~ OH OH – SAD NEWS FLASH !! DAN ASHER ABOUT – TO GET HIS WINGS.
UP-DATE: DAN ASHER left this planet – hopefully for further adventures – this past Sat April April 24, 2010 – in the very early morning hrs. bye Dan – will definitely miss you.
SIMON CERIGO reports that artist and photographer DAN ASHER is on his death bed. CHRIS from OTHER MUSIC told him. apparently Dan was alive last night – just barely and heavily medicated. Chris went to visit him in the hospital – last night – but nobody’s sure about to-night. It’s just down to days. maybe hours. Simon says: he might be dead by tomorrow. Dan is finally losing a long slow battle with lymphatic cancer – which he had had for many years, but which just sped up and snowballed on him recently. He was a real live wire, but no more. His body is still just just hanging in there . . . just long enough it seems for friends to go say good bye.
though as of Thursday afternoon, April 22, it is said that he is no longer lucid.
GAVIN BROWN gave DAN a special 2 week fund-raiser exhibit of his 1970’s BOB MARLEY photos – just last month.
see: DAN ASHER BENEFIT/GBE !!
DAN ASHER & DR. MONGUSH KENIN-LOBSAN, shaman, ethnographer & writer.
from HEYOKA MAG – with a few Q&A’s with JOHN LeKAY – DAN ASHER trip to Tuva, Southern Siberia/Mongolia. Summer 2002 – and includes a nice array of Dan’s 35 mm photos.
see: DAN ASHER/SIBERIA PHOTO ESSAY/HEYOKA !!
DAN is also known for his small squiggly minimalist pencil line drawings, his pre-sentient late 90’s photos of icebergs in the Antarctic, his photo portraits of extreme wrestling in rural America, and his ‘quirky’ character.
a younger DAN ASHER – in NOVEMBER 1985 – at the inaugural opening, a group show which he was in, along with myself, Walter Robinson and Michael McClard – at Simon’s short-lived venture – SIMON CERIGO GALLERY, 202 AVE A, back in the day when the Lower East Side – really was, that.
(that is in fact, my painting beside him).
ARCHIVAL PHOTO BY NANCY SMITH. NOV 15, 1985, NYC.
COPYRIGHT NANCY SMITH – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
p.s. don’t take my ‘flipness’ to mean – I’m not sad. I am. I’ve known Dan since I first arrived in New York in 1982. I even worked as an assistant to him – for a couple of years – when he went to & returned from the Antarctic with many many rolls of pix. He was hardwired very tight and was difficult to deal with. short temper. big chip on his shoulder. but very very talented and deserved way more success then he ever got. I’ve always been a huge supporter of his work – and I was really happy to hear Gavin had given him a show last month. they had crossed paths before, but Dan was very high maintenance. contrarian and temperamental. very self-absorbed, as they say. in a way he had to be, like we all do – to survive as full time artists, in this hard-edged town. but it was particularly hard for him tame his passions and relentless energy – but look what great quests he set himself out upon. Gavin put on a wonderful show for Dan at Passerby, a few years back. I covered it on artlovers – but alas the archives are (temporarily) broke. my only feeling now, is that he will find some rest in the next world, and if there is reincarnation – you can bet he is coming back . . . (!!?) I know he knew the value of his work – it’s the rest of you guys – that caused him such great frustration. what a tantric month – this is turning out to be. esp for NYC.
POSTED BY NANCY SMITH – WED APRIL 21, 2010 – 9:33 PM
DAN ASHER came by my show at OTHER MUSIC last year – just about this time !! he brought me the most beautiful flowers – just a few – but very exotic ones. that’s KANA TOGASHI, my daughter Kate’s friend on the right. I think Kate took the photo. Dan and I had grown distant over the recent months – well, it’s a tough game, NYC. life is fragile. friendship is fragile. even websites are fragile. Dan leaves behind a wonderful legacy – a beautiful poetic spiritual body of work – bottomline: that’s something to celebrate, in my opinion.
NANCY SMITH, DAN ASHER, and KANA TOGASHI, OTHER MUSIC, NYC. MAY 21, 2009.
PHOTO COPYRIGHT – KATE CERIGO
POSTED BY NANCY SMITH – THURS APRIL 22, 2010 – 1:53 PM