db does a blog

It’s been a bumpy ride for my appreciation of George Condo. When I first saw his work in the late 90’s & early 2000’s I don’t remember liking it much. I think I thought it was too Picasso-esque or something but by the end of the decade I had come around to being a fan. Then in 2010 Supreme & Kanya turned him a household name for the Hypebeast kids, triggering an unfair knee-jerk reaction that turned me off him. He is an incredible painter, and this new show of brand new works at Hauser & Wirth took my breath away.

Large canvass. 

Works on paper.

New York is massive but also sometimes very small.

My close friends, James Hyde and Erik Foss, who did not know each other till recently, both spoke highly of Sam Jablon’s practice.

About a month ago I was meeting James and Sam just happened to be on the street, so James introduced us. Sam and I have had lunch twice now, talked art a little & laughed at the state of the world. I got to see some of his lovely works.

On Monday, I stepped to outside of my comfort zone. I was asked by insanely smart and talented, Sam Hillmer, founder of Zs band, also main man at the H0L0 venue to engage in conversation for his new Podcast, PLACE OF ASSEMBLY. 

The focus of the show is physical spaces and environments, and he wants us to talk about raving and art curating in that context. 

If you know me, you know I’m much more comfortable being behind the scenes, then on camera or spotlit. However, I was touched & felt honored to be asked.

The ninety minute podcast was broadcast live video on Twitch and is archived HERE

Hanging with two of my fave art folks, Michael Nevin and Erik Foss at the dope Raymond Pettibon show! 

Fred Tomaselli is an incredible American artist that I became aware of in the 90’s. Back then he was making his highly detailed psychedelic art, using wood panels, combining an array of unorthodox materials including actual pills and pot leaves, suspended in a thick layer of clear epoxy resin. More recently it seems he’s been inspired not simply by nature, but by the media and the insanity of our political system. He has a big new show at James Cohan Gallery which is well worth a visit. However it isn’t the giant spectacular pieces that thrilled me as much as these tripped-out paint & collage works, using the New York Times cover pages as his muse.

Coincidently, I'd emailed Fred to update him on the March 2021 release date of Art Sleeves, which he's included in, and mentioned he'd probably get a kick out of The Sm;)e Book. He replied enthusiastically, showing me this wonderful blotter sheet print he'd created in 1990!

Leonard Hilton McGurr aka FUTURA 2000 and I are close to the same age. He has been in my consciousness since I bought the 7” single, This Is Radio Clash in 1981. The band had used him to design the sleeve, having met him on their first trip to NYC in 79 and went on to take him on tour with them.

When I first started learning about graffiti, he was one of the artists I was drawn to, as he didn’t use letter forms to create words, that I couldn’t read, he simply made abstract art, illegally.

When I started DJing in NY, Lenny would often be there, lurking in the shadows with his homies. And when we opened Breakbeat Science on Orchard Street, he and Stash had their Recon store a couple of blocks away.

I was also a massive fan of UNKLE. The fact that the FUTURA art was so dope, only heightened my love for the project. I believe James Lavelle, Ben Drury & Mo Wax helped Lenny find a new and very different audience.

He’s always been incredibly generous, granting permissions for all of my book projects. In fact, when I was working on the first Stickers book, and asked if I could use an existing piece of his art to create a peel-out sticker in the book, he invited me over to his apartment, and handed me a small canvas, saying, I made this for you, use it as the sticker art.

So, to see his “first NYC gallery show in 30 years” was wonderful. The works are an exercise in controlled chaos. Congrats to him & Eric Firestone for curating this tight show.

Lenny, signing a fans book.

My copy of This is Radio Clash

Its so amazing that all these incredible artists were happy to be included! Alex Da Corte, Alfie Steiner, Alicia McCarthy, Aurel Schmidt, BANKSY, BÄST, Carlos Valencia, Chapman Brothers, Cody Hudson, Curtis Kulig, Eric Elms, Erik Foss, Greg Bogin, INVADER, James Joyce, Jeremy Deller, KATSU, Mark Flood, Misaki Kawai, Norman Cook, Paul Insect, Paul Weston, Rob Pruitt, Ron English, Sadie Benning, Sayre Gomez, Skullphone, Tyrell Winston, 1UP CREW & a load more!

You can order a copy ahead of general release for just $15 by clicking the link HERE. 

Norman Cook/Mark Vessey

All by Rich Browd except Warhol's Marylyn lips by Paul Weston.

Derek Gardener

Assorted photos

Rich Browd (L) / Paul Insect + BAST (R)

Misaki Kawai

Rich's sticker that connected us..

#LOVE

While size might not matter is some instances, it certainly has a lot of power when used by James Hyde. Examples are these paintings, which are on view at the ELM Foundation, Pierogi Gallery's former Boiler Space, where he is Artist in Residence. These are the largest works I’ve ever had the pleasure of being up close & personal with. I’m not going to attempt to describe them, or how James talked about using Alessandro Magnasco’s 18th century works as his muse. If you’re able to go check them out, do it!

Address of The Boiler is 191 N 14th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249. For a viewing, James kindly says email jh@jameshyde.com or people can DM him though his IG @hyde.james

I left Zach in the some of the shots, just so one can see the incredible scale. 

The show is up till Oct 16th, so please check it out if in the area.

Thanks to the wonderful gallery manager/artist, Summer Mandile for my portrait.