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
NOLAN GRUNWALD – THE NUE HISTORY – a show of 30 new prints
opens this SAT OCT 9, 2010 / 6-8 PM
at the MANHATTAN GRAPHICS CENTER – 481 WASHINGTON ST – btw CANAL & SPRING ST.
one block west of GREENWICH (near Don Hills)
the show runs thru OCT 31, 2010
NOLAN GRUNWALD . . . we first met Nolan Grunwald at the closing party for his big brother JASON GRUNWALD’S show at EASTERN DISTRICT, APRIL 29, 2010.
JASON GRUNWALD, on the right, in cap – at his EASTERN DISTRICT solo show – closing party.
his pal, MATT KLINE on the left.
it was one blow-out night – SISTERS – played !!
SISTERS is: guitarist AARON PFANNEBECKER
AARON PFANNEBECKER of SISTERS
and drummer: MATT CONBOY – SISTERS.
MATT CONBOY of SISTERS.
P.S. The first SISTERS CD – just came out last week – it’s called ‘GHOST FITS’ – yes, you want to look out for it !!
also playing a wild set – THE YELLOW DOGS – the Iranian ex-pats !!
JASON GRUNWALD artwork for THE SLITS – ‘RAPPED ANIMAL’.
also making that EASTERN DISTRICT / JASON GRUNWALD closing party scene – MATT JONES of PARTY EXPO !!
and CASEY McVICKER and KATE CERIGO.
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH
~the Nue History |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 9th, 2010, 11:15am
FILE UNDER: 3 REASONS WHY I LOVE NEW YORK FRIGGIN CITY
or, why we have artists drawing unearthly children . . .
1. FAMOUS LAST WORDS / or KIM and KHLOE GET ATTACKED in OUR TOWN !!
PHOTO FROM: hiphoprx.com via TMZ
yeah, well that’s what you get, Khloe when you take on New York Friggin City !!
wasn’t it just this past Wed Oct 6th that she was quoted in PAGE SIX – ” . . . I can’t think of two hotter bitches to be strutting around the streets of Manhattan . . . Get ready New York?”
as if.
as if we want a DASH in Soho !!
must have been a riot to see Khloe dive after her run-away rock – she’s lucky somebody didn’t snag it.
yeah we know Fight Club.
see: KIM AND KHLOE GET ROUGHED UP in NEW YORK
see: FIGHT New York ! Kim & Khloe Attacked
see: Kim Kardashian Attacked/TMZ
2. THE WOULD-BE LOVE GOV/NYC STYLE !!
while we are at it – can somebody please tell CARL PALADINO running for Governor of New York State under the tea party banner – to crawl back under the slimy rock from which he came . . the guy doesn’t have a clue as to how depressing he really is. it’s not that you had affairs, dimwit – it’s that your wife is crying throughout the entire interview, and apparently has no outside life – you not only lied to her for ten years about your ‘love child’ – but had your children, who were close to her – the ‘love kid’ – lie to their mother, your wife – about the situation too – for ten years. til one got killed in a car crash – and then you came clean ? that is so freaky – it is beyond belief. she says you are “never home for dinner”, and you have his/hers living rooms – never mind bedrooms – but the mistress – who you claim the romance ended with – when the child was conceived 10 years ago – “it was brief” says the wife. okay . . . if you say so – the mistress says you “are a great guy” and you are there “every night to tuck the kid into bed”. and com’on NEW YORK POST – where are the wicked PAGE SIX cartoons of him with his pants pulled down – exposing lip-sticked boxers. like you do Spitzer and Clinton. and, no ANDREA PEYSER, this is not one big happy meshuganah family. take it from one of the tribe – meshuganah is TINA FEY, not CARL PALADINO !!
hey man – did you consider going – Mormon ?
here’s the main one: PALADINO’S WIFE TELLS OF MANY HEARTACHES …/NEW YORK POST
3. IT’S RIGGED, DUDE.
and finally, though the Post is down for the lack of mean Paladino cartoons – it pops back up for the count – for this quote in the business section today:
“outgoing White House economics adviser LARRY SUMMERS . . . said this in a speech at the Harvard Club (in NYC)
today – ‘When I read that the financial industry spent a million dollars per member of Congress lobbying . . . I come to have more sympathy with some of those who have been critical of the sector’.”
duh. history lesson 101.
see: NOT FOR THE BOOKS/NEW YORK POST
who’s your daddy ? the founding fathers had slaves and apparently even Washington was pretty sketchy bout it, (and the Appalachian whiskey laws, too). so go figure. it’s in our blood. maybe it’s a good thing. a little get-over artist in everybody makes the world go round ?
I’m not even gonna get into that ridiculous CAROL VOGEL – ‘BLAST OF BRASH’ – puff piece in the New York Times – or – the hi-end hairdresser meets MAURIZIO CATTELAN – it doesn’t even look like Stephanie Seymour. though it made for colorful fluff – I have to admit. well since – I’m already on a roll – may as well go for it – go figure – “but the biggest star of all is ‘Men in Her Life’ a 1962 Warhol painting based on an image of Elizabeth Taylor . . . that may sell for around $50 million.” It goes on, “Mr. Segalot pried the Warhol out of the private collection of the Mugrabi family.” ever watch ‘American Pickers’ ? this reminds me of when they find the guy who has every oil can – under the sun – and it starts to look stupid. what, no George Condos.
see: Blast of Brash/NEW YORK TIMES
and Cinders is getting gentrified. enough with the commercially backed and salary guaranteed – but Indie ? Soho gallery holes, I mean spaces – ghosts of Jeffery Deitch dance before my very eyes. no. you are not rock n’ roll – hey, you are the one toting the ass-hole embossed leather clutch – not me.
while our unearthly children are being orphaned. that is, unless some 4 star user hotel – hole or salon – no diff – just downtown vs uptown – comes along just in the nick of time . . . and snaps your long nutured young artist – up from under your sweet ass – loser – indie feet.
FIGHT CLUB NEW YORK CITY – !! – BRING IT ON, BITCHES !!
hey, ya. I got a shot of the embossed ass-hole bag – hold on a minute, I’m gonna find it. this is gonna get me shot, I know it.
well, they don’t call me ‘crack’ – for naught.
but who is gonna believe it, otherwise ?
file under: cooler. way cooler . . than cool.
KATHY GRAYSON and TAYLOR McKIMENS at the inaugural opening of the HOLE. Soho. Spring 2010.
what they say. a picture is worth a thousand words.
I got a quilt – with a message, too. it says “HA HA HA – it couldn’t get any better, unless you were a golden retriever.”
NANCY SMITH. repaired quilt, with SNOOPY textile, finished Spring 2010.
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH – UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
~FIGHT CLUB NYC |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 8th, 2010, 8:58pm
. . . last weekend to catch – one of the best shows in town !!
ALLYSON MELLBERG – ‘An Unearthly Child’
show runs thru Sun Oct 10, 2010
CINDERS GALLERY – 103 HAVEMEYER ST – WILLIAMSBURG
above: the show’s card – ALLYSON MELLBERG – ‘Loutus Eater’, 2010. egg tempera & walnut ink. 11 x 14 in. ($500)
IMAGE COURTESY: CINDERS GALLERY
PIX – FROM THE OPENING – FRIDAY, SEPT 10, 2010
ALLYSON MELLBERG and CINDERS CO-FOUNDER, STO.
ALLYSON currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her artist husband JEREMY TAYLOR.
CINDERS CO-FOUNDER – KELIE BOWMAN with PETE VOGL of BOW RIBBONS.
ALLYSON MELLBERG, ‘Compulsive Consumption’, 2010. egg tempera & walnut ink, 11 x 14 in. ($500).
detail, ‘Compulsive Consumption’.
ALLYSON MELLBERG, ‘Parasite Planet’, 2010. egg tempera & walnut ink, 22 x 30 in. ($1,500).
detail, ‘Parasite Planet’.
detail, ‘Parasite Planet’.
detail, ‘Parasite Planet’.
ALLYSON MELLBERG, ‘Eventually You Get Used To It’, 2010. egg tempera & walnut ink, 11 x 14 in. ($500).
the tiny porcelain ‘vases’ – on the back desk – are by Allyson, too.
she also has included 3 large free-standing sculptures in the show . . .
ok. a few more images of her works on paper . . .
ALLYSON MELLBERG, ‘Big Black’, collaboration with JEREMY TAYLOR, 2010.
egg tempera & walnut ink, 8 x 10 in. ($300).
ALLYSON MELLBERG, ‘Waiter’, 2010. egg tempera & walnut ink, 16 x 20 in. ($800).
detail, ‘Waiter’.
check out: STO interviews ALLYSON MELLBERG and JEREMY TAYLOR on their use of non-toxic materials and their exploration of alternative homemade inks, dyes and paints !! – aka Painting Naturally – for READYMADE !!
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH – UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
~An Unearthly Child/ALLYSON MELLBERG |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 8th, 2010, 11:16am
pix from the one night pop-up show of: MARTIN BROMIRSKI – & – I MEET HIS BEST BUDDIES – or –
FILE UNDER: Crack meets the BROS OF BRO BRO BROMIRSKI !!
fellow art blogger and artist, therefore Bro – MARTIN BROMIRSKI – put up a one-night stand show of his small paintings at a friend’s loft in Buswick, this past Fri Oct 1, 2010 . . . .
Martin Bromirski is know for posting – anaba/social sculpture – and is even more infamous for posting a site whose name cannot be mentioned – though even his friends agree – it’s the worst kept secret in the art world !!
the evening took place at his friend JAMISON BROSSEAU’S loft – a nice big empty room with spare walls. in Bushwick. on a strangely serenely stylized gentrifying street, with obviously forward thinking aims – to incorporate & glorify the rust . . . as opposed the more plastic and juvenile development – that took hold in Williamsburg. in a raw studio floor that was once clearly – an old hardcore warehouse – in the midst of the newer storefronts, including a way forward – hostel and even, an upscale gym across the street.
the paintings were small, I’d say scale was an issue – and today it is. unless you have a huge gallery like GoGo – (Gagosian) fronting you major dough. but the sharp rectangular shape – helped them take on a life beyond the canvas, and the dimensions. instead of being surrounded by the abstract expression – it was like you were looking through a narrow mail-slot slit – out of reality – and into the fantasy world of Mr. Bromirski’s making. you know, almost like the dialog between box-size TV’s and the newer letter-format wafer thin screens.
looking at the paintings – it was funny to contemplate that Mr. Bromirski paints, blogs, photographs and apparently is 24/7 hungry for anything art world – and, works a day job – on a farm upstate.
the crowd he drew – was pretty entertaining, full of vim, vigor & wit.
MICHAEL SMITH, a long time friend of Bromirski’s, from his Virginia Community University (sculpture dept ?) days – regaled me with tales of when he first moved to NYC – and worked for an artist handler trucking firm and among his very first runs – he found himself face-to-face with Julian Schnabel – in both his West Village abode and in Montauk., ca. 2002. He was apparently pretty spooked and that in turn spooked Julian – who preferred the casual unknowingness – of the Mexican workers !! who he bonded with over pizza. while his assistant told Michael – “you gotta relax man, you’re making Julian nervous”.
also friends of the Bro – since the Virginia days – sculptors SAM HAYES, left, and the playful, maybe . . . KAI VIERSTRA on the right. it’s at KAI VIERSTRA and MERIDITH PINGREE’S place that Martin crashes, when he hits the island.
artist MERIDITH PINGREE.
p.s. thanks to Meridith for pointing out that artlovers doesn’t know left from, right !!
and, most def: check out Meridith’s work – here !!
also on hand, independent curator JON LUTZ who ‘writes’ the Daily Operation . . .
the evening’s host – painter JAMISON BROSSEAU – who opens up his large empty living room – as a one-night exhibition space to selected friends and guests – on a regular Friday night basis.
down a narrow hallway – is the door to Mr. Jamison’s own studio – his ‘carved-out’ 3D painted shapes on the door – signifying something serious, is afoot with the evening’s host – too . . .
yikes, I love it. all.
the small rectangular canvas at the top – is Martin’s.
graphic spiders – that look just like the only-from-a-sky-high orbiting digital camera – in the mountain tops of South America – that fascinate me and History channel – to no end.
and squarish ‘cubist’ paintings – arrayed in quilt format – no less – that speak to code and pictograms, and early creative impulse. eerie color palette. count me – in !! . . .
and amidst this creative jungle of sophisticated primitive telling – an intensely animated cabal – that looked to be – at first guess – writers . . or poets.
and yes. right on. apparently they are the core group of another one night-stand loft space, also in Bushwick – but, dedicated to the people of the letters. and the word. a place, event ? called the Writer’s Workshop – was as far as I got this night. but most def want to follow-up . . .
if my way too brief conversation with BEN GOCKER, left, and CODY PETTERSON, right – is an indication – this is most def – not !! – your seedy NYC Bowery poetry group !!
they were way smart . . .
and way funny – I would even venture to say Cody Petterson – from the first impression – is way wicked sharp right-on cutting edge funny smart – he immediately sized-up this very blogger quilt lover – asso going against the grain of her Ashkenazi roots – he cracked me up !! and then, when the two of them, Ben Gocker, extremely charming and quick, too – and Cody Petterson told me – they represented the IOWA contingent of the Martin Bromirski – brotherhood of serious art world lovin’ bros – and started to regal me with tales – of the huge ole farmstead auctions they had grown-up around – with their never-ending store of secondhand quilts – I just couldn’t take it anymore – my mind short-circuited – oh to get there to Iowa, and 10 years ago at least – and I had to say good bye – with a promise staked in my heart – to look them up – again !!
all around, nice night, bro Bromirski !!
PHOTOS COPYRIGHT: NANCY SMITH
~Bro Bro Bromirski . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 5th, 2010, 2:58pm
