subtext: CRAFT
and, no doubt – about it.
in these 2 side-by-side shows, ‘craft’ – as a concept / figures large.
SOPHIA NARRETT, PAUL ROUPHAIL – ‘A Heart-Shaped Face’ /
NATHANIEL DE LARGE – ‘Jan’s Pond’
MARCH 15 – APRIL 28, 2019
JACK BARRETT, 173 Henry St., fringe of Chinatown, NYC.
HRS: WED-SUN / 12-6 PM & by appointment
JACK BARRETT . . the day after the opening.
seems to be a natural-born . . poetic.
puts on some great shows.
reminds me of a young Gavin / GBE.
SOPHIA NARRETT, ‘Path’ embroidery – at right.
he founded 315 Gallery in Brooklyn, where he gave Haley Josephs some great outings.
recently re-booted & re-located to the LES / Lower East Side / Chinatown, under his own name. prob a wise move.
see: HALELY JOSEPHS ‘Finger in the Hive’, 315 Gallery. Sept 7 – Oct 7, 2018 / artloversnewyork
see: HALEY JOSEPHS, 315 Gallery at Sunday Art Fair, London. Oct 4-7, 2018 / artloversnewyork
SOPHIA NARRETT, ‘Path’, 2019 / slightly cropped
Embroidery thread, fabric, acrylic, aluminum.
5 x 4.25 in.
detail, SOPHIA NARRETT, ‘Path’.
‘craft’ & ‘metaphor . . loom large in these works.
PAUL ROUPHAIL, ‘Lavender Room’, 2019.
oil on canvas.
54 x 36 in.
detail, PAUL ROUPHAIL.
I would say, that can of soda – was well crafted.
the main room was more of a complete . . environment.
with craft, concept, technical skills, & . . metaphor / message aplenty.
NATHANIEL DE LARGE, ‘Jan’s Pond’.
from a distance it had the trappings of a giant . . paper cut-out.
the hanging canopy was actually a piece.
NATHANIEL DE LARGE, ‘Ethical Future’, 2019.
Corn and soybean biodegradable bags, LED lights.
dimensions variable.
this was the ‘pond’.
NATHANIEL DE LARGE, ‘Gig of Pride’, 2019.
Plywood, carpet.
72 in. diameter, 5 in. height.
it reminded me of that, audacious, ‘banal’, industrial, brown shaggy carpet,
JOE BRADLEY exhibited in his very first outing, c/o Kenny Schachter, back in early 2000s.
some people in the ‘art wold’ were quite affronted by it.
I thought it was – sublime. funny & smart – it was definite aimed at the right targets !!
the usual suspects parading as art critics – dragging the whole scene & everybody in it down.
20 years later, this is quite the (victory) circle – come round.
NATHANIEL DE LARGE, ‘Trevor’, 2019.
Chain mail, cyanoacrylate.
dimensions variable, (life-like)
craft &industry – these truths we take as self-obvious.
Chain mail, hand-mgde. diy. but, why is it beside Jan’s pond ?
Environmental . . S.O. S. ?
‘Jan’s Pond’ . . looking in from the other direction.
NATHANIEL DE LARGE, ‘HT125’, 2019.
Anodized titanium, Dibond, human hair, steel.
24-1/4 x 9-3/4 in.
Nathaniel de Large’s technical skill . . was sublime & subtle, witness the ‘swan’.
industrial, and crafty – in the same breath.
damn, the conclusion ?
looks like our natural habitat . . . just might be going completely, down the drain.
read more & images: ‘A Heart-Shaped Face’ – SOPHIA NARRETT & PAUL ROUPHAIL / JACK BARRETT
read more & images: ‘JAN’S POND’ – NATHANIEL DE LARGE / JACK BARRETT
wonderful show, absolutely – on point.
go see it / up thru APRIL 28
EXHIBITION INVITE / IMAGE
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~SOPHIA NARRETT, PAUL ROUPHAIL . . ‘HEART-SHAPED FACE’ / NATHANIEL DE LARGE . . ‘JAN’S POND’ / JACK BARRETT |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 21st, 2019, 2:21pm
subtext: CRAFT
subtext: INDUSTRIAL
a prime example of ‘Craft’, closing in on . . . ‘Industrial’
PETER SUTHERLAND – ‘SHIFTING LANDSCAPES OPPOSING PROPHECIES (S.L.O.P.)’
APRIL 18 – MAY 9, 2019
MAST BOOKS, 72 AVE A, NYC
installation shot
image via Instagram @petersutherland
the book . . .
image via Instagram story @petersutherland / @migrationofwolves
~PETER SUTHERLAND . . S.L.O.P. / MAST BOOKS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 21st, 2019, 2:08pm
subtext: CRAFT
subtext: industrial
subtext: digital arts
subtext: historical American quilt patterns
subtext: high level tech knowledge
subtext: craftsmanship / artisan skills / incl both digital & actual 3~D constructs
subtext: communication – digital banners / new age signage
‘LUKE MURPHY – 2019’
SHANE CAMPBELL GALLERY – LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO / BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
APRIL 13 – MAY 31, 2019
LUKE MURPHY . . . is a digital / tech-wiz, light, animation & 3-D construct .. artist,
who has a long time & many-layered relationship with: CRAFT.
when . . . ‘creating’ new accessories in even, online games, such as Minecraft – are referred to as ‘crafting’, as opposed to let’s say ‘producing’, or ‘building’ . . . as in:
‘How to make a Bell in Minecraft: This Minecraft tutorial explains how to craft a bell with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.
In Minecraft, a bell is a new item in the game that does not have a crafting recipe yet. A bell can be found in the center of a Village. Bells can be attached to a floor, ceiling, or the side of a block and they will make a sound when you ring them.’
~source: basic online search for: ‘craft’
Mine – craft (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
as in: mine/mein / belonging to me / a set of skills – mastered by ‘me’ / mine.
& mine / as in a (resource) mine (gold mine) (tech mine) / or, as in . . mine/research a topic / and,
or . . dig this !!
it’s no wonder – there is such a new-found & profound respect / ans understanding for the term,
in the new gens/generations.
they are encouraged to be ‘artists’, & ‘creative’ explorers – from the time someone puts an iPad or iPhone . . into their little toddler hands.
Luke . . ‘crafts’ objects & pulsating wall ‘boards’ – out of his digital & experimental knowledge, which are often in turn, actually combined with historical ‘craft’ references, as in his LED light / pulsing ‘quilts’ & even: signage.
and, note: that’s . .
Luke Murphy’s animated ‘DELI-LED’ banner running across the top of this page / ‘UNIFY NOW’ . . (WORLD)
LUKE MURPHY, DIGITAL ‘LOG CABIN QUILT’ / installation view
LUKE MURPHY, ‘StarQuilt’, 2019.
P4 LED Matrix panels, animation code, mini-PC running Linux, power supplies, aluminum, wire or MDF armature.
Technical: Python3 scripts & software, Gigabyte brand i3 mini-PC, running Lubuntu Linux, Linsn receiver card,
sender card, 5v$oA 125/220v AC power supplies.
63H x 41W x 3D in.
LUKE MURPHY, ‘On Leaning Lights’, 2019.
P4 LED Matrix Panels, etc . ..
re:‘INDUSTRIAL’ / ‘CRAFT’
note: ‘craft’ . . . does NOT necessarily mean ‘craftsy’, as in arts & crafts /
I take it to mean, more: the ‘craft’ of building / constructing / imagining . . something really really well, with . . both ownership & authenticity.
it’s interesting to see, in this show, with this piece – that Luke is moving over to the dark side, lol !!!
it could be, in reaction to showing in what appears to be a high-end lifestyle / home furnishing / exceptionally inspired / concept store / gallery, that he didn’t want to just come off – as all soft & cuddly ?!!
as if, a rigidly framed LED Panel quilt was soft and cuddly, but you know – what I mean.
this piece is like straight out of Star Wars, a light saber collection, or better . . ‘Hal’. (!!!)
this is ‘craft’ . . pushed to a colder, more minimal ‘take’, what we in the art world call: ‘industrial’.
it doesn’t mean factory-produced, it means: later age civilization . . proto-modern / contemporary minimalist.
its usually very: GRAPHIC / as opposed to purely expressionist, as in / no brush stroke, please !!
it’s got a colder / harder ‘wall’, that pushes ‘creativity’ . . to a finer, more stringent – visual tension.
it’s like, the range or polar opposites of the craft mind-set / the yin yang.
CRAFT – INDUSTRIAL.
see more: LUKE MURPHY 2019 – SHANE CAMPBELL GALLERY
and, where you can also watch – some animation clips, of the pieces in ‘motion’ !!
all images via SHANE CAMPBELL GALLERY
~LUKE MURPHY . . SHANE CAMPBELL GALLERY, CHICAGO |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 20th, 2019, 9:17am
subtext: CRAFT
MELISSA BROWN . . in ‘THE PICTIONARY INDIVIDUAL’
A GROUP SHOW – ORGANIZED BY: PETER HARKAWIK
closes today – SAT APRIL 20, 2019
REAL PAIN FINE ARTS, 1819 3rd Ave., L.A. CA 90019
I’ve always found Melissa Brown’s paintings – to be very craftsman-like.
they are built tight – like ships.
they are completely made-well, and functional – as vessels . . of daydream & mystery.
this might be because Melissa’s first focus was – printmaking.
MELISSA BROWN, ‘Interior Life’, 2019.
flashe, acrylic, oil on aluminum panel.
48 x 30 in.
image via REAL PAIN FINE ARTS – ‘The Pictionary Individual’ CHECK LIST
~MELISSA BROWN . . ‘The Pictionary Individual’ / REAL PAIN FINE ARTS / last day |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 20th, 2019, 8:32am
TH’US . . MARSHAL HOPKINS & BARBARA REID – ‘On The Way To The Lovfest’
TO-NIGHT / THURS APRIL 18, 2019 / 9 PM
The Corner lounge, 121 Bastion St., Nanaimo, B.C., Canada
subtext: CRAFT
subtext: FOLK ART & OUTSIDER ART
a new respect & interest in Craft, actually began with a corresponding interest / and new found admiration for both traditional folk art, and outsider art.
and they two twined well around each other, like enduring lovers.
it was (maybe) first ushered on the music of the 60s / of Woodstock, and the Folkies, and the folk festivals.
Bob Dylan, The band, and Janice Joplin. and of course all those self-printed psychedelic posters !!
with their wild paisleys, incredible (craft-inspired) tie-dyes & ground-breaking diy typefaces & far-out fonts.
‘signage’ – became a really big thing.
the gen / my gen, and Reno & Marshal’s (!!) . . that seriously studied art in the 70s, could smell the new brew of coffee – already perking. we were bing ded & trained . . tehortrcyoal art / non-objective art / color field theory, but we wandered off into more priniv e and narrative ways.
I went from non-objective, large acrylic grid painting, think Agnes Martin meets Tibetan color palette, switched to smaller size watercolors on paper, and went radically ‘narrative’, my biggest influence ?
Traditional Japanese Edo period woodblock prints.
and Amish quilts.
Barbara Reid, or Reno as she was called . . was always into watercolor, and folk art. landscapes, and such.
very Scottish / spiritual rural / Celtic.
Marshal was just plain always, marching to his own drum / but the theory was there . . like a dirty dog.
there’s no arguing with the Irish.
our teacher was the famous Quebec color theory (stripe) painter Guido Molinari – and I think in a great way, he enjoyed seeing his pictorial theory put to . . such, subversive use.
what is art – if not: rebellion.
POSTER BY – MARSHAL HOPKINS
~TH’US . . MARSHAL HOPKINS & BARBARA REID / The Corner Lounge, Nanaimo, B.C. / CRAFT loves FOLK ART loves OUTSIDER ART |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 18th, 2019, 4:39pm
subtext: CRAFT
arts & crafts, NOT.
sales & craft . . YES.
the line between ‘arts’, vs. ‘crafts’ – has basically disappeared, or become very very thin.
too skinny to notice.
I mean, maybe the color theorists like Barnett Newman, or drip painters such Jackson Pollock are under the line.
but today, that line is not – an enemy camp.
it’s not so much about theory so much anymore, as it is about: craft, skills. legacy / ingenuity. authenticity.
though it’s always about . . creativity, expression, and soul.
though it’s funny to realize, that while this generation cannot afford the huge canvases of the Pollock gen /
it’s like they have instead . . ‘fractured’ into a million smaller pieces.
Artist-made DIY & CRAFT, such SILK SCREEN PRINTS on any kind of fashion, you name it: dresses, caps, T-SHIRTS, & all kinds of textiles, incl. beach towels (Selenasmountain), and shower curtains (Home Edition at ESSEX FLOWERS), have all been exhibited in cutting edge galleries.
not to forget xerox, digital & even letter press . . self-published paper print editions, & ZINES . . .
really kicked off seriously, . . when artists were able to sell their products, at indie art & book fairs, and most importantly – via their own websites, and/or other indie, digital ‘storefront’ platforms.
easy payments via Paypal, and Venmo, tipped the scale – to an all-out explosion.
@heatherbenjamin_: “a few totes now available online. will not be reprinted.”
@heatherbenjamin_: “last couple remaining book fair tees are at the link in my bio * worn by angel @meiow_mix.”
images via Instagram @heatherbenjamin_
to purchase . . .
see: HEATHER BENJAMIN – WEBSITE
~HEATHER BENJAMIN . . MERCH, SALES & CRAFT |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 18th, 2019, 3:52pm
subtext: CRAFT.
since we are currently seeing the world, increasingly through the lens of CRAFT these days.
let’s pause for a moment, and give a proper high-five to the photographer / behind that photo of Heather Benjamin,
just posted, and, add another . . ONE !!
it’s so easy to take photos for granted, these days.
but, still, they aren’t all – so . . equally haunting.
as well, as Mr. Trogdon’s photos travel to us, through the (now highly recognized) new age medium of craft explosion / we call/ the DIY SELF-PUBLISHED . . ZINE !!
there’s a double or halo- effect – to the dimensions of craft, invoked here.
and, since we get his photos . . from or nor from his zines / off what he posts to IG / Instagram,
by extension, does that make IG . . . a craft ?
is social media – just another albeit ‘future world’ . . craft ?
I mean, it is kind of like . . scrimshaw ? !!! quilting. souvenir collecting.
18th C Japanese woodblock printing. type-setting. fonts. illustration. early travel books & essay.
colonial broad-sheets. posters / advertising, movie, show posters, etc . .
digital zines for sure,
the endless paper . . ‘banners’.
like quilts were the endless . . textile banners.
self-published – the key word.
and in craft, too: hand-made / self-made / self-published.
@vbdbct: “HEATHER BENJAMIN, unused pic taken for ‘FUGITIVE’, Heather and I’s newsprint poster fanzine . . ”
image via Instgram @vbdbct / BEN CHARLES TROGDON
see: BCT – TATTOO PUNK FANZINE / seems based in “New York, New York”.
or, rather a mailbox in New York, New York, 10013
that would be a Tribeca, Manhattan mailing address.
he seems to post photos from many locations, incl Brooklyn, Queens, LA and . . Chile.
damn. of course,
yeah, that’s – right.
zines, check.
photo portraiture, check.
illustration, & diy printing, custom typeface, check.
custom website / blog, check.
tattoos are . . craft, too.
~BCT / BEN CHARLES TROGDON . . ANOTHER PHOTO / PINK COWBOY HAT / of HEATHER BENJAMIN |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 17th, 2019, 5:08pm
HOWDY Y’ALL . . .
LAABF / see: PRINTED MATTER’S – LA ART BOOK FAIR
THIS WEEKEND / APRIL 12, 13, 14, 2019.
@heatherbenjamin_: howdy y’all. come see me at LAABF all weekend, table P95.
**PHOTO** by @vbdbct / BEN CHARLES TROGDON / for our new collab fanzine . . . “FUGITIVE”.
*RELEASE PARTY* *TOMORROW / SAT / AFTER THE FAIR* *THESE DAYS GALLERY & STORE IN DOWNTOWN LA*
*HEATHER BENJAMIN – PHOTO BY: BEN CHARLES TROGDON / @vbdbct*
*image via Instagram @heatherbenjamin_*
IT’S ALSO A RECEPTION / OPENING PARTY . . . !!!!
for HEATHER’s solo exhibition / “COWGIRL DENTAL FLOSS” / being concurrently exhibited at . . . THESES DAYS.
def, check out: THESE DAYS . . . .
~HEATHER BENJAMIN . . LAABF / TABLE P95 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 12th, 2019, 2:51pm
talking about . . . ‘disembodiment’ !!!!!
EMMY THELANDER – ‘Outfits for Acrobats’
April 2019
PRACTICE GALLERY, 319 North 11th St., 2nd Fl., unit 2g. Philadelphia, PA 19107
HRS: FIRST FRIDAYS & SAT & SUN 2 – 6 PM & BY APPOINTMENT
“If a free-floating person spins fast enough they could turn into an electromagnetic wave.
Flying trapeze artists are halfway toward disembodiment.”
more about: ‘Outfits for Acrobats’ – THE PRACTICE
more about: THE PRACTICE / AN INDIE – COLLABORATIVE ART SPACE
def, check out: EMMY THELANDER / ARTIST PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
EMMY THELANDER, at the opening.
I wonder if the show is has anything do with her . . surname ???
EMMY THELANDER . . Acrobat drawings
& looking very much . . spun out !!!
2 PHOTOS ABOVE, from the opening – thank you, NICHOLAS STEINDORF.
EMMY THELANDER, ‘Outfits for Acrobats’ video clip.
image via Instagram @practicegallery
~EMMY THELANDER . . ‘Outfits for Acrobats’ / PRACTICE GALLERY, Philadelphia / April |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 11th, 2019, 10:38am
I really am fascinated by this piece.
the title.
the materials.
the lightness of the construct / yet the dark, underworld – undertones.
the sense of craft, as well as . . art.
a lightness of being / and yet . . an entry to a way scary place.
dust to dust.
and . . a lightness of being. perfecto.
up at GAZEBO thru April 14 / 12 – 6 PM
see: GAZEBO
DANIEL GIORDANO, ‘Self-Portrait 150 Years From Now’, 2018-2019,
moisturizing face mask, cuttlefish ink, dust, acrylic polymer emulsion, urinal cake, epoxy paste,
wire hanger. 15.5 x 12 x 7 in.
PHOTOS via Instagram @danieljgiordano
~’Love of the Common Man’ . . GAZEBO / DANIEL GIORDANO . . one last look |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | April 11th, 2019, 10:04am
