listen . . today: Wed April 15, 2015 – at 1 PM.
check out: CLOCKTOWER RADIO / art online
KATE FERENCZ was the Halloween witch who penned our Halloween greeting – last October.
see: HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2014
KATE FERNENCZ, detail / photo via SINGLE GIRL, MARRIED GIRL
a page from EVIL SWORD – a black and white lo-fi zine out of PHILLY, produced by BEN FURGAL and KATE FERENCZ – words by KATE FERENCZ.
profoundly prophetic, or what.
didn’t know – it would come to fruition several months down the road, in the great critic ‘take-down’ . . of SPRING 2015.
~KATE FERENCZ . . see no evil / CLOCKTOWER RADIO |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 15th, 2015, 8:24am
talking about ‘throw-downs’ !!
did I call it right, or what ?
they are gonna be calling him . . “FLAY-EM ALIVE” BOBBY – for sure !!
100 bucks easy, the January Jones’ kid – is his !!
but . . back to art:
what the hell is wrong with being . . the class clown ?
JERRY SPRINGER, er I mean JERRY SALTZ vs ROBERT STORR ?
JERRY SALTZ wins – hands-down !!
who knew the art critics’ inner circle was so full of full-blown, knife-stabbing . . fighting, er, passion ?
in-house conflict, and blood feuds !!
I mean, I didn’t know . . just how I influential, I was !!
speaking about non-stop . . blood feuds.
I’ve been zeroing in after . . ROBERTA SMITH, like a heat missile – for-ever.
as long as I can remember, back when . . if you didn’t get written up in the New York Times, your whole show was a complete waste of time, and – then, if you didn’t get written up by the #1 in-house fascist arbit-traitor of mundane taste, i.e. Roberta – your work wouldn’t sell. no way. no chance.
where shall I start ?
putting up on the ‘must-have’ list, that stuck-up poster child for wannabes . . RACHEL HARRISON, as if !!
was the final straw for me.
taking down SHEPARD FAIREY and absolutely trashing CATTELAN’S fantastic, circular wonder of a hanging retrospective at the Guggenheim, going so far as to say it . . “was career-breaking” – !!
was the final straw that broke her iron grip – for many others.
meanwhile, I bet that that Cattelan show got the best attendance numbers any museum has scored, esp for a contemporary artist – in this city, for many many a decade. I bet it even beat the recent KOONS retrospective – for attendance.
of course, she still has penned many exceptional reviews, most notably on historic shows, but the lock-jaw power she once wielded on ‘calling’ the new art – has greatly diminished, and all for the better.
on a more personal bloodbath cause: she completely let JOSH HARRIS and the ‘QUIET: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ crew – the biggest pop-up art party, let alone brilliant social networking forward vision / seed – ever to happen in NYC, fly right over her head. even when the documentary on the downtown 100% hardcore artist caper – won Sundance 9 years later. not one line. not one comma of ink.
she wrote up that puny lightweight at FEATURE, HUDSON sorry RIP – and, not a peep about SIMON ? SIMON CERIGO – who she knew very well . . in passing, their paths crossing many times, over many years – as both trawled the gallery opening circuit. I guess bonafide c-h-a-r-a-c-t-e-r-s, just don’t count.
meanwhile, even though JERRY, who isn’t always the sharpest knife in the drawer, he didn’t get JOE BRADLEY at first, and he definitely missed the ‘skills’ memo (!!) – he sometimes lands right on the mark, just because he does take those fearless leaps, only a true fool can. ok, so he doesn’t have the greatest ‘eye’. he thinks . . with his gut, and that’s alright by me.
somebody he stood up for, who I pooh-poohed ? CARROLL DUNHAM !! and Jerry was so so so right.
I would even venture to say, Jerry’s seriously blade-flashing, ja ja joshing take-down of MICHELLE GRABNER, last year . . YALE’S biggest and greatest white hope to date, Saltz kicked her around like a soccer ball, remember ?!! was what really pissed – Storr off, and set his blood to boiling.
you know, of course Jerry was right, what a lame artist if I ever did see one, let alone a cutting edge curator, and don’t even get me started in on that . . . the WHITNEY: lovely new building, same old same old curators. MARY HEILMANN painting wooden deck chairs ?!!
damn, almost as tantalizing as MADONNA DEEP-KISSING DRAKE . . !! !!
yep, while ROBERT STORR might stand for a few things, he is definitely the tipping point in the great critics’ war, the great ‘take-down’ . . of 2015 !! (apologies . . throw-down Bobby Flay )
trust me, Storr would not be opening his mouth, not uttering a peep, not disturbing a fly, if he thought it would come back and bite him, i.e. adversely affect the fate of the hordes of art students, he sends out each year into the raging fires – of the NYC art scene. which pretty much eats them alive, but that’s another story. and in this respect his candor is all the more refreshing, and remarkable.
yep, for sure, the sharks – smell the blood in the water.
see: Yale Art Dean Robert Storr on How Today’s Art Critics Suck, Especially Jerry Saltz . . THE OBSERVER. April 10, 2015
JERRY SALTZ, senior art critic at New York magazine . . . does his thing. NYC, Sept 15, 2007.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
and, if you don’t believe me about MICHELLE GRABNER, being the w-o-r-s-t
check out: her website, MICHELLE GRABNER . . for yourself – !!
according to her current professional listings, and ROBERT STORR by implication – she was imbedded into YALE like a dirty sponge – in the role of visiting Professor / CORE CRITIC (!!) from 2011-2014.
well, I guess that gig is over, apparently.
the soccer ball mom got bounced.
wanna bet $100 . . nobody much better – took her place ?
~JERRY SALTZ vs ROBERT STORR . . the class clown wins !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 14th, 2015, 10:44am
AMBRE KELLY & ANDREW GORI – THE INDIE CURATORS WHO BROUGHT YOU . . SPRING/BREAK 2015,
THEIR BEST EDITION – YET.
MARCH 3-8, 2015
the Old Post Office at 31st St & 8th Ave
see: SPRING/BREAK 2015
AMBRE KELLY . .
ANDREW GORI and WALTER ROBINSON . .
independent curator MARINA T. SCHINDLER showed a vintage WALTER ROBINSON, ‘THE DECEIVERS’, 1989.
acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in. ($24,000).
speaking of the Lower East Side back in the day, 80s – videographer TOM JARMUSCH, brother of JIM, was filming, though he would not say for who. the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Tom used to hand around with DAN ASHER, RIP – a lot. I bet he has a ton of solid video gold – piled up in his bedroom closet.
artist NICHOLAS STEINDORF, and musician DARREN WILL . . collaborated on a stunning, brief/jolt series / digital projection, that jumped the gun, from poetic ‘narrative’ . .
NICHOLAS STEINDORF & DARREN WILL. . . frame from ‘Model’.
to ‘intense’ beam. another reviewer referred to their work as a . . “sensual” light show.
come to think of it, it does look like a light bulb going off – in my head.
see: NICHOLAS STEINDORF & DARREN WILL . .’SPRING BREAK SEQUENCE’/vimeo
if NICHOLAS and DARREN, had the edge on the digital projections, BHQFU had the edge on the ‘flux’.
note: JOHNNY MISHEFF, of FOR THE RECORD, at the right.
JOE KAY of BHQFU . . .
Joe had the best ‘business’ card.
JIM KREWSON . . was the best exhibit ‘crasher’, bye way of JOHNNY MISHEEF – with his psycho=chaotic line drawing, on the back of the JOHNNY MISHEFF one page beating heart / live wire lo-fi – newsprint screed.
JOHNNY ‘BAD BOY’ also had . . a great no-holds barred take-down of that super commercial mass-hypnosis ‘poser’ convention called: ‘NADA’ on his front page.
(although I was later to learn it was faux !! – it STILL suits my purposes.)
it began:
National Amateur Dodgeball Association / Non Accurate Diaper Assault . . . and, just went right on giving.
JOHNNY MISHEFF vs NADINE JOHNSON P.R. ?
newsprint Johnny vs money bags Nadine ?
MISHEFF wins – of course !! !!
also caught BILL BRADY, in the flux, in the random nano m-o-m-e-n-t-o . . .
of BHQFU.
BILL BRADY, founder of the used-to-be ATM GALLERY, when 27th Street was actually up and running.
now he has two galleries, under his own name, this time around. one in KANSAS CITY, and the newest in MIAMI.
what can I say, our loss – their gain.
see: BILL BRADY GALLERY
just because I k-n-o-w what lazy bastards, y’all are . .
KARL NORIN . . . showing at BILL BRADY, MIAMI right now.
IMAGE: BILL BRADY GALLERY
DEAN LEVIN . . . showing at BILL BRADY, KANSAS CITY, right now.
IMAGE: BILL BRADY GALLERY
also strolling into the BHQFU mix, DUSTIN YELLIN, in his ‘TREE-TECH’ haz mat suit.
‘TREE-TECH’ crew member: FEMALE.
in the inner ‘TREE-TECH’ showroom & offices – run by BAZAAR TEENS, and curated by DUSTIN YELLIN.
if BHQFU was an apparently fully functional & operational ‘replica’ of their usual m.o. – BAZAAR TEENS was the bleating, beating freakin’ heart of ‘future’ scary . . fiction / reality ?
they had some of the best art, and the most distressed ‘install’. soil soil, everywhere.
shout out to DANIEL KENT for his crazy epileptic blind, and JOHN GORDON GAULD for Mr. Bunny and Ms.Frozen dead paradise lost.
JOHN GORDON GAULD with . . . his version of: “FROZEN”.
JOHN GORDON GAULD, the hyper-realist ‘TREE-TECH’ Frozen princess.
another view of the BAZAAR TEEN ‘TREE-TECH’ install.
the cheesy faux wood paneling, stained fiberboard ceiling, messed-up floor, dangling old wires, were already there, . . making it a whole lot easier to pull off that shabby industrial ‘distressed’ look.
way easier than it’s ever going to be, for at least maybe 5 years, at the brand new Whitney ‘playhouse’.
re-claimed old wood floors, exterior anchor hoists and all.
I mean . . just how down and dirty are they going to be willing . . to get ?
new building, but same old curators ?
sounds like the same old same old to me. but I’m hoping not.
PETER SUTHERLAND . . over RACHEL HARRISON, please ?
SEAN VEGEZZI . . over MARY HEILMANN, is it too much to ask ?
see: THE NEW WHITNEY, WALL STREET JOURNAL
totally love the in-house stuff, EDWARD HOPPER etc, but come on, your biennials suck, and your idea of cutting edge is just too short of hard edge, for anybody I know.
hopefully the forward vision of the adjacent high line – will have some impact.
because so far, and at least for the past 10 years (!!) all this great underground art, and energy has just been flying – right over your heads.
question: what are you going to do about any unauthorized, unsolicited pop-ups, or other cutting edge ‘culture’ interventions on your new property, and those exterior walls just begging for some creative juice ?
you know, along the line’s of this week’s great . . ‘EDWARD SNOWDEN’ pop-up.
seriously ? MARY HEILMANN painted deck chairs ?!!
where’s the ‘wow’ factor – in that ?
‘TREE TECH’ crew member: MALE.
NIMROD BARSHAD, web engineer.
indie curator ARIELLE de SAINT PHALLE, brought her private collection of ‘HARA KIRI’ magazines 1968-1986, HARI KIRI . . gave rise to CHARLIE HEBDO.
VINCE CONTARINO . . above, and KRIS CHATTERSON of PROGRESS REPORT . . .
brought ERIK DEN BREEJEN’S salute to tragic ROBIN WILLIAMS, RIP.
indie curators ELLIE CLARK and LEIGH SILVER brought urban . . flux.
with a small scale ‘headquarters’ by JENNIFER & KEVIN McCOY . .
and a larger dystopian hood scene, by TIM PORTLOCK, detail.
a bonafide pop-up . . moment, in a run-down for real playhouse.
AMBRE KELLY and ANDREW GORI presented ‘A Stranger Comes to Town’, 2007 – animated video clip by JACQUELINE GOSS.
I mean how much would that distressed look cost to re-create, at the Whitney ?
no, it’s not that everything needs to be distressed.
and it’s not that I’m not capable of making the leap to the new, just, friggin’ . . keep it real.
shake it up. in real time.
JACQUELINE GOSS, ‘A Stranger Comes to Town’.
and, JACQUELINE GOSS asks: are you a Muslim ?
MARK SAMSONOVITCH, ‘LOVE IS TELEPATHIC’ a ‘massive’ banner in acrylic house paint, curated by AMBRE KELLY and ANDREW GORI.
sometimes, throw it up, and see if it sticks ?!! – is the best way to go.
note: this was an ‘install’ based on a smaller image – dimensions variable.
this was the nano, micro, micro-chip, mini-me version . . stuck on the side of a utility box – !!
nice. sweet. the future belongs to . . all things, small.
and, singular.
MARK SAMSONOVITCH, ‘PAY ME NO MIND’, 2015 install. curated by AMBRE KELLY and ANDREW GORI.
dimensions variable, same deal . . generated from a smaller image.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, unless otherwise noted.
~AMBRE KELLY & ANDREW GORI . . PRESENT SPRING/BREAK 2015 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 10th, 2015, 9:42am
file under: SEEING & NON-SEEING . .
1. NON-SEEING aka . . ‘BLIND’.
DANIEL KENT, ‘Articulating Blind Movement #1’, 2014.
venetian blinds, stepper motor, arduino, dimensions variable.
note: “ARDUINO . . is an open source hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures kits for building digital devices and interactive objects – that can sense and control the physical world . .”
see: ARDUINO
ps: did you note that grinning ‘face’ on the wall column. priceless.
also the faux ‘wood’ plywood siding, that covers the walls. also: priceless. the Bazaar Teens of ‘TREE-TECH’, and the other Spring Break exhibitors didn’t have to install it, that was the real USP / Postal Services office ‘decor’. if that cheezy rendition of wood paneling doesn’t speak to the ‘Tree-Tech’ mission – I don’t know what . . does.
DANIEL KENT’s articulating venetian ‘blind’, on the way back wall . . . BAZAAR TEENS – ‘TREE-TECH’ showrooms, SPRING BREAK 2015.
‘articulating’ . . meaning it had a hidden ‘stepper’ motor, which caused the blinds to violently shake from side to side, causing a most huge, angry and very annoying, abrupt and continuous clankety sound – as it swung fiercely from the side to side, obscuring the window view, as if in a great autistic rage, a temper tantrum – against its . . ‘restraints’.
if a ‘blind’ could have a epileptic fit – this was it.
interestingly, it was not a replica, or a small scale reproduction, it was the real deal – albeit infused with mad angry mechanical expression. which is good, because I am so over the micro nano trend, ever since I heard a radio commercial for ‘tiny’ marshmallows for your ‘tiny’ tots who want to make YouTube ready ‘tiny’ / ‘miniature’ food creations . . . omg enough with the tiny scale !! trend, already.
now that it’s been hit up by Walmart copywriters, big time.
but oh, way more than a Walmart commercial . . these blinds were annoying, another friggin beating bleating heartbeat gone wrong . . at ‘TREE-TECH’.
loved them. this is the gift you want to give to your worst enemy.
at the top of my worst art wannabe poser list – this year ?
GUEST OF A GUEST. more specifically . . RACHELLE HRUSKA, the clueless bimbette socialite, with the picture perfect boutique hotelier husband, 2 boys, and “homes in Manhattan and Montauk” who runs it. the worst ‘art’ – lifestyle ? news site ever, that goes without saying . . but, I’d like to wrap up one of these ‘articulating’ blinds and personally deliver it to her, in her no doubt color co-ordinated office . . with a little paper gift tag:
keep your thieving hands off my . . photos, and content – you dumb-ass, queen of aggregate – bitch.
continuing, I thought – wow, this shaking, rattling, headache-inducing DANIEL KENT ‘blind’, would make a great art trophy for “WORST” – in a broader category, seeing how dismal the art scene ‘proper’ is these days. we could even call it the . . ‘blind-ie’ , for worst ‘eye’, worse administration, worst call, and, not just outright copyright theft, etc. etc.
and we could give it out every year.
and quelle funnie, although they didn’t know it, the mainstream media, big and small – has already called this year’s winner – !!
yes, KLAUS BIESENBACH, chief curator-at-large of MoMA, apparently by popular demand . . you get the first . . . ‘BLIND-IE’ – !!
see: ‘An Unlikable Crowd-Pleaser’, WALL STREET JOURNAL. MARCH 31, 2015
2. SEEING . . and then, of course – deleting !!
A BUST OF FORMER NATIONAL-SECURITY ADVISOR EDWARD SNOWDEN WAS INSTALLED ‘ANONYMOUSLY’ EARLY MONDAY in BROOKLYN’S FORT GREENE PARK. BY AFTERNOON, PARKS AND RECREATION EMPLOYEES HAD REMOVED IT – WALL STREET JOURNAL, APRIL 7, 2015
of course, the opposite of the ‘BLIND-IE’ award, would have to be the ‘TREE-TECH’ trophy for . . vision – or: VISIONARY!!
and, the first one goes to EDWARD SNOWDEN, and the NYC guys, a-r-t-i-s-t-e-s !! who put – this up !!
hoo-ray for our home-grown rebel prankster “guerilla” / street intervention . . artists !!
the underground posse – still has heart, and, GUTS !! they just never grow-up, do they.
still popping up, no matter how hard the city fights back – to shut them down. rebel, rebel.
it’s an amazing ‘theoretical’ war zone, to observe. pick your battle, modern-day anarchists.
though you’ll note the key is to have a ‘light’ touch. nothing city-scarring. as early graff was.
and, as benefits the turn of the screw, of a new century, it’s a much more literally pop-up 3D event, these days, as opposed to the flat lined, but hard-to-erase ‘scripted’ . . graffiti of yore.
and, yeah, for the record, that replica is awesome and so is the ‘EDWARD SNOWDEN’ lettering detail. great font, great spacing. great site-specific . . placing.
you’ll note again, at least the Parks and Recreation guys didn’t have to, and did not . . destroy and sledgehammer it off. and, on their end of the game, at least these remover guys covered it nicely, with a tarp, before they hopefully, and carefully – carted it away.
the best artifact to come out of the city in long time.
you’ll also note that art doesn’t need more than a day to make a splash !!
a testament to the power of meaningful, as opposed to ‘vapid’ art, i.e. vision, empowered and dispersed by the new platforms of digital communication / media – and voila: pop-up culture !! in nano-time – !!
you’ll also note the head is actually 4 foot tall, which doesn’t make it ‘micro – but it is a . . hand-made replica format / bust !!
fashioned from . . low-fi sculpting ‘plaster’. then painted to look bronze, and nice job.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, GREATER NEW YORK SECTION – FRONT PAGE. TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2015.
read all about it, yourself: ‘EDWARD SNOWDEN GETS PLACED ON A PEDESTAL’, WALL STREET JOURNAL. APRIL 7, 2015
HOO-RAY: to BUCKY TURCO and his crew at ANIMAL NEW YORK, for breaking the story !!
haha, leave it to the real artists – to be so contrarian !!
BUCKY’S headline screams . . . “MASSIVE illicit bust of . . . ”
as of this week, I’m so over micro, I’m just so ready . . to read that. massive, oh my lord !!
the backlash wave – has struck !!
but it’s still . . . artisanal, hand-crafted — AND, HAPPENING IN . . BROOKLYN !!
and it’s still . . . all about: SCALE / SIZE !! MASSIVE. too, much.
EDWARD SNOWDEN, what a bitch of a . . story.
but I can’t help pointing out, art trend micro-managing forecaster that I am, that if you read that Animal post, and it is very entertaining !! all the way down towards the end, in the, shall we say . . . small print area, and probably talking future art product !! down the road, no doubt . . .
are the words: “The artists are fully aware of the bust’s inevitable destruction and have left themselves a few options, including one that deploys an army of mini-Snowden heads.” – !!
“We have a full size mold that can be poured again and it’s been 3D rendered, so we have the ability to print smaller ones at scale.”
no doubt.
well, to conclude in a nutshell . . aka blogger-nano time.
the irony of the NYC art world at this momento-in-time is . . .
as if we didn’t already know it, the art institutions, and the people who run them – are being told to take their “vapid” empty art, and run for the hills. 6 months long exhibition runs, years in the planning, celebs, big budgets, and all.
while the scrappy fly-bye-night indie street artists, low-fi indie curators, pop-ups, and self-representers . . . and, the on-the-run indie bloggers who love them, have the city – in a love-that-art / head-lock.
AFTER-THOUGHT:
I also can’t help but ask, whether the desert rats on the other side of the world might have something to do with how ‘gently’ the NYPD has removed this “illicit” SNOWDEN bust, apart from the fact that the artists who put it up, made it so easy to – take down.
I mean, that would be be such a bad photo op. too too much, too much bad pr for the city . . . if the NYPD, or Parks and Recreation (?!!) were to be seen taking sledgehammers to art . . specifically, sculptural heads, too. just like the desert rats are doing, this very same week ?
I mean the world really feels, connected !! – now.
as connected as . . a snowball.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, except for the Wall Street and Animal New York press photos, of course !!
~BAZAAR TEENS: DANIEL KENT / EDWARD SNOWDEN ? . . LOSERS: KLAUS BIESENBACH of MoMA & RACHELLE HRUSKA of GUESTOFAGUEST |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 7th, 2015, 11:51am
it’s a . . bunny, not a . . piggy !!!!
imagine a bunny and a piggy having . . sex.
yuk. or, is that yuck. so much for art criticism, NYC 101.
o.k. – not ready for that ?
take two:
follow me . . down the mighty distressed garden path by which we discover MR. PIGGY – is really MR. BUNNY – !!
JOHN GORDON GAULD . . at the BAZAAR TEENS ‘TREE TECH’ OFFICES & SHOWROOM – SPRING BREAK 2015, curated by DUSTIN YELLIN.
just as YELLIN screams ART BOSS of RED HOOK, and perhaps even the decade, GAULD spells . . G-o-l-d.
doesn’t matter – how you cut it, or . . cast it.
solid gold. plaster, wax, or paint.
whether set on fire, bathed in neon blue light, or hang on a wall.
piggy, bunny, or naked damsel in . . distress.
this BAZAAR TEENS money machine, atm ? tucked away in a small janitor closet behind their entryway, had caught my notice, at the last minute – at the Spring Break opening.
well, it was . . a bonafide nano-moment, of half attention, on my part.
when I returned 2 d days later, it was at the top of my list – to look at again.
just what was that – that had sneaked by me, like a thief in the night.
loved the ‘piggy’ banks, I assumed, lined up on the shelf above the money machine.
that ‘pink’ shading of the light – also spoke ‘piggy’ to me.
my impulse was: I wanted to grab one, and run.
just how some people want to grab the money, (fortune and fame), and run, too.
p.s., in the tiny closet – nano-exhibit, dot dot … dot.
in the ‘closet’ – in general, dot. dot – dot.
art thou, art product – piggy banks ?
or, put forth art critic-wise . . ‘art product’ that I liked way better than all that pasted and shredded . . . (great p.r.) m-o-n-e-y.
the neon blue lit entryway to the ‘TREE-TECH’ operation, was even more fab than I had remembered.
how many times does that . . happen.
so, things were looking good.
yep, it was a total full-on FAB NANO-MOMENT – !!
I was thinking piggies, and here was MIA BERG, the BAZAAR TEENS ‘TREE-TECH’ crew member of the random moment, and she was thinking . . piggies, too.
in fact, she was drawing one, that she had just placed on the ‘showroom’ . . info desk.
this was her drawing, and so I came to see – that it wasn’t a piggy after all, all money assumptions be gone out the window, just like all the rest of the money assumptions in my life.
yep, Mr. Piggy was a Mr. Bunny !! it was a . . BUNNY on top of the cash machine, all along.
now how about that, for a distressed, transformational . . garden fable.
in fact, the drawing seemed to be a love letter, to MR. BUNNY, from . . BUNNY (femme) !!
so, back to the fable: it’s gone from a piggy bank to a rabbit. a magic rabbit, dig the hat. the story has taken a wild turn, from . . saving dough, it’s jumped to saving the species, i.e. in more coarse terminology . . ‘breeding’.
so, there’s hope in the garden ?
a little bio-magic, some spring-time romance ? even in the (mighty) distressed garden of the dirty plastic ‘TREE-TECH’ future ?
this JOHN GORDON GAULD bunny, also played into the current artisan-all-the-rage ceramics – wave crashing over us – like a monster tsunami . . out of Brooklyn.
it was low-fi version, plaster. but still !! and . . no matter.
and, even better, it was . . signed on the bottom by the artist !!
it could have had a slit at the top for coins, and a hole at the bottom, for coin retrieval, then I guess it would have been a . . bunny-bank ?
maybe, next time.
for now, it was more about saving the human race, i.e. the world, than saving . . money.
and, for ‘TREE-TECH’ it was not a moment too soon.
all seemed to be well, if not a roaring-ly fantastic utopia, with the teen bio future, living as they do, in an increasingly . . bio-hazard challenged world.
in fact there were even . . ‘home decor’ candle format Mr. Bunnies, for $100 a pop.
but no signature, and well, a disappearing act . . if put into action.
another ‘TRANSACTION’, a truly nano-to-dot moment – art product ?
so, where were you . . Mr. LARRY WARSH, man of the BROOKLYN MUSEUM hour/nano-moment, famed, and justifiably so / self-styled collector of artistic, translate: ‘BASQUIAT’ . . . ‘ephemera’ ?
does . . art ever move on, to the NEXT BIG MOMENT, as it . . happens ?
besides, what a difference a candle ‘camera’ angle makes, for some reason, I’m not sure of, I think it was important to note, that this was a male Mr. Bunny, and not a ‘femme’.
as in . . PULL THE MAGIC RABBIT out of the HAT ?
and even further, as opposed to . . follow that, more organic ? Mr. Rabbit . . down the rabbit hole ?
Mr. BUNNY, on fire – !!
really dig that ‘shabby chic’ industrial setting – !!
crate and barrel, not. though it’s getting there.
‘TREE-TECH’, yes.
bye the way, the chalky bunny ‘bank’ opaque plaster surface, as well as the soft waxy surface of the bunny candle, and its warm glow when lit . . went well with the shiny industrial BAZAAR TEENS theme – in general.
so, I thought that was the end of the garden path story, and asked Ms. Berg to kindly stand up and show me her ‘TREE-TECH’ decal . . all the better, to see you, my dear.
BAZAAR TEENS, blue light and all, great graphics, props, set and design, concept and message – in a nutshell.
JOHN GORDON GAULT, ‘Blue Ghost’, 2013. oil on linen, 42 x 60 in.
and then, my lucky day, or what. JOHN GORDON GAULD himself . . entered the picture.
and told me, that it was he – who had in fact painted that show-stopping hyper-realist ‘nude’ in one of sub-text ‘TREE-TECH’ . . ‘satellite’ exhibit rooms.
all radar, no money. like I said.
that’s myself I’m talking about, guess you really can’t have it all.
damn.
yes, it was . . a Damsel in Distress.
her hands were going cold white and powdery – with death.
and, just like that, THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY, and the happy ending that went with it, went up in – smoke.
just like a candle.
the survival garden fable – got all twisted up, right at the very end.
like a final parting shot . . Tarot card, ‘To Mr. Bunny, with love . . from Ms. Bunny’, got shut down. the whole thing ended, on a most ominous note . . . PARADISE LOST.
if the shabby chic industrial futuristic distress scenario, that was the ‘TREE-TECH’ office installation, with its glossy, pitch perfect gibberish-full color brochure, and its muddy stale day-old bread, and day old, more like weeks old coffee-spewing DIY fountain, including a generous piling on of out-of-place dirt lining the bare walls, everywhere, at every nook and cranny of their uber-fabricated ‘TREE-TECH’ offices – didn’t nail the future for ya, the crew of BAZAAR TEENS socked it to ya, with Mr. GAULD’S endgame painting.
‘BAZAAR’ becoming less a metaphor for ‘cash’ transaction – and, more a case for . . genetic mutation, i.e. that’s, ‘BIZARRE’ . . in case you can’t make the deconstructionist . . leap.
yep, leave it to the hyper-realist painting, to set you straight.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~BAZAAR TEENS . . JOHN GORDON GAULD & MIA BERG |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 2nd, 2015, 8:59am
file under: PERFECT ‘PITCH’.
at . . . SPRING BREAK 2015,
although there were many combinations of exhibit presentations, from group to solo, cutting edge to soft contemporary, art historic, and archival as in the BASQUIAT rooms, and even some soft porn illustrations, as in the MARINA T. SCHINDLER presentation . . and, a few bonafide albeit ‘faux’, and sometimes, as in the case of BHQFU . . actually, real replica working offices – it struck me as strange – that there weren’t any working, or even fictional, as in prop ‘workshops’ per se ?
esp strange for such a devoted DIY generation.
BAZAAR TEENS – came the closest, . . their fictional but working ‘set’ installation – seemed like the work space of the not-so-fast-forward . . bio-hazard future !!
BAZAAR TEENS gave BHQFU a run for their money . . . with their install, a ‘work’ space, in action – with their ‘TREE-TECH’ showroom, office, and warren of ‘offices’ – which were really satellite exhibition spaces.
one of their their closest moments to presenting an actual workshop-in-motion – was if you caught a crew member nailing bread (dough ? money ? get it ?) to any entryway wall. the bread, esp as it rotted . . was a nice visual, sensual contrast to the ‘forever’ stable concrete blocks – in the picture frame, above.
note the ‘little’ nano – detail, the ‘TREE-TECH’ logo at the bottom of the concrete block image.
the ‘TREE TECH” organization’s . . inner sanctum – slightly rowdy, and chaotic, though actually a very deliberately placed, and curated chaos, was the epitome of futuristic – industrial, archival chic.
Blade Runner – watch out.
shabby chic, on a pedestal – or what ?!!
you can see the off-shoot exhibition ‘cubicles’ in the background. TEEN BAZAAR was a very complex installation, lots of depth, lots of intrigue.
just like the ‘working’ BHQFU office, BAZAAR TEENS had moved in tons of miscellaneous gear, which made their ‘TREE-TECH’ ‘office’ . . all the more convincing.
it breaks down to detail, detail, detail . . with the smallest unit – adding up, with the whole becoming greater than the parts. a classic idea when you think about it.
a ‘TREE-TECH’ worker – folds the company brochures and disperses the super well-designed, company . . logo / decals.
working (fictional) office – check.
this was the room, in the ‘TREE-TECH’ complex – that had generated a lot of pre-SPRING BREAK buzz, supposedly $10,000 worth of USA money / cash bills – cut up into tiny strips – and stuck, glued to canvas, in the form of conventional ‘painting / collage’. a brilliant stroke of showmanship, but as an ‘art piece – it kind of left me . . cold.
money, money.
I found the inner ‘office’ much more interesting. compelling, in fact. amazing, in truth.
kind of JEFF KOONS, fast forward if Koons was cool, and hip – again.
but I guess they needed a big-game art ‘product’ to sell, money, money, thus . . the money paintings.
they also were not that well conceived, the money paintings, done with just a little more imagination / guts – they might have rivaled DAN COLEN’S ‘Bubble Gum’ paintings – ?!!
if he were cool, and hip – again, too.
I actually found their free give-away, no money exchanged !! way eerie ‘TREE-TECH’ decal/logo – a much more fascinating, and better conceived – product / art object – in all-ways, as in . . . concept, metaphor, pure design and info graphics – and of course, as in . . ‘TRANSACTION’ – READY – AVAILABILITY.
it was all of 1-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches – in a right-on perfect shade of olive green that went beautifully ‘ombre’ in the middle, just like a tree . . casts its shade.
the decal shape was a gorgeous, perfectly balanced ‘oblong oval’.
the ‘ombre’ shading, and the tree shade lined up nicely, too.
in fact, metaphorically – it was very much a ‘nano’ – symbol of the entire BAZAAR TEEN install . . . casting ‘shade’ or ‘diss’ on the prospects of a healthy human-bio-future on the planet, that we love, but have . . ruined.
Pitch – Perfect . . . !!!
the give-away ‘TREE-TECH’ brochure – was right-on, too.
seamless informational graphics . . brilliantly replicated the every day commercial brochures that are shoved under our doors, or slipped into our mail – all the time, NYC 2015. brilliantly conceived and produced – these ‘mini-me’ commercial adverts – were full of double-talk gobbedly-gob !!
this is an actual commercial brochure that landed in my mail box – yesterday !!
so, dot dot dot !!
back to BAZAAR TEEN, ‘TREE-TECH’ . . read their mission statement – for yourself.
the back of the brochure with the . . ‘TREE TECH GUARANTEE !!
including:
“A supportive, transportive family program”, and, “A commitment to ongoing nonspecificity” .
more on the BAZAAR TEEN artworks in their satellite rooms, beyond the ‘money. money’ pieces . . posts next.
there were a few very contrarian statements, maybe NO surprise ?!!
with a brief introductory shout out, n-o-w – . . to DANIEL KENT, and JOHN GORDON GAULD.
that I liked, very, very – much.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~BAZAAR TEENS . . ‘TREE-TECH’ |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 26th, 2015, 9:56am
BAZAAR TEENS – CURATED BY DUSTIN YELLIN
if NICHOLAS STEINDORF & DARREN WILL . . were the live wire digital artists of SPRING BREAK 2015, and BHQFU were the dead-pan live wire office act, then BAZAAR TEENS . . were the live wire traditional painters – gone wild !!
and we’re still on a nano, micro / scale . . . break-down !!
talking about which, nano / micro, mini, mini-me . . . aka the small vs the large,
I ordered Chinese take-out last night, and this was my fortune cookie fortune:
‘No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible’ . . ?!!
dot dot, dot !!
well for one thing, BAZAAR TEENS was all about . . showmanship !!
(among other things . . )
this radical, light-beamed gateway, industrial chic . . was about the only real ‘lit up’ space entry – ?!!
I guess this gift for the far-out. a form of self-promotion, that transcends all expectation to become an art form unto itself, comes from their older, wiser, even crazier juiced-up . . leader – DUSTIN YELLIN.
apparently it’s just not in this twenty-something generation’s . . bones.
walking around this ole post office . . turned alternative exhibition/convention hall – I couldn’t help but sadly remark on the lack of imagination and ingenuity in getting people to come into one’s booth, and then socking – it to them, and . . posting the prices !! ‘transaction’ – dudes !!
I could not believe how tapped-down most of this young generation was. and they probably think I’m a live wire – light bulb, best toned down 4 shades of grey ?
good luck with that. purple, purple. purple.
I told NICHOLAS STEINDORF and DARREN WILL, of the flashing emitter / evolving bio impulse – videos, one is actually titled “PURPLE” – though ?!! that they should set up a card table in front of their room, and/or a bunch of lawn chairs, something anything, a banner that ran 2 ft high: proclaiming ‘video animations $1 per 1 MB’ – but they were having none of that, they were not budging.
so this neon sharp citric purple light was – great . . . a little drama, a little fun, super electric daisy . . doorway.
magic . . beckons.
BOSS YELLIN . . !!
give him credit, he pr – amped up the fair, for everybody.
his curatorial project, Bazaar Teen – was like the deconstructed heart beat, the friggin’ heart, cut live from the body .. and still beating, beating, bleating, and b-l-o-o-d-y.
the ‘TREE-TECH’ . . showroom.
loved how everybody, including the boss, was wearing disposable haz-mat suits.
you can just make out, their . . BIG TEEN ‘NANO’ MOMENT, the tiny green ‘TREE-TECH’ logo, on their chests.
it reminded me of ‘QUIET – WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, except the ringmaster was JOSH HARRIS, not Dustin, it was downtown NYC, not Red Hook, and it was wild !! all over. a million dollar Millennium party to beat all. it was 90+ uniformed live-in artists, not 6. whatever.
I hit the wall, when I realize that was 15 years ago, and most of these Spring Break kids are barely 27 if that, so how old were they then, 12 ?
well you can always catch up and see the movie of that wild 24-7 party / tech start-up that won Sundance 2009 – ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, it’s all there, in it’s deconstructed . . 24/7 surveillance- wired glory !!
omg, the future looks sludge-y !!
a DIY fountain, spouting day-old coffee – starting to get the picture ?!!
lonesome and forlorn, the ‘pot’ of liquid gold – under that rainbow . . ‘arch’, awgh.
yuck-y !!
the water has gone . . . all yuck-y !! surprise, surprise, NOT.
it would get much worse, as the days passed. just like our own earth. damn.
realism, quelle vie.
they just needed a few random . . shooters, desert rats come to take over the leaking, broken ship.
the plants in the window – would go south too, all things come to an end.
entropy, hubris, the compost – of it all !!
more on BAZAAR TEENS go wild – tomorrow, got to run.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~BAZAAR TEENS . . intro to ‘TREE-TECH’ |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 24th, 2015, 2:54pm
