JOHN AHEARN . . will have work in the SWIZZ BEATZ / BACARDI – NO COMMISSION NY ART FAIR, taking place in the rapidly gentrifying South Bronx. & with all the tensions – that ensue.
opening tomorrow . .
THURS AUG 11, 2016 at 5 PM & running thru SUN AUG 14, 2016 – 3 PM.
see: No Commission / The Dean Collection
see: No Commission Bacardi – for show info/manifest
JOHN AHEARN . . and CHARLES McGILL,
at Walter Robinson’s museum retrospective catalog signing, Max Fish Bar, Lower east side, NYC. Nov 8, 2015.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
see: John Ahearn website
see: Charles McGILL website
UP-DATE: FRI AUG 12, 2016 / 11:34 AM
KAWS just posted this photo of JOHN AHEARN portrait sculpture at NO COMMISSION NY
kaws: Great John Ahearn portrait of @biotatscru at #nocommission part two in the #Bronx
image via Instagram @kaws
~JOHN AHEARN . . SWIZZ BEATZ NO COMMISSION NY / Charles McGill & up-date: FRI AUG 12/11:34am |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 10th, 2016, 10:55am
MIND OVER MATTER – FANTASY MEETS PRECISION
A STUDIO VISIT WITH TRICIA KEIGHTLEY – BROOKLYN. FEB 20, 2016
TRICIA KEIGHTLEY at her home / studio, in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.
Sat Feb 20, 2016.
TRICIA . . with one of her larger paintings.
now, that’s what I called . . a controlled ‘trip’, into the structural ‘unkown’.
ONE OF THE MOST FUN TIMES, I had last year was visiting the home/studio of TRICIA KEIGHTLEY and DANIEL DAVIDSON. it’s always an exceptional experience to see the work totally fresh, at the birthing place – where it’s made, and dreamed up, and . . in context. it’s also a rare look behind the lifestyle, and into the reality of a Brooklyn existence.
part those old school Brooklyn brick walls, here we come.
so:
TRICIA and DANIEL co-exist in a small apt/condo niche that has two floors. the top floor, on the ground level of the small apartment – now condo building, is for living. the bottom level is for their 2 studios.
a determined, and focused harmony speaks quietly, throughout.
this is the entry living room, very spare and modernist in temperament – it’s a perfect foil for one of Tricia’s larger minimalist ‘fantasy’ canvases. very flat, but still strange, and even trippy. though in a ‘precision of the mind & hand’ – kind of way.
as opposed to say full-on . . psychedelia.
and therein lies – the beauty.
kind of like . . spiky plants vs. white-washed brick walls !!
the paint looks to be applied very very flat, but actually close-up & in person – there is brushwork, a very subtle world dwells within.
another of Tricia’s canvases graces the kitchen – close-by.
it’s a super efficient floor plan.
downstairs, a short flight down a circular staircase:
Tricia in her studio – very efficient, compact and yet still – very much a work in progress.
close-up of a drawing on the table. the hands-on expression – is very flat, very detailed, very mechanical. but totally suffused from/within the soul – of her imagination.
MOEBIUS and future vision – did come to mind.
as did architectural toys & . . funny thing: TRAVEL !!
gears & geometric shapes – all in flat planes. with wheels, and levers, wing flaps and strange knobs. matte colors, directional ‘clues’, as in the mechanical levers – add some perspective, but all in all – shapes with no shadows ?
this a hot air balloon, without the ‘hot’. everything is on the down-low and cool – but the imagination . . rumbles.
it’s the mind – that sparks up.
a small canvas nearby.
vintage TINKER TOY sets – anybody ?
detail of painting above.
I really like . .
1. how architectural/mechanical & ‘real’ it all seems, like a blueprint. yet is so . . ‘unknown’.
2. the spatial concepts
3. the mechanical aspect
4. the super ‘mixed’ hues & color pigments. the matteness.
5. the draftsmanship
6. it never falls off – into surrealism, or cartoon narrative, or indeed any specific story, or mood. nor descends into abstract expressionism, gloop-iness, or ‘collage’, for even a second. no ‘primitive’ ‘fruit’ ‘shark’ ‘watermelon’ trending here.
7. it flies it’s own . . course. literally.
anybody else know what Tinker Toys are ?
as opposed to say: Legos. or wooden Lincoln log sets.
but what I really meant to say, was: dig those KNOBS !!
all playing about on a very flat, very shallow surface. re: depth.
back to that drawing board of a table: skills.
precision drawing of the endless . . imagination.
the moment you start to realize . . some are less about architectural rendering, they are actually designs, blue-prints for . . . sci-fi vehicles.
real-life mechanical . . inspiration.
industrial . . yes !!
a work in progress . . .
jars and tiny tubs of paint – attest to the ‘mixing’ going on – those are not just your standard 3 primary colors – !!
IN FACT: this work is just as much about the one-on-one, custom-made ‘toned-down’ pigment & paint hues, – as it is . . about the mechanical rendering & the fantasy trippin’ (lightly).
come to think of it: ‘lightly’ rhymes with .. KEIGHTLEY – !!
jars & jars & probably years & years, of . . home-made color hue mixing . .
getting it just . . right-ley !!
precision ‘coloring’ – is the absolute key to these works, and why they work so well, even though they are so ‘flat’.
and ‘flat’ – is way harder than you think.
that’s why they say . . super-flat !! as out of Japan, and going back to their traditional woodblock prints.
mechanical . . woodblock – color field ?
mechanical color field of the sunshine of the mind – in Tricia’s head.
precision of the imagination . . jump-off.
bikes for Mars ?
the beauty of the grid meets the flight . . of the Keightley go-lightly – imagination.
for more background, CV, & images, see: TRICIA KEIGHTLEY – ARTIST WEBSITE
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~TRICIA KEIGHTLEY . . STUDIO VISIT, BROOKLYN |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 4th, 2016, 10:40am
LOU REED, PACE WILDENSTEIN GALLERY, NYC. JULIAN SCHNABEL OPENING. OCT 16, 2003.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
FIRST PUBLISHED ON ARTNET: ART LOVERS NEW YORK – FALL 2003
~LOU REED . . OCT 16, 2003 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 2nd, 2016, 2:21pm
STEVEN PARRINO, RIP – and KEEP YOUR DIRTY, DIGITAL PAWS – OFF THE PHOTO – IT’S MINE.
STEVEN PARRINO, at his opening at TEAM GALLERY, NYC, OCT 7, 2004
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH – first published on artnet.
see: FALL 2004 – ART LOVERS NEW YORK PHOTOS by NANCY SMITH / People section, artnet magazine, when the mighty Walter Robinson . . was editor.
glad to see interest continues unabated, esp in Europe . . in this brilliant, but tragic artist’s short-lived, but hyper-presentient, hyper-minimalist, ‘brute’, and rock solid . . concrete-ist work.
my photo of him, taken at his very last opening – pops up everywhere – and usually . . unattributed – what else is new /
so rude.
the photo was originally posted on artnet, in my column ART LOVERS NEW YORK – PHOTOS by NANCY SMITH, overseen & edited by WALTER ROBINSON, on NOV 17, 2004.
the show took off, like a lit match, and so did . . Steven. he celebrated by buying a, think it was a huge Harley ?? and, less than 2 months later – he was dead. he sadly died New Years Day 2005. got on that bike and accidentally crashed it, in front of his house, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn – bye the way, back in the day.
glad to see his work is still cruising strong, but – I get real upset and mad, when I see my hard-won photo – lifted, stolen & unattributed. and yes, I hold grudges.
LOS DEAD BOYS
GHOST ARMY
WALKING DEAD
“ART’S A DYING, NOT A LIVING”: SIMON CERIGO, RIP – FAMOUS LAST WORDS.
REPEAT: KEEP YOUR GRUBBY PAWS – OFF MY PIX.
YEAH, YOU: SYLVYE DUMAS of FRANCE – YOU ARE A GRUBBY, LOWLIFE – THIEF.
if you seek an online reputation – do some ORIGINAL WORK & stop riding on the coattails of others.
damn Frenchie.
~STEVEN PARRINO, RIP & keep your digital paws off the photo . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 28th, 2016, 10:19am
so, do I !!!!!!!
art work by ROB “TMO” PLATER . . aka @TMOPLATER
“A Brooklyn-bred artist caught up in the love affair of image making,”
Solo crew affliate
Facebook: TMO Art
image found, photographed by & posted to Instagram . . . by @STREETART.VS.FINEART / NYC – 5 BROZ – TUGBROOKLYN
~TMO PLATER . . I HOLD GRUDGES |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 28th, 2016, 10:02am
ROY MIRANDA’S . . SUMMERY, BEACH-Y SWEET & MAGICAL . . SELF PORTRAIT !!
on a new flyer for the WILD YAKS . .
ROCKAWAY BEACH PARTY – AT RIPPERS – TODAY – SAT JULY 23, 2016 / 6 PM – FREE.
“GONNA BE A – SIZZLER” – !!!! ~ WILD YAKS !!!!
roy_miranda_: new flyer for the @wild_yaks family . . and self Rockaways portrait . . rambling dreamer art studio – East Williamsburg New York USA
let the good times roll children of summer . . Rockaway Beach Queens New York USA.
image via Instagram @roy_miranda_
~ROY MIRANDA . . so: let the good times roll !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 23rd, 2016, 9:00am
ANDREW GUENTHER recently posted this saying, that SIMON CERIGO, RIP . . . was quite well known for.
I see . . it still rings true.
it’s also exactly replicating Simon’s notorious handwriting.
now that’s a . . ghost army !!
eattheleaf: Art’s a dying, not a living.
#plate #artquotes #artistquotes @kennyschachter @artloversnewyork @katecerigo
image via Instagram @eattheleaf – plate by ANDREW GUENTHER
& also bringing on thoughts of . . PABLO !! (Picasso).
SIMON CERIGO – PHOTO by MARTIN BROMIRSKI of anaba blog
read: more about SIMON – anaba blog
~ANDREW GUENTHER: channels SIMON CERIGO, party animal / ghost |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 23rd, 2016, 8:36am
EAT THE LEAF, half man/half robot: stay HUMAN. PABLO PICASSO, anybody ?
which brings us back, full circle . . . to ANDREW GUENTHER !!!!!!
the Brooklyn-based painter, and new ‘era’ . . . jewelry craftsman/designer/creative – who goes by the name: EAT THE LEAF.
ANDREW GUENTHER / EAT THE LEAF / @eattheleaf.
in his studio/workshop. GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN, NY. JAN 2016
ANDREW greets us, Oct 2015.
we, me & Theo, my son . . . went to visit Andrew several times over the past year.
we started off looking for a special custom gold EAT THE LEAF ‘signet’ ring for Kate, for her birthday, and along the way – we fell (deep) in love with his design work. Theo bought a handful. literally, of pressed stencil ‘message’ rings for himself, he bought me a sweet pinkie ‘SMILE’ stencil ring in gold, & then, a month later – even a lovely, lovely, lovely . . . “ALREADY DEAD” gold pendant . . for Christmas 2015 !!
yeah, that good.
Andrew’s house in Greenpoint, where he lives with . . TIFFANY GRACE POLLOCK, and their two young children, Easter Lily & Ivo.
we actually had been to Andrew’s house, his studio is in the lower level basement, once or twice before, probably for a Greenpoint Open Studio weekend.
Andrew showed us a handful of paintings – he happened to have around that day. they were beautiful, relevant, smart & crazy.
ANDREW GUENTHER ‘COLA’, painting, acrylic on canvas.
ANDREW GUENTHER, ‘mushroom’ detail.
one day I’m going to go back – and get me a painting, fer sure.
and who knew . . mushrooms could bite.
but today, we were on a mission, to find Kate a special custom-designed ring for her birthday.
Andrew’s . . EAT THE LEAF worktable.
Andrew’s EAT THE LEAF sketches . . .
really, so fun !! to get so close to his thinking, and thoughts. designs – in the making.
EAT THE LEAF designs . . at the moment of birthing / processing.
NASA . . on a human scale.
Andrew shows us some sample rings.
over time, we got a couple of variations on those ‘message’ stencil rings, one in gold for me that says ‘SMILE’, something I need to know, or at least remember. and a handful – for Theo in various hardcore ‘guy’ metals !! bronze and copper, something like that.
and – we decided on the ‘signet’ ring, at the left – to be the base for Kate’s birthday ring, and asked Andrew, since he actually knows Kate – to come up with some special designs just for her.
that was back in October, OCT 2015.
fast forward . . . JAN 2016.
KATE receives her ANDREW GUENTHER / EAT THE LEAF custom design ‘signet’ ring – in gold, and . . . she love, love loves it !!
it actually says ‘Smile’ too, like mine, except in script – interwoven into the almost free form face. very poetic. nice bond. and – it’s very Picasso-like, which I really like. it’s kind of a wake-up call. it’s very very interesting, style-wise. a sort of revival of someone who had ‘died’ re relevance & over-marketing / there, for awhile ?
it strikes me, as so curiously: very . . avant-garde.
it’s also interesting in terms of artists today being very multi-disciplinary, even craft-wise, right, right now. just like Pablo. the KANYE . . ‘life of Pablo’, even. including those who cook, make bread, or sew. take video. post social media. hand-dye. are into ancient indigo, flower arranging. raise animals, fly pigeons & honor bees. grow gardens. build boats & travel waterways. collect mid-century furniture. etc etc. huge wave of graphic design, both commercial & commercial/indie, indie book making, DIY publishing. zines. marbling. DIY script/fonts, street art. tea ceremonies. pottery. one-of-a-kind ceramics. endless. filmmakers. ‘creatives’ are a big force today, there’s no denying their role vis-a-vie – the digital world.
can we add (ttttrump) . . speech writers to the list ? & the growing respect for the laws/rights of intellectual property / & original thinking . . amidst all this freely accessed/published info (and photos) that surrounds us. thanks to our new century / human bio google robot component.
YES.
the human / computer .. the man bio / robot age is here, it’s just we’ve MERGED our brains first. augmented our brains – first.
we are wired into the web. we are . . HALF MAN / HALF MACHINE.
here’s my . . EAT THE LEAF pendant. it’s solid gold.
it says: ALREADY DEAD. think about it.
totally love the goth rose, and the bone-y skeleton hand. a hand holds a rose. nature. romance. aroma. even . . the thorn.
but the hand. the hand speaks to . . skills. hand skills, human skills, hands-on skills !!
sKILLs / kill. as in . . . ‘kill it’ – rule.
the power of the creative mind. the power of nature, the power of the leaf. growth & creativity.
hand sKills . . in my case: once also known as ‘fancy stitching’, embroidery / quilt repair / sewing, craft work, painting. writing. documenting, even photography is a form of handiwork. and so is archiving . .
and in Andrew’s case: jewelry making.
‘already dead’ is very different from . . the ‘walking dead’.
it’s not about being the ghost army, it’s about being – the army.
it’s about being ‘hard’, as in hard-nosed. persevering. focused.
present tense.
I s/wear it all the time – it’s my day-to-day motto.
I got it – the moment I saw it.
in all ways. but especially, quite literally. if you see me, you see it.
EAT THE LEAF !!!!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
see: EAT THE LEAF – HANDMADE JEWELRY BY ANDREW GUENTHER
~ANDREW GUENTHER : EAT THE LEAF, DIAMOND in the RAW . . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 22nd, 2016, 12:50pm
TRAIN ART aka MONIKER ART . . . a diamond in the RAW !!!!!!
also makes my mind – take off, esp the drawing side, . . of my mind.
MONIKER ART by . . . POOR BOY
image posted by REEFER SUTHERLAND aka @thesavageland
~POOR BOY: DIAMOND in the ROUGH . . |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 22nd, 2016, 12:46pm
moniker art by: Chukshun, 10/14 . . . ‘FEED YOUR GHOSTS’ – (!!)
posted on Instagram by REEFER SUTHERLAND aka @thesavageland
not only is this a great depiction of a clay pot, albeit one with earthy, magical ancient First American native roots – but, it says: “FEED YOUR GHOSTS” !!!
respect . . your ancient ones.
be SPIRITUAL.
and. in that: it makes me think of that film I just saw – ‘MEN GO TO BATTLE’.
and, it makes me want to draw, again. too.
~moniker art by Chukshun – via @thesavageland |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 22nd, 2016, 12:36pm
