Yesterday I awoke (dragging out of bed) to go march across the Brooklyn Bridge for a Health Care rally with Anna and some friends. Chants included: "We are the public, give us the option". "What do we want, HEALTH CARE; When do we want it? NOW!" and the baroque "Let's finish Teddy's fight, Affordable health care is a right." We had a good time, this was a more mature, mellow rally than some of the anti-corporate and anti-war marches I participated in the last decade.
After lunch, Mickey and Carmen parted ways while Theresa, Anthony, Anna, and I went to see Afruz Amighi's show at Nicole Beuchene Gallery. Afruz is a friend of mine from old Queens Crane Street Studio days. I was happy to see that that she happened to be in the gallery, so we got to catch up a bit. Afruz is the winner of the first ever Jameel Prize, sponsered by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The award is worth £25,000, and includes her work in a tour of 5 venues in Riyadhi, Lebonon, Casablanca, Istanbul, and Damascus. Not bad, I'd say. Congratulations Afruz!
Theresa and Anthony went home, and Anna and I looked at more Lower East Side galleries. You can't be in a rush in the LES, things are just too spread out, and the cafes and shops are just too friendly. So, we had a really nice run in with the woman behind the desk at DCKT Contemporary, I swear Anna is just fantastic with chatting people up. I am the awkward, quiet one. The show there by Josh Azzarella is nice, and Marina (behind the desk) seemed excited to explain the work, piece by piece, even though she must have done this all day long. Basically Josh selects images and film stills and removes the subject digitally, leaving haunting quirky landscapes. They seem familiar, composed, but mysterious. One shows a group of people assembled on a horizon, looking at the sky; where the Hindenburg was is now imaginary ordinary sky. I saw a video of his a few months back that I really liked, where he digitally removed, frame by frame, all of the people from the "Thriller" music video. What remained were smoky camera pans through eerie graveyards and damp dark streets.
We also stopped in Small A Projects. Anna knew the gallerist, Laurel, from Reed College. But only slightly. I guess its just one of those schools where everyone knows everyone else. Jessica Jackson Hutchins is showing there, as well as at Derek Eller Gallery in Chelsea. (Update: also in the Whitney Biennial). I was not a fan of Ms. Hutchins for quite a while. Its strange how these things begin, I worked with her at the Queens Museum's install of the Joan Jonas retrospective, and she just rubbed me the wrong way. That is relatively easy to do, I admit it! I realize I never really gave her work a blank slate chance when I began seeing it all over in group shows. Now I'm questioning my reasoning the more I see the work. Some of it is beautiful, her kind of bold reckless combination of fabric and ceramics. I haven't seen the Derek Eller show, but I will make a trip after seeing this show.
We met up with more friends at the Henry Taylor opening at Rental Gallery. Now this place is farther south than I usually go, so I've never seen it. 120 E. Broadway, FLOOR 6. the entrance is really hidden and the gallery's a bit raw. I've heard they are moving soon. But the place was packed. Henry's paintings are a mix of portraits and sports figures. They feel casual in a way like Alice Neel, you imagine that a friend stopped by his studio and the agreement to sit for a portrait was no problem. His sculptures had stacks of beer boxes, derelict furniture parts, and lots of brown. They relish the cruddiness of things found in a basement, I detect a little bit of William Pope L. feel in them. There was a notable piece that was a box, painted as a TV depicting the twin towers on Sep. 11. It was suspended in the corner like a waiting room television, simple and direct. We had a good time here, and spent some time with the artist in a dinner and afterparty. Anna got beyond tipsy, and we had a few good dance moves on the floor.
Today (Sunday) again I had to be dragged out of bed. This time for a brunch with friends at 1130. It was at the EXACT same Dim Sum restauraunt that we were at with Henry Taylor a mere 12 hours before. Of all the joints in Chinatown. So anyway, after that, we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Chinese New Year's parade. So many dragons, and confetti. I really wish I had taken my camera. I made Anna and our friends stop by Invisible Exports, where we enticed our friend Christine with the "Artist of the Month Club". You pay for 12 unique, affordable pieces of work. The club selects 12 curators, who in turn select an artist each. Each piece is made in an edition of 50. The materials go beyond just prints or photos. there is a real range in types and sizes of work.
After that we made a lot of forays into various shops, The Pickle Guys, which I've been wanting to take Anna to for a long time. Like I said, I am now munching pickled okra. Then one of our friends took us into Economy Candy. This place was just teeming with people shoulder to shoulder, fists stuffed with swedish fish, Watchamacallits, jelly beans, candy bars, licorice, you name it they had it. Except, for what our friend Aaron really wanted: Charleston Chews.
Finally, I somehow rallied the remaining troops for an expedition to the Winkleman Gallery. William Powhida (Artist of the month club, jan. 09) and Jennifer Dalton have organized "#class," an art project about public dialog in the space. There is a schedule of events: presentations, panel discussions, Q and A with gallerists, art battleship game (sounds interesting). And there is a large chalkboard covering all the walls, so that the visitors are encouraged to write answers to questions like 'What is wrong with the art System?' It is not exactly completely public, Ed Winkleman reserves the right to kick you out if you are out of order or disruptive to the functioning of the event. Both Winkleman and Powhida push their respective practices to include blogging, and I think they take the content of this show very seriously. If I did not follow their blogs, and I just wandered into this gallery with no context, I might have felt more suspicious about the gallery-critiquing-gallery model on display. As it is, I am excited to return and use this as an opportunity to meet some interesting people who care about the art scene.
So that's it, first entry. Come back soon for more! And/or tell me what you think . . .
i love pickled okra almost as much as i love you.
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