DAMIAN STAMER . . ‘SUNDAYS’
OPENED NOV 21, 2013
the show runs thru JAN 4, 2013
FREIGHT+VOLUME – 530 WEST 24th ST, CHELSEA, NYC
artists, from left: CHRIS MUSINA, originally from Toronto, meet Damian at grad school in North Carolina, UNC. he is now Brooklyn-based.
center: DAMIAN STAMER, the man of the night, works out of studios in both North Carolina and Brooklyn, and, at the right: PETER ALLEN HOFFMANN.
yes, check out: CHRIS MUSINA
SARAH CHRISTMAN and PETER ALLEN HOFFMANN.
Ms. Christman is a filmmaker, and you can see her work: here, SARAH CHRISTMAN.
Mr. Hoffmann, whose work is inspired by American quilts is Brooklyn-based, and also shows with the FREIGHT+VOLUME Gallery.
you can see Mr. Hoffmann’s work on the F+V website: PETER ALLEN HOFFMANN.
gallery assistant, HANNAH McHALE next to . .
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘South Lowell 6’, 2013. oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.
($4,500)
the subject of the work, broken down to the ultimate bottomline, was . . the ‘work’, or ‘mark’ of time on old southern architecture, expressed thru the ‘work’ or ‘mark’ of the artist . . ranging thru the extreme ends of the drawing spectrum, that is, from realist . . to far-out flung wide, decomposed expressionism.
all composed in monotone, and yet very very dynamic.
very very romantic.
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Sharon Church Rd. 3’, 2012. oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Sharon Church Rd. 2’, 2013. oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.
($4,500 ea.)
in the 3rd room were a set of 3 smaller pieces that expressed that range, from the totally graphic to the . . ‘washed-out’. these were the first two.
detail, DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Sharon Church Rd. 3’.
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘New Sharon Church Rd.’, 2012. oil on panel, 18 x 24 in.
the last of the set.
talk about a gorgeous . . ‘wipe-out’ !!
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Patrick’, 2013. oil on panel, 36 x 48 in.
($7,500)
at the opening, ERIC WHITE.
yes, check out his work: ERIC WHITE / EWHITE.COM
LAUREN JO and NICK LAWRENCE in front of large painting by DAMIAN STAMER, ‘New Sharon Church Rd. 5’.
Ms. Jo, originally from Hawaii, will be showing some sculptures with Nick .. in the future.
on the street outside the gallery, skateboarders . . rule.
as ERIK DEN BREEJEN . . heads off, into the night.
yes, for sure check out: ERIK DEN BREEJEN
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~DAMIAN STAMER . . A FEW MORE PIX |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 26th, 2013, 7:46am
DAMIAN STAMER . . ‘SUNDAYS’
opened last nite, NOV 21, 2013
the show runs thru JAN 4, 2013
FREIGHT+VOLUME – 530 WEST 24 ST, CHELSEA. NYC.
DAMIAN STAMER, on the way to his show.
DAMIAN STAMER, left . . with his twin bro, DYLAN.
Dylan Stamer is in finance, so that’s a nice . . split !!
DAMIAN ‘splits’ his time between North Carolina, and a studio here in Brooklyn, on the edge of McCarren Park.
ALI IVES, with DAMIAN STAMER.
they are friends from North Carolina, UNC/University of North Carolina . . where they both studied.
his painting, ‘Patrick Rd.’, 2013. is behind them.
DAMIAN recently graduated from the M.F.A. program at Chapel Hill, UNC, and has received numerous prestigious awards, among them, a Fulbright Grant and a Jacob Javits Fellowship. He exhibits his work extensively in the U.S. and abroad, and notably has a solo show upcoming at Galerie Michael Schultz in Berlin, this March 2014.
ALI, has recently moved to New York . . where she is a writer on global and local NYC fashion for REFINERY 29, she has already filed over 160 posts.
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Patrick Rd.’ 2013. oil on panel, 48 x 72 in.
ghostly and yet oddly assertive .. it was Damian’s work, that had everybody mesmerized.
detail, DAMAN STAMER, ‘Patrick Rd.’
his work is full of contradiction. the compositional ‘chaos’ and ‘expressionism’ is held in check by an eerie yet architecturally correct, and historical record. all the work is monotone, yet speaks to reality and landscape. some of the work is very ghostly, just traces merging with the background, while others are very graphic, with higher tonal contrasts.
it’s new and old. it speaks to old dreams and the relentlessness of time passing. perhaps most strange is to experience the ‘depth’ of the pictorial narrative .. which possesses his subjects, the degrading yet forever sweet and charming old Southern structures which is contrastingly rendered . . physically, on a very very shallow surface.
esp for oil paint !!
he uses some kind of thinning medium, that renders his paint very very thin, in fact a kind of ‘wash’. this thinly applied technique ‘sweeps’ in turn across a masonite panel, which is in turn framed, and held firm by wood supports, in the back.
a few of the paintings also have very audacious, yet somehow very ‘merged’ . . formal divisions.
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘New Sharon Church Rd.4’, 2013. oil on panel. 48 x 72 in. (diptych).
($14,000)
detail, DAMIAN STAMER, ‘New Sharon Church Rd. 4’.
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Toler’, 2013. oil on panel. 48 x 72 in.
($14,000)
big sky. small landscape. ‘expressionistic’ . . all over.
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘New Sharon Church Rd., 5’, 2013. oil on panel. 72 x 96 in.
($24,000)
cloud masses . . and linear divisions, contrast. and, yet . . it works.
in the back room, or 3rd room . .
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Patrick Rd. 5’, 2012. oil on panel. 36 x 48 in.
($7,500)
one of my favorites.
I think it was the high bridge (?) running along the top, that caught my attention over and over again.
it was beautifully rendered, just exactly between here, and .. NOT.
it also had a nice Japanese woodblock feel.
detail, DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Patrick Rd. 5’.
a really dense play of the abstract and the graphic .. all merging on a very shallow ‘stage’.
NICK LAWRENCE, catches the ‘rays’ aka . . the ‘ambiance’ of the work.
behind him:
DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Patrick Rd. 4’, 2013. oil on panel, 48 x 72 in.
this photo catches the soft interplay of ‘light’ and a kind of fragile dark at work in these monotone renderings.
a ‘romantic’, gentle rendering of chaos and detail, erosion and .. yet, ‘still’ standing.
talking about, ‘rays’, this is a man who knows how to party !!
FREIGHT+VOLUME will be exhibiting work by gallery artists . . in 4 different venues at the upcoming MIAMI BASEL WEEKEND.
check the F+V website, or gallery for details.
speaking about . .
the BROOKLYN COMICS & GRAPHICS FESTIVAL, VICTOR KERLOW . . outside on the street, at the FREIGHT+VOLUME DAMIAN STAMER opening, had a wonderful table . . at the 2011 BC&GF.
MOST DEFINITE, check out: VICTOR KERLOW . . ‘SOMETHING BIG’.
he was with his pal, JASON POLAN, who has a show coming up next month, at Collette . . in PARIS.
MORE PIX FROM THE OPENING – TO POST EARLY NEXT WEEK.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~DAMIAN STAMER . . SUNDAYS / OPENING PIX |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 22nd, 2013, 10:44am
DAMIAN STAMER . . ‘SUNDAYS’
OPENS TO-NITE, THURS, NOV 21, 2013 / 6-9PM
the show runs NOV 12 – DEC 28, 2013
FREIGHT+VOLUME – 530 WEST 24th ST, CHELSEA, NYC
see: PIX FROM THE EXHIBIT
and read: more about the artist/scroll down
IMAGE: DAMIAN STAMER, ‘Patrick Rd.’ 2013, oil on panel, 48 x 72 in. / FREIGHT+VOLUME
~DAMIAN STAMER . . OPENS TO-NITE, THURS / F+V |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 21st, 2013, 12:55pm
so, the BC&GF / BROOKLYN COMICS & GRAPHICS FESTIVAL . . seems to have had a huge flame-out.
not to fear, GABE FOWLER of DESERT ISLAND, apparently came to the rescue, and re-mounted the show . .
solo as: CAB / COMIC ARTS BROOKLYN.
they had their first run this past NOV 9, 2013 . . and though their PR machine doesn’t seem to be quite up and running, they have a great blog going. and though, just a personal opinion . . the on-site pix aren’t totally up to snuff, the wild creativity is !!
ALL THERE !!
see: CAB / COMIC ARTS BROOKLYN
I will definitely make a point of catching it next year, and so should YOU !!
regarding the BC&GF flame-out, I can only imagine.
comic book artists and the people who publish & sell the work . . are NOT the easiest going people in the world, contrary to what you might think.
and let’s leave it at that.
if you want a good history of the BC&GF fest & the absolutely definitive take on the ‘break-down’, check out: ‘BC&GF ENDS’ by TIM HOLDER, THE COMICS JOURNAL
and a sense of the past: BROOKLYN COMICS & GRAPHICS FESTIVAL
anyways, I always wondered why ‘GRAPHICS’ was included . . in the first fest’s name.
it seemed a little defensive. re: the fine ‘art’ status of comic book artists.
there never were . . any ‘pure’ graphics exhibited anyways. and that was an ‘association’ that missed the boat, completely. and with REASON.
so . . ALL GOOD !!
MATT GROENING at the last and final, BROOKLYN COMICS & GRAPHICS FESTIVAL. NOV 10, 2012.
ARCHIVAL PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
see: the 1st BROOKLYN COMICS & GRAPHICS FESTIVAL/artloversnewyork
~CAB: BC&GF . . up from the flames |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 21st, 2013, 12:29pm
MATTHEW THURBER signs . . his book: ‘1-800-MICE’
at the 3rd . . 2011 BROOKLYN COMICS & GRAPHICS FESTIVAL.
sadly, the FEST is no more . . .
but the comic art and the people who love them . . are still here.
hint: CAB / COMICS ART BROOKLYN
truck on, comic book artists !!
the quote on the cover from MATT GROENING reads:
“1-800-MICE reads like a mysterious oddball artifact from a much stranger and cooler parallel universe”.
ARCHIVAL PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH. DEC 5, 2011. BROOKLYN, NYC.
get: more info on ‘1-800-MICE’ . . from PICTUREBOX
which describes the book as: “an anthropological study of the imaginary city of Volcano Park where flying mouse couriers have replaced Fed Ex with a soap-opera-styled fractured narrative & a cast of thousands.”
& they offer this ‘1-800-MICE’ . . sampling:
~MATTHEW THURBER . . FLASH FROM THE PAST |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 21st, 2013, 11:15am
PICTUREBOX . . . is proud to present a signing & reception for MATTHEW THURBER’S new book: ‘INFOMANIACS’.
FRI NOV 22, 2013 / 7-9 PM
DESERT ISLAND – 540 METROPOLITAN AVE – WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN.
‘INFOMANIACS’ . . “is a graphic novel printed on paper all about the Internet. A hilarious detective story that manages to critique and explore digital culture . . ‘INFOMANIACS’ is marked by Matthew Thurber’s restless questioning and heightened sense of the absurd . . .
Think of it as the Long Goodbye for the tumblr generation.”
MATTHEW THURBER, ‘INFOMANIACS’
8 x 10 in. 200 pages, black + white, hardcover.
published by PICTUREBOX, more info
$22.95
PS:
while you are at DESERT ISLAND, be sure to pick up any free copies of SMOKE SIGNAL, that might still be available.
~MATTHEW THURBER . . INFOMANICS at DESERT ISLAND / BOOK RELEASE & SIGNING . . FRI NOV 22 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 21st, 2013, 10:12am
‘NEBRASKA’ – a film by ALEXANDER PAYNE. WRITTEN BY BOB NELSON. MUSIC BY MARK ORTON.
is . . an artists’ movie, no doubt about it.
made by artists: storytellers, cinematographers, musicians, prop guys .. who pretty much followed their inner guts . . and kept it, real.
to be viewed by artists.
esp those who live in big cities, far from the sparsely populated and old-school American prairie homeland, or heartland .. as is called, and with good reason.
this low profile, small budget .. yet sweeping American panorama will be viewed by artists, of all genres . . with profound appreciation, as the simple but compelling story unfolds across a wide screen of stark, yet absolutely picturesque, black and white midwest landscape.
the raw-feeling footage was shoot across 4 states.
BRUCE DERN, 77, won BEST ACTOR at CANNES for his work in this film. it’s a beautiful multi-layered performance that is so nuanced with ‘cluelessness’ . . it’s scary.
WILL FORTE carries off the role of the son perfectly. it’s his ultimate ‘kindness’ to his aging dad, who apparently hadn’t been that kind or good to him in childhood .. that is the redeeming factor of this movie, and the ‘key’ on which it all turns.
as the younger son, he could have been, well . . judgmental. impatient. all the way to .. blaming his alcoholic, unambitious ‘bit of a loser’, not much of a dreamer, either .. dad for his already washed-up going nowhere existence . . I dunno maybe that’s just a New York thing ?
but instead . . he rises to the reality of life’s ‘last call’, with tenderness, patience and no .. belittling.
an absolutely riveting low fi character ‘capture’.
the only, very small flaw that caught my attention was the portrayal of the dad, Woody’s .. long suffering wife, Kate Grant, as played by JUNE SQUIBB. she almost almost nails it, but seems too ‘happy’. too happy to have landed the plum gig of her life, out of nowhere. and at this age.
we don’t totally fall into the depth of her being, as we do with father and son.
I’m thinking she should have been a touch more tired, a touch more bitter, a touch more ‘angry’. a touch more in touch with the dialog. it’s not so much that she should be a ‘shrew’, as just more disappointed. and well, fed up. though I did love her screwball moments exposing the underside of small town sex life.
too much info, mom !!
watch out my young ‘uns.
as your baby boomer parents head into their last chapter . . you could do well to watch this, and prepare yourselves . . for what’s ahead !!
more than anything, BRUCE DERN as WOODY GRANT reminded me of . . DAN ASHER.
same mannerisms. same not . . ‘getting it’.
and, that’s exactly how Dan dressed too, even to the glass frames.
same rumpled plaid shirt, same jacket. same physical build. walk.
same everything. except for the wife and kids, of course.
and, not even close to 77 .. of course.
DAN ASHER. a brilliant, quirky, real-life character on the NYC art scene going back to the 80s, who had had some success, but ultimately considered himself a failure . . career-wise. there was no ‘air’ left to breathe, for the rest of us when Jean Michel’s concurrent star ascended and fell.
that was DAN, cantankerous, and stubborn. frustrated by life and where it took him.
the most telling moment, and a wonderful testament to a great fiction portrayal by an actor in any film .. ever, takes place in this bar. when some big mouth from Woody’s past, spills a few too many beans, to his son, also played almost musically, it’s so pitch perfect a performance by WILL FORTE.
it’s the scene where the son, David Grant learns he almost was .. well, NOT.
that his dad Woody had had a moment where he thought he had ‘really fallen in love’, with a half-breed over in the reservation, before he returned to the fold of married life.
the amazed David looks back to his dad . . who just sort of half nods with unspoken guilt, as we see him lost in thought, time traveling back to the brief days of a long long ago, forbidden, and probably .. quelle steamy session.
that look was priceless.
that look was .. Dan Asher.
the small town boy, ace . . ‘paparazzi’.
believe it !!
I did catch the film’s writer, BOB NELSON in person .. at an advance Writer’s Guild screening.
he said, that .. yes this was his family. Alexander Payne, the film’s director grew up in Nebraska, and BOB NELSON grew up in the midwest .. so no wonder the film comes across with such authenticity.
Mr. Nelson said his real-life uncles were all like that. they didn’t say much, and what they did say was football, or cars.
in ten words, or less !!
his family fought, but it was mostly over . . “toasters”.
my family fights over missing vintage 1950’s 18K gold charm bracelets. guess that’s what I get . . for being an immigrant New Yorker with roots in Montreal.
hope my kids don’t fight over .. the Dan Ashers.
see: the trailer
see: NEBRASKA, the official website
ps:
about the music. which is really like a kind of silvery Americana on-the-road ‘silence’ in this film.
below is a brief clip of TIN HAT band member, MARK ORTON . . who wrote the score, and performs on the soundtrack. in it he hits the nail on the head, as to why .. the soundtrack is so on-point. which is that 9 times out 10, it plays along to visual footage, without any concurrent dialog.
see: Interview with MARK ORTON, CANNES
here’s: a good site to hear the soundtrack
~OLD MAN GOES AFTER . . THE PRIZE |
Posted in Movie Reviews, The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 20th, 2013, 10:55am
turns out, homeboy Jay Z was the anonymous buyer of BASQUIAT’S 1982 ‘MECCA’ last week, at SOTHEBY’S.
he plunked down $4.5 million, and that’s considered a ‘steal’ .. as there was no real ‘bidding’ war for it.
that could be because .. the acrylic & oil stick painting was on the minimal side ?
personally that’s what I think makes it over-the-top great.
source: ‘Jay Z snaps up $4.5 million Basquiat’ .. NEW YORK POST
JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT .. ‘MECCA’.
IMAGE via NEW YORK POST
~RAPPER KING BRINGS HOME . . THE BASQUIAT |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 20th, 2013, 10:47am
the veil has been lifted.
the mystery buyer of the FRANCIS BACON triptych, sold at CHRISTIE’S last week for a record $142 million, the highest price ever – for a work of art sold at auction was:
QATAR’S SHEIKHA MAYASSA aka “the most powerful woman in art.”
the daughter of the former emir of Qatar, and sister to the current Emir, “she is said to control billions of dollars that the royal family wants to spend on art for museums they are building.”
her oil rich family spent a record $158 million of Cezanne’s ‘Card Players’ last year . . .
apparently, what Sheikha wants, Sheikha . . gets.
source: ‘The secret buyer’ . . NEW YORK POST
‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’ – the FRANCIS BACON triptych .. at lats week’s auction.
PHOTO: CHRYSTIE’S IMAGES Ltd / Handout via Reuters via NEW YORK POST
it actually looks quite a lot better in this installation/event photo than the catalog image. I guess that’s because of the way the light has been made to pin point on it, in a more dynamic and pleasing way. instead of coming across so bland and flat, in particular the center of the composition, and the figure, appears more dynamic and nuanced.
nice.
a little lighting can go a long way, ask any wedding planner.
looks very oriental in this image.
SHEIKHA MAYASSA of QUTAR.
PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images via NEW YORK POST
~30 YR OLD BRINGS HOME . . THE BACON |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 19th, 2013, 9:24am
I was thinking about RAMBO, because when I was looking up the archival footage for MARTIN CREED, I found a few RAMBO pix from that time too.
they popped even more than usual . . because actually BANKSY referenced the kind of ‘tag’ work RAMBO does, in his recent ‘rejected’ op ed piece / rant . . for the NEW YORK TIMES !!
BANKSY: “Nobody comes to NEW YORK to bathe in your well-mannered common sense. We’re here for the spirit and audacity, of which One World Trade has none. Instead you have to look to the rooftops – to the chorus of precariously roller painted names and slogans over the skyline like poison ivy.”
by “roller painted”, he means wide paint rollers on long handles, as used in house painting for ceilings/walls.
I also have a vague recollection of reading somewhere . . that these crude but hi-risk, acrobatic ‘tags’ were like ‘lace’ or ‘crochet’ on the city skyline.
when the work plays off an existing ghost of an advertising text . . IT is a bonus.
in this case it’s particularly brilliant, and done up, to the max . . by XAVIOR.
(please) MASTER YOUR BODY THERE’S A SOUL WITHIN – XAVIOR.
how they actually get up there and do the gravity-defying deed, and without being detected, is beyond my knowledge. but I guess those ladders on the extreme left, are a clue.
ARCHIVAL PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH. JUNE 2010, NYC.
ps: KAWS
used to do this type of action, too. back in the day when he was a young kid wannabe growing up in Jersey. I know this, because you can still catch an early ghost of a KAWS roller ‘tag’ on an industrial roof line on the main drag into the city, the tunnel into New York City .. from the Jersey City side.
kind of near that big HOME DEPOT.
will try to catch a photo, next time I go by.
~SABIO / RAMBO . . & XAVIOR / SUMMER 2010 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | November 18th, 2013, 9:59am
