~MIKE RUIZ SERRA . . ‘HEAVY’ / ANOTHER PLACE NYC / LAST WEEKEND
AUDIOPHILES & DESIGN GEEKS – HEADS UP !!
I got a little caught up on the co-show of LARRY LI, it being the Year of the Tiger, and all.
especially when social tensions collided with folklore, and exploded with the same kind of violence,
as which Larry Li – attacks in his own work.
but, as someone who was married to a serious audiophile for over 25 years,
how could I not bring your attention to the this being / the last weekend, in which to check out this co-show.
MIKE RUIZ SERRA – ‘HEAVY’
JAN 8 – FEB 7, 2022
ANOTHER PLACE.NYC, 52 Henry St., East Side, Manhattan
HRS: WED – SUN / 12 – 6 PM
MIKE RUIZ SERRA, ‘Sound System 1’, 2021.
32 x 16 x 33 in.
image via ANOTHER PLACE.NYC
def, check out: MIKE RUIZ SERRA on Instagram @serrastuff
note: MIKE RUIZ SERRA is . . . a New York based designer & fabricator, b. 1997.
talking about sound systems, and I do mean VERY VERY HIGH-END . . SOUND SYSTEMS !!
here’s a little personal story – from the artloversnewyork archive:
this is me & my young family back in ca. 1988 / that’s SIMON CERIGO, R.I.P. – aka the audiophile / on the left.
butter wouldn’t melt – in this guy’s mouth. and, not a party, nor an opening – did he ever miss.
that’s our storefront behind us, 5 Rivington St., about a half-a-block up from the Bowery, back when those were very very mean streets / but, peopled with the soon-to-be-80s . . legends.
3 decades later & it’s now . . a very high-end Japanese Design / Plant Store – called GREEN FINGERS MARKET.
the current rent has got to top, conservatively – at least $15,000, maybe $20.000 a month.
PHOTO: Collection NANCY SMITH
we lived there, well basically ‘squatted’ for about 9 years.
we had sublet the crummy rundown place, from the notorious RICHARD HAMBLETON aka THE SHADOWMAN, who then didn’t give the slum landlord – our rent money, all of $400/month (!!) for the entire floor / landing us in landlord tenant court for about 9 years, during which time we paid no, as in zero rent.
that’s how low value the place was, and the Lower East Side in general – back then.
besides trading in art, Simon ran a little ‘audiophile’ gig on the side.
it was the days when STEREO EXCHANGE was the audiophile mecca on Broadway / so, apart from all the artwork lining the front half of the space, including a huge JACK GOLDSTEIN, ‘Lightning’ painting, and, the also quite large MARIKO MORI ‘Love Hotel’ to name just a few / and with wild young kids, and their bikes, and skateboards tearing through the place at all times / the place was also stuffed with stereo equipment: turntables, vintage tube amplifiers, and, mostly . . speakers !!
often custom-made, they were also huge, and in weird shapes – like elongated pyramids, etc.
I was aware of the ‘potential’ value of the paintings, which hadn’t yet reached a secondary market / so, I just assumed the sound equipment – was also kind of in the same range, i.e. bought ‘smart’ . . but certainly, not topping $10,000 – in your wildest dreams !!
until one day of one year, a young hip telephone repairman, who looked like he was a budding ghetto rapper or DJ at night / and, probably the only kid they had brave enough to service the area / this was back in the ancient days of ‘land’ lines / the landlord had cut our phone wires or something. anyway, he walked in – and almost fainted.
I never saw anybody so stunned before, or since . . in my life.
I thought it was the art / we even had a large chalk Keith Haring – on the side of a huge refrigerator cardboard box, (another long story), but . . . no, no, NO.
it was the stereo equipment !!
he told me . . “lady, do you know you could buy this whole city block, and maybe even 2 more – with all that stereo equipment.”
BUSTED !!
GAME OVER for Simon . . after that it was SUSHI in the West Village for the whole family, at least once a week.
and, looking back,
it sure was lucky we had replaced the broke-out storefront window / with a primitive, but war-ready . . concrete bunker facade.
talk about: concrete ‘brutalist’ architecture. ha.
nobody had it – on us.