. . . also a war story & a coming of age, make that prominence.
the recent blue chip modern art auctions were termed: “tepid” by the New York Times. even the New York Post chimed in:
“a stunning flop in the $1.1 billion season-opener of the art auction world.” most of this because the work offered was tired and over-priced. esp in the Picasso marts. I always thought Picasso was a snooze. I never did get the $35 million dollar prices tags. and Henri Matisse / I was over him by the time I got out of high school. but KUSTAV KLIMT – that’s another story, even though he never even really made the art school must-read lists. so it’s been real fun watching his reputation rise over the years.
in fact – it was his name being bandied about – that first drew me to the LILY RENEE story.
while in the same media week – a long fought-over GUSTAV KLIMT landscape, ‘Litzlberg am Attersee’ – was the only true break-out sale success of the auctions !!
and it was not even one of his golden flecked art deco portraits, but a lowly landscape. Estimated to go for $25,000,000 – $30,000,000 in Sotheby’s November 2, 2011 Impressionist and Modern Art Auction here in New York – it hit a record high, going for: $40,000,000. that’s 40 million big ones.
GUSTAV KLIMT, ‘Litzlberg am Attersee’ – recently sold for $40,000,000 – or almost double its estimate of $25 million.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sotheby’s, c/o : NEW YORK TIMES
from the New York Times article: “This landscape was thought to have been painted in Klimt’s Vienna studio in 1914 after he spent the summer with Emilie Floge, his model, in Weissenbach, a town on Lake Attersee in Austria.”
and the background story, also a Nazi era war-story, and another rare one – in that, it also came to a happy conclusion, continues thus:
“George Jorisch, an 83-year-old retired camera store manager from Montreal (!!), acquired this painting from his great-uncle, the collector and Austrian iron magnate Victor Zuckerkandle, and his wife, Paula. It had been hanging in Mr. Jorisch’s family home in Purkersdorf, Austria, but was seized during World War II. It is one of two Klimts that were returned to Mr. Jorisch after years of attempts to recover them. (The other one – ‘Church in Cassone, Landscape with Cypresses’ – sold for $43.2 million in 2010.)
read the full article: ‘A Bouquet of Offerings to Test Uncertain Waters’, by CAROL VOGEL, The New York Times, Oct 20, 2011.
KLIMT and Emilie Floge in the garden of the Josefstadterstrasse studio, c. 1905-10.
(Photograph: M. Nahr, Vienna)
Klimt’s collection of Japanese color woodcuts and c Chinese scrolls, as installed in the foyer of his last studio in Hietzing, 1914-18.
(Photograph: M. Nahr, Vienna)
so I guess it’s not far-off to say Lily Renee, brought both erotic, expressionist, and high style German cutting edge art, as well as, indirectly, Japanese and Chinese dramatic flourishes, not to forget flat compositional planes – to the comic book world of New York City, circa 1940s !!
from the same book where those above archival photos were scanned, ‘Gustav Klimt’ by Alessandra Comini, published by George Braziller, New York, 1975:
“As early as 1908 the outspoken Viennese architect and defender of a new, proto-Expressionist severity in art, Adolf Loos, had publicly accused Klimt and the artists of the Weiner Werkstatte – Vienna’s arts-and-crafts center – of erotic pollution. In a speech intending to shock the complacent bourgeoisie, and published under the title ‘Ornament and Crime” (!!), Loos discussed what he considered the erotic origin as well as the outdated “plague of ornament” besetting Austrian art:
‘All art is erotic.
The first ornament that was born, the cross was of erotic origin. The first work of art, the first artistic act which the first artist scrawled on the wall to vent his exuberance was erotic.
A horizontal line: the recumbent woman. A vertical line: the man penetrating her . . .
But the man of our own times who from an inner compulsion smears walls with erotic symbols is a criminal or a degenerate . . .
Just as ornament is no longer organically an expression of our culture.’
talk about, sock-it-to-me fascism, parading as – art criticism. but this is the passionate sophisticated and many splendored art world of early 20th C. Vienna – that incubated the artistic sensibility of the young Lily Renee . . .
GUSTAV KLIMT, ‘Friedericke Maria Beer’, 1916. oil on canvas. 168 x 130 cm. in 1975 it was in the collection of Mrs. F Beer-Monti, then residing in Honolulu (!!)
image from: ‘Gustav Klimt by Alessandra Comini. Publisher George Braziller, New York, 1975.
~GUSTAV KLIMT, heartbreaker money-maker |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 10th, 2011, 9:55am
I did !! – catch the ‘LILY RENEE, Escape Artist’ booksigning !!
it was an absolutely amazing evening.
‘LILY RENEE, Escape Artist’ – the true story of LILY RENEE WILHEIM . . . “From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer”.
Written by TRINA ROBBINS.
Pencils by ANNE TIMMONS.
Lettering by FELIX RUIZ & CAYETANO GARZA Jr.
Coloring by Studio C10.
Published by GRAPHIC UNIVERSE – A Division of Lerner Publishing Group, NYC
96 pages. full color.
Hardcover: $10. note: prices at the MoCCA event.
Softcover: $7.
LILY RENEE WILHEIM comic book artist, as in illustrator – at the talk and booksigning.
MoCCA/Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, NYC. Thursday, Nov 3, 2011.
LILY RENEE WILHEIM, elegant and composed, and who finds herself suddenly in the limelight – and being outed as a pioneering, and one of the most influential woman comic book artists ever, in the male-dominated comic book industry of the 1940s . . . the so-called golden age of the comic book industry. she seemed quite pleased, very lively and eager to address this formerly forgotten chapter of her life.
we have to thank TRINA ROBBINS, the book’s author, a well regarded comic book artist and comic culture historian in her own right – for bringing Lily Renee’s story to light for a new generation of fans.
the illustrated book, moving as fast as a comic book – which it is – gets right to it, beginning with Lily Renee’s upper class childhood in Vienna, Austria, in the 30s – just before the dark storm that was the German Nazis – shook her world upside down.
there’s nothing better than a true story – and Trina Robbins tells it well.
the book is fast paced, full of facts and covers a lot of ground, in a most compelling page-turning manner. seemingly addressed to young readers, I found it an absolutely fascinating read . . . children’s books are the best – ain’t that the truth !!
Trina Robbin’s swift narrative is a kind of retelling – based on the specifics of the oral history as Lily Renee remembered it, over the course of several interviews.
as anybody who has ever attempted to write knows – it’s the pace – and the edit, that make the story flow – and this story does flow.
what was so interesting about the booksigning . . . was being able to hear the author and her subject discuss the book in person – and thus to learn a little more of the fascinating personal memories – behind the pages.
for example: YES, I DID ASK why wasn’t our heroine pictured . . . robed in that huge princess-style all white coat with a huge Leica camera swinging about her neck, as she boarded that Kindertransport whisking her out of Austria just in the nick of time . . . on the cover of the book, which would have been a super striking image – or what !!
esp as it was so graphically recalled by Lily Renee in a recent Newsweek interview. the somewhat very sane answer from Ms. Robbins: “because she hadn’t told me !!” . . .
isn’t that just like human memory – an organic fluxus with no inbuilt google bot search. we so forget how is it is to be human – these days. memories are like that – especially memories from long ago – they bubble up slowly, accumulatively – especially perhaps those memories long repressed.
this being a storybook, a comic book albeit an historically accurate one, of a not very easy time, a dark time, a cruel time . . . and not an art book, or detailed biography per se (which is sure to follow) . . . the early reference to the artwork that Lily Renee was exposed to as a child, the gorgeous but brooding and sensual Gustav Klimt, the dark emotional Shiele, the grotesque pornographic Otto Dix – which is what originally attracted me to this adventure – is rather badly addressed, and skimmed over – in this single frame reference on page 5, illustration above.
but, not to fear – it holds plenty of other actual moments . . . better rendered.
one memory that seemed to have made a particularly hurtful impression on Lily Renee, and which is addressed in depth in the book – was how degrading it felt to be labelled an “enemy alien” once she escaped to London, even though she was not singled out personally, all Austrian and German refugees were labelled such across the board.
and as such, being a young “enemy alien” woman, she told her audience at MoCCA she was not allowed to work at the general hospitals in London – which had men, in particular soldier patients . . . . for fear of her potential to be a spy !!
in fact, at the MoCCA booksigning this was still one of the most single most stinging episodes that she spoke about – it still seemed an issue. a thorn, a huge huge insult to her soul and her integrity. instead, and please take note of the bulldog British solution – she was sent to work at a maternity ward: no males. only mothers and babes. her unspoken implication: they wouldn’t trust me among their men, but there I was racing their vulnerable babies, the future of their race – in my arms to air raid shelters. imagine.
the talk was accompanied by a brief but striking slide show. this is Lily Renee on her first day in New York City – where she is one of the lucky few to be re-united with her parents. the book sadly recounts the continuing upheaval in her family’s life. her father once the proud and prosperous manager of a huge European steamship line, the legendary Holland America – has found work as an elevator operator in New York. and even that he cannot do – he has hurt his hand the very first day. a memory apparently deeply ingrained in Lily Renee’s heart.
Trina Robbins even had a few slides of the actual little painted ‘folk art’ wooden souvenir boxes that Lily Renee hand painted and resorted to selling – to make ends meet, to put food on the table for her and her parents.
Her mother took in piece work (sewing).
this was a slide of Lily Renee working as a fashion model, as the book relates: “Sometimes Lily modeled clothing for Jane Turner, a well-known fashion illustrator.” Lily was quite, and still is – a beautiful woman. she also worked drawing pictures for Woolworth catalogues, fifty cents an hour.
‘JANE MARTIN’.
and, then at the concluding pages of the book – we learn that, although nobody quite realized it at the time – she was to make history, of another kind, apart from her saga of Nazi survival . . . as the book relates, her mother sees an ad in the paper, “Lily — a comic book publisher is looking for artists. Why don’t you go there ?” and so Lily went to work at the New York City office of Fiction House comics – – in the 40s, suffering from the absence of so many men gone to war.
it’s ironic that she gets her big break, though to her it was just a job and a low-level one at that – as she recounted in the Museum talk – because of the shortage of men – gone to fight Hitler and his Nazis !!
and simply put . . . as this slide which Trina Robbins presented, Lily made comic book history, not only for being one of the few woman at the time to get to draw their own features, but for bringing onboard into the formerly straightforward American comic book lexicon – the German Expressionist and chic, not to mention, foxy drama and high sophistication voltage of her Viennese youth. this was ‘WEREWOLF HUNTER’ !!
she also illustrated ‘LOST WORLD’ – which Ms. Robbins said was the very first comic book to reference alien invasions !! put that in your art history hat !!
but, she has become most famous for her sexy Brazilian counter-spy, the dangerous Senorita Rio – or as the comic book story of Lily’s life says: “She’s a Brazilian nightclub entertainer, but in her secret identity she’s a counterspy, fighting Nazis in South America . . .” !!
and thus the comic book and true story, ‘Lily Renee, Escape Artist’ comes to a final page, where the current Lily Renee is given the closing quote: “Senorita Rio was a fantasy for me. She got clothes that I couldn’t have, she had a leopard coat, and she wore high-end shoes and had grand adventures and was very daring and beautiful and glamorous.”
and she . . . “Beat the Nazis.” (!!)
the real-life – 2011 – Lily Renee seemed to enjoy the talk, and discussion very much.
the last page in the storybook, also relates that: “Lily Renee continued to live in New York. She married and raised a family. After she stopped drawing comics in 1949, she created textile designs and designed jewelry. She wrote and illustrated children’s books and wrote 5 plays . . . Her two children and grandchildren grew up proud that their grandmother was a comic book artist.”
well, not quite that simple – as it turns out.
LILY RENEE . .. with the book’s author – TRINA ROBBINS, signing books after the talk.
and that’s the great thing about going to hear – the artist talk in person.
apparently not quite so . . . though all’s well, that ends well.
LILY RENEE and TRINA ROBBINS . . .
apparently the real truth is: after Lily Renee, for reasons not quite disclosed, walked away, after a decade, the entire run of the 40s, of pioneering vivid illustration work in the comic book world, both as a woman, and as an artist – she seemed to turn her back on it. she didn’t keep any copies of her work, she certainly didn’t have any on display in her home . . . . and apparently she really didn’t tell her own family, as in husband or children about it either !!
they had no clue !!
TRINA ROBBINS.
. . . until one of her granddaughters recently googled her grandma – and voila !! BUSTED !!
she found Trina Robbins’ groundbreaking essay, ‘LILY RENEE’ in The Comics Journal, Nov 29, 2006 – online.
for the most part a first person interview – this essay started the ball rolling, and the interest which it generated – mushroomed into the book at hand. Grandma – you were a comic book artist !!
and, so a big big thank you, to Trina Robbins. ‘herstorian’ and story-teller.
and so this wonderful artist, also a woman with a big big survival story – Lily Renee, long unrecognized, has finally come to light, after what ? . . . she worked as a comic book artist through the 40s, and now its 2011 – 70 years . . . !!
it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the profound and, way way vivid, sexy, ok, erotic !! chic and dramatic visual impact this young escapee from the turmoil and terror of the Nazis – left behind her in the comic book world . . . and by extension in our contemporary culture . . . and if that isn’t a darn good story – I don’t know – what is.
read: Trina Robbins original essay & 2006 interview with Lily Renee – in The Comics Journal, for yourself.
and lastly, what’s a look to the past, without a word to the future.
outside the booksigning: ERIN FINNEGAN, currently an animation tech support at Tisch Film School, NYU. who just happened to work as a Graphic Novel Editorial Assistant at Lerner Publishing Group – the publishers behind this book – while it was in production.
She has also been an Animation Production Co-ordinator at Cartoon Network, PBS and Fox . . . She writes freelance for ‘Anime News Network’, and among other projects, she is a Manga Reviewer for Publishers Weekly. she also podcasts at: ninjaconsultant.com
ALL PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, source photos are credited in the captions.
UP-DATE: NOV 13, 2011: NAZI TORCHERS in BROOKLYN . . .
just in case you think comic books aren’t relevant, serious or need to be heeded . . .
or . . . that the Holocaust – is an old story.
the above ‘LILY RENEE, Escape Artist’ comic book review was posted on Nov 7, 2011 . . . with no timeline anticipated in the artist talk – or the post.
but 3 days later, in New York City, on Nov 10, 2011 – which turned out coincidentally to be the actual 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht – the notorious night of outright public Nazi destruction targeting Jewish shopkeepers in Germany and Austria – we had our very own little, but very real – mini Kristallnacht of hate in Brooklyn !!
“Hate mongers torched 3 cars on a heavily Orthodox stretch of Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn yesterday and scrawled swastikas and other vile messages in vehicles and park benches.
Residents on the Midwood block lined with synagogues and yeshivas were awoken at 5:30 a.m. to the sounds of sirens and the sight of towering flames shooting from the vehicles. . .
‘The fact that this most recent attack came on the heels of the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht may or may not be a coincidence,’ Mayor Bloomberg said. ‘Either way, this kind of hateful act has no place in the freest city in the freest country in the world.'” – NY KRISTALLNACHT, Nazi torchers in B’klyn/THE NEW YORK POST/Nov 12, 2011
TRINA ROBBINS did present this archival slide of Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass – in her artist talk. but she made no mention of the eerie historical timeline – when in early November of 1938 the Nazis destroyed the glass windows and storefronts of Jewish owned shops – in a very graphic display of hate, and sent a crystal clear message as to their future intentions.
When she projected the slide, Trina actually said: “Kristallnacht, what a beautiful word – to have such a terrible meaning.”
in the comic book, ‘Lily Renee, Escape Artist’ … ‘From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer’ – Kristallnacht gets 3 whole pages . . . this evil night of outright and public Nazi destruction and aggression against Jews in Germany and Austria . . . in Vienna – her hometown – apparently made a deep and terrible impression on the young Lily Renee. it’s especially terrible when one considers what a civilized, make that sophisticated, chic and creative society Vienna had been, during her early childhood – when it was virtually the center of the intellectual and scientific world of its time.
“In Berlin, a seventeen-year old Jewish boy named Herschel Grynzpan, protesting the brutal treatment of his family by the Nazis, had shot and killed a German diplomat. The Nazis retaliated by starting riots in Berlin and Vienna, with mobs led by the Gestapo disguised as citizens.” “So this time they really did burn the synagogue.” “It’s not safe anymore. We have to leave Austria.” “Because of the broken glass covering the sidewalks and streets, this night was named Kristallnacht, or The Night of Broken Glass.” ~ ‘Lily Renee, Escape Artist’, the true story of comic book artist and pioneer Lily Renee Wilheim – written by Trina Robbins, and illustrated by ANNE TIMMONS and MO OH.
~LILY RENEE & TRINA ROBBINS . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 7th, 2011, 6:15pm
. . . there’s no escaping Charlie.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN and CHARLIE FINCH of artnet have a super feud going on . . . I don’t know the origins of the sad saga, but it’s a colossal feud. like super heated particles colliding head-on at vast speeds, like an epic-sized red-black lacquered dragon madly spinning in the ancient skies, biting its own tail and shooting off sparks, or is that blood – they have become one – locked in fierce battle. egging each other on to greater heights . . . aggravating the hell out of the diva egos that inhabit both. in this case – more is more.
the whole is greater than the parts . . .
Charlie’s most recent diatribe, written in advance of Cattelan’s Guggenheim retrospective is titled: ‘CATTELAN’S DINGLEBERRIES’. and if you think dingleberries is a quaint expression, not !! it means: “a piece of dried feces caught in the hair around the anus” – American Heritage Dictionary. (!!) like I said, ouch.
Mr. Finch begins his cutting rant thus: “The news that MAURIZIO CATTELAN plans to hang his expensive “masterpieces” from the strongest steel bar (also the largest suppository from the world’s largest asshole, Cattelan), suspended in the Guggenheim’s rotunda, would be laughable if it weren’t so funny.” . . . and ends, “Dangle away douchebag.”
and if you think talking dirty on the web doesn’t pay – think again, you’d be wrong there too.
just google the situation and see for yourself, how many internet splinters Charlie’s post shattered into, how many digital sparks flew.
so, wiseguy read it for yourself: Charlie Finch on Maurizio Cattelan/artnet
for his part, Cattelan used to put out a kind of magazine, called, ‘Charlie’ – but now he calls it: ‘toilet’.
( . . . sorry, ‘toilet paper’ !!)
MAURIZIO CATTELAN, view of the performance in the ‘Giardini’ during the 50th Venice Biennal, 2003.
PHOTO: ZENO ZOTTI/COURTESY GALERIE PERROTIN, Paris
“Charlie”, 2003. Tricycle, steel, varnished, natural gum, resin, silicone, hair, fabrics. life-size.
edition of 3.
and, of course there was that great insider joke, when Cattelan titled his show-stealing remote-controlled bot boy – on a tricycle – ‘Charlie’ !! even though, it was a self-portrait of the artist, Cattelan, as a young boy – himself !!
you tell me who has the “drier” wit.
though Charlie’s – the stalking slasher, no doubt about it . . .
I did catch them once, at the beginning of the battle royale in the same room. but not side by side, that’s for sure.
it was in 2005 at the big DAMIEN HIRST show at Gagosian’s on 24th St. appropriately enough, the show was titled ‘Damien Hirst: The Elusive Truth’ – and the photos are from the opening night, March 11, 2005.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN at the Hirst opening, NYC. March 11, 2005
MAURIZIO CATTELAN, the Italian ‘clown’ – always in motion. and very wired.
CHARLIE FINCH, the sharp-tongued saber-toothed scribe looking almost benign, or is that benevolent, out and about – among the ‘little people’.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, NYC. MARCH 11, 2005.
~MAURIZIO CATTELAN v.s. CHARLIE FINCH, ouch . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 4th, 2011, 7:02am
FILE UNDER: well, while we’re talking bout Nazis . . .
‘HIM’, (2001), by MAURIZIO CATTELAN, whose retrospective at the Guggenheim opens tomorrow, Nov 4, 2011 – will be made up of over 130 of the artist’s original works dangling overhead . . .
PHOTO BY: ZENO ZOTTI/THE NEW YORK TIMES
this striking photo . . . headlined the recent NEW YORK TIMES advance essay on the new Guggenheim Cattelan retrospective – informatively, and most entertainingly penned, as usual, by RANDY KENNEDY.
the exhibit, titled – ‘MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL’ – will run NOV 4, 2011 – JAN 22, 2012. A retrospective survey, of more than 130 original pieces, dating back to the 1980s and on through the present – will be hanging from the ceiling. down with walls . . . and, damn, who needs floors.
Cattelan is quite the contrarian. the joker . . . and the political statesman. the extensive sampling of his works are on loan from private and public collections – around the world. so don’t blink – it’s not likely you’ll see many of these pieces again.
I wonder if his, ‘Charlie’ – the remote-controlled mechanized bot boy on a tricycle – that stole the 50th Venice Biennial in 2003 – will be among them ?
and one wonders how the floor anchored on-site pieces will be rendered ?
of course the funniest part of the Randy Kennedy interview, is Cattelan’s exit strategy: “Mr. Cattelan, 51, insists that the show will be his last, and that he will officially retire from making art as soon as it is over, though what that means in the Cattelan lexicon is anyone’s guess.”
like I said, Maurizio Cattelan, Escape artist !!
view of the exhibit ‘out of senses’, 2002. Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
PHOTO COURTESY: GALERIE PERROTIN, Paris
MAURIZIO CATTELAN, ‘untitled’, 2001. wax figure, natural hairs, cotton. life-size.
edition of 3 + 1AP
(self-portrait)
see: ‘Hanging with Cattelan’ – by Randy Kennedy, The New York Times, Oct 2, 2011
see: ‘MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL’ – at the GUGGENHEIM
~MAURIZIO CATTELAN, Escape artist . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 3rd, 2011, 3:46pm
from Holocaust survivor . . . to comic book pioneer.
‘LILY RENEE, Escape Artist’ – by TRINA ROBBINS, illustrated by ANNE TIMMONS and MO HO.
LILY RENEE WILHEIM and TRINA ROBBINS discuss their new book – at a book signing – free & open to the public.
happening – tomorrow THURS NOV 3, 2011 . . . from 7-9 PM
MoCCA – MUSEUM of COMIC and CARTOON ART – 594 BROADWAY, suite 401 – btwn HOUSTON & PRINCE – SOHO, NYC.
‘LILY RENEE, Escape Artist’ – “is the inspirational story about the remarkable life of LILY RENEE WILHEIM and her tenacious escape from Nazi occupation to become one of the leading female comic book artists of the post-war era.
“The two remarkable guests, LILY RENEE, a sprightly and fascinating octogenarian, and TRINA ROBBINS, comic book historian and pioneer in her own right (‘Wonder Woman’ writer, 60s underground comix groundbreaker, etc.) provide an insightful and entertaining look at the contribution of women in the comic book industry of the last 70 years – a quintessential American story.’ – MoCCA
LILY RENEE PHILLIPS, today (she’s 85) – PHOTO BY: JO ANN TOY for NEWSWEEK c/o THE DAILY BEAST
there is a SUPER excellent essay about the life, times and opinions !! – of LILY RENEE up on the web, c/o THE DAILY BEAST . . . the informative and smart article, accompanied by the (above) photo of the newly celebrated comic book artist was written by ADRIANE QUINLAN, and is titled, ‘A Real-Life Comic Book Superhero’ – and was originally published in NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE, with the Daily Beast re-post date-stamped: JULY 30, 2010.
yes, MOST DEF, read: ‘A Real-Life Comic Book Superhero’ by ADRIANE QUINLAN/NEWSWEEK
here’s Adriane Quinlan’s up and running from the get-go . . . start-off sentence:
“LILY RENEE PHILLIPS’S first job in comics was erasing the errors made by the male illustrators who sat around her. It was 1943 in the cramped, smoky offices of Fiction House, the epicenter of comics publishing at the height of the golden age of comics . . . The illustrators around her drew in graphite, then inked them over. It was her job to erase too-thick arms, stray bullets – and the lewd notes they wrote her in the margins . . ” (!!)
and from somewhere half-way down in this fascinating story, yes – it’s very true, it is fascintating – MoCCA !! – you can find this:
“Her illustrations seemed to come from a different world”, (‘Sad Sack’ – anybody ?!!), “and indeed they did . . .
you can see in her work flashes of KLIMT, SCHIELE, DIX, and other high-art painters she studied as a wealthy young girl in pre-war Austria . . . ”
of course the BIG QUESTION, after reading this Newsweek essay, is:
so, why isn’t our young heroine wearing an outrageous princess-style “snow-white coat” with a big Leica camera, swinging about her neck – when she boards that ominous Kindertransport ? instead of looking like a Nancy Drew, or better yet, a young Archie Comics Betty or Veronica – in a conservative plaid pleated skirt and pink missy jacket, on the book’s cover ?
if you make the Q & A, ask the question, and let me know . . .
damn. I might try to make it – just to get the bottomline – on that !!
~LILY RENEE, Escape artist . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 2nd, 2011, 9:41am
FILE UNDER: LESS IS MORE + MORE IS MORE !!
URS FISCHER + CASSANDRA MACLEOD
OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 22, 2011
the show runs OCT 22 – NOV 12, 2011
GAVIN BROWN’S enterprise – 620 GREENWICH ST – NYC
URS FISCHER arriving with his daughter Lotti . . .
CASSANDRA MACLEOD, URS FISCHER and their young daughter, Lotti . . .
the family unit.
the essentialnuclear family unit. as in Facebook scaled right back down to the smallest unit.
Less is more.
to understand one family – is to get the beauty of the whole human ‘life’ chain . . .
the press release/artist statement – holds the key.
it reads like a (human) code book – a poem written by someone who wants to keep a little distance, a little dignity – while he is really baring it all. telling you . . . something very private and something really important and intimate and meaningful about his own life, his young family . . . and how it shapes – his creative force.
CASSANDRA MACLEOD . . .
the press release/artist statement opens like this:
“Beneath our feet is an inverted pyramid of excavated earth. It is the cup. The martini glass that will hold our DNA.”
if you saw the hole Urs dug here, you know exactly what he is saying . . . and if you can follow poetry, a roomful of many tables, some stacked one upon the other, a jumble of tables . . . i.e. MORE is MORE – becomes an homage to the poetry . . . that a young family, just starting out – shares.
it’s about infinity, depth, the unknown and the sole mother earth – that is our ground. that we learn to walk upon, and upon whom our lives play out – as we endlessly and infinitely – reproduce the human species. and try to evolve into a future . . . as we function in our survival mode. that is the path we walk. that is the floor of our homes, the gallery.
“Hovering over that mythic cup is a horizontal plane of our invention.”
Urs doesn’t mess around.
JULIAN SCHNABEL.
his face – shows up on one of the tables . . .
“Together with the chair, the table is a first sculpture.”
yeah, Urs has distilled basic human existence to – the functionality of the table . . .
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA.
JOE BRADLEY.
collector PETER BRANT.
STEFANIE SEYMOUR.
art world power brokers, writer LINDA YABLONSKI and dealer JEANNE GREENBERG ROHATYN.
so you enter into this labyrinth of utilitarian hard-edged, as opposed to organic, round, over-sized or baroque – tables.
which is: less is more . . . sculpture-wise.
and you have to start to contemplate. space. multiplicity. the maze. the contrasts of shape, and scale . . . color. imagery.
MORE is truly MORE – at this point.
the spatial design of the whole, the creative many vs. the absolute utility of the one . . . it all comes back down to – just a table and a couple of chairs.
the hard edges of the tables and their conservative utility – are broken up into infinite possibility – by the multiplicity of acrylic silkscreened images – under a glossy coat of brushless surface lamination.
more IS more.
the metal legs – especially on the stacked tables – become a dynamic of their own.
would one want one ? or many stacked in an assortment, to be used as needed. or left as a sculpture. I don’t know.
I guess that would depend on if you were a less is more, or more is more – type person.
it was fun to come around a corner, and be stopped by the image.
“Together with the chair, the table is a first sculpture. Not a tool or a weapon, but an object autonomously itself while simultaneously integrated into our lived experience. Just like your dog, your table has evolved and entwined with us. It has run alongside, becoming indistinguishable and invisible.”
not.
“The table is part of the family, it is the stage on which we act.”
“The small personal universe over which we talk, eat, plan our future, pay our bills and raise our children.”
“We sit at the table and look past each other to see the pictures on the walls around us. We look down at plates of food below us on the table, look into each others eyes and we raise a glass.”
totally love the faux picnic table ‘planks’ . . . on this one.
“You get up from the table to close the window to the cold and wind.”
“Just then a sparrow flies swiftly in the room, circles around us at the table for a moment, and just as suddenly flies out through the window on the other side.”
a multiplicity of painted steel table mounts. more is more.
here and there – the equivalent of the “sparrow”.
“When we create this new flat space, the earth is lifted up to float 30 inches above the globe.”
the tables are tagged – with the artist’s signature underneath . . .
“We defy physical reality, make a mockery of gravity and discover ourselves and our imagination.”
“A psychic space that was midwife in the birth . . .”
“of our first terrors and the comforts we seek in each other.’
even a – Jackson Pollock table. (!!)
“This imaginary plane is the site of an original collective unconscious – spread out flat before us as we gathered around it.”
a drawing by the youngest artist in the family . . .
“We are sweet landfill, our own dusty molecules borrowed from the earth.”
painting by Cassandra, edge of table by Urs . . .
“but these objects here now are the feral forms of our unconscious. They are our aliens, unmoored from our endless cycle and lifting off into other dimensions.”
Cassandra’s painting . . .
“They are holograms, only resembling 3 dimensions, their imagery like pools of water at night . . .
reflecting back on ourselves.”
painting by Cassandra MacLeod . . .
“they are our beautiful excess and accumulation.”
“They sit in anticipation of our love . . .
and hunger . . . ”
. . . our nourishment and conversation.”
“Breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
ALL QUOTES – FROM THE GALLERY PRESS RELEASE/ARTIST STATEMENT
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~URS FISCHER + CASSANDRA MACLEOD |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 27th, 2011, 12:48pm
the homepage for influential designer STEFAN SAGMEISTER’S New York City office – is a real time webcam scan from above. the decal stickers on the floor, CONTACT, PRESS, STORE etc – are working links to further info. this format took effect sometime around December 14, 2010.
I guess I should go back and screen grab it – during the day with the employees at work – !! but there is something wicked and stealthy about checking in – at night !!
before the webcam set-up – it was a really cool, but very different, abstract – full screen multicolored vertical stripe pattern.
see: Welcome/ Sagmeister Inc
UNDER: ‘ANSWERS’ . . . .
. . . a very succinct and typically Sagmeisterian-crafted, brief but totally illuminating paragraph addressing the new: small is big issue.
though in the art world we’ve always said, at least since the 70s: less is more.
but now, the question seems to be more relevant than ever. because of the largeness of the web.
STEFAN SAGMEISTER at the opening of his curious and really unique-thinking, way ahead-of-the-curve one-person show at DEITCH PROJECTS, NYC.
Jan 31, 2008.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
see a few more pix: STEFAN SAGMEISTER/OPENING -THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN MY LIFE SO FAR.
in particular check out that poster.
the title of the show: brilliant. and in typical Sagmeister speak: ‘Things I have Learned In My Life So Far.’
on a shiny metallic gun-metal gray paper – impeccable type font, of course. white.
and a way way beautiful & content-resonating image.
I have plenty more pix from the show on the archives, but alas if you’ve been paying attention – that ALNY (archive) is down . . . down and crashed. aah, the power & the glory, and the potential for wipe-out . . . of the web.
the man-made computer-based web.
just like a spider’s web . . . all at once strong, and far strung-out. functional beyond belief, a natural wonder. but ultimately flimsy and fragile, and just like a spider web. one fell swoop – and it’s down. (non-sagmeisterian speak – it’s hard to do, don’t knock it)
this was a landmark show. it was a show that crossed over big time from graphic design into ‘fine’ art. Sagmeister even put up a huge, wall-sized, traditional quilt pattern – composed entirely of yellow bananas. real ones, that started to decompose and turn black over the course of the show. kinetic graphics – get your head around, that.
so, yeah, ok. Jeffrey put on some good shows. !
~STEFAN SAGMEISTER/WE WORK IN PUBLIC |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 26th, 2011, 8:22pm
‘QUIET: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ – ROUGH CUT SCREENING, WHITE BOX – OCT 21, 2011 – PART 2
a young(er) ALFREDO MARTINEZ ran the shooting gallery art installation at ‘QUIET’.
it was the most popular exhibit there. mostly because it was interactive. you, meaning anybody – could come shoot big guns, under professional conditions . . . I mean even, or esp in New York City – how many ordinary city folk, incl hipsters get to . . . really play with guns.
everybody jumped at the chance. and I mean everybody, but esp (stylish) girls.
Alfredo’s self-enclosed plexiglas bullet-proof enclosure was super too. very futuristic. Alfredo designed it himself.
it cost him well over $60,000 to build. year 2000 dollars. not including the salaries for the licensed professional film prop weapons specialists, who were there 24/7 – as required by city ordinance.
(there’s some funny back & forth in the film about that, as well. the film production laws in this almost tinsel town.)
video artist FEEDBUCK conferring with Josh – in the early stages of the installation.
insider’s will catch – a really funny sequence in this edit, about the so-called budget.
FEEDBUCK, the Pseudo resident video artist – is shown chuckling . . . over that.
he says something like: “Josh had made a budget for the party, I think he spent the entire budget – the very first day” !!
meaning after that, it was just one big free fall. money-wise too. outta-control.
I remember Josh’s most frequent question throughout the entire 2 weeks: “anybody see my credit card ?
I can’t remember who I last gave it to.” famous last words.
what is it about guns ? that make them such a babe magnet ?
the chicks just lined up . . . to play with those big guns.
girlz and gunz.
more girlz with gunz. it was the never-ending story.
even Josh, of course . . . got into the gun game. nothing like being around big guns, to make you look – just like a FED !!
you can just start to make out Alfredo’s futuristic $60,000 ‘shooting’ gallery – behind him.
note: Year 2000 $$
this is what it looked like, inside. just one small section – lottsa guns. and big ones.
plus, note that FOX TV logo – yep, we made a big splash – on the local media. the Millennium, how could we not. we were the biggest, and baddest thing happening – in the entire Big Apple – at the turn of this century.
think on – that.
the Interrogation Room.
on the left, the interrogator, and he did a great job of terrorizing everybody: that was ASHKAN SAHIHI.
he was so for real. he could go work for KHADAFY – if Khadafy hadn’t just been taken down by a Yankee fan.
it didn’t help that the interrogation room was right next to the shooting gallery. even though it was soundproof – in the middle of being interrogated / terrorized – every now and then, a big gun would blast out. and the poor jerk under scrutiny – would jump. I mean, who really knew what Josh was capable of ?
yep, they did indeedy catch a big gun blast – ‘jumper’. . . in the rough cut. it’s in the next frame.
R.I.P.
JUDGECAL. aka CAL. he ran the video game consoles next to the Interrogation Room. he also ran the local Vampire branch. for real. he threw the best flat-out party, of the entire 2 weeks, the very nite before New Year’s Eve – it was absolutely and fabulously wild, ritualistic . . . and everybody had fangs. when he passed away a year or two ago, under suspicious circumstances, his friends spread his ashes on the famous Pseudo door – at the SE corner of Broadway and Houston.
R.I.P.
MARK ENGER. he’s the dude who silk screened the red or blue concentric ‘target’ circles on the uniforms of the chosen few. kind of like the anti-army hierarchy.
yeah, I had many ‘targets’ silk screened on mine.
Mark Enger is the guy who got the huge ‘Drunken Cowboy’ cameo – in the finished documentary.
Mark had big ‘targets’ for the back of the shirts, and smaller scale ones – for the sleeves and fronts.
JOSH often walked around, and M.C.d as his alter ego: LUVVY . . . the clown ? the bad clown ? how about the last man standing ?
it was an escape from the C.E.O. label, but also it was an easier and more effective way to encourage (way) bad behavior.
just compare Luvvy to Josh the Fed, a few frames above, and Josh the internet C.E.O. (previous post) below. get it ?
Luvvy’s shinning moment was when he got to judge the live sex act competition. between a straight couple,
a lesbian couple and a gay couple. the straight couple won, but the lesbo bed crew elicited one of the biggest laugh-out-loud moments in the rough cut. When the official competition monitor, a tough lady moderator type, who was helping out Luvvy, went to sit on their bed to chat them up, she immediately jumps back up, exclaiming: “it’s wet !!”
that was Luvvy in a nutshell.
we get to see ALEX ARCADIA, whinning about Josh, having trampled the “purity” of his installation. even though as an individual artist – he scored the biggest budget . . .
for his over-the-top sci fi temple . . . more fascist than Buddhist, truth be told, it was a temple to . . . what else ? Alex Arcadia, himself – with a capital A. it even had live goldfish, the big ones, carp as they are known at that point, swimming in the when finished water-filled moat !!
even though Josh paid and paid handsomely for the honor of allowing Arcadia to build a temple in honor of himself. Arcadia is seen in the film, grumbling, and burning, apparently to no avail, sage to re-purify his temple, after Josh had trampled on its “sanctity” – by using it as a ‘new age’ speech podium . . . trust me, it was an almost Star Trek moment.
p.s. the reported budget on the Arcadia temple installation was $80,000. those were the fab golden dot.com days.
the best Star Trek moment – of the party.
QUIET – be careful what you wish for. it’s closer than you think.
photographer ASHKAN SAHIHI, currently based in London and New York – who played – the notorious and chilling – ‘QUIET: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ interrogator, is alive and well . . . and showed up – at the Oct 21, 2011 WHITE BOX screening.
on the right: the notorious performance artist – PATRICK BUCKLEW – aka – MANGINA !!
also alive and well, he also made the WHITE BOX rough cut screening this past weekend, with his companion, Sprout.
like I said: QUIET, be careful what you wish for . . .
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~the Interrogation Room, GUNZ & GIRLZ |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 24th, 2011, 3:27pm
FILE UNDER: CENSORED . . .
‘QUIET: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ – ROUGH CUT SCREENING, WHITE BOX – OCT 21, 2011 – PART I
MANGINA . . . in his ‘QUIET: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ – pod.
year 2000 – the Millennium, NYC – PHOTO COPYRIGHT: DONNA FERRATO
Josh said he tried to post this photo – on his Facebook page – to promote & mark the recent Oct 21, 2011 screening of a rare rough cut of – ‘QUIET: WE LIVE In PUBLIC’ – the mother of all parties . . . but the Facebook censor bots – kept taking it down – every time he put it up.
he said – he thinks this image – is pretty much where it’s all at, now . . .
the fact that it gets censored by Facebook is a big irony for the guy behind the earliest dot.com funded ‘social experiment’ – his ‘QUIET: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ – which pretty much envisioned the web matrix and ‘social’ – ‘hive’ networking – in the first place.
and what’s your most important stat anyways – single ?
I guess if you can blink – you can think: that pretty much says it all: 10 years – in a nutshell.
the first decade of the web – from bio baby and wild human factory – to preppy shutdown & status up-dates.
if you wanna say boner – better make that booner.
(see the ‘community’ commentary – on the recent Yuke band YouTube – post below).
Yuck !! bummer. loss of freedom. Yuck, just another four letter word . . . but it don’t get you banned.
all hail: the urban dictionary.
ANTHONY HADEN-GUEST showed up for the WHITE BOX screening – and immediately took up one of ALFREDO MARTINEZ’S homemade Saturday night specials – !!
MARY POPPINS ? not !!
JOSH HARRIS and ALFREDO MARTINEZ, just before the screening . . .
JOSH HARRIS – ok, he ain’t Steve Jobs – but he is still the most famous web visionary, guru and entrepreneur – not to forget artist and patron of the arts – you never heard of. a true original thinker . . he makes everybody else in this town – look flat. and that’s saying a lot.
and even worse – it’s true.
put it this way: Steve Jobs – envisioned spread sheets – as in: business – for his early personal computing devices. Josh heard spread sheets and envisioned: spread legs. business reports vs. social networking. get it ?
the guy who developed the hardware, thought: business. Josh intuitively got the bigger picture of the future. the ‘web’ interconnected hive matrix part. it’s also called, again: what’s your most important status. single ?
we used to call it, human nature. and its still the primal drive. spread sheets – as in you know: beds !!
translate: organic reproduction.
sex, bodily fluids and rock n roll – human biology 101 – baby. it’s the only thing that humans can do now – that computers can’t.
just ask: SIRI – the new voice recognition & (don’t knock it) thinking ‘personal assistant’ – on the new iPhone 4. if you want action . . . she can call you up an ‘escort’ service – but she can’t do ya !!
though apparently she’s programmed to have quite a sense of humor. ha.
. . so, it turned out be a shorter version of the original rough cut – that we had played – at the DANIEL SILVERSTEIN GALLERY, SUMMER 2001. it’s original working title was: THE BUBBLE.
‘THE BUBBLE’, Rough Cut 02/02/2001 – Director: ONDI TIMONER
but for whatever got left on the cutting floor, this raw in-the-moment 2nd rough edit . . . did C-A-T-C-H the hi-octane energy and explosive free-for-all of the multi-artist installation and 2 week million dollar+ millennium party – that had 99 resident artists and in-house crew members working together – and everyone, everyone followed by the omnipresent mounted cameras, and live camera crews. and most of this footage was streamed live right back at ya !! on multi-channel screens. the Pseudo-funded party was also open to the public 24/7. it was wild. it was chaotic. it was crowded. it was dangerous and flat-out cutting edge. free flowing open bars. vampire parties. day turned into night, and night. what the hell was that. for 2 glorious weeks – nobody knew if it was – day or night. but everybody got it. it was the present. and it was the future.
and indeed it was.
it was the whole spectrum of HUMAN nature . . . but put out by artists, real underground radical-thinking cutting-edge artists – not Orange County housewives.
it was like Josh turned a 4 story grimy downtown warehouse into a ‘living’ breathing real-time time capsule – a Noah’s Ark for the millennium . . . a space ship ready to ditch earth, and land somewhere – new, free and better. maybe even start over. reproduction of the species – would be vital. hey, dudes: it was the millennium. it was downtown. it was New York City.
I’m thinking New York City circa Oct 2011. OWS/OCCUPY WALL STREET – maybe they should re-call JEFF GOMPERTZ back from Thailand – and get him to erect some pod hotels in Zuccotti Park. asap. and some public toilets, and a big hot group shower, too.
oh, the FEDS really gonna shut me down, now.
surveillance was a big big issue at ‘Quiet’ – behind the parties and the art – lay some very heavy duty control rooms. oh yeah . . .
the “Bubble” – also caught . . . how young, we all were . . . 10 short years ago.
when Josh was the “artist and the money guy” !!
it was the cusp of the dot.com days. money was no problemo. . . and we ruled.
it was his baby. his “social experiment”. he was the puppet master.
JEFF GOMPERTZ, now stationed in Thailand – put up the pod hotel. it housed 99 sleep-in residents . . .
a European-accented surveillance expert, NILS BONDES – did all the pod wiring, 24/7 cameras and live streaming monitors . . in each and every pod. and everywhere else. everywhere. . . . we live in public.
a hard-hatted LEO FERNEKES – was one of the site’s top surveillance engineers – and he also oversaw all the digital back room stuff . . .
they shot that wired pod hotel up – in less than 2 weeks. OWS: take note.
and, yeah there was even . . . a bonafide NYC/Lower East Side artist kid along for the time capsule ride. the future, get it ?
check out the pod’s live streaming monitor on the left. you had a choice of like 6 channels, or even a mulit-channel split screen. Leo, and his crew determined the real-time live feed streams of the moment. that was the input.
then you had the output. the omnipresent camera, right under the monitor – checking you out. and sending your signals back to central control. every pod was equipped like this.
Facebook – you be so lame.
a lot of people made the scene. and fueled the dynamic. this is COURTNEY TAYLOR of the Dandy Warhols.
I guess he was friends with Ondi – because of ‘Dig!’. one intense dude.
even mega-art dealer and would-be museum curator JEFFREY DEITCH strolled by. and hardly left, bye the way, though he didn’t get down and dirty in a pod. though he is seen raving and raving about it – and Josh – in the rough cut.
Jeffrey. not one to rumple his bespoke suit.
and yeah Jeffrey dropped the ball. afterwards, he just acted like this great scene had never existed, never encouraged any of its artists. not one. never referenced it again. I guess mainly because it was NOT his idea.
and he went on to become – what he wanted. which is, he wanted to be: the art world version 0.2 of Josh Harris. he co-opted Josh. minus the cool. and that’s alI I’m gonna say about that.. it’s a touchy topic . . . but ain’t it the truth.
LEO KOENIG. pretty much the same game plan. take the goods, and run.
Josh wanted a good-looking young well-connected art dealer to be the face of the party. so as to emphasize the artist installations and the big artist-fed contributions, so Alfredo brought in Leo. Josh liked the pedigree – most of us were street artists right down to the tips of our worn-out boots. the minute Leo landed, all of our names, those of the founding artists – disappeared from the press releases.
after that, all you got was LEO KOENIG talking about ERIK PARKER. ain’t that the truth.
Erik Parker is even caught in this edit, and what does he say: “I’m here, but I’m really only interested in doing my own thing.”
enuff said. connect the sorry ass dots – for yourself.
on the left. the young filmmaker ONDI TIMONER. Josh hired her on the spot to film the party scene – solely based her rock n’roll ‘DIG!’ footage. what was she ? all of 28 or something. something like that. but 7 years later she went on to assemble the Sundance winning documentary – ‘WE LIVE In PUBLIC’ – based mostly on the hours and stories of the ‘QUIET’ raw footage . . . and a damn good, look back . . a real sharp narrative and visual break-down re: the web and the evolution of social networking, and the story of the man behind it all: JOSH HARRIS.
at some point all the resident artists and in-house production crew had to adopt uniforms, red/orange work pants, grey work shirts – so we could be distinguished from the guest masses – so we could move around freely. yes, damn straight, it was absolutely that crowded.
and also, just to raise the ‘performance’ bar, just that little bit – higher. wearing identical crew uniforms was an interesting mind-set all of its own.
and, yes – there was a ‘toxic’ room right next to the pods !!
the brainchild of AIDAS BAREKIS and AARON BREWER – Josh loved it.
Josh. it was kind of the the best worst-kept secret of the whole damn place.
housed right next to the sleeping quarters. of the pod hotel.
looking back – it kinda spoke to the downside of the web. who ARE you talking to . . in reality ?
who do you trust and why do you trust them. esp if you never really meet them. why do you friend them. spill all your secrets to . . and then cry when you get hacked, spammed and conned by. stalked and bullied. busted by . . . and tagged. malware.
the web version of hitchhiking.
the losers, on the far end of the social status pole, or just those crew members who really needed to sleep, as opposed to party, got the short stick – they were placed in the pods – next to the toxic room.
no fire escape either.
hey, a dot.com millionaire turned artist – can have a little fun, can’t he ?
all those bodies needed to get clean – biology 101. the group shower had plenty of hot water.
and of course, it was transparent. with plenty of cameras trained on the action.
humans – need a good hosing, daily.
yeah, it was pretty surreal.
and they had to eat.
OWEN BUSH designed and ran the ‘Bubble’ dining room. housed in the building next door.. . it was possibly the most beautiful room in the entire place.
it provided sit-down meals prepared by an in-house 3 star chef – for 99 guests . . . twice a day for 2 weeks.
it also provided a camaraderie. a break in the day’s activity. as well as more often than not, entertainment. there were plenty of live (outrageous, of course) performances across that long table top. imagine: King Arthur’s round table – in an x-rated 21st C. downtown performance piece.
‘food’ art – before the art fair crowd even knew, there was – such a thing.
as well, there were the omni-present real-time live streaming monitors, of all the action going down, back in the pod, the exhibits, the party central. you could be watching the transparent shower action, or some pod ‘activity’ – as you chowed down dessert. nothing fazed anybody.
there’s a nice clip of video performance artist MISSY GALORE doing a wild performance, orange juice anybody ?
on the dining room table – in this rough cut.
the fun thing about this rough cut – is: even though it’s brief – it has a lot of juice.
no pun intended. it’s the mother – of the mother of all parties.
many brilliant or funny moments got caught – that later on ended up on the killing floor – cut from the final doc. either because they were too wild and over-the-top brutal for mass distribution, or they just got lost in the drive for the larger picture, and a more thematic goal.
PART 2 – THE INTERROGATION ROOM, GUNZ & GIRLZ – COMING UP, NEXT . . .
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH – UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
~JOSH’S FRIEND STATUS . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 23rd, 2011, 10:47am
