~NANCY SMITH X NIKHOLIS PLANCK / NADA House 404A
vernacular . . . is my new FAVORITE / word.
NANCY SMITH / TURN ONZ, DETROIT
X
NIKHOLIS PLANCK / MAGENTA PLAINS, NYC
NADA House 404A / NADA House 2021 / GOVERNORS ISLAND
up thru . . . AUG 1, 2021
FUNNY, how that’s . . . me !!!
detail, NANCY SMITH, ‘MAYBE . . .’, 2021.
photocopy & mylar collage / attached to – a plastic light switch cover.
NANCY SMITH, ‘MAYBE . . .’, 2021.
photocopy images, DURA-LAR mylar, glue stick, multi-color foil binder reinforcements / attached to white plastic light switch cover.
SO, it’s really, really, ME.
straight-up / really really vernacular / hardcore underground insider/outsider rebel/DIY artist – from the 1980’s LES / LOWER EAST SIDE / NYC art scene.
flash forward . . to this Summer 2021: served up fresh / via grassroots, start-up artist collab: TURN ONZ out of DETROIT /
headed up by, and curated by JEFFREY TRANCHELL.
out of DETROIT ?
but, of course !!!!
nothing like coming into your hometown – as a cloaked mystery / upstart – grass roots stranger.
yes, it’s really, really . . . me: Japanese art lover / American quilt maker / art lovers – me !!
it’s actually . . quite the short story / auto-biography.
the line drawing . . .
is a vintage 80’s Xerox, when it was black & white only !! /
photocopy of a black ink line drawing I did in Montreal, in the 1970’s /
a deliberate statement of rebellion vs. the reigning color field painting theory of the time,
It’s a re-imagination of MYSELF / as an Edo Period woodblock print geisha, so . . .
It’s a . . . self-portrait / can y’all connect the dots ?
even including the vintage, red & white embroidered flower / ‘botanical’ . . ‘banners’ cascading down the sides / which are a super realistic take / on the actual woven ribbon I often use to repair . . my old quilt repair / projects.
and here, just might be: legs. opening. go figure.
symbolically.
center: NANCY SMITH, TURN ONZ, DETROIT / LIGHT SWITCH.
at top: NIKHOLIS PLANCK, MAGENTA PLAINS, NYC / painted egg.
so, if you turn the corner of NADA House 404A, and go up the narrow wooden staircase, you come upon a ‘magical’ hallway, a presentation that you just might miss, in terms of it’s – not being in ‘walled’ room.
and, being of such an . . . ‘ethereal’ atmosphere.
‘Maybe . . . ?’
Maybe . . . you know me ? maybe . . . you don’t. now, you know me / a little bit more.
Maybe we do ? or, maybe we don’t . . . ?
the 18th C. geisha, says:
Maybe, we turn – on the lights /
or, maybe . . we don’t.
the Planck ‘wooden’ eggs, also say: folk art. woodblock prints -> wooden Easter eggs
skills / lyric history, and . . well, in a nutshell/eggshell: reproduction !!
bio reproduction.
and . . . red means: good luck.
a quick re-thought / re: folk art,
Japanese folk art prints – to – painted / wax resist / wooden Polish / Romaine / Ukraine Easter eggs.
on one wall.
in the middle of Governors Island 2021 / who would have ever thought.
both artists are giving you 3-D objects / and, ironically in a very, very shallow / viewing space.
both artists are having fun, but seriously !! are . . . light-on-their-feet.
Easter Eggs, and . . . light switches, come on …… now, people !!!
‘vernacular’ – is going to be my new favorite word.
just, an aside / observation:
the optical world – is so contrary, fluid & crazy.
I really dig, how my piece is so wrapped in wavy mylar, yet perceives – as flat.
while the Nikholis egg, is every bit just as much an illustration, but perceives – as round / !!
my piece is so glossy, and reflective / while his is so matte, and hanging in the air.
my piece has very fantastic cut-out shapes, his work: truly a work – in the very smooth, round.
it’s a narrow space, but here’s a better idea of the install / though it also looks like a giant – geography map !!
my light switch – is behind that big blob of blonde hair.
the distressed wall – check, check, check, right on !!
hanging by a wire.
NIKHOLIS PLANCK, ‘OVOIDS’.
“are mounted site-specifically, ornamenting the architectural details of the historical (NADA House) buildings as floating cosmic droplets. The ‘Ovoids’ are miniature paintings in the round made by treating wooden egg shapes with gesso, drawing in a pattern, and then dipping them in hot wax. Finally, the artist applies oil paint in a gamut of checkered motifs, anatomical features, and botanical studies.”
~MAGENTA PLAINS
also – very Japanese in flavor / and color / vintage lacquer.
NIKHOLIS PLANK, ‘OVOID’.
real-life / egg-size, btw. some a bit bigger, some a bit smaller.
“Like the artist’s signature angular and amorphous shaped paintings that reject the square and rectangular format, the ‘Ovoids’ attempt to overcome another binary of painting in terms of both shape and flatness while reflecting on the engendered notions of the egg, creating an immersive space germinated in a constellation of a macabre biology study.”
~MAGENTA PLAINS
NIKHOLIS PLANCK, ‘Ovoid’
looking towards the other end of the hallway.
is that the ‘Cloak Room’ – install ?
maybe, you don’t actually need to go up stairs, maybe you just turn a corner.
I mean, I’m getting old / but I still come from the era of ‘open floor plans’, so it all becomes a bit of . . . a maze.
speaking of which, a maze / funny how someone’s ‘macabre’ – is someone else’s . . ‘fun’.
KATE CERIGO . . . at the NANCY SMITH X NIKHOLIS PLANCK / installation wall
NADA House 404A / Governors Island, summer 2021.
JEFFREY TRANCHELL, founder of the artist collective: TURN ONZ, out of Detroit / curated the, I would say, seriously !! de-light-ful, fresh, super varied, and enchanting . . artist-made light switches that appear – scattered throughout the historic NADA houses.
here:
NANCY SMITH, paper collage / light switch, presented by TURN ONZ, DETROIT /
and . . .
NIKHOLIS PLANCK, 2 hanging / painted wooden eggs, ‘Ovoids’ – presented by Magenta Plains, NYC.
and which placement, btw happened totally by random / my light switch – placed next to the Planck ‘Ovoids’.
actually, Jeff came around and put up the light switch art first, then came the ‘Ovoid’ free fall.
Jeff said, he was always pleased and surprised – with how the rest of the main body / art presentations worked with the TURN Onz light switches, & how the unplanned / site-specific architectural dialogs – worked out.
but especially, here.
note: the wild landscape painting in the next room is by . . ERNESTO GUTIERREZ MOYA,
presented by Emerson Dorsch Gallery, of Miami & posting – next.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH