~’LIKE OXYGEN’ . . MOUNTAIN, BUSHWICK / PIX FROM THE OPENING / & FLORINE STETTHEIMER opens at the JEWISH MUSEUM – this week !!
‘LIKE OXYGEN’ – where cutting edge TECH / info, questions & magic . . MERGE !!
SEEMS LIKE WE ALL NEED TO BREATHE IN – a LITTLE MAGIC, with . . the air / intake.
Magic Realism . . ?
and, I thought it was going to be an . . audio show, oh, yeah.
all I can say is:
LIVING ROOMS, then & now !!!!!
and, what’s a living room gallery – if not a ‘SALON’, anyways ?
‘LIKE OXYGEN’ . . at MOUNTAIN
if you could picture a museum quality show – in a Brooklyn living room, this would be it !!
with serious content, and an ambitious desire to communicate; this was an enticing & exacting (!!) invitation to explore . . the unknown, the archival, and the brand new.
all underground / all art scene . . forward !!
a perfect tiny storm !!
of huge intent !!
there was a lot to listen to, I would say I need to go back and really . . listen.
since artlovers is image-based, here’s a . . snapshot / visual impression.
in truth, I got carried away by the visuals, and even more distracted (!!) chatting up the young artists !!
but, from the snippets I did hear – I would say: definite worth a dedicated trip back, sometime soon.
count me – in: CURIOUS !!
note: you can schedule an appointment by emailing the gallery 24 hrs in advance / mountain.bushwick[at]gmail.com
the show is up thru . . MAY 21st, 2017.
Pix from the Opening Reception, SAT APRIL 29, 2017 . . .
ALLISON WADE, ‘Crystal Flowers Radio’, 2017.
the show starts off – real low fi / but . . low key, NOT !!
these were the pocket radios . . that held the seance . .
that Allison Wade set up – to communicate with the dead !!
and not just . . any dead !!
we are talking . . FLORINE STETTHEIMER !!
so that’s spooky, esp in light of all the new age tech going on, and not just because Ms. Wade’s West Side apt was supposedly the former home & salon of the fantabulist Florine, and she, Allison . .
held actual seances, shaman and all – to try to contact her or anybody in her glorious circle, recorded here,
but because . .
well, just maybe she – did !!
the FIRST MAJOR U.S. EXHIBIT – DEVOTED to Artist FLORINE STETTHEIMER – in over 20 years !!
OPENS – JUST THIS WEEK !! . . . MAY 5 – SEPT 24, 2017
at the JEWISH MUSEUM, here in NYC !!
see: ‘FLORINE STETTHEIMER: Painting Poetry’ at the JEWISH MUSEUM . . !!
I just caught the advance press preview yesterday / it’s an amazing little capsule exhibit.
which just goes to show, some artists, labelled outsiders, who for whatever reason – fly over everybodies heads – without garnering mainstream appreciation or critical recognition / have a way of coming back and . . biting everybody, & with a good dose of magic usually thrown in, for good measure, too.
decades . . on.
the exhibit, the work – is PURE MAGIC !! ON EVERY LEVEL !! ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING.
& t-o-t-a-l-l-y relevant – to the scene, today . . . LIVING ROOMS – and ALL !!!!!!!!
ALLISON WADE, ‘CRYSTAL FLOWERS RADIO’, 2017
so, yeah . . I would say something quite magical, and not just just ‘sounds technical’ . . is going on – here !!
and, that’s also coming through, loud and clear – in this strange, besotted . . sound/sculpture/work !!
ALLISON WADE, detail . . ‘CRYSTAL FLOWERS RADIO’.
see: ALLISON L. WADE – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
from the gallery description:
“Allison Wade presents a project about communing with the dead. After discovering that her Upper West Side apartment was once the former home and salon of painter/poet FLORINE STETTHEIMER, Wade has hired a shaman to communicate with potential spirits in the space (which based on the salon’s guest list could be anyone from DUCHAMP to O’KEEFE to STEIN). The audio recording of this shaman’s seance (normally broadcast from the artist’s apartment) will temporarily be broadcast via pirate radio from the gallery during the opening & on select days during the run of the exhibit.”
oh my . . . . . . !!
how strangely the art cards – do play out . . . this season.
the other visual stunner . .
was GEORGE TERRY’s short artist interview film: ‘You Can’t Go Home Again (version II)’, 2017.
that’s . . GEORGE TERRY, at center.
looking most . . dada-ist ? symbol-ist ? surreal-ist ?
and, not just . . Brooklyn hipster-ish / just joking (!!)
if, I don’t say so, myself. (!!)
TRUDY BENSON.
yeah – there was even a SMOKE or FOG MACHINE, that initiated each interview / what could be more magical than that ?!!
ADAM PARKER SMITH, sitting on a great quilt, btw.
all the artist interviews took place, in their own homes or studios, but at the exact same cinematic – angle & spatial / inset . . that was really, really good, as a purely visual narrative, never mind the words.
I could just so get / into that . . subtle shallow spatial, but extremely poetic / dynamic.
ESPERANZA MAYOBRE . .
there was this great big old, comfy couch – placed against a wall so you could sit & view the film, which looped.
though the audio was a little hard to hear, in a room full of young artists !!
buzzing like the busy bees – they are !!
but, it was such a richly visual film, words almost didn’t matter.
or: next visit !!
KATRINA FIMMEL.
just watching it go by – was so compelling. it was like a a river, it flowed . . so well.
it seems Mr. GEORGE TERRY – has a real a handle on the camera.
and, indeed: a truly meaningful / focus on . . cinematic s-p-a-c-e.
KENDAL BENNETT.
DAN ESTABROOK.
GABRIELA GALVAN.
GABRIELA SALAZAR.
artist GABRIELA SALAZAR, with filmmaker GEORGE TERRY,
and yes, I do . . want to go back, and hear it !!
GEORGE TERRY: “is a sculptor, video, installation artist & curator. He was born in Lynchburg, VIRGINIA, and grew up in the BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS (!!) Terry received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, his MFA from RISD / Rhode Island School of Design . . .
He now lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.”
see: GEORGE TERRY – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
wow, the BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS . .
home of my beloved hand-painted vintage Blue Ridge /Southern pottery, & many a fine & honest early, and vintage, rural Appalachian quilt / fiddle & banjo music roots, too.
that’s got to be some special place, to grow up in / though prob very hard scrabble – for an aspiring contemporary artist.
but obviously, something . . like magic – in that real ‘hillbilly’ mountain water !!
hillbilly, ha. just flying over everybodies heads, as usual.
gotta love that:
FLORINE STETTHEIMER, and . . HILLBILLY – in the same breath / must be . . the OXYGEN !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH