~GEE’S BEND QUILTERS, MELISSA BROWN, LUKE MURPHY, RYAN FOERSTER & JEFFREY TRANCHELL !!
SOME OF MY VERY FAV PEOPLE . . !!
ARE UP & ABOUT . . !!
1. GEE’S BENDS QUILTERS
I was pretty much the ONLY photographer . . at the very first Gee’s Bend Quilt survey 16 years ago, ‘The Quilts of Gee’s Bend’, which opened Nov 21, 2002 at the Whitney Museum – when it was uptown. I had just started my photo-based column at artnet, ‘ART LOVERS NEW YORK’, under editor WALTER ROBINSON.
I really ended up at the Gee’s Bend opening, simply because I was very much into repairing and studying old quilts myself / and I remember running uptown via subway to the opening, from attending the first day of the notorious ALFREDO MARTINEZ / phony Basquiat court trial downtown !!
what a change of gears . . & for one day.
it was such a knock-out show, and at that time, craftspersons, let alone women quiltmakers, let alone African American quiltmakers, had no place in the NYC contemporary art world, let alone in the so-called ‘art world’ – at all. Walter posted 6 of my photos from the opening. on my artnet report: ‘ART LOVERS NEW YORK – PHOTOS BY NANCY SMITH’, which quite ‘colorfully’ focused on the scrappy, up-and-coming rebel / hardcore, underground NYC downtown art scene – and the rest is . . . HISTORY !!
posting these 6 photos, among the cutting-edge rebels, really caused a stir, and did very much start the ball rolling for them.
‘THE QUILTS OF GEE’S BEND’, WHITNEY MUSEUM OPENING, NOV 21, 2002.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH / PLEASE RESPECT MY COPYRIGHT
TOP ROW:
RITA MAE PETTWAY in front of her grandmother ANNIE E. PETTWAY’S quilt, a variation of a Flying Geese pattern ca. 1935 / the show’s curator ALVIA WARDLAW with quilter, artist & author FAITH RINGGOLD / VELMA MOONEY with Lauren, in front of a family quilt made by JESSIE PATTWAY, ca. 1935
BOTTOM ROW:
QUILTMAKERS: B. PETTWAY / LEOLA PETTWAY / ADDIE NICHOLSON
see: the original post – as it appeared on artnet – NOV 2002 / and, check out the context !!
THE QUILTS of GEE’S BEND . . are now cultural ‘superstars’, and the interest was so powerful, they opened the way into the serious study / acclaim for African American quilting, in general.
Some of these original, now historic quilts, are the critical, and overwhelmingly popular highlight – of the current ‘HISTORY REFUSED TO DIE’ exhibit – at THE MET, running thru SEPT 23, 2018.
see: ‘HISTORY REFUSED TO DIE’ – THE MET thru SEPT 23, 2018
2. MELISSA BROWN
painter, curator, and mind-reader / tarot card maker & game theory artist !!
watch out !!
MELISSA BROWN, after the opening of the crazy wild, group show, ‘ROWDY REMIX’ at the original Lower East Side ATM Gallery, run by BILL BRADY, now better known as BIlL BRADY GALLERY, Miami.
MAY 29, 2004
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH / PLEASE RESPECT MY COPYRIGHT
this photo was first published in artnet, under editor WALTER ROBINSON, on my ART LOVERS / ARTNET report, in the Spring of 2004, though it’s not my very first photo of Melissa, there were plenty before.
see: the original artnet post – SPRING 2004
MELISSA BROWN . . has a big one-man show, ‘Between States’, (nice play on words, btw) opening tonight, THURS MAY 31, 2018 . . at DEREK ELLER GALLERY.
3. LUKE MURPHY
that’s a funny story !!
CANADA GALLERY !! had their very first venue, under the JOSH HARRIS / Pseudo / ‘Quiet’ / ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ . . dining room / boxing arena / WIP studio building, in a former Civil War era photographer’s studio, downtown on Broadway, at Franklin St. in Tribeca. I used to go collect the rent for Josh, lol. one day, ca. 2002 I stumbled upon an amazing show there, prob one of the first computer-driven exhibits, though it was not CGI, not interactive, YET !!
it was super funny / super smart . . power point charts / in fact posters !! on things like, your emotions, lol. great graphics. the real beginning of the computer era, for sure.
I told a lot of my friends about it, and Walter even published a photo of mine, of the ‘new’ computer graphics-driven ‘artwork’ on artnet.
Little did I know – I had stumbled upon the secret life of the grand / poobah / genius webmaster of MTV – then at it’s peak !!
and, of course all he really wanted, was to be known as – an artist !!
mission accomplished & we became fast friends ever since. Luke has kept this site, artloversnewyork up & running ever since, all these years, guiding it through many changes . . as the web evolved, and it’s his incredible ‘Resist LED-DELI’ animated banner – which graces the top of this very page.
LUKE has a big show, ‘Every Pixel Bright’ opening at CANADA tomorrow night, FRI JUNE 1, 2018
btw: note the ‘electrified’ . . . ‘Log Cabin’ quilt – in the top right hand corner of the exhibit ‘flyer’ !!!!!
REV LUKE MURPHY, in his Harlem studio, NYC. Sept 1, 2014
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH / PLEASE RESPECT MY COPYRIGHT
see: artlovers studio visit / ‘digital starting point’ paintings !! – with LUKE MURPHY / SEPT 1, 2014
4. RYAN FOERSTER
is one of my newest friends.
we met at last year’s CASUAL ART FAIR, Oct 2017 – when he came over to admire my miniscule DAN ASHER ‘fingerprint’ pencil drawing / at our artlovers booth. he was showing with HELPER. I immediately fell for this super rebel, super funny, super smart, multi-talented artist, whose works often comment, on the bad state of the world.
I just now found out, he runs RATSTAR PRESS !!
RYAN FOERSTER, with his work, at the HELPER booth, CASUAL ART FAIR, Oct 1, 2017.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH / PLEASE RESPECT MY COPYRIGHT
see: RYAN FOERSTER – CASUAL ART FAIR / ART LOVERS NEW YORK
RYAN FOERSTER . . has a big opening tomorrow night FRI JUNE 1, 2018 / ‘CHANGE BOTH RIB’, at CLEARING UPTOWN.
and, last BUT NOT LEAST . . !!!!!
5. JEFFREY TRANCHELL . . !!
aka JEFFREY ‘THE SHOW MUST GO ON’ TRANCHELL,
he just broke his right arm falling off a house he is fixing-up in Detroit . . .
he is an amazing ‘conceptual’/ visual artist, craftsperson & curator, who builds art communities wherever he goes. Based at ESSEX FLOWERS in Chinatown, here in NYC, he is now starting to produce ‘pop-ups’ in Detroit – in houses he is fixing up & in a sense ‘re-purposing’.
He’s not only very hands-on, and super ‘on the edge’ art-wise, but he’s also one of the most visionary and generous artists I know; he revels in bringing new art forms & new artists, who would other-wise certainly be over-looked, to the mainstream art world table. if you want to gauge his ‘energy’ level, he drives back & forth between NYC & Detroit like a madman, almost weekly & it’s a 10 hr. drive !!
I first met Jeffrey, many many years ago, sometime between 2002-2004 when I was working at artnet, and he was an intern at the cutting edge DANIEL REICH (RIP) gallery. I did take pix at Jeffrey’s earliest curatorial pop-up efforts, at the Chelsea Hotel (!!) during that time, & some might have even posted on artnet, but I’d have to go through too many shoebox archives to find them, right now.
it was 35mm film back then.
but – one day !! watch out !!
JEFFREY TRANCHELL, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. NYC. Nov 22, 2015.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH / posted to my Instagram @artloversnewyork
funny: how he’s shielding his right arm . . the one that he just broke, btw ?!!!!
Jeffrey Tranchell is creating, as far as I know, his first ever ‘pop-up’ in Detroit to open soon, more on that later !! titled ‘Turn Ons’ (!!) it’s all about . . innovative / creative / far-out . . light switch & outlet covers . . !!
that he’s asked several artist/friends to make specifically for him, & they will be displayed in the current house he’s fixing.
Jeffrey Tranchell . . the anti-Martha, lol !!
from Instagram @jeffreytranchell . . .
glass light switch by . . JON COMPOLO.
the others that I’ve caught on his IG feed, @jeffreytranchell, are much more wacky and out-of-left-field, using various materials, such as clay or plaster / but I’m using this image, to close down this post.
it’s such a great metaphor – !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH / unless other-wise noted.