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<\/a>\nafter the opening, ALFREDO took me up to see his new painting HQ, a few doors down on 24th St.- in Chelsea. NYC.
\nin a high-rise metal & steel office building.<\/p>\n
and it’s so . . non-digital.<\/p>\n oh yeah, my ‘new’ home for about 13 yrs \/ my stronghold !! just ask Alfredo.<\/a>
\nat first impression, it looked like a secret, mini-underground \/ MTA \/ NYC subway . . post-9-11 surveillance \/ command post. a hidden nuke respond command post \/ where the inhabitants never see the light of day. & are always on alert, and are therefore totally bored & eat bags of chips and juice. & the mess piles up. while they study the big screen. of the removed \/ real world.
\nexcept for the intermittent trace of tell-tale art supplies \/ like, a red paint lid.
\nwell maybe they get to doodle in their (mostly) free time.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nit sure did look like some kind of covert HQ \/ an urban guerilla . . control central, if I ever did see one. entirely fitting – to be the scene of ‘art’ crimes \/ forgery.
\n& quasi-legal gun replication. <\/p>\n<\/a>
\nthere were at present, no 3-D gun (working, or non-working) replicas, nor any fake Basquiats . . lying about.
\nbut, there were 3 really nice works in progress, up on the wall near the door.
\nthe place was small, maybe 200 sq ft. \/ the words: illegal occupation – did come to mind. <\/p>\n<\/a>
\nhe told me to ‘pop’ the top one down, I used a broom handle. it was pretty light, not even quite as heavy as your standard strength pizza box, maybe just a cheap flat rate, shipping box ?
\nor a cheap pizza – box ? have you seen them ? they sure don’t make things the way they used to.
\nat any rate, you can note the ‘folding-in’ – side.
\nstandard . . 24 x 18 in. ‘light-weight’ cardboard.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nas we caught up, he set about working on it, just a few finishing touches: some light blue watercolor tint.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nfinished . . & signed. beautiful \/ and, radiant.
\ntake that – all you non-believers. and multiply by a factor of 10. 100. 1,000.
\nit almost looks – like ceramic ‘glaze’.
\nit’s . . so radiant.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nwtf. YES !!
\nit was signed: FNSALNYC \/ FOR NANCY SMITH ART LOVERS NEW YORK CITY \/ in front of my very own wide-open eyes.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nand there it is . . . in it’s new<\/strong> home.
\nmy<\/strong> covert HQ \/ in JERSEY !!<\/p>\n
\nin the now<\/strong> rapidly gentrifying, what else is new, Jersey City Heights.
\ntell me about it: gentrification follows me like a dark cloud. ever since I got here, NYC. in the early 80s. you could map the ‘trending’ real estate market . . just before the bubble breaks & the rents go sky-high \/ just by tracing my wanderings. the never-ending quest.
\nthe never-ending NYC artist search – for survival housing.<\/p>\n
\nhis current ‘HQ’ on 24th St is super-dependent on an on-going landlord \/ tenant rent strike \/ or, rent dispute. something like that. when it’s (legally) resolved, he’ll be out, but until then – ain’t nothing the landlord can do.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nhere, again you can see the side of the ‘found’ 3-D cardboard box.
\nI guess that makes it: XX double strength.
\nas in . . XX REAL FAKE !!
\nA REAL . . . ALFREDO !!
\nobviously, it takes a real . . . forger to make sure his work – is unique on several fronts, where you gonna find a genuine ‘found’ box like that – down the road. likewise the patiently collaged \/ found scrap paper, his ‘signature’ patina \/ surface. & the misc stains, & the wobbly signature. let alone the ‘glow ‘of the thin paint.<\/p>\n