~15 WARREN . .
ABELINE COHEN, one of the 3 curators of 15 WARREN, with her own work – which was displayed against a stairwell wall.
journal-like scribbles and mementos . . from her childhood.
there’s some kind of real ‘crusty’ code, that says: exhibition curators . . shouldn’t display their own work ?
every great group show I’ve ever been to, has trashed this stupid ‘rule’, and everybody else should spit on it, too.
so that the idea just finally dies. of course, the best shows are going to be the artist-run shows.
you can’t get any more ‘insider’ than that.
for all the big media hurrah bout the new class of professional, read university-trained . . curators coming on the scene, I hate to break it to ya, but I don’t see what they throw-up . . ‘sticking’, and no one else does .. either.
it’s a crazy game out there.
the established art world ?
it’s like watching an animal . . in its final stage: death throe.
though initially – I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Abeline’s work.
what’s up with . . a selection of early childhood scribbles & stuff, esp in the context of a mighty hardball, big history, and complex art world.
ABELINE WANTS . . .
in a huge, dynamic show full of newly created, raw, ambitious, and cutting edge / often super dynamic statements, really fresh off the tree:
what was . . this ?
IN OUR CREW . . . love this, or what ?!!
talk about ‘pure’ information graphics . . !!
Abeline’s offering ?
this was also: expression . . from the first person.
growing up, TRIBECA.
looking out, at the world – from home base.
this was . . bio.
this was: the real deal . . as I see it, and where my thinking comes from.
when the LENA DUNHAM re-touched photos ‘revolt’ hit the fan, this past week . . Abeline’s work went straight to the top – POP !!
this show was about growing up, NEW YORK. girl side !!
you know: tween girl struggles with her body image, her circle of pals, her social status, her self-image.
her self-esteem, her self-worth. the works.
in a very ‘play ball’ hard-striving city . . full of way tough, out-size grown-ups.
and one downed Twin Tower right smack in the middle of it.
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE meet . . MILLENNIALS OF MANHATTAN !!
this show was a lot about growing up – specifically in Lower Manhattan. the TWIN TOWERS being crashed down, violently – just when these kids started to hit self-awareness, apparently impacted the territorial & self-defining instincts of a lot of this young crew – esp the boy Peter Pans. but it didn’t define them, or strip away their ‘magic’.
Abeline’s contribution was the Little Pink Pony, GIRL side of things, of growing up . . New York City.
in a format one can simply put as: the real ‘archives’.
growing up in New York City, has its very own magic spell, initiation rites, and cultural colorings . . and thus begat: 15 WARREN.
ABELINE was a big part of this accomplishment. as a curator, and as a participating artist.
she nailed the ‘real deal’ . . just as surely as her friends did.
she provided . . the childhood ‘notebook’.
the ‘rules’ of ‘engagement.
the childhood . . touchstones.
15 WARREN. it all broke down, and it all . . added up.
broke down into individual statements, and added up to one huge art party.
BYE THE WAY:
this is what the WHITNEY BIENNIAL . . . is supposed to be, but isn’t anymore.
perhaps that’s because the WHITNEY BIENNIAL sprang from a pre-digital era, and the powers that ‘think’ they be . . ??, haven’t caught up to the reality.
which is . . the accelerated real time speed – in which we all live, and communicate through – now.
things not only happen much faster now, and closer to the ‘bone’, but there’s absolutely no formal ‘status quo’ per se, anymore. credibility resides in the ‘street’.
‘street cred’ . . has never had more profound meaning, than it does . . today.
if you don’t have a social media ‘voice ‘ – you don’t have anything.
moving from established ‘museums’, to established art ‘critics’, read New York Times, ART IN AMERICA, yes, even INTERVIEW . . can not, no longer define the winners . .
they can’t even ‘keep up’ !!
to the real juice / the real art energy . . as it: pops.
with the speed of internet/web ‘publishing’ & its vibrant partner, the passionate voices that rise from the openness of ‘social media’ . .
the once mighty art world and its beholden ‘print’ establishment, can no longer define . . and even more importantly, can no longer ‘hamper’ . . the real ‘word’ on the street, from getting out.
if this show wasn’t about the revolt of the street vs the established powers that thought they be, then write that damn NYC art . . ‘obit’, already !!
because most of the established art media, galleries, and museums, in this town, are way .. over.
they are just sad ‘dinosaur’ relics of a long ago time.
whether they know it, or not. they lost the ‘beat’. they dropped the ball.
I mean, seriously.
one great pop-up . . can obliterate decades worth of ‘careful’ gallery-groomed artist ‘stables’ & museum-curated output.
as for the ‘stogy’ critics who support them, RIP.
someone just recently asked . .
when the WHITNEY BIENNIAL 2014 BUZZ would begin.
begin ?
it’s already over. this was the BIENNIAL, the crucible of what’s supposed . . to be the ‘New York City cutting edge’, and the way things travel, at the digital/speed of light – these days, guess what ?
if you blinked, you missed it.
turns out, buzz is a . . 4 letter word, too.
MORE PIX, to follow.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH