See you in 2009!

 


Oly's Musings is on hiatus until next year. I'm taking off for Central Florida and finishing up some stuff at work. Wishing everyone a terrific holiday, whatever your religion, and a safe New Year's.
 

First show I've ever literally not been able to fit in the door

 

Heist Gallery's new group show, Papercut, of all works on paper seems like THE show of the holiday season to go and see. Pieces seem reasonably sized, as well as priced. They also are quite a diverse lineup of work, as seen by their site. I tried, woefully, to get in on the opening night. BAAD idea. The gallery is the size of a closet, and was pretty much stuffed to the gils with overflow crowd. Even after waiting 15 minutes in the cold, there just was no letup. In the meantime, I encourage readers to check out the works in the show from the digital realm. It's worth the while, especially for a local fave of mine, artist John Breiner. If you don't get images of Imperial Walkers controlled by damn dirty apes in your head, then you're just not a child of the '70s or '80s.

The maturing of Terence Koh

 
Artlog right now has a nice one-on-one interview with Terence Koh regarding his new show, "Flowers for Baudelaire" up through January 9th at 407 East 75th Street. Koh, it appears, for all accounts, is drastically maturing over the past several years. His work is beginning to leap out of the "shock-value-for-shock's-sake-alone" variety, and is rapidly moving towards an all-encompassing embracement of the art that surrounds us all. As Koh beautifuly states, "love is for eternity, always remember that." To find this embittered critic with tears welling up in my eyes means something. It's not often an "it-boy" of the art world affects me so, but with those few words, Koh has forever captured my heart. Instead of wild cocaine parties and extravagant lifestyle beyond one's means, Baudelaire reminds me of my own childhood, where I'd sift and resift the piles of flour and baking soda of my grandma's cake mixes. I'd imagine each slope was a snow-capped peak of the Alps sitting right there on our kitchen table.


There's certainly a limit to the collectibility factor with the biodegradeable aspects of Koh's works for sale (corn syrup and powdered sugar can only last so long), but that's what truly makes them so alive. They, as well as the artist himself, are concentrated in the here-and-now, and that's where we all should be. Beautiful work indeed.

(Images from The New York Times and Cool Hunting All rights reserved.)


 

Kaws and effect

 
I'm sorry, but that's just an extremely nightmare inducing image. Almost like the Alien/Predator itself has come to have me for dinner, Kaws' signature puffy cloud-eared, starry eyed creature is certainly not the stuff that dreams are made of-- at least good ones. The Brooklyn-based street artist dissects elements of Murakami's superflat aesthetic with a ginsu knife, but to me, all around, it's a much more effective product, given its product placement. Goodyear tire creatures not included. Maybe it's because it's more accessible-- way less amped up sexually, and more drug-addled slacker-- that I like him so much. Spongebob, anyone? Who knew America's pourous antihero could be so disturbingly wretched. Kaws' show runs through December 23rd at Gering & Lopez. Check it out. Not for the faint of heart.

Makes me want some hot cocoa

 


I've recently had the pleasure of discovering the work of Swiss via New York artist Clarina Bezzola. There's a lot more here than what first meets the eye. I encourage you to take a chance on her "Swiss Miss: A Gathering" performance video clip on her website. Some days it seems we all must put on our best show for entertainment's sake, before we wriggle back into our own annelid sheaths. Really interesting stuff.

 

Almost worth the fare increase and service cuts... well... not really

 


Masstransiscope is a public art project you can only see if you regularly travel the rails. In fact, it's a work that's so exclusive, you'll only be able to see it for about 15 seconds from looking out the eastern windows of the B and Q trains from the DeKalb Avenue station on your way into Manhattan. But see, I'm all about trumping exclusivity, so I'm gonna share these links with you so you can see it, dear readers. You see, the work has just been rehabbed and it's pretty dang cool for entertainment value alone. Taking the basics of still frame animation, but turning it around, so YOU have to move by IT to see the motion, artist Bill Brand created a pretty nice, though simple, piece. When I first saw it, I thought I was hallucinating from the new Q train smell-- (Is that really a rocketship launch I see out my window, or maybe I'm just lightheaded from the tobacco stench on the guy next to me)-- but in fact, I wasn't imagining things. The always forward thinking Creative Time sponsored this back in 1981. I guess some things really do get better with age.

Check out this link for more background information on the artist and to see the cars in their legendary graffito clad era. It's also a hoot to see some crazy young Bill Brand 'fro action.

All this is quite appropriate timing as well, given the fact NYC is just about ready to plunge into 1980s Public Transit Part Deux: The Deep End.