ANYA DAVIDSON . . . ‘PLANET GLOOM’
“FRONT COVER for a new 14 page riso zine about street harassment, misanthropy & robotics engineering I’m working on for CAKE – printed by MATT DAVIS of PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE PRESS”.
see: ANYA DAVIDSON – tumblr
http://anyaisdead.tumblr.com/
(lol, Anya .. is dead !!)
CAKE – CHICAGO ALTERNATIVE COMICS / is this weekend / JUNE 11 & 12, 2016 / 11am – 6pm
cakechicago.com
from the artlovers archive:
ANYA DAVIDSON . . .
at the (now defunct) BROOKLYN COMICS and GRAPHICS FESTIVAL, Brooklyn, NY.
DEC 3, 2011.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
~ANYA DAVIDSON, CAKE . . CHICAGO |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 8th, 2016, 10:23am
Summer in the city . . . can’t take the heat ?
Finger by . . Abe.
Abe Lincoln Jr, ‘city intervention’ – photo image by @BKLenny / @BKLENNY – via Instagram
#streetart #nyc #streetartnyc
nice light bouncing off the hot steel, or what.
black & white: rules. urban hieroglphs. code for civilized/non-civilized . . behavior ?
industrial chic – too. not too shabby, either.
& file under: epiphany
It suddenly struck me that Abe Lincoln Jr is the great anti-Schulz. Charles M. Schulz; the Peanuts, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, even Peppermint Patty and all – of street art & this generation’s answer . . to the demise of comics in the dailies / newspapers.
and, the M stands for Monroe.
Monroe, Lincoln, get it ?
arrgh . . can’t take the heat.
I’m melting, melting, melting – I tell ya.
sticker art by ABE LINCOLN JR – via Instagram @abelincolnjr
@abelincolnjr: ‘#finalmeltdown”.
sticker art by ABE LINCOLN JR via Instagram @abelincolnjr
“Put this up by a bougie outdoor cafe at Lincoln Jr Center”.
haha. your mom’s Charlie Brown, not.
~ABE LINCOLN Jr. . . NYC / Charlie Brown ? not. |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 7th, 2016, 2:56pm
INFINITY PACKAGE !!
meaning . . . ?
it’s a . . . TIE !!
A ‘TIE’ . . . TO DIE FOR.
PIX FROM THE OPENING OF:
‘JIM JOE – LOOK MEANS MEMORIZE’, APRIL 28 – MAY 22, 2016
THE HOLE, 312 BOWERY. DOWNTOWN, NYC
JIM JOE, ‘ALWAYS RETURN TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME’, 2016
INK ON CANVAS*, 20 x 16 INCHES
($3,000)
*mostly poorly stretched canvases – part of the charm, no doubt.
don’t laugh, if you have any of JOE BRADLEY’S . . early, cheaply made, & most definite poorly stretched human ‘geo’ ‘segment’ canvases, you are laughing all the way to the bank.
at any rate as you can see, I’m pretty much very bored with what’s out there, right now. and, it’s most definite turning into a summer of . . returning to the ‘scene of the crime’.
(just like the presidential race, don’t get me started.)
oh oh, I SPY a . . TAYLOR McKIMENS PAINTING !!
the money . . shot !!
did that narrative go by – too fast ?
ok, here’s the long version:
I believe that should read, ‘PICTURES ARE WORTH MORE THAN WORDS’- and, IF you do not believe that, then;
‘VISIT THE IMPRISONED’ . . . of, their own imagination.
pretty straightforward.
I, myself wear a gold charm that says: ALREADY DEAD.
@eattheleaf aka ANDREW GUENTHER made it.
doggie days of summer.
and of course, my . . #puppylove ZORA.
oh, yeah.
TAYLOR McKIMEN’S (desolate) bar narrative – up for sale, in the back office.
detail.
#mood
lol, how did that run of pix work . . for ya ?
no joke, though about Taylor’s paintings becoming . . “increasingly un-affordable”, after his blockbuster show of . . ‘heads’, also at THE HOLE – this past FALL 2015, titled:
‘STOIC YOUTH’, running SEPT – OCT 2015.
see: TAYLOR McKIMENS – ‘STOIC YOUTH’ / THE HOLE
Taylor McKimens
TAYLOR McKIMENS. ‘Sundown Somewhere’, 2012
acrylic on canvas, 60 x 84 in.
($17,500).
I first saw, and was absolutely STUNNED BY . . this TAYLOR McKIMENS beaut – at the intense but brief snowflake of a pop-up, PAUL BRIGHT . . did for Taylor back in the winter of 2015.
‘TAYLOR McKIMENS COMMISSIONS BY BRIGHT LYONS, 2008 – 2015’ / OPENING FEB 17, 2015
POP-UP – WEST 19th St, CHELSEA, NYC / FEB 3 – 17, 2015.
that’s only about a year and a half ago. if you had half a brain, (or if I had half your dough) somebody else, would be laughing very very heartily all the way to the bank. as it is, it seems to have remained in Paul’s . . bright, and prescient hands, and it is now up for sale.
the price is SO way up there, nobody wants to divulge it. haha.
yep that high. I’d guess easily over $60, $80,000. maybe even more.
and deservedly, so.
TAYLOR McKIMENS . . with one of his paintings behind him.
‘TAYLOR McKIMENS COMMISSIONS BY BRIGHT LYONS, 2008-2015’ . . OPENING, CHELSEA POP-UP, NYC.
FEB 3, 2015
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
if you want to see more pix from that opening,
check out: ARTLOVERS: TAYLOR McKIMENS . . PIX FROM THE OPENING: ‘COMMISSIONS BY BRIGHT LYONS’, FEB 3, 2015
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~JIM JOE VS . . TAYLOR McKIMENS ?? / no brainer: WIN WIN |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | June 3rd, 2016, 11:30am
somebody . . caught me at the JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘PIECE OF DIRT’ opening, NYC. April 1, 2016.
haha, April Fools !!
the hipster on the right, in orange plaid – be . . me.
NANCY SMITH . . at the JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘PIECE OF DIRT’ OPENING, CHINATOWN POP-UP, NYC.
APRIL 1, 2016.
image via Instagram . . @rossnzkiwi
ps: have No idea who he is, except he’s prob from New Zealand, but love the beauty & randomness of . . the photo. nice photo, dude.
~busted . . NANCY SMITH at JIM JOE VS LEWY |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 31st, 2016, 9:30am
DIARY / AN 800 PAGE INDEX OF COLLABORATIVE DRAWINGS BY JIM JOE & LEWY / LIMITED EDITION OF 100 / EACH WITH A UNIQUE DRAWING AS THE COVER / EACH SIGNED & NUMBERED ON THE BACK PAGE / $250 EACH
PS: JUST SOLD OUT – IT WAS AVAILABLE LAST TIME I LOOKED (LAST WEEK).
btw: 100 x $250 = $25,000.
check it out: JIM JOE VS LEWY WEBSITE / DIARY
one of the more interesting & original ‘statements’ of the JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘PIECE OF DIRT’ POP-UP SHOW – was the book. if you couldn’t spring for a drawing, (line painting ?) on canvas
. . maybe you could peel off enough greenbacks – for a limited edition, signed & numbered, very large, DIY, almost BIBLICAL . . . book of drawings ?!!
I did.
the ‘book’ – was on the ‘sales’ desk as you entered the show.
but you couldn’t flip through that one – it was being kept in mint condition – as in, FOR SALE.
but there was one you could freely rifle through – hanging by chain, in a back corner of the room.
it was kind of a communal vs dominant bully kind of thing. no. really, everyone was very polite about taking turns, but some dedicated followers insisted on perusing the entire 800 pages. really.
it was like a giant – flip book.
inside, it was very straight-forward, with minimal fuss. a great lay-out, great graphics, font, etc. gray tones, frame on page, etc etc.
just like everything in this show: absolutely on point.
trend setter.
ahead of the curve.
DIY. LOW-FI.
but definite the image was . . KING.
lol, the pages were . . numbered.
oh gawd, love that. the placement, the scale/size. the font.
the sheer audacity, scale & . . irony.
800 pages.
429.
do I have to spell it – love how it’s . . TYPE FONT !!
you have to know . . when to fold.
action.
kinetic sculpture – in another era ?
also totally dug that any ‘conceptualism’ was treated – as just another part of the game.
a design / production decision. aka . . the way things were. that made the show pop. the totality.
in, and of itself – a radical decision.
also: vs. the ZINE !! that slim red-headed DIY art book . . stepson.
hand-written, hand-formed . . letters – rule. year of the monkey.
somebody will write the paper, no doubt: digital computers & the renaissance of the DIY script / calligraphy.
small gestures – that really really count.
this book – has heft.
ball . . and chain ?
(ever get an email . . from SEAN VEGEZZI ?!!)
yes, that is: JOWY ROMANO . . of subway art blog . .
shadows, too.
ghost army.
I went back to see the show again the next day, and to buy a book.
BENEDICT was manning the sales desk.
there were two copies on the desk, numbers 28 & 29.
I picked the one on the right.
besides having the most minimal of all dragon-y scrawls, it proclaimed:
YOURE NOT PERFECT EITHER.
take that (fill in the blank) haters.
go find . . your own ghost army.
plus, a little doggie – in the corner !!
29/100.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘PIECE OF DIRT’, 148 BOWERY, CHINATOWN, NYC. POP-UP, APRIL 2-10, 2016.
OPENED APRIL 1, 2016
PHOTOS TAKEN: APRIL 1 & 2, 2016.
~JIM JOE VS LEWY: THE BOOK |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 27th, 2016, 9:14am
somehow, that brings us full circle.
rebel, rebel.
and yes: DOGGIES . . are the new mirror.
JIM JOE VS LEWY: ‘PIECE OF DIRT’
CHINATOWN POP-UP / 48 BOWERY, NYC
APRIL 2 – 12, 2016
MORE PIX – FROM THE OPENING – APRIL 1, 2016
JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘LEFT VS RIGHT’
OIL ON CANVAS, 36 x 48 INCHES
($4,500 USD)
yep, that’s . . my shadow.
not that I want to cast any shade, lol.
but, I’ll say it again: VIRGINIA DWAN VS ELI BROAD ?
VIRGINIA DWAN . . wins.
hands down.
I really related to this drawing – it’s kind of a mirror, and a . . metaphor for my mood, my life, whatever.
it’s been hard knock – fer sure.
if I had had the dough, or leverage to buy the work I loved the most, and in some cases I did (JOE BRADLEY) . . I’d be a millionaire, prob even a billionaire, by now.
maybe even many times over.
well, right after JJEAN-MICHEL, who was my friend, in passing in the hood on the Bowery, I learnt my lesson.
if you can’t grab the work LONG STORY, but he signed posters for me, grab the pix.
because talk is cheap. get that marker – that says: YES – you were there.
hard knock, but passionate.
pass-ion=ate.
you know, I didn’t call myself: artlovers !!
that’s just the name I picked up – and, WALTER ROBINSON made it formal: and made it stick. like gum.
personally I liked my other nickname better: CRACKULA, lol.
what me – throw: shade ?
there were a lot of dog drawings in the show, which I found endlessly fascinating – as I just got a dog !!
my first ever – and she’s gonna be huge. literally, not auction-wise.
she’s an American Akita. she’s 4 mos. old and she’s already well over 38 pounds, and counting.
prob gonna go . . past 100, 120 ?
her name is: ZORA. and I love her, . . and she totally, totally loves me.
F the art world.
and yes, I named her after my hero: ZORA NEALE HURSTON, take that whitey haters. and, shove it.
lol. cultural appropriation. I mean, what’s in my blood – only Bob Marley knows for sure.
talk about crazy Rastafarian locks. talking to the dead, (and the . . don’t know they are dead, lol, too)
JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘DOG VS RAT’
OIL ON CANVAS, 36 X 48 INCHES
($4,500 USD)
oh gawd, don’t you love that: DOG VS RAT
and, RAT spells ART – BACKWARDS, of course. was gonna make a joke, but thought better of it.
well, dog days of summer – anyways.
JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘CRIME VS PUNISHMENT’
OIL ON CANVAS, 36 X 48 INCHES
($4,500 USD)
!!!!!! X !!!!!! ‘PUNISHMENT’ – !!
JIM JOE VS LEWY, ‘GREED VS BREED’
OIL ON CANVAS, 36 x 48 INCHES,
($4,500 USD)
!!!!!!! X !!!!!! ‘GREED’ – !!
TAROT DRAWING – DOGGY, DOG ?
GYPSY PALM READER ? DOGGY, DOG ?
SHAMAN DECK OF CARDS – DOGGY, DOG ?
GAME OF THRONES, DOGGY DOG ?
CHUBBY DOGGY . . HAS A GHOST ARMY ?
AND THEY ARE STILL,
S-T-I-L-L . . THE LIVING DEAD.
WAITING FOR THEIR DAY IN THE SUN: MARK ENGER, DAN ASHER, & SIMON CERIGO.
LOS DEAD ONES.
I GUESS THIS IS AS CLOSE AS I CAN GET – TO A ‘MUSEUM’, MY ‘MUSEUM/foundation’, for . . now.
and, hell yah.
forget . ‘contemporary’, I’m going call it straight: MUSEUM OF THE DEAD, but not forgotten.
this one makes me what to say: THE LADY WAS A TRAMP ?
a Disney doggy animation – prob way before your time. or maybe not, if you are a collector.
JIM JOE, ‘VANITY VS SANITY’
OIL ON CANVAS, 36 x 48 INCHES
($4,500 USD)
what: you be calling my name . . boy ?
VANITY – lol VS SANITY – lol
ARF, ARF.
FUN FACT: AKITAS DON’T BARK. & THEY DON’T RUN AROUND – ALL HYPER, EITHER.
BUT WATCH OUT – POWERFUL & CAN VIBE YA. BEFORE YOU SEE HER, SHE SEES . . YOU.
SHE CAN SEE YOU THRU A DOOR, EVEN A MILE AWAY. PICKS UP ON YOUR VIBE. ALL RADAR, MY GHOST DOG.
AND FAST AS LIGHTNING.
and, if you be bad, then she bark . . a deep, super badass scary bark.
my . . Zo-ra.
my . . love.
ZORA – my American Akita puppy. long coat.
art world vs chipmunk. don’t ask. don’t care.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~JIM JOE: LEFT VS RIGHT -&- IT’S A DOGGY . . DOG EAT DOG / HOT WORLD, after all. |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 25th, 2016, 2:22pm
THOM COWAN aka boner_table . . ‘Out to lunch’.
image via Instagram – @boner_table
the whole contemporary ‘mainstream’ art scene, as typified by ELI BROAD and his much touted “contemporary” art collection/museum is pretty boring . . and well, pretty much over. cold toast.
time moves on. it’s 2016 – not 1979. 80s are no longer . . quote contemporary.
Millennials rule.
okay, there are few great & timeless pieces, but over-all it’s a drag. with a kind of prevailing visual ‘sameness’, which is really boring.
see: the BROAD COLLECTION online
http://www.thebroad.org/art/browse
‘contemporary’ is going to become about as cutting edge – as ‘modern’ is – in these guys’ hands.
Eli Broad should marry Roberta Smith.
I would say, just off the top of my head, most of the artists in this collection peaked in the 80s. I mean that’s ok, but just don’t call your museum . . the epitome of contemporary art. it’s not. I mean JACK GOLDSTEIN is great, and I would commend the collection just for that . . but he’s been dead for decades. and most telling, the recent auction prices for ELI BROAD favorite . . CINDY SHERMAN have gone very very soft, and, ditto for JEFF KOONS.
GREGORY CREWDSON, is one of the only ones, in the ‘collection’- who I would consider: still really alive and kicking.
ok. Eli has 2 spray paint fabric paintings by STERLING RUBY. good. and they are nice ones.
but where’s the Joe BRADLEY ? the Maurizio CATTELAN ?
he has a MURAKAMI, but where’s . . the BARRY McGEE ?
and even these guys you know, they are not puppies. they are not raging foam-ers straight up from the street. they all made their names back in the early 2000s. so, come on – that’s already over 15 years ago.
in general – ‘contemporary’ is getting to be a pretty obsolete term. the deal is I once heard him, Eli speak about how he was buying Cindy Shermans right off the presses – back in the day. the early 80s. that’s good, but see . . that’s the funny thing about the at world, it’s 2016.
and, so whose work is the much touted titan of ‘cutting edge’ buying at auction – this season / MAY 2016 ?
SAM FRANCIS – !! I kid you not.
I wrote my god damn high school art final – on Sam Francis, and that was back in the 60s. along with the Beatles. and I wanna hold your hand. if that helps put things in perspective.
yeah, he bought Sam Francis ‘Summer #1’, 1957 – for $10.35 Million.
impressed ? neither am I.
let me tell: oh yeah. if he really had that great an ‘eye’, with that kind of ($$) dough, he could be really cleaning up – on the really contemporary art scene. he could vacuum up the whole scene, and snort it right back out his nose – at auction in 10 years. like he did with Cindy and the rest of the ‘Picture’ generation crew.
he might have a really really nice, middle-of-the-road, no surprises – 80s ‘contemporary art’ collection – but just don’t tell me – that he’s . . a rolling stone.
and, I mean it doesn’t even have to be ‘today’. but it has to be brilliant.
to my way of thinking, VIRGINIA DWAN with her patronage of MICHAEL HEIZER – now that outdoes ELI BROAD, hands down.
now – if ELI BROAD had some DAN ASHERS, seriously . . I would be bowing down and kissing the green-billed trail of earth he walks on. but I’m not giving him any crown. sorry.
whatever. go read artinfo if it makes you happy.
lol, LOUISE BLOUIN is on the scandalous tax evading Panama Papers list !!
just some . . out-to-lunch ramblings on a lazy day. why ?
because . . I can. something about raw talent – popping up from the underground.
brings out the best – in me.
but . . .
Back to the future !!
how many ways and things about this . . THOM COWAN / @boner_table . . . art T shirt do I love ?
for starters: the fact that the artist probably thinks . . he has no chance in hell of making it – and so, IT’S SO FRIGGIN’ FRESH.
it’s funny. it’s sweet, and TWISTY !!
It’s lyrical and wry. it’s about animals and humans. it’s got great DIY calligraphy. and nice full swinging tits, too. but it doesn’t feel porno. and, I love that sparkly stuff going on around them – even more than I can put in words.
the coloring is fab.
the spatial composition is super fab, and speaks to both freedom & spontaneity = natural talent.
the daydream element is all mine for the taking . . .it’s truly one-of-a kind, not endless knock-off variations.
and, it’s even signed/initialed, and dated . . ‘2016’ – in the bottom right-hand corner.
and you can . .. wear it !! tattoos are so – over.
so – out to lunch !! and ready to party !!
they should be selling these – at the BROAD FOUNDATION gift shop, god forbid. that probably would be like the biggest kiss of death to a young artist. today.
but see, here’s the thing: INSTA-gram.
call me out to lunch – but just don’t tell me I’m stupid.
~THOM COWAN . . out to lunch ? no. but personally – I think ELI BROAD is. |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 16th, 2016, 3:08pm
THOM COWAN . . CHILL shirts 2016
image via Instagram – @boner_table aka THOM COWAN
~THOM COWAN . . CHILL |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 15th, 2016, 5:57am
looks to have something to do . . with JIM JOE
JIM JOE . . and/ or friends – POP-UP ?
image via Instagram – @andrewkass
STAY AWAY FROM MY LIFE
FRIDAY 13th – MAY 13, 2016
169 FRONT ST – MANHATTAN
10 PM
THAT’S ALL I KNOW – I DON’T THINK YOU NEED TO KNOW MORE !!
~STAY AWAY FROM MY LIFE . . FRIDAY 13th POP-UP |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 13th, 2016, 8:31pm
this is how I feel sometimes . . . #mood
esp on a rainy day & I randomly read that Sotheby’s . .”paid up to $85 million to purchase a blue chip contemporary advisory firm in January 2016.”
see:‘Ex-Sothby’s Rainmaker Joins Rival’ – CHEYENNE WESTPHAL will be chairman of Phillips.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-sothebys-rainmaker-heads-to-rival-auction-house-1463096259
I mean, and just where do I . . fit into the $$ food chain.
nowhere apparently . . sifting through the start-ups from the ground up, lol.
oh F it. my archive going to burn the walls off some auction house – one day, too.
instead of just pave – the way. for free.
TRAVIS MILLARD aka THE OTHER FUDGE
image via Instagram – @theotherfudge
~TRAVIS MILLARD . . . S.O.S. |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | May 13th, 2016, 1:44pm
