~where it’s at, CINDERS & 170 SUFFOLK . .
give me INDIE, or give me – nothing.
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENT:
DECADE OF DECADUNCE – CINDERS CELEBRATES 10 YEARS
CURATED BY STO LEN & KELIE BOWMAN
DOSSIER OUTPOST – SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
the show opened last THURS, JULY 10, 2014
HOURS: OPEN EVERY DAY FROM 12-7PM in JULY 2014
so I am now facing the blogger’s worst nightmare, I just started writing up 170 SUFFOLK, which ran MAY 31-JUNE 5, 2014, and then along comes CINDERS . . with a summer show that is currently up and running, and so do I continue with 170 SUFFOLK, which is down – or do I jump to the present ?
and then go back to 170 SUFFOLK, cause that’s not falling thru the cracks, no matter what ?
I guess so.
serves me right for comparing the 2 shows in the first place, and my BAD !!
as I remember the post – I believe CINDERS got the short end of the stick – something about local NYC kids being more grit !!!
well guess there’s 2 sides to GRIT – after all.
both are Indie group shows put on by artist curators / both are pop-ups, both are collective consciousnesses with no tangible brick & mortar homes – hey, the whole world IS your oyster . . when you have talent.
170 SUFFOLK is relatively new to the scene, or, rather in manifesting it’s presence – their first real collective roaming exhibit – was 15 WARREN of this New Year’s 2014.
so they are celebrating their FIRST YEAR.
CINDERS is celebrating their 10th year.
yes, it’s true CINDERS represents a broader spectrum of artists, from all over, incl zines out of BERLIN (re-surgo), but esp of the states, while 170 SUFFOLK remains very much a New York City born & bred tight knit group.
and, yes while 170 SUFFOLK hits the metal with a harsh and gritty slash, in its own way CINDERS hits the – edge too, as in the ‘ashes’ !!
you know, through the flames – burn the ashes.
grit = ashes.
yeah, after I saw the Cinders show, yes I did make the opening – I had to re-work the math !!
and what I came up with . . was really old knowledge: the yin and the yang.
CINDERS’ heat . . is about the earth, feelings and thoughts about the earth, and the way we live and where we are going . .
170 SUFFOLK’s heat . . was more hard-pressed, combustible, politics driven.
CINDERS’s heat . . was like skating, the skate’s blade racing along the far-most rim – or edge of the sun’s orb, while 170 SUFFOLK, was like the harder edge, let’s say of a knife – or a metal rim. colder. more precise.
CINDERS is more dreamy, and 170 SUFFOLK is more hardcore.
2 sides of the coin. yin / yang
with the rim of coin itself . . being the cutting-edge.
though seriously, it’s NOT just about content – it’s about style, it’s about: SENSORY SENSATION.
both shows lean heavily to the pictorial, narrative, and far-out.
as opposed to the personal, or even sexual. there was not one naked, sexxxually charged image in either show.
both shows were cutting edge – that is, coming down on . . right now. both shows had the talent, and the excitement – that is sorely missing in the art world’s mainstream and more established streets.
so, let’s get on with the PIX – and I’m betting 170 SUFFOLK will still be relevant, even after the CINDERS pix finish, it’s just like one big circle, the fox chasing his tail.
the mind chasing it’s dreams.
opened SAT MAY 31, 2014 and ran thru JUNE 5, 2014.
170 SUFFOLK ST, CURATED by SEAN VEGEZZI, ABELINE COHEN & ANDREW KASS.
170 SUFFOLK was presented in a formal setting, well – as formal as Indie gets !!
the ‘borrowed’ venue was a real estate deal that left open 2 weeks to put on a show, before the space changed hands.
it was in the heart of the enemy, the Lower East Side, and it was gorgeous – with high ceilings, exposed beams, even a skylight. rust, decay, entropy, and even history were taken for granted, de-constructed elegance was the name of the game, there were only 13 artists – and everybody had plenty of space to to make their statements. from ‘found’, bold and graphic, to hyper-realism, SPENCER TULLIS had an ‘Egyptian’ in a kind of time travel capsule . . to the supremely sublime: the out-of-town ‘trash’, does that fall under – ‘realism’ ? of TOMMY MALEKOFF to the poetic ramblings of CODY RANALDO and his ‘construction next door – from the large, the balance beam of KEEFE BUTLER, to the mini-mini flags of JACK SHANNON, to the empty, yet threatening, designated fenced-in space of SEAN VEGEZZI.
it was a very hard-core take-away.
“just kids” – ha, those famous last words reigned supreme, and came back like a glass-sharp frisbee to haunt the neighborhood naysayers !!
CINDERS . . also popped up in the heart of enemy turf, the enemy in this case being the ‘tourist’. but you know what – art wins when the tourist comes in and buys a piece of work by BRIAN CHIPPENDALE, or anybody else in the CINDERS SHOW, I would even put it in the same sentence as that Central Park caper that Banksy pulled off, selling his work (for $60 each) to unsuspecting strollers.
CINDERS, DECADE OF DECADUNCE, oh oh, look out !!
. . . had more – well, humor !!
it was more about works on paper, drawing, and it was more like a taste, a ‘sampling’, than a full plate of serious statement – !! as per 170 SUFFOLK, but you know – all good.
both venues made the most of what – they had to work with.
CINDERS has close to 100 artists on display, and the work was selling like hotcakes the night of the opening.
I heard that sales were prevalent at 170 SUFFOLK, too.
in a nutshell, it’s not about commercialism, it’s about talent.
rebel, rebel. against the status quo & the big $$ galleries/Artforum ho’s.
when the cutting edge talent can get the gigs/venues, and make dough/$$ outside the mainstream – it’s a win , win.
a bonafide: ‘scene’.
an underground scene – going nautical – as in topside. New York City style – as in, free style.
now that’s what I call: grit. so, whether you like your eggs . .
sunny-side up as in CINDERS, or hardcore-boiled as in 170 SUFFOLK – they’re coming with a big side . . . of g-r-i-t-s.
PIX OF THE CINDERS OPENING – WILL BE POSTING SHORTLY, hopefully tomorrow.