~’IT’S AN INVASION’ . . THE WALL, THE RUG, and THE PHENAKISTOSCOPE ?!!
‘IT’S AN INVASION’
APRIL 29 – MAY 10, 2014
CURATED BY JOSH HUBBARD, KELSEY BENNETT & LELE SAVERI
PHILLIP SPRADLEY, PROGRAM DIRECTOR
NATIONAL ARTS CLUB
EXHIBITION PIX – PART II
SEAN VEGEZZI, ‘I’d Sleep Better if Sean Vegezzi was Mayor’, 2014.
cinder block, 20 x 24′ digital print, artist jacket, artist made button, set of master keys. 4 x 8 ft.
(Price upon request)
SEAN told me he had a “wall” in the show . . well, turns out it was a 4 x 8 ft. stretched canvas – but you know what ?
I’m gonna go with . . wall !!
it’s a huge metaphor, and I’m sure you can break it down, meaning-wise . . . for yourself !!
detail of the digital print . . yeah he’s reaching down to help somebody up.
and for sure, it’s an illicit, though obviously, plenty easily accessible . . subway infrastructure.
and . . his point:
so, yeah those are young kids getting in there. so, so much for security, homeland security, FEMA and . . real world bad guys.
just like there were graffiti writer/artists, or property ‘vandals’ as some would call them in the past . . these kids are the hyper-modern day equivalent. I guess you could call them . . interloper artists !! – they don’t leave ‘tags’, they just take the pix – to prove they were there.
and you don’t feel so safe anymore, do you.
Sean Vegezzi . . for mayor !!
and, in fact . . that’s a pretty good motto for the whole entire show.
‘It’s An Invasion’ – is not really a ‘party’ show, though it does have black walls, and it’s not a decadent show full of bravado, it’s certainly not a ‘strung-out’ disco party-on forever fever kind of thing, either.
it’s more about breaking down the status quo of the NYC art scene, and the new artists it chose to highlight are really – if you look at the work carefully, in a word: committed.
committed to social change, and: ‘awareness’.
things have got to change, and give the new talent . . a voice.
it’s not just about . . the ‘market place’, let alone the secondary auction marketplace. ELI BROAD and his band of merry $$$$ artists, JEFF KOONS, CINDY SHERMAN, and even BASQUIAT – are so 1985 !!
my god doesn’t anybody look up and see – it’s 2014.
that Broad-branded art scene has been done and over, three decades ago.
I know Sean Vegezzi and his crew – saw the World Trade Center Towers go down, and they are not going to forget it. 15 WARREN ST – hello.
the world got a whole lot more raw & scarier – after ELI BROAD first cruised the alleys of the NYC art scene, with his bags of cash, and let me tell y’all, the foundations of all his billions involved the notorious HANK GREENBERG and the early AIG, so do your own financial ‘scandal’ homework, I can’t connect all the dots . . for ya. but you do know what . . robber baron means ?
this is what this show is talking about.
this is a piece of fabric that got torn on one of Sean’s earliest escapades into the subterranean. the real ‘underground’.
the button: says it all . . in under 1-1/2 inches.
it’s not hard to crack the code, and it’s also a metaphor for the underground art scene as well.
in other words:
look out, all ye posers . . coming to get ya !!
this is what SEAN VEGEZZI has to say about these keys, and the work in general:
“I’d rather not talk about how I acquired them, but I will tell you what they are.
They are a set of municipal master keys that open everything from subway car doors to electrical cabinets to mailboxes to elevators. NYCTA, FDNY, NYC GOV they’re all there. And then there’s the hatch tools that open all of the subway emergency exits in New York City.
The photograph is a print of my friends Chris and Mike climbing down into the Fulton Transit Center, to a corridor that connects the center to the WTC site. That photo is from 2011.”
and they look to be all of what . . 17, 18, maybe 20 years old ?
Sean himself is all of what, 23, 24 now ? I first met him when he was 16 and he already had a deep history of urban ‘interloping’ under his belt, and the pix – to prove it.
just, you know . . city kids !!
grit, grit and more grit !!
hatch tool.
hatch tool.
translation: well, if anybody bad wanted to ‘hack’ into New York City, apparently it’s just . . child’s play !!
so merry dreams, and sleep well, tonight.
actually that was a pretty interesting ‘dead end’ corner, that Sean’s wall occupied.
that’s a custom ‘carpet’ by tattoo artist MARK CROSS on the floor under that big piece of vintage ‘status quo’ furniture, and a ‘painting’ by JACK RIDLEY III on the wall, to the right. more on that Ridley piece – in the next post.
MARK CROSS, ‘Blanket’. woven thread, 2013.
($2,500)
it was a pretty, (ugly ?) arresting image, and worked perfect on the floor, though it was termed . . a blanket.
a ‘loser’ .. in a posh place.
funnie.
what more do you have to say, about countering . . the status quo.
it’s funnie to think about a tattoo artist . . contemplating so much FLESH !!
and skin. and u-g-l-y. and s-a-d.
the first time I saw custom printed ‘carpets’ was when PETER SUTHERLAND exhibited some – as art works, during the last decade – at ATM.
also in this corner, metaphor – one could find, GIUSEPPE FURCOLO & OTHELO GERVACIO’S . . ‘Phenakistoscope’, 2012.
mixed media. 6 x 2.5 ft.
($2,800)
curator JOSH HUBBARD was giving it a spin, for me.
yep, the show was chock full of . . metaphors.
classic, underground, or . . what.
not only was it a marvel of engineering, and a beauty to behold, but it was kinetic. And, user-friendly.
engaging, audience engaging is – the word.
and it spoke to . . fate, and magic !!
put that art up on those walls, pull a rabbit out of a hat ?
OTHELO GERVACIO, ‘Nevermind’, 2014.
Watercolor and gold leaf. 51 x 35 in. with frame.
($3,000)
more stationary, but just as . . challenging.
and . . magic.
talk about an enduring ‘interloper’ through-the-centuries image.
detail, OTHELO GERVACIO, ‘Nevermimd’.
like I said, a show in a posh place full of . . metaphors.
asking . . the BIG QUESTIONS.
you know . . ‘LIFE’ !! survival, belief systems, the works.
cutting edge NEW YORK CITY, and full of . . grit.
as opposed to ‘secondary’ market.
yeah, damn straight . . I’m referring to ‘LIFE’ – THE JOURNAL ‘shows’ at VENUS OVER MANHATTAN, opening next week.
DOWNTOWN art . . by way of Brooklyn goes uptown, ha. and 10 years old.
I mean, some of that stuff is great, I should know, I covered pretty much all of it more than 10 years ago, when it was cutting edge.
with a shout out to: LIEF RITCHEY.
is the mainstream finally catching up. 10 years later.
I guess better late than never. I guess there goes the value of my early art scene photo archive – upwards !! and mucho !!
what am I bitchin . . about ?!!
ha. what did I tell ya. always a contrarian to the very last drop !!
shades of Dan Asher. (!!)
but don’t go calling it ‘cutting’ edge, is all. call . . a spade a spade.
there’s life, and then there’s LIFE . . after the fact.
and with the THE JOURNAL, as with pretty VENUS, it’s NOT ‘LIFE’ . . it’s just secondary market.
or . . wanting to make one.
MORE PIX – TO FOLLOW.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH