by sheer coincidence,
must be a super special, mass joyful time to be in . . NORWAY !!
seeing as they are sweeping the 2018 Winter Olympics !!
but, just in general, Norway feels so bursting with new life.
and . . so beautiful.
and then there’s all the old Nordic / Viking tales re-surfacing lately.
gnarly old Nordic tales . . . and, the twisted dark as night, contemporary tales !!
that might be one reason, why JIM HOLYOAK finds himself in Norway. right, now.
he’s a master of the night, animal spirits, monsters, and fabled landscape pen & ink drawings.
and looks like . . ELFS, now too.
JIM is actually in Reykjavik, Iceland right now, arriving in Oslo this Fri Feb 23, 2018.
MONTREAL-BASED artist, JIM HOLYOAK will be in residence at NKD,
along with his friend, and oft-time ‘mural’ collaborator . . MATT SHANE, also Canadian
from March thru May 2018.
see: NKD / NORDIC ARTISTS’ CENTRE DALE – NORWAY
JIM HOLYOAK – INK DRAWING, FEB 8, 2018
JIM HOLYOAK, INK DRAWING, FEB 6, 2018
. . . night monster
JIM HOLYOAK, INK DRAWING, ‘The Mountain Knows Your Name’, Jan 14, 2018
. . . Himalayas, Goechla
JIM HOLYOAK, FEB 11, 2018
. . Year of the Dog
ALL IMAGES VIA INSTAGRAM @jimholyoakj
I see JIM . . made good use of a previous time in . . ICELAND.
he received his ‘Elfs-and Hidden people-research-study diploma’ !!
image via: JIM HOLYOAK / MONSTERS ARE FOR REAL /C.V.
JIM also has an MFA (2011) in Drawing & Painting from Concordia University, Montreal, QC.
he was also an apprentice (2007) . . of master ink painter SHEN LING XIANG in Yangshuo, CHINA.
see: JIM HOLYOAK – BIO / MONSTERS ARE FOR REAL
see: JIM HOLYOAK – ARTIST PORTFOLIO WEBSITE / MONSTERSAREFORREAL.com
don’t miss: JIM HOLYOAK / incl MATT SHANE – VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
JIM HOLYOAK – VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
IMAGE VIA . . JIM HOLYOAK / MONSTERS ARE FOR REAL
~JIM HOLYOAK . . NKD RESIDENCY / NORDIC ARTISTS ‘ CENTRE DALE / NORDISK KUNSTNARSENTER DALE / NORWAY |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 20th, 2018, 12:52pm
JOSH HARRIS .. MEET YOUR NEW HOMIES !! !!
our supreme leader JOSH HARRIS . . is crashing LA LA LAND !! !!
OMAROSA !! TRUMP !! TAYLOR SWIFT !! LENA DUNHAM and . .
JONAH HILL as . . JOSH HARRIS !!!!!!
and, it’s going to be a “dramatic adaption” . . . !! !! !!
“AS FOR WHO .. will play his then girlfriend Tanya Corrin, HARRIS says, I like TAYLOR SWIFT,
but the producers are talking AMY SMART.”
read: ‘JONAH HILL set to star as as Internet pioneer JOSH HARRIS’ – by RICHARD JOHNSON, PAGE SIX, NEW YORK POST / FEB 18, 2018
~’WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ . . hits PAGE SIX !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 18th, 2018, 11:06am
‘TOMMY MALEKOFF – FILMS & PHOTOGRAPHS’
FEB 1 – FEB 28, 2018
AGNES B GALERIE BOUTIQUE NEW YORK, 50 Howard St, Downtown, NYC
there was a nice easy feeling to this show. which, also, keeping in step with this particular art season – leaned to the small side . . scale-wise. it still worked, just a little more like clockwork, than grand, raw gesture.
the first work I saw by TOMMY MALEKOFF, was in Feb 24, 2016 / almost 2 years ago to the day. playing on a loop – it was his short, essay-like film, ‘The Outdoor World’, 2016.
all ‘real-life’ footage. good flow-thru editing. I guess that makes it a documentary of some kind of genre. urban landscape ?
Projected large, and I mean . . wall-size in a large, empty storefront on the Lower East Side, the screening was hosted by SEAN VEGEZZI, ANDREW KASS & assorted friends, it mesmerized the hardcore audience. although much of the footage dwells on middle America, it also hit up on some extreme young black high school beat dancers, the contrast was the unspoken tension. though there was no overt joking, there was no judgement: just the flow of the oddness – of our culture, no matter on what side of the style line – it fell.
sweet curiosity is all I can say, in summary.
Tommy makes sure the world . . goes round. there were also some rough, low-fi hard-copy. still photo hand-outs.
Tommy makes sure the sound tracks, which are key – to his films, are as light-handed, and yet just as moving, or fluid as his images . . & in this, local musician / D.J. JOE WILLIAMS excelled with his, not easily defined . . original music soundtrack. more magic / more than travelog.
let’s just say: elevated & dreamy, if dreamy could be hardcore . .
music / to travel by.
see: ‘TOMMY MALEKOFF – ‘THE OUTDOOR WORLD’ – OPENING PIX / artlovers archive
the 2nd screening, I saw was just last year, also at just about this same time. Tommy must favor February, or Feb sure favors . . him !!
(witness the current show at Agnes B . . FEB 1 – 28, 2018.)
titled, ‘Perennial Shadows’, (2017), it was about the invasive & unstoppable, green destroyer . . Kudzu / the interloper weed that is taking over the southern USA. again a gorgeous film, with no words. and needing none. again, with a beautiful, oriental-tilting, ‘soundscape’ . . by JOE WILLIAMS.
“In the 135 years since its introduction (at the 1876 World’s Fair Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia), kudzu has spread over 3 million hectares of the southern United States & continues to ‘consume'” – voraciously.
Kudzu: It’s a big, fast moving . . geographic ‘topic’.
ironically, and rather ‘sustainability-wise’ (!!), the film was screened at the small, but internet ‘infinite’, 24/7 digital gallery called JEFFREY STARK, which is located within a small white box of an actual ‘booth’ . . in an Asian global-style mini-mall, in the heart of Chinatown, 88 East Broadway. the exhibits are online real-time, and can be viewed through the glass wall. this small, minimalist-leaning, avant-garde, highly curated space, with its steel & glass infrastructure, was actually a great ‘foil’ for the nature-driven documentary.
although the film screened on a large scale (in the main lobby of the mall), for the opening, it played on a much smaller scale for the length of the exhibit, and was definitely none the worse for it.
there was also a rather casual, tack board of commercial grade, color photos from the film’s production, in the hallway.
it’s rawness, of the photograph presentation – was very engaging, esp as it was so casually a part of the surrounding mall activity.
see: ‘PERENNIAL SHADOWS’ / artlovers archive
this current screening at AGNES B BOUTIQUE GALERIE NEW YORK, turns out to be more of a mini-retrospective, and the projections are even smaller, which makes things – very curious for art mavens, who have been feeling like Alice in Wonderland for the past few months.
as well, the accompanying photographs have evolved to professional color art prints, in professional frames. and it is a more formal array of photos.
actually, it was really nice to see some photos – in this more formal setting.
esp on the Agnes B. brick wall. switching up – is good.
this is an image from ‘The Outdoor World’ (North Carolina), part of a nice little trailer produced specifically for this show.
you can watch it, here: AGNES B. BOUTIQUE GALERIE – TOMMY MALEKOFF
from the press release:
“TOMMY MALEKOFF (b. 1992) . . is a New York based visual artist from North Carolina. His work with video and photography deals with insular worlds and displaced phenomenons in the American landscape.”
PIX FROM THE OPENING – FEB 1, 2018 – AGNES B. GALERIE BOUTIQUE NEW YORK
TOMMY MALEKOFF at the opening.
photo courtesy: Agnes B.
the venue. a small portion of the front of the very chic, storefront / retail fashion boutique is dedicated to showing very close-to-the-bone, art shows.
small is sustainable is chic.
the crowd piled in, as the night went on.
a frame from a loop / random, yet . . NOT.
very Americana.
Kudzu takes over. very green, AF.
but sustainable ? not so much, more like . . native-killer.
headphones. you could hear the soundtracks – in dedicated concentration.
there was also a loop of more personal clips. kind of like a fast forward diary.
this must be Sean, apparently a deep sleeper, because he sure got . . shook.
a framed photo.
horses, esp carnival or rodeo . . were a subtext.
the un-brutal, sunny side of being . . a boy, a horse. a cowboy.
the opening coincided with NEW YORK FASHION WEEK / NYFW 2018.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH / unless otherwise noted.
see: TOMMY MALEKOFF – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
~TOMMY MALEKOFF . . AGNES B |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 17th, 2018, 11:48am
Keep on Truckin’. . .
seems, Everybody got to walk through life deflecting . . arrows.
VIVIAN LE . . ‘Chang’e No.2’
image via VIVIAN LE . . VILE / portfolio website
def, check out: VIVIAN LE, born 1992 /Chicago-born & based – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
~VIVIAN LE . . Chang’e No. 2 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 15th, 2018, 11:30am
update: yesterday, FEB 14th later would become a day sadly marked by a high school massacre in Florida.
the 19 yr shooter a former student, turned on the fire alarm to cause more panic.
what ? are we gonna have contests now ?
body counts ?
I thought Bloody Valentine’s Days . . were for Depression-era mobsters.
this artist is 26 yrs old . . she is speaking to something, something hard, real & sad . .
a fissure . . in her cultural reality.
in a very gentle, the line work (!!), girly (no diss !!) graphic way, that sadly, makes for an ironic, yet solid . . twisted-out / connect.
VIVIAN LE, b. 1992 Chicago – ‘I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU’
check out: VIVIAN LE – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
~VIVIAN LE . . I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 14th, 2018, 9:38am
just because . . .
wip / work in progress by JOEY D, for the GALERIE F, DEC 2017 group show . . .
‘You Are Beautiful Billboards’, mini billboard – group show.
Image via Instagram @galerief
JOEY D. , ‘Beautiful Insides’, 2017
acrylic paint & custom cut wood embellishment – on YAB miniature billboard kit for 2017 / Galerie F FAB group show.
size: 17 x 8.5 x 7 in.
image via Galerie F / Beautiful Insides
see: Galerie F / YAB Billboards
~JOEY D . . MINIATURE BILLBOARD / YAB, GALERIE F, CHICAGO |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 12th, 2018, 8:53am
I’ve been fascinated by ‘miniatures’ ever since I can remember.
I collect them from random places, mostly thrift shops and the odd flea market.
they are actually pretty hard to find.
my greatly prized . . butcher’s block !!
a few more of my most recent finds.
lol . . yes, that’s tiny dog bowl, on the right !!
one of my best finds, ever. great graphic.
unbelievably contemporary color hues.
Kate recently scored the tiny black sewing machine for me . . in Door County, Wisconsin.
the one behind it, in a slightly larger scale, too big for a dollhouse !! / is actually a vintage Christmas ornament.
ornaments: that’s actually – a whole other subtext of . . tiny.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~SPEAKING . . miniatures / replica spaces / dollhouses & YEAR OF THE DOG !! |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 12th, 2018, 7:08am
of course, one of the earliest ‘tiny’ art shows, in the current art cycle (!!) . .
was the RED ENVELOPE SHOW at GRUMPY BERT, the first one happened in Feb 2016.
artists are asked to submit original art work on lucky red, Happy Chinese New Year (money) envelopes, with the loosely held theme – based on the celebration of the whatever Year of the Animal it is, in the Chinese horoscope – which is based on the year of your birth.
the envelopes are: 3.5 x 6.5 in.
& they are usually priced well below $100 / though you’d prob want to keep them out of direct sunlight, as the red envelopes do fade in hue, after time.
but maybe for some that is the . . . point.
longevity – being a factor of ‘scale’ – as well.
this year – is the YEAR OF THE DOG !!
and it looks to be . . outrageous !!
‘RED ENVELOPE SHOW’
OPENS FRI FEB 23, 2018 / 7 – 10 PM
the show runs thru MARCH 11, 2018
GRUMPY BERT, 82 BOND ST, BROOKLYN
see: GRUMPY BERT, RED ENVELOPE SHOW, YEAR OF THE DRAGON / OPENING PIX / ARTLOVERS ARCHIVE
here are some previews from . . this year’s event.
what’s really great is, you get to see alot of really off-the-wall, illustrators work, which you normally don’t get to see too much of in New York, on ‘exhibition’ walls.
‘YEAR OF THE DOG’ – RED ENVELOPE by . . MARK WANG (@ouch_you_slouch)
originally from Tucson, Arizona, now based in NYC.
see: MARK WANG – ILLUSTRATOR PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
‘YEAR OF THE DOG’ – RED ENVELOPE by . . HELLEN JO (helllllenjjjjjo)
L.A. based
see: HELLEN JO – ILLUSTRATOR PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
all images via Instagram @grumpybert
~RED ENVELOPE SHOW . . ‘YEAR OF THE DOG’ / GRUMPY BERT / PREVIEW |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 9th, 2018, 9:05am
OLIVIA SWIDER . .
might not have had ‘scale’ in mind as a priority, when she made this symbol-loaded, fade-out . . but, though she is talking ‘want’ (emotion), and ‘texture’ (plasticity) . . she is playing with everyday ‘scale’ signifiers / ordinary shapes & things, whose size we are all familiar with, and which really do the heavy lifting – in terms of our coming to grips with the piece.
esp as to . . .’how big is that ‘teen-age crush’ lush, plush soft pink carpet triangle ?’
esp as to how, it is presented: solely, as a digital photograph, with no other clues – as to size. no background, no dimensions in the accompanying text.
which is the way most things are presented now, btw.
it is a ghost . . in our comprehension of its reality. an ‘advance’ image. digital, published on the gossamer walls of social media – way before, we have ever even seen it.
we are only doing our best guessing, when we try to process it /shake it down.
we see it as ‘life-size’ / keyed to the ‘rosary’ and the 2 other clues . . the tiny plastic rosary sleeve, & the must-be tiny trophy. we are already evaluating dimension. from the get-go.
because . . .
that is . . unless.
unless . . it’s a replica. mini-me. miniature . . ‘dollhouse’ rosary, a necklace for a Barbie type doll (?) in which case – that will be, quite the surprise.
& which somehow, I highly doubt.
esp with regard to the length of the chain.
the trophy, on the other hand . . is more curious.
it must be a ‘tiny’ souvenir bell, or a paper weight ?
after the past few weekends, I’ve been through, I’m def NOT taking ‘scale’ – for granted.
starting with the startling ‘The Big Short’, and ending in a glorious cathouse free-fall, the NICHOLAS SULLIVAN pieces were made to fit the catbox, yet at ‘The Big Short’ ELIZABETH FERRY’s tiny bronze-like ‘matchbox’, hanging on the tiny wall . . of a teeny tiny Water McBeer ‘gallery’, with immaculate mini white walls, & even with tiny floor trim, and imposing miniature wood floors, called all things ‘scale’ into question.
replica of a larger piece ? illusion ? or, real matchbox – tiny gallery ?
tiny sculpture ?
while at the ESSEX FLOWERS presentation . . MARGARET LEE produced 2 tiny perfect potatoes, that look real, and big / life-size, even in photos, but are not so much, on a tiny bathroom shelf !!
these things have me . . all . . size-spooked out !! tread lightly.
is it for real ? is it an illusion.
does it matter – in context ? yes.
and then, there’s the size of the venues, themselves.
tiny apt / living room gallery . . to tiny Catbox platform, in a living room, is apparently not that far-fetched.
it’s some kind of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ meets ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ . . moment.
get that art up, and out there . . is the only rule.
OLIVIA SWIDER. image via Instagram @mountain.bushwick
SAVE THE DATE !!
OLIVIA SWIDER & DALIA AMARA – ‘THE TEXTURE of WANT’
OPENS . . SAT FEB 24, 2018 / EVENING
MOUNTAIN (APT) GALLERY – BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN
~OLIVIA SWIDER . . ‘THE TEXTURE Of WANT’ / MOUNTAIN GALLERY / PREVIEW (with a side of ‘The Big Short’ & Catbox Contemporary) |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 7th, 2018, 8:20pm
NICHOLAS SULLIVAN , ‘O’
thru MARCH 11, 2018 – BY APPOINTMENT
CATBOX CONTEMPORARY
Q: I wonder if you want to buy some of this work, if you can just buy the whole install as is, with the incorporated, site specific . . . ‘O’ catbox as a collector Catbox ‘Catellite’ / i.e. off-site . . satellite ??
I mean, how else ???
image via Instagram @catboxcontemporary
SCALE . . is a such a many splendored thing.
it’s so relative. it can be so illusion-ary, esp in the digital age.
it so depends on your past experiences for . . understanding.
NICHOLAS SULLIVAN, ‘O’ . . installation shot
image via CATBOX CONTEMPORARY
see: more photos of the installation – NICHOLAS SULLIVAN, ‘O’ / CATBOX CONTEMPORARY
~NICHOLAS SULLIVAN, ‘O’ . . CATBOX CONTEMPORARY / INSTALLATION SHOT |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | February 7th, 2018, 8:15am
