~WIGGS . . .
OR: LOVE THE ONE YER WITH – PART 1
The theme of this year’s 54th VENICE BIENNALE is: ‘ILLUMINATIONS’.
. . . meant to “evoke the notion of artists as a source of enlightenment” !!
but it’s truly – ALLADIN’S LAMP – translation: illumination plus MAGIC – all the way . . .
here, in the gritty streets of NYC !!
URS FISCHER WAX CANDLE/VENICE BIENNALE 2011 – PHOTO COURTESY/MADE IN SLANT
ok, so you can’t be in VENICE – catching the giant URS FISCHER wax candles self-destruct !!
. . . read more: MADE IN SLANT
IRAQI ARTISTS / AHMED ALSOUDANI (LEFT) POSES FOR ADEL ABIDIN/PHOTO BY JESSICA CRAIG-MARTIN for THE NEW YORK TIMES
and for sure you ain’t in a private water taxi “piled in, a tangle of gowns and glitter” speeding “across choppy waterways clogged with other party commuter craft” motoring towards some fabulous afterparty in honor of the VENICE ART BIENNALE 2011 – actually this one was thrown by mega collector FRANCOIS PINAULT at the “Cini Foundation, an opulent former Benedictine monastery” . . . where “young aristos flitted about the gardens in Balenciaga and Lanvin” . . .
(what did I tell you about jazz era slouchy deluxe !! – ala MARION COTILLARD in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)
. . . read more: : The Art World’s New Darlings/NEW YORK TIMES
yo, but if you be – in gritty hot New York City, you might have caught WIGGS, a young art collector – based in Harlem – at the corner of 8th Ave and 33rd St – with his newest purchase !!
a painting by his friend, SAMUEL MARK, it is a narrow, intense, portrait of a spray paint can – on canvas, and it says: GIVE MORE TO WHAT YOU WANT TO BECOME . . .
it’s as luminous as a lit candle, no ? and enlightenment – no shyte.
it’s always very fun, not to mention amazing – to see just how right on the streets of crazy mad New York be . . . on the issues of the day.
and usually doing it – better. make tha : BETTER, all in caps, dude.
it is signed and dated by the artist SAMUEL MARK, and dedicated to WIGGS on the back.
SAMUEL MARK – 2011.
WIGGS had just picked up a ‘gun’ piece on collaged paper he had recently bought from ALFREDO MARTINEZ, and had just g had custom framed.
GUN PIECE BY ALFREDO MARTINEZ. it is bigger than it looks in the photos – approx 2 ft. x 3 ft.
Alfredo based the built-up collaged paper that the drawing is done on – on the back side of a map !!
the frame was designed with a ‘window’ of plexi on the reverse to show the map.
detail, reverse. the map.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH – UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.