~THE DECLINE & FALL OF THE ART WORLD / F+V
in a subtitle: CRASHING MTYHS & BUILDING THEM BACK-UP, ART WORK by ART WORK.
I hardly know where to begin. this a 2 part show – that asks a lot of questions re the state of the art world.
everyone knows it’s kind of a big mess. and that’s not necessarily . . as in: a big hot mess.
everyone just hopes as I do, that eventually – the great genuine authentic art will . . out.
will win. will be recognized.
hopefully – you get to live . . to see the day, the grapes on the vine drop into your hands.
and, hopefully it’s not a springboard to fame – caused by your sudden, too early death.
the show is called .. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ART WORLD.
presented & curated by the hyper dynamic, deeply ambitious, and I mean that in a good way (!!) NICK LAWRENCE, who wears many hats . . at his 24th St NYC gallery . . FREIGHT+VOLUME.
the topic was so vast and reached so deep – it was broken down into 2 shows, and is accompanied by a full color, thought. & art packed . . catalog.
PART I: THE ONE-PERCENTERS . . featured ALEX GINGROW, KAREN FINLEY, LOREN MUNK, MICHAEL SCOGGINS, and WILLIAM POWHIDA & JADE TOWNSEND. it ran JULY 11 – SEPT 13, 2013.
see: DECLINE & FALL, PART I
PART II: THE OTHER 99% . . features DAMIEN CRISP, NOAH LYON, CRISTINA de MIGUEL, and LAURINA PAPERINA.
it opened SEPT 12, and the exhibit is still up.
. . thru this SAT OCT 12, 2013.
so, you still have a chance to catch it, and you should.
esp, as this second part aspires . . to give us some answers – and the main one seems to be, a sense of humor gets you through the day, and just maybe through another art season !!
I didn’t make it to Part I, as I was kinda not making it .. thru the summer in art mode. probably due to all the questions – this show poses !!
my bad !!
but I did make it to PART II – and I was NOT DISAPPOINTED.
it was a bit of an Alice in Wonderland road map. the gallery was divided into separate viewing partitions for each artist – which was very effective, in this case .. and very cool.
the exhibit started off, very serious, with art ‘statements’ by DAMIEN CRISP, and moved onto ‘painting’ that was a tiny bit whiny, but perhaps deservedly so, by Cristina de Miguel. but that stance .. was just a necessary cog, presented some thinking, in short: was the . . set-up, for moving on.
you then progress through NOAH LYON’s retard riot – gone serious straight man, as IF !! room, glimpses of which did post on artlovers in the past month.
and then . . you hit LAURINA PAPERINA in the last room, like a car crash !!
a SOUTH PARK-LIKE . . CAR CRASH !!
SPLATT !! the icons go tumbling to their extreme death demises.
I’ll get into all of the above in a little more detail, but here’s a heads-up, if you can make it to the show .. PICK UP A COPY OF THE SHOW’S CATALOG !!
a gem of a printed publication . . it is chock-full of .. not only full color illustrations of some very diverse cutting edge art, but also puts on paper .. interesting thoughts. put forward by writers, and the artists themselves. this is important because this is not just an exhibit of art, but an ‘outpouring’ of thought . . by a very diverse and really remarkable group of visual artists who walk the art scene pretty much 24-7.
the show is very much, not just about art, but the thinking behind – the art. this small book – helps put the artists on the ‘map’, and our ‘times’ on the table. it’s both a great ‘flip book’ of images, and a very enjoyable read, Q+A to your heart’s . . content. information at your fingertips.
plus a couple of down right surprises.
the biggest one for me being . . what a great painter LOREN MUNK, aka street & art videographer JAMES KALM is.
it is his . . I’m thinking: art world street map on crack, painting . . that graces the cover !!
and then, being a total moronic fan of the outrageous, and comic book art, hitting LAURINA PAPERINA’S twisted-out cartoons . . at the end of the tunnel – was a great . . head-on collision .. at the corner of ‘street smart’ and ‘art savvy’.
and guess what: she’s even trending !!
got BANKSY .. anybody ?
the front cover of the catalog: THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ART WORLD.
PUBLISHED by FREIGHT+VOLUME, SUMMER 2013. NYC.
artwork, detail by . . LOREN MONK, ‘THE EAST VILLAGE 1979-1989’, 2011-2013.
Oil on linen, 84 x 145 in.
pg 145 in the catalog
LAURINA PAPERINA, ‘Kill Banksy’, 2013
mixed media om wood, 20 x 30 centimeters
as in .. KILL ALL ARTISTS, dummy.
and if the art world keeps it up, yes – you will !!
and, further: there’s nobody who does talk about the DECLINE & FALL of the art world and the REAL WORLD . . more than BANKSY, bless his little street art . . heart.
not for naught . . is he a living, bleeding legend.
ps
and, about that . . BANKSY !!
leave it to tenacious New Yorkers, fans fans and more fans !! to hunt him down !!
hope Bansky doe NOT become . . the next Lady Di.
I mean seriously, he might have under-estimated this town, or what.
IS THIS THE FAMOUSLY RECLUSIVE, NEVER BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED . . BANKSY ?
the DAILY MAIL is saying .. YES !!
PHOTO: THOMAS McKEAN via THE DAILY MAIL
see: Is This Banksy ?