missing person flier in the gallery window
Jacques Louis Vidal‘s appearance at Sunday is more than a show; it’s a way of art, a two-way street for both the artist and the viewer. At the opening reception of “Wood Folks is Good Folks” the artist enlisted himself and some half dozen volunteers in a performance which literally wound through (and into) the entire gallery installation. He’s promised one more performance for this Saturday, July 7, a workshop called “making friends + keeping friends”. It should start soon after the mesquite cookout, which is on the schedule from 1 to 4. I definitely recommend a visit to Eldridge Street that day.
Vidal’s performances and sculptures evoke traditional folk-tale forms and, well, a lot of slacker high school shop, but his subject appears to be a contemporary and grown-up concern with the absurdity of a world created by the rude political, commercial and religious heirs to that more humble and more muted America and its naive how-to culture. Whether inhabited by his own body in performance or seemingly discarded in a gallery, the stuff Vidal creates incorporates toys and monsters, natural relics and human monuments, terrors and amusements, prayers and ad copy, paper and scissors, shiny foil and dull tape, string and wood (always lots of wood). The sculptures, like his (literally) fantastic drawings, display a (misleading) childlike simplicity, and his performances have a charming earnestness almost always leading to some form of embarrassment for the actor himself.
But all this cool “stuff” is only the beginning; what lingers is a very post-post-modern questioning – and the generous spirit of the artist.
I almost forgot. We’ve been excited about his work since first seeing it in March of 2006 and Vidal was an extremely important part of our curated show last fall.
The images on this post were all captured during the opening on June 22. The series below begins with the artist’s performance, moves on to the Houston Astrodome sculpture and Vidal handling the two-headed, tiny-footed wooden man. The last photo is a detail of a wall collage representing the home being prepared for all the good, wooden folks.
Barry has a post with another image from the opening, a link to his flickr set and a 45-second video clip of the performance.
artist inhabiting his work
Author: jameswagner
“Where do Homosexuals Get All Their Energy?”
Brandon Kelley
I’m not much of an advertisement for an energetic homosexual at this moment so I was curious about “Where do Homosexuals Get All Their Energy?”, this piece in last week’s The Onion. I read it straight through to the end. This was unusual for me, because I normally find the paper’s headlines much funnier than the full satirical narratives. Hey, I’m busy.
Sometimes I really am a very energetic homosexual, but right now I’m sitting at the breakfast room table at one in the afternoon, after a leisurely reading of the morning papers (and an old Onion). I’m about to leave the apartment with my partner (although there’s no rush) for a visit to the Metropolitan on a beautiful afternoon, leaving it to someone else to clean and put everything in order at home while we’re gone.
The satirical weekly’s Brandon Kelley (the writer’s pseudonym*) would describe my lifestyle differently. He starts out with a general comparison and continues with an elaboration on contrasting staight/gay competencies:
Boy, am I beat. And it’s not like I have some crazy life where I’m working three jobs and going to night school. No, I just have one job and a small apartment. I don’t even have a pet to look after. Even so, it seems that no matter what I do, there’s always more. If they put another eight hours in the day, I might be able to catch up on the laundry list of chores I have, or even just my laundry, if I were lucky. But you know who really gets it done? Homosexuals.
I know what you’re saying: Brandon, you’re just perpetuating the stereotype that homosexuals are superhuman. That is totally not true. All I’m saying is, with their boundless energy and talents, they make us straight guys look bad.
I’ll add an excerpt which brings this post back to one of this site’s foci:
And don’t remind me about those gallery openings. After a hard day of work, I was barely able to drag my ass down to the last one. I told myself, I’m not doing this again anytime soon! But it would never occur to homosexuals to think those things. The moment I walked in, there they were, dressed impeccably and criticizing the choice of wine.
*
I understand the portrait images used are those of the staff and their friends
[image from The Onion]
Roebling Street: boxes of space
untitled (she) 2007
arrested in NY for reciting First Amendment to police officer
(too much free speech)
An AP story in Newsday reports that Reverend Billy was arrested Friday night while loudly reciting the First Amendment to police.
Could anything make it more clear what’s going on in this city? It’s time for all New Yorkers to form a larger critical mass of resistance to this dangerous lunacy before we’ve lost our liberties for ever.
Gothamist tells us that a press release the blog received after the arrest of a man whose day job consists largely of exhorting people to abandon the products of large corporations and mass media, observes that “while the NYPD surrounded and intimidated last night’s Critical Mass cyclists, a line of several hundred shoppers formed just across the street to purchase the new iPhone, blocking pedestrian traffic and forcing people to walk in the street.” Whoa! This is all way, way beyond irony.
Go here, to Matt Semel’s annotated flickr set of images, for a good-humored, inside look at Friday night’s bike ride and the police tension which preceded it.
[image by Konstantin Sergeyev from revbilly.com]
toppled
untitled (cone) 2007
angles and planes
untitled (skyline) 2007
Chris Quinn asks our civil rights to “take one for the team”
in this case an objective clearly worth a monstrous sacrifice
Was the sacrifice of our right to assemble and speak just a matter of “taking one for the team“? And if it was, what will there be left to win if the team makes the finals?
I sent an email out to a few friends last night after picking up a copy of this week’s Gay City News. I had hoped to find an article on Chris Quinn which might explain to her larger core community why I and so many others are upset with her these days.
There was an article, but I left wondering how anyone not familiar with the subject of her collaboration and authorization of what is euphemistically referred to as the Police “Parade Rules” might be able to figure what the fuss is about.
I wrote, in part:
We can see that our most prominent community newspaper isn’t really interested in the interests of its community, but rather, in its designated hero’s ability [in the words of one person quoted in the article] “to take a stand on issues she believes in that aren’t always popular among different constituent groups”, or, to excerpt another quote from a member of the community used in the article, “any elected official’s need to balance the concerns of many groups”.
I received an interesting reply from Andy Podell, one of my addressees, and he agreed to be quoted. It’s the best explanation I’ve come across for what looks like a totally baffling decision from a former community street acitivist, but although I don’t consider myself politically naive its implications disturb me:
One of the unspoken rules in American politics is that politicians who come from minority communities must show the big boys that they can be tough on their own constituency. Chuck Schumer and George Bush are not required to slap the community around that elected them to show that they’re impartial. But Hilary Clinton and Christine Quinn are required to reassure those in power that they no longer represent their voting base. The battle for representative democracy is over before it begins.
So, does this suggest we’re better off not supporting minority politicians? I’m throwing this out mostly as a provocation; I’m depressed, but maybe not yet that depressed.
[image from perfectduluthday]
police to regulate when we can use cameras in NYC
just another day on the street
Last time it was the MTA, and now the Mayor of New York City wants to keep us from taking its picture.
The Transit Authority eventually gave up on its proposed photography ban, but now the same kind of primitive fears and territorial claims have spawned another threat. The gothamist has the story:
The Mayor’s Office of Theater, Film, and Broadcasting, which coordinates film and television production and issues permits around the five boroughs, is considering rules that could potentially severely restrict the ability of even amateur photographers and filmmakers to operate in New York City. The NY Times reports that the city’s tentative rules include requiring any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The regulation would also apply to any group of five or more people who would be using a tripod for more than ten minutes, including the time to set up the tripod.
And are we going to learn next month that if two or more people want to leave a building at the same time (including their own homes) they’ll have to get a police permit? And don’t forget your papers. The city’s government and police are totally out of control!
This is New York CIty, damn it, not Moscow or Beijing!
My shock at this latest assault on urban spontaneity, creativity, the simple rights of assembly and expression, and of course what our leader has called “the internets” doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten that for years the police have already been stopping people all over the City, even individual amateur photographers, for using their cameras. The officers ask questions, sometimes telling them they weren’t allowed to shoot pictures in public places, and then asking for their identification and making them wait while their information and the detainment is recorded on the officer’s day record. I’m sure this will continue to go on regardless of whether the proposed new police authority is effected (as usual, without hearings or a City Council vote).
I hope I’m not the only private citizen in New York who is also thinking of the impact the rule would have on our ability to document police abuses themselves, but I’m sure since taxpayers have been shelling out a fortune in awards to those falsely-arrested, injured or killed by an unrestrained constabulary, both the Mayor’s office and One Police Plaza understand the proposal’s ramifications perfectly.
These proposed new police rules follow another civil liberties abomination, one recently initiated by the NYPD itself, with the collaboration and actual authorization of former Leftist-activist Council Speaker Chistine Quinn.
Neither notions about swift vehicle traffic flow nor the mantra of “9/11” should be allowed to transcend our proper concern with strengthening an increasingly-precarious civilization.
Many of us thought our system of law enforcement was already arbitrary, but apparently we ain’t seen nothing yet. Be very careful the next time you question an officer of the law; he made it.
[image by Mason Resnick via adorama]
Shepard Fairey takes on U.S. rotten moral currency in print
I had almost forgotten that I had this image. It’s been on my computer for a week. Once you get past its nightmare-come-alive reference, I think this Shepard Fairey* piece is very beautiful, not least for the color and quality of the faux-dollar bill printing. And then there’s also the ambiance of its immediate surroundings on this Lower East Side wall – and the late afternoon sun.
*
if I’m wrong about the attribution, somebody let me know
Lower East Side blue (night blur)
untitled (blue construction tarp) 2007
With New York temperatures in the 90’s and the humidity not so far behind, I thought a cool blue image might feel good today. I grabbed this shot on the move, while walking with friends last Friday.
And yes, I have been keeping an eye on the temperatures in Berlin this week: 40’s at night, high 50’s during the day. Ahhhhh.