FILE UNDER: LET’S START – A MASS MEDIA PROTEST.
LENA DUNHAM . . to WRITE & DIRECT THE NEXT STAR WARS, or dump the whole damn project.
PEGGY G. vs DARTH VADER ? PEGGY WINS !!!!!!!!!
‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT’ vs ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’ . . . ?
‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM’ WINS . . . !!
hands down, no contest.
DARTH VADER, oops I mean . . KYLO REN !!!! – LOOK OUT !!!!
PEGGY G. – coming to take you out !!
‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT’, 2015 – directed by LISA IMMORDINO VREELAND, is still playing at the IFC CENTER in Manhattan, albeit at 10:45 am – but, still . . !!
as IF, we don’t know it’s a dumb-ed down world, don’t blink, get out of bed 2 hrs earlier, and go see it.
yeah, it’s great on a big screen – lots & lots of archival footage: JACKSON POLLOCK, MONDRIAN, DUCHAMP – all them forward moving serious art Frenchies, and, then all those bold American dudes. yep. totally fab visuals . . as the art world moves from Paris – to New York !!
and it’s: all because of, thank you – Peggy !!
and of course, the film is . . . !!
also chock-full of the main character, and I do mean CHARACTER, with a capital C, art-seer & patron .. PEGGY GUGGENHEIM, herself.
and, even CARLO McCORMICK – makes several cameos – as a talking head !!
on the other hand, ‘STAR WARS’ put me to sleep, several times, in fact continuously !!
even at the IMAX !!
what a waste of time, and resources. and it made $1 Billion in a record 12 days.
well, that’s the world – we live in. sad. played out. thin & lame. $$$ in all the wrong places.
inter-planetary, NOT.
I think that’s what I missed most in it. something really new, weird and far-out. seriously digital. warped sound waves. twisted time. come on guys, alien life forms are not all going to be anthropomorphic.
if you were a muscle-bound weightlifter, you could maybe squeeze a few drops of original imagination – out of it, maybe enough . . to make one cup of tepid tea.
the only thing I liked, special effects wise, and anything else wise: was the roly-poly 2 balled metallic or was that hard plastic/composite (?) ‘snowman’ robot/droid – that followed the super cute, scavenger class, duh. heroine, around. nothing else is new. oh I forgot – the ‘villain’, KYLO REN aka the new gen Darth Vader – is: new.
but, he sucks. that guy from ‘GIRLS’, sucks. you know, ADAM DRIVER, what a disappointment. scrape it up, off the sidewalk – dude, your character doesn’t even qualify as an alternative new age, mopey brooding Vader.
Brooklyn hipster dude, you shoulda stuck with . . Lena. Adam did better with a naked frumpy Lena – than he does with this good looking chick, any day. no chemistry whatsoever. no balls. no fear. no twists. no terror. no evil. ok he throws Han Solo around. so what, Harrison Ford looked like he was ready, already !! to be cast out of this loser – gimme break. he gets more thrills flying planes in real life.
boo-hoo.
maybe, because . . no script ? no really, and I mean really .. dark holes.
yeah. I vote LENA DUNHAM – to direct, if not write – the next ‘Star Wars’ !!
anybody else – second that emotion ?
on the other hand, ‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM’ was a low ball production that had it’s weak moments of editing, but overall – absolutely delivered.
and, for god’s sake – don’t judge this film by it’s trailer !!
the worst trailer in the world – and as good an example as any, of how Peggy was demeaned throughout her life.
thank God, she lived to see her singular vision – validated !!
and shame on the filmmakers for releasing such a lame low ball trailer – no wonder the film is screening at 10:45 in the morning.
but PEGGY GUGGENHEIM herself – was huge !!
a huge colorful character. super chic, and modern – before modern was a word, she was a huge huge influence on the art scene – we know and love, even today. and, except for that unfortunate trailer, which just serves to show you – what unkind idiots she was up against – she comes through – loud and clear.
how could she not ?
she left a blazing trail of artists behind her, that never would have stood a chance without her . . just 3 names, among many – should suffice: MARCEL DUCHAMP, JACKSON POLLOCK and MONDRIAN.
some interesting tidbits . . that had particular big sparks for me:
1. haha, her feud with her richer, but dumber art patron uncle, SOLOMON GUGGENHEIM, founder of the Guggenheim Museum, and his arrogant, nasty, snobby, power-stealing, ‘hottie’, maybe mistress – art consultant / curator !!
as if, things have changed !! NOT !!
Peggy has one word for her, besides: “bombshell” – lordy !!
and yeah, they got a clip of her !!
was it: evil ? or simply: “she was a fiend”.
well, Peggy as I said, lived to see – she had had the last word.
how satisfying.
2. the insights into the Guggenheim family & its legacy, in general, but esp her aunt or cousin, who threw her own 2 babies to their death off a roof, rather than give them up in a divorce power play, and was never charged with anything ??!!??
a nice cameo on the social mores of the day. esp of the super upper crust. they, the Guggenheims, went from dirt poor immigrant Lower East Side street cart peddlers to vastly immensely super rich – in one generation, so one can only imagine the DNA in that clan. if you are going to ‘bio-clone’ – you know where to start.
and maybe Peggy was the smartest of the lot, if not the shrewdest !!
3. I loved how people bitch in the film about . . . “how cheap she was” – !!
because she served . . the cheapest low grade food and wine at her parties !!
omg, what losers. and no, again, nothing – has changed.
in the meantime she fronted the considerable dough out of her own pocket – that had several indie galleries, with agendas & curatorial visions way ahead of their time – up and running in Paris, London and then New York, and finally in Venice, without much sales, or income – all of which, literally gave birth to modern art, and all !! on her own dime.
not only that, she single-handedly & in person, in a desperate & dangerous time – moved a lot of this modern art, from Paris, away from the grasp of the Nazis who would surely have destroyed it, and shipped it, covertly – across the Atlantic ocean, for god’s sake !! halfway around the world – to safety, in New York – again, all on her own dime.
not to mention the generous patronage she bestowed, we are talking US $$$, on the ’emerging’ & under-recognized artists, of the time, even bringing many of them, including Duchamp – to New York. in essence saving them. and, all on her own dime.
Jackson Pollock would never have flourished without her financial support.
and then, just ever so casually – towards the end of the film, it is just dropped that she, Peggy G paid a life long patronage grant to DJUANA BARNES !! to keep her alive, and writing her whole life.
are you following me ? Djuana Barnes !!
yeah, PEGGY GUGGENHEIM was cheap. right.
dodos rule the world, and esp the art world – as if anything has changed there.
NOT.
4. the bio behind the brand . . the woman herself.
all the incredible archival photos, film clips & newly surfaced audio-tapes. nothing beats seeing & hearing her in her own voice & words – the real deal . . the real person, behind that art-history-in-the-making.
Peggy comes across as quite funny, vulnerable, brilliantly wry & equally insightful, brave. with a life both tragic, hard-partying, and art loving joyful. she was intellectually inspired, passionate, and sensual – on hyper mode.
moved to action by forces that are hard to explain logistically, but with a . . juiced-up pre-vision, that was/is . . as sure as sure can be.
tell me about – it. second nature, you either have it, or you don’t.
that’s a funny thing about being such a radical pre-thinker, talent scout & patron.
you begin to be perceived as an oddball, an outsider, when really you are the most consummate insider – in the world.
moved by invisible rays . . of knowing.
a water diviner. a juicer. it make take years – for the clear source of that sweet nectar of inspiration – to surface and, finally make its play.
but when your ship comes in, it’s a huge, huge payload.
for all the hardships & name calling, there’s nothing like knowing great art when you are the only one in the room, nothing like buying great art for pennies, and then living long enough to walk around – and point to the now . . million dollar price tags !! which she does in this film, and yes, she utters many a “damn I shouldn’t have sold that” under her breath !!
but, she always knew it. that’s the great beauty of her . . eccentricity. her edge.
the only thing she regrets – at the end of her long life, is that with age – she ran out of lovers !!
and the worst trailer in the world – is:
but, still fun to watch !!
YES: “art & sex occupied the same part of her brain”, lol . . . . tell me about it. the ultimate rush.
especially crushin’ on new art, omg. it is hard to tell the diff, except as you get older, the underground just keeps turning over a new wave of eternally twenty-somethings. yo, Peggy – ain’t that the truth. catching the wave, is how we like – to call it.
YES: she created an art collection on just $40,000 . . . “now worth billions” ~ Larry Gagosian !!
YES: she met “JACKSON POLLOCK when he was just a carpenter .. working in her uncle’s museum . . . !!
all ye art handlers, and, yep – I could name a few !! take heart.
BB-8 …. the only star in ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’, and not so much for anything he does, just for his shape & the way he moves. esp that disconnected . . head !!
nice graphics, nice colors, nice surface fades, too. all good. good stencil work. good proportions, minimal, hard core, scratched. weathered. believable. functional.
imagination-rollin’ – in a word.
‘JOEY’ – BOOKLET LAUNCH
SAT DEC 12, 2015 / 1 -3 PM
OUTSIDE of 34th STREET – HUDSON YARDS – 7 TRAIN STATION
SOUTH SIDE of 34th STREET – BTWN 10th & 11th AVENUES
screengrab: from ‘JOEY’, A SHORT FILM, 2:35 MINS. – by SEAN VEGEZZI
Booklet release
Saturday December 12, 2015 / 1-3 PM
Outside of 34th Street – Hudson Yards 7 Train Station
South side of 34th St. btwn 10th/11th Avenues
One limited edition (40) of handmade booklets
Organized by SEAN: VEGEZZI, ALEC TINMAR and SPENCER TULLIS
with works from ABELINE COHEN, KEEFE BUTLER, ANDREW KASS, ASPEN KINCAID and TOMMY MALEKOFF
note: the project also includes 2 films – a ‘short’ film & an ‘archival’ version.
from the press release:
We should continue to protect our undefined spaces from those who wish to destroy them but how can we ensure that the same spaces do not get withheld from those who wish to create, celebrate and honor them?
“Joey”—an affectionate colloquialism naming a stereotype of New York City’s builders—was the inspiration for a reading that took place in December 2014, eighty feet under Midtown Manhattan, inside of the New York City Transit System’s 7 Line Extension project. This event, video document, and compilation of poems, essays, and songs are part of an ongoing celebration of those who construct and labor over the spaces we move through and around—not the architects, designers, or developers—but the Joeys.
Sean Vegezzi, Alec Tinmar, and Spencer Tullis are three artists who regularly address the use of New York City’s public, private and undefined space in their own work. In early December, they sent five friends an open invitation that read, “Let’s honor the Joey’s in a healing gesture for the overworked and the dusty.” Days later, the willing participants were led to a plot of land bordering Hell’s Kitchen,
neighboring the Hudson Yards. It was the construction site of the then-unfinished 34th Street station.
Each contributor read—or sang—for Joey, exclaiming their admirations, their odes, and their gratitude. Some even ‘became’ Joeys, donning orange safety vests and hard hats. The participants referenced Joey’s past, namely through the words of Gary Russo, Second Avenue subway worker who wrote Don’t Die With Your Song Unsung after gaining recognition for his lunch break Frank Sinatra renditions,
and Jerry Levy, a New York City subway project site manager. Levy said, “…the people who build tunnels are unto themselves. They are beyond description, they are a special breed…most of the hard hats in the tunnel industry are deep intellects.”1
All the pieces share a sentiment of empowerment for the Joeys and for the artists themselves. By giving these voices a platform in the very spaces they built but that they have no rights to, no creative freedom within – Joey at once becomes the act of these artists taking that power back. Between the words and the video images, the moments of discovery and play become important acts in opposition
to the rigidity of labor work.
AMY THOMAS-IRVINE and OLIVER THOMAS-IRVINE – ‘Derailer Derailer’
opening to-nite – FRI DEC 11, 2015 / 6-8 PM
the show runs DEC 11, 2015 – Jan 8, 2016
THE STILL HOUSE GROUP, 481 Van Brunt ST, Unit 9D/4th Fl., Red Hook.
Brooklyn, NY.
AMY THOMAS-IRVINE (b. 1986 Manchester, UK), and OLIVER THOMAS-IRVINE (b. 1986 Portstewart, Northern Ireland) . . .
are the 18th participants in the Still House residency program – and this is their first solo show in NYC.
DANIEL DAVIDSON has a great piece . . .
in the big, looks to be tres interesting show at YOSSI MILO
which is opening tonight – FRI DEC 11, 2015 / 5 – 8 PM
the show’s title – has got to be the best exhibition title – of 2015 !!
‘I AM A LIE AND I AM GOLD’
A GROUP EXHIBITION – CURATED BY MARCO BREUER
DEC 11, 2015 – JAN 23, 2016. YOSSI MILO – 245 TENTH AVE, CHELSEA, NYC
the show has a really interesting & novel premise, which you can read all about – for yourself, on the show’s specific gallery exhibit page . . .
see: I AM A LIE AND I AM GOLD – YOSSI MILO GALLERY
DANIEL DAVIDSON, STUDY FOR YOSSI MILO SHOW
A PLAYFUL, but INTENSE, GRACEFUL, beautifully rendered . . RIFF, on . . DIANE ARBUS – !!!! !!!!!!
image via Instagram – @danieldavidsonstudio
STO . . DIY MARBLE ART – image via Instagram @cinders_gallery
STO . . will be at YALE today with a ton of his new MARBLE MASTERS – as well as a bunch of Cinders books & zines.
lol, could NOT resist – !!
Instagram image by: @showyshowy aka MIKE SJOSTEDT
PR/social media for publisher and author
Collage artist.
more at @magazinedreamcollege – Founder of LOOP – LOOPWesternMA on Etsy
google: Michael Sjostedt Collage Art
somehow . . this path through the streets of BUSHWICK, turned – realist !!
can’t stop without including . . CHRIS STAIN and BILLY MODE !!
INVENT THE FUTURE – by CHRIS STAIN and BILLY MODE.
spray paint on 28 x 57 ft. wall, in Bushwick. Brooklyn. NYC.
PHOTO BY: @toris via Instagram
CHRIS STAIN (@chrisstain1972) took the photo, painted the figures.
BILLY MODE (@billymode) came up with the “positive quote” – INVENT THE FUTURE / a geometric 3-D maze of a background.
in this brief time lapse clip, which dates the mural as APRIL 2013, and places it on the corner of Troutman St & Wykoff in Brooklyn . .
what the artists say, not only helps bring their techniques into focus, but also their – leaning forward, with hope into the future – vision. motivation. content.
it also gives you an incredible sense of just how much street art there is, up – in Brooklyn.
and the incredible diversity.
another monochrome piece, but of a way different, well, not that !! different – of a nature !!
it’s also interesting, how monochrome, gray scale palettes, and hyper-realist, though in this case, a more fluid, looser, expressionistic/painterly, draftsmanship, i.e. we called it: drawing by hand, lol – is re-surging, and takes on an even more powerful stance – in the age of digital reproduction, and color – cheap and easy color, all kinds of color, and even brightness ‘filters’ – everywhere.
street mural by – OJIJDO, aka oji aka @ojijdo . . in Bushwick !!
PHOTO BY: @toris64 via Instagram
toris64: “I live in Stavanger, NORWAY (!!) but travel around … Photos are taken by me with iPhone, unless otherwise stated.”
OJI appears to be a new age global citizen !!
his website’s language of choice is French, but there are no details as to his bio, or nationality !!
it doesn’t ring as Quebecois, no posts from Montreal !!
a lot from Paris though, got to to be be from France, and – at very least, European.
but it all translates to: HOPE !!
hey !!
vives les new age Frenchies !!
a recent Bushwick mural by . . German artist HENRIK BEIKIRCH aka ECB
‘Oulad Bouzid III’, 2015
spray paint & emulsion paint on a wall, Bushwick. NYC, USA
PHOTO: via instagram . . posted by @toris64
this mural is striking for many reasons, including its specific locale, large scale, dynamic composition, and the hyper, yet fluid & rhythmic . . realism. one has to say, it is exceptionally expressive for a monochrome, or limited color palette project. it shines from within, its point of view is on the low-down, deeply felt, against the grain – a point of no return. very much like an old format photograph, in fact.
it is also striking, because it is the portrait of an old man, a common man, not a rapper, not a dead poet. not a cartoon character. not a cypher, not even a ‘militant’ citizen of the streets. it is the deeply felt portrait of an old man of the real streets, the real streets . . of Morocco. I guess that makes it: realism. it’s a kind of grim realism, in truth, or maybe ‘gritty’ is the better word. it’s not stylized, it’s not comic. ECB calls this series ‘Trades’ and its subjects are the old school skilled artisans who are often overlooked, but are the gears that keep things running. Oulad Bouzid III is a street barber. it’s a global project.
but beyond that, there’s something utterly fascinating in this mural, and it goes beyond words – which is just how it should be. it marries art & graphics and realism – with . . a somber cast, something along the lines of . . . the things that are getting lost.
the tribal transformation – of society . . . as a whole.
the elders.
as well, technically – the underlying graphic design sensibility, which anchors the mighty skillful painting technique – is not just way ahead of the curve – it is PROFOUND. Silent. Moving.
you can also see this ,in the minimalist design of the artist’s website, to the way he writes his name on the wall, above the piece – in a kind of computer-driven block letter ‘scroll’.
to get a feel for the bigger picture, check out: HENDRIK BEIKIRCH
http://hendrikbeikirch.com/
SO . . .
if you haven’t noticed, STREET ART, STREET MURALS, GRAFFITI, GRAFF, WRITERS, STICKERS, slaps, decals, stencils, one-off ink/sharpie work, legos, and other 3-d bits & pieces !! – whatever !! are having a big resurgence. part of this is the wider acceptance, and more legal venues. here in NYC, old hoods, like Bushwick, still in the throes of gentrification seem to be wide open for the taking. but if a tree falls in the forest, is there a sound ?
turns out Instagram feeds are really well suited to the documenting – taking pix of this highly mobile & shifting scene. infinite armies of seekers – on the march, capturing the vitality & throwing it back at ya & out there, locally & globally.
globally, street art is an art of ‘direction’.
a statement of will, an expression, a theater for change, freedom of speech, and a desire for . . empowerment.
some people travel . . to to put their marks & missions on the world we live in, others travel to capture the action. it’s a wide open movable feast, that feels almost . . medieval in nature.
on my way to the ‘CAP MATCHES COLOR’ – ‘TWO DECADES OF DIGGING’ – book signing at LOW BROW ARTIQUE, last week, in BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN – I had to marvel at how big the hardcore mural street art had blown-up, yet I was totally struck dumb – at the same time by all the downtown chic, hipster & very chi chi upgraded bars and restaurants, yes even the wine shops. how nightlife populated the hood had become, since the frontier days of the hardcore EASTERN DISTRICT, and then . . AD HOC, and then just a tiny bit later, FACTORY FRESH.
I mean, even in what 2008 ? it was still pretty industrial, and deserted except for indigenous bodegas dotting every corner, and then ROBERTA’S PIZZA came on the scene. and that was – it !!
flash forward a few years, and some wine bars opened up, with folk music in the basements. now it’s still deserted streets, but dotted, and densely – with ultra hip eating & drinking venues.
I vividly remembered, going to Roberta’s in the very first week it opened !! half empty to, after a great fab opening, a big . . . AD DeVILLE show at Factory Fresh, which ran in Dec of 2008 – just before the Bernie Madoff scandal – broke, lol !!
it seemed such appropriate timing.
see: DeVILLE’S HOLIDAY SPECIAL – FACTORY FRESH, DEC 2008 !!
there was a JAYE MOON lego diorama – stuck to the wall. center – second image up from the bottom – just outside where AD HOC GALLERYused to open its doors, on Bogart Street. besides the historic location – the piece also had an historic theme: the American Revolution !!
it said: NO MORE ENGLISH !!
I found it interesting that it was so clean, and not vandalized. street code of honor ?
it even had a little, clear plastic window with a lego man head, for a handle . . .
that you could swing open to reveal . . .
a miniature HISTORIC RICHMOND TOWN ‘document’, still in there, intact. and not glued down, or in any other way secured.
JAYE MOON is a young female street artist, from Korea, North or South ? Korea is as specific as the bio got. being an immigrant myself, from Montreal . . I recognized the newcomers attraction to American history, esp the part about the founding fathers. it really wasn’t that long ago either, as these things go, and so much change in just a couple hundred years. it also served as a statement to the . . violence and war – that carved this nation, just as violence and the war have carved every other territory throughout time memorial, going back to Stonehenge, and prob even past that. the gun won the West, subdued the ‘first’ natives & even settled the Civil War.
across the street from the deceptively simple lego story, things were looking decidedly, grim.
the mighty . . GOOMBA at center.
the ‘smiling’ come to get ya – grim reaper !!
a ghost army, the un-dead converge.
F.P. – a paid-by . . FORD CAR guerrilla ad ?
READY MIX
BUSHWICK, in fact all of Brooklyn, is like one big urban Disney tour of street art, yours for the cruising. get down, go free.
come to your own conclusions.
a hard hat wearing . . baby GOLLUM ?
straight outta Lord of the Rings, and onto the raw Bushwick streets.
one of my fave: GOLD POO . . !!
I think we have to give a nod here to ABE LINCOLN Jr, and his groundbreaking, poo trackin’ little birdie/chick: Char !!
a spinning, ‘baby’ – top ?!!
A.V.S.P. wheat paste, forget trying to take those wheat paste babies down.
dethhhhhh
wtf . . a vintage clothing selling mobile . . on wheels.
THE MOBILE VINTAGE SHOP – EVERYTHING INSIDE $10
a storefront . . caught at the very moment of rapid gentrification !!
talk about your . . ‘transitioning’ !!
a plate glass window is even more interesting than a brick wall – in the right hands.
#fresh #plaid by jywlkr
now, that’s what I call modernism. de-construction, and new construction – all at once.
slick, stick. raw. random, beautiful. intelligent. restrained & . . minimalist !!
with more than a nod, to BARBARA KRUGER.
amazing to reflect upon how influential, and insightful that 1987 show of hers, ‘I SHOP / THEREFORE I AM’ – was. at MARY BOONE, lol.
and ps: BARBARA KRUGER, born 1945 in Newark, NEW JERSEY. go Jersey !!
Because.
Capitalism.
an ‘indigenous’ house – still standing, there are still blocks like this.
but, for how long ?
some kind of Popeye collage, not sure if the different layers were meant to be, or were add-ons ?
great detail on the ‘foundation’ frontier figure !!
layers of paste, and layers of . . metaphor.
a girlie fairy princess – on a metal gate.
old school Madonna.
grotto / shrine behind bars – a living throwback / monument . . to the original European immigrants who homesteaded this formerly blue collar hood.
Greek myth – it was hard to tell where commercial signs began, and street art became paid commissions ?
DENTON
a great . . geo-mix / figurative genesis . . mash-up.
esp spectacular – at night !!
anybody who quilts knows that to be an Amish baby steps pattern, at the top.
