NEW YORK TIMES/OCT 7, 2010
speaking of which – RUTH LA PERLA, a fashion commentator & critic at the NEW YORK TIMES, just put out a very colorful and insightful review of the timely exhibit – ‘JAPAN FASHION NOW’ – now up at THE MUSEUM at FIT/FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY . . .
put it this way – her article takes off and never stops running brilliant & true – from the very first lines – ‘ “The eye adjusts,” as fashion people say, a truism routinely exploited in defense of styles so extreme that they often affront conventional tastes. It took some time adjusting indeed to digest and assimilate the ground-breaking trends spawned in Japan in the early 1980s – a period of fashion revolt that ushered in radical innovations like breastplates and street-sweeping skirts.’ . . . .
see: ‘JAPAN’S RAW EDGES’, by RUTH LA PERLA/NEW YORK TIMES/OCT 7, 2010 !!
see: ‘JAPAN FASHION NOW’, SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS GALLERY, FIT
the show runs thru JAN 8, 2011 – admission is free – FIT – 7th AVE at 27th ST. in Chelsea, NYC
see FIT website for viewing hrs.
JUNYA WATANABE for COMME DES GARCONS. corset-style dress, denim, spring/summer 2002. JAPAN.
PHOTOGRAPH: WILLIAM PALMER/COURTESY:JAPAN FASHION NOW/EXHIBIT FOLD-OUT/THE MUSEUM at FIT.
~JAPAN’S RAW EDGES |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 21st, 2010, 1:41pm
artist/photographer KANA TOGASHI is celebrating the first anniversary of her store, SAFFRON, in FORT GREENE – with a group show highlighting the work of her many friends.
on the left – photographer MAKI KAORU has just arrived to drop off her work . . . on the right is TETSUJI NAKATOMI – who helps Kana run the store, and also co-curated the show.
KEIGO TAKAHASHI.
SAFFRON sells an intimate array of rare fresh flowers, vintage goods such as milk glass vases, second-hand clothing treasures, local art, and a lot of local artisan ware – such as hand-knit hats, and handcrafted jewelry.
SAFFRON – 31 HANSON PLACE in FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN.
KEIGO TAKAHASHI hands his work over to Tetsuji. to accommodate more artists, all with diverse works, and in keeping with the small storefront space – the theme of the show was: all the works had to be twelve inches or under !! the artists are both local and international – 36 in all.
art work by KEIGO TAKAHASHI.
oh oh – talking about facets – just then the vintage jewelry display caught my eye . . . .
a wonderful ‘4 leaf clover’ pin for $16 – reminds me of my OLD NAVY – ST. PATRICK’S DAY quilt patch – code !! – on that old crib quilt repair, I just finished.
a curious and very neat – bakelite – clock pin, also caught my eye. ($20).
then in came – YASUSHI SUZUKI.
with his wife, and fellow artist – KIYOKO SUZUKI.
talking about pins – KIYOKO SUZUKI makes handcrafted one-of-a-kind artisan pins.
the back of Kiyoko Suzuki’s pin.
while YASUSHI SUZUKI brought in framed one-of-a-kind, illustrations.
work by YASUSHI SUZUKI.
no, not every artist in the show is of Japanese, or Japanese-American background !!
and, not everyone came in under 12 x 12 in. !!
NANCY SMITH, mylar-coated, paper photocopy banners – well, the ‘streamer ribbon’ extensions can be tucked underneath – and then they come in – under 12 x 12 in.
detail, paper banner, NANCY SMITH.
that’s a photocopy of a photograph of one of my watercolors from the early 90’s.
which somehow brings me to the wonderful flower offerings – for sale at SAFFRON. this is a Leucadendron, $8 a bunch.
not sure what this is – but it must be very special – it’s priced at $110.
SAFFRON did their first full-scale wedding flower arrangement this past summer. must have been very unique, as well as very sophisticated, sweet & fresh !!
Kana shows me another wonderful little flowering stem.
SAFFRON is a block away from the Fulton St. – Clock Tower !!
you can find travel directions – on the website.
the opening reception is this FRI OCT 22, 2010 – from 6-9PM – many friends are sure to be there – including KATE CERIGO – who also has work in the show – heads up !!
we all wish Kana well – and congratulate her on SAFFRON’S one year anniversary !! and on her entrepreneurial spirit. of course, I’ll be at the opening – !! – and I’ll post a ton of pix – from the special night – early next week.
‘TWELVE AND UNDER’ – A GROUP EXHIBIT of LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS
OPENING RECEPTION & ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY – FRI OCT 22, 2010/6-9PM
the show runs thru DEC 31, 2010.
SAFFRON – 31 HANSON PLACE, FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN.
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH
~SAFFRON/TWELVE & UNDER |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 21st, 2010, 12:35pm
CASEY JEX SMITH initiates some kind of fantastic magic – at ALLEGRA LaVIOLA GALLERY, today.
‘DOOMSLANGERS’ – A PROJECT BY CASEY JEX SMITH – featuring:
RYAN BROWNING, JARED CLARK, CHRIS COY, TYRONE DAVIES, DANIEL EVERETT, TIMOTHY HUTCHINGS, ALLAN LUDWIG, GIAN PIEROTTI & CASEY JEX SMITH.
WED OCT 20, 2010/12-8PM: join us as the ‘Doomslangers’ begin their campaign. Get a free character card made.
THURS OCT 21, 2010/12-6PM: Dungeon master TAVIS ALLISON launches his own campaign – jump into the adventure & join the game !
FRI OCT 22, 2010/6-9PM: come celebrate as the ‘Doomslangers’ finish their game and destroy the evil Lord Ricaek ! Dress as your favorite D & D character or Monster and help fight the battle. (costumes encouraged, not required.)
ALLEGRA LaVIOLA GALLERY – 179 BROADWAY – deep into the LOWER EAST SIDE.
an amazing young draftsman with an amazing inner world and a head full of fantasy and myth-making imagination – we first caught up with CASEY JEX SMITH, who comes to us with a Mormon background !! – at his one person show – ‘Gird Your Elves, and be Broken in Pieces’ – last summer, 2009 – at the Allegra LaViola Gallery, then called – LaVIOLA BANK. the show included character cards, mythical complex drawings of a large scale, and some intense Mormon-based vintage bible illustration collages !!
CASEY JEX SMITH, with his wife, AMANDA, also an artist – at his ‘Gird Your Elves, and be Broken in Pieces’, opening, last summer – JUNE 6, 2009, LaVIOLA BANK.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH, NYC. JUNE 6, 2009
yep, check out tons more pix – from that opening & a good selection of work from the show: CASEY JEX SMITH/2009 !!
~CASEY JEX SMITH |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 20th, 2010, 8:30am
yes, we know – the 74-year-old Japanese artist – KEIICHI TANAAMI – whose pop art work made some waves at this year’s 2010 FRIEZE ART FAIR, in London – where his work was showcased in the ‘Frame’ section – by NANZUKA UNDERGROUND, a gallery from TOKYO. as DANIEL BAUMANN, one of the co-curators of the Frieze Frame section stated in a recent NEW YORK TIMES (OCT 15, 2010) review of the fair – ‘Frame is about looking at the future of art, and “the future is not reserved for the young” ‘. !!
p.s. DANIEL BAUMANN is the lead curator for the up-coming 2013 Carnegie International art show in Pittsburgh.
we meet KEIICHI TANAAMI at the opening for his amazing awesome one person psychedelic show – ‘Spiral’ – at the wonderful indie gallery – that used to be – but is no more – the now somewhat legendary TRANSPLANT GALLERY, run by the super talented and visionary young Japanese curator YUKI MINAMI. it was located in Chelsea – back in the day – when there were pretty much – no other (meaningful) galleries over there. Yuki used to live in the back.
the invite for the show.
KEIICHI TANAAMI, ‘SPIRAL’ ran from MAY 28 – June 24, 2005.
it was a totally totally awesome show and some pretty awesome guests turned up, too.
you can see more pix here: artlovers archive !!
scroll down – the show ends that report.
the young and super talented Japanese curator – YUKI MINAMI – photographed on her very last day in NYC !!
Transplant brought a lot of super cutting edge art shows to New York – in it’s brief reign – but unfortunately the gallery never received much, or even any !! backing from the mainstream – so no wonder, she figured out the big wormy Apple was a loser – picked up, and went back to Japan. the rumor was she went back to get married – but she never let on to her private life – as such, she was very Japanese in manner, conservative, graceful. yet determined. sure of her contribution and yet, very formal in many aspects – yet so awesomely forward in her vision.
nobody has taken her place. oh for real eyes, give me the indies. the other guys don’t know art – till it’s been certified – it’s like: can they tie their shoelaces – bunny ears ? – they have so little, so no talent for finding talent grass roots up. and when the indies go down – hate to tell ya, but so does the temp of the scene. what can I say – bring on the indies. or as one indie dealer was overheard to say – “go find your own god damn artists” !!
let’s hope there will always be some stupid optimistic guys willing to make a run for it – bringing us the raw real-time talent – the new wave, just as it builds momentum. before the big sharks – with the access to the next-level collectors, duh. come along and snap up their best artists and shut them down, just when they’re finally, on the very edge of making it . . . ouch. shark bite – New York City style.
it’s super painful to watch, and bad for all.
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH
~FREIZE BUZZ |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 19th, 2010, 8:57am
DAMIEN HIRST/PHOTO: TELEGRAPH UK
artlovers’ roving correspondent on the streets (& at the parties) – SIMON CERIGO
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH/NYC SEPT 2010
SIMON CERIGO RELATES that while visiting an African Tribal Arts gallery on the Upper East Side, 78th St. to be exact – this past Thursday – trying to get some appraisal expertise on a couple of African Royalty ‘hair combs’ – he had recently scored in Washington Sq. Park – he noticed all these over-size professional art crates being delivered to L & M GALLERY, which happened to be next door. And in fact, standing in front of the gallery – a whole townhouse – was one of the owners, a spritely 70-something Mr. Robert Mnuchin and a gallery assistant – “a very beautiful woman” – a typical Upper East Sider, not looking a day over permanently 35, and “maybe a martial artist to boot” – and Simon went up and said hello, having sold him and his son Steve Mnuchin an Ed Albers piece way back in 1986, when Simon had a gallery on Ave A – the eponymous SIMON CERIGO GALLERY – and, “he said he remembered me – he said hi”. Simon then went on to ask him if he, Simon, had missed their DAMIEN HIRST Medicine Cabinet show – which had been advertised recently. Mr. Mnuchin replied “no, we are just unloading the crates now, and you are welcome to come to the opening Thursday Oct 28th”.
. . . “I leave him, go to the corner of Madison and 78th – and who’s getting out of a taxi – with two gorgeous female assistants – clutching the mandatory clipboards – but DAMIEN himself !! Obviously he was on his way to over-see the installation. I said hello and reminded him that I was at the original opening 20 years ago, (1990-91) of the Medicine Cabinets at MICHEL COHEN GALLERY in NYC – when TANYA BONAKDAR was the director. At that point, Damien asked me: “whatever happened to him” as he rolled his eyes. Allegedly Michel Cohen is (still) wanted by Interpol for running off with $50 million dollars – 1999 dollars – worth of Picassos. and then he was off.
Later on, while continuing the Upper East Side rounds, someone mentioned to me in passing, that ‘Bob’ Mnuchin had been the head of Arbitrage at Goldman Sachs, before retiring in the 1980s.”
Anybody in the market for some hand-carved over-size wooden African Tribal hair combs ?
check out: L&M ARTS, NYC
(for blue chip secondary market art !! – not tribal hair combs – that’s Simon’s latest money making gig . . .
and I dunno, but he came home with pocketfuls of money !!)
as for MICHEL COHEN, if you want to have a fun day – google him for yourself !!
there are too many posts – for me to link them all – !! – here’s a brief sampling:
MICHEL COHEN: ‘The Double Dealer’ – Sotheby’s sues Malibu art dealer for $10 million . . . . .
MICHEL COHEN: ‘Art Scandal’ – Cohen’s Con Game . . . .
MICHEL COHEN: ‘French born art dealer Michel Cohen escaped from a Rio de Janeiro prison . . . .’
long story short, Simon says – they were chasing him all over the world, when they finally caught up with him in Brazil, where he had just fathered a child with a young Brazilian woman – apparently it is against Brazilian law to extradite anybody with a Brazilian child – but they incarcerated him in a Brazilian prison, where he got sick, or pretended to, and in the ambulance ride to the hospital – he somehow disappered – never to be heard from again. and as Simon says – “he’s not sending postcards !!”.
. . . wow – this guy makes Alfredo – look good. who knew the art world was so colorful.
~MEDICINE CABINET |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 16th, 2010, 7:40am
CINDERS GALLERY & APENEST PRESENT: PLAIN AIR
OPENING RECEPTION – TO-NITE – FRI OCT 15, 2010 / 7-10 PM
the show runs thru NOV 14, 2010
curated by BRIAN WILLMONT – the show features work by: COREY ARNOLD, PATRICK CASEY, MARK CHARIKER, SOPHIA CARA FRYDMAN, JOSEPH HART, CODY HOYT, ALEX LUKAS, EDDIE MARTINEZ, NIALL McCLELLAND, STEAK MTN., CALEB NEELON, HILARY PECIS, ERIC SALINE, ANDREW SCHOULTZ, MARK SCHOENING, CONOR THOMPSON, PAUL WACKERS, BRIAN WILLMONT.
PLAIN AIR is the second in a series of exhibitions put together by the loose-knit collective/publishing -printmaking project called Apenest.
Sto writes: Beginning as a way to create a rad and cost-effective art book, artists BRIAN WILMONT and CODY HOYT started Apenest by collecting artwork from their favorite artists, selling the work collectors themselves and then taking the proceeds to self-publish 2 massive, beautiful full-color books that act as a wonderful compendium of underground contemporary art . . . ”
CINDERS GALLERY – 103 HAVEMEYER ST – BROOKLYN
CALEB NEELON
MARK CHARIKER
NIALL McCLELLAND
ALL PHOTOS/COURTESY: CINDERS GALLERY
~APENEST |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 15th, 2010, 11:05am
ok – back to Brooklyn – I swear you can get dizzy around here . . . demiglob, indeed. – the New York underground art scene – is demi-globe !!
JAMES ELLIOTT MOORE announces – ‘DEMIGLOB’ – opening to-nite – THURS OCT 14, 2010 / 7-9 PM
the show is part of “an installation based on bioluminescence and humans” !!
at – DESERT ISLAND / 540 METROPOLITAN AVE – the comics and book store in Brooklyn (Williamsburg), and will include special in-store performances by Y.B.B.S. and DUBKNOWDUB.
~DEMIGLOB/DESERT ISLAND |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 14th, 2010, 9:50am
. . . Newark the new Lower East Side ?
the dive bar at the corner of ‘HOOK ‘EM and SHOOT’EM’, near the big old stone wall, Newark, New Jersey.
Courtney’s place is – just above – the light bulb – in the window – marks the spot.
no buzzer – you gotta yell out for them to come down and open the door – from the street.
once inside the first thing that greets ya – is a vintage writer’s – tableau.
Courtney’s living room.
that’s a large painting on canvas – by COURTNEY LEE KELLY – over the couch.
COURTNEY LEE KELLY.
Courtney checking out his pix – with our host & guide for the evening’s foray into Newark – MATT ENGER of EXPLODING SKY – which also has its headquarters in Newark.
and in the back room – if it isn’t ALFREDO MARTINEZ !!
Alfredo looks to be not that ‘excited’ to have his latest whereabouts – “Where in the World is Alfredo ?” – updated so quickly. being that he is only a haircut away from his recent month’s long detention in China – he seems to have made a quick re-bound . . . though he still seems to be wary – or is it – holding a grudge ? – against Matt – for the time way back in 2000, or was it 2001 when Matt took a widely distributed photo of Alfredo asleep at the wheel – with a (fake) rat climbing up his stomach !!
Courtney’s studio proper . . .
back in the living room – we catch an early MARK ENGER portrait of ANDY WARHOL.
MARK and MATT ENGER are identical twins – army brats originally hailing from Oklahoma – who found their way to the Lower East Side – in the early 80’s – where they established their silk screen printing shop – EXPLODING SKY WORLDWIDE – and where the legend goes – JOSH HARRIS happened upon them – while out strolling around the hood – and worth a swift $80 million+ at the time – and as they say – the rest is history.
MATT ENGER – the evening’s guide and proud Alfredo spotter.
a smaller canvas by Courtney Lee Kelly.
another small painting by COURTNEY LEE KELLY.
ok. the background story is – Courtney used to be Mark Enger’s girlfriend – back in the days just after QUIET – got busted down by the cops & fire dept – where she lived with Mark in the basement – of the now newly termed – and transformed – into an artist fight club – yes !! – underground downtown arts complex – that Josh called – Luvvyplex !!
Courtney . . .
and Alfredo . . . no surprise – we left with two contradicting stories – they were either gonna be throwing pay-at-the-door raves to support the scene – or “Alfredo was moving out, tomorrow”.
guess we’ll have to wait for the next installment – of “Where in the World is Alfredo ? ” – stay tuned !!
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH
OCT 9, 2010 – Newark, New Jersey.
~more pix from Newark !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 14th, 2010, 9:34am
MATT ENGER of EXPLODING SKY – JUST SENT IN THESE 2 PIX – of ALFREDO MARTINEZ and COURTNEY LEE KELLY.
PHOTOGRAPHED in Courtney’s 2nd floor loft in gritty NEWARK – at the corner of ‘HOOK’EM & SHOOT’EM’, that is – just above that dive bar – kitty corner to that big ole stone wall, on the way to PENN STATION, NEWARK. NEW JERSEY.
SAT OCT 9, 2010. JERSEY IS SO HAPPENING, OR WHAT. Jersey – the new L.E.S. (Lower East Side) ca 1980 ?
the big question: Alfie and Courtney sitting in a tree – K i s s i n g ?
wow, sometimes all it does take – is a haircut ?!!
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT MATT ENGER
~EXPL SKY: ALFIE & COURTNEY |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 13th, 2010, 3:18pm
wow – here’s the great great great ‘stitched’ !! cover art for the new – the very first SISTERS CD release – ‘Ghost Fits’ !!
here’s: a link to the Pitchfork review that just surfaced !! – links to sampling tracks at bottom of that review.
waiting on JASON GRUNWALD – to let us know who did that great cover for them !!
and Simon is going to sit down and do some YouTube inquiries – so get back, later.
everybody here just woke up !! come on – its Sunday !! give me a break . . .
~SISTERS / Ghost Fits !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 10th, 2010, 1:53pm
