I don’t think .. so !!
so much drama this summer, or what ?
SO, where is . . NANCY ????
NANCY SMITH, and THEO in the 24/7 wired . . JEFF GOMPERTZ pod hotel. QUIET. DEC 1999, NYC.
the big JOSH HARRIS / PSEUDO NEW YEARS EVE – MILLENNIUM PARTY TO BLOW AWAY ALL PARTIES, NEW YEARS, or not. million dollars+, or not. PERIOD.
it was the starting point for ONDI TIMONER’S Sundance 2009 award-winning doc: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC.
this was the poster image for the big MOMA PREMIERE SCREENING.
yep, that’s me . . in the trailer & the film. and the poster.
I got in a little ‘bio’ trouble. so what. like Magic says: I’m only human, too.
why ya gotta be so .. cruel. something like that.
but, damn did I love that green & yellow puffer jacket or what.
at the time, on the Lower East Side all the hood kids wanted were the Northface black or the small navy plaid ones – so I scored this one on the deep cheap.
NANCY, NANCY, NANCY.
I dunno, I guess I just got tried of writing about myself, and . . the crew.
but, yeah did I love that crew. I loved that scene to death . . it was the best, drama and all.
it was all so future-vision . . straight-up.
it was one rough & tumble, wild ride totally beneath the mainstream radar – just the way I like it.
guess some people just aren’t made for – the mainstream.
I dunno, maybe it’s because MARK ENGER aka EXPL SKY / EXPLODING SKY (!!) – is no longer around ?
I sure ain’t hooking up with his evil twin, that fer sure. haha.
just ride that underground train – Nancy.
that’s what Mark would say, and . . I hear ya.
I got my own personal ghost army, I got . . my own train now.
see: Where is Josh Harris now ? catching up with the WE LIVE In PUBLIC star prophet .. posted by ONDI TIMONER,
HUFFINGTON POST – 08.26.2014.
and, p.s. Millennium has 2 N’s !!
don’t drop that . . N !!
~WHERE IS . . NANCY ? DEATH BY OMISSION ? |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 28th, 2014, 10:11am
DEATH, NYC CITY STYLE !!
down with gruesome, up with . . you know, gritty c-r-e-a-t-i-v-e.
though, sad to hear their band SISTERS, is no more.
guess that’s a kind of . . death.
such a great name for a boy band duo, or what.
I caught them live at EASTERN DISTRICT, many summers ago.
YELLOW DOGS played that night too.
now that was a kind of death too, and it was NOT by CHOICE.
the very vocal, as in politically dissident . . YELLOW DOGS, the former Persian ‘cool cats’ who fled their homeland, IRAN only to be massacred in BROOKLYN, NOV 2013 – by a berserk band-mate ?
with a friggin’ huge assault rifle.
you can try telling me – that was just another ordinary day in Brooklyn ?!!
I’m going to tell you – more like a state-sponsored shut-up take-down, come on – how did the kid score that huge gun in the first place. there was absolutely no, NO follow-up in the media.
you tell me, am I right, or am I wrong ?
they had a huge anti-Iran footprint on the web – at their time of death including a feature documentary.
Persian cats . . to yellow dogs – think about it.
though on the other hand, sometimes truth is stranger fiction.
and it was . . just death by ‘stealin’ (band equipment) ?
oh, damn it just bring on the loud music, and shut-the-F-up.
go Brooklyn. bye SISTERS. bye YELLOW DOGS. in fact . . bye EASTERN DISTRICT ?
the biggest people to come out of that scene were the BLACK APPLE duo aka PUBLIC SCHOOL, clothiers.
EASTERN DISTRICT – like CINDERS, they sure put on some great shows, and had some great music.
a lot of great artists you never heard from again had some pretty great shows there.
POSTER BOY & all his pals, a really talented but stayed underground street crew, and – too bad.
CASH4 etc etc etc.
EASTERN DISTRICT ruled BUSHWICK, and CINDERS ruled WILLIAMSBURG.
EASTERN DISTRICT was as a little more hard-edged, outlaw rebel. CINDERS was more, for lack of a better word – more pictorial, alternative, comics-inspired . . narrative.
both had political/society/status-quo breakin’ intentions.
both had future-vision. both got no love in the mainstream press.
both venues were hard-core – each on their own turf-side of the sunny-dark street.
looks like MUDDGUTS . . is finally picking up that hardcore Brooklyn slack.
oh yeah, the ex-sisters guys: AARON PFANNEBECKER & MATT CONBOY – of DEATH BY AUDIO, made the CINDERS OPENING, too.
with them at the left, artist MORGAN BLAIR.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH.
CINDERS – DECADE OF DECADUNCE OPENING.
JULY 10, 2014. DOSSIER OUTPOST POP-UP, SOUTH STREET SEAPORT, NYC.
check out: DEATH BY AUDIO
PS: looks like GAVIN is having a ROB PRUITT OPENING – SAT SEPT 13, 2014 / 6-8 PM.
Should I go, or should I stay ?!!
~DEATH BY AUDIO . . at CINDERS OPENING |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 26th, 2014, 12:46pm
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS – DECADE OF DECADUNCE
JULY 2014 – DOSSIER SEAPORT, SOUTH STREET SEAPORT, NYC
CINDERS
STO . . sometimes known as STO LEN, artist & co-founder of CINDERS.
that’s one of his 2 pieces in the show, just to the right of his head . . that scramble of blue lines constituting a profile of face. titled: ‘facial recognition’, and we’re thinking . . the programming and processing that goes on beyond . . the outer layer / !!
BRIAN CHIPPENDALE . . intense talkin’ smoke signals at left.
KELIE BOWMAN mingling . . artist & co-founder of CINDERS.
Kelie made the . . have no beginning have no end . . chill out y’all & enjoy the show posters, and wall-strung flag ribbons.
CINDERS Co-founders STO and KELIE BOWMAN curated this 10 year anniversary pop-up group show of the CINDERS’ community. they both also had work in the show, very cool pieces, bye the way.
STO, also an experimental musician – with SARA REGISTER of the band, TALK NORMAL.
when CINDERS had that great gallery/zine shop storefront on Havemeyer St. in (Old) Williamsburg, they used to put on a lot of great cutting edge musical performances – notably, YACHT pops to mind. the concerts were always hard rockin’, filled the small space beyond capacity, and usually over-flowed into the street outside.
check out: TALK NORMAL . . SUGARLAND – from their 2009 debut album.
SARA REGISTER on bass/guitar, ANDRYA AMBRO on drums.
TALK NORMAL
artist/photog NICK KUSZYK with work in the show.
JOHN ORTH – with work in the show. humanity huddling under a roof of embers.
HISHAM BHAROOCHA, the maze beyond . . the interface.
KEVIN HOOYMAN brought his strange world, not your average rural . . drawings.
a guest, MADELINE at the zine table. we all loved her fashion.
the skirt came from her mom.
KYLE RANSON’s portrait, a drawing on wood, at the left, the guy in the bandanna – seemed to be there in person. yes, it was that good, that fascinating, animated. it followed you with it’s eyes and . . grin.
crowd reflections in the CHARLES SHEDDEN pieces.
barely there, a sliver still shimmering . . of the CHARLES SHEDDEN pieces in the background.
now there’s a case . . for opposite attracts – study: CHARLES SHEDDEN and KYLE RANSON.
walking across the MARK CROSS blanket.
heard the piece got sold to a big collector.
KATE gets the last word, with STO in front of her, and KELIE, outside – just beyond the door.
she’s wearing a treasured vintage T-shirt from her late dad Simon’s t-shirt collection, composed mostly of punk rock bands. and a few comic book images, thrown in for good measure.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . SOME OF THE PEOPLE |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 23rd, 2014, 10:08am
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS – DECADE OF DECADUNCE
JULY 2014 – POP-UP, DOSSIER SEAPORT, NYC
CINDERS
a soothsayer is someone who can tell the future.
and usually it was grim news: as it often foretold death.
in this show, there was lots of foretelling, and most of it – was if not outright grim, then dark. and stormy.
leave it to KELIE BOWMAN and JUNGIL HONG . . quiet contrarians both, to rise above the darkness and dance along the rim of ‘being’, and therefore be the poster girl prophets for . . CREATIVE MINDS = SOOTHING VIBES, no matter how dark the vision . . the vision itself is a powerful, many-splendored thing.
like I said, soothe-sayers.
KELIE BOWMAN, silkscreen. ($300- $700)
here’s the thing about Kelie’s work. in many ways at first sight upon entering this intense group show, it’s easy to write-off her work as an after-thought, a decoration. but, that would be wrong. very wrong.
like a heartbeat in the background . . it pumps the quiet magic that keeps the show afloat.
it’s easy to think of another piece not in the show, as in removed – and the show still going on, but if you minus Kelie’s wordless ‘worlds’ . . a dancer leaves the room, and the show becomes disjointed, verging on cold and cruel. absurdist. surrealist. literal, sad ? less musical, for sure.
they say we live in a uber-violent universe, we certainly live in a very violent world.
it’s been like that since day one, so the deal is . . to trip lightly, and spin out above the fray.
question: so, if we live in a violent universe, is there a peaceful universe somewhere out there, too ?
just asking.
and if so, what’s behind the two ? a big old Tibet Boddhi drawing yin yang circles, and every circle is another set of universes / we find it hard not to be able define, to lock down: the beginning and end of things.
mystery drives us . . crazy.
triangles intersecting is small slice of that mystery, a repeating infinity.
KELIE BOWMAN, silkscreen door panel.
KELIE is one of the two co-founders of CINDERS, and also one of the co-curators of this, their 10 year anniversary show, along with co-founder STO – so in a way, Kelie pulls together all these artists, many with dark thoughts . . but she herself is able to float (serenely) along knowing this crew, her crew . , is still bubbling along. ten years going strong. ok, maybe no more brick and mortar storefront – but most def . . still standing, still dancing, still . . singing the song.
a new age presence on the . . 24/7 digital web.
KELIE BOWMAN, this silkscreen ‘trim’ ran across the top of the exhibit – at places.
I’m thinking you most get the dynamic of Kelie’s energy, inside the show – with her small flag-like, banner-like roll-out that ran across the top of the wall – in certain places.
it reminded me of the multi-colored flags that often shimmer over swim meets, or marinas. it delineates a visual breeze, and a soothing, unifying one at that. also made more significant by being from a curator’s hand, at that.
they should string these things across the faraway deserts, and up over troubled city streets closer to home – just to tell people to chill out. lower the violence, tone it down, as opposed to dialing it up.
folded-up versions in pretty colors should come in gun cases.
I mean, ok we live in a violent universe – but can’t we evolve past the gun being the only way to settle things. I guess not. same old same old, from Augustus through Lincoln.
though on second thought, I got a few people I’d like to strangle to death – with a damn art banner myself. and with my bare hands, and let’s leave it at that.
so as you can see, Kelie’s banners stood for something, running along the top of the room, you can’t tell exactly what they stand for . . but whatever it is, it is generous, and easy . . on the living.
JUNGIL HONG, ‘Summer Snake 13’, letterpress on archival paper, edition of 11. ($150)
now JUNGIL HONG, was an entirely different cup of soothsayer tea, and yet . . just as radical . . if not more so. personally I think this was not only the most graphic piece in the show . . obviously, and if you just want to read it, experience it as such – a pure abstract narrative – go right ahead. but, if you know her past work . . . very dark, richly colored and deeply-felt pictorial ancestral myth-makers . . of animals, like crows amidst eerie spooky non-western landscapes . . then you have to figure she has gone past fables into the realm of the . . super futuristic !!
yes, there may be entropy, death, and destruction of things as we used to know them – esp on the bio, the fragile planetary biosphere plane – but there is also the WEB !! code. new ‘organization’, new pattern – not based so much upon our genesis ‘bio-ness’ . . as much as on digital-ness merged with bio-ness / in a word. code. code building blocks and very much patterned . . in a word: hi-tech ‘animation’.
apparently we only have 5 billion years to figure out how to flee this planet before our lovely but violent sun . . explodes.
so, this is the . . way forward.
slabs of organization. slabs and slices of harmony. or well, at the very least . . ‘code’ dominoes marching on.
domino.
domino effect . . is a hardly a harmonic connotation in (cold war) military terms – which just goes to show you, the visual effect of Jungil’s page. her creative stance, her effect.
she definitely skewers more positive and futuristic, and pure, than the old definition of domino effect, as in war, or car accident . . with Jungil, it’s all about ‘patterns’ and code. and futurism. of a good sort.
I’m thinking:
watch: KILOBOT ROBOT SWARM SELF ASSEMBLES. HARVARD / YouTube
then again, just to show how – these 2 soothe sayers lighten things up, Ima gonna close with a little . .
Urban Dictionary help:
domino effect – chain reaction
when a girl notices your bling
She liked my necklace so she started relaxin’, now that’s what the fk I call a chain reaction.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . THE SOOTHE SAYERS: KELIE BOWMAN & JUNGIL HONG |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 20th, 2014, 7:19am
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS – DECADE OF DECADUNCE
JULY 2014 – pop-up exhibit at DOSSIER SEAPORT – SOUTH STREET SEAPORT, NYC
CINDERS
damn, if the landscape painters & photographers . .
don’t seem too thrilled about where we are heading, either.
DIANE BARCELOWSKY, ‘Town at Dusk’. ($450)
this seemed to be a happy rural point of view, but that winding black road – is UN-NERVING.
I mean the little house with the sweet bay window – has a sweet smile. but that road is damn near frightening. I mean paved roads are black, but still . . and maybe that’s the . . point.
from across the room, the trees look to be . . tears.
and that was pretty much – the happiest view – in the room !!
ALEX LUCAS, ‘untitled’, ink, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, silkscreen. ($3,500)
as ALEX LUCAS, made pretty clear.
with his unhappy scenario.
and yes, I do mean . . PRETTY. beautifully rendered.
shades of a masterpiece murder mystery, a car accident – global violence, or just entropy ?
the civilized world as we knew it.
going, going, gone.
‘N’ is for . . NANCY ?
‘JR’ is for .. JR ?
this bit reminds me of the news photos that followed upon that huge deadly tidal wave tsunami in Japan & the nuclear disaster swiftly following – that showed ancient markers along the coast – that actually read: DO NOT BUILD HERE.
CHERYL DUNN, ‘TEEN SEX’, digital c print, edition of 7. ($1,000)
you know what they say, a photo is worth . . a thousand words.
you can almost feel the ‘lost’ sperm, the spilt yellow seed . . oozing out of the condom, somewhere on the ground hidden behind the small rocks / unhappy images do come to mind, ‘KIDS’, ‘KENT PARK’.
RACHEL SUMPTER, ‘Igloo’, gouache on paper. ($1,300)
the future world tribal – vision ?
ghostly ?
with shards of colored light, tinkling overhead in a cold sky.
how ghostly ?
so ghostly.
impossible to photograph – ghostly, and ethereal.
though, dig that EXIT sign, for sure.
so there is serendipity – still, in the cards ?
or at the very least, in the act . . searching.
note: the twirling footpaths, like ribbons.
strange and haunting, a good case for: ART.
JOHN ORTH, ‘Fountains of embers sucked into the night’. ($200 ea.)
while JOHN ORTH . . plays the opposite card – the ‘graphic’ card.
but also making a good case for: ART.
so graphic and yet so also: haunting. ethereal.
full of mystery, but I’m sad to say, not much: promise.
also very Brit: graphic turn of the century Romanticism.
fairy tales and illustration.
and lays it down . . without a doubt.
it’s a dark road, the color tone – sets the tone – message.
just step back, there’s a bottom row . .
fairy tales and goth illustration. yep, so Brit.
there are . . figures entwined in the landscape.
they are naked, and they are seeking shelter under a huge man-made roof of burning embers, amidst sadly falling snow in an endless cold night.
wow, looks they could be doing the last dance: the humanity huddle.
as the last embers . . get sucked into the night.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . THE LANDSCAPERS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 15th, 2014, 9:22am
subtitle: FEAR IN THE FACE OF ART, and make that, ‘comic book-inspired art’ . . no less.
or, more simply put: FEAR LURKS IN TISSELTON.
and, yeah: TISSEL RHYMES WITH . . FIZZLE !!
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS . . DECADE OF DECADUNCE
a 10 year anniversary group show – that run thru JULY 2014
in a pop-up space at DOSSIER OUTPOST – SOUTH STREET SEAPORT, NYC.
the show is now down, but CINDERS IS ALWAYS OPEN . . ALIVE and well, with embers burning . . !!
keepers of the flame, the home fires.
‘Americana’ . . in a nutshell.
CINDERS – a BROOKLYN-based, free-roaming, 24-7 online indie art venue / project !!
BRIAN CHIPPENDALE, ‘Tisselton 2’, silkscreen. edition of 40. ($120 ea.)
every time I see Brian Chippendale’s work, my mind gets blown. literally, and my ability to write – short circuits. thus artlovers, quite seriously – artlovers has been offline for a few weeks, now.
so, no. it was not just summer break. it was Chippendale . . break-down.
fear . . to write about Chippendale is no laughing matter.
proper words can just NOT be . . as over-the-top, disconnected, distorted, truthful, and well . . distressed. child’s play ?
how to be . . a verbal witness ?
when it’s . . ‘for your eyes only’.
smoke signals. cartoon thought bubbles. communication, basic communication esp over . . distance.
heat. it’s like the zenith of summer. the bright white sear of a so-called ‘super’ moon.
it’s like the skull and cross bones vs. the man in the moon.
the intelligence ‘factor’ . . is that high.
the desire to communicate is that strong.
cloaked at first glance in a primitive scribble.
shake and bake smoke signals . . rocking your world.
the addition of ‘words’ just goes to show the ‘pictorial’ extent – to which he IS trying to communicate.
rough translation:
TISSELTON / TINSEL TOWN. you know . . Hollywood, the world, the media. the works.
the illusion of shiny things, the hiss of snakes.
what the F mess is going down / on .. in Tinseltown (the US ?, the world ? the planet ?)
(and) what will YOU do with it / about it ?
I don’t know.
commit more violence ?
you can’t make a ‘cake’ / a good thing. with (just) a plant and a dream.
so, let’s go meet ‘the’ maker.
so, face your maker / face your devils. and undo the hard-wire violence & planet entropy (???)
so, am I wrong, to think outside the . . box ?
love those primal screaming . . crayon colors.
red is for . . EBOLA.
green is for . . green slime in the great lakes.
yellow . . is for globalization. Isis ? the desert hordes, a warning.
yellow is for caution. Chippendale yellow. it’s not sure not for sun, surf and tanning.
more like, what made America great . . is coming back to bite us in the butt.
blue is for the . . devil.
blue is for .. choking, can’t breathe.
they are finding out we are hard-wired for violence against the ‘other’.
surprise, surprise.
I DON’T KNOW.
I DO KNOW. I KNOW / NOW.
CONNECT THE DOT (S).
COMMIT MORE VIOLENCE.
COMMIT MORE GLOBAL / ‘UN’ VIOLENCE.
UN for “one” . . it always comes down to the ‘one’. the single actions of the ‘one’ ?
singularity ?
or is that: UN for un-do !! un-do the violence. stop the violence.
omg – singularity. the collective consciousness of the web.
I just looked up ‘UN’ and I got this !!
omg – it’s an open-sourced, infinitely rebounding TINSEL TOWN universe . . after all !!
GEORGE CLOONEY & AMAL interjected into the the strife in Gaza, as if . .
but, CHIPPENDALE ?
apparently spot the dot / right on. shine on, TISSELTON !!
what I can’t express properly, this is where I short circuit . .
is how the work is a blown-apart / deconstructed composition / universe . . just from a purely, very academic artistic point of view, that also has . . big thoughts cloaked in primitive scribblings, and a real desire. a big literal desire, as in a literal ‘stab’ by using actual language & word play to enter your mind, and blow it up, too.
everything here aims for a state of mind – greater than the one where you were, before you entered the (Chippendale) picture.
or only possibly more simply:
if you can follow the breadcrumb trail, on the tippy toes of an elf – you are halfway there !!
yep, another hardcore prankster !!
it’s like literally . . the mind-thought cartoon ‘caption’ bubbles of a hardcore indie thinker coming at ya like smoke signals. blowing you away, and then blowing away, themselves.
dots that connect, add up, and disperse.
it’s a very kinetic, participatory art form.
your mind just feels like a cloud in your head escaping the cage.
is the best I can put it.
or, Tinsel town . . shine on !!
the bad pops up everywhere. in your home, on your streets, across the globe.
all we are missing . . is for the evil green alien monsters to (finally) land.
why, and what to do ?
oops, I thought it might have a happy ending, I thought I saw a little ‘heart’ around the edges ?
but no, more like the 21st century version of . . . ‘The Scream’.
more like a deer . . caught in the headlights. as in, fear-full.
my brain on . . Chippendale.
my very radar . . invaded, undone.
by the cartoon scribbles that strip us down to the bony skeleton of existence.
where all fear lurks.
Chip (away) at that dale.
it’s going, going, gone.
Brian Chippendale .. the new century James Joyce ?
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . BRIAN CHIPPENDALE |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | August 12th, 2014, 11:22am
BLOW MIRTH !!!!!!
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS – DECADE OF DECADUNCE
JULY 10-30, 2014
DOSSIER OUTPOST, SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
under which sub-title, pranksters . . we are also going to include . . ‘portraits’.
yep, these bio-organism-based renderings, were either far-out, or . . completely off-the-wall.
NICK KUSZYK, ‘Floater’, acrylic on wood panel. ($200)
a small offering (something like 6 x 6 in.) from ‘everyman arch-nemesis’ NICK KUSZYK, who has left his famous tiny, hard working bio-robots behind – in the dust, and which literally kick-started the exhibit, it being the first piece as you entered.
full speed ahead. don’t look back, and wtf ?
BRIAN BLOMERTH, ‘Siiv Rounder, European Artist’, digital print. ($100)
also at the beginning of the exhibit, and setting the stage !!
celebrating the dance of creativity – for adressing life’s biggest questions.
aka . . the Deca-dunce !!
creativity rules . . in the land of chaos.
yeah dude . . in the face of it all: BLOW MIRTH !!
detail, BRIAN BLOMERTH.
how you can not . . love art ?!!
esp when it has ALL the moves, if not all the answers !!
KYLE RANSON, ‘Portrait 1’. ($400)
tongue-in-cheek, super smart ‘conservative’ rendering. very far-out. very beautiful. one of my faves for being so wicked yet serene, flat-out contrarian . . in the crazy wonderland that is . . Cinders.
I bet this guy has a wicked sense of humor.
KYLE RANSON, ‘Portrait 2’, pencil on weed. ($300)
haha, I meant: wood !!
damn, that’s one typo – I’m leaving IN !!
an absolutely great piece of art making. period.
profound on the formal levels, imbedded with a sly take, a great slice of life.
far out.
ANDERS NILSEN, ‘Untitled (black shape), ink on paper. ($640)
and, just as ‘far out’ in the other direction !!
yep I see a face, and that’s your brains . . on birdseed.
your thought bubble, always on the top of your head, for all to see, if only everybody lived in a comic / cosmic book universe.
like Anders does. google him.
left:
ISAAC LIN, ‘DFW CAT’, spray, Edition of 34. ($40)
right:
ISAAC LIN, ‘Night Light’, airbrush, ink on paper. ($850)
hardcore prankster, like ghost . . needs no words !!
invading your consciousness . . like a black light.
ISAAC LIN, ‘DFW’.
DFW is a ‘graff’ crew out of San Francisco, and other part which includes Isaac Lin, BARRY McGEE and ANDREW JEFFREY WRIGHT, so . . blow mirth or what ?!!
DFW ? damn f-cked world ?
CHARLES SHEDDEN, ‘Untitled’. ($200 ea.)
$200 each ?
damn, that’s a steal. DTS !!
CHARLES SHEDDEN.
yeah, that’s a reflective surface / background.
yeah, that’s . . the hand that feeds ya.
STO, ‘Facial Recognition’, letterpress. ($40)
bad photo, great piece. it’s really a super shade of almost cerulean blue.
and, yeah. that’s your face, well I guess your mind, your brain . . stripped of the outer layer of eyes, skin, nose and mouth !!
aka bio inter .. FACE.
HISHAM BHAROOCHA, ‘Step Sequence’, acrylic on hand dyed fabric. ($750)
or as Hisham puts it so nicely . . your INTERFACE !!
(. . is a mystery to me).
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . HARDCORE PRANKSTERS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 31st, 2014, 8:42am
as in, VERY CURIOUS, INDEED !!
BENJAMIN BUTTON, you ain’t got nothing on us. but, close !!
I guess by now you can see where that title, ‘DECA-DUNCE’ kicks in. as in, the smart-ass fools !!
the CINDERS family is. for sure, they are NOT the slow & dumb folks, ‘dunce’ is supposed to reference, but the fast and furious . . ‘ironic’ & ‘comic’ bio-folks / ‘creatives’ as we like to call them in NYC . . trying to clue us in, into just how surely . . our cosmic orb of a world, that little spinning bio-globe we call home – is heading for the big dive.
whether it be war, slow toxins in our food & environment, and/or gradual mutation ?
or, just a slow but steady mental degradation into our cartoon collective media consciousness.
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS – ‘DECADE OF DECADUNCE’
OPEN THRU JULY 2014 – THESE BE THE LAST DAYS / 12-7PM
DOSSIER OUTPOST – SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
MEL KADEL, ‘Double Reach’, ink, collage on paper. ($650)
watch out, that dance is scarier than it first appears, dot dot dash.
KEVIN HOOYMAN, ‘Untitled’,. ($100 ea.)
watch out, that forest is way scarier than Little Red Riding Hood . . .
detail: KEVIN HOOYMAN. old school !!!
KEVIN HOOYMAN . . the new Brother Grimm ? ya think ?
JORDIN ISIP, ‘Heresy’, mixed media on wood. ($400)
looky up, this is your world, people. and it’s . . curious.
HIDEYUKI KATSUMATA,’The Barbarous Invaders’, sumi ink on paper. ($220)
what do we know ?
why do we dance ?
for sure we are hard wired to . . fight.
TOBY GOODSHANK, ‘Far Beyond Driven’. ($200)
well for sure we are hard wired to . . love.
but, are we hard wired to . . morph ?
JEREMY TAYLOR, ‘Territorial Pissings’, walnut ink on paper. ($400)
answer me.
the bitter sweet ‘dunces’ at Cinders want to know.
detail, JEREMY TAYLOR.
though some of them seem to be already, crying.
RON REGE Jr, ‘What Parsifal Saw’, letterpress, Cinders Ediitons. ($50)
while others can still reach for the divine celestial dance.
just goes to show you, how versatile . . a line drawing can be !!
detail: RON REGE Jr.
has an interesting morph of his own going on, his line drawings have a cartoon aspect, that is all his own.
detail: RON REGE Jr.
they stand on both sides of the line, that line being . . ancient history and future vision.
hello.
they are like future child meets ancient Greek map of the constellations up in the sky.
BRENDAN MONROE, ‘Ripple’, gouache on paper. ($850)
and then, poof !!
the ultimate mother of all . . line drawings !!
all celestial dreaming, all toxic warnings, suck it up – it’s over.
but is it really . . the end ?
or are there tiny microbes in those crevices, ready to start the impetus to life, and maybe great civilizations, all over again.
just spin that big TV dial.
the answer probably lies somewhere between ‘Say Yes to the Dress’, ‘Teen Mom’, ‘Lincoln’, and ‘Pre-History Evolution in Australian Fossils’ with a good dose of ‘Inca Mummies’ thrown in for the ‘X’ – as in cosmic factor . . as hosted by Nev of MTV’s ‘Catfish’ !!
catfish !!
talk about ancient and future-talk !! morph !!
yeah. come to think of it, I am so sick of Morgan Freeman, and not just on TV, he has ruined so many pretty good sci-fi movies too, him and Donald Sutherland. cameos, ugh.
I hear his voice I flip channels.
enough already. move over.
I vote Nev to narrate all science and astronomy shows – from now on.
and who’s taking notes ?
$10 to the first person who puts Nev in a sci-fi flick !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . PART 4 / CURIOUS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 28th, 2014, 9:48am
oh oh, TROUBLE in PARADISE !!
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS – DECADE OF DECADUNCE
OPEN THRU JULY 2014 – 7 DAYS A WEEK / 12-7PM
DOSSIER OUTPOST – SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
make that more trouble in paradise.
looks like the organic, sunny-side of the street – is no more !!
or as MARK CROSS . . put it: sad humanity – lying curled-up, and wasted on . . the city streets.
it’s NOT a happy life out there.
the yellow orb of the sun, the yellow yolk of the egg, has gone . . rancid.
MIKE TAYLOR, ‘She had to leave’, ink on paper. ($400)
ALLYSON MELLBERG, ‘Return from Florida’, walnut ink, iron Gall ink, and egg tempera on paper. ($500)
in the center:
SWOON, ‘Myrtle Ave’, block print on paper on found wood. ($10,000)
detail: SWOON, ‘Myrtle Ave’.
detail: SWOON, ‘Myrtle Ave’.
SUZANNE SATLER, ‘Passive Poker’, pencil on paper. ($1,800)
LAURENT IMPEDUGLIA, ‘Hahaha’, acrylic on canvas. ($275)
damn.
if CINDERS isn’t living up to its name .. thru the fire, or wtf else . . is left ?
LAURENT IMPEDUGLIA, ‘Church’, acrylic on canvas. ($275)
XANDER MARRO, ‘The Hunt’, silkscreen. ($150)
MATT FURIE . .
left: ‘Pavor Nocturnus’, ink, watercolor, pencil on Bristol. ($300)
right: ‘Save It’, ink, watercolor, pencil on Bristol. ($300)
MATT FURIE, ‘Save It’.
her t-shirt reads: SAVE THE RAIN FORESTS.
MICHELLE BLADE . .
left: ‘Day 347’. ($450)
right: ‘Day 214’. ($450)
MICHELLE BLADE, ‘Day 214’.
oh oh future world, not looking so good. a bit toxic, mutated, feverish, and, well: doomed.
just ask the use-ed to be . . all tulips and windmills and wooden shoes – Dutch !!
depending where you were seated,
go up in a plane and turn to .. cinders, DNA mulch on the burnt ground.
or free-fall to earth, and come home in rubber body bags.
wtf are you thinking in the long seconds – as you spin to earth.
do you kick your feet and try to brace for impact, or do you embrace the ultimate dive of dives.
what do you think . . is going to happen when you build surface-to-air missiles.
I don’t know anybody, who doesn’t like to play with their toys.
ok, a mistake ? or just not playing by the rules. no diff.
and anyways . . that’s how our American founding fathers won their War of Revolution. they had frontier sharpshooters pick off the British generals on their horses, a big no no.
talk about American ingenuity, and stolen from the Native Americans, no less – !!
what ever happened to psychedelic mushrooms, talking furry friends, and love-based .. bonding ?
apparently, as far as we got was: re-cycle your trash or be fined.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . PART 3 / TROUBLE |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 24th, 2014, 8:51am
WATCH OUT: CROSS – OVER !!
CINDERS PROJECTS PRESENTS – DECADE OF DECADUNCE
runs thru JULY 2014 – 7 DAYS A WEEK – HRS: 12-7PM
DOSSIER OUTPOST – SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
MARK CROSS, BLANKET. ($2,000)
one of the most intense and striking pieces in the show, and not just because it was the largest, and the only one spread on the floor – was this custom photo woven blanket by MARK CROSS, a tattoo artist whose stature as an ‘artist’ – might just eclipse his tattoo fame.
the piece was intense for several reasons, but mostly for how the homeless man curled up into his sleep, how the photo curled up into its own orientation on the blanket, and then how the piece itself . . curled up into its installation niche.
SO, I guess we have to revise . . sunny-side up !!
it’s apparently, not so sunny – out there. mean streets invade the utopian dream.
maybe the better why to quick code ‘label’ the Cinders vision and community – it just that: community. people-minded, bio-sphere minded, concerned with the present, future and sometimes even magical, or in this case downtrodden . . state of our planet’s bio beings, humans and animals, alike – and the landscape they inhabit.
and so in that sense, I have to stop and say that this 10 year wave of artists – does in fact, have a ‘political’ bent that they share with the newbie 170 SUFFOLK wave, though the CINDERS fellowship comes down . . a little more to the ‘organic’ side of 170 SUFFOLK, which is more hardcore and in a sense urban ‘radical’.
in a word: both art groups – are very pictorial, and both are very ‘statement’ – oriented.
anyways, looks like there is trouble on the downside of the ‘sunny-side’ of the street. some call it: urban living, this man looks so beat-up, broken, so weathered and it’s so sad to see him curled up in a fetal position on a grate, seeking heat. it’s not like he’s a drunk, he’s just an unfortunate homeless man, and many urban dwellers, esp the free thinkers and the ‘un-promoted’ artists among us – know . . there for the grace of God, go I.
I’m thinking, it’s really the intense graphic & straightforward documentary photo – that carries the work, and speaks the truth. this is/was . . a real moment.
the way the gallery goers walk over the image – becomes an on-going moment, speaks volumes and metaphors could cascade, so you can supply your own faves.
I first saw ‘artwork’ by MARK CROSS, originally from San Francisco and now NYC-based – at the recent ‘It’s An Invasion’ group show at the National Arts Club. the piece was similar in format, except it was termed, a ‘carpet’ – as opposed to ‘blanket’, and it was also strikingly placed. in the ‘INVASION’ case – just beneath an upper crust piano / and hi-gloss fancy wood coffee table type scenario. in that piece the photo was also of a homeless man lying asleep on a grate, but the guy looked more like he was on a bender, and was kind of well, looking like his predicament was his own fault. in this Cinders scenario – the man looks more vulnerable, like he just slipped though the sunny-side of the street – the cracks are a-many. the works being placed on the floor in both shows, and with no security barriers/gates around them, means you can walk on them, or watch other people walk on them, as in: ‘walk all over me, man – I’m already so far down and out, what’s the dif’ – makes a big statement, and renders the piece kinetic’. as opposed to being large standard print on paper photographs hung on the wall, or even ‘blankets’ hung on the wall.
the foot traffic – most definitely added to the power of the ‘content’ within.
so, in any case – I also just came to realize, seeing the work a second time – how important the photo image itself was, both in subject matter and in graphic design, how it sits in it’s composition, the cropping – the takeaway was, I felt this ‘tattoo ‘ artist was also a bonafide photographer. these had to be his own images, they were too loaded – and powerful, not to be – but you never know, ‘appropriation’ being what it is today, okay it wasn’t in Gagosian Gallery and the name on the label wasn’t RICHARD PRINCE (!!), still I felt I better do double check before mouthing off. so late at night a day or so ago, yeah, I cyber-stalked MARK CROSS – and found a contact and wrote and asked him.
yes, was the reply – “these are my photos”.
again that’s also an integral characteristic of the CINDERS crew – they are very hands-on, DIY owning their own images, and all the power to them. and of course – these raw photos, including their custom woven format – define grit, and, really – one needs say . . no more.
it’s also a very ‘contemporary’ stance, as opposed to say, ‘art for arts’ sake 70s focused purely ‘abstract’ work.
if you follow this site, and . . admit it !! you have been making dough or what ?!!
you know the art hustle is a very lively ‘art’ to me – on it’s own terms.
it’s how I keep a step ahead of sleeping on the grates myself !!
skills, skills, skills, !!
I would say putting down $2 grand on this piece would be a very savvy way to spend 2 grand, and enjoy it too.
just don’t throw it in the washing machine.
plus, large scale works do better at auction, as does very unique and provocative imagery.
so it’s win win.
ps:
cyber-stalking MARK CROSS is actually quite a fun journey. lots of instagram and tattoo stuff comes up – though none of the rugs or blankets, as of yet. and none of the urban photos, as far as I could find.
just make sure you add ‘NYC’ to the search mix.
you can find a new enterprise he is connected with, too – apart from the tattoo shop he works out of – it’s a new gallery in Brooklyn, Greenpoint: called MUDDGUTS, which he runs in partnership with LELE SAVERI. located at 41 Montrose Ave, there is in fact an opening tomorrow night . . FRI JULY 18, 2014 / 6-9PM, showcasing the dark and ‘gritty’ urban photos of DAVE SCHUBERT.
the show has a rather poetic title: ‘SCATTERED SCRAPS of MEMORY’.
the MUDGUTTS LOGO, (by CHRIS LUX). it’s animated, so . .
check out: MUDDGUTTS
and, see: MUDGUTTS ON INSTAGRAM
MARK CROSS CARPET, ILLUSTRATION – via LINDESFARNE GOSPELS
the other thing interestingly, that also pops up – under a very late night ‘MARK CROSS CARPET’ cyber-search, is this wonderful, historic illustrated ‘cult’ gospel archive, which actually fits . . right into the CINDERS artisan, humanity-centered creed, or what ?!!
decorating the beginning page of each intricately worked ‘LINDISFARNE’ gospel, the date we are talking lies somewhere in the 634-687 range (!!), was a . . ‘carpet’ page, which was actually called a ‘MARK CROSS’ CARPET page, because the illustrations were inspired by woven designs that – delineated the ‘cross’ orientation – on holy prayer rugs.
check it out for yourself: Carpet pages – LINDISFARNE Gospels Tour – British Library.
lyrical, and . . illuminating !!
don’t miss the ‘cult’ . . references !!
and here we are still talking ‘holy grail’ carpets, 1400 years later.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
~CINDERS OPENING PIX . . PART 2 / MARK CROSS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | July 17th, 2014, 8:35am
