re: PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE BUILDING / THIS IS:
PEOPLE PEOPLE EXHIBIT / VIRTUAL ARCHIVE / BUILDING.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LENGLET . . of VDC / VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER, PARIS . .
presented, what looks to be a 4-story high screening, of ‘Virtual Dream Center 1.1’ . .
which is . . a virtual / re-construction of the pop-up exhibit,
‘UNDER THE VOLCANO: SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER, NANCY SMITH’,
A one weekend pop-up painting show / which looked back at the truly hardcore Lower East 80s NYC art scene, as seen through the work of these 3 artists, who were very active in that art scene, but have not been recognized in the general, more mainstream ‘take’ . . of what is usually regarded as the ‘canon’ of the times.
but, their work and personal dynamic, cannot seem be restrained from slowly bursting through that crusted-over misconception & hence the title . . ‘Under the Volcano’.
or, the real fire / under the top layer of what was . . the almighty Lower East Side / 80s art scene.
this historic, archival, break-out exhibit, completely comprised of original works by all 3 artists,
was staged at 169 Bowery St, in an empty & large storefront, in NYC’s Chinatown.
running June 6-8, 2015 / the exhibit was curated by KATE & THEO CERIGO, with art works selected,
from their own family collection.
Kate and Theo, who grew up in a storefront on Rivington St., just off the Bowery, when it was raw and explosive with the likes of Basquiat and Haring, were immersed in this wildly creative milieu / being the now 20-something (in 2015), children of Simon and Nancy, and Dan . . was like their wild crazy sushi-loving uncle.
NICHOLAS STEINDORF, a digital artist & friend of Kate’s, who actually helped with the behind-the-scenes staging of the show, and who had already produced some digital projects for VDC / VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER . . brought the exhibit to the attention of Paris-based JEAN-BAPTISTE, who received the show with great interest, and together / they re-created an ‘interactive’ digital version of the show, based on photographs taken at the time.
as well, Nicholas re-created the street ambience, sound, & architecture of the Bowery and the exhibit, which brought it very much to life, & Jean-Baptiste interjected some surreal ‘urban’ collage / visual animation / ‘parkour’.
this is . . EP7, the bar / restaurant & a (very) modernist building – located at 133 avenue de France, Paris . .
where the VDC / ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO’ screening, was held . .
as part of a 2 week video presentation, curated by CARLOS SANCHEZ-BAUTISTA / all projects, screening 4 stories high, on the (very) modernist front exterior.
here you can see the start of the ‘Under the Volcano’ screening / with a digital rendering of The Bowery, as it was back in the summer of 2015, digitially re-created, and animated by NICHOLAS STEINDORF.
I remember having many conversations with him, about just how many garbage bags, to place along the street / the signage & the shut, metal storefront security ‘gates’ . . are also ‘authentic’ / see detail, lower right.
this is . . The BOWERY, in NYC.
the exhibit took place on the right-hand side of the street, in a storefront – within that group of old buildings.
in a few minutes, the animation will take you inside the door, and into the exhibit.
it’s an interesting feature of real-life Parisian architecture, to see the carefully constructed animation, presented in a very ‘deconstructed’ manner . . on the ‘brute’ exterior.
there we are, SIMON, DAN, and me . . in an image captured, and made large, from an archival photo from 1981 / which was used as the ‘Under the Volcano’s . . . invite / card.
SIMON and me, from the same photo. the screening took place Sept 14, 2018.
it took me about 2 weeks to get my head around the fact, that my head had been projected 4 stories high – on a big, Paris St. !!!!
a charcoal drawing by DAN ASHER . . peeps out / on Paris !!
a painting, of KEITH HARING . . by SIMON CERIGO.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LENGLET & VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER present: ‘VDC / VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER 1.1’
‘UNDER THE VOLCANO: SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER, NANCY SMITH’ . .
“sur la facade monumental de l’EP7, Paris.”
the original exhibit card: ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO: SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER,NANCY SMITH’JUNE 5-7, 2015
from an archival photo of the 3 us, taken in 1981 in NYC / we were just about 30 yrs old, Dan was a few years older. Simon had drawn around the edges, with blue oil stick.
image courtesy: KATE & THEO CERIGO
you can access ‘VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER 1.1’ / ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO’… on the VDC platform
for a . . FREE DOWNLOAD / hit here !!
artwork – by NANCY SMITH
for more background info, incl the show’s original press release & installation photos . . .
hit . . ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO – VDC’
watch: VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER, ‘Under the Volcano’ . . at EP7 on YOUTUBE / Sept 15, 2018
watch: a brief walk-though of the animated ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO’ / posted to Youtube by NICHOLAS STEINDORF
ALL PHOTOS OF THE PARIS SCREENING: COURTESY JEAN-BAPTISTE LEGLET / VDC
~’UNDER THE VOLCANO’ . . VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER / SCREENED ON EP7, PARIS / SEPT 14 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 27th, 2018, 9:24pm
MARISA TAKAL: ‘People People People People People Building’
OPENS SUN SEPT 23 / 6 – 8 PM
JEFFREY STARK, 88 EAST BROADWAY #B11, Chinatown, NYC
all shows are visible through a glass storefront window everyday from 9am-9pm
or email for appointments to enter.
MARISA TAKAL . . .
MARISA TAKAL . . .
MARISA TAKAL . . .
ALL IMAGES VIA JEFFREY STARK
~MARISA TAKAL . . ‘People People People People People Building’ / JEFFREY STARK / OPENS SUN SEPT 23 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 23rd, 2018, 8:12am
SUN SEPT 23 . . . .
all you Brooklyn natives !!
last day for . . IABF / INDEPENDENT ART BOOK FAIR
307 KENT AVE, WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN / EAST RIVER WATERFRONT
AINT-BAD, Publisher
JADE THIRASWAS: “made an incredibly powerful body of work following Myanmar refugees coming to Rochester, NY”
image via Instagram @independentartbookfair
AINT-BAD, Publisher
IAN BATES: his “new series ‘Meadow Lark’ will be published in Issue No. 13! This work explores the quiet loneliness blanketing the North West United States and is able to find all the drama of a Broadway play.”
image via Instagram @aintbad
see: AINT-BAD / An independent publisher of new photographic art
~aint-bad . . IABF/INDEPENDENT ART BOOK FAIR / BROOKLYN |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 23rd, 2018, 7:30am
ALSO, in LIC . . near MoMA PS1 / NYABF
go on, take a walk !! – on the wild side !!!
it’s def, going to be a . . par-tay !!!!
press release:
‘ANDREW KASS opens SEARCHING FOR SPACE TO PLAY, a presentation of public access to a seemingly defunct space located at 44-02 Vernon Blvd in Long Island City. Having passed through the hands of multiple developers of questionable virtue and various construction plans over the past decade, the vacant lot now remains trapped in a bureaucratic standstill following foreclosures and construction mishaps. The result is a secluded area situated between the Department of Education and a Con Edison building, partially flooded by the East River, overgrown after years of disuse, and hidden behind the ubiquitous green wooden barricades that denote construction and change throughout New York City.’
not related, to this particular / abandoned on-site / project, but def indicative of the urban . . . ‘PLAY’, at hand.
PHOTOGRAPH by ANDREW KASS, ‘TOP OF THE TOWER’, posted to his Instagram feed, August 26, 2018.
image via Instagram @andrewkass
~ANDREW KASS . . ‘SEARCHING FOR SPACE TO PLAY’ / LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS POP-UP / SAT SEPT 22 / 6 – 11 PM |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 22nd, 2018, 7:37am
HEATHER BENJAMIN . . ‘CAVEGIRL MONOLOGUE’
OPENS TO-NITE FRI SEPT 21 / 7 – 9 PM / show runs thru next Sun Sept 28, 2018
AFTERPARTY: CEREMONY / 9 PM til late.
MUDDGUTS, 427 Graham Ave, Brooklyn NY
HRS: WED-FRI: 4-8PM / SAT-SUN: 12-8PM
“Her show at Muddguts will include larger-scale works alongside prints and photocopies of her drawings,
many of which she made as an artist-in-residency at Ken Kesey’s Oregon Farm.”
ALL WORKS . . . $100 – $800 !!!!!
IT’S ALSO . . .
the release party for her new book, ‘CAVEGIRL MONOLOGUE’, 128 full color pages,
published by SACRED BONES !!
~HEATHER BENJAMIN . . ‘CAVEGIRL MONOLOGUE’, MUDDGUTS / OPENS FRI SEPT 21 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 21st, 2018, 11:09am
ALMIGHTY . . FLASH-BACK !!
BRANDON JOHNSON, at the ‘WOODWARD BAZAAR’ . .
an informal, friends+artists+craftspeople . . . pop-up in a small 2nd floor apt in Ridgewood, Queens.
Brandon had brought his his first (truly) self-published book, ‘Thee Almighty & Insane’.
BRANDON JOHNSON, ‘Thee Almighty & Insane’ / ‘Chicago Gang Business Cards From the 1970s & 1980s’
Hard Cover, Clothbound, 96 pages, Full Color
5.5 x 8.25 in / 14 x 21 cm
Second Edition 2017
published by his own imprint . . ALMIGHTY AND INSANE BOOKS
$30 – available online
image via ALMIGHTY & INSANE BOOKS
this one, is . . mine !!!!
it’s a very sweet design, and it has a real nice . . feel, and weight.
the first few pages, are text & cover the history, and his own collecting background, which . . is of a really nice personal nature / his dad had a collection of them in a cigar box . . “up in the attic of our house in suburban Chicago”.
and then, you turn the book horizontal, and get to see the archival cards . . in large full page format !!
“History, aside, this book serves as an ode to Chicago compliment cards: the hand-drawn-graphics, the blackletter typefaces, the outlandish names and clever slogans. intriguingly cryptic to the uninitiated, learning to read the cards gives insight to how they interrelate. For example, an upside-down symbol or name is a sign of disrespect.”
“Acronyms ending with the letter ‘K’ meant mean ‘killer’ . . .”
one could imagine entering a 1970s barbershop, or liquor store & see one of these lying around, and you would think – twice. It was – no hollow note.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH / unless otherwise noted
~BRANDON JOHNSON . . ‘THEE ALMIGHTY & INSANE’ / WOODWARD BAZAAR, APRIL 8, 2018 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 21st, 2018, 10:12am
ALMIGHTY & INSANE BOOKS PRESENTS:
‘RELICS OF THE OLD SKOOL’ – BRANDON JOHNSON
AN EXHIBITION OF DECONSTRUCTED BOOKS, ORIGINAL EPHEMERA, & OTHER HISTORICAL MATERIALS
FROM THE CITY OF CHICAGO
& . . A BOOK RELEASE FOR: ‘BEYOND HEAVEN’ – BY BRANDON JOHNSON
A COLLECTION OF CHICAGO HOUSE PARTY FLYERS / FROM 1983-1989
see: ALMIGHTY & INSANE BOOKS
OPENING: WED SEPT 19 / 6 – 9 PM
SHOW RUNS THRU . . . OCT 1, 2018
THE GALLERY AT ACE HOTEL NEW YORK / 20 W29TH ST, Midtown Manhattan, NYC
‘BEYOND HEAVEN’ – BY BRANDON JOHNSON / SNEAK PEEK !!
‘BEYOND HEAVEN’ – BY BRANDON JOHNSON – SNEAK PEEK !!
‘BEYOND HEAVEN: CHICAGO HOUSE PARTY FLYERS FROM 1983-1989’ / BRANDON JOHNSON
Paperback, 96 pages
Full color
6 x 9 in. / 16 x 23 cm.
Publisher: ALMIGHTY & INSANE BOOKS, 2018
$20
to order: ALMIGHTY & INSANE BOOKS
SNEAK PEEK IMAGES VIA ALMIGHTY & INSANE BOOKS / & find, more images there.
~BRANDON JOHNSON . . ‘RELICS of the OLD SKOOL’ & ‘BEYOND HEAVEN’ / ACE HOTEL / OPENS WED SEPT 19 / 6-8 PM |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 19th, 2018, 2:32pm
forget . . FASHION INTERSECTS WITH ART WORLD
WHAT ABOUT . . COSMOS ?
TIS’ THE (BIBLICAL) SEASON TO LOOK BACK & THIS . . . . IS / HOW I FEEL.
art world ?
may as well . . adopt a rat.
JIM JOE: ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND HOW DID YOU CHOOSE IT’ / JIM JOE 2018
OPENED FRI SEPT 14
RUNS THRU . . . OCT 17, 2018
THE HOLE
JIM JOE, ‘ADOPT A RAT’ / ‘MISTAKES BECOME CHOICES (TOMIC ENERGY)’, 2018
oil stick on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~JIM JOE . . ‘ADOPT A RAT’ / THE HOLE / MORE OPENING PIX |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 19th, 2018, 9:24am
JIM JOE: ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND HOW DID YOU CHOOSE IT’ / JIM JOE 2018
OPENED FRI SEPT 14
RUNS THRU . . . OCT 17, 2018
THE HOLE
JIM JOE, ‘THE PERFECTIONIST’ / ‘A VULNERABLE SPECIES (TAXI STAND)’, 2018
oil stick on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
JIM JOE, ‘CREATIVITY KILLS WEED (STOLEN FLOWERS)’, 2018
oil stick on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
JIM JOE, ‘DREAM OF TRAGEDY (WEDDING DAY)’, 2018
oil stick on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~JIM JOE: ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND’ . . THE HOLE / OPENING NIGHT PIX |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 18th, 2018, 4:16pm
JIM JOE: ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND HOW DID YOU CHOOSE IT’ / ‘JIM JOE 2018’
OPENS FRI SEPT 14 / 6 – 9 PM
the show runs thru . . OCT 7, 2018
THE HOLE, 312 BOWERY, EAST VILLAGE, NY 10012
~JIM JOE: ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND ‘ . . THE HOLE, EAST VILLAGE / OPENS FRI SEPT 14 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 14th, 2018, 1:38am
