so, is a truck – a tool ?
way YES !!
esp., when it’s . . . a U-haul.
I was so lucky – to arrive, just in time to catch some real – favs.
EMILY JANOWICK, and SAM COCKRELL.
Sam had a large painting in the show / well, unofficially.
it’s up on the 5th floor, near where the opening after-party bar was.
blame the photo ambiance, on the night sky / up, on the 5th floor outdoor terrace.
well, Sam’s one to appreciate the mystery of ‘auto-focus’, so all’s good, I figure.
EMILY JANOWICK, and PETER RAFEAL SHUGART ORTIZ.
Peter installed the show, seamless. lots of room between – the diverse displays.
very nice.
SAM COCKRELL, ‘U-haul’ painting.
it’s actually quite large, though not exactly life-size.
waiting on dimensions, now . . .
something like 5 x 3 ft. ?
it was nice to see, after all those out-of-focus ‘butterflies’, that Sam could zero in on the – focus,
when he wanted to.
note: his painting isn’t technically part of the show, which is on the 2nd floor.
it could be found on the 5th floor – near the bar, on the night of the after-party.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH / ‘Perpetual Objects’ opening / International Objects, Bushwick, NYC, NY SEPT 30, 2023
~EMILY JANOWICK, SAM COCKRELL & PETER RAFEAL SHUGART ORTIZ / ‘Perpetual Screw’ |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 5th, 2023, 9:56am
MY FAM . . . at the opening:
from left:
NICHOLAS STEINDORF, my son-in-law :), perhaps better known as, 1/2 of the NYC-based, forward future-looking,
Blinn & Lambert digital art collab; and father to my little, but way spunky grandson, Jules Simon Steindorf,
next gen art collector, maybe ? if not, then: world explorer / oh, ok.
make that . . worlds, plural !!
my son, THEO CERIGO, who survived being the 12 yr. old kid, shooting off Alfredo’s big ‘prop’ guns, in ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, the Sundance 2009 Grand Jury Award Winning Documentary . . which told the story of our Big New Year’s Eve Party of the milestone Millennial / DEC – JAN 14th, 2020. an explosive, downtown, way, way rebel indie, $1 million dollar+ cutting-edge / nascent web-tech / surveillance-wired Art Party. An Installation which was Interactive, often Adults-only XXX-rated, and, open to the public 24/7, with open bars, meaning free, back then.
we had a 90+ resident-artist crew, some international / which was a Josh Harris – Pseudo.com funded & led production.
needless to say Theo, was not only the youngest kid to participate in ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’, but, the only one.
and apparently, even though he has long held a very useful Masters Degree in Financial Science, please check out the hat / he has never lost that inward ‘flair’, and questing, that his early brush with cinematic stardom, a kind of ‘INDIANNA JONES meets Downtown NYC art scene’, an, blows-up.
he says, he’s going to open a pop-up gallery in Chinatown, next year, and you know what ?
I wouldn’t want to be the one, who bet against him. stay tuned.
as well:
a heartfelt, recent RIP, goes out to: Alfredo Martinez, aka ‘the Real Fake Basquiat’ / artist, forger, & gun-maker, who left us – a few short months ago.
and, a big . . shout-out to JOSH HARRIS / our intrepid web entrepreneur, who some mainstream critics even call the ‘Warhol of the Web’, our fearless, or is that mega-bucks art patron / who made his $86 million fortune selling Jupiter.com a few scant years after founding it, the first web tracking site, and the set up the art-centric Pseudo.com / a live-streaming enterprise, run out of the PSEUDO.com studios – at the south-west corner of Houston and Broadway, when there was only: dial-up !!
and, I guess, another lol, is in order here, though I seriously – try hard, not to fall into that trap.
at right: my KATE CERIGO, is a professional creative; currently in the media & fashion world,
with an SVA degree in Graphics, from about a decade ago.
unlike the rest of us, i.e. her family, she prefers to keep things, on the down-low.
see: Nicholas Steindorf on IG / @nchlsstndrf
see: Blinn & Lambert on IG / @blinn_and_lambert
see: Kate Cerigo on IG / @katecerigo
‘PERPETUAL OBJECTS’, A BIG GROUP SHOW / at INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS ART GALLERY, BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN, NYC /
OPENED SEPT 30, 2023.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
JUST, FYI:
so, what do we know about . . Industrial Design & ART Installations /
THEO CERIGO . . aged 12, in his pod, at ‘QUIET’ / ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’.
DOWNTOWN NYC, DEC 15 – JAN 10, 2020.
btw, he’s wearing the standard issue – WLIP in-house production crew uniform: orange work pants, and gray button-up utility shirt. this uniform might not be considered radical now, but coming out of the disco 80s, and then the jeans & flannel 90’s, it was.
the fully-wired, ‘QUIET’ Pod Hotel, inspired by Japanese pod hotels, was designed & fabricated by JEFF GOMPERTZ.
‘Quiet’ was the original name for the Millennial bash plus art installation; as it grew & evolved, and as its social media / frontier implications became more defined / esp with 24/ surveillance, and live streaming / the ‘party’, morphed into a brand: WE LIVE IN OPUBLIC, I mean even the ‘community’ shower, was transparent & live streaming.
Archival Photo: NANCY SMITH
so, just what do we know about . . craft, DIY design, & on-site sustainability ?
not to mention . . ‘insider/outsider’ roles ?
and, not to forget, artist-made lighting fixtures / vernacular objects turned folk art . . in what was essentially a sci-fi setting, let loose upon 4+ floors of an old warehouse on Lower Broadway, a ‘social experiment’ as Josh liked to call it. And which Ondie Timoner, the filmmaker behind the the documentary, likens to the ‘birth of social media’.
NANCY SMITH, ‘PAPER LANTERN’, ‘QUIET’ / ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’.
while I was hired on at first, as a participating artist – supposedly leading a Quilting BEE for Techies (!!)
I quickly became a part of the Production crew, and didn’t have much extra time, or materials – to make my own art for the approximately 3 week event.
so, I improvised with whatever was at hand, including ordinary typing paper, and other stuff just lying around, like the exhibition invite card above, and ‘Xmas red’ sparkles, grabbed from the then nearby Pearl Paint, on Canal St.
at night, some mystery pro lighting designer would come ‘zap’ up, the newest installations, and Josh had them light up my lanterns, too. that’s how fluid things were: dramatic, dramatic, extreme sport / spontaneous creative, and . . more dramatic, dramatic, dramatic / literally dramatic, from the lighting on down, to the outsize egos, Drama was a big part of the mix / on every level.
like one big . . paper, rock, scissors / craft, industrial, ego blow-out.
Archival Photo: NANCY SMITH
~MY FAM . . at the opening / ‘Perpetual Screw’, International Objects – UPDATED WITH 2 ARCHIVAL WLIP / WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, PHOTOS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | October 3rd, 2023, 4:45pm
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 – TOOLS
INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS, ‘PERPETUAL SCREW’ – BIG GROUP SHOW
OPENS – SAT SEPT 30 / 6 – 9 PM
for list of participating artists / mission statement, see: ‘PERPETUAL SCREW’ – EXHIBITS
JEFF WILLIAMS, ‘Broken Arm’, 2019
image courtesy International Objects
~JEFF WILLIAMS . . ‘BROKEN ARM’ / ‘PERPETUAL SCREW’ / INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 28th, 2023, 11:26am
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 – TOOLS
‘PERPETUAL SCREW’ – OPENS SAT SEPT 30 / 6 – 9 PM
INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS
DAVID BORDETT / ‘Excavator Oasis’
~DAVID BORDETT . . ‘EXCAVATOR OASIS ‘ / ‘PERPETUAL SCREW’ / INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS / |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 28th, 2023, 9:49am
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC, SEPT 2023 – CRAFT & TOOLS . . !!
INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS – ‘PERPETUAL SCREW’ – a big blow-out / build-out / group show
OPENS SAT SEPT 30, 2023 / 6 – 9 PM
INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS, 53 SCOTT AVE., 5th FLOOR, EAST WILLIAMSBURG / BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN, NYC 11237
viewing hrs during exhibits:
THURS / 12-10PM
FRI-Sun / 12-6 PM
or by appointment
also, see: International Objects on IG @internationalobjects
POSTER IMAGE by SHAUN KRUPS, ‘Boat Propeller’, 2017.
water soluble oil on canvas / 21 x 21 in.
~SHAUN KRUPA . . ‘BOAT PROPELLER’ / ‘PERPETUAL SCREW’ . . GROUP SHOW / INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS / BROOKLYN / OPENS SAT SEPT 30 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 27th, 2023, 4:30pm
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 – TOOLS
GARDENING ?
ARTIST-LED, COMMUNITY GARDEN ?
definite . . a CRAFT !!
SHOUT OUT TO: JEFFREY TRANCHELL
LAVENDER COUNTRY DETROIT / GARDEN SWAP
GIVE TAKE TRADE / PLANT SWAP / SEEDS STARTERS BULBS CLIPPINGS / HOUSEPLANTS / TOOLS
12333 MACKAY ST, DETROIT
SAT SEPT 30, 2023 / 4 – 7 PM
~LAVENDER COUNTRY DETROIT / PLANT SWAP, SEEDS, HOUSE PLANTS, & TOOLS / DETROIT / SAT SEPT 30 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 27th, 2023, 4:02pm
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 – TOOLS
when you see ‘craft’ – ‘tools’ are not far behind.
in this case, the ‘tools’ are also, the hand-made / one-of-a-kind . . art.
JACOB GOBLE . . is a NYC-based painter, and museum . . . ‘mountmaker’.
he makes custom ‘mounts’ to hold up the historic, precious items that are going to be displayed
at the MET / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
sometimes he has to fabricate the tools, as well as the mounts, themselves.
you can follow his work, life, and art on Instagram: @jacob__goble
note: all images via Instagram @jacob__goble
JACOB GOBLE . . . hand-made calipers, Sept 2023
@jacob_goble: “I made another set of ‘inside/outside’ calipers.
#bentfinger #caliper #divider #measuringtools #measure #handmadetools #brass
just in case,
you’re as curious, as I am, here’s a recent ‘museum mount’ he designed & fabricated for The Met:
@jacob__goble: “An early 15th Century Italian Jar and its ‘Earthquake’ mount. In the unfortunate event of seismic activity this mount will keep the jar from jangling around. / for: The MET / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.”
~JACOB GOBLE . . INSIDE/OUTSIDE CALIPERS |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 26th, 2023, 3:19pm
changing gears – but, still . . . !!
ARTIST – CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023
HAND-CARVING WOOD TOOLS – are definite . . implied.
TWO RARE WOODLANDS MIDE SOCIETY EFFIGY HEADS /
POWERS – LOWENFELS,
53 Stanton St., LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC
“They have . . . something which may be called an idol. This is the Manitto [sic] representing in wood the head of a man in miniature, which they always carry about them, either on a string round their neck, or in a bag. They hang it also about their children, to preserve them from illness and ensure them success.”
~George Henry Loskiel, ‘The History of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians of North America’, 1838, p. 8. / via Steven S. Powers / @stevenspowers
the smaller one, top, is maple burl – the larger one is elm burl – [SOLD]
these burl-head-shaman spirits – are “early to mid 19th C.” ~ Steven S. Powers
ALL images – courtesy: @stevenspowers
note: A ‘burl’ or burr . . . is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. it is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds.
~wikipedia
~WOODLANDS MIDE Society / EFFIGY HEADS / POWERS LOWENFELS / Lower East Side, NY |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 25th, 2023, 2:44pm
ARTIST CRAFT MONTH – in NYC / SEPT 2023 – continues:
where there’s . . CRAFT / there’s . . . TOOLS !!!
SKEWVILLE – ‘BUILD A BONG WORKSHOP’
SUN SEPT 24 / 12 – 6 PM
237 STARR St., BROOKLYN
FEE: $20
GRAB YOUR OLD WINE BOTTLES, ANTIQUES / FAMILY HEIRLOOMS ? or SODA BOTTLES & HEAD TO . . .
‘THE BUILD A BONG WORKSHOP’ at SKEWVILE.’
all images courtesy: SKEWVILLE on Instagram @skewville
~SKEWVILLE . . ‘BUILD A BONG WORKSHOP’ / SUN SEPT 24 |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 24th, 2023, 9:06am
ARTIST – CRAFT MONTH in NYC / SEPT 2023 . . .
continues / this time, with a little ‘mind-power’, thrown into the mix . . !!!
you might think it a stretch to include artwork by GERALD FERGUSON, under the subtext of: craft,
but, I would totally disagree. thinking hard, and breaking down barriers . . is a craft.
making paintings that lead to future theoretical pathways, being able to inspire generations of young artists through teaching, and through your work, and continuing to be mind-rattling – is a craft.
education is a craft.
GERALD FERGUSON, ‘LAST LANDSCAPES’, & . . 2 EARLY STENCIL WORKS, (1968) on PAPER.
SEPT 8 – OCT 21, 2023
CANADA GALLERY, 61 LISPENARD ST., DOWNTOWN NYC
CURATED by . . . LUKE MURPHY
GERALD FERGUSON, ‘Trees and Rock’, 2008.
enamel on canvas / 48 x 55 in.
that’s a lot larger than the work might seem in this, straight-on photo.
as opposed to an installation shot, anchored by a gallery wall, etc.
think: 4 ft. x approx. 4-1/2 ft.
so, here’s the deal on GERALD FERGUSON,
he was many things. Above all else, he was an exploratory artist; both in thought, exploring new philosophies and theory on art, be they conceptual or minimalist / but, also an exploratory artist in terms of his own work, how he used common hardware store materials, such as ropes, rods and chains, to breach traditional boundaries. ‘Landscapes’ might be the furthest thing one might expect therefore from so entrenched a visionary and forward thinker, yet the ‘craft’ of these
landscapes, speak for themselves. all his art was the ultimate ‘stretch’ of the imagination meets future concept, so I think it’s not a stretch to associate his body of work with craft, which is very much foremost a skilled and though-out, albeit passionate endeavor.
You could rightfully say, he was to ‘craft’ a new philosophy of art-making, one which made room for the breaking down of barriers between outsider art, folk art, simple everyday objects such as hardware tools as pictorial subjects, within a minimalist design mindset that we increasingly embrace, today.
GERALD FERGUSON (b. Cincinnati, OHIO 1937 – d. 2009) was a conceptual artist and painter who lived and taught in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
“In the late 1960s, Cincinnati-born Gerald Ferguson traded in New York’s conceptual art scene for the chance to transform a provincial art college in Nova Scotia, (Canada). For Ferguson, who was in the same crowd as Lawrence Weiner, Dan Graham, and June Leaf . . . it wasn’t an easy decision to forgo the sophistication of Manhattan for a remote, impoverished navy port that valued hardiness and results over ideas; but he believed that the gallery system was starting to subsume the conceptual art movement by covertly supporting the things that he rejected – fame, excess, privilege, war. (and, probably the pressure to make salable ‘product’). Over the next decades, Ferguson worked to turn NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) into a conceptual hub importing visiting artists such as Gerhard Richter, Sol Lewitt, Eric Fischl, and Vito Acconci.
“Over his almost forty-year career, Ferguson wrestled with two constants. The first was a relentless battle with depression. The second was his art practice, which consisted of conceptual works and frottage paintings . . . In his frottage paintings, he treated folk and decorative art elements with a post-minimalist approach, rubbing black house paint over canvas purchased at the local sail-making shop. repeating patterns of mostly quotidian objects such as Victorian fireplace panels, chains, ropes, and rods, which leave the viewer with a sense of hard-earned humanity.
“The landscapes presented here, Ferguson’s last series of paintings, differ significantly from his past work. After breaking his arm in a car accident in 2008, Ferguson found himself unable to move his usual ropes, rods, and chains . . . Unwilling to disrupt his studio practice he returned to the paintings that inspired him as a young man . . Drawing on his prodigious knowledge of art history, and using a cheap hardware store 2.5” roller, Ferguson painted directly on raw canvas with his good arm, synthesizing elements from Cezanne through the third and fourth string landscapes that form the bulwark of American art in the first half of the 20th century to Hartley.He even let himself do a variation on plein-air painting by driving around the back roads of Nova Scotia, a diet Coke in the cup holder, a cigarette in the ash tray, fabricating sketches through his car window and a modernist American lens. Although resoundingly irascible, Ferguson was delighted to find this unexpected new studio process was marked by the presence of joy. The results in his words: ‘Dangerously close to real painting.'”
~from the wonderful press release essay by: LAURA MacDONALD
see: the press release in full / CANADA – ‘Last Landscapes’
GERALD FERGUSON, ‘Untitled X’, 1968.
enamel on brown paper / 40 x 37 in.
that’s also larger than it appears . . being, approx: 3-1/3 ft. x 3 ft.
1968: he was so ahead of his time,
& really – where is the rest of that gang now. this work just keeps on, keeping on, right on point, 50 years later. it must have been so wild, and off-the-grid, back in 1968. the art world probably didn’t what to think, if they didn’t just outright ignore him /
at that time, everybody was buying Andy Warhol, weren’t they ?
no wonder he left. this is such a major, major piece of American art history.
it’s like Ruth Asawa, is all I can say /
I remember seeing this piece in an early group show at Canada, though nobody can remember exactly which one. it had a profound, validating impact on me: stencils, cut paper. common, freely available (at least back then) brown grocery wrapping paper. (you can get it for free now, in Prime Amazon boxes.) minimalist colorways, minimalist attitude, but all soul. sustainable, could be spontaneous, with a heady folk art nod, an American quilt history nod. antique woven ribbon nod. all about hardware store – arts & crafts / DIY.
in other words: AMERICANA / CRAFT TO THE MAX.
and, I’m pretty sure – I wasn’t the only one, who was hit so hard.
one can only imagine, all the ‘old stock’ hardware stores & old textile purveyors of woven ribbons, and other miscellaneous ‘notions’, including hand-woven, or early machine-made fluttering finery, such as fine white lace, and collars. the old dark wooden display cases, and old creaking wooden floors, and probably rolls upon rolls of brown wrapping paper, that Gerald Ferguson must have strolled amidst. the old tools, and brass stencils, and even the stenciled signs – that, for sure abounded in an old trading port like Nova Scotia. Downtown NYC used to be like that – all along Broadway, from Houston to Canal St., up until the late 90s, when they all got priced out, who knows where all that historic inventory ended up. real pearl shell buttons, yards and yards of woven, ribbon rolled onto paper display discs. some of it felt pioneer, it was such ‘old stock’ / straight out of Little House on the Prairie.
CRAFT. TOOLS, SKILLS. MAKING THINGS, DIY . . AMERICANA.
maybe you bought the fancy imported fabric / but, you sewed the dresses yourself.
ps: in my notes from Luke Murphy, who studied with Gerald, and curated this show:
“He was quick with biting comments and the problem was that, when it came to art and painting, the bastard was almost always right. He had such a fine and deep sense for authenticity in terms of work that nothing really got past him. I think that’s why he was also such a valued art picker for many collectors. (!!)
At one point he donated more than 500 duck decoys to the AGNS / Art Gallery Nova Scotia.”
I knew it / of course . . . !!!!!
CRAFT BABY, all the way home.
LUKE MURPHY, sometime in the mid 1980s, shearing sheep / just a few years before starting studies at NSCAD / Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, in Halifax where he studied with Gerald Ferguson, “mostly from 1987 – 1991 / then we shared a studio, and then we were friends.”
VINTAGE PHOTO COURTESY: LUKE MURPHY
GERALD FERGUSON (L), and JOSEPH BEUYS (R), in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.
VINTAGE PHOTO COURTESY: LUKE MURPHY
GERALD FERGUSON in his studio, Halifax, Nova Scotia / looks like it’s 2008, and that’s one of his later landscapes – on the wall behind him.
note: the vintage, and/or antique . . hand-carved & hand-painted duck decoys, arranged along the top of the back wall, on a recessed shelf.
his work may have been cutting-edge conceptual, but his ‘eye’, and ‘heart’, were all fine-tuned by . . . CRAFT. CRAFTMANSHIP. and the history, of . .
VINTAGE PHOTO COURTESY: LUKE MURPHY
~GERALD FERGUSON . . ‘LAST LANDSCAPES’ / CANADA GALLERY, DOWNTOWN NYC / thru OCT 21V |
Posted in The Bomb | By Nancy Smith | September 22nd, 2023, 1:40pm
