MARK ENGER – MEMORIAL CELEBRATION
SAT – MARCH 26, 2011 – FROM 2-4 PM
St. MARK’S CHURCH – 131 EAST 10th St at 2nd Ave – NYC
MARK ENGER 1963 – 2011.
I’m thinking maybe – just maybe – RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA throws the occasional glance or two – at artlovers – and was moved to include – a silkscreen-artist-at-work installation at – ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – by our recent coverage of the worldly departing of our dear friend and silkscreen artist – supremo – MARK ENGER – who called his studio . . . which he ran with his identical twin brother MATT . . . EXPLODING SKY WORLDWIDE . . . and which Matt continues to run.
MARK ENGER – in his studio just about one year ago – a true American hero.
an amazing super talented artist who silkscreened on canvas – as well as on pretty much everything else.
T-shirts included. He died sadly this past January 2011, not quite 48 yrs old. after a long and brave battle with throat cancer.
yeah. smokin’ too many of those damn ciggies – brought this sweet cowboy down.
MARK was a master silkscreener – you can watch him at work, here: MARK ENGER AT WORK/YouTube !!
and yeah, Mark also printed in-your-face slogans . . . but more about the art world – than the world at large.
ALL ARTISTS ARE WHORES
ALL CRITICS ARE LIARS
ALL DEALERS ARE PIMPS
ALL COLLECTORS ARE PIGS
FASCIST. ARTIST – DEALER – COLLECTOR – ON A MYLAR SCREEN.
Mark really liked to screen on utility jackets.
in fact, I first met him at PSEUDO – where he was silk screen artist-in-residence for JOSH HARRIS. he silkscreened our in-house crew work shirts at QUIET – and he plays a cameo role in WE LIVE IN PUBLIC – yep, he is the drunken cowboy. who couldn’t get back in the party.
yeah. his imagery got a little more aggressive – in the face of death. I guess that will do it to, ya.
talk about walking around – and maybe having your silkscreened message – provoke an attack.
liberal society or not.
but he also addressed the American past . . .
the Revolutionary War, the Civil War. cowboys . . .
and Native American Indians.
an army brat, born in FORT SILL, Oklahoma – he came by his imagery – from the ground up.
to visit Mark in his studio . . .
was truly to see . . .
poetry – in action.
he was definitely into making one-off – ‘unique’ – images from the ‘press’.
Mark Enger, gone – but not forgotten.
REST IN PEACE.
ONLY THE GOOD – DIE YOUNG.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH.
STUDIO VISIT. EXPLODING SKY, Newark, N.J. APRIL 2010.
~MARK ENGER MEMORIAL CELEBRATION |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 24th, 2011, 9:36pm
FILE UNDER: RIRKRIT GIVES NEW MEANING TO: YOU ARE – WHAT YOU EAT ??!!
OR: DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME – IF YOU LIVE IN LIBYA, CHINA . . . ARIZONA ?
IN HIS T-SHIRT SHOP – WHAT YOU WEAR – IS WHAT YOU THINK. AND THOSE ARE – FIGHTING WORDS.
IT’S NOT SO MUCH A CLOTHING SHOP – AS A WALKING TABLOID – A PRINTING PRESS DISSEMINATING REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT.
WHAT THEY USED TO CALL – A BROADSHEET.
WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN & RESOURCES ARE SCARCE – THE T-SHIRT – IS A GOOD USE OF MATERIAL – JUST BETTER MAKE SURE – THE SOCIETY WHOSE DAYS ARE NUMBERED – HAS FREEDOM OF SPEECH . . . AND A SENSE OF HUMOR.
JUST IMAGINE IF THE CONCEPT OF A SLOGAN-PRINTED T-SHIRT – EXISTED in 1776 . . .
THAT’D BE SO FUNNY – TO SEE GEO. WASHINGTON IN A T-SHIRT – THAT PROCLAIMED: ‘OUT WITH THE BRITS’ !!
FEAR EATS THE SOUL – HOT OFF THE PRESS !!
not to mention – its also nice to see a real live artisan – at work . . . and, on an ancient form of mass communication, to boot.
silkscreen printing first surfaced in CHINA’S – SONG DYNASTY (960-1279AD).
and yes. when the power grid goes down – the old ways will re-surface.
(THINK . . . ON THAT – ONE. HA.)
who knew. the beauty of plywood. and the make-shift – sink . . .
the triumph of the white-wall break-down . . . not to mention that incredible plywood – golden hue.
ironically so suited for – the digital camera era.
oh, what a low-rent material – can do – when processed through the hands of a real artist.
on the left, RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA rests against his de-constructionist cube. yeah. gimme more of that big box take-down . . .
gallery shake-down. global shake-down. mind-set shake-down.
c’mon world get over – the ‘get-over’. the greed. the reign by terror . . . downscale and survival – is where it’s at.
T-SHIRT NO T-SHIRT – SHOP HRS/INFO
MORE PIX FROM THE OPENING – ‘FEAR EATS SOUL’ – RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA – GAVIN BROWN’S enterprise – MARCH 5, 2011.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
UP-DATE: FRI MARCH 25, 2011 – 1:08 PM
p.s. I heard on the grapevine that RIRKRIT will be at the installation – serving up Chicken Soup in person. tomorrow Sat March 26.
I would bet on the late afternoon, as the best window of time to catch him.
yeah, I’m agonna try to catch him after the ENGER MEMORIAL – ask him a few qusstiosn, you bet !!
~FEAR EATS THE SOUL/THEM BE FIGHTING WORDS . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 24th, 2011, 6:55pm
for my sm(art) money – RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA’S – ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – is not only the best show in town – it is so good – and, on so many levels – and says all this, and more, with such grace and absolute newness – it is almost the ONLY show in town. period.
you can always see work on walls – but rarely do you get to walk through it.
it’s all gonna be downhill after this. until Gavin lets somebody else do something truly drastic – to his space, again.
it’s on par with that URS FISCHER pit, no doubt about it.
its really so bad that triple whammy disaster in Japan happened. literally. and within a week of this show’s opening. the photos and coverage – did you see the young elementary school survivors celebrating their graduation. a rite of passage – which until just a week ago would have been attended by family and friends in joyfulness. the young graduates struggling to hold back their tears now. heartbreaking. Diplomas and Uncertainty/NYT
uncertainty = fear eats the soul.
it gets sadder and sadder. but art-world wise in NYC – this is especially so. the ties that bind Japan and NYC art-wise are like none other in the world. they are truly yin to yang. brother and sister.
so, it was really sad and shocking to see ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – take on an eerie afterlife. a kind of ‘hipster’ blueprint for a communal disaster ‘shelter’. . . that was supposed to be for the future, not exactly, now. as in right now.
at any rate – wipe-out disaster, real-time or not – Rirkrit’s presentient, not to mention provocative, white wall throw-down – can stand alone as a testament – to where we are going globally . . . without having had the shock – of being proved to be so authentic – in real time.
an emergency pit stop – if I ever did see one.
a 7-eleven for the soul. with warm food and a place to gather. and some real tough art – to think about too, to boot. just my kind of way station, no doubt.
the unwinding reality shouldn’t eclipse – the imaging . . . and for sure, this was one unique vision come to life. and not one gun in sight, bye the way. big wok. no gun. signifies . . . what ?
peaceful society I dunno.
maybe in the east – there is no looting /
maybe the society is too polite. just saying . . . I mean what does that reference mean re: Chairman Mao – and the great violence his (peaceful) revolutionary thought – wrought ?
it’s part of the great integral beauty of Rirkrit’s vision – that he will supply fighting words. communal tables, and free food.
but, no guns.
soup, yes. east meets west. go figure. the specter of violence is not part of the Tiravanija dialog.
his is a very soothing vision. ladling out free soup, just in case the message escaped ya.
item: the enclosed plywood cube of a free-standing makeshift gallery. not only is this humble viewing space so superior to the standard white box – as an experience – but, who knew plywood could cast such a beautiful hue ?
but it also speaks to the role of culture in a degrading and crumbling society. as well as addressing the role of art – vis a vie investment commodity and form of currency. hence: art ‘bank’.
when the urban structures we are used to – go down – for sure new ones will spring up. nomadic and tent-like. plywood cube-like.
make-shift. there will always be trade in precious commodity and . . . ideas.
and this one is just about the size of your standard atm lobby.
and when the atms are down, you sure do wish – you can chip a little piece off that gold chip art – don’t ya ?
this gallery ‘bank’ has got the free-wheeling feel of a frontier trading post – set up in a hurry.
but it’s loaded with heavy-duty context.
and no doubt addresses the fact – that these days, its pretty much, the other way around . . . nice big bright walls, no meaning in sight.
CHAIRMAN MAO – MEETS ANDY WARHOL – CONTEMPLATE THAT, FOR YOURSELF.
wok vs brillo box . . . why isn’t the art world lexicon more global ? what’s art got to do with food. plenty. food is survival.
untainted food – that is. FEAR EATS THE SOUL – on that nuke melt-down thought – doesn’t it . . .
the first man-made paintings were bison – on the caveman’s wall. magic talismans – as they say.
not to mention art + ideas + beauty = commerce. as in: wanting it, at least to behold it, if not to actually own it – creates a marketplace. creativity is the human spark. is this is a mini-bodega for the mind ?
next to the soup kitchen = you find a place to buy food for the mind ?
art + ideas + beauty = inspiration = food for the soul = hope = thought. when it lifts off – the magic = is the power of being.
being human in the face of an earth we cannot control – is simply just making . . . a mark ? an image. a story in shape and form.
a narrative about east meets west .
commerce + magic = human nature in a nutshell.
but maybe its just as simple as: wok needs brillo pad = to stay clean.
love the part about Mao in his sleeping bag on the trail – I know there are some creation myths there – though personally it reminds me of my friend Alfredo being incarcerated in Chinese secret detention, and dreaming of TV . . .
or is that TV over . . . books. I guess that’s up for grabs.
but again – no gun in sight. instead we get the coke bottles, or is that beer, no diff.
in a crate – a brilliant footnote – if I ever did see one. a brilliant graphic.
and if I could only write, as plainspoken as this art speaks – I’d be alright.
the back room. natch.
I keep thinking how fun, to come around that plywood partition wall – and find Gavin at work.
NICOLAI OUROUSSROFF – should review this show.
big question: I guess my big question would be whether Gavin will maintain this brilliant break-down – as his exhibition space proper, going forward ?
I mean the whole entire block-thru installation – rather than pull it down for the next artist ?
I’m gonna cry rivers, come April 16th – if he does.
I mean, even that huge empty communal ‘dining’ hall – would make a great viewing space – and the little plywood cube spaces – could be re-fashioned to any number of future errands ?
it’s also a great relief to escape from the over-exposure of the typical gallery – front office – endless 3 ring binders and girls on phones – which like a boiler room on a cruise ship – should be outta sight, enough already. enough with the post-modern realism.
if you aren’t familiar with the gallery – you aren’t even gonna miss it. let alone have a clue how to reach it !!
Rirkrit and Gavin have stashed it away, behind a flush wall pretty much inaccessible. that super rude engine of modern art commerce – finally out of sight, where it belongs. if not totally lost, at least forgotten.
but I guess still purring on. sight unseen . . .
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA – ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – GAVIN BROWN’S enterprise – MARCH 5-APRIL 16, 2011
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~FEAR EATS THE SOUL/ART BANK (PLYWOOD) |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 22nd, 2011, 4:39pm
FILE UNDER: BRING ME A WITNESS . . .
more pix from the RIKRIT TIRAVANIJA OPENING . . . ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – GBE. MARCH 5, 2011.
on the right: gallerist ALICE VAN DEN ABEELE – of ALICE GALLERY in Brussels, BELGIUM, in town for the art fair weekend – with her pal – AUGUSTIN.
also visiting NYC, center, artist MAURICIO LIMON, of MEXICO – with his hosts: local artist REMY AMEZCUA and his lovely wife, LAURENCE (LOLA) FAYARD – who is a custom bookbinder – LAURENCE FAYARD STUDIO.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~THE DAYS OF THIS SOCIETY IS NUMBERED |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 22nd, 2011, 3:11pm
HELLO KITTY, “Say cheese!”. p-a-p-a-r-a-z-z-i.
HELLO KITTY – Coloring & Activity Book – SANRIO – copyright 1967, 2009
for sure I saw that big write-up in this weekend’s NEW YORK TIMES on the big ‘blockbuster’ show that just opened (MARCH 18, 2011) at the Japan Society entitled: ‘BYE BYE KITTY !!!!’.
I dunno, but I think we must be living in amazingly powerful times for the art and the real world to come down together – with such force. and in New York, no less. my favorite art town. not LA. not London. not Paris.
smack down upfront & street-smart in gritty New York City.
had they produced this show any later – and missed getting it up before the catastrophic events of last week – of course it would have been canceled or censored. the person who thought up the title would have been fired. but what can they do now – but be amazed, along with the rest of us.
‘BYE BYE KITTY’ – more like, BYE BYE KITTY – WIPE-OUT. Oh my lordy.
and is it possible – I’m thinking, yes. that it is the lightning speed of the internet and its often irreverent, snarky snarly scribblers – that has contributed to the popularity of such punchy titles ? that are fun – if you don’t really think about the real meanings. and consequences . . . amid the shocking immediacy of this one.
which translates as: DEATH TO CUTE & INNOCENCE. DEATH TO CHILDHOOD HAPPY. AS WE KNEW IT – PRE-JAPAN 2011.
it’s almost supernatural.
timing wise: maybe it is – supernatural. the stuff myths are made of – centuries down the road.
not to forget that Japanese culture itself, has a very long, ancient and rich tradition of ghosts, goblins, witches, fortune tellers, warriors and shamans – in short: eerie goings on – all the way back to day one ?
one has to stop and give credit immediately to the show’s curator, DAVID ELLIOTT for his vision – !! – and title – that thrust the JAPAN SOCIETY – an institutional cultural & exhibition hall – into the excruciatingly precise pinpoint – where art and reality – became one.
and while a whole range of media personalities took some heat, if they were not downright right fired, for their irreverent tone on twitter regarding the catastrophic news when it first broke – here was this august institution – founded in 1907 – coming in – with such an audacious title – and end-of-the-world take.
really it’s quite astounding, and there was no denying what had already been put in motion.
smart cracks and all. it must be a huge shock for the administrators over there.
about: the JAPAN SOCIETY
GILBERT GOTTFRIED – VOICE OF THE AFLAC DUCK – NO MORE !!!/PHOTO: SYKES/AP and AFLAC
I mean, is the show’s title – ‘BYE BYE KITTY!!!’ – let alone its dire and graphic content (!!!) – any less shocking than what GILBERT GOTTFRIED twitted, I mean twittered – in complete 100% American wise-cracking idiocy – as the triple whammy – earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown – disaster in Japan – crashed world headlines:
“I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any day'” !!
omg – he got canned. then if you look into it – surprise surprise, not – 1 in 4 Japanese households buys AFLAC insurance products and Japan represents 3/4 of their business !! no wonder he got the chop.
see: GILBERT GOTTFRIED FIRED AS THE VOICE OF THE AFLAC DUCK – FOR IRREVERENT TWITTER JOKES . . .
which just goes to show – yep. t-i-m-i-n-g is everything !!
YAMAGUCHI AKIRA, ‘Narita International Airport: Various Scenes of Airplanes, 2005’ at BYE BYE KITTY!!! – JAPAN SOCIETY.
THE FRONT PAGE – THE WEEKEND ARTS – THE NEW YORK TIMES – THIS WEEKEND/FRI MARCH 18, 2011.
the NEW YORK TIMES titled their review of the show: ‘ANXIETY ON THE FAULT LINE’ !! – what a metaphor – !!
talk about trying to straddle the uncomfortable line of when tastefulness meets the rudeness of reality – head-on.
it was up to HOLLAND COTTER to maintain the standard New York Times chit-chat casual – as opposed to heavy and dour – arts coverage that had somehow this weekend come to feast at a head-on collision – a delicate balancing act, no doubt. esp considering the dark futuristic tone, and grim imagery of the work itself, never mind the grimace-inducing no-holds bared title.
‘BYE BYE KITTY’ – indeed.
wow. they couldn’t have wished upon a star and got it – better.
KOHEI NAWA, ‘PixCell – Elk No. 2’, taxidermied (Elk) specimen covered with translucent plastic globes . . . in ‘BYE BYE KITTY’. PHOTO CREDIT: OZIER MUHAMMEAD/THE NEW YORK TIMES
. . . good bye, Hello Kitty – hello Nuclear mutation ?
the whole title of the show is: ‘Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art’ – go figure.
it is up at the JAPAN SOCIETY – 333 EAST 47th STREET – thru JUNE 12, 2011.
like I said, it was up to HOLLAND COTTER to do the dirty deed. the review. he did a pretty good job. he stayed pretty calm. it was an awkward position for an (institutional) arts critic to be in – the wipe-out of cute !!
when it had – just – actually happened . . .
he began:
” . . a piquant exhibition of dark-minded work at Japan Society . . was conceived as a sharp counterweight to the cult of cuteness – kawaii – that has been Japan’s dominant aesthetic for decades. No one of course could have known that the show’s images of fragility and decay would end up being seen in the light of real-life disaster . . . .
Some people have long viewed the cuteness craze, exemplified in the “Hello Kitty” commercial logo – a blank-faced cartoon cat with a bow in her hair – and filtering into the work of art-stars like TAKASHI MURAKAMI, as a symptom of cultural malaise, a stress reaction on the part of a nation living with chronic uncertainty.
As DAVID ELLIOTT, the independent curator who organized the show, writes in the catalog, ‘In a densely urbanized, highly stratified society situated in the heart of an earthquake zone, the fear that the worst could easily happen lies at the back of many minds’.
By that view, images associated with very early childhood, a stage of life traditionally free of pressures in Japan, feed into a desire for communal security. And feel-good art, of the kind produced by artists like Mr. Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara is yet another way to market that sensation.”
(I think I would not be alone in questioning that specific artist-choice conclusion – there is also – and always was something too over-the-top and waiting for the other shoe to drop – in all of Japan’s ‘cute’ art, but esp in his two references – but it’s a good point to beg further discussion . . . )
Mr. Holland continues:
“In a way utterly foreign to the plastic Hello Kitty universe, much of what’s in the Japan Society show is, for better and worse, about organic change. You see this in the scarred faces of MOTOHIKO ODANI’S wooden Noh masks, and in KOHEI NAWA’S ‘PixCell-Elk No. 2’ – a taxidermied specimen covered with translucent plastic globes that look luminous but also pathological, like growths from genetic experiments or excessive radiation.”
and concludes:
“Not everything is wonderful. . . But a lot of what’s here carries a strain of critical fierceness and existential seriousness that has been absent from Japanese work for some time. And with the hellish natural and nuclear catastrophe Japan is now suffering, this is likely to be the way at least some new art will continue to go.”
read his whole article: ANXIETY ON THE FAULT LINE/HOLLAND COTTER/THE NEW YORK TIMES/ MARCH 18, 2011
Personally – I’d slightly disagree with his projection . . .
I’d venture to say, just off the top of my head – along with art about ‘mutation’ – and no ‘cute’ in sight – I bet a new folk art emerges. quilt-making, shelter-making, and a return to simple folk art, like carved ‘icons’ – such as totems and masks – as well as communal survival narratives, such as renewed theater fables. and maybe, just maybe in the face of so much tragedy – there will even be – a return to cute – !! – from the grassroots-up art vs. commercial-driven art.
cute art – maybe even with smiley faces this time – you know real home-made dolls – instead of those blank ones – with no mouths. I mean, looking back those HELLO KITTY cats – were kinda scary. cute but scary. but maybe that was their wide appeal – weren’t they having a hey day – waiting for it all to end. join in the fun. life. it’s all one big fairy tale . . . ca 1976.
so, watch out – new generation – HELLO Mr. MUTATION – coloring books – ala KUMI MACHIDA – coming your way soon . . . I don’t think so. but hey, the ways things are going, maybe its not so far off.
MOTOHIKO ODANI, wooden Noh masks in ‘BYE BYE KITTY!!!’
PHOTO: YAMAMOTO GENDAI/THE NEW YORK TIMES
. . . . a (nuke) mutated – Noh mask ??!!
KUMI MACHIDA, ‘Relation’ – in ‘BYE BYE KITTY!!!’
PHOTO: KUMI MACHIDA/COURTESY: THE NEW YORK TIMES
and the nuke-mutated babies – of the future ??? – new age coloring books – here we come !!
KUMI MACHIDA (1970 – ), ‘Visitor’, 2004 – in ‘BYE BYE KITTY!!!’/IMAGE COURTESY: JAPAN SOCIETY
unbelievably there was an exhibition-linked event, titled ‘Cordoning the Child, Killing the Kawaii’ – (Kawaii – meaning cute . . and over-the-top innocent and happy !!) scheduled for yesterday, Sat March 19, 2011 – a discussion by the show’s curator DAVID ELLIOTT – which addressed this topic: “In recent years, Japanese contemporary art has too often confined itself to the restrictive hierarchies of the antique, the childish or the ‘cute’.”
“THIS talk …. examines the ways many young Japanese artists have confronted cultural stereotypes, digesting, and re-imaging tradition in a challenging and at times visceral exposition of contemporary experience.”
BOY – did they get a wake-up call or, what ?
I guess the odds were running out and maybe – they just saw it coming.
reality bite: JAPAN-style. or what.
HELLO KITTY, “SPENDING THE DAY – WITH NATURE” !!
HELLO KITTY COLORING & ACTIVITY BOOK – SANRIO 1976, 2009.
~BYE BYE KITTY !!! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 20th, 2011, 12:59pm
JAPAN REELS AS TOLL RISES AND NUCLEAR RISKS LOOM
The scene in Natori, JAPAN, reflected the paralysis across the country on Sunday March 13, 2011.
PHOTO BY: TOSHIYUKI TSUNENARI/ASAHI SHIMBUN, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS/COURTESY: THE NEW YORK TIMES. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011 – FRONT PAGE.
MORE PIX – FROM THE RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA: ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – OPENING – MARCH 5, 2011
GAVIN BROWN’S enterprise – the show is up thru APRIL 16, 2011
inside the installation – after the packed opening nite crowd – had subsided.
so mysterious, so eeire, and that was before Japan – blew up. F- E- A-R.
so, of course the big global disaster in Japan that racked and reeled our world, happened pretty much one week to the day after the RIRKRIT TITAVANIJA opening. I was going to file this post – more opening nite pix – originally as: ‘blockbuster’ – but that seemed a poor way to go – after the events of last week unfolded.
I was speechless, yeah I know. too stunned to write. artlovers has many fans and friends in Japan. that red-haired girl above – could be one – the photo hit home in a most terrible way.
mostly I thought about how the greatest art – always touches the soul of the times. and sometimes literally.
how artists are and always have been shamans.
I felt overwhelming that a show that got titled: ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’, instead of, for example: come eat Thai soup – at my Soup Kitchen – hit a raw nerve, a live-wire before anyone knew it was all gonna blow . . . how does an artist do that – pull the magic out of the air . . . like that. just like an ole-time diviner . . .
just like SHEPARD FAIREY did. when he opened his NYC solo show at JEFFREY DEITCH last year, and titled it ‘MAY DAY’ – as in S.O.S – right smack on the cusp of that big BP oil spill.
and that’s really it – but it’s so hard to get your – modern ‘no-frills’ brain around it.
the best artists in this century – and I guess like going back forever – they do divine, not just define – our world. and that is why from the earliest times and unbelievably so even in our skeptical times – artists are shamans.
and RIRKRIT TRIVANIJA is a shaman. conceptual artist yes. shaman yes. can you put that on your resume ?
the opening nite crowd . . .
yes, the show is a blockbuster – both conceptually & production-wise.
it had the magic of ‘creative visionary architecture’ even before the events in Japan unfolded . . . . the kind of creative architecture – that leads to creative thinking that NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF is always going on about in the New York Times. it had stand-alone magic. makes-you-think bout what-you-feels magic. . . that creeps into your total knowledge without your quite stopping to wonder why or internally process.
. . . even before it had tsunami realism. this was one pit stop – that spoke to a FEAR – that absolutely manifested – after the fact.
what Rirkrit had conjured – was not just a pretty candlelight opening – he had torn down a formal white box structure and made a make-shift shelter.
a communal meeting place: with a soup kitchen ladling out free food . . . an art gallery (or ‘bank’ – more on that later), and a T-shirt shop – that both clothed and informed you – a kind of walking newspaper.
just like what could happen next: be it intergalactic space travel on the low-down or apocalyptic calamity here on earth – and, yeah Rirkrit: got it down – right.
in the aftermath of the opening . . .
I mean it is: a blockbuster literally.
Gavin and Rirkrit tore the entire guts out of the entire block long GBE empire. completely destroyed that white box. de-construction. down with boxes. oh yeah, I loved it. I loved it beyond the beyond. . . beyond I have words for.
even before it had a meaningful real-time context . . .
or better said: when its meaning was just in your head . . .
oh my god seriously: talk about de-construction.
it’s hard to destroy that white box & still show art !! think on that.
and this installation ?- like a small movie set within a white gallery take-down, like nesting Russian folk art eggs . . .
had its very own art gallery . . . really a kind of ‘art – bank’.
a stamp-sized one albeit, a cube. but a plywood cube. and all better for it . . . all for the good.
if that art inside – comes with the plywood square it’s housed in – I’m buying the whole damn thing . . . GAVIN BROWN letters – in black – on the outside glass, and all !!
behind that back wall – a back office, of course.
. . . and a god-damn T-SHIRT shop, on the other side of the right wall.
SOUP – NO SOUP.
T-SHIRT. NO T-SHIRT.
Rirkrit – so funny.
and, not just any T-SHIRT SHOP – an active custom silk screen shop with like 24 choices – of slogans – to print on your shirt.
$20 a pop.
T-SHIRT SHOP: THURS, FRI, SAT. 10a – 6p. MARCH 5 – APRIL 16, 2011.
yes of course. all the slogans are political. tabloid global headlines for the alternative consciousness – even before Japan . . . took the big hit. and all of a sudden . . . these silk-screen slogans – assumed a deeper life.
THE DAYS OF THIS SOCIETY IS NUMBERED.
JACK TILTON – in the T-SHIRT SHOP – on opening nite . . .
besides being a big player in the auctions, and back offices – Jack Tilton has also spent a lot of time in China – promoting the big $$ art game – over there. he even knows Alfredo Martinez from Alfredo’s days over there.
even has a few of his pieces.
(wonder what he thought of Rirkrit’s art gallery – Mao and all ?)
with JACK TILTON,
on the left . . legendary 80s art wheeler-dealer/curator, MUDD Club co-founder – DEIGO CORTEZ.
and then, of course there was the soup kitchen – with its separate entrance . . .
where you could find RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA, himself in rose-colored glasses !! – ladling out yum Thai soup and BBQ pork.
and you begin to see – what I mean about blockbuster ?
behind it all – was this great humbleness – a raw-ness – directly opposed to the original architectural premise of the gallery.
a make-shiftness . . . both in terms of an actual – emergency shelter . . .
and conceptually – from a ‘viewing’ to a ‘being-in’ . . . makeshift-ness.
a great ingenuity – that spoke both to breaking it all down, yes. and building it all up, down-scale.
from ‘elite’ to ‘communal’ – in a nutshell.
busting through – that god damn white box. I’m so tired of those white boxes.
and probably this is – pretty much, what is – gonna happen in Japan . . .
all the displaced and homeless people are going to take over whatever structures that are still standing – and will turn them into simple communal shelters.
the night of the opening – you didn’t even have that nightmare scenario – to contemplate. and, still you got it.
does Rirkrit, being from Thailand – does that give him special insight . . . into the future . . of global wipe-out.
at any rate – he is the King of Plywood – if you were lucky you also caught – the life-size apartment – he re-created, working shower and all, at GBE on 15th street – back in the day – when gentrification was the headline.
Rirkrit Tiravanija: the king of conceptional art – the shaman . . .
pre-Japan. he didn’t even know to – what exactly, was he addressing his shelter – except he seemed to see it comin . . .
the gallery’s whole front exhibition space – was no more.
in its place stood a huge open, almost entirely empty communal room – with a long communal table – on which people could eat and drink . . . and have shelter.
and maybe sleep, bring their sleeping bags. if their homes were destroyed . . .
in the communal room – there was no electric light – only candles . . .
just the way it is – in many places in Japan, now.
‘outta the dark and into the light’. . .
walking upon this unlit empty scene – for a gallery opening – was very provoking.
it was dark. only light with the flash.
FEAR EATS THE SOUL
was a way station – no matter how you cut it. a spiritual way station on the cultural grid . . .
“California dreaming I got you in a day . . . stopped into a church along the way, well I got down on my knees and I began to began to pray.” – THE MOMMAS & POPPAS
. . . I didn’t just know exactly how much of a church, my kind of church – this crazy far-out pit stop for the weary – was – and I bet neither did anybody else . . . though obviously Rirkrit knew it’s time – was coming . . . just not, exactly last week.
in Japan.
FEAR EATS THE SOUL . . . GLOBAL SOULFUL.
right to the very last. drip.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~FEAR EATS THE SOUL, yes it does . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 18th, 2011, 6:06pm
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA and GAVIN BROWN (aka MR. MOJO) dish – out the soup . . . in the soup kitchen.
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA – ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – OPENING.
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, NYC. SAT, MARCH 5, 2010
YEP. MR. MOJO – IS KING . . . NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
because, yes, yes, and more yes: Rirkrit’s ‘FEAR’ – DOES – ‘EAT THE SOUL’.
one of the best shows – ever. however which way – you want to cut it.
besides, GOGO lost all momentum after DAN COLEN. ANSELM KIEFER, was big, but way too classical.
ZWIRNER ain’t even in the running, and who’s MATTHEW MARKS ?
(just saying.)
(not to mention – dig, those rose-colored glasses, dude !!)
big time collector PETER BRANT, spotted in the opening night – soup line !!
this is one guy – who knows history in the making – when he sees it.
he only shows – at the hottest of hot spots. but he shows up. unlike alot of the other big ticket guys – he really wants to be there for the action . . . and here he was – waiting in the soup kitchen line.
funny – how he is such a natural – tabloid magnet !! who’d guess. drama just seems follows him – like a pet dog.
check out: the latest ‘dish’ – on the PETER BRANT SAGA/STEPHANIE & son, cavorting on ST. BARTS !!/PAGE SIX MAGAZINE/NEW YORK POST/MARCH 10, 2011 !!
yeah, Gavin and Rirkrit built a whole kitchen – in the (former) LA FREIDA meat packing annex !!
where once was VEGAN-LAND, now pots of animal-laden soup – simmer up, and one word: YUM. says it all.
the night of the opening – they were even serving up BBQ pork – !!
and its all so – friggin ad hoc.
de-construction. oh yeah
more to follow – life, interrupted – what else is new . . .
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~Mr. MOJO is KING . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 11th, 2011, 8:22pm
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA – at the opening of yeah, the biggest blockbuster of them all, ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – a kind of waystation for the weariest of souls – on the alternative highway . . .
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, NYC. SAT MARCH 5, 2011
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA – ‘FEAR EATS THE SOUL’ – !!
opened SAT MARCH 5, 2011
the show runs through APRIL 16, 2011
GAVIN BROWN’S enterprise – 620 GREENWICH ST – ENTRY ON LEROY – WEST VILLAGE, NYC
IF YOU ARE ANYWHERE – NEAR NYC – AND, YOU MISS THIS – YOU WILL NEVER LIVE IT DOWN. OH YEAH, BE THERE or be square.
you’ve been fore-warned. fore-armed, and, are now – dangerous !!
“California dreaming, I got you in a day.” !!
see: SOUP NO SOUP
see: T-SHIRT NO T-SHIRT
MORE – OPENING NITE – PIX – TO FOLLOW – SHORTLY . . .
~NO SOUP ? oh yeah !! RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 10th, 2011, 4:08pm
GOOD LUCK TO SWEET TOOTH NELSON and BRETT LAND, his banjo-playing buddy – who are leaving our sweet shores – well, Bushwick, to take on the rest of the country – well, the Northeast coast, for a month-long tour. We caught their farewell gig, and tape launch party – at NORTHEAST KINGDOM, last night, where they and some of their Folk Revival buddies – rocked the ‘den’.
SWEET TOOTH NELSON and JESS PAPS – capture the folk fire at the Northeast Kingdom – underground ‘den’.
WED MARCH 9, 2011
check out: SWEET TOOTH NELSON
check out: SWEET TOOTH NELSON/myspace
check out: NORTHEAST KINGDOM
JESS PAPS also played a totally awesome solo set.
most def, check out: JESS PAPS/myspace/papsjams
check out: JESS PAPS on You/Tube – apt #5 – cover
the ‘DEN’ – at Northeast Kingdom
BLACK FOREST . . . GANN MATTHEWS on the right.
SWEET TOOTH sang a few solo songs . . .
SWEET TOOTH NELSON/’IT WAS SOMETHIN’ TO ME’/YouTube
BRETT LAND, left, came to join him on banjo, and JESS PAPS joined in, too . . .
BRETT LAND and his banjo . . . sounding better, and better.
GANN MATTHEWS watching the action, from the audience.
BRIAN and HOLLY of ROCKWOOD REVIVAL. . .
Holly plays washboard and sings.
farewell, for now. SWEET TOOTH.
WILD ISLE PRESENTS:
the NELSON TAPE RELEASE PARTY, PAPS, ROCKWOOD REVIVAL, and GANN MATTHEWS – at NORTHEAST KINGDOM, BROOKLYN.
MARCH 9, 2011
the NORTHEAST KINGDOM – DEN . . .
‘fire-burning’ stove, and . . .
all.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~SWEET FAREWELL . . . SWEET TOOTH NELSON & PALS |
Posted in Indie Music Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 10th, 2011, 10:11am
so, the ARMORY ART FAIR – isn’t exactly the right cup of tea – for this art lover, despite the first line of Roberta Smith’s March 4, 2011 New York Times review: “Art Fairs are for art lovers.” ha.
. . . but I made it to the INDEPENDENT.
where the third floor – was my fave.
right off the stairs – you could encounter the fair’s ‘creative adviser’ – MATTHEW HIGGS of WHITE COLUMNS.
just like a lot of others, the first thing to catch my attention was the big red car – which re-cycled into 2 BICYCLES (!!) by FOLKE KOBBERLONG and MARTIN KALTWASSER at the JACK HANLEY space.
and I say, space – because thank the lordy – there were no booths. this fair has lots of open space and very little in the way of walls.
a SAAB 900 gutted, and transformed into two motorbikes. FOLKE KOBBERLING and MARTIN KALTWASSER.
JACK HANLEY GALLERY, New York City.
FOLKE KOBBERLING and MARTIN KALTWASSER, JACK HANLEY.
close-up: motorbike assembled from car parts. FOLKE KOBBERLING and MARTIN KALTWASSER. JACK HANLEY
JACK HANLEY.
just across the way, I found FLORENCE BONNEFOUS of Air de Paris . . . Paris. France.
who was able to show me video on her iPad – and yes. CLAIRE FONTAINE really did set the wall on fire – in her current gallery exhibit – back at the Air de Paris gallery in Paris.
see: CLAIRE FONTAINE /AIR de PARIS
detailed ‘pin’ work by SARAH PUCCI – the mother of contemporary artist DOROTHY IANNONE . . . AIR de PARIS.
(the finely detailed and well-cared-for works were going for between $8,700 and $10,200 US DOLLARS)
SARAH PUCCI, detail. AIR de PARIS.
AIR de PARIS – this gallery was the only one – that really struck me – as to having a super relevant dialog to what was going on in my head, what I was doing and seeing in the art world in New York, and the precarious condition of the global – world outside.
SARAH PUCCI.
meaning guns (ALFREDO MARTINEZ), and artisans. historical narrative (the OLD STONE HOUSE show), folk art, and even devotional ones, scrimshaw !! and the commorative plates of DUKE RILEY. and, artifacts, and even when you think about it – that includes the JACK EARLY VICTROLA at DANIEL REICH. beauty vs. social deconstruction in a nutshell.
SARAH PUCCI.
though FLORENCE BONNEFOUS did unnerve me when she strove to stress that these objects were “not done as art. they were devotional in nature.” I mean what the hell is the difference, and isn’t that the point. get over it already. art theory also makes a mess of it . . . they are great art. skills. it’s all about skills and visual richness. and feelings, what about feelings. most definitely devotional feelings – inform skills. feelings are what inspire artists, no ? like even the Impressionists. or Braque and notoriously, Picasso.
I mean, I consider the above Claire Fontaine wall burnings – to be ‘devotional offerings’ to a world on the brink . . . don’t you ?
SARAH PUCCI, detail.
I can also relate to these on a personal level, as can probably any artisan working in Brooklyn right now – who takes up a needle to embroider or embellish. any time I lose a tiny sequin, or a sweet vintage button rolls away, or a tiny glass or plastic bead escapes – when I find it – it goes right on my pincushion – with a needle through its heart (hole). and when the pincushion is full – as Kate will tell ya – it gets put away somewhere safe. but sadly, we don’t have as many lovely embellishments now, as Sarah Pucci had at her fingertips – inspiring and enriching – her lovely and dramatic confections !! that’s for sure.
SARAH PUCCI.
all us outsiders derive great pleasure when a previously unrecognized artist -or artisan – or even primitive – sorry. finally gets their day in the art world sun. really, it’s everybody else – who has to catch up.
SARAH PUCCI – the AIR de PARIS cutting edge booth at Independent – seen through the eyes of a long ago – devotional keepsake – artisan. love it. right on the dot. the sequin. the paste pearl. the glass bead. you got it.
AIR de PARIS, Independent Art Fair, NYC. Spring 2011.
AIR de PARIS . . .
AIR de PARIS, photos by BRUNO SERRALONGUE . . . nice.
AIR de PARIS, photos by BRUNO SERRALONGUE.
AIR de PARIS, drawing by JEAN-LUC VERNA.
a sequential looped video word piece by PIERRE JOSEPH, AIR de PARIS.
PIERRE JOSEPH.
PIERRE JOSEPH.
sometimes when you see greatly detailed, vintage artisanal work, not to mention gritty urban landscape photographs – it’s a nice contrast – to read some – cutting edge – contemporary – words !!
especially addressed to photography, per se.
happened to run into NYC artist EVAN GREENFIELD . . .
he and ERIKA SOMYGI just a new baby girl, their first. and her name is River.
his favorite piece on this floor, literally – was this assemblage by LIONEL MAUNZ, from BUREAU, NYC.
LIONEL MAUNZ, detail.
on the right, GABRIELLE GIATTINO, of BUREAU, New York City. (127 Henry St.)
she says her gallery is a teeny tiny space on Henry St. in the Lower East Side.
Gabrielle is well-known to us as a former curator at the esteemed SWISS INSTITUTE in Soho. (2002-2007)
another BUREAU piece, incorporating a genuine Berber rug by TOM HOLMES.
left, ELIZABETH DEE – of the ELIZABETH DEE GALLERY in Chelsea, and one of the founders of the Independent, happens by.
the pink and blue neon light behind her – is by BLAIR THURMAN represented by HARD HAT of Geneva.
FABRICE STROUN of HARD HAT, Geneva.
ANNA LUNTLEY, gallery associate at MARY MARY of Glasgow.
left, HANNAH ROBINSON – the owner director of MARY MARY.
besides having a fascinating and very animated personal style, Hannah Robinson’s MARY MARY – seems to have a very cutting edge agenda.
on the floor work by NICK EVANS at MARY MARY.
NICK EVANS. I don’t quite know what to say, yes. I am speechless. go figure. but I really liked it.
when I looked up his work on their website – to clarify the mystery of the appeal – I got the bigger picture – and obviously his main body of work was too large to transport to a weekend in New York !!
check out: NICK EVANS/MARY MARY
I really liked the way the signs denoting each gallery were placed in different positions, and admired their typeface and gray tone.
nice touch.
just to show you – not all the work – was capital A for ART – a funny brute piece by JON PYLYPCHUK at CHINA ART OBJECTS.
a series of abstract wall paintings by DAN REES, girl not included. at NEW GALERIE, Paris.
an overview of the the third floor – INDEPENDENT Art Fair, New York, March 3-6, 2011.
. . . closing in, on the GALERIE BEN KAUFMAN from Berlin, Germany.
that just might be Ben Kaufman leaning over, in the red sweater ?
strange and interesting. arresting even. small paintings by HANSJOERG DOBLIAR. GALERIE BEN KAUFMAN
. . . and if it hadn’t been raining truly cats and dogs – I might, just might, not really – have made it up to the THE ART SHOW at the PARK AVENUE ARMORY.
one: I really enjoyed KEN JOHNSON’S take on it . . . that began:
“The Art Show is the Benjamin Button of art fairs. The annual production of the Art dealers Association of America, it is still the most conservative of the three major and several smaller fairs happening this weekend, but it has gotten younger in spirit over the past decades. If it keeps aging in reverse, it may one day replace the Armory Fair and the Independent as the go-to-place for connoisseurs of the hip.”
see: ‘The Uncluttered Look Has its Day’ by KEN JOHNSON/NEW YORK TIMES/MARCH 4, 2011
Charles Burchfield, ‘Sparrow hawk weather’, (1960), at DEBRA FORCE/PHOTO COURTESY: DEBRA FORCE via the NEW YORK TIMES.
and two: I would have loved to have see this CHARLES BURCHFIELD painting, titled ‘Sparrow hawk weather’ (1960) at DEBRA FORCE – who is apparently showcasing several of his big “radiantly transcendental watercolor landscapes along with paintings by his perennially underappreciated contemporary Oscar Bluemer.” (Johnson)
ALL PHOTOS: by NANCY SMITH. NYC, MARCH 5, 2011 – unless otherwise indicated.
~INDEPENDENT and . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | March 6th, 2011, 9:16pm
