db does a blog

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..

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.

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.

A perfect Barry McGee

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.

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... 

One of my favorite NYC artists shows a wonderful body of work at  Sandra Gering's new gallery.

Old friend & talented curator Laura Bloom gave Max & I our own tour & back room view of some great works not on the walls.

The show runs till March 29th, & def worth the trip uptown.

Below are just some of the works in the show. The first 3 images are canvasses, the others are smaller works on paper.

Big up to my AM ONLY crew for an amazing 4 Disclosure gigs over 3 nights in NYC. As the final song of the long weekend was about to start, the queen of R&B/hip-hop Mary J. Blige made a surprise appearance. After the song ended and she vanished, both, crowd and the two brothers seemed in joyful disbelief that it had actually happened.

Its funny how I've become so accustomed to iPhone photography, that when a real photographer takes a photo it stands out so brilliantly, its almost shocking. The super talented Jaime Rojo, photographer for BSA shot Eve while she was "helping out" at Swoons open studio visit.