~BRUCENNIAL 2010 – A QUICK LOOK BACK !! – ARCHIVAL PIX – FROM THE INAUGURAL OPENING . . .
some archival pix – from the artlovers photo vault !!
the opening night . . . of the first ever . . . BRUCENNIAL (2010) – a hyper lively, widely diverse, and cutting edge accurate !! group exhibit presented by the BRUCE HIGH QUALITY FOUNDATION – in collaboration with VITO SCHNABEL – that went head-to-head with the 2010 WHITNEY BIENNIAL – and came out on top – in many people’s minds, and not just mine !!
the opening took place on FEB 26, 2010 – at a pop-up space on West Broadway in Soho.
JONAH EMMERSON-BELL of BHQF/BRUCE HIGH QUALITY FOUNDATION – puts some last minute touches into the show – just before the doors opened . . .
RAINGER PINNEY.
RAINGER PINNEY . . in his one person mobile ‘isolation’ tent.
(ha. do I want one !!)
a set of work by RAINGER PINNEY . . .
‘UTOPIA IS GAY’ . . . right on.
JONAH EMMERSON-BELL, 2008, neon, 36 x 36 ins.
VITO arrives . . .
VITO SCHNABEL – at the inaugural BRUCENNIAL 2010 – which he co-presented & curated with the BRUCE HIGH QUALITY FOUNDATION.
ARTURO VIDICH . . with his one person wooden cabin. (!!)
one person tent, one person cabin. standing room only. what is it, they say, about ‘like’ minds ? you just can’t beat that – for 21st C. social observation !! the absolute invert of facebook. the one man in his own mind, or: your ‘isolation’ home – is your castle !!
‘HOLY BIBLE’ – by THE SPECIALIST.
in the background, Arturo Vidich on his hands and knees, putting the finishing touches on his ‘one man’ cabin – and yes, you gotta to be ‘upright’ – to fit in it. yes, pun intended !! it was on wheels, so I guess you could pull it along behind you, and bring it with you anywhere, the cabin, not the bible . . . though it, the Bible – looks pretty functional (!!) too. full of metal tools in custom carved-out slots.
framed drawing by HARMONY KORINE.
it was a huge sprawling blast of high energy . . looking out onto the art world ghosts of West Broadway . . . past, most notably in the early 1980s: LEO CASTELLI, and the first big MARY BOONE gallery.
some corners were pristine and stark … hyper bold. quiet. mysterious. realist and fanciful.
others were just outright unpredictable and crazy wild in a quiet way !! in a 3D space – mind-thought driven way.
ha. a piece by RAMBO / Lance.
featuring an archival photo of a young Rambo . . . and a young Vito.
LUKE JOHNSON . . .
brought along some of his home-brew.
though there was plenty of the store-bought kind too. and outside: there was snow and deep deep water, those super inner-city kind, that made oceans at every street corner – and defied all footwear.
ok – they sure know how to throw an art show, and a party. a few more shots – BRUCENNIAL 2010, BRUCE HIGH QUALITY FOUNDATION with VITO SCHNABEL, SOHO, NYC. FEB 26, 2010.
one “Bruce”.
two “Bruce” . . .
three “Bruce”.
you know: one for all, and all for one. damn straight, one “Bruce” means . . . a whole pack of “Bruces” !!
artist, Bruce. no diff. same thing. it’s all just words, anyways.
(uber conceptualist Gerald Ferguson, are you smiling down ?)
and hell, yes. there were girls . . .
and, muses.
so, not all that surprising . . . even a re-consitituted “Picasso” made the scene.
painting by RAY SMITH.
as did everybody’s favorite papa bear – JULIAN. (Schnabel)
Picasso . . . , Julian, no diff.
. . . so that’s just a little ‘look-back’ snapshot of the inaugural BRUCENNIAL 2010 – little did the conventional art world know – what had been unleashed . . . or that it would continue. the guts and verve of the city’s raw talent – knock knock knocking down all those proverbial institutional walls. all those played-out, way past expired reputations, just big pr, big budget, professional ‘curator’, no real content, all pretension, no real hoopla museum survey shows – trying to sell us, oops I mean, tell us – they’ve caught the city’s, (or the world’s !!) cutting edge. NOT!!
way to go, true sons of New York City. let’s see if you can double it up – this time around. (and bet the opening night crowd for 2012 !! – is gonna be huge . . .)
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, NYC. FEB 26, 2010.