SWOON, WEIWEI & KIDS AT BROOKLYN MUSEUM

Knowing that both Swoon & Ai Weiwei have exhibits on at the museum, I decided to take a walk up there with a seven, a nine & a thirteen year old yesterday.
Walking around with them having a good time was strange mix images & emotions.
The young girls loved the Weiwei giant metal boxes that one had to clime up steps to see down into. Explaining to them that the scenes in the boxes were from when the artist had been arrested and held prisoner for eighty one days, kind of put a damper on their enjoyment of the running from one box to the next.
I accidentally had my color filter on the iPhone boosted to maximum overdrive, giving the whole day over saturated hues.

Its difficult to see the desired effect of 2008’s Moon Chests, but they are still beautiful objects in their own right & fun to look through. 

Nice to see just a small section of his Forever bicycle sculpture.

The artists most moving work for me is “Straight”, the one relating to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. It was not that easy explaining to the girls that names walls were of more than 5,000 children killed in badly built schools that collapsed. Max was super intrigued/angered by how this could have happened, and how the Chinese authorities chose to deal with it.
The whole Weiwei exhibit also made me reflect, and explain to Max, that while I may complain about a lot of the west’s policies, standing there in the museum, I feel grateful for them.
Eve & Edie decided to rest, then pose, as others starting taking photos of them, wondering were they part of the Weiwei exhibit.
Even with Max in front to show scale, its hard to get a sense of the enormity of the dream like Swoon installation.
Swoon’s dripped wall’s were not really as yellow as this.
The stairwell was also a massive hit.

DUST & GROOVES BOOK

Feeling honored, and a little lucky right now.
About three years ago Eilon Paz interviewed & shot me for his awesome vinyl record collectors site, Dust & Grooves.
He’s spent the last couple of years tirelessly working to create a book. The book is done & its beautiful. It features just some of the hundreds of interesting people & their crazy collections that he’s shot over the years.
I was invited to be one of twenty DJ’s to spin ten minutes worth of records at the fun release party last Sat night. 
So, I’m feeling honored that I made the cut to be included in the book. I actually have two full spreads! Also feeling lucky, because while I love showing off my records, I don’t really like seeing myself in pictures, and he chose great photos where I’m not that visisible ;)
Anyone looking for good gift ideas, this is a great book. Also, he self published, so you will be supporting individuals, not cooperations.
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KLARA KRISTALOVA "BIG GIRL NOW"

Wandering around the LES yesterday with my friend Jeff Newman, not knowing what was showing, we decided to check out the Lehmann Maupin Gallery.
It's an exhibition exhibition titled "Big Girl Now" of new ceramic sculptures by Czechoslovakian-born and Sweden-based artist Klara Kristalova.
The name didn’t ring bells for us, but we both felt like we’d maybe seen this somewhere before. I thought maybe it was in the Rubell Collection, or maybe it reminded of others, it has a slight Marcel Dzama feel, or maybe its just the stuff of sub-conscience dreams.

The sculptures are largish, slightly unsettling hand-painted figures, that felt like they are all innocent and yet disturbing, dreamlike and even nightmarish, but for me feel very much feminine.
This is was not expected & really something special.
Lehmann Maupin gallery is at 201 Chrystie Street 10002. 
It closes on the 26th on April, don’t sleep.


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TWO HOURS OF THE COLOR BLACK

BLURRING Radio #44 “Back in Black"
This show includes tunes by The Black Angeles, Black Ghosts, The Black Keys, Black Mountain, Black Light White Light & Black Sabbath. Plus another 20 songs with black in the title. It starts gently and gradually builds in intensity as the two hours unfold.
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ROAD TRIP TO PHILLY, FOR BARRY MCGEE

As a youth, the idea of jumping in on a train, or renting a car to go see a band, or some DJ at a rave in another city was a common thing. As i’ve aged, and art has become so important to me, its nice to know that juvenile fanboy mentally is still alive in me.

On the spur of the moment, I asked my buddy Paul Weston (a very gifted artist in his own right) if he’d be up for driving my son Max & I down to Philly if I paid car rental. Always down for whatever, we picked car & Max up from school sharp at 4.00, naively thinking it would take ninety minutes to get there. Four painful hours of Friday rush-hour & the tortures NJ Turnpike later, we got to the gallery with only ten minutes of the opening left. Luckily they let it run overtime, so we got to check out all the work by the 3 artist, Dan Murphy, Isaac Tin Wei Lin & of course Barry. Even got to chat for minute with Todd James, and ask Barry to tag up the poster from the show. Wicked Cheesesteaks from legendary spot Pat's also helped to relive the frustration of the journey there. It took us exactly 90 minutes to get home. I really hope Max grows up with a fond memory of the trip, rather than a bum one.

Try to go to the show, or see gallery link for full images. Department of Neighborhood Services is on on till April 11th at Fleisher Ollman Gallery.

My favorite piece in the show..

Embellished poster.

Max, Barry & Todd.

Tag on the the Philly streets. Looks like that youthful spirit is still alive & kicking in Barry too.


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AN EVENING WITH KRAFTWERK 3-D IN CONCERT NYC 4/1/14

Hard to believe but, I bought my first Kraftwerk record forty years ago, but that's when Autobahn was a hit in the UK, and that was actually four years after the bands formation. So having never seen them live, last night was a real treat.

Normally I'm really not one for nostalgia, and very rarely go to shows by bands that I loved when both I & they were young. Back in 1990 I saw the Stones & decided that it was a mistake as my image of them was now sadly cracking due to the reality of age. I guess I believe that rock n' roll is a young man’s sport, or maybe it just highlights my own dissatisfaction with aging & the mortality of my existence. Either way, I don’t really try to see many old rockers. However when my good friends Hang & Tim offered me tickets to see Kraftwerk because Tim had the flu, I jumped at the chance. I knew they were not going to be leaping around the stage, trying to act like teenagers. It would be a much more reserved affair, dubbed "An Evening With Kraftwerk 3-D Concert."

As my friend Gregory Hoffman, who came with me, astutely observed, it was like watching a musical history lesson. They showed their influence on multiple genres, from techno & house, to industrial, to electro, and still clear in the synth pop of today. Most people acknowledge that there’d probably be no New Order and Depeche Mode, or even Daft Punk, if not for Kraftwerk. They are the original robots.

Another factor that made the show so great, was that the band clearly cared about the venues for this tour . Last night's was at the incredible United Palace Theatre. Hope more bands follow the lead & use it in NYC.

Obviously these iPhone pictures & the video don't do any justice to the effects of the impressive  3D enhanced performance.

 

Fascinating read is their Wiki.

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QUICK VISIT TO RUBELL FAMILY COLLECTION.

In the photo - Max with Juan Roselione-Valadez, the director of the Rubell Family Collection.
Lying on the floor, a work called “The Death of Marat” by Chinese artist He Xiangyu. 
Poor Max nearly had a heart attack when he walked into the room & saw Ai Weiwei dead.
Juan informed us, that people being freaked-out is a regular occurrence, & judging from this article, it's not only in the museum.
The art work is just one from the massive collection of Chinese works currently on display. "28 Chinese" is the culmination of the Rubells’ six research trips to China between 2001 and 2012.







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A COUPLE OF COOL WORKS FROM SCOPE NY 2014

Was fun to see some old faces & catch up with a couple of friends not seen for a minute.

Below are few works that were either beautiful, funny, or both.

Stunning new works from local artist Daniel B. Horowitz, who is now represented by possibly my fave french gallery, L'Inlassable Galerie.

Detail of oil on canvas by John Brosio.
My fave new discovery was Keira Rathbone -Typewriter Artist. Hailing from Bristol, she types out images in front of her, using the keys of her typewriter, while moving the paper up & down with the roller in the machine. Below in the left corner is the paper coming out of the typewriter with the portrait of the couple in front of her. This was done while I watched.
This was my fave. She said it was the quickest one she's done because the kids in the playground all moved fast & then had to go back into class.
..& finally true words of wisdom from another Bristol artist, Banksy. On a truck door for $400,000.
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JK5's SECOND COMING..

Joseph Aloi aka JK5, artist, friend & fellow Star Wars obsessive, is about to drop his second monograph.

It's a beautiful book of sketches, tattoos, drawings, pairings, and objects - published by Rizzoli.

I'm feeling a little like a proud daddy, as I made the intro for Joseph to the prestigious publisher.

Below are just a few sample pages... 

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