~RYAN FOERSTER, NATHAN GYWNNE . . HELPER / CASUAL ART FAIR
‘DESERT . . SMOKE’.
JUST LIKE ANY ELIZABETHAN FAIR, THE WHITE TENTED . . CASUAL ART FAIR of 2017
HAD IT’S . . JESTER !!
and his name was . . . RYAN FOERSTER !!
RYAN FOERSTER . . . aka ‘THE JOKER’ / as of now.
showing his slightly ‘twisted’ work – at the HELPER PROJECTS / GALLERY, BROOKLYN . .
BOOTH . . at the CASUAL ART FAIR, OCT 1, 2017. LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC.
that’s his ‘wasted’ . . . ‘Hot Dog Umbrella’ behind him.
see: HELPER PROJECTS
his calling card ?
a matchbook . . of a rat eating the American flag.
his biggest piece, was this ‘found’ & most likely discarded, ‘seen-better-days’ . . .
NYC hot dog street vendor umbrella, stashed at the back of the HELPER booth. hmmmm.
so iconic.
he actually offered it up to me “for free”, at the end of the day, if it didn’t sell !!
I was so taken aback, mostly . . just for the storage issues !!
not to mention transportation, that I politely declined.
now, looking back, hell YES !!
I should have had him sign it – and boxed & taped it up as best as I could, and trunbled it home.
I mean . . how much more damage could a little ‘ad hoc’ travel distressing . . do ?
funny how things are so much clearer the day after. and certainly, in retrospect.
gotta be quick in the art world, damn.
AMERICA . . TOP DOG.
but, he did have this one-of-a-kind . . artist t-shirt !!
the price was right . . and, I BOUGHT IT !!
not only was the ‘faux’ Armadillo skin . . right up my alley,
faux, faux, and more FAUX !! the Real Fake, etc. etc.
but, the way it was stapled on, really appealed to my sense of the fine art of DIY.
and being a huge contrarian – just born that way.
even . . . to myself / me and my ego fight all the time.
my hard-won hand-stitching skills, found a perfect opposition / match-up, & it was love at first sight !!
SKILLS . . vs RAW / that’s my second most favorite motto.
and forget everything . . in-between.
but best of . . ALL !!
you could lift the Armadillo ‘hide’, and find: ‘GOD HATES ME’ . . in nice big bold white Helvetica letters.
the motto of my life,
I explained to the few who took note & who were mighty confused – with the depth of my reverence
. . to the piece.
ah, the long,hardroad of a stubborn, indie artist, is not for the chicken-hearted,
& mad yeah . . . sometimes it gets me down. it keeps me rich in art, but broke . . in dollars.
or, at least until the rest . . of the sorry, retarded & super slow – art market, catches up !!
but, then . . I woke up the next day.
not to. . more delusion with my life, or even . . buyer’s remorse !!
no sir. no way.
but to that sick madman who massacred all those young country music concert-goers in Las Vegas.
what a downer. that was a reality check. bring on the distressed – hot dog umbrellas.
bring on the clowns.
so apparently, not only am I loser, but now . . I’m a whiner.
RYAN FOERSTER . . collage.
turns out his gritty jaded ‘Joker’ vision – was . . on point.
RYAN FORESTER . . ‘DESERT SMOKE’.
damn, if I had known Los Vegas was to become a ground zero killing field / within 24 hrs, I would have grabbed this too.
as it is – at least . . I have it for the photographic RECORD.
RYAN FOERSTER . . Joker, Jester, . . . Mad Man, Shaman ?
DAN ASHER . . would have loved that.
he told me, this ‘HOT SAUCE’/ ‘CAMP IN MY ASS’ bundle . . what a killer combo,
was “a collaboration with JOSE MARTOS” . . ?!!!!!!!!!
what ? were things actually going to come round – in one big magic circle ?
things – were adding up. things were starting to make sense.
I think he said, this was also a ‘collab’ . . with MARTOS ?
What, was MARTOS – seriously, r-e-a-l-l-y so cool ?
my bad, seriously !! . . all these years !! who knew ?
he shows DAN ASHER, I should have known.
as for the package / God only knows what was inside.
but it looked T_R_O_U_B_L_E !!
Trouble . . in a troubled world. gift wrapped by RYAN & JOSE !!
now, that’s a seriously s-t-r-a-n-g-e DUO. Batman & Robin.
I wonder how they met ?
well, anyway . . !!
this is how me and RYAN met . . !!
he came by our ARTLOVERSNEWYORK booth, I think, he “knew the brand” . . !!!
“Great brand”, he said !!!
we had written up the HELPER . . ‘MUSHROOM’ show / curated by NICHOLAS MOENICH, for one thing.
and, then he had also come by . . .
like a bee to honey / like a moth to a flame, tell me about it !!
attracted like a compulsive, uncontrollable magnet to talent . . to our rare DAN ASHER offerings !!
though he liked the whole booth, once he settled down, and the ‘radar’ alarms stopped . . sounding.
said I to him, kindred art radar-enhanced soul / how do you know . . DAN ASHER ?
and he told me, “I’m showing my work with the RECORD STORE at MARTOS GALLERY this week” / and, MARTOS shows Dan, and so . . it’s a really small world, even in big old NEW YORK FRIGGIN CITY. and it circles, yes it does. it endlessly ‘new’ waves, and it circles back.
he didn’t have a business card, and neither did I, come to think of it / so damn contrarian for anyone trying to promote themselves, or their work, in the Big Apple. so we made him one on the spot – for the photographic record.
so yeah, go to the RECORD SHOP at MARTOS GALLERY, to see more of his ‘stuff’.
yep, that’s one of JEAN-BAPTISTE LENGLET’S . . porn scribbled, ‘faux’ Disney / Looney Toons / Tibetan children’s notebooks – underneath.
faux faux.
NATHAN GYWNNE . . of HELPER PROJECTS at The Casual Art Fair of October 1, 2017.
this hard-core . . indie curator / artist / artist-run galleriest . . . put RYAN FOERSTER in the mix !!
and let him run, WILD.
wild, crazy as a . . FOX !!
the both – of them.
see: NATHAN GWYNNE / ARTIST PAGE !!
omg . . FRANK ZAPPA has come back, and better.
don’t tell me the hardcore underground indie art world . .
doesn’t always come down – right on the . . money !!
in this case, in a word: ‘DESERT SMOKE’.
the smoke that rises, after the bullets stop. and the bodies . . need to be cleared.
how do sweet bio babies, grow up to be . . so vicious ?
how does the soul seep – into the art, so unknowingly ?
Think Twice . . about a Gallery, named . . ‘HELPER’.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH