so, HESH . . . . a kind of modern day pied piper, takes our visiting Frenchman artist TIBOR in hand – for an ‘insider’ stroll – thru the downtown East Village streets – at night.
along the way, in typical Hesh fashion, he pulls something out of his pocket. what is it ? it could be anything. this time it is a mini painting on canvas – which he was inspired to do after seeing the LIZ show. got milk ?
as in, get it ? LESS is MORE !! someone else write the grad school treatise. I can’t do all your homework, for ya. but you can start with the mini size.
and the LIZ show . . .
ELIZABETH TAYLOR silkscreen portraits by ANDY WARHOL – at GOGO’s. that be LARRY GAGOSIAN – tourist !!
so, Tibor loves it, who doesn’t. it’s a gem. conceptually, too. he whips out the last $40 bucks U.S. he has left in his pocket – before he boards the return flight to France the next day. is it a deal ? yes, it is !! the mini Liz on canvas by Hesh is sold to Tibor for $40 . . . and now, e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y is happy.
so Hesh decides to celebrate by taking his ‘party’ – over to Daddy’s !!
often the last stop – in the city that never sleeps.
. . . another red blade by ALFREDO MARTINEZ. no doubt about it – Alfredo is a regular at Daddy’s.
sharing a wall with a red CINDY SHERMAN, and a (timely) festive xmas one at that !!
CINDY SHERMAN as Mrs. Claus, yep. it’s the real deal.
hope it’s screwed on tight – to that wall, Daddy !!
TIBOR and ELLA WALDMAN, lucky visitors from Paris indeed. to crack the Big Apple street code . . . and find themselves in the notorious Daddy’s B & B. Bread & Breakfast. crash pad. playhouse, Daddy’s art studio. whatever. it’s probably got more art – than you have. and way better, too.
the paintings on the back wall, including the man with blindfolded eyes (!!) are by Daddy himself. aka Seth McBride. Seth “they call me Daddy” McBride.
BANG BANG – it’s chockful of edgy gritty art . . . and the writing – is – on the wall !!
Daddy is an artist, too, and these are his paintings. they have their edge, as does Daddy. luminous and dark. flickering between the two poles, nothing is what it seems. they can stop ya. make you wonder . . . they have a tough cynical edge.
I wonder whose this is ? it’s also not for the jaded. nothing in here, is for the jaded.
everything is . . . intense, even the flowers. that’s that 2nd ALFREDO MARTINEZ red blade – on the top.
down with white walls & gallery boxes.
HESH making some calls.
Daddy’s – it ain’t Motel 8.
. . . if only that palms-up “hand” chair could talk – the tales it could tell !!
doing biz, living life. hardcore – is there any other way ? Crate and Barrel be damned. Ikea, not.
oops. what’s this hefty tome – on the floor ?
‘THE ART Of BUYING ART – An Insider’s Guide to Collecting Contemporary Art’ by PAIGE WEST. ha.
I almost thought I was at Peter Brant’s for a second, there.
and, then in comes DADDY, and in typical fashion – in the company of a beautiful bird.
street name Daddy, real name SETH McBRIDE – is legend on the downtown scene for letting a never-ending but carefully vetted crew of hardcore wanderers – crash at his pad.
p.s. it’s very big Apple – to entertain from bed. if you have never experienced this – you have never really arrived. I bet even Peter Brant entertains from bed. or in his pjs ? I know its a funny thought – but I just can’t get it out of my head.
I remember Josh used to. Josh Harris. back in the early crazy & wild days at Pseudo – when he had that raw loft on lower Broadway. he used to throw huge, tons of food. booze, etc you name it – movie parties – where the films were projected onto the wall – and he and his then girlfriend, fake of course (!!) Tanya – used to entertain the guests from a huge bed parked right in the center of all the action, and yes, in semi-undress. very Roman, no ?
it takes a lot out of you – to party down, hard.
as it happens we caught Daddy on a good night, a special occasion – his upstairs neighbor has just laid this wonderful, fab fab vintage PUCCI dinner jacket on him.
wow, do I want that, or what !!
dig the mint condition, PUCCI label and all. and that silk art deco patterned lining – is to die for.
of course, the funniest part of the whole gig – is that Daddy resides in an upper crust doorman, and bellman !! helmed building on Fifth Ave, and I don’t know what’s more amusing. his outrageous hardcore guests confronting his eccentric but filthy rich neighbors – in the shabby chic elevator – or the reverse !! you can only imagine.
but, someone else – can write the novel.
TRUE TALES FROM THE BIG APPLE: LESS IS MORE, TAKE TWO: DADDY’S UPPER CRUST FLOPHOUSE.
but seriously, I mean that in a good way, cause if not for Daddy, then what, who, and where ?
the Big Apple can be cruel . . . its streets are hard and dangerous. coming here, it’s like taking a bite out of Snow White’s poisoned apple. all is not what it seems. which is not to say all is rosy at Daddy’s, it’s a bit of a twist – mind games and all. but hey, it’s New York City – you gotta pay your dues one way or another.
and it’s floor space.
everybody plays games here. get used to it. just like they say: every dog has its day, and everybody in this town, has their game. all you can do is – put on your game face, and game the gamers. good luck.
. . . why does SUNDAY MORNING . . . by the VELVET UNDERGROUND come to mind.
note the graff: “Alfredo” at the bottom !!
paintings by Daddy. I actually really like his palette. yellow and bitter bottle green. sharp angst blue. makes Andy Warhol look like window decoration.
just joking, down dude . . .
yep turn any corner, and Hotel Daddy – is packed with art. Alfredo ‘owns’ this spot.
just take a moment to contemplate having to walk by the sleeping giant – on the way to the bathroom.
I dunno – maybe you had to be there . . . more and more I’m thinking . . . Daddy’s ? it’s like a modern-day fairy tale as opposed to, let’s say, a factory. Bros. Grimm . . . Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Jack and the Beanstalk ?
but, cowboy seriously. . how many hotels in this town – do you know, that really do need wall labels, as in: art by who . . . . . ?
or maybe, HOTEL DADDY – its more like: HOTEL CALIFORNIA . . .
you can check out – but you can never leave.
INK HEADS . . 1998 !!!!!!!
even the kitche(nette) !! – Bed, Bath and Beyond. NOT !!
and don’t get me started on those ‘mops’ by Haring !! ha. he be turning over in his grave. somebody sold him out for a (pretty) dime.
what next – disposable schmatas by Basquiat ?
more like cupboards – by cruisers & bruisers !!
yeah, HESH. LESS IS MORE – TAKE TWO: LIZ & DADDY’S . . . and, GOOD LUCK SUCKKA.
DEDICATED TO: SUNDAY MORNING – THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, their first song !! – on their very first LP. . .
yeah, WIGGS – you want to catch that.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~HESH: LESS IS MORE !! TAKE TWO – LIZ & DADDY’S !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 30th, 2011, 1:38pm
got milk !! get it ?
. . . . Hesh is more
. . . . LESS is MORE !!
here’s the latest on our . . . favorite downtown denizen: HESH.
HESH . . . with his newest sticker collection . . .
which is . . . collaged right onto the wall – of the East Village apt of new acquaintance . . . ELLA WALDMAN.
ELLA hails from France – she is currently in New York studying at Columbia.
the street art behind her – is another of Hesh’s finds.
“La street c’est chic” . . . FOR SURE !!
back to the sticker collage . . . “I SHOOT PEOPLE” !!
“I MISS THE OLD TERRY” – !!
ILEGAL + MEZCAL . . .
“WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT.”
on the left: TIBOR.
Tibor, a friend of Ella’s from France, he lives in Paris – has been slowly making his way across the United States for the past few months. He has just this very moment returned to NYC, from San Francisco – and is about to depart for his homeland – the very next day. that is his drawing of San Francisco.
but not before, he snags a piece of Hesh’s, a truly LESS IS MORE . . . art deal done right then & there on the downtown L.E.S. streets – just the way we like it . . . and, goes to visit Daddy’s !!
a foreign tourist’s ‘insider’ art dream – come true . . . . if I ever did see one.
coming up next !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH. NYC, OCT 25, 2011.
~HESH . . . is more |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 29th, 2011, 8:26am
. . . TAX SHELTER.
“In 2006 RONALD S. LAUDER who is now worth $31 billion, paid $135 million for the Klimt painting ‘Adele Bloch-Bauer, I’.”
PHOTO: BEBETO MATTHEWS/ASSOCIATED PRESS c/o THE NEW YORK TIMES
for those of you holed up in somebody’s rural upstate country retreat, crashing at Daddy’s flophouse, or just plain too busy running around doing stuff – this was the front page of the New York Times, yesterday: Sunday Nov 27, 2011. it’s really all about tax shelters . . . but what the hell. can I call them, or what !!
it’s like having the damn winning horse in your bloodstream & DNA, but not having the $2 to plunk down for the race ticket. story of my life. (Nancy S. caricature courtesy of Alfredo Martinez – who is smarter than he looks.)
GUSTAV KLIMT, ‘Adele Bloch-Bauer I’, 1907. oil on canvas. 138 x 138 cm. collection (ca. 1975) Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna.
image scanned from: ‘Gustave Klimt’ by Alessandra Comini, Published by George Braziller, New York, 1975.
~KLIMT . . . is huge |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 28th, 2011, 8:20am
BREAKING NEWS . . . an ‘undead’ vampire rears his head in Soho – on BLACK FRIDAY !!
or: ‘pre-trendy’ clothing store – doesn’t know it’s got a ghost in the building !!
the trendy HOLLISTER store on the corner of Houston and Broadway – was the scene of a wild BLACK FRIDAY MOB MELEE – that made national news, this morning.
PHOTO: MY FOX NY
see: BLACK FRIDAY MOB in SOHO SMASH & GRAB !!/NEW YORK POST
ARCHIVAL PHOTO of 600 BROADWAY, NYC – OCT 23, 2008
PHOTOS BY NANCY SMITH
yep, those are the death ashes of a vampire and the secret magic symbols of his followers . . . smeared on the glass doors of 600 Broadway. his name was JUDGECAL – and he seems to be having a profound afterlife.
600 BROADWAY – was the former headquarters of, you guessed it !! the infamous JOSH HARRIS helmed . . . PSEUDO.COM – !! – and now home to the trendy hipster clothier HOLLISTER.
that’s called gentrification, folks.
and a symbol itself of the death of all the cutting edge glory that was the Lower East Side. and the current crop of hollow pre-tenders riding on its artistic legend.
but looks like you can’t keep . . . an undead vampire down !!
see that white dust smeared on the door ?
those are the real death ashes of one of Pseudo’s original key players: JUDGECAL – or as he was called by his pals: simply CAL.
as in JUDGECAL – the king of the downtown vampires. for real . . . when his goth-clad crew came out at night – they sported fangs. oh yes, they friggin did. and they partied down hard . . .
back in the Psueuo dot.com glory days of the late 90s, Judgecal was attached-to-the-hip to Josh. . . he was Josh’s bodyguard in a sense, but more in the sense of paid street cred. just the kind of cultural, high goth style appendage that an (initially) clueless internet nerd, albeit worth 80+ million bucks – needed to attach to himself so he could move, without question, among the city’s edgier artists and hardcore downtown denizens.
these photos were taken on OCT 23, 2008. and come to think of it . . . maybe that was even a Friday !!
Judgecal had died just a precious few days earlier and his friends actually took his ashes and smeared them on the former Pseudo headquarters – corporate Soho glass doors.
whether in tribute to Cal’s glory days, or as a rebuke to Josh for not handling the endgame in a more righteous manner – Josh could put you up and then play with you on the way down – is anybody’s guess. I think it was a bit of both.
when Pseudo crashed – there were quite a few casualties, and Judgecal was one of them . . . no disrespect. he just couldn’t make it through those dark, unfriendly, not to say uninspired days that followed, and with no end in sight. just check out the art world now, pretty lame game x 1,000 dumb art critics. nuff said. snuff follows. duh.
it was hard for all of us. looking up – and finding our magical and monied world had gone black and downhill. just like the Dark Ages, NYC style.
a lot of cellphones went dead all over the Lower East Side minus the steady flow of Josh Harris funded over-the-top art parties, “social” experiments, and ground breaking internet gigs . . . and the piles of dough – that were laid on those who could deliver . . . the talent, skills, and vision that animated the last and biggest downtown hurrah, also known as the dot.com days. the absolute height of the wild and raw NYC downtown underground scene.
the rumor was, he, Cal, either od’d or succumbed to auto-eroticism . . . what the hell – I guess a Vampire never dies, so he probably just decided to ditch this lame scene – for one more lively, let’s hope so. but I guess he still likes to come out and play.
JUDGECAL at ‘QUIET’ – the super Pseudo-funded one million+ dollar 2 week millennium bash that became the basis for Sundance winning – ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’.
P.S. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JOSH ?
we hear he’s been taken in, 20 years too late . . . by the very forces that originally brought him to his knees – the art world that never fully got him. I guess better late, than never. happy thanksgiving, Josh.
P.S.S. WHAT GIVES ?
yeah I have a blood tie to Cal. besides having been so in awe of him . . . so to speak.
Quite by ‘chance’ I stumbled upon the single strand of rice, that Josh had had engraved with his name – ‘CAL’ – that had been encased in a crystal vial and put as charm on a black leather lace that Cal wore around his neck, every single day . . . one day when I was up visiting Josh at the farm. I had heard that they had had a fight. a real fist fight and Cal must have torn the talisman off his neck, and flung it to the ground – in a final gesture of defeat, or disgust.
I took it, it came to me – as a last parting gift, a token in the truest sense – from one undead vampire – to the quilt lady, as I was known then. Cal, the king of the vampires, without ever speaking a word to me, had chosen my quilt section at ‘Quiet’ for the super-heated wild and crazy, and damn straight, RITUAL party that the vampires threw to welcome in the New Year, at the Millennium, New York City. it was quite something to watch these goth-clad and fanged revelers party down hard – against the backdrop of my ‘reconstituted’ and repaired thrift shop found – American quilts.
never under-estimate the power of the quilt. amen. R.I.P. Cal.
PHOTOS OF JUDGECAL’S ASHES on 600 BROADWAY: NANCY SMITH. NYC OCT 23, 2008.
and yeah, I just stumbled upon the scene, the smeared death ashes – by ‘chance’.
~UNDEAD PSEUDO VAMPIRE ACTING UP – in SOHO !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 26th, 2011, 9:47am
TERRY RICHARDSON . . . MOM DAD
OPEN NITE: NOV 11, 2011
the show runs NOV 11 – DEC 4, 2011
HALF GALLERY – 208 FORSYTH ST – LOWER EAST SIDE – NYC
TERRY RICHARDSON pops a cold one . . . at his new super-heated re-constituted ‘family’ package show.
“My parents split up when I was four. It feels good for me to have them back together again, even if it’s in a gallery and only for a little while. It’s something I’m doing for me and in a way, for them.” ~ Terry Richardson, 2011
yo, TERRY !!!!
PHOTO by TERRY RICHARDSON of his DAD.
Terry’s . . . “late father BOB RICHARDSON was a renowned fashion photographer . . . ”
“and his mother Annie — still alive and kicking it (!!) in Ojai, California — was a former Copacabana dancer, stylist and . . . Jimi Hendrix paramour. (!!) Although they divorced when Terry was quite young, the couple are brought together again here in these touching, funny, sometimes funny, sometimes desperate photographs.” ~ gallery press release
“PRAY FOR ME DAD” – photo by TERRY RICHARDSON
“shit still in toilet” – photo by TERRY RICHARDSON
just coming off, as I was – the fantastico CATTELAN show, that had defied the gallery mind-box, floor and walls. well really brought into play the entire circle of the staid Guggenhiem – it was captivating to step into the Half Gallery – and see that Terry had just as much disdain – for the status quo of gallery viewing !!
shake it up, baby !! twist and shout.
down with floors !!
the floor was covered with archival prints from Terry’s childhood. a depth-less metaphor, if I ever did see one.
I guess cause his dad was a studio photog – there were maybe tons of reject prints suit-cased somewhere, ha.
Terry up at bat. the pix on the floor were just as mesmerizing – as the pix on the wall. but also loved how they spoke to: down with art objects, the relentlessness and unstoppable march of time, the fragility of the human condition, and of course – hard copy before the age of computers & digital cameras !! and the absolute bad boy disrespect – !! – as they all ended up being pretty trashed by the end of the nite. though they remain, however they devolve – and rightly so – as part of the exhibit. someone else can write the thesis.
and yes, his wild, c-r-a-z-y moms . . . so beautiful when she was young, was she not ?
say what – about the relentless march of time. . . that eventually leaves us all – humiliated.
the opening nite crowd was very chic and very enthused, Terry’s fans cross over into many tribes.
BILL POWERS . . Half Gallery is his baby – and it stands so apart and so above the rest of the mediocre and predictable riff raff on the Lower East Side – as to be the only Lower East Side venue that can rightfully claim the honored moniker of this once gloried frontier hood. Chrystie St. never looked better. this Half gallery exhibit is the first show Terry Richardson has presented in NYC since his last show at the now defunct Deitch Projects in 2004.
Bill told me he remembers going to the Alleged opening (Aaron Rose) on Prince St. for the even earlier Richardson show: ‘These Colors Don’t Run’ in 1998, and from which – he even bought a piece.
so what else goes hand-in-hand with photo portraits and the sad, or rather tremendous but ephemeral parade of history ? they have audio of Terry’s late dad, Bob leaving voicemails for him. personally I couldn’t make the no-holds audio tape journey. maybe next time. I did hear they moved people to tears.
photo by TERRY RICHARDSON.
the archival prints are in editions of 5 + 2 AP.
they are (BLACK FRIDAY !!) priced to sell. $2,000 to $5,000 depending on size – and that includes the frame.
his crazy wild mom, paramour of JIMI HENDRIX indeed, believe it.
photo by TERRY RICHARDSON.
there’s obviously no stopping her.
MOM
photo by TERRY RICHARDSON.
DAD
photo by TERRY RICHARDSON.
the gallery was packed, and so was the street. but everybody got in, the ambience stayed nice throughout.
outside on the street – we spotted, graff legend . . . COPE2
with INDIE 184 !!
INDIE told me that her and COPE will have a pop-up store in the WYNWOOD section at the Miami Art Fair – I guess that be – next !! weekend, already.
you can follow her, here: twitter.com/kweenzdestroy – & – facebook.com/kweenzdestroy
CYNTHIA ROWLEY – a Half Gallery insider, for sure. dig the satchel !!
having fun on Chrystie – it was a very lively scene. a big mash-up of the coolest tribes . . .
STEPHEN SULLIVAN, a fashion photog for WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY – he just had a profile gig on the RACHEL ZOE show. oh yeah . . .
photog PORTS BISHOP – his new iPad format magazine – with interviews focused on the art world – is about to pop soon.
artist WES LANG always seems to capture the magic of the streets . . .
but we’ll give the parting shot – back to the show.
TERRY RICHARDSON and his dad, BOB RICHARDSON – back in the day . . .
PHOTOS of the OPENING NIGHT & INSTALLATION: NANCY SMITH
~TERRY RICHARDSON OPENING NITE PIX |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 25th, 2011, 9:13am
or: isn’t rat . . . . just art – spelt backwards ?
CHARLIE FINCH . . . wrote a book called ‘Most Art Sucks’. I’m gonna one-up him and write a book called . . . ‘ALL Critics Suck’. pun intended.
as in all critics of ‘MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL’ – suck. and big time. and may they choke on whatever they’re sucking on, too.
I’ve been hearing that almost every pathetic excuse of an ‘art’ critic in this town has followed the lead of the high (Roberta, the B is for banal) and the low ballers (Charlie – C is for only knows how to chug) and panned the Cattelan show.
what a friggin mistake.
what a friggin nightmare this town is. no wonder the art community is sinking faster than the Titanic. and while you are at . . . take down some of those god damn trust fund babies . . . with ya.
so, you got out-of-town guests for the holidays ? there be only one place to take them. museum-wise.
that would be the MAURIZIO CATTELAN show ‘ALL’ . . . at the GUGGENHEIM.
(note: closed Thursdays !!)
and gallery-wise:
the TERRY RICHARDSON show at the HALF GALLERY.
and yes, the long awaited . . . opening night pix – ARE posting tomorrow – !! – HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!
the so-called art critics, in this town . . . dumber than a bunch of donkeys, and way – more out-dated, if not just plain deader than a dead horse . . . they, the critics, the ‘stuffed’ shirts, with absolutely no living gray matter that I can see, should only be so lucky as to be hanging from the rafters of the Guggenheim.
down with the lot of ya. you’re only living – to be forgotten . . .
what do you think . . . ? hanging a horse in the Guggenheim means, anyways. the perceived powers to be & the establishment are crap. over and done with . . . amen.
and I guess that means: YOU !!
guess he called that right.
and oh yeah, anti-establishment, that’s a really “childish” notion in the fucked-up world we live in today.
tell that to OWS, students and rioters for change around the globe.
you guys are so mind-boggling out of touch, its unbelievable. somebody should drop some acid into your morning cuppa joe, and do you all a favor.
hear this (establishment) art writers of NYC: you are all imbeciles. unbelievable – like I said, how the top 1% of the talent – goes sailing right over your heads. poof. it never fails to amaze me how the people who profess to be the art ‘pros’ . . can be so unfailingly dumb. the blind leading the blind ? not good enough.
it’s more like putting a solid black field on a computer screen, remember those early graphics-challenged websites ? ha.
“avenir” – to the FUTURE !! that be Cattelan calling it – and, very nicely, too. just blowin’ in the wind.
the rats – I mean art critics in this town, should be shot. and saved from their own misery instead of being allowed to drag the rest of us through their small minds and glass ceiling eyes. never mind pushing their uninspired and most certainly unskilled barely there – human life forms – on everybody else.
since when has ‘pencil pushing’ – ever been considered a higher art form ? (ok when its lit – and this is not lit) and these pencil pushing – for a living, make no doubt about it, they are sucking the life out of the culture for a penny – and they are standing in the way of a great time, and a great vision. REALLY they are lining up like fascist monkeys – following the (loudest) leader – and giving the Nazi salute to the lowest cultural denominator.
the herd mentality. the anti-art, if I ever did see one.
media bullies . . and cowards ALL – they should ALL be lined up and put into body bags – and dumping them in the East River . . . wouldn’t do the river justice !!
CATTELAN should go back to the show – and stencil ALL their names on the body bags. no wonder the guy has to come off as a clown. you have to play stupid around this dumbed down crowd – just to duck ALL their crap.
the establishment. the critics. the (huge) elephant in the room. and blindfolded to boot. or is that vision impaired. no diff. no joke.
so, who gives a rat’s ass – about the art writers of New York City !! a dumber bunch could not be found.
in your dreams – art ‘critics’, not.
but don’t worry, CATTELAN got your number: loud and clear. the only thing that would or could one-up his ‘ALL’ – would be if that horse’s ass could dump a pile of (steamin) shit, excuse me, horse crap . . . on you . . . the moment your low-rent talent (?) entered the room.
trust me – we can see y’all coming from a mile away. just as big and dumb and stupid, and blindfolded – as that (circus of fools) elephant. Cattelan got it right. turned the Guggenhiem upside-down and sideways.
just the way we like it !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~a rat’s ass . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 23rd, 2011, 9:56am
HOLY BATMAN !!
it’s LORENZO MARTONE (left) and MARC JACOBS at the hyper-active, totally thrilling . . . . MAURIZIO CATTELAN retrospective at the Guggenheim !!
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH. NYC. SAT, NOV 12, 2011
MARC JACOBS is in the news today because apparently someone took off with his entire spring/summer 2012 clothing collection in London this past Wednesday. according to the NEW YORK POST:
“Details were scarce, but it was believed the collection was in a delivery van when persons unknown looted it.
The New York-born Jacobs used Twitter to ask for leads in the mystery yesterday.”
“See any chic truck drivers cruising around Europe dressed in [Jacobs’] #SS12 Collection?.” he tweeted.
“Get a pic & call 212-343-0222. Reward.”
but apparently busy man that he is, he made time to catch the super feisty Cattelan retrospective just before he split New York for London, last weekend, – Sat Nov 12, 2011 !!
and, yes just like the rest of the excited, and super animated crowd there, he seemed absolutely enthralled by the once-in-a-lifetime experience. he was also probably pretty happy he didn’t pay attention to the New York Time’s so-called voice of authority – that would be: Roberta Smith’s low rent take on the show – which didn’t seem to have held any negative sway – in the fashion world. and trust me, the fashion world knows a good art world event, when they see it.
this is the multi-faceted view he was looking at . . . the hooded, hands impaled by pencils – scribe . . . named, after who else ? Charlie !! . . . right on. maybe Cattelan will treat us to a “Roberta” version – for his next go-around ?
MAURIZIO CATTELAN , ‘Charlie Don’t Surf’, 1997
School desk, chair, mannequin, clothing, rubber, paint, shoes, and pencils. Edition 1/3.
lent by: Andrea Thuile and Heinz Peter Hager, Bolzano, Italy.
a swinging (!!) body bag . . .
a swinging 40s matron . . . looking down,
and a not-so-dumb … donkey dead straight ahead.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
‘MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL’ – at the GUGGENHEIM, Nov 4, 2011 – Jan 22, 2012.
~MARC JACOBS – lost & found !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 19th, 2011, 3:50pm
YES, I MOST DEF do have great GREAT pix – from that fun, wild and damn straight – great art, for sure . . . . TERRY RICHARDSON .. MOM .. DAD OPENING – at HALF GALLERY !!
THEY’RE COMING UP NEXT . . . cutting edge: New York City-style, just the way we like it !!
but first: DANGLE AWAY, MAURIZIO !!
MAURIZIO CATTELAN, taxidermied dog hanging in . . . ‘MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL’ – at the GUGGENHEIM.
November 4, 2011 – January 22, 2012.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH.
note: general admission to the Guggenheim is $18.
students & seniors: $15 – with valid ID. children under 12 free. the museum is closed on Thursdays.
yes, the Cattelan show is worth the price of admission.
see: Guggenheim Museum for hrs.
so, I really got to say: what up with ROBERTA SMITH of the New York Times ? (no relation. believe it.)
and, you can see from this post’s date-stamp . . . I took a few days to consider this carefully.
I mean Charlie Finch I get – but Roberta ?
she’s supposed to be top tier – but she’s still, always ? missing that top 1% – and in the art world dudes, that’s a bad thing !! the top 1% just goes right over her head. and the top 1% is all that really counts.
cue in SHEPARD FAIREY, whose May 1, 2010 show at JEFFREY DEITCH, titled ‘MAY DAY’ – and which was Jeffrey’s swan song to NYC bye the way, resounded with a mythic and real-world S.O.S. – opening as it did, right on the eve of that huge gulf oil spill – and who is, Shepard, that is . . . really a kind of master of the universe, art world-wise, and which show she unbelievably trashed . . . and cue out RACHEL HARRISON. that’s right, Rachel who. but somebody Roberta thought you should know.
just saying.
her say, Roberta’s that is, carries a lot of weight in the art world. or did.
the New York Times under her headlining banner – used to be the bible of the art world. so, she’s fair game to take down. . . it’s like they sing in the streets: she who dish, and play hardball . . . can no turn around, and then, cry baby. her critical kibosh could, and very well used to, signal: the END.
if she didn’t cover your show, you were nobody.
and maybe that’s why the scene, if not just the art auctions – are off kilter, to put it mildly. or is that: kindly.
seriously, she hasn’t been the last word – for quite a while, and she certainly hasn’t been the trailblazing last word – on the contemporary scene, for quite some time . . . though she does a nice descriptive job, a summing up. sometimes. it sure ain’t cutting edge.
BUT for sure, after what she wrote about the MAURTIZIO CATTELAN show at the Guggenheim – people are really re-thinking their take on her opinion. and, if it matters. and why did it ever, anyways. no doubt about it. her rep is on the wane, that’s for sure – just with that one ‘bad’ review. not too many had the guts or vision to question it before.
they are not only questioning her relevance, but questioning how they let her occupy that black amex card ‘branding’ position in the first place. the art world’s a rough and tumble mash-up, make no mistake about it. a lot of (big) money rides on the art world and by implication – its critics, not to mention the sanity and health of its most important denizens – the artists, the creative talent at the base of the pyramid. and the most at risk.
amen.
so when she bombs, forget it. its bad. and most sadly, her say-so affects us all. so I’m not keeping my mouth shut, because – it’s a big friggin loss to let her run the game.
I mean Charlie’s one thing. he is entertaining and his (twisted) poetry – well, it just boosts the game . . . and nobody really takes him seriously, in terms of his words affecting whether someone will actually cut a check for you, or not.
but Roberta is another story.
she is a killjoy, plain and simple. but it’s worse than that, because of her perceived authority . . . . and I guess there goes my friggin career, down the toilet, too.
hey, Maurizio, move over . . . they be calling artlovers ‘toilet paper’ from now on, too. but really . . . why let the losers, the clueless – win ? what’s the point of caving . . . in the age of the web. the free and the brave.
my biggest wake-up call to her tin ear, glass eye ? apart from her ignoring WE LIVE IN PUBLIC – a Sundance winner if I ever did see one, and apart from her pushing Rachel Harrison, Rachel – who ? was when she called Rob Pruitt’s amazin’ glory of a pumped-up waterfall down those damn Shafrazi steps – for that epic Gavin Brown/URS FISCHER show of a few years back – sophomoric. translate: exhibiting immaturity, and lack of judgement. I think mostly because he called it . . . “Viagara Falls.” ha. it was a friggin gem of a piece, and a title. a sandbagged DIY waterfall that gushed water down 2 flights of gallery stairs. everybody was talking about it. nobody had seen anything like it. everybody loved it. and I dare anybody who saw it – to say they didn’t also gasp with disbelief at her low ceiling of a review. what a shame to be putting such a lame critical kibosh on something so so so so New York City cutting edge funny gritty awesome . . . and original.
SO HEADS UP – all you young dudes . . . and everybody else, despite what Roberta wrote – the MAURIZIO CATTELAN show at the GUGGENHEIM – is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. fantastic. super great. no words can claim it. you gotta go see it.
this is – one art world situation – where, for sure: the whole is greater than the parts.
this is the one single reason that validates your rent.
this is why you came to live in New York, in the first place.
what more can I say. how bout this:
‘MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL’ . . . is on par with that other recent museum super hit: the ALEXANDER McQUEEN retrospective at the Met – this summer (2011).
does that do it for ya ?
it’s only up through JAN 22, 2012 – so you better bust your little “I don’t go above 14th Street” footsies – and get there . . .
and soon, or the lines will be so long, you’ll never get in. because yes, despite Roberta’s in-vain rain cloud on the hangman’s parade – word of mouth is gathering among the tribes . . and the lines are starting to add up. not joking, you better get there this weekend. by next weekend, with the kind of word of mouth the show is generating – it’s game over . . . in and out, in a New York City minute, not !!
and, YO. CATTELAN, ding dangle away, you crazy Italian clown puppet master !! you rock and you rule.
running out of ideas, as if . . . . !!
as for CHARLIE FINCH. wake up, dude, and fling your damn dingleberries – in the right direction.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
. . . . and, as a FINAL BON MOT – FOOT in MOUTH – POST-SCRIPT – or – MAKE THAT: STICK A PIN in ROBERTA DAY !!
I offer you this – just check out her recent take on LOS ANGELES !! – lame as lame can be – can it get any worse ?
unless it’s the damn Lower East Side, and the New Museum ?
or maybe Performa. what ? who ? exactly !!
the article is titled: “A New Pin On the Art Map” – all I can say is: NOT !! more like a new low point for the Times. (!!)
the way this article reads, if anybody can actually stay awake long enough to get through it, maybe the B in Roberta – stands for for banal. and she’s putting down Cattelan ?
and since images do speak a 1,000 words, just contrast the article’s featured ‘artwork’ photo lead-in, (below) . . . (the artwork inside the article is even worse !! ) . . to the TERRY RICHARDSON MOM.. DAD.. graphic (in the post just previous).
and, let’s leave it at that.
enough said. game over. New York City is still the one and only. like I said, we like our art gritty in the city. it can still be pretty, pretty can still rhyme with gritty. but it gotta have that edge. you know, just like how Lou Reed laid it down, melodic can be tough. New York City is still the one and only. L.A. not, so much. Chicago and San Fran ? with the way this article bombed, I really don’t think so.
‘A New Pin on the Art Map’ . . . not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
IMAGE/newspaper scan: ‘A New Pin On the Art Map’ by Roberta Smith, ARTS & LEISURE, THE NEW YORK TIMES. Sunday, November 13, 2011.
~Dingle Balls, Dingle Balls, dingle all the way . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 16th, 2011, 8:38pm
TERRY RICHARDSON . . . MOM DAD / OPENING To-NITE FRI NOV 11, 2011 / 6-8 PM
the show runs: Nov 11 – Dec 4, 2011
HALF GALLERY – 208 FORSYTH – LOWER EAST SIDE / NEW YORK CITY
note: there is a nice intro to the show – on the gallery website.
~TERRY RICHARDSON .. MOM .. DAD |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 11th, 2011, 10:08am
OTTO DIX, ‘Dr. Heinrich Stadelmann’, 1920. oil painting.
in the METROPOLITAN MUSEUM of ART exhibit: ‘GLOOM and DOOM: German Portraits from the 1920s’.
the exhibit ran: Nov 14, 2006 – Feb 19, 2007.
PHOTO: KATE CERIGO
German painter, OTTO DIX (1891-1969) was also cited as an influence on the young LILY RENEE.
according to the exhibition notes:
Dr. Stadelmann . . . “considered dada a kind of mental disease of society . . . worth studying.”
the other paintings of his in the exhibit – were beyond racy . . . beyond “erotic”, more like approaching porn. they were still shocking, even today. and esp in the Met. It was one of the most profound, explicit, and interesting historical exhibits I have ever seen in the Met. it made for a topnotch visual experience, as well as a curious encounter with pre-war, pre-Nazi art. decadence in a head-on collision with freedom of expression. and the perceived “degeneration” of society.
the comic book influence – is a no-brainer.
image courtesy: Metropolitan Museum of Art
read more on the exhibit: ‘GLOOM and DOOM’/Metropolitan Museum of Art
it’s worth noting that: “with more than 50 works by OTTO DIX . . . this (2006-07 exhibit) is the first major presentation of his work in the United States. (!!)
~OTTO DIX, Gloom & Doom . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 11th, 2011, 9:47am
